STRESS

Don't know about you guys, but I am seriously stressed at the moment.

It is currently week 6 at uni and that means one thing- DEADLINES.

Why do they do this to us? As if it isn't hard enough living on our own, having to look after ourselves and keep up with the ridiculous amounts of reading, all while trying to find time to go out twice a week (#lad), they now heap this 3000 word pile of shit on us. 

I. Cannot. Cope.

I am currently 1720 words into my 3000 word essay which is due in on Thursday and I thought, you know what I haven't done in a while? Blogged!

Can you tell I'm procrastinating? Good.

So I am stressed to say the least. But I don't wanna get you guys down, so I'm going to tell you how I try to de-stress and get through deadline week.

1) Plan

I try so hard at this, but always seem to miss the mark. I have these big theoretical plans and I write on my to do list weeks in advance 'make plan'. But do I do it? Not until the week before my deadline. I suddenly think "oh, I need to get some books out of the library...Hmm that's annoying, all the books I need are on loan... better start frantically putting things on hold... do I even have time to read all these books?" What I'm trying to say is be a bit more prepared than me and make sure you actually do your reading when you get it. That way when you need to start doing your essay you don't hate yourself for being a lazy cow. 

2) Exercise

I seem to go to the gym so much when I have a deadline. I tell myself that it is because I need to sweat away the stress, but I know deep down it is just another form of procrastination. But I try to justify it to myself- being in the gym is a productive use of my time and is much better than just sitting at home watching Netflix (I'm also guilty of this, but we can look over it). Going to the gym helps me to feel better about myself, especially when you look at what my next point is...

3) Eating

You've spent all day in the library, you've read 10 books, you deserve a reward. Why not treat yourself to that whole tub of ice cream? I am so guilty of this. I am the worst. I am a grazer and I constantly snack, especially when I am stuck in my room on my laptop all day. Now do you see why I feel like it's okay to procrastinate by going to the gym?

4) Sleep

This past week I have tried to get up early. I set my alarm for 8am, with these big plans for the day, but when that damn ringing goes off in the morning I just can't open my eyes. I have learnt from experience that if I am tired, then I am not going to do any work. Simple. My brain is cloudy, I can't think in sentences and any work I produce normally just gets deleted. Now, I make sure I have enough sleep and then I know I can have a few really productive hours rather than try to work all day running on empty. 

5) Have a bath

Preferably with bubbles or a bath bomb. Nothing relaxes me more than a bath, having some time to yourself and forgetting about the outside world. I often find that I have a brainwave in the bath because I am not stressing and my mind just naturally wanders. Saying this, I haven't had a bath at my uni house because the bath is kinda gross and takes forever to fill up which is sad.

6) Go out

Take some time for yourself. Just because you have a deadline should not mean that your life stops. Obvs don't go out all day everyday, but take a couple of hours for yourself after you've done the work you planned for the day as a little reward. Go to the shops, go out for a meal, just make sure you get out the house. One year during the exam period, I didn't leave the house for four days and I went crazy. One day I didn't eat anything other than chocolate digestives. It was a dark time.

7) Do something you enjoy

For me, that's baking. I love a bit of baking, mostly because you get to eat cake at the end of it. I never really have enough time to bake when I have loads to do, but if i have a spare hour or two I find it so helpful to calm down. Baking is also really good at lifting the spirits of your house; no one is going to turn down your baked goods.

I think I've done enough procrastinating. Now back to my essay. These are probably really rubbish tips, but just writing this post has been a bit of therapy for me. I'm going to leave you with this motivational image that's getting me through...

Anyone got any tips on how to destress?

Love, Becca xxx

Brighton

 Another beautiful day, another day of fun for Will and Becca.

This time we went to Brighton, a place I have always loved and will never tire of. I hadn't been there for agessss so we took the opportunity to have a little day out to make the most of this insane weather we have been having recently!

After the sweatiest car ride ever (my poor little Punto doesn't have air conditioning...) we arrived in Brighton and parked in a car park sooooo far away. Parking prices in Brighton are extortionate, so we found the cheapest place we could and complained about the walk all the way to the sea front.

We went to check out the Pavilion which is such a cool building, totally reminds me of Aladdin.

Don't you just hate it when scaffolding ruins your photo?

We then searched for somewhere to eat lunch in the Lanes, but ended up walking around for ages, not really deciding on anything. We finally agreed on The Breakfast Club which was amazinggg. I've heard of this place before but I only thought it was in London, so imagine how excited I got when I saw one in Brighton!! It sells breakfast all day long, and having breakfast not at breakfast time makes me happy. I had the all-American which was pancakes, bacon, eggs, sausages, potatoes and maple syrup. Will had the breakfast burrito, which he gave an 8 out of 10. We started eating before I remembered to take a photo, but just know that it looked and tasted amazing. 

Chilling on the beach and walking down the pier was next. It was so hot and I had to put loads of suncream on, but I still burnt.

#palepeopleproblems

There were some crazy people who were swimming in the sea and had obviously forgotten that the Atlantic is freezing cold. I didn't fancy that so we just sat on the pebbles.

We ended up wandering back to the car with an ice cream.

Ice creams are obviously an essential on a day out.

All in all, it was a very fun day and was lovely to go back to Brighton. We picked the perfect day!

Anyone got any tips for the next time I go to Brighton?

Love, Becca xxx

Ranting...

Today has been a rubbish day.

*This is going to be a very moany post, so be prepared*

I had a lovely day yesterday with Will, seeing a show up in the West End which meant a late night. But today I had an early start today as I had to go to work. *Waaaahhhh* 

As I had stayed at Will's house, I had to take my work uniform to his house the day before. But silly Becca forgot to pack socks. I had to text my Auntie in a panic this morning asking her to bring a pair of black socks to work with her! How embarrassing.

So I was up early and had to spend hours and hours in the chilled isle reducing food going out of date today, getting colder and colder and grumpier and grumpier. Two things I hate the most are being tired and being grumpy, and at this point, I was both. 

I pushed on through, had my 15 minute break and was back downstairs reducing again. It took me so long to warm up. I was in the warmer part of the shop but my feet where still blocks of ice and it was just making me more annoyed.

After work I went to play tennis. I was soooo hungry but didn't have time for any lunch so had a bag of crisps (salt and vinegar French Fries if you were wondering). I was playing tennis with three guys, and it was such hard work. They were all hitting the ball really hard and I could barely hit the damn thing. It was frustrating as I kept losing points because of bad serves and it just wound me up more and more. I was hot and sweaty, tired and hungry and my arms were aching. Then for the worst part of the day.

I smashed my iPhone screen.

I actually wanted to cry at this point. It's not that I can't live without my phone. It's more the hassle that comes with breaking it and having to pay to get it fixed. And the fact that I'm really busy this weekend so have pretty much no time to go and get it fixed added to my frustration. It kinda tipped me over the edge. I have never broken the screen of my phone before, so I took this personally. It's not even a little break- the whole right side of the screen is smashed and it's all cracked over to the left side.

Nightmare.

To top off this rubbish day, I am horribly sunburnt.

How ridiculous does this look? It's bloody painful too. 

I'm feeling super negative while writing this, so to perk up a bit, I'm going to list all the nice things that have happened today to remind myself that my life is actually okay.

1. My wonderful boyfriend woke up early to take me to work, even though he didn't have to.

2. He also picked me up.

3. Customers at work were actually quite nice to me. Working in East Croydon you meet a wide range of customers, but today I seemed to encounter the nicest of the bunch.

4. I had a nice time talking to my Auntie at work. She also brought me a nice pair of socks, which was good of her. She looks out for me.
5. I did some exercise today, and although my arms an my legs ache now, I did have fun.

6. I'm a lot better at tennis than I was when I first played a few weeks ago. Even though we still lost, I was quite proud of myself.

7. My good pal Laura came round in the evening and we had a long overdue catch up which was lovely (even if I did moan pretty much the entire time - soz Laura).

8. Dinner was great - good job Mum. 

So my day wasn't all bad. I have to remember that things could always be worse, and that a broken screen can be fixed and sunburn goes away. Right now I am thanking the Lord that I have aftersun in the house.

*emoji that looks like two hands praising the Lord but is apparently a high five(?)*

I need to start looking at the positives more often and living life as a glass half full kinda gal. 

But come on, this day was pretty rubbish, right?

Love, Becca xxx

Hampton Court

The weather has been sooooo beautiful lately, so me and Will went to Hampton Court Palace to enjoy the sunshine and spend the day being history nerds. We both study history at university, but he never lets me forget that he got a better grade than me in our A Level Henry VIII exam...

I wrote out a whole paragraph about Hampton Court and Henry VIII and all the history, but I realised that it would probably be really boring to read unless you love history! 

I was really rubbish at giving directions, so we got lost a few times (sorry Will), but eventually we got there and found somewhere to park. There was a cute little cafe where we parked so we stopped there for lunch as we were starving by this point, and then walked to the Palace through a massive park. We walked through the gardens and got our tickets, then cooled off inside the Palace, geeking out and trying to one up each other with Henry facts. 

Obvs we stopped to have some ice cream and a sit down after we had walked about 100 miles... It was so nice to get out and it turned out to be a really cheap day! Even though we've both been to Hampton Court so many times, it was still a really fun day and we will defo be going to more places like this.

What are your favourite places to visit?

Love, Becca xxx

The New Forest

I've been such a bad blogger recently, but I was so busy with exams, and then moving back home and I've been doing so much overtime at work! But now I'm gonna start doing more blogging, so I thought I'd write about when I went to the New Forest a few weeks ago with my pal Krista (who also has a blog... http://daily-head-space.blogspot.co.uk). I took loads of photos so just thought I'd share them!

We had a really lovely day walking around and driving to all the different parts of the New Forest. We met some horses that we took far too many pictures of and we spent the afternoon enjoying the great outdoors!

The weather was really lovely which was a bonus, and I can see why it is Krista's favourite place! Can't wait to go back and explore some more!

Love, Becca xxx

I Went Shopping...

As a treat for finishing my exams and to reward myself for the weeks of hard work, I went shopping and spent a lot. 

Whoops.

I'm super excited about some of the bits I bought so I thought I'd share them with you all!

Mac Real Doll

Mac 217 Brush

Mac False Lashes Extreme Black Mascara

Lancome Hypnose Doll Eyes Waterproof Mascara

First stop was John Lewis, where I always get sucked in by the Mac counter. I want every single lipstick! *heart eye emoji* I took advantage of the 10% off they were offering and bought Real Doll which is a really pretty baby pink. It's a lustre formula so it's not too pigmented and is quite glossy. I also bought an eyeshadow blending brush because I've heard such great things about it! This Mac mascara was a free sample, but it's just a bit rubbish: It doesn't lengthen, doesn't volumize, just kinda sits on your lashes. I won't be buying a full sized one! I wanted to try a new mascara and had heard that Lancome do amazing ones, so I have high hopes for this one!!!

Virgin Mojito Body Scrub, Shower Gel and Body Sorbet

Vitamin E Aqua Boost Sorbet

Vitamin C Daily Moisturiser SPF 30

Wild Argan Oil Hand Cream

Vitamin E Gentle Face Wash

Vitamin E Intense Moisture Cream

  Obvs I went to the Body Shop. I flipping love it. And their new Virgin Mojito range is to die for. It is lime and mint scented so it's sooo refreshing, I think it will be really nice in the hot weather. I've never used their sorbets before and now I've got two! They are not as rich and buttery as the body butters so they aren't as moisturising, but they are so fresh and really cooling on the skin. I bought a face moisturiser with a high SPF for when I go away on holiday and of course I picked up some more hand cream. I also bought some replacement Vitamin E stuff because I'm nearly all out!

I bought all this stuff from Primark, which I am loving at the mo. I either love or hate that shop (normally hate) but I went to the one in Portsmouth and it's a lot tidier than others I've been to! I've been looking for a chunky belt for a while and at £2 each I decided to buy two. Tights are an essential, and I thought I'd try out these fake eyelashes as they were only a £1! I got some comfy little shorts for wearing round the house and two little boho tops (I'm trying to get into the festival style).

This little beauty was from River Island and it's adorable. It fits me really well and suits my body shape. I find it so difficult to find bikinis that actually fit me well and I end up giving up but this was perfect. 

Eeeek I spent so much money, but I definitely needed all of this. 

Love, Becca xxx