On December

Definitely not my footprints, but those of a giant!

I am writing this snuggled up, after finishing the first season of The Crown (so good), seated at just the right angle to be able to watch the snow. I absolutely love snow; it is my all time favourite form of weather. As soon as I realised it was snowing, I wrapped up and went straight out into it. I love the crunch it makes and the glisten when it lays untouched. 

Here are some things I have been loving lately. 

Reading - I have always read a lot and since commuting I get through about a book a week. I have recently just finished His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman. I never read the second two books when I was younger but I got completely lost in them last month. I also highly recommend The Penguin Lessons by Tom Michell; it was such a lighthearted, easy read, perfect for an afternoon. 

KeepCup - I ordered one of these a little while ago after Boyf found it and thought it would be something really useful. This is such a great company; essentially they are trying to revolutionise the way we currently go to coffee shops by promoting using a reusable cup instead of the paper ones (which are horrendous for the environment). I got a Long Play which keeps cold drinks cold and hot drinks hot - and you can design your own!

Nigella Lawson - Have you been watching At My Table? I have re-discovered my love of Nigella. I recently met her at Stylist Live after watching her speak, where she was actually quite inspirational. In her new book, she writes about how complicated life can be and how it is so nice to just gather around a table and eat food which isn't complicated. She deifnitely advocates a very nice way of living!

Fortnum & Masons - I love Fortnum's. I subscribed to their emails a little while ago and everything they do is crafted so wonderfully. They make such simple things seem so luxurious; I have been over the last couple of days really enjoying their Christmas Spiced Tea. Definitely a little Christmas luxury in it's beautiful tin! 

Christmas at Southbank - We went here last week to explore the Christmas market, expecting it to be fairly standard. However, it was so much better than expected! It has the usual little stalls of crafted goods, food and mulled beverages, but it also goes all the way through into an Alpine-esque Ski Lodge with fire pits. A really lovely smaller alternative to Winter Wonderland. 

Christmas is only 15 days away (!) as is 2018 drawing ever closer. I am about to write my Christmas cards (which I am making myself this year for a lucky few!) with some classic Christmas music in the background. I hope you are all enjoying the snow (if you are experiencing it!) 

Here's to the last few weeks of weeks 2017!

xoxo

On Headaches

Headaches have pretty much plagued me all my life; in my second year of university I would get them every single day without fail. (And no it is not to do with my eyesight and requiring glasses). What causes them, I'm not sure, but from time to time they can be a lot worse than others. 

Headaches can be a common problem among many people, and everyone has their own ways of trying to combat these. So today here are my few tips (aside from the really obvious ones) that I have found can really help to ease, and try to reduce the onslaught of them!

I drink a lot of tea. And coffee. Both of which include caffeine and which is a big cause of headaches. So I have been trying really hard to cut down my caffeine intake. The main way that I have been doing this (cut out tea altogether I hear you say; god no!), is to swap one of my standard cup of teas for a Green tea. Not only is this far less caffeine but Green tea is known for its numerous health benefits. I'm currently loving the PG Tips one; it says smooth on the box and although I don't quite know what that means, it is smooth!

In a related note; dehydration is another leading cause of headaches (something that one of my friends always used to tell me back in school was the cause of my headaches). Along with reducing caffeine intake (a big dehydrater!) I am trying to drink waaayy more water. And when I say waaayy, I mean I never used to really drink anything in the day aside from tea. I have started running which has helped the water intake. I recommend having some sort of funky water bottle to motivate the water drinking.

Another good favourite of my is a head balm. I have one from Badger that comes in stick form so you can just spread it across your forehead. Anything like this I find definitely helps to soothe an achey head!

Continuing on that theme; anything cold. Placing wet flannels (or even wet tissues in a restaurant during a particular bad migraine) always and I mean always helps. I always find myself putting anything cold across my forehead; my hands, my ipod, my water bottle. 

Naps. I personally am quite a big napper anyway, and whenever I feel a bit worse for wear I generally resort to a nap. (Shout out to Hannah, another napper!) If you're really not sure what else to do and are getting nowhere with your day, definitely try and take a nap. Even just shutting your eyes for a little bit can work wonders. 

During my last speight of headaches I ended up researching if they are in fact linked up to hormones and periods. And guess what? Hormone headaches are a thing; most likely to hit around the third day of your period! So definitely keep that in mind if you are prone to headaches. Read up on that here.

And one more that the boyf has just suggested; headache candles. I personally had never heard of, let alone tried these, but after looking into them they sound quite nice! Made from soy and aromatherapy based they sound quite soothing.

I hope this has helped if you are a headache sufferer and let me know if you have any of your own tips that work wonders on an achey head!

xoxo