Aspergers // mindless ramblings

Hellooo there :) 

Hope all is well with you all! How are you today? It's chilly where I am today just can't seem to get myself warm, think I might go and make a hot chocolate or tea in a minute and snuggle up in bed! What is your perfect lazy day? 

I'm lacking a bit of motivation this week, not been feeling myself been feeling rather down. That's aspergers and my mind for you though. The previous posts that I have written about aspergers have all been positives and about the achievements I have made regarding my aspergers. However today's post is going to be slightly different, it's going to be more about when things are more of a struggle. My mood can alter a lot like this I can be super happy and on cloud 9 for weeks then I can be down about everything for weeks. Does anyone else get like this?! I'm hoping some of you will be able to relate to this whether you have aspergers or not or whether you have an mental illness, anxiety, or you just might enjoy reading it. 

One of the things with aspergers is that people don't like change! Let me tell you now I hate change I just can't cope when things change or understand why they change if I'm happy with something why can't it just stay as it is?! Think back to the Big Bang Theory and Sheldon, and think about how he acts for example when they buy a table for them all to sit at to eat instead of on the sofa and Sheldon doesn't cope why did they need to change what he believes to be fine just the way it is. Well that's how I feel when things change. There have been a few changes going on at the moment in my life and I think that's one of the reasons why my mood has been brought right down. Now to some of you these changes will be minor and you'll be like why are you getting worked up about that but with aspergers any change is a change no matter how small or big it is. 

One of the changes is that my Mum has gone back to work, now my mum gave up work a couple of years ago to care for me when I was going through a really rough patch and since I have improved enormous amounts she has gone and got a job again, which is a big change as I have gone from having mum there all the time for me to call and ring and talk to etc to not having her there half as much. She only works one full day and two half days but for me that is a long time for her not to be around and at the moment I'm really struggling with that. I know that in time once I'm used to it all I will be much happier but at the moment it is a struggle and a change that is making me feel blurgh.

Another change is that one of the people who I work with is leaving. She is one of my favourite people to work with and we call ourselves the Friday night entertainment team! We have such a laugh! I'm incredibly happy for her that she will be able to get her weekend's back and for the first time in a long while will be only working one job and let me tell you she is one of the nicest people I have met and she deserves a bit more time for herself. As much as I am going to miss her, I'm so grateful for how supportive she has been to me and how she has helped me improve my confidence. 

My brother is also going around looking at universities and having interviews as he will be off to Uni in September. It's going to be so weird without him around all the time as annoying as he can be. There are other changes going on but don't want to bore you with my life too much!!

Now I'm gonna be honest I haven't really got much else to say today it's just one of those days when I'm not feeling myself! Sometimes I think it would be easier to have a normal mind but then I remember it's boring and I wouldn't have my funny bubbly self that will say whatever! Have been taking a lot of pictures this week for some blog posts so watch this space I have a couple of funny ones coming up, well I find them funny anyway.

It snowed here this afternoon finally! Only a little bit but enough for a covering, please can we have a bit more snow!!  Have any of you had lots of snow? What have you guys been up too or how have you been feeling this week would love to know :) pop me an email if you don't want to post a comment but want a chat, go to my contact page at the top of my blog for my email address!

My Love Tanya book came today, it looks amazing I'm so excited to read it and it looks like it has some really useful tips in it :) Think Tanya has done amazing to write a book like this! Well done Tanya! I love Tanya's video's they have really helped me when I've been feeling down and on being more positive and happy with life! Thank you Tanya. If you haven't checked out her videos already you should because they are great :)  Tanya Burr's channel

Barney has enjoyed playing in the snow with my dad this afternoon and had a snow ball fight with him! He didn't throw the balls obviously my dad did and he caught them! Imagine if he was clever enough to throw things, I'd be a millionaire!

Hope all is well and jolly with you lot!

Anna-Louise
xx

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Barney's 5 favourite toys

Hellooo :) 

How are we all?! Hope all is well, the sun is shining where I am today. I definitely think the sun automatically puts you in a better mood. I hope the sun is shining with you today wherever you may be. 

So if you haven't already picked this information up from previous blogs, I have a chocolate Labrador called Barney and well he is my best friend. He will be 2 this summer, they grow up so fast (I sound like a mother) and he is mad. I bought him to help me with my aspergers and my confidence and well having him has helped me enormously, he really is the best dog ever.

Anyway I thought so that you guys can get to know him a little bit better and I love writing about Barney I would do a post about him, so I decided this one could be about his 5 favourite toys. Barney is obsessed with toys, he has more toys than a pet shop and he has 4 toy boxes full in the house. He just loves them. Despite the fact that he has so many toys he does have a few favourites that he loves a little bit more than all the others so we wanted to share with you guys what they were.

Barney was the best when I was taking these photographs it's like he knew I needed him to pose. He posed with every single toy and didn't really try and play with them and surprisingly he didn't run off with one of them either and he thinks that's a great game. My mum and Gran couldn't believe it he was a superstar. The funniest thing was the tennis ball photographs as I went to him please can you hold this in your mouth so I can take some pictures. And he did, he held it in his mouth until I stopped taking the pictures what a clever dog. He really is the best thing that ever happened to me and he always puts a smile on my face even when I'm in the worst mood or have a strop and there is nothing better than coming home and seeing how pleased he is to see me, I really do love my dog and honestly he is my best friend! 

Now Barney has a bit of a thing about Pluto. When I first got him I had this Pluto toy that I'd had for years and thought it would be a great toy for Barney to snuggle up next to in his crate. Well Barney decided that Pluto was going to be one of his favourite toys immediately. He loved Pluto and took him everywhere, in fact he loved Pluto so much that he managed to rip his head of, so then he started to walk around with just Pluto's head. It was really creepy when he would just appear with this head, but then my dog is strange. Someday's he would just walk around with Pluto's body depending on how he was feeling but Pluto's head was a definite favourite he would still walk around with it everywhere. To this day we still have Pluto's head and Barney still loves it, we just can't bear to throw it out! Have any of you seen the advert with the dog and the man where he is about to throw the dogs toy away but the dog won't let him well that's what it feels like. 

As we all knew how much Barney had loved Pluto and still loves Pluto's head we decided to get him a new Pluto for Christmas. He is one happy dog with all his Pluto's. Who buys their pet a toy from the Disney store for Christmas hey?! I really wanted to get him an Olaf but I couldn't find one in any of the Disney stores I went into. The search will go on. You may be thinking I'm mad yes I am but I just love seeing my dog happy, and well he just loves Pluto. The new Pluto is still in one piece at the moment. 

The next toy that Barney has is his 3rd addition of it, he is obsessed with it so much that he has destroyed the other two and have a 4th one waiting for him. This toy is known as Colin, Colin the Caterpillar and Barney loves him to pieces. He is a rather big caterpillar that squeaks and Barney drags him everywhere. If Barney has ever been away from home the first thing he does when he gets back is to go and find Colin. If you ever meet Barney I'm sure you will meet Colin too that is how much Barney is obsessed with him. The pictures will probably show you a bit about how big Colin actually is, especially as Barney is a big and tall Labrador. It was so funny to watch him try and drag him around when he was a puppy as Colin was bigger than him. Colin also seems to lose a lot of legs, poor Colin. The pictures below are of Colin the 3rd.

Barney seems to prefer larger toys, and if it's soft and fluffy even better so I bought him this giant duck thing in a pet shop as I couldn't resist it and knew Barney would love it and he did and it even became one of his favourites. I think he quite likes toys that he can cuddle up to because he is cute like that. It was really sweet as when I was taking photos of him and the duck he was cuddling it, I do love my dog.

Barney loves to play ball, like he goes crazy over playing ball, me and mum could barely hold him before he got his new lead when he knew he was going to play ball. He thinks is the best game in the world and would like to play it all day everyday. We tend to play ball more in the summer as the village green is to wet in the winter and our garden is tiny. Therefore a ball is one of Barney's favouirte toys he has so many of them but looks after them really well at the same time, maybe he think's they are treasure. He also has this really annoying habit of rolling them underneath the sofas and furniture, it's so annoying especially when they are out of our reach and he won't let you forget they are there, you have to get the long duster to encourage them out silly dog! 

Hope you have enjoyed this blog post thought it was a little different :) let me know what you think! Do any of you have a dog? What's their favourite toy? Or maybe you have a cat with a favourite toy? Let me know :) 

Hope you are all well and jolly

Anna-Louise 

xx

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Mini Beauty haul | Liz Earle, O.P.I

Hellooo there!!

How are you lovely people today?! It's Sunday isn't it so some of you may be feeling sad that it's Monday tomorrow well if that's the case turn that frown upside down :) If you don't get that saying well I'm no good at explaining it but its something to do with smiling instead of frowning and well a smile being the opposite of a frown I think don't hold me to this explanation, core that was a big word for me! 

Fun Fact: Giraffes don't make a noise/have a sound. 

I find that sad but cool, hopefully they don't feel left out they shouldn't because they are taller than most other animals that do make a noise. I guess some people just like being quiet. How cool would it be if we had Giraffes instead of cars?! Or is that just me? Let me know what you think! 

Sorry I haven't posted over the last couple of days, I have been working a lot and have been rather stressed and tired and when I feel like that I tend to scream and shout and let it all out (see what I did there using song lyrics hey ) so blog posts didn't get written! However I did say I was going to do a blog post every Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday and then any others would be extra's so this one is Sunday's as I didn't want to let you all down! 

I may have bought one or two or more beauty products this week, I know all in one week hey so I thought I would share with you guys what I purchased :) 

I don't know about you lot but I love anything beauty related! I'm always reading blog posts and reviews about different beauty products and looking for new ones to try! I also love beauty products as they have really helped me with my confidence as I feel if I look good I will feel good about myself. 

The first thing I bought this past week was a hand and body lotion from O.P.I. You may be thinking I thought they did nail varnish but oh no they also do the most amazing hand and body lotion. They are know as O.P.I Avojuice Skin Quenchers, the one I got was the Jasmine one the smell is amazing! I have seen them in a couple of nail salons before now and have loved them and went for a Spa day on Monday and they sold them there and well you know what it's like when you see something that smells great and you have herd lots of good things about you just have to get it don't you?! There are 10 different Avojuice flavours, I say flavours but please don't try eating them, I think what I mean is smells? Maybe I don't know but you get where I'm coming from right?! The thing I love about this so much is the smell of them, there is nothing better than putting on a fruity moisturiser especially at this time of year as it reminds me of summer and my skin needs a lot of love and care as it tends to get very dry during the winter months! If you haven't already checked one of these delicious moisturisers out I definitely recommend that you do.

O.P.I Avojuice Skin Quencher

Now I don't know about you guys but I really suffer with dry skin during the winter months especially on my face. In the summer my skin is pretty normal apart from the odd breakout. I used to use E45 cream on my face after a cleanser but I was finding that it just wasn't getting rid of my dry skin. Don't get me wrong I'm a massive fan of E45 and however it just wasn't working with my skin. I happened to be speaking to my grandma who also suffers with dry skin and she could not recommend enough Liz Earle enough to me! Good old grandma for the recommendation hey! She told me that she has being using Liz Earle skincare products for too many years for me to remember now and they have always combated her dry skin so I thought why not give them a go and I tell you what so far I'm incredibly impressed. I also did a little bit of research about them as a brand before and another thing that really appealed to me is that all their products are made from active ingredients which is great as even if you have sensitive skin these products should not aggravate it. I popped off to my local John Lewis to pick up a few bits and bobs and after using them for less than a week so far I have noticed a considerable difference to my skin! 

Liz Earle

One of my favourites so far that I picked up from Liz Earle is the Hot Cloth Cleanse and Polish set. I absolutely love this cleanser so far. I can tend to be a bit lazy when it comes to taking make up off and would quite just use a make up wipe to take it off. However now I have tried this I don't think I will take my make up off any other way! Taking make up off has never been so easy. The set comes with 2 muslin cloths and the cleanser in the little bag. All you have to do to take you make up off is put the cleanser onto you face dry then run the muslin cloth under hot water and then wipe it off and then splash your face with cold water. It's literally as easy as that and it even removes heavy make up which is great as there is nothing worse than spending ages trying to get your eye make up off. If you are looking for a new cleanser, I recommend trying this one I don't think you'll regret it! I don't think I'll use any other cleanser now which is a big thing as the one I was using before this I had been using for years but that's my old aspergers for you and I don't like to change my routine but this was definitely worth changing for. 

Hot cloth cleanse and polish

I also picked up the Skin Repair Moisturiser For Dry/Sensitive Skin and am also in love with it. It's a rich creamy texture and leaves your skin feeling super smooth and soft. It's great, I've only been using this a few days and it's already made a enormous difference to my dry skin, it's now lovely and soft again. It comes in this cute little pot and has a smell but I'm no good at describing smells so I won't. 

Skin repair moisturiser for dry/sensitive skin

The other two products I picked up from Liz Earle was the Intensive Nourishing Treatment Mask and Gentle Face Exfoliator. When I went to John Lewis they had a deal on which meant I got the Exfoliator for free which was great as I had gone there to buy it anyway. I haven't yet tried out these two products myself yet as well you know what they say time flies when your having fun and both of these are not daily treatments. My grandma had recommend both though so I'm sure when I do find some time to pamper myself I will be just as impressed as I have been with the other two products I have used. Here are the links for both the Gentle Face Exfoliator  the Intensive Nourishing Treatment Mask .

Barney and I went for a lovely sunny walk yesterday morning with my daddy :) It was nice to have a good bit of sun although it was incredibly chilly, I regretted not wearing more clothes, silly sun made me think it was warm! He enjoyed a splash in the stream as he loves water and finds it anywhere, he mainly enjoys finding sticks in the water he is strange like that. 

Hope you are all well and jolly 

Anna-Louise 

xx

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Aspergers | 2nd achievement of 2015

Helloooo everyone 

How is everybody today? I'm rather tired if I'm honest, tried to watch Finding Nemo today because well you have to don't you it's a Disney classic! Well for my era it is anyway, was incredibly popular when I was younger. I think they are bringing out a new Finding Nemo Or Dory soon, do you guys know anything about that? Anyway back to my point I fell asleep through the whole of it, silly me so am going to try and re watch when I'm awake in the next week. I hope none of you are feeling to tired today, hopefully you are happy buzzing bees :)

Tiredness is something I really suffer with, I'm not lazy please don't think that! I had M.E in my last year of secondary school and sixth form and although I've recovered from the worst of I still suffer with tiredness a lot.  I can sleep for England and anywhere, I fell asleep at the Olympics who does that right?! Also if I ever try and do to much I will start to flake and need almost a quiet week to recover, good job I don't work full time hey! Anyway I'm rambling and going off topic about what this blog is about as usual, just letting you guys know a bit more about me I guess and well I'm open and want people to read this feel like they know me and that we are friends and friends talk and share about things that are on their mind right? Let me know if I'm wrong, social things aren't my thing. 

I'm currently listening to Ellie Goulding's new song Love Me Like You Do. I'm in love with it already, now I'm a bit of an Ellie Goulding fan already but her new one is just amazing go check it out :) She has made this one for the new film Fifty Shades of Grey that is coming out soon, will be interesting to see how they have done this film without making it too saucy, as well the books, need I really say more about them! 

What song are you guys liking at the moment? 

Right better get started to what this blog is actually about hey! So today I achieved my 2nd aspergers achievement of the year. If you have read my previous blogs you will know I have aspergers, if your new firstly hello, and  secondly I have aspergers so now you know! I always want to put haha after certain sentences, but then I'm laughing at myself and what I'm saying (I do that a lot apparently people don't tend to do that) doesn't bother me though I love laughing who doesn't?! Just you guys might not always see the funny side that I'm seeing. 

Social situations have always been one of my major difficulties and struggles I really don't like them if I'm honest. However over this last year I've been working incredibly hard on my confidence and coping with social situations. Working in a pub has really helped me come out of my shell, not that I actually have a shell but you know what I mean, it's helped me enormous amounts with talking to people. The thing about working in a pub is that there is almost like an invisible script of things you say to people so if conversation isn't following revert to your script, you also have to take their order and things like that so you kinda have to talk to people. This is great for building confidence not only if you have aspergers but also if you struggle with your confidence or have anxiety etc. 

My mum and her friends have set up a Book club, some of you may be reading this thinking okay then, but I personally think book clubs are one of the best inventions ever. They are probably not for you if your not a fan of reading, well even if your not they you could always go along to one to listen and meet new people and socialise in a relaxing, un-pressureised environment. Anyway I don't really have that many friends, I'm not ashamed to admit that. I struggle to keep friends and maintain friendships that's a bit of aspergers for you though isn't it. Don't get me wrong I have a couple of great friends who I have had for years, all of which are older than me, I find it easier to socialise with people who are older than me. What about you guys? My socialising is working at the pub and going up to the stables. Exciting life hey, I love it anyway. I would like to have more people and friends to sociliase with if I'm completely honest but I have Barney to talk to everyday! What more do I need?! 

Anyway I thought that the book club sounded interesting, I love to read so thought why not go along and see what it's like get to meet new people too. A year ago I would not have even considered this going to a club and chatting with a load of strangers in an unfamiliar environment don't think so. However the new more confident me was like yeah why not. So off I went, I thought I would feel nervous but I didn't I was a little unsure to begin with but it was great I really enjoyed it, I even wait for it joined in conversation with people I have never met before. I was the youngest person at the book club but that didn't bother me it made it easier as these people where easy to talk to and have some interesting things to say :) I really enjoyed myself and am looking forward to the next one. I've got the job of making the cake for the next meet up :) 

I would highly recommend joining something like a book club if you struggle with confidence or just want to get out and socialiase in a quiet environment where no one cares who you are and excepts you for the person you are. I felt very welcome which gave me the ability to speak great hey! So that's my achievement going and doing something different that I usually would hate and enjoying it! Some of you may be thinking big deal so what but for me this is a big thing and I'm proud of myself and wanted to share it with everybody! Things like this should definitely be celebrated! Little things that count hey!  

The book we have to read this month is called The Curvy Girls Club! Looks like a bit of a laugh and a light hearted read, I'll let you all know how I get on with it :)

I really hope these help people in someone, I want people to realise it's okay to be different, being different should be celebrated!  

Barney's got a bit of a sore eye at the moment silly thing! Not sure what he has done to it so I'm going to keep an eye on it for a bit. Barney says hello to everyone, he is sulking at the moment as I'm sitting on my sofa which he has claimed, he doesn't like to share so has gone downstairs to find his own spot. 

Me and my best friend Barney! Picture quality may not be great but I just love this photo and wanted to share it with all of you :)

Hope you are all well and jolly 

Anna-Louise

xx

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Favourite phone cases

Hi guys! 

Hope all is well and good and that your all having a lovely jubbly day :) Remember never forget to smile! Smiling is the best, although if you pull a cheesy grin all the time your jaw may start to hurt, so maybe just a nice gentler smile might work better and reduce jaw ache. Smiling is fun though, sometimes I find myself smiling to  myself sometimes than I think I just look silly and stop and then think who cares so smile again! I'm sorry I went off on a ramble then I do apologise, talking ramble not walking ramble.

So today I thought I would write about my current favourite phone cases. I don't know about you guys but I love phone cases I'm always buying them if I see a nice one! You can never have too many phone cases right?!

I Also like to have phone cases for my mood, season, outfit, sunny days one etc. I'm probably thinking too much into these phone cases,  but that's the silly old apsergers brain again, always thinking into things to much. That's just me though and I like me today :) 

The phone case I'm using at the moment is my newest one and I love it, well if I didn't love it I wouldn't be writing about it in this blog post silly me. I couldn't resist buying this case as the quote on it is so me. I say it all the time. I would love to hide in my rooms a lot of the time and just speak to Barney, as he is my favourite person to talk to (I know he's a dog really). Having aspergers means talking to people is difficult for me and not what I enjoy doing so definitely talking to Barney is the best. So this case describes my mood well. The other thing I love about this case is that it's rubber therefore its more sturdy and my phone tends to bounce more if dropped in this than a hard case. It's from asos and was about £10 so if you like it go check it out :) 

Now I don't know about you guys but I LOVE Christmas, I know we have a long wait till next Christmas (338 days and counting) but I'm already excited, one of my favourite times of the year. Anyway I can imagine a lot of you are the same and at Christmas time have to have everything Christmassy, so therefore I couldn't resist buying a Christmas phone case which I will admit first went on my phone in November! It's a hard case and I love the design I thought it was different and cute. I can't remember the name of where it was from, I think I saw one of these on Instagram and just fell in love. From what I can remember it was around £12 but worth every penny as it's a Christmas phone case!!

This case was a cheeky January sales purchase. I was drawn to the pretty pattern and I was ordering from Topshop anyway I thought why not. It was only £4 too! Bargain :) I just love the design of it and thought it would be a nice summer case as it's bright and makes me feel happy and reminds me of summer :) This case is also a hard case and just beautiful. 

This case was a present from my dad, because he's the best! He travels a lot with his work and saw this and thought of me. He was right a phone case covered in Labradors was right up my street, even though the Labradors are blue which is something I've never seen before. Have any of you come across blue Labrador?! 

These two cases are some of my favourite's as they are plain and simple and still look great on your phone. They are also my two favourite colours, pink and blue. The other thing I love about these cases is that the are a silicone/rubber style case which makes them bouncy so if you drop your phone it usually bounces in these which is great. These cases also look a bit like they have bubbles or are bubble wrap which is cool, I love bubble wrap it's all poppy. 

Hope you have enjoyed this post thought it was a little different :) 

What is your favourite phone case? 

Barney wanted to be in the pictures again, he's a right poser! I always post a picture of Barney to so here he is!! Sorry I didn't include one in yesterdays post, he kept moving so couldn't get a decent picture. He just can't keep still sometimes. He is asleep at my feet as I write this though!

Hope you are all well and Jolly :) 

Anna-Louise 

xx

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Quote Tuesday #1

Hello there :) 

How are you all? hope all is well! Hope the sun is shining with you wherever you may be :) Maybe you have snow! Lucky people if you do! It tried to snow here again yesterday but it was only a sprinkling, come on snow you can do better than that!!!

I don't know about you guys but personally I love quotes, if ever I see one I love I either save it on my Iphone or take a picture of it. I'm on the hunt for a good quote book, if any of you know of any recommendations would be most welcome. :) 

Today's quote is one I found on my spa day yesterday at Clarice House and I loved it, so of course had to take a picture of it and I wanted to show you guys :) I think this quote is very true, and I'm sure you guys will agree! I'm a big fan of smiling and trying to be as happy as possible which is another reason why I loved this quote. 

Hope you are all well and Jolly :)

Anna-Louise 

xx

  

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Winter walks #1

Hello lovely people :) 

How are we all today? Hope your all okay and smiley :) 

I don't know about you but at this time of year on a lovely clear and sunny day when the weather is chilly I love going for a walk! Obviously I wrap up warm and I would advise you all too aswell so you don't get cold as that would not be fun. I mean you may be one of these people who is incredibly brave and wear shorts all year round?! I salute you if you do you are one tough cookie. Barney especially loves walking, think it's the thing next to food that he looks forward to the most everyday. I love walking in general, (not so much though when its chucking it down with rain, the drowned rat look is not my first choice) partly because I have Barney and he needs walking, he won't let me forget, and partly because I find it relaxing and a great way to clear my head especially if I'm feeling angry or stressed. I do find that walking when the weather is lovely is much more enjoyable don't you?! Think it puts you in a happy mood well it definitely puts me in a happy mood, and makes me feel grateful for everything that I have and am surrounded by.

My favourite place to walk is in the countryside. Don't get me wrong you can probably do some lovely walks in and around cities but for me my favourite place to walk is in the countryside. I just think it's so beautiful and England is full of gorgeous countryside I love getting out there and seeing it. 

Where is your favourite place to walk? 

I went for a lovely walk with Barney the other day! The weather was stunning but annoyingly I forgot my camera, however I did have my Iphone so couldn't resist taking some photos as it was such a beautiful day. I thought I would share them with you guys :)

Hope you are all well and jolly 

Anna-Louise 

xox

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Aspergers | 2015 goals

Helloooo lovely people! 

How are you all? Hope all is fine and dandy :) It attempted to snow in Essex this morning, a very bad attempt though come on snow you can do better than that! 

I know we are half way through January but I thought it's not to late to write a post about the goals I have for 2015 to do with my aspergers. Since being diagnosed I have worked really hard on learning ways to cope and deal with the things that I find difficult and plan to do the same this year. So I thought I would let you guys know what my goals for this year are. You may have similar goals, or these may give you some ideas for things you may want to achieve this year.

Living with aspergers can be very difficult and it has presented me with a number of tricky challenges over the years, however with hard work and determination I seem to be improving lots and life is becoming easier and more enjoyable and I'm so much happier for it. There have been a lot of times throughout my time in this world so far (it's a very confusing world) where I have been very down and low but I just want to reassure you all that things do get better, there are people who experience the same difficulties as you and there are people to talk to. I really hope some of my posts will be able to help some people, and if you ever want someone to talk to you can always pop me an email I'd be happy to chat my email address is on my page :) 

So here are my goals for 2015:

Become more independent. This is a big thing more, something I have really struggled with too. I have got a lot more independent especially over the last year, I think my part time job at the pub has helped with this as I can't take my mum or dog to work and a lovely lady has helped me become more independent last year by letting me help her with all her horses. I don't like being away from home, and especially being away from my mum I've always been very clingy and reliant on my mum from an early age, I think that's because she's always been there and accepted me for who I am. However my mum can't do everything with me and go everywhere with me as much as I may want her to so I would really like to improve my independence this year so I can learn that I don't need to rely on her and others and that I can stand on my own two feet. The outside world is very different from my home world. Barney has also helped huge amounts, well to be honest he has made the world of difference to my independence and continues to. I take him everywhere I can, having him there just makes everything okay he is like my safety net. Hopefully this year I would like to be able to go into the town where I live by myself and look around the shops or take Barney for walks by myself and work more on being able to be left at home alone for short periods of time (this makes me very anxious). All these things are definitely ways in which I should be able to become more independent and work on this year. There are other things as well but if I write them all down I might as well start a book. How do you guys cope with being independent? 

Think Positive. This is something I'm always telling myself to do. I think that it's such an important thing to do as well as you feel so much better when you think positively about things. Its very easy to fall in to the trap of focusing on the things that aren't going well believe me. However when you start to think positively I feel I feel 100x better and much happier in general so this is something I want to continue to do this year and work hard at making sure I have more positive thoughts. Positivity is the way forward. 

Grow my confidence and self confidence. This is something I really want to work hard on this year. My confidence has come on leaps and bounds over the last year. About a year ago I didn't even want to leave the house I was so nervous, now I have a part time job in a pub which I love and am even drove all the way up to Yorkshire. Working in the pub has brought my confidence on so much, I'm so fortunate to work in such a lovely environment with lovely people it really has helped so hopefully working there this year will continue to grow my confidence. Barney also helps my confidence, I feel safe and secure whenever he is with me, and he has helped me go to a lot of places with me. Fingers crossed my confidence will grow.  Self confidence is something I need to work on a lot this year I really struggle with this as I can imagine many girls of my age do (I'm 19). I'm actually on medication for my to help with my aspergers as when my emotions go all over the place I don't know how to act so I tend to get rather angry and depressed and my medication has helped me to learn to control my emotions and moods. However they also make you put on a lot of weight which has affected my self confidence. I love exercise and keeping fit so by monitoring my food and exercising a lot I've managed to lose a bit but will never be able to be the size I used to be so I'm going to try really hard this year to love the body I have now. It's not all about being super thin, being happy is the most important thing and that's something I'm always trying to remind myself. I'd also like to work more on being proud of who I am and not worrying what others think, and that not everybody is looking at me when I go out (get very anxious about this) so hopefully this will all improve this year. 

Reduce swearing and rude language. This is something that I really need to work on this year! Although I have conquered a lot of my anger and how I react when I'm angry I have a big tendency to swear for England when I'm frustrated or angry now. My poor family take most of it and they are very good about it as they know I don't really mean what I'm saying, my silly emotions taking over hey! However I'm determined this year to crack down on it, mainly for them but also for me. I have habit of sending rude texts when I'm angry or upset to so I need to improve on reducing them this year to. I think this is going to be one of my hardest goals this year as when my emotions go all over the place I do lose control of what I'm saying and doing so don't realise I'm doing it but I think its something I may be able to work on. Do you guys have any ideas how I could stop this? Do you have any words you use instead? 

 Meet new people. Having aspergers means that social skills aren't really my thing. I'd like to improve them if I can this year and meet new people. I really struggle with making friendships and maintaining them which has made me feel rather lonely. Obviously my best friend is Barney and he's always there, another reason why I got him. He loves me for me and it's great. I'm certain most people with aspergers are in the same boat as me. It's tough making friends, but hopefully with my independence and confidence improving this will just fall into place. I also wanted to start blogging in the hope that I would meet new people as talking to people via blogs etc is much easier than talking face to face with people, something that I'm not a big fan of. Do you guys have any tips with how you have dealt with this? 

So there you have it there are my 2015 goals for my aspergers :)
What goals do you have?

And as always a picture of Barney because he is the best :) The last picture is of Barney and Katie our other dog having fun on a walk yesterday, always puts a smile on my face when I see these two racing each other and having fun:) 

Hope you are all well and Jolly :) 

Anna-Louise 

xx

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Mini Homeware Haul

Helloo there :) 

How are you all?! Hope you've all had a super day! It's really windy where I am today feel sorry for the trees being blown around like that poor things. 

Today I thought I would do a mini homeware haul post as whilst I was in Yorkshire we went on an incredibly exciting trip to Harrogate homebase! It was actually quite fun my aunt bought loads of cushions which were really big and cuddly and I thought I would share with you guys what I bought. I was feeling brave whilst in homebase so went for a little wonder by myself which for me is a big than I like to stick in the pack that I came with when in shops, I get very anxious if I have to walk round by myself! However on that day I felt brave, maybe it was because they were looking at lamp bulbs to begin with and I had been attracted to all the pretty little things. Who knows I like this new brave Anna I hope she is here to stay!

The Homeware section in homebase is super nice, they have some lovely cute things, I wanted to buy more but unfortunately money doesn't grow on the trees like in the sims so here are some of the things I could afford and brought home with me.

The first item I bought is this sign which says Love but you can probably already see that! Anyway I've had my eye on signs like this as I wanted one for my windowsill and I saw this in Homebase and it was about £4 in the sale so I couldn't resist so this sign came home with me :) I really like it and thing it's a great little accessory to any room :)

This candle holder then caught my eye! I thought it was really cute so couldn't resist and it was also in the sale and was around £2 so another bargain, and who doesn't love a bargain right?! Good old homebase. Although this is a candle holder I didn't buy it for that purpose, I wanted a bigger pot to keep all my eye make up brushes as they didn't fit in the one I already had and I have a similar bigger pot for my face make up brushes so thought this would be a great little addition. 

I then bought this lamp! It wasn't in the sale but I liked this lamp and I thought it would like to live in my room. I've been looking for a lamp for a while now for my bedside table and this one caught my eye. It's the perfect size for a bedside table and I love the style of it. Good old homebase again. 

I then bought this mixing bowl, Barney wanted to be in the picture with it he's a big poser. This was also only a few pounds and its pink and who doesn't love pink right?! I also didn't buy this for it's intended purchase, I'm a great fan of Lush so thought it would be great for storing all my bath bombs in. :) 

I think Barney thought I'd bought him a new food bowl to begin with so he had to give it a good sniff! 

Lush bath bombs in my mixing bowl now turned storage bowl. 

Here is just another cute picture of Barney. If you haven't already worked it out I love my dog, he's my best friend and he has definitely helped me out with my confidence and a number of other difficulties I sturggle with because of my Aspergers. He is the best dog ever and I could not ask for a better best friend, he always makes me smile :) 

Hope you are all well and jolly :)

Anna-Louise

xx

  

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