Monday 30 March 2015

My Journey to Self-Love and Body Positivity

SASSY PUG!
Hey all, this post has been coming for a while because it's something that's very close to my heart and a topic I've struggled with for years on end. Body positivity. 
Every singe day in college I'll hear a girl I walk past say "oh I'm so fat, I've got to lose weight!" or a guy say "I really need to get myself to the gym, I'm not strong enough yet", both of those things I actually heard within the same two hour period at my college from students. Things like this break my heart because I have had difficulty with body positivity for almost all of my life and knowing that others are feeling the same way I did as a child doesn't bear thinking about. 
As a child I was bullied from Nursery (age 3 or 4) right up to last December age 18, I personally used to think I deserved every bit of bullying I got, I was ugly, fat, disgusting, all of these things I would remind myself of on a daily basis to make the bullying more understandable. At least that way I knew why I was being bullied, I thought that bullying was a punishment because other people had to look at my horrid face, my fat stomach and my huge thighs. I pushed friends away, withdrew from my family and let my school work slide round about the age of 13/14 when I started self-harming and became suicidal because the bullying was getting worse but because I was maturing I was starting to understand that the bullies were nothing but children who targeted my weak spots... it worked but still, at least I was maturing enough to know it. 
In school I had very few friends, only two I can think of that I would consider true friends, these friends weren't always nice to me but I passed the majority of the things off as friends taking the piss. After several suicide attempts, more self-harm, and God knows how many nights I'd cried myself to sleep or whatever, at 16 things started to change and this is how. 
I walked into a shop and went straight to the magazine isle, I LOVED women's magazines but this day I had seen so much on the TV about how large the average woman was getting, how they used to look, accounts on Twitter making highly offensive fat jokes, insensitive parents using "tough love" to make children lose weight and I had had enough. So, when I saw the typical magazine article where a clinically underweight celeb put on enough wight to be considered healthy, the magazine branded them the worst word possible... FAT *DUN DUN DUUUUUNN*
I laughed to myself, I'd taken these articles as gospel as a child, but how can anybody take something seriously where medical advice and medical opinions are given by journalists? Girls are made to feel bad by inaccurate medical and health opinions given by someone who works in a completely different field! It sounds daft but that was my turning point. From that day I stopped picking up those magazines that made me feel awful about myself. 
I still had issues with how I looked obviously so I thought it was time to address them and I did it my getting dressed every morning and saying one nice thing about myself, even if I didn't mean it, it did feel great to have said something nice. I remember one day I got to the bathroom mirror and without thinking, without having to remind myself to do it I said "Wow, I look so cute today!" and I meant it, that was the best feeling I've ever experienced. Obviously that wasn't the only thing that I used to boost my body confidence, I'm on instagram and I follow accounts such as Tess Munster (Holliday now I believe), Body Positivity, I look at and absolutely love the Carol Rosetti drawings. When you're trying to build up your body confidence and trying to love yourself for who you are I can't lie to you, it's a difficult and long road, picture a turtle trying to walk up a steep hill that's covered in peanut butter on a hot summer day. That's how difficult it is, however in this day and age the media including social media also push it down our throats not to fat shame or skinny shame but each day girls and boys are told they need to be skinny, they need to be strong, muscular, curvy is bad, a bit of a belly is a sin and god forbid you get labeled as fat because they make out your life is over! Well I will tell you something for nothing, your life in never over unless you allow it to be! Whether you're fat, skinny, middle, wobbly or green you have a life, you are valued and you are BEAUTIFUL. I'm a plus size blogger, I'm fat, my clothes go above a size 18 and I am actually healthy. I have the best friends a girl could wish for, I'm enjoying college and I'm on my way to getting my ideal career, I have the most wonderful family anybody could ever dream of and most importantly I truly do love the person I am. 
For all of you girls and boys struggling with anything body related make a list of things you're good at, things you know, things you like, what you want to do and who you want to be. After all, if a person has good thoughts they are beautiful. 
I wish all of you the best of luck of any of you are wanting to start your journey to self-love and body positivity.


Love Katherine. 















Thursday 26 March 2015

The Fun Questions Tag!



Hey all!
It's been a long time since I last posted and in the past week or so quite a lot has gone on, some good some a bit worse but overall I'm so happy with the way it's gone on and things have worked out for the best. Anyway, I thought I'd do a tag because I've not had much tim to write content in the last week or so because we got a new tutor at college who is less than good but I'm sure she'll sort herself out anyway I shall get on with the Fun Questions Tag! Enjoy dearies! 

1) When is your birthday? 

December 14th 1995 - I'm a winter baby!


2) What are 3 of your favorite colors?
Silver, Gold and red at the moment, although silver is my absolute favourite colour.




3) What are your 3 favorites quotes?

"Life is not about waiting for the storms to pass, it's learning to dance in the rain" - I'm not sure who said that I just have a picture of the quote stored in my phone. 
"If you're always trying to be normal you'll never know how amazing you can be" - Maya Angelou.

"You can never get a cup of tea large enough or a book long enough to suit me" - C. S. Lewis.


4) Are you addicted to YouTube?
Um... Maybe... Possibly. Yes. I have a problem! *sobs heartily*


5) What are 3 of your favorite shows on TV or YouTube or both?
Once Upon A Time, American Horror Story Doctor Who.



6) What are 3 qualities you like in a best friend?
Humour, loyalty and kindness.


7) Do you like your name? 

My full name is Katherine Hayley Jazz Savage Simpson but I'm known as Katy Simpson. I hate Katy Simpson but I love Katherine Hayley Jazz Savage, if that made any sense at all.


8) If you have the choice to pick your own name, what will it be?

Ruby Pleasant, because rubies are my favourite gems and I'm obsessed with the Skulduggery Pleasant series!


9) What is your fantasy dream?
For Skulduggery Pleasant to save me from some danger and I become his partner... that's not weird right? Right?

10) Do you wear makeup?

I do, not all the time but I wear it o college sometimes and when I'm off out or going to a party or something. 



11) If you could write a book, what would the title be and what would it be about?
I have no idea about the title but I do write a little and at the moment I'm writing a short horror novella type thing with possession and demons and stuff. I love scaring myself witless to be honest. 

12) What makes you cry?

I cry when I see my friends and family upset, anything to do with hurting animals or children, Disney movies... pretty much everything. 



13) What makes you angry?
Ignorance, when people talk about others behind their back in a malicious way, homo/bi/transphobia etc and discrimination for any reason... and politics.




14) What makes you happy?


Books, books and more books, days out with my best friends, cosy nights in, spending time with the family. 


15) What is "Fangirling?"


See the picture? That is what fangirls/fangirling is.


16) What are your 3 favorites snacks?
I really like shredded coconut, sliced almonds and strawberries.




17) What are your 3 favorite foods?

Pizza, my grandmas sunday dinner and stir fry are my all time favourite foods. 



18) What are your 3 favorite drinks?
Water, Milk (with or without tea) and Shlœr, yummy.




19) Can you tell us a little about yourself?


Well, I'm 19, I'm a plus size blogger, I live in the North East of England, I'm obsessed with Harry Potter and Skulduggery Pleasant. I can sing, play piano and clarinet. I'm pretty cool and I love rainy days.


20) What are 10 random facts about you?

- I'm a Slytherin on Pottermore
- I can sing in German, Polish, Russian and Mandarin.
- I can perfectly recite every single line of Mulan throughout the whole movie. 
- I used to want to be a stripper when I was younger...
- I got my Mam to buy me a 'make your own skeleton' type thing but stopped buying after the head purely cause I wanted to recite Shakespear.
- I'm an only child.
- I have no idea what I want to do with my life.
- I want to live in the Scottish or Irish countryside.
- I'm single although I have various celebrity and non-celebrity crushes at the moment. 

- I have over 150 different types of nail polish.


21) What are your 3 fun things to do?

Read, draw and cross stitch are my 3 favourite things to do. 
Thanks for reading all hopefully some of you will fancy doing this tag, let me know and I'll check it out. 


Love Katherine. X


All images for this post are  taken from Google. :)

Saturday 14 March 2015

Blogging Tips & Tricks

Hello all!
I've been blogging for a while now and this particular blog is not my first, although it is my favourite of all 4 of the blogs I've maintained. I've had this blog for almost 3 months now and I think it's high time I put together a little list of all the blogging tips and tricks that I've learnt over the last few years of blogging. Hopefully some of you will find this useful, I think if I'd had a list of things that I know now before I began blogging it would have been a much smoother experience but I'm honestly very happy with my blog at the moment although a few things need to be tweaked soon. So, without further ado I shall begin. 

Schedule!
Once you've got through the main stages of starting your blog, so things like choosing on the type of blogger you want to be (e.g. I label myself as a mainly lifestyle blogger but I do like to throw a bit of fashion, beauty, food and other stuff in there too), creating the theme of your blog and so on, I would say it's then a good idea to plan or get yourself into a blogging schedule. Schedules will help massively because not only do they give you motivation to keep posting but life can be made much easier by scheduling particular days on which you'll post. This way you'll be able to keep posts consistent and give your readers something to look forward to regularly. 

Stay Consistent
In the previous point I mentioned that keeping posts consistent will keep readers interested and keep the traffic coming in. Traffic is definitely not the most important thing when you're blogging and t's a real shame that a lot more bloggers are focusing more on the traffic that the actual writing but admittedly we all like to see that we have traffic coming in because it means we're drawing the attention of readers and keeping them intrigued with content. By posting every other day or on particular days you'll get into a routine in which you'll become consistent in your writing/posting times. 

Carry Notebooks
I highly recommend that you keep a notebook or pad of paper nearby because the majority of bogglers I've spoken to personally say that inspiration comes to them in the most inappropriate of places... like when you're on the phone and there's never a pen near you. Notebooks, pads or even notes in your phone mean you're able to write down some of your best ideas for later on. It's a good idea to plan ahead on this one as well because the topics you're looking forward to writing about can be worked into your schedule so you can definitely get your best ideas out there at some point. 

Find Inspiration
If you're stuck for inspiration and need a bit of a helping hand there are a good few ways you can get over bloggers block. I'd definitely recommend having a bit of a brainstorm with friends or other bloggers you talk to, this means you're all sharing ideas in an open way and ideas can be shared that you may never have thought about in a million years! Another way of getting inspiration for posts is by asking your audience what THEY think you should write about, because who wants to read a blog that doesn't cater to what their audience want to hear about? By asking the audience also a sense of respect and value is given because you're listening to what they would like. 

Look into Social Media 
When I first started blogging on a serious level I was told social media was a big part of blogging and it would definitely help get my blog seen and I'd get more feedback. Obviously thinking I knew better I didn't take social media very seriously but it's genuinely a pretty big part of blogging. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Bloglovin' are significantly involved in getting blogs seen and networking with other bloggers from my experience. I've been able to meet some wonderful bloggers such as Danielle from Underland to Wonderland and Tamara from  Me Just Talking To You. Other fantastic bloggers have been able to give me advice and support throughout my blogging experience and I would say it's something you wouldn't want to miss out on even if social media isn't your thing. 

Write What You Love
I have always said whether it is blogging, writing novels, magazine articles or whatever it is you write always write from the heart. If a blogger isn't writing with passion or interest then it shows greatly in their posts. This can be a major put off for readers, I  prefer reading things that you can tell are from the heart because they tend to lure me in and keep me hooked! The same goes for writers who don't write as they speak, it's not believable when someone writes things like 'verily' or 'forsooth'... I have no idea who does write like that but you get the picture. It's not real. Give your readers the REAL you and they'll thank you for it in the end. 
Thanks so much for reading, hope this helped all you fledgling bloggers!


Love Katherine. X

Thursday 12 March 2015

My Ultimate Life Goals!

Hey All!
Lately a lot of of things have been going on in my life that have lead me to rethink things, what I want to do, who i need in my life and so on; blogging is a great way for me to get my thoughts in to some sort of logical, sensical order, so this is why I’m doing my ultimate life goals post. I’ve never been the type of girl who dreamed of being famous, I never wanted fortune, flashy houses, or loads of fans falling at my feet. When I was a young whipper snapper I didn’t even want to be a princess *shock horror*. I wanted to be a genius, maybe a great pianist or be fantastic at playing clarinet, I just wanted what everyone wants; to be able to live normally and earn a good wage in a job I love. Obviously the genius thing hasn’t worked out so far but I’m doing great in what I’ve chosen to do and my ultimate life goals have changed so much over the years i can’t even attempt to plan anything or set any goals in stone because nobody knows what life will throw at you. So, after a long an arduous introduction on my part (sorry for that) These are my, current, ultimate life goals!

Get through University with a decent grade - I think this is pretty common goal for most students at uni, I've given up on trying to be the A* student mainly because I'm pretty atrocious when it comes to exams. Unless my uni course is going to be all coursework like a BTEC course I'll be over the moon coming out with a C grade to be honest! 

Financial Indepencende - This is something I've always wanted, I hate the thought of having to depend on a partner or family member for financial support, from being young this has always been one of my main life goals. I think it's also important to note that finding a job that I love is very high on my priorities list, I spent so much time hating school and sixth form that I do not want to hate the job I end up with. Regardless of pay, in most circumstances, it's more important to find a job I love than anything else but for the moment I'm enjoying my college course and flip flopping between jobs I might want.

Get Married - I think it would be absolutely wonderful to find someone, fall in love and get married; it's not an essential life goal for me but it's more of a 'ideal world' type goal. Also one of the other main reasons I'd love to get married would be purely to plan the wedding because I LOVE event planning. 

Have Children - This is a top of my priorities list to be quite honest. From being very young myself I've always been  quite maternal, always known I'd make a good mother and as I've gotten older I've only gotten more sure that I definitely want children at some point. I'm also quite resolved about the fact that at least one (preferably my first) of my children should be adopted, I've very strong opinions on adoption but that's a matter for another post. So children are definitely a priority. 

Be Happy - Finally the only think I would really like in life (other than children) would be to be happy. Happiness is so important in life and life without it isn't worth a damn if you ask me. I want to get out there and do fun things, spend time with family and good people, take impromptu road trips, dance sing and generally live. Being happy is my main focus and priority at the moment and I believe more people need to make the effort to be happy, see the goodness, fun and positivity in life more often. 

Thanks for reading everybody and I really hope you enjoyed this post. Let me know some of your life goals, I’d love to hear from you!




Love Katherine. X

Monday 9 March 2015

5 Games for Nights In - Drinking or Not

image from Google
Hi everyone!
A few weeks ago me, my friends Annie, Aidan and Matt were all together at Annie and Aidan's house and we had a bit of a 'get together' type affair as all 4 of us aren't really together very often. Each time all four of us are together it's always a really good night in my opinion because I, personally, am definitely not the clubbing type, I'm not even a fan of going to pubs if I'm totally honest. So, for me good nights in with good people are top notch, I'm also not a big drinker really as I'm actually quite allergic to alcohol so when we do get together and there is drinking there's always some fun games to play that, usually, don't involve a whole load of drinking for me as I'm pretty good as games like these. I've managed to get together my top 5 favourite games to play for those people who drink and those who don't. 

1. Fuzzy Duck - This is a British word type game that can be played with 2 players but more players makes for a better game. One person from the circle of players is nominated to start, they begin by saying "Fuzzy Duck", going clockwise the next player will say either " Fuzzy Duck" or they will ask "Does He?". The circle then goes backwards anti-clockwise, with players saying "Ducky Fuzz" instead of "Fuzzy Duck". This carried on as players alternate what they are saying. This is a really fun game to start the night with whether you're drinking or not because it's just as easy to make a mistake with the pronunciation (if you catch my drift), the swearing from this game can become seriously funny if you individuals decide to take a shot whenever a mistake is made. 

2. Suck and Blow - Now this one isn't as bad as it sounds, I promise. For this game one individual gets a cars to their lips and sucks air in to keep the card to their lips, they then to to the player on their left and pass the car to the other players lips. The aim of the game is to keep the card going in a circle for as long as possible, if you're drinking take a drink whenever you drop the card. 

3. Roxanne - The Police recorded their song Roxanne in 1978 and decades later people are still playing it... as a drinking game too! This is a game that should only be played if you're drinking, if not it becomes very boring. Divide into two teams e.g. guys v. girls, stand opposite one another and put 'Roxanne' on loud. Team A: whenever you hear the word 'Roxanne' drink and whenever you hear 'Red Light' spin on the spot. Team B: Do the exact opposite, spin on 'Roxanne' and drink on 'Red Light'. Keep repeating this, the more times it's done the funnier it becomes watching people wobble. 

4. I Have Never - This is a drinking game classic, it's brilliant to get to know people and get to know the scandalous things they've gotten up to! One person in the circle says something they have never done e.g. "I have never ridden a motorcycle", those of the group that have ridden a motorcycle must drink. The game continues like that and is much more interesting if the statements get... well mischievous. 

5. Drive By - Drive By is one of my favourite games to watch as the end result can be highly amusing. This game was first suggested to me by Aidan Ford, take a single shot glass and fill (halfway) with a drink of your choice, the first person to finish 10 shots wins. This is one of the more... intense drinking games and although it's fun to watch it's essential that you don't drink too much. The last time myself and Aidan went head-to-head in this game Annie Filmed it on her camera whilst her and Matt laughed at us both, Aidan ended up being... ill. I believe firmly although he managed 6 shots I was the true winner and I sort of managed to keep my senses. 
All of the above games can be played with or without alcoholic drinks, however if you do choose to drink with any of these games I must stress the importance of drinking responsibly. Listen to your body and stop drinking before you feel you've had enough. Be sure to eat at regular intervals and DO NOT UNDER CIRCUMSTANCES drink and drive.  Always drink responsibly and be safe. 


Love Katherine. X



Saturday 7 March 2015

Day Trip to Whitby!

Hello everyone!
I'm really very happy to be back into the swing of blogging and posting but admittedly the break this week has been pretty sweet. I mentioned in my previous post (here) that because of a relatively free week I was able to go to Whitby with a couple of my best friends, Annie and Aidan, and although the early morning start and the A19 motorway meant I wasn't exactly overjoyed to be going to begin with I was extremely happy we all went because the day was just brilliant!
I've been up early everyday this week and yesterday morning wasn't an exception, I think I got up around 7:00am and quickly hopped in the shower and hopped back out after practically using all my honey and almond scented soap that I got from Whitby the last time I was there; what can I say? I like soaps!
After my lovely shower I managed to get my hair done, make up on and get dressed all in the space of 20 minutes which for me is pretty darn good! Also as a little 'NOTE TO SELF' here I will be doing a post on what I wore to Whitby sometime in the next week which will include hair, beauty and fashion. Anyway, after that I set off for Aidan and Annie's house and got there at like 9:15am which was making good time; we spent an hour at their house then set off for Whitby after fuelling up the car. I'd been dreading this part for a couple of days because, although I'm a good driver, I panic LOADS when it comes to the Teesside motorway because I had a very close call there once with another car. I was terrified and every time a big wagon passed I would make noises like someone deflating a balloon. Every now and then there were cigarette breaks for Annie and Aidan but we managed to get to Whitby in one piece by around 12:20pm. 
We headed straight to a really lovely restaurant named Hadley's Fish Restaurant where myself and Annie had traditional fish and chips and Aidan had Haggis and chips, that really turned my stomach. We also managed to get through two pretty big pots of tea while we were there, Yorkshire tea is the best! I've got to say everything there was wonderful, the service was friendly, fast and really welcoming, the food was delicious and very good quality and the décor was just so cosy; fairy lights everywhere!


After lunch we all had a look around the shops, stopping at some stalls, smelling the soap shops, and of course going into the weird little Gothic shops that Whitby is pretty renowned for. After a while though Aidan went up the 199 steps to get some pictures whilst me and Annie went into a pub called the Duke of York, which was anything but welcoming, put nicely. We all had drinks and then I remembered that the parking ticket on my car had expired by about an hour and a half so it was a mad dash back to the car to make sure I hadn't gotten myself a ticket, thankfully I hadn't so we all stressed for nothing!
We all then decided to go to the Gothic shop up the top of Whitby called Pandemonium, unfortunately I was parked on double yellows so I ended up staying in the car and watching for traffic wardens while Annie and Aidan went in and looked around, I'm not all too keen on that shop so I'm not envious that I stayed behind. Oh and on the way out of that area I managed to get myself stuck going the wrong way in a one way street, that was... interesting to say the least. 

On the way home after what can only be described as a fantastic day for everybody, all three of us decided to pick a topic to discuss on the way home, this topic was one of my favourites (sarcasm alert); zombies. Turns out that I'd be pretty inept in a zombie apocalypse, Annie would most likely survive and Aidan would probably be the one to get seriously injured. Half way home we all started to get hungry so we stopped at a little place called the Cross Keys and before we even got food we left we waited for over 40 minutes just waiting to be seated, get drinks or have our orders taken. Definitely won't be going back there, put it that way. So, we ended up at KFC in Teesside park attacking our chicken pieces, Annie and myself got flat pepsi (not nice, don't ever try pepsi with no syrup). Finally we got home about 8:30pm and all of us were knackered, it had been a really long but a bloody wonderful day and I for one think we need to go on more trips like that. Good company, good times. 
Thanks for reading everyone!


Love Katherine. X













Post Break Ramblings

I'm back baby!
Hey there everyone, as you al know I've been away for a week or so, this was just a really short break because I had a bit of work to do for college this week and I was panicking about getting all that done as well as trying to make time for blogging, it's just wasn't doable and unfortunately I can't just take a break from college, so I've been absent for a while, and I'm sure you've all missed me very very much ;). 
So, here's a little update about what I've been up to. Last weekend I made a point of getting as much work as possible done so I would have this week as pretty free, I managed to get everything done quite well and pretty quickly. So, I ended up relaxing for the rest of the weekend and finishing a couple of my favourite stories in the Skulduggery Pleasant Armageddon Outta Here book, this particular favourite was 'Get thee behind me Bubba Moon', a fantastically frightening little story I must say, not unlike the Salem's Lot type storyline. On Monday it was pretty normal, Tuesday the same and that was when I got the news that I didn't have to re-do my last assignment as I'd achieved the distinction criteria thankfully! Since then my week has been free but I've been spending quite a bit of time with friends. On Wednesday it was my friend Annie's birthday (Annie of mockingbird vocals.blogspot.com) so I went over with her pressies, we did make up tutorials together and were generally girly which was so much fun. We did a bit of singing together and I also helped her set up her blog that I help with in the day-to-day running, I also set up her boyfriends blog (pausefordthought.blogspot.com) although his is still pretty sparse post wise I'm sure it'll be up and running in no time. Oooh also on Wednesday night I helped Annie dye her hair a lovely shade of blue! It looks very mermaid-y and I really enjoy dying or watching people have their hair dyed, no idea why. 
Thursday I was back at placement as it was as wonderful as ever, I've fallen in love with each and every one of the children there and the whole team have welcomed me right into the fold of their little family as though I'm one of their own and I'm also getting much more responsibility whilst I'm there which I'm loving, I've mentioned in previous posts that I love children and I love working with children so I'm in my total element whilst I'm there. 
Now, yesterday was definitely the highlight of the week because me, Annie and Adian (her boyfriend) went down to Whitby for a day out! Whitby is my all time favourite place to visit and I'll be posting on the later on in the day so watch out for that post! Due to the fact that I'm posting al about that later of I shall keep this really brief so as not to giveaway some of the details. It was a brilliant day and I couldn't have spent it with better people. 
As for this weekend I'm ill AGAIN! So I'm going to spend today and tomorrow getting my blogging back on track reading and catching up with The Voice UK! Thanks very much for reading and I hope you're all having a wonderful week!


Love Katherine. X