Lifestyle | Tips to try and relax

Hello there :) 

How is everyone today? Hope you are all well and jolly! Have you been up to anything exciting this week? Maybe jumped out of a plane (safely) or met someone famous or maybe just rowed a boat? I'd love to say I have done something exciting this week but, that would be a lie and lying is bad! I've spent a lot of time with a good friend of mine called bed! It's so comfy and cosy!

I've kind of lost a bit of my blogging enthusiasm recently but that's probably because I have lost a lot of enthusiasm with life. I'm going through a low phase at the moment, I know why but when your so down it's hard to get out of feeling like you do. I seem to cry all the time at the moment, I don't want to get out of bed or leave the house, I feel like I just don't know how to be happy at the moment and I'm fed up. So I guess when I feel like this it's hard to blog because I don't have anything to blog about! Anyone have any tips for feeling happy? Please send them my way if you do! 

FUN FACT : Prawns are not always a pink/orange colour, they are instead a blue/grey colour before they are cooked! They look much better when they are cooked, they look a bit creepy before hand! 

So my mum bless her has been racking her little brain at the moment for ways for me to relax and things for me to do to cheer me up so I thought I would share them with you in case you are feeling under the weather too, as it's all about helping each other right :) 

• Smelly Candles : Whenever I'm feeling a bit stressed I love to have smelly candles on in my room, I find them super relaxing and it makes my room smell nice and gets rid of any Barney fart smells. 

• Read a book: I love reading, well I do when I manage to stay awake to actually read a book, I find reading very relaxing and also a great way to help me sleep if I can't. I've also joined a book club recently which is great although I haven't managed to read any of the book club books yet! 

• Listen to music: Now this is one of my favourite things to do to relax, I love just putting my headphones on and forgetting the world and listening to music. I also find this a great way to calm me down when I'm feeling angry. 

• Face Mask: I find face masks so relaxing, although I did try one of those peel off ones the other day and that was lovely till I tried to take it off, I thought my whole face was going to come off! Anyway I think they are a great way to relax, it's always important to pamper yourself and it's a great way to destress. 

• Have a bath: Nothing beats having a nice relaxing bath, well a spa or hot tub would maybe, but annoyingly I don't have either of those in my house. Baths are so relaxing especially when you have a nice bath bomb to put in it or some lovely bubble bath! Bubbles are the best, I like to make a beard out of the bubbles to try and imagine what it would be like to be santa! Does anyone else do that?! 

• Watch TV: This is something I have always loved to do to relax. I tend to watch TV shows such as Friends and Big Bang as they are two of my all time favourites and watching them makes me feel like I'm there and I'm friends with them. I was in bed for most of year 11 with ME and Friends is one of the only things that kept me sane! I've recently become a massive PLL fan too so that's what I watch at the moment. Netflix was the best purchase ever! 

• Getting my nails done/painting nails: I love having nice nails, I instantly feel happier strange but there is just something so great about having good nails. I was lucky enough to be treated to getting my nails done by my gran this week, I love getting them done it's so relaxing and the people are so lovely where I go. The only annoying thing is that it costs money so I only get them done for treats or when I can afford it and if I can't I will paint my nails :) 

• Spending time with Barney: This is the best thing and always helps me to relax/calm down/destress. Spending time with my best friend is the best thing in the world. He is always there for me and I can tell him all my troubles and he doesn't tell them to anyone (he couldn't if  he wanted to though). He doesn't judge me and he loves me, he is always by my side when I need him even if I'm cross or upset. Taking him for walks in the countryside or playing ball with him is a great way to relax as I love seeing him so happy and it's so peaceful!  I couldn't ask for a better dog to own, he is one in a million. 

(this is his new favourite toy) 

What things do you do to relax?? 

The Barney picture today is one of him curled up on my bed with his pheasant. Poor Barney just wanted to sleep and then there was me putting a camera in his face! He just takes such pretty pictures I can't help it! 

Hope you are all well and jolly :) 

Anna-Louise

xx

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Lifestyle | Trip to Wales in photos

Hello there :) 

How is everyone today? It's nearly the weekend yay! Has anyone got any nice plans this weekend? I'm working, sleeping and walking Barney so nothing overly exciting but it's my idea of a good weekend. I don't know about you but where I am this morning we have got the most beautiful sunshine, and it's almost slightly warm when you are in the sun! There is a hint of spring in the air which is very exciting!! Me and my dad went for a lovely long dog walk this morning and I always think there is nothing better than being outside in the beautiful countryside on a sunny day, I find it very relaxing! 

So as some of you may know last week, me and my family went to Wales for the week on holiday and as I love to take pictures I went a bit snap happy and took lots of photos and thought I would share them with you as Wales is such a beautiful place and well I don't know about you but I love being nosey and looking at people's pictures of their holidays. The majority of these photos are going to be of Barney and the countryside as my family aren't huge photo takers of ourselves. So if you love looking at pictures of dogs or the countryside keep scrolling down :) 

There was this really cool public footpath tunnel that went underneath the house, you could hear when people were walking underneath it as you were able to hear them chatting whilst you were in the house. 

We celebrated my Great Uncle Alan's 70th birthday whilst we where away and he is obsessed with Mickey Mouse and Disney so my aunt made him this amazing cake! 

This is the beautiful house we stayed in :) 

If you made it through all the photos well done, took me ages to sort through and narrow them down I  just seem to get far too snap happy! I just love taking pictures and catching those special moments!!  I'm not going to do a specific Barney picture today as there were a good few for you to see above :) 

Have any of you been on holiday recently? Where did you go? 

As always hope you are all well and jolly! 

Anna-Louise 

xx

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My go to shoes

Helloo there :) 

How are you all today? I hope you are all fine and dandy and that you had a great weekend! Did you get up to anything exciting? I spent most of my time working, sleeping, watching Call the Midwife (does anyone watch that?!) and taking part in the bloggers chats that were on over the weekend. Did any of you take part in the bloggers chat's this weekend on twitter?! If so which ones? 

Instead of the typical go to make up looks etc I thought I would be a bit different and do a post about my go to shoes. Thought it's nice to do something a little different and well I hope you guys will enjoy reading this one. Let me know what you think :) 

So like most girls out there I LOVE shoes, like make up and clothes I think you can never have too many shoes. There is always a new pair that will look great in your wardrobe right?! Over time I have collected a number of shoes and today I want to share with you my favourites, my go to ones, the ones I can't live without you get where I'm coming from! I will warn you now though, there are no heels or sandles in this collection. No heels because I can't walk in them and find them uncomfortable so don't see the point in getting them when I can have my feet firmly and comfortably on the ground in a nice flat pair of shoes. No sandles because well I hate feet! I don't know what it is about them but I hate them! They give me the creepy crawlies, all feet even my own! I will even not use public swimming pools because of the feet and well because I don't want to swim past a plaster eww yuck! Sometimes in the summer when I'm feeling brave and my feet are tanned and my toes are painted I wear sandles but usually only when I'm on holiday. I obviously also wear flip flops by the pool on holiday otherwise I would boil but again toes have to be painted and my theory is that because I'm out in the open and so is everyone else feet are clean. Weird theory that doesn't make sense I know but that's just me :) 

My face at the thought of feet!!! 

Now to some of you my go to shoes may look well rather boring and bland but I love them to pieces! I love pretty little ballet pumps etc but it seems to be that my go to shoes seem to be of more of a bland colour, maybe it's the time of the year, perhaps I will do a summer go to shoe collection who knows. 

UGG boots!! Who doesn't love them?! I certainly love them to pieces, I constantly wear them in the winter especially when it's chilly as they keep my toes all nice and warm. 

Timberland boots! These have become incredibly popular over the past couple of years again! I think they must have been popular when I was a young kid as well as I remember owning a pair and thinking I was the coolest kid about. I treated myself to a pair last year again and they are just so comfortable and water proof which for me as a dog owner is great! 

Now these shoes are known as deck shoes and these particular ones are the Chatham Deck Lady.  I find them so comfortable to wear and their colour means that they go with most my outfits perfect. I have a similar style by the same make in pink too but they mainly only come out in the summer. These are not to everyone's taste I will admit that but I'm a country girl and well these are just up my street. 

My go to trainers are my Nike blazers. I love trainers always have done probably always will do they are just so comfy and I love the material and the style of the Nike blazers. I have a couple of the high top ones as well but these have to be my favourite.

I have a little bit of a thing about plimsolls too. I love them with a pair of jeans or shorts or even a dress or skirt, you can pretty much make them work with anything and again they are comfortable. Shoes being comfortable is a big thing for me. 

Dubarry Boots. What can I say about these apart from they are my pride and joy. I spent my first ever pay check on these and 3 years down the line still have no regrets. I never used to be a fan of long boots until I had these probably because I have short legs and could never find a comfortable pair, but these boots changed my whole opinion of them. Now they are a countryside boot so would probably appeal more to those looking for that type of boot but I wear them everywhere even out for dinner. Give them a good clean and theses boots can look rather smart. 

Let me know what you guys thing to this post. Do any of you have the same shoes? What are your go to shoes? 

The Barney picture today is another one of him snoozing lazy thing. Safe to say when he's not eating, walking or pooping he's snoozing! 

Hope you are all well and jolly

Anna-Louise 

xx

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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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