Loving Ourselves: Looks

I'm sure that lots of us are guilty of NOT loving ourselves enough.

I definitely think that I sometimes forget to look after no.1!

Just this week I was wondering if I should go blonde. I'm not pretty enough. Will nice blonde hair make me look better? I hate wearing my glasses - would blonde hair improve that?

I googled famous people who are naturally dark but have gone blonde for ideas. I am pretty dark and that would obviously be an issue - with the amount of time and money it would take to get to the shade I like, very dark roots to keep up with, etc.

Then I realised that my hair colour is really not the issue. I like my brown hair and it's in very good condition - there is nothing wrong with it just how it is... I was just picking on myself unnecessarily!

Aren't we all guilty of doing that sometimes? I look back at photos from last Christmas and think "crap - why did I wear that jumper? It makes me look bigger than I am..."

I'm embarrassed to admit that one as it makes me sound ridiculous. But I think most of us ladies do it at some point!

So how do we learn to love ourselves instead?

I guess this is all learnt behaviour - looking in the mirror and wishing a few things were different - instead of admiring the things that you like about yourself.

Surely we weren't born with an instinct to slag ourselves off - we must have picked it up somewhere along the line.

It could be because of the endless photos of perfect girls in magazines. With perfect style, lovely clothes, a flawless face and perfect body/hair. Of course this isn't how most of them really look on a day-to-day basis...

Or maybe it was pressure from other girls at school? Being a teenage girl can be tough - some girls are true mean girls, and secondary school can quite frankly leave us comparing ourselves to the over-confident "pretty" girls. Were they really any prettier than us? In most cases, no.

They may have had nicer clothes, but we can buy nicer clothes. They may have had better make up, but we can buy nicer make up. 

I really think that if you're very confident in yourself, others will believe that you are as fabulous as you make out.

Which shows that we should all have a little more confidence in our looks, or our decisions, or our beliefs (or our blogs!!)... and tell ourselves that we are doing very well, instead of wishing we had a different wardrobe to "make us look better".

We should look in the mirror and think about what we like about ourselves. It doesn't mean you have to turn into some loud over-confident person who puts others down...just look after number one. 

For example, my hair looks really nice today, I'm happy with it...

Oops - does that make me sound big-headed? 

We've been taught that it's not good to compliment ourselves. Time to change that right now! 

What's your favourite thing about your looks?

 

Eyes? Hair? Make up? Smile?...

 

x  

Wedding Craft 1: Mr & Mrs Letters

I love art and making things, so I knew that I wanted to work on some pretty things for our wedding party which took place when we got back from our wedding in Greece.

I'm a perfectionist so always fussy with things like this...

I'd noticed that Mr & Mrs signs of some type were all over the wedding magazines as decoration for the reception. At first they didn't stand out to me at all, but when I decided to change the colour scheme of the party to gold and pinks I discovered some pretty Mr & Mrs letters on Pinterest.

They were gold glittered letters and were set around the front of a wedding cake.

I loved them and decided that they would be great as a decoration at our party. They would fit in perfectly.

I wanted to make them myself, and discovered the mache letters that you can buy at Hobbycraft. They sell individual letters and numbers so that you can spell out anything you want. You could write your names, or add your new surname onto the end of the Mr & Mrs letters.

These could be used for any party or special event - I guess it doesn't have to be for a wedding at all!

The Mr & Mrs letters that I bought came in a set for just £5. You can find it here.

They are meant as a mache kit so you can buy pretty papers to cover them with. But I decided to paint & glitter mine instead.

First I painted the back and sides of the letters with a tester pot of magnolia paint that I picked up in Wilkinsons. I had planned to glitter them all over but realised that this would get very messy! It would be harder to transport them to the reception venue without ruining them, and whoever had to touch them to set it up would be covered in glitter!

So a bit of paint to break up the glitter seemed like a good idea...

 

Once the paint had dried, I painted the front with PVA glue. I then tipped the glitter into the pot that my letters had actually been in when I bought them, and dipped the glued front side into the glitter. 

 

 

Done!! Easy as that.

I ran my finger along the edges so that the glitter would look neat. Then waited for it to dry.

These letters are great and could actually be used for anything - maybe a "home" or name sign for your living room or even buy the letters to make a Christmas word and use as a decoration for your house this xmas.

Do you shop at hobbycraft?

 

x  

Autumn/Winter Wishlist



Parka Coat Boots Scarf Over knee socks Jumper Bag Necklace

 

Autumn is definitely my favourite time of year for buying clothes. I guess that while it's lovely to buy new summer clothes every year, I know I won't get to wear them that much because of the weather we get in the UK...

Although the weather we've been having this September is crazy! So hot! 
 

Whenever we have beautiful weather I'm often in work all day which means I can't wear those lovely denim shorts anyway!
 

That's why I much prefer browsing all the autumn/winter clothes when it gets to this time of year.
 

I also just love feeling cosy - I'm not good at being cold. Freezing weather means my hands are like ice cubes and my teeth are literally chattering!

I'm the girl who runs as fast as possible to the car to go home on a dark icy evening - I cant wait to get in and shut the door behind me.

I've been searching for new things and now want everything on this wish list...and more!

Think I need to go shopping.

x

A beautiful island called Kos

I love love love Greece. I think it has a totally different feel to anywhere else I've been.

I first travelled to the Greek island Kos in 2008 with a group of my friends, aged 18. I was so excited to go on holiday with the girls, and I had the best two weeks!

We stayed in a village called Kardamena - it was quite a party town with lots of groups of boys and girls on holiday after finishing college. We made friends with some boys who lived an hour away from us, met up when we got home and now I've just got married to one of them!

We decided to return to Kos with our family for our wedding last month and it was lovely. I worried that the area may be again filled with 18 year old drunks and that it may not be popular with our grandparents... but Kardamena has changed a lot!

In the evenings the village was filled with families and couples - I was hugely surprised at how it had changed - but in a good way. A member of staff explained that a major holiday company was stopping their version of "18-30" in Kos from next year as the gangs of boys & girls all seem to be heading to Malia instead.

I see this as a good thing. There are plenty of great destinations for people to travel for a fun holiday with friends. Kos is a really sweet place and I think that it's prettiness can be better appreciated by the more sober holiday makers that it now seems to attract.

I certainly didn't notice how pretty it was the first time I visited...

I really recommend this island for a holiday in the sun with perfect weather and that lovely Greek feel. The people are so friendly and welcoming. Kardamena has a really pretty harbour and lots of cute little shops and side streets... it really is beautiful!

 

 

Are you a fan of Greece?

 

Have you been to Kos before?

 

x

Pretty Wishlist

I love getting home from work and relaxing in my pyjamas. It's always nice to buy or even make pretty things to surround yourself with!

Here are some of the things I would like at the moment.
 
Love this Olaf keyring :)

Pegging photos onto a string of fairy lights is so cute. I need to do this asap! x     
 

Phone case Gloves Cushion Slippers 

Nail Polish Olaf Key ring Pen Purse Fairy lights Bunting