Midweek Mender | Me Time

There are just days when all I want to do is crawl up into bed with candles, Vampire Diaries and hot chocolate - even on hot days - and those days are usually during the middle of the week. Sometimes I just feel like Wednesdays are just as bad as Mondays are. By Wednesday I am frazzled, over worked, tired, grumpy, the list could go on. By midweek our (or just mine?) stress levels are at their most ‘I need a chocolate bar or this is not going to be pretty’-est, causing cortisol levels to rise which can lead to the skin’s strength to weaken and oxygen flow to diminish and you just feel down right moody and horrible. A prescription to hump day blues? A good chillax’.

My Birthday Wishlist

Exactly a week from today will be my birthday. The big 20! I'm not really too phased about it if I'm honest, So many friends are so excited for me and ask if I'm excited.. I'm really not. I think I'll be more excited for my 21st but anyways that being said, I thought I'd do something fun and make a short but sweet wishlist for all the things I want for my birthday. Now theres no point in this really, since I know my family have already bought my presents but nevertheless, I thought it would be nice for those of who you are struggling with ideas on what to ask for if you're a February baby too. Also I guess this could be used as a cheeky Valentines Day wishlist, hey? Direct the boyfriends here! 

AWOL

Well first off Happy 2014 everyone! I'm 10 days late but better now than never. I hope everyone had a lovely Christmas and a very Happy New Year. Just a quick update, I have pretty much been silent since Christmas, I decided to take a break for a short while as I've been so exhausted this past year. Looking back 2013 had good things but majority was bad things for me, so you can imagine how keen I am for a clean slate in the year 2014! 2014 is going to be a busy and hopefully great year filled with studying teaching, my sisters wedding and just having fun and being positive (I have a nasty habit of being negative so you can count that as my new years resolution number 1.) Anyways things here on Dimples & Beauty will go back to normal come Monday - get excited! I hope everyone has a lovely weekend!

Some Bedroom Changes

I've been feeling the need for a few changes in my room. I'm in my room most of the time, its like my little sanctuary and I know this isn't a beauty related posts but I'd like to start doing a few posts like this.

Christmas Gift Ideas For Him



I don't know about you but I struggle to find gifts for guys. They're easy but difficult to buy for because unlike girls, who have a unlimited wish list, men tend to have pretty much everything they could ever need/want. Most boys/men, I've noticed, have a lot of electronic equipment and lets face it some of them could use an extra pair of jeans instead of new Xbox games. I've put a more personal gift list for men together for you to use as a guide line for those men in your lives.

Chritmas Gift Ideas For Her

So as I'm sure you all know Christmas is literally one month away and I figured since its most South African's pay day today, why not do a Christmas gift idea post? Like most, I am so confused as what to buy people for Christmas so hopefully this helps. I would personally love everything on this list and I'm sure theres something for mostly everyone here like moms, moms in law, girlfriends etc.

I Love Summer! Tag

"Palm Trees, Ocean Breeze, Salty Air, Sun Kissed Hair, Endless Summer, Take Me There."

I've seen the I Love Summer! Tag doing its rounds everywhere lately so I decided to join and answer a series of questions regarding summer that have been floating around. Hope you enjoy! I tag anyone who sees this to do this tag! :)

Life Update & Skin Care

Hello everyone! I'm back! I decided to come back on the 1st of a new month to get a proper fresh start on life and my blog. I'm not going to be posting very often just once in a while to get back on track and I don't want to push myself too hard or put too much pressure on myself. Its been a really hard and long month but I'm slowly getting there after a long time. I feel like I'm becoming myself again but not really if that makes sense...?

An Update: Life Lately

I'm going to start by saying that I'm going to very scarce around here for a while. I don't want to advertise my personal life especially when my blog is so public but I am going through personal problems and I'm just not happy and I can't do things that I love anymore because I'm so unhappy. My whole life changed on Sunday and I'm still currently trying to come to terms with it - if I ever come to terms with it. It's going to be a while so please bare with me here. I will be around soon and get into a different routine to get me going again but for now I need to be by myself and have time to think about everything and I don't want to do things that remind me of everything before Sunday and unfortunately this includes my blog because it'll just ruin the healing process. I will be back soon though and hopefully I'll be stronger so don't stress. I will update you again in a while and let you know my plans for the blog once I've cleared my head.

Chat again soon.

Hello June

Not to state the obvious or anything but it's June already! We're half way into the year and I remember the 1st of January like it was yesterday. Really where are all these months going? We really need to take things slower and think for longer than a second. Rushing around isn't getting you anywhere really so I've learned to take things slower and do whatever I'm doing more thoroughly and efficiently. This month is about doing things for yourself and learning to say no once in a while.

At work for instance if someone wants you to do something, do it when you can and do it slowly and thoroughly so the person doesn't bore down on you like 1000 hungry bears that have been hibernating forever and even if they are rushing you do it in your time. I'm not saying to leave it for next week when you have free time, do it that same day they asked you but do it when you've cleared through most of your work. Where I work they all ask me to do something and one person in particular will rush me and ask for it constantly and then I end up rushing and stressing and then end up not doing it right and that person decides to do it themselves. Firstly anybody who asks you to do them a favour should in turn remember that you have your own work to do and that most importantly you are doing them a favour. Now this person where I work has now realized I work better when I work slowly and they've learned not to rush me even though they are impatient for it.

Also learn to say no once in a while even though its hard but really if you have a lot to do and somebody asks you to do something for them just explain to them that you're very busy and (in the kindest possible manner) politely ask them if they can do it themselves or the other alternative is ask if its okay if you do it tomorrow or whenever you feel your work load won't be too much. They should understand this since they are clearly busy to do it themselves as well. And remember once you do one person a favour everyone will come running to you for favours. People don't use their own initiative anymore to come up with plans, they would rather off load it onto sombody else to deal with their problem and you don't want to be that person. I'm not saying be horrible or unapproachable and always say no but make sure people know that if you're busy you're not going to be able to do their jobs for them. Make sure people know that you're a really nice person that they can't take advantage of all the time but they can still ask for help and they can still approach you.

I guess it's hard to listen to a 19 year old about life advice but I really have learned a lot in life as I've had my fair share of high school drama's to fall back on for life lessons and obviously I've studied other peoples mistakes and I learned from that too. I've learned that Sometimes in life you have to disappoint a few people and sometimes you have to put yourself first. Just remember those people asking you to do them a favour are putting themselves first too so why can't you do it too? Do things for yourself too not just others. Theres more to life other than making other people happy.

xxx

A Bad Couple Of Days

First off I'm going to start off with saying that I'm very sorry for not having posted anything yesterday. Lately I've just been so busy at work that even my "free time" is consumed with work and by the time the weekend rolls over I'm just so tired I can hardly even think and I've just been having a bad couple of days.
I've also lately been experiencing anxiety - which is a shock because I hardly panic or stress about much. Every morning I wake up and I'm nervous and shaking, so nervous in fact that I make myself feel sick which is ridiculous. Yesterday, when I didn't do a post and I knew I wouldn't be able to write one up quickly, made me panic because I felt like I was letting a few people down.
I'm not quite sure what is bringing on this anxiety and why its happened all of a sudden but I do know that its ruining the way I look at the days that I'm going to have face. Even thinking about tomorrow is making me nervous as I'm writing this. Anxiety is a completely new concept to me and at the moment I'm not sure how to handle it and what to do about it but I have told my mom which is the first step, I'm guessing. If it carries on for much longer I'll have to go to the doctor - cringe - which will make me even more anxious.

Now that I come to think of it this anxiety of mine has been brewing for a while I just didn't notice it. I would panic if I thought I'd done something wrong or if I'd let someone down, I'd be nervous to get out of bed and face the day and I'd make myself sick with worry about what will happen the next day. Before the day had even finished I'd be worrying about the next. It's not healthy and even thinking that I might have a "problem" is making me anxious and I know that anxiety is not a problem.

Anyways I just thought I'd share a scrap of my little life with you. Next post will be up on Monday!

xxx

Random Facts About Me

Today I thought I should do a post about myself so that my few readers can get to know me a little bit better. If you don't want to know anything about me and just like my posts about various products, there'll be one up tomorrow so don't stress :)

Bag of Bones

After this last weekend I saw a lot of people that I haven't seen in a long time and of course we all change while others don't change. I'm not tall or short, I'm quite an average height and I weigh about 46kgs (you can convert my weight if you need to - I'm not worried haha) and I've weighed around 44 - 46kgs since I was 16 years old which was three years ago. I have quite a large size gap between my thighs and slightly boney knees and last year when I went to get my blood pressure tested, they had to use a child size blood pressure reading strap on my arm because my arm is too thin for an adult sized one - I'm not kidding you can ask my mom, I was mortified. I'm grateful that my hip bones and my ribs don't stick out though because I'd be at McDonalds everyday trying to full out my tummy so you see no bones!

I got told this weekend by two different people that I'm "just as skinny I was a couple years back" and to be honest comments like that really bug me. Are you trying to "compliment" me or are you being rude while trying to hide it as being sweet? People are so jealous of skinny people that you never know if their comments are genuine or fake. I really have been trying to gain weight to at least reach 50kgs and when a person comments on how thin I am still I feel like all my effort of trying to gain weight was such a waste. Anyways it got me thinking; why is it alright to call a thin person a "bag of bones" or a "bean pole" or whatever names people use when it is wrong for anyone to comment on an obese person? Where is the difference? Both are struggling with a weight issue and while some might not classify being skinny as a weight issue, for many it is. Why does common decency not exist when a thin girl walks into a shop and people are like "wow shes really thin"? What people don't realize is that thin people get teased and mocked about their weight just as much as obese people do. It might be pushed into a young girls head that being skinny is desirable because of all the models being thin and what have you but really, being thin is hard and beyond control for most. Our metabolism is just way too fast for us to even think about picking up weight and yes we can eat all we want and when we want without picking up weight but that is the only "plus side" to being thin.

Why do people think its alright to make comments about anyone's flaws? I don't go to my obese friends and say "wow you're just as fat as you were a couple years back!". I just find it unfair that people can comment on skinny girls but no one can say anything about an obese person incase they hurt their feelings. But what is so different between a thin girl being commented on and an obese girl being commented on? They both have weight issues. Through my experiences I just don't allow it to get to me; you can't afford to. Your opnion about yourself is more important than others. If you love yourself the way you are and look then nothing else matters. Be confident about yourself and people will see your confidence. If you aren't confident, people will take you down with an almighty stick and will try keep you there. The world can be evil but you have to rise above it. And remember don't worry about what boys think of you - there is a guy out there that will think you are beautiful and will tell you that everyday of your life and he'll make you forget about all your insecurities.

We need to treat ALL people equally and not base it on weight or any flaws. We're all equal and I hope this post did not offend anyone, it just really bugged me this weekend and I thought I should share what it's like to be a skinny girl and I personally think we all need to think about what we say to others before we say it. So lets say we don't make comments on anybody because of their weight or any imperfection they have because you don't want other people mocking your flaws either. Remember we all have flaws so don't go judge a person on that alone when they have perfection else where to offer.

Hello April

Wow time has gone by so quickly, it's already another month! This makes me think that humans really waste time and don't appreciate every day like its a blessing. We are always hoping that the day will go quicker so that we can get to the Friday afternoon when we all finish work and can relax. We go through the rest of the week almost as if we are on auto pilot just waiting for the weekend. I'm guilty of this too.

Monday's are the worst days of all time. I think every person on the planet complains about a Monday and I am very guilty of this. I hate Monday's, I really do because I feel so dead and unresponsive to a Monday that I make myself miserable without even realizing it as I'm so negative towards Monday's. To be honest I hate all days that aren't Friday, Saturday and Sunday and that frame of mind really does affect everything I do. Ever since I started reading Louise's Motivational Monday posts I really did start trying to be better about Monday's and every other day for that matter. It did help but I think it would be more helpful for myself if I started doing my own posts inspired by Louise's posts. So this will be a monthly post for the begininng of every new month.

This post is about living and loving your life every second of the day. You are the one that can make your life fun and relaxing not the weekend. You make the decisions about your life so make them positive decisions. Start with loving everyday of the week not just the weekends. Think about how much time has been wasted and there are people out there that are wishing for more time. Do everything you want to because people ending regretting what they haven't done more than what they have done. Don't wish your days away because every day is a blessing in disguise and only you can make the most of it.

I really hope this post helped and if you have any ideas for these kind of posts let me know please!
xxx

My Easter Weekend

Since it was Easter holidays this past weekend I didn't plan any posts for today so instead I'm going to share a little bit of my holiday with you.



My boyfriend, Stephen, fishing on the beach.

The picture above is the beach that you walk straight onto from the place we were staying at in Scottburgh, South Africa. It was the most relaxing time I had at the beach and that was the Sunday morning when the boys went fishing and the girls just sat and watched the waves. I'm sure you wouldn't know, unless you follow me on Twitter, but I've been complaining for a while that I've been needing a holiday. I have been very stressed out and at times just want to throw a tantrum and cry to feel better (we've all been there...no judging!)

We had such great weather at the beach all blue skies with some clouds, warm with a cool wind. The perfect weather for a South African beach. To be honest none of us did much at all the whole weekend. Apart from the parents... they walked EVERYWHERE while their kids used the cars...bad I know but you're not supposed to do anything on holiday. That was our excuse in any case.

The trip down was long! Even though its usually an hour and a half, it was longer because one of the cars were giving problems so we had to drive slowly so the car wouldn't completely give in. That's Murphy's Law for you; something bad has to happen when you go on holiday. Needless to say we made it down safe and sound.

I didn't take a lot of photo's I was living in the moment so I'm sorry if anyone wanted to see more...

On Sunday morning after fishing we went to the flea market that they had. The closed down the whole road and there were 100's of little places pitched up selling all kinds of goodies (I wish now I had taken photo's of this as it was just too precious but I didn't have a chance to! Very sad about this!) They had clothes, handbags, goodies for your house, games and guns and knives for boys, food stalls and just everything. The girls went mad but I think we went too late as there wasn't very nice things left over. I still bought a bag and a pretty dress which my mom will have to take in for me as it doesn't fit me well on the sides by my chest.

I love this bag so much. Its very hippie, bohmeian like. Its a greta size too, it fits everything in like a dream and the material is like silk and cotton if that makes sense? Ah love it.

Anyways that was my weekend. Sounds boring but really I loved it and I think another holiday is in order again!

Hope you enjoyed this!

xxx

The Bad News on Face Wipes

Face wipes. Everybody's used them once or twice or more in their lives because they are so convinient to use. I was reading Becky's blog today and I read her recent post about her confessions. Her last confession was using face wipes occansionally, even though they are bad for your skin. So I guessed a lot of people wouldn't know why face wipes are bad for your skin, myself included. I went onto those Yahoo questions that you can search on google and picked up, from various answers, why they are bad and now I'm sharing them with you.

I would like to say first that I do occansionally use face wipes but not everyday (it's my guilty secret...) Okay so while face wipes are easier to use, not to mention handy, face wipes only remove impurities from the surface of your skin, which I guess is alright since all you mainly want to do is remove your make up from the surface but remember make up can settle in your pores and clog them up leading to pimples.

Apparently face wipes lead to extreme dryness of the skin because face wipes don't contain moisturiser in them. I wash my face straight after I've used face wipes since I hate that feeling of the wet, almost sticky feeling it leaves on my skin (I shiver just thinking about it...) so I can't really say if my face wipes have ever dried my skin out. And talking about that, face wipes are soaked in some pretty harmful chemicals (I can't say all brands use these chemicals but I saw my brand of face wipes do contain one of these harmful chemicals.)
Here's a list of ingredients to watch out for:

1. Propylene glycol and Dipropylene glycol - these are irritants!
2. Parabens
3. Phenoxyethanol - another irritant!

Also, think about it, we've always been told in school that things that contain moisture in them are a breeding ground for bacteria... face wipes are packed on top of one another in all that moisture with the heat of the light bulbs in the shop shining down on them, not to mention that face wipes sit in the shop for months at times waiting to be sold so they have to have some sort of preservative or alcohol in them to retain their use. Now think you're rubbing that face wipe with possible bacteria and all those irritant chemicals all over your skin and your delicate eye area!

Now I'm sure I've scared people into not using them so instead I'll say try using a cream cleanser. It will remove make up and get into your pores, moisturise and condition your skin. Sounds better right? Right.

Hope this helped.

xxx