1. Stay organised. 

2. Work first.. party later. 

3.  Get to know academic staff. 

4. Do things above and beyond your work. 

5. Take up as many opportunities as you can. 

6. Use the library/free resources. 

7. Societies. Join one. Stick with one. 

8. A positive mindset is everything. 

9. Be yourself.

10. HAVE FUN! 

How to:
1. Drain and rinse the chickpeas well. Leave to drain while you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
2. Put the nuts into a food processor/blender until they are chopped into small chunks. Then remove and put aside.
3. Next, place the chickpeas, maple syrup, peanut butter & flavourings in the food processor and blend until smooth.
4. Finally, fold in the chopped nuts and chocolate chips.

I love this recipe. They're perfect with a cuppa, a cosy blanket and a good book to read. They're perfect as a little after dinner snack, although it is hard to stop at just one. They're insanely more-ish. The mix of hazelnut, mixed spice and chopped nuts make them perfect for autumn.

How to:
Place the banana in the freezer for 30mins whilst you prepare the rest of the ingredients.
Blend your choice of nuts until finely chopped.
Melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water or in the microwave.
Next on a clean surface (i used baking/greaseproof paper), use a spoon to cover half the banana in the melted chocolate. Be sure to sprinkle of the nuts as you go as the chocolate with set pretty fast!
Finally put the banana back in the freezer for 10-15minutes to completely harden.

We all want that flawless looking, airbrushed skin. But how do you achieve that?

I'm quite lucky with my skin, i don't tend to get spots or acne. I have some problems with blackheads due to oily skin and black circles under my eyes (silly genetics! boo!). But apart from that i have fairly good skin and it seems to get quite a few compliments ("you're skin look so smooth"). So i thought i would compile my 'top tips' for keeping your skin in tip top condition.

1. Cleanse every. single. night.

2. Cleanse after working out. 

3. Be consistent. 

4. Keep it basic.

5. PAMPER. 

6. Find products that suit you.

So if you don't know i ended up on a rather impromptu trip to Paphos, Cyprus (not complaining btw). It was rather rushed, i came home from working at university for 3 weeks and left for Cyprus the very next day. Luckily i could just switch my makeup from one suitcase to the other, pack a few bikinis and some suncream, wash a few nickers and i was ready to go. The joys of a beach holiday right.

Adulting is often discussed in the jokey sense; we have students talking about not wanting to 'adult' and 'adults' complaining about adulating. It seems, none of us want to grow up. Who wants the pressure of bills and doing your own washing? Am i right?

But, despite sometimes not wanting to grow up, it's important to think about it, because GUESS WHAT? It is going to happen. We're going to have to 'adult' at some point *sigh*.

So here are my 'grown up goals'. Here is what i want to achieve and the adult things i plan to do. They are both fun and pretty darn realistic.  Some of these things you will want too (if you don't have them already).

Having my own car

Put a deposit down on my own home (eek, big girl goals!) 

Travel (a good chunk of the world) 

Get a full-time 'adult' job in Psychology 

Continue onto further-further education

SAVE, SAVE, SAVE

Eating Out 

1. Chips, chips and um.. more chips?

2. Some variety would be nice, please. 

Veggie fajitas. Chickpea curry. Chips. Veggie fajitas. Chickpea curry. Chips. Salad? 

3. Can i have that but without...

The mayo! Or the cheese! Can we remove the coleslaw? 

Making a food order is never simple or easy (sorry waiters/waitresses!). It often involves a lot of switching, swapping and removing. 10 minutes later anddddddd.. we're done! Thankyou. Peace out ✌

Eating in 

1. M. I. L. K.

2.  Eating plant based 

3. Can you eat that? 

Shopping 

1. Checking the label on absolutely EVERYTHING.

2.  Spending an hour in the free-from/dairy free sections.

3. Free from... but not free from.

1. The awkward "I'm vegan" conversation.  

2.  Explaining that i don't just eat grass.

3. 'Ooh this chicken is soooo tasty' 

1. Forget to Instagram your food

2. Don't update Instagram, Snapchat or Twitter on the daily

3. Have anything other than a marble background 

4. Don't have an Instagram theme

5.  Fail to post them picture-perfect sunset beach photos 

So i decided i need to make myself more accountable. I've decided to quit the gym for a month (well longer.. 6 weeks to be exact). Yes i exercise, it's part of my lifestyle, i just can't help myself. BUT, i do find myself putting off working out if don't have a gym workout to complete. I dunno. I just don't get the motivation when i'm at home. It's far too easy to lay around in my pyjamas and blog all day. To add on to that i've always been snacking WAY too much and eating a lot less plant based than i used to. By that, i mean, i've been eating waaaay too many Oreo's. Oops.

So here i am. Setting myself some goals for September. Some healthy goals. Goals which i will stick too.

1. Cycling three times a week = 3hrs in total. 

2. Three Zumba workouts a week (min. 30mins). 

4. At least one piece of fruit a day.

5. Fluids: 2+ ltr of water per day, at least one green tea a day & only three coffees per week.

Argus

This comes already in iPhones but I find myself using it so much. I use it every day to count my daily steps to make sure I'm doing enough movement throughout the day. I use it when I run or cycle to track my speed and distance. You can also track water intake on there which is handy if you don't drink enough. It also gives you a basic estimate of calories burnt in the day based on your BMR (calories burnt by merely surviving - breathing, digesting etc.) and steps/activity done. This is useful if you're wanting to lose weight, you can gauge some idea how much you should be eating.

Overview: It isn't the most comprehensive app but, it's basic and does the job. A good all round app for health, fitness & lifestyle tracking.

Stars: ****

Grid Diary

This little gem is a personalised, portable little diary. Journalling has been all the rage recently but not everyone wants to fork out on an expensive notebook, spending a chunk of their day making it pretty and writing everything down. This app on your phone makes it easy to journal whilst on the go - you can do it on the bus to work! Each day it asks for the weather and your mood. Tthe grids where you write a diary entry are customisable - you can add or remove grids so it's up to you how much you want to write. You can change the questions in each grid - there is a list of a range of questions from health to life, to work and productivity (or add your own!). You can connect it via iCloud so you can update your grids online if you prefer. It allows you to connect to the 'health' app online to add your steps/calories data to your diary. As well as being able to add photos. This is a really nice way to put together all your information/memories for the day so you can look back at it all in one place (in read mode). It truly is a great app to keep you on track, productive and reaching your goals. Also one for people who like practice mindfulness/gratefulness.

Overview: One for people who like to journal but aren't fussed about bullet journaling.

Stars: ***** (can't really fault it!)

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