The Start Of A New Journey

First of all I would just like to say a huge happy new year; I'm wishing everyone happiness, peace, love and luck throughout 2018 - and on wards!

It's been a while since I last wrote a blog post so do excuse me while I shake the dust off!

I made a promise to myself that after taking a pretty big (and much needed) break from blogging I would start again in the new year feeling more focused and positive than ever and I definantly feel like i'm in that head space right now.

There's going to be some pretty big changes to my blog this year. Throughout 2017 I have been working so hard on myself and going through my spiritual journey. I've learnt so much about myself and I finally feel like i'm beginning a true awakening and I would really love to share this experience on my blog as well as sharing some tips I've learnt that could maybe help you too!

Of course I will still be mixing it up and there will still be all a variety of content coming to my blog. I will just be writing about whatever is inspiring me at the time! No limits!

I'm so excited to start a new journey with you and hopefully helping a lot of you along the way!

Hope you have a beautiful day,

Katie Ellen. x

Letting Go Of Control (Stop Overthinking)

Hello loves,

I was watching a video on YouTube from infinite waters (also known as Ralph Smart) the other day about over thinking and this video sparked so much inspiration in me. I feel like I could do a whole blog post on how much Ralph's channel has changed my life but I guess I'll save that for another day! If you would like to view his video please just click riiiiight here.

I'll be honest and say I am definantly guilty of being an extreme over thinker. I think that due to my anxiety I have a constant need to analyse every situation so that I can protect myself from all angles. 

During this video Ralph talked about how we over think because we feel like we can control everything but in reality we cannot control anything at all. This hit me super hard because I felt like it completely made sense to me. There have been so many times when my anxiety and over thinking have gone through the roof because I just didn't understand how I could control situations to stop bad things from happening to me when in reality I was just causing extra stress for myself. 

After watching this video I decided to try to take steps on letting go of that control. Realising that nothing and no one truly belongs to me and that over thinking will destroy my happiness which it already has done so many times. Don't get me wrong I am in no way close to saying I've stopped over thinking. I still struggle with it daily. However, I now have the motivation and inspiration to understand that I deserve to treat myself, my mind and the people around me better.

I hope that this blog post and Ralph's video can inspire you to take steps to a better life too.

Here's to a more peaceful life.

Thank you for reading,

Katie Ellen. xxx

Snowing Shortbread

Hello loves,

Today's post is going to be a super simple post on how to make these cute little chocolate 'covered in snow' short breads. This is something you could easily do with children or for your self and will only take a few moments to do!

Things you will need:

Shortbread (You could make your own by finding a recipe online. However, I just used the ones from the packet!)
200g Chocolate of your choice (Add more chocolate if you are making more than 8)
Icing Sugar

First of all you want to break your chocolate up into little squares and place them into a glass bowl.

After this you want to boil some water in the kettle. Once that has boiled pour the water into a pan and set the glass bowl on top. Turn the stove on and let the water continue to boil.

After a very short while your chocolate should start to melt and once it has completely melted remove the bowl off of the pan and now it's time for the fun part! Woohoo!

Resist trying to eat all of the melted chocolate with a spoon. I know, it's hard.

You want to take your shortbread and dip it into the chocolate; covering all of it but the bottom.

After doing this set all of your chocolate covered short breads in the fridge to cool down. They should be hard after around 30 mins.

Once the chocolate it completely hard you then want to start to sprinkle them with the icing sugar to give the effect of snow! And there you go! All done and ready to eat. Simple & delicious.

I hope you enjoyed this post & thank you so much for reading. If you make these please tweet me a picture @KatieEllen201.

See you tomorrow!

Katie Ellen. xxxx

Non Alcoholic Christmas Drinks

Hey Guys!

Today's post is for those of you who aren't a fan of alcohol or if you just generally want to be more healthy this holiday season.

I decided that I'm going to give you two recipes of nothing but fruit & veg that you can pop in a juicer and make some delicious drinks! I made one red & one green as they are always the colours that spring to my mind during the Christmas season. Ofcourse you can add decorations to the drink to make them more festive if you would like!

These ingredients are to only make one glass of juice. If you would like more add as much of each ingredient as you wish.

Let's start with the red juice, shall we?

What you will need:

1 Medium Beetroot
1 Cucumber
Cup Of Blueberries
Handful of Rocket
Handful of Spinach

And for the green juice you will need:

2 Apples
1 Orange
2 Handfuls of Kale
1 Handful of Spinach
1/2 Pineapple

I'm going to be fully honest and say that I wasn't very fond of the red juice as I didn't think it was sweet enough for me. However, if you taste it and think the same you can always add some pineapple or orange to make it more sweet!

Let me know in the comments if you would try these out!

Thank you for reading,

Katie Ellen, xxxx

Time To Change

Hey guys,

I am writing this just as World Mental Health Day is coming to an end and I'm feeling super emotional so obviously I had to write a blog post! Haha.

Firstly, I wanted to talk to you about a post that I wrote for the Time To Change campaign website. I always express that whenever I talk about mental health there will always be a reason behind me doing so - and that reason is always to help the people who are struggling.

Time To Change campaign against mental health stigma - which believe it or not still exists! And I had the opportunity to share my story and how I have also been stigmatised for having a mental illness. This was / still is a HUGE deal for me. To be able to potentially help so many people makes me almost want to cry and i'm not afraid to say that I feel really proud of myself for being able to open up beyond the comfortable space of my own YouTube channel or blog.

If you want to read the post I will have a link at the very end of this post. If you feel like my story or anyone else's on there could help someone then please do share them! It would mean the world to myself and everyone else involved.

I also wanted to say how days like WMHD make me super emotional. To see everyone coming together to support each other makes me so happy and fills my heart with so much love. As a person who struggles with MH I think I speak for a lot of us when I say that it's extremely nice to feel like someone cares.

I would just like to end this post by saying that if you have a mental illness I want you to know that you're not alone. There are so many people out there feeling the exact way that you do so please don't be afraid to reach out and ask for help. There is nothing to be afraid of - I promise you there are people who love you and want to help you.

Let me know in comments how you felt about world mental health day!

Thanks for reading,

Katie Ellen. xxx

TimeToChange.com/KatieEllen

Dog Therapy

Hey guys!

Today's post is going to be all about those little 4 legged human / animals that live in your house totally rent free and eat more food than you do. Yes, I'm talking about dogs! *fangirls*

So, first of all I would like to begin by saying that I wasn't always a huge dog lover. I have always loved dogs and animals in general to an extent but never really understood how people become so passionate about them. I remember having a conversation with my boyfriend Karl about his dog Jake (this is before I had my own dog) and I remember him saying he would take a bullet for him. Honestly, at the time I thought this was such an insane thing to say but I can completely say that my view now has changed 100%.

This is me and Jake, he's such a little sweetheart!

I guess before I carry on I should introduce you to my dog, right!?

This is Phoebe my little 10 month old Cavachon and we have had her since she was around 16 weeks old. She is a little a bit crazy (in the best way possible) and I honestly couldn't imagine my life without her.

It's absolutely no secret to the internet that I suffer from anxiety and depression but I truly do believe that Phoebe has helped me through bad times more than humans have, surprisingly! There have been multiple times when I have lied on my bed curled up in a little ball crying my eyes out due to depression just wishing I had the courage to ask someone to help me when this little fluff ball jumps up onto my bed and starts trying to lick away my tears and curling up onto my lap; suddenly I find myself crying with happiness. For once I didn't have to reach out to anyone and ask for help as she was already there. I'm honestly welling up just typing this!

I feel that she has also helped my anxiety more than I can even put into words. I struggle a lot to walk places by myself so before having Phoebe I severely avoided leaving the house unless I was jumping into a car. However, knowing that I have the responsibility of a dog I force myself almost everyday (other days my family members take her out) to take her for a nice long walk and having her by my side makes me feel so much less anxious and on edge; even if she does like to bark at everything! Haha. 

I honestly believe that if you do suffer with mental health issues that a dog can be a real help in your recovery but always remember that you have to show them just as much love, too! I would give cats a shout out too but I have never owned one so I'm not sure if they act the same. Do let me know in the comments below if you feel the same about your dog or any other animal you may have as I am always happy to talk about animals, haha!

Thank you so much for reading,

Katie Ellen. xx

Getting Your First Tattoo?

Hello loves,

So for this past week I have been wanting another tattoo so badly and since that is what I've had on my mind so much I decided I would write up a little post to try and help out people who are thinking of getting their first tatt by giving you some tips on how you can prepare for it.

First of all this is super cliche and kind of annoying but please make sure that the tattoo you are getting is 100% the one that you want. I suggest giving an idea a couple of weeks to think about before getting it done as there have been times when I have wanted a tattoo so badly and then a few weeks later had second thoughts. It's all about patience.

I would also like to state that I am of course not a professional; these are just tips that have helped for me in the past but for the best advice about preparing for a tattoo your best bet is to speak to your tattoo artist.

STEP NUMBER ONE

One of my main tips of advice is to make sure you get a good night sleep. Depending on the time of your appointment you want to make sure that you get yourself to bed nice and early so that your body is feeling alive and ready to tolerate pain.

For my first tattoo I made sure I went to bed early but as I got more & more tattoo's I became super cocky and thought I could handle a tattoo while I was tired and I can 100% tell you that I definantly felt the pain more when I was sleepy than when I wasn't.

STEP NUMBER TWO

Make sure to bring some kind of drink with you - preferably something quite sugary. This is because rising your sugar level can make you feel better during your tattoo. Sometimes the pain can make you feel quite light headed & some people even faint during the process so it is important to keep those sugar levels up & to also stay hydrated.

However, if you aren't a fan of sugary drinks you can bring a bottle of water with you to stay hydrated and also bring along a snack as this has the same effect as a sugary drink.

STEP NUMBER THREE

Something that helped me so much to stay calm during my first tattoo was bringing my sister with me; especially since she already has tattoos so I trusted her when she told me everything would be fine - and it was!

Having someone that you love there with you can make the experience much less scary and a lot more comfortable / calm. Now me and my sister often go together and it's become a really fun and bonding experience for us both.

STEP NUMBER FOUR

This step is completely optional and will depend on what your tattooist wants you to do after your tattoo is complete.

I always make sure that I purchase a cream called Bepanthen to use on my tattoo during the healing process. It has worked wonders for me and really helps with the itching you have during the scabbing of the tattoo. You do not have to use this specific cream but do ask your tattooist what cream would be best for you.

STEP NUMBER FIVE

ENJOY IT!

Yes, getting a tattoo can be scary and not everyone will have a great experience but just remember that once it's done you will have something beautiful on you for the rest of your life that represents you and your journey. You will never know how you will react to it until you try it yourself so try not to listen to other people! Getting tattoo's has become one of my favourite things and I love every single one of them for all kinds of different reasons and I hope the same goes for you!

Thank you for reading,

Katie xxxx