On Stationery - Kikki.K

[Photo: http://www.tijgertjerawr.com/zweedse-pastelkleurtjes-van-kikki-k/]

After initially reading about Kikki.K opening in Covent Garden here, I looked up the shop, I browsed it's website, I sent it to my sister, I sent it to friends, I followed them on Instagram. I needed to go. Make up and Stationery (and books) are a few of the things that I fluctuate between buying the most and I had not actually bought any stationery in a while. 

I would like to say that I had not gone to Covent Garden solely for the purpose of going here ... but I cannot lie. This shop is incredible. It is kind of like Paperchase but a little bit sleeker [and don't get me wrong, I adore Paperchase. Ask the boyf and he can confirm]. Much the same as Paperchase it has different ranges with similar things in each; journals, Paper Lover's Books, decoration sets, planners, pencil cases. The list goes on. 

They even, in an almost Ikea-like format, have desk layouts. (Is this just a Swedish thing?) Everything is sososo beautiful and it is all such a lovely quality. Many of their items are focused on living a better, happier and more mindful life. This is not just ordinary stationery, it's stationery that is focused upon something and can help you to focus as well. 

These beautiful books each focus on a particular trait, such as happiness or habits and help you to focus these throughout your life. The books themselves are gorgeous and the insides are also beautiful; they have different sections for different considerations and time frames as well as questions that help you to guide your planning. 

This range was by far my favourite and possibly one of the cutest in there! 

To my amazement, I bought only one thing. The Paper Lover's Book. 

I don't think there are the words to even begin talking about this book.

Kikki.k is definitely one of the most beautiful (and Instagrammable) stationery shops that I have ever seen. If you sign up to them in store you get a £5 voucher and £5 on your birthday! Students: they also do 10% student discount. You're welcome.

xoxo

On Motivation

It is the penultimate week of the Easter holidays (Warwick give us 5 weeks; don't ask). I have a grand total of 17,500 words to write (this will be small to some and large to others; it's all relative), three exams to revise for. A CV to complete, job applications to fill in and emails to send. 

I woke up yesterday morning with a horrendous migraine and could do nothing but re-watch Gilmore Girls and drink hot water in bed. I know that the latter part of this sounds pretty pleasant, but the former was awful and in total it left me feeling extremely guilty about having done little to no work. The majority of my deadlines are six weeks away and a good 12,000 of those words have been written. Yet still, I felt guilty. I lacked absolutely any motivation which also added to the guilt.

But motivation is hard to find. I'm one of those people that if I want a break, I'm going to have a break. I know that I'm not going to be productive if I want to watch Four In A Bed or go and make hot chocolate. I have productive periods of about 20-40 minutes at a time; then I need a break. Working like this means that I can then gather a bit more motivation in each break. Read an article about the girl that got accepted into all 8 Ivy League schools. Or the blogger that is in the same position as me but still runs an amazing blog. Or just lust after this bar cart.

Yet when you do have motivation, there are so many things you can get done. You can finish that essay. You can beast that exam. You can finally get rid of all those Law Firm brochures (I recycled all of my Law career hopes and dreams of 2013 yesterday). You can tick off some of your To Do List. And it doesn't really take that much to do it either. If you got out of bed, you're already basically 75% there anyway! 

My diary has become a mass of day to day to do lists. In fact more like day to day goals. Finish Nietzsche Essay. Make revision timetable etc. It's all about those small steps. Once you know what the steps themselves are, the rest is actually pretty easy.

And if you're like me and your main problem is actually making the steps; read: actually doing it, then really the only thing holding you back is you. 

And remember. Today is Tuesday. We've already conquered Monday!

xoxo

On Water

Today is World Water Day. This is a day to raise awareness of the fact that everyone should have access to clean water. Water for drinking. Water for cleaning. Water for cooking. One of the most vital things on Earth that the majority of us take for granted, but that some people do not have access to.

World Water Day is part of the UN's mission to make sure that everyone on Earth has access to safe drinking water. It isn't unknown that some of the world's poorest people have to trek for miles and miles per day just to get a bucketful of dirty water to live on. Water that then makes them ill and can even cause death. 

One in ten people do not have access to clean water, which in 2016 is still a shockingly high number. 

To help raise awareness of World Water Day, there are a few things that you can do to get involved. Some people have been painting their nails blue, wearing blue wigs to work, changing their Facebook profile pictures to have a blue filter. Not to mention sharing all of these, with the hashtag #Blue4Water. You can also donate to various causes to help raise money for plumbing and taps in small villages. 

In light of all the travesties currently occuring in the EU, by coming together and uniting for something, we can show that the world is in fact a safe and friendly place. 

xoxo

Keeping Your S#!? Together

Last Wednesday I got back from a really great trip with Mother and my sister; we went from Madison to Vegas to San Francisco and then all departed our separate ways from there.
When I got back, nearly everyone I spoke to had had some sort of breakdown, or was on the verge of one. I was not exempt from this, despite just bobbing along in my little post-holiday ship, I was a mess waiting to happen. Mine happened yesterday (remember all those posts I made from my tablet because my laptop had died last year, twice? Well it's near-death yesterday elicited a twenty minute sob whislt cradling it in the union yesterday fifteen minutes before my second midterm of the day. My laptop and I have bene through more together than some couples, I swear).
And after then spending last night until the early hours doing literally nothing, other than talking with one of my best friends, and helping her with work every now and then, it occurred to me that sometimes we can't all just keep it together, all of the time.

But here is a list of some of the things that might help at least take your meltdown a peg or two!

- Tea. Obviously.

- Just stop. Stop whatever you are doing. Take a deep breath. Here I will quote Elliot from  Scrubs, 'Everything then just slows down.'

- If you know everything is about to overwhelm you, tell someone. But maybe try and find that one friend that isn't also on the verge of the same thing, because instead of lifting each other up, you will both more than likely bring each other down.

- Try and wear matching underwear. I'm telling you, when you suddenly remember that everything underneath matches, it makes your whole outlook on a life a whole lot better.

- Go to bed that little bit earlier. Turn everything off. And just sleep. Put some relaxing music on if need be; I know I cna't really sleep without music when there are 65659684736843 things going on in my mind all at once.

I don't know about you, but Spring Break is almost upon us here at Madison, and if I was back at home right now I would already be on my loong Easter break. So the end is nigh!

We can all get through these stressful times together!

xoxo

p.s. I am not advocating that we should all just have a meltdown, but sometimes, as my Philosophy professor told me this week, it's perfectly normal to cry if you just need to cry!

How I Got a Better Nights Sleep

Whenever I was waking up over the past few weeks, my back would hurt soo much. I felt like an old woman as I rolled, and I mean rolled, out of bed. I would then sit at my desk rolling my shoulders and doing all of those stretches you do to click your back. And it was bloody annoying, let me tell you. 

Then one night I just moved my pillows slightly so that  one wasn't completely on top of the other...and to my amazement, the next morning my back did not hurt! I then completely removed the second pillow and my sleep and back were so grateful for it. I have always needed two pillows to sleep and I thought that that was now how I was going to live the rest of my life to be perfectly honest. But now I know the error of my ways! One pillow is definitely the way to go! 

So if you're having sleeping troubles or back troubles like the old woman I am, then try switching up your pillows! 

As a side note, I used the above picture as whilst I was searching for good pictures of people asleep and pillows (I can't take allll my photos!), pictures of sleeping cats just kept coming up! So I had to go with this one!

Let me know if this helps you!

xoxo