#ItsTheLittleThings

If you follow me on Twitter, you will have seen me use this very hashtag. But why? 

Lately I haven’t had the strongest mental health days and I’ll be the first one to admit that sometimes it’s hard to accept that. We all struggle sometimes but I fully acknowledge that I haven’t been okay. I use Twitter as an outlet and I sometimes just believe that it’s just me that sees my tweets but in reality, I know that’s not true.

How comfortable am I using a public forum saying how I feel? I wouldn’t call it comfortable; I have people in my “real life” who see it, I have complete strangers who don’t know anything about me see it  and I have those that I became friendly with via Twitter who see it. Is that daunting? Absolutely.

Everyone deals with their own situations differently; some people hold everything in, some talk about every single emotion they have, some talk about extremely hard times while others only talk about the good times in their life. To each their own; I talk about good times but I don’t go into detail about the bad times. I feel like I’m a good balance in between all of those I listed.

So back to my original point, what is #ItsTheLittleThings? It’s a hashtag that I use when the little things in my life make me feel better. It can be anything from a great gym session to just making a cup of tea. Yes, even a cup of tea.

I’m not saying that every time I use it I’m having a terribly bad day; I simply use it for own mental health, good and bad, and when you find something that works for you, I believe you should embrace it ❤

“Not until we are lost do we begin to understand ourselves.” – Henry David Thoreau

Why I Don’t Drink Alcohol.

I made the decision not to drink when I was around sixteen. I had half a glass of Peach Schnapps when I was about fourteen and a sip of champagne at my formal when I was sixteen. That’s the height of my drinking, honestly. Ever since I was sixteen, I’ve always been asked why I don’t drink and I really don’t mind being asked; if people are genuinely interested, then I’m happy to answer. I don’t know many other twenty five year olds that don’t drink so I think that’s why when most people see someone not drinking when everyone else is, they can be taken aback.

I always get told “If you control how much you drink, you’ll not lose control” or the best one yet, “You don’t lose control, you know what you’re doing all the time.” Both wrong in my opinion, I believe that once alcohol enters your system, you’re not in control like you were before. Yes, of course there is science behind it all but I still wouldn’t let my boyfriend drive after one drink. Call me overly cautious and yes, he would still be under the limit, but if you’re choosing to drive, don’t drink. That’s why I offer to drive, I really don’t mind it; I actually like driving so it’s never a problem for me.

I don’t know whether this is because of the zero drinking or because of the type of person I am but I would rather come home after a long week of work, stick on the TV and have a big cup of tea rather than go out on a night out. Going out is a lot of effort, and don’t get me wrong, I go out sometimes and it’s nice but I couldn’t do it every week or every fortnight; once a month might even be pushing it. I find when I used to go out (when I was just with friends) I would hit the 11:30pm mark and I wouldn’t be able to have a decent conversation so that was always my cue that it was almost home time. Having someone repeat themselves over and over again or someone just talking absolute nonsense in your ear is something that I personally can’t listen to until the early hours of the morning in a very noisy night club (unless it’s my boyfriend and he’s just adorable when he tells me stories when he’s been drinking).

Money is also a huge factor. So on an average night out, I used to spend more money on taxis getting home than my drinks. I drink water and pure orange, that’s it! Oh, and let’s be realistic here, if it was even a little sociable acceptable, I would ask for a tea but I think that might be a step too far, don’t you? I don’t drink fizzy drinks or sparkling water, it’s just water and pure orange. So normally the water is free and the dearest I’ve paid for an orange is around £3 (I only bought one that night after that price!). Alcohol is not cheap! So why not go out, still have a good time without the massive cost and buy myself something else that I might be able to get more use out of?

Now I don’t think I’m a perfect person because I don’t drink. The last thing I want to do is come across like someone who thinks “Oh look at me, I don’t drink so I’m automatically better than you” because I really have never thought like that. I’m not any better or any  worse because I choose not to drink it.

I hope this post gave you an insight into someone who doesn’t drink. I have no problem with people who drink by the way! If you drink, cool. If you don’t, cool. I have zero problem with it. What I do have a problem with is when people don’t understand and don’t actually listen. No, I don’t want “one drink”, I’ve said no, what’s so hard about that? Thankfully over the past few years, my teenage years and now in my mid twenties, I haven’t had too many of those experiences. It just seems that it seems to be such a foreign concept to some people and it’s all about understanding at the end of the day.

(Images from pexels.com)

SS: Sunday Saves (#13)

This Sunday is probably one of the best Sunday’s because it means I don’t have to go to work this entire week! If you can’t love that, what can you love? In this week’s Sunday Saves, I’ll be talking about Twitter chats, reading and living your life to the fullest!

1. Anne Smiles (An Active Summer #HealthHour No.4)

I’ve started talking to Anne just over the past few weeks, all because I found out about #HealthHour. If you don’t know what Health Hour is, it’s a Twitter chat hosted by Anne about health related topics on Monday nights at 8pm. It’s the first Twitter chat I’ve ever looked forward to every week and even though I’ve only taken part in two so far, I love connecting with everyone. Anne posts recaps every week of the previous chat, to tell people what we had been talking about and to give an insight into what questions were asked. So if you’re into health, fitness and food, you should join in with us!

2. Momentarily Dreaming (8 Ways To Do More Reading)

I’m always looking to read more, I think it’s really important for everyone to take a step away from social media and take a minute for yourself with a book. (I should really listen to my own advice sometimes too!) Even though Sam’s post is from last year, I only just found it this week and she gives some quick tips on how to read more. I think the tips that would work for me the most would be taking time away from social media, setting an amount of time for reading each morning/night/day and setting myself some goals. Everyone who reads my blog, know that I’m a goal setter, so these are perfect for me.

3. Always Inspired Life (Top 10 Goals To Create A More Meaningful Life)

In Alina’s post, she talks about leading a more motivated life and I couldn’t agree more. If you’re living for someone else, not doing what you want to do or just going through life in the easiest way you can, I don’t believe you’re truly living. Being yourself, working on yourself, taking chances and being passionate are just some of the ways she mentions in her post, and I think it’s so refreshing. There’s so many posts out there on “being a better person” but this post isn’t like that, I love the way she has written this one, it’s honestly such a lovely read.

That’s all from this week’s Sunday Saves. My favourite thing about Sunday Saves is exploring new blogs, connecting with new people, finding out about different things that I might not have even known before and most importantly, to always keep learning. You can find me over at @RetroSnowflake on Twitter if you’ve found any new blogs or even want to send me your own blog. Have a lovely week!

SS: Sunday Saves (#11)

Happy Sunday everyone and welcome back to another Sunday Saves! If you don’t know what Sunday Saves are by now, here’s a link to all my previous posts. This week I’ll be talking about Q&A’s, cleaning and stationary!

1. Harmony Blaze (Fitness Bytes with Harmony Blaze)

Emma over at Harmony Blaze does these posts every fortnight of health and fitness bloggers in the community and gives us a Q&A with them. This week she interviewed herself but she interviews lots of different people too and I think if you’re into health and fitness but don’t follow a lot of people who are in that community, check out her posts and you might find some new blogs to follow. It’s a really easy read too so you could easily fly through these fitness bytes!

2. A Hearty Home (The Satisfying Feeling of a Clean House)

There’s nothing more satisfying than sitting down after a long day (or week) of a full house clean. It’s also exhausting. I know when I lived at home and I was only having to clean my bedroom, it would take me days but it was all worth it in the end. I felt more relaxed, I felt productive and I felt motivated to keep it clean. That’s what Margot talks about in her post this week except she has an actual house to clean and not just one room! I don’t see a lot of posts on cleaning, or even just people’s thoughts on cleaning, so it does actually motivate me to keep the house clean, so I don’t have to look at a pile of clothes on the floor and think “Oh I’ll sort that later”. So thanks for the motivation Margot!

3. A Handful of Sparkle (Stationary Haul)

For people who don’t lose their mind over stationary, I don’t get it, how could you not? Stationary is one of my big things! Every year I used to look forward to the end of August because I would get to go and buy all my new stationary. Staedtler Triplus Fineliner pens are my absolute favourites pens; I use them in work when I can and I even use them in my colouring book that I have Instagrammed a few times now. They’re so neat and clean. And Siobhan, you can never have too many notebooks. That does not exist! Siobhan is on my wave length with this haul.

Thanks for reading this week’s Sunday Saves! I love discovering new blogs and I hope through these posts, you do too!

Testing 1, 2, 3: Toothy Tabs.

So yesterday my boyfriend and I went to LUSH and picked up some toothy tabs. I’ve actually tried them before, I’m almost certain it was the Dirty ones and they were okay but we’re running out of toothpaste and we thought “Hey, we’ll try an alternative”.

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A post shared by Victoria Wilson (@retrosnowflake)

I posted a picture to Instagram yesterday of the toothy tabs I bought (as you can see from above). These ones are called “Miles of Smiles” and they’re minty ones! He liked the Boom ones so if we go back for more, we’ll definitely get those ones. I won’t be taking a picture of my teeth, because let’s face it, no-one wants to see that! However, another reason I want to test them for longer than a week is to see if they really make a difference.

• Will they make my mouth clean?
• Will they keep me fresh all day?
• Will they convert me to using them from now on?
• How much faster will it be?
• Will it be a slower “brushing my teeth” process?
• Will they be whitening?

That’s what I’ll be testing out over the next few weeks! I can’t wait to start experimenting, and if you’ve tried any other flavours, let me know, I want to find the best ones (:

SS: Sunday Saves (#3)

Happy Sunday! I’m back for another Sunday Saves, and this week I’ll be looking at sleep, journals and fitness (again!).

1. Jemma’s Simple Life (How To | 15 Steps For A Better Night’s Sleep)

I still find it fascinating how the tables have turned. When we were all younger, we used to fight with our parents to stay up later and we never wanted to nap when we were babies. Now that’s all we want to do, or just me at least. Jemma’s post gives us some really easy and simple tips on how to get a better night’s sleep; some are common sense that we should all be doing, but don’t. We could all do with a better night’s sleep, including me, so I’ll definitely be trying these out.

     2. KTMY (A Look Through My Bullet Journal)

I’m pretty obsessed with lists to the point where it’s not healthy and it can tend to take over sometimes. I’d heard over the idea of a “bullet journal” but I never actually knew what it was. Katie explains it pretty well and I love the organisation of hers; she has a key, colour coded, little charts and graphs, and all these future plans as well as a contents page at the start.The pens she uses too are some of my favourites, especially since they’re so colourful! Hers is so wonderfully organised, and so neat.  I don’t think I could start a bullet journal because I get so annoyed and frustrated at myself if I don’t keep going with something, but I love the idea of it and if I ever get “okay” with the fact of not doing lists every day and can control my need to have a constant list going, then maybe one day I’ll do a bullet journal.

    3. The Tattooed Princess (11 Things I’ve Learnt On My Fitness Journey)

A lot of us have been on fitness journeys by the time we get to our mid-twenties, it just seems to be the natural thing. I started mine when I was 20 (a few months away from 21) and I’ve never looked back. I lost about three and a half stone and I promised myself I would never go back there (unless I was pregnant) because I really wasn’t happy. In Sian’s post she talks about the things she’s learned throughout her fitness journey and they’re all so similar to mine.

The points that stuck with me most importantly were not every day will be great. I’ve had so many rubbish days, I’ve had so many great days too, but the rubbish days sucked. They really sucked. I felt like I had come all this way and it wasn’t getting better. These days happen, I just had to teach myself that it wasn’t a big deal. Another one that stuck with me is that you’re the only person that can change yourself; no-one can force you to eat the right foods, no-one can force you to go to the gym. There might be people who can make you feel bad about not doing those things (or even make you feel bad for DOING them) but no-one can make you do them apart from yourself. The last point would be the scale. I used to obsessed over the scales so much that it got to the point if there was eight Maltesers in a portion and I had lift out nine, I would have put one back, just so I didn’t go over my calorie limit on My Fitness Pal. It’s hard to not let the scales rule you. It’s a number and if you see the number get bigger, you’re terrified. You want that number to go down and down until you’re happy with it, but I think that just sets you up with bigger mind games and actually slows down not only your weight loss but your entire fitness journey too.

SS: Sunday Saves (#1)

I’ve decided to start off a new series on my blog every Sunday; every week I’m going to post about three blog posts (from other bloggers obviously) that I’ve loved that week, and I’m going to be sharing why!

1.  Vivianna Does Make-Up (Why the scales are not awesome!)
   

   Anna is great! I love that she’s really into fitness now, and not just posting about it on her blog, but on her YouTube too.  She wrote a post on why the scales aren’t important and I think it’s such an important post for anyone to read. We all get so obsessed with the number on the scales, I think everyone is guilty of this, even I am. When you’re going to the gym or just working out in general whether that be outside or in your house, you’re going to gain muscle and you’ve all heard the saying, “muscle weighs more than fat”. Yes, yes it does. So you’ll lose fat but gain muscle so if you gain a few extra pounds but you feel so much better within yourself, what’s better?
   There’s so much psychology in weight loss, numbers, your health; things I don’t understand because it is so complex but I think it’s so healthy to remember that you’re more than just a number on a scale and that pizza from last night was great, it’s just not so great every single day.

2. Carly Rowena (Are you too healthy?)
   

   Carly’s a  PT and is without a doubt, one of the YouTubers who’s videos I click on as soon as I see them in my subscription. This blog post is almost like being in my head sometimes. I punish myself so much sometimes for not eating “healthy”all the time and it gets to me. I hate that I do it and I’m working on not doing that so much, but it’s such a hard trap to get out of. I don’t believe in cheat meals or cheat days, but one bad thing and it’s almost like I write the day off as a “bad day” and that’s such a bad attitude to have against food. Food is there as fuel (and sometimes to be mouthwateringly delicious too!) and I have to be careful with my food, so when I mess up, I just get so frustrated with myself.

3. Emma Hull (Sunday Ramble #2 – Worrying About What Others Think)
   

   I think every single person has at one point in their lives (at least) cared about what someone else thought of them. It’s a natural thing that no-one can really help. You want to make people happy and you want everyone to love you, and you believe that until something just hits you and you realise that nothing is worth that. One of the main reasons I’ve been so up and down with various beauty blogs over the years is for that exact reason. I was embarrassed, I was genuinely embarrassed about writing about how I felt, about something that was on my mind, about a product I was using, or even just sharing a silly list. I’d be lying if I sat here and said I shout my blog from the rooftops, I don’t by any means, but I blog about my life and it’s so nice to see that I’m not on my own. It’s going to take a while for me to completely not give a care in the world about what people think of me, but I’m gradually getting there.

 

So you want to try yoga?

I’m not an expert in yoga at all but if you read my first yoga birthday post, I have some quite fresh experience in getting into the lifestyle, so I thought I would give you some advice if you’re new to yoga or even if you want to try it, but don’t know where to start.

Do your research.
Do you know anything about yoga? Do you know what type of yoga you would like to do? Have you done it before? Is this your first time or are you getting back into it again? These are all questions you have to ask yourself while researching about the practice.

Find classes in your area.
I’m all for watching videos online, I think it’s a fantastic resource and with so much free content out there, I don’t think you should let it go to waste. HOWEVER, for yoga especially, I think it’s an absolute must to go to a class and learn how to do the poses correctly. You will never know if you’re doing it right if you’re watching it and trying to copy it, you could end up hurting yourself.

It shouldn’t cost the earth.
It doesn’t have to be expensive either; depending on the area you live in, you can find affordable classes with experienced teachers. I live in Belfast so I learn through Yoga Belfast who have a range of classes for beginners right up to intermediates, in a range of areas, and are affordable too. There’s some drop in classes and others were you can sign up for a certain amount of weeks. There are many other yoga companies in Belfast of course, but I haven’t had any experience with them.

Get the right gear.
You don’t have to buy a £200 yoga mat, you don’t have to spend loads of money on new workout clothing, but make sure you’re equipped to work out properly. You don’t need to worry about trainers because yoga is done in either socks or in your bare feet. Try to avoid very loose clothing but don’t go really tight either, try and find a nice balance in between the two. I personally don’t like the cheap foam yoga mats because they can slide back on the floor (First week I went to yoga, this actually happened, so personal experience is talking.) but I got a good yoga mat from ASDA and it wasn’t expensive at all. I’ve heard TKMaxx or Sports Direct do some nice ones too.

Practice makes perfect.
This speaks for itself really. You can’t expect to get better at anything if you don’t practice. You’ll mess up, you’ll fall over, you’ll lose your balance, your posture will need corrected, but you know what? That’s okay, if you learn with someone who is willing to show you the ropes and if you’re willing to put the effort in, even one or two times a week, then you will gradually get better.

I am very thankful to have introduced yoga into my life, I don’t know what I would do without it. It has helped me physically; I’m now more flexible and that is particularly helpful when I go to the gym too. It has helped me mentally; I still get stressed and I still panic but yoga helps to bring me down (If only I could do yoga in work every day, now that would be heavenly!). I believe yoga is for everyone, no matter what your age, gender, flexibility, fitness level, lifestyle, whatever it is. It’s such a good focus for people to get stuck into and I would highly recommend it to anyone. I hope my advice has helped even just one person, good luck!

 

My First Yoga Birthday!

A few weeks before the end of 2014, I decided to go to a drop in yoga class because I was always interested in finding out about it. I went on my own (but I’m used to going on my own to new things now) and I met Chandra who took the class and I had a blast. I remember I really struggled with some of the poses (but who doesn’t at their first class?) but I actually really surprised myself too. It was such a relaxed atmosphere and in all honesty, I didn’t know what to expect, but it was something I knew I wanted to take further. So a few weeks passed and I didn’t see the point in beginning just before Christmas so I waited to the New Year and I signed up to a six week class with Chandra again, and I’ve been attending ever since.

The date of that first class was Monday 5th January 2015, so the 5th January is the date I’m calling my first yoga birthday!

I never knew what a positive impact yoga would have on me. Physical, mentally and spiritually. I go on Monday nights after work (Thankfully it’s just a thirty second walk from work too) and it makes Monday a little more bearable. I’ve seen such a change in myself over the past year; obviously it’s not a complete miracle worker and I have gone through a few things during the year but I haven’t thrown yoga to the side, I’ve went even when I haven’t been feeling my best, and it might not have made me a positive bunny, it still helped me a little, so that in itself is the sign of a great practice.

One of my New Year’s Resolutions this year is to advance further in yoga. I want to challenge myself more, I want to do more, I want to see how far I can push myself (within reach of course) and  as I reflect over the past year, I don’t know what I would ever do without it now.

NYR: February Update.

I’m back for another update for my New Year’s Resolutions. If you missed last month’s update, it’s right here and you can see what I got up to last month.

• I went to a health talk all about detoxification and then I went to a cooking demonstration connected to that subject. Here’s a picture of one of the meals we had on the night, it was delicious! (x)
• Every time I’ve done a food shopping, I’ve actually wrote a list and stuck to it. (x) (x)
• My six weeks of yoga finished in the middle of the month and I’ve signed up for another six weeks.
• Meatless Monday has been done all four Monday’s this month again.
• I missed out on two Jantastic’s because I forgot to put the details in before the cut off date. I’m actually annoyed with myself ):
• I treated myself to my first professional facial and back massage on Valentine’s Day and it was pretty incredible. (x)
• I’ve used up 18 beauty products this month! You’ll find the post right here!
• I’ve started writing down my week, fitness wise, and I’ve been sticking to it rather well, but most of the time, this changes, depending on my schedule outside of fitness. (x)