CHRISTMAS

I love Christmas and all things Christmas! Although I hate the weather I love the festivities: from the markets, mulled wine and hot chocolate, to the ice rinks, Christmas movies and decorating the tree! I really love giving presents to my family and friends because it is really the only time I can spoil them!! <3
I have been to Winter Wonderland twice this year already once with my Aunty where I lost my hat and then with my boyfriend Alex! I loved the atmosphere at Winter Wonderland, everyone is enjoying themselves and doesn't care about the busy-ness of it. I am going once more on the 23rd of  December, I am going with my friend so we can exchange presents!

Christmas is coming fast and like everyone else I have started my preparations early. I started buying presents beginning of November, and even brought my cards before that.  I usually leave my present buying to last minute so I am happy that there is not too much left to do!
We even had snow this past weekend (10/12/17). Here in London we haven't had snow in years especially around Christmas so it was a treat! I hope there is more snow for Christmas Day!


I have made Christmas  crackers again this year and they have  turned out better than last years!
Things you will need:
- Wrapping paper of your choice
- Cracker snap
- Hot glue gun
- Decorations
- Ribbon.

Here are my ones:

ORPHAN BLACK

Over the last couple of months I have been watching a show called Oprhan Black. I don't know why I chose this because from the outside it doesn't look like the kind of programme I would like but on the inside it is something I like.  It involves mystery, suspense and surprise the 3 main  catches in a show I like.

There is only 5 series but they don't disappoint with all the twists and turns in every episode let alone season there is plenty going on without it being too full on.  The main characters are all played by the same person and the plot throughout the whole story is clever and unique. I would not know how to come up with something like that. The final episode of the whole show brought it all together in a harmony with every last puzzle fitting in so you would not be confused.

I would defo recommend this show--- and I have! It is the best!


    


Andrea

HI

Hi there everyone... it's me Andrea.
Long time no type...
I kinda gave up on my blog half way through this year and I can't get back into it!! My laptop broke and I was laptop-less for 2 months, more or less and so I got out of routine.... and obviously no one actually reads my blogs ahaha!!

We are now nearly 2 months from the New Year and I feel like I have hit stand still.  I  am just living which is good .... but nothing excites me anymore!! I need to find that passion and put it into something. I recently got into card making but it is so hard to find good stuff and, things that are good are usually from America because I think it is more popular there!!  Maybe once I start doing it properly I can post a few on here and show you?

I also want to start to get into YouTube but also finding it hard to get the energy to actually start it!  I have done a bit more videoing on my instagram and that is helping me but I get so nervous haha!!

I want to get into my blogging again so I am going to try and do a post every week hopefully just need to find some interests!

TRAVELLING BUG

I have something to admit..... I have the travel bug. There I said it and it feels good to let it out!  


These last 2 years I have been travelling around Europe in between work and I have been loving it. The only negative from the experiences I have is that I'm still being told to be sensible with my money and save it for a house or for more appropriate things but I love travelling.  I think it is so important to go travelling when you are young so you can learn about different countries culture and history.  Even now 2 years on when I tell my family I am going somewhere, they roll their eyes and say when will you start saving. There is so much time to do that or save at the same time. I am only 24 years old, people do so much more wilder activities such as go travelling for 6 months and then have to come home and face reality... me I am doing it bit by bit!!  I have decided this year that I will reign it in a little and stick to travelling once a year so I can do some sort of saving as now I have decided I want to move out. But this was done on my terms not on anyone else's. 

My first travels in 2015 was to Italy, where myself and my friend  travelled to 3 parts- I have written  a blog post on this already. Here they are:
Part 1: https://andreasworld12.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/a-week-in-italy-part-one.html
Part 2: https://andreasworld12.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/a-week-in-italy-part-two.html
Part 3: https://andreasworld12.blogspot.co.uk/2017/02/a-week-in-italy-part-three.html

This was a eye opener because it was my first holiday without my parents and it was a great opportunity to be independent.

My next travel opportunity was in 2016 to Amsterdam and Prague which I have not done a blog post just yet. But it was amazing to explore such beautiful cities with so much history behind it. Prague was very  Gothic and medieval and the food was delicious while Amsterdam was very modern and fresh.  

This summer 2017 I have been to Barcelona in July which was a wonderful experience to learn about Picasso and Gaudi especially he was a wonderful artist.  I also went to Costa de Sol which was more of a relaxing holiday... but I had never been Spain before and I went twice in 1 summer!! 


My last travel of the year will be in October I am going to Budapest for a week and I cannot wait to explore another City!

CYPRUS- Part 2

Thursday was the day we had to leave, we made the most of the day at the hotel by using the pool, putting our luggage into the locked room and didn't leave till like 2:30! It was bliss and I will never forget my time there.


The next place we stayed for the next 3 days was a self contained compartment which was unexpected but had lovely views of the sea right on our doorstep literally.  We settled in enjoying the sea and as it was early evening we walked down the beach to a fish restaurant to eat.  It actually had really good food. Alex had the calamari and I had moussaka; for dessert they gave us free golden fried balls dipped in syrup which is a delicacy in Cyprus and Greece.
On Friday we finally head on down the waterpark in Ayia Napa!! I was so excited, I had been there before but years ago and I was so excited to go again with Alex!  We spent nearly the whole day there on the lazy river and various rides.  It was so fun and scary at the same time. I wish I could spend my whole time there. We had some nice food that night that I showed Alex too because I had been there before.

 Alex likes doing other things and not just be at the sea/pool, so on Saturday we decided to head down to the main part in Cyprus and do some shopping.  It was so relaxing and I actually enjoyed it more than I thought I would!!  We got back early and actually went in the sea with this cool ball we brought that bounces so if it goes the water it just bounces right up.  We had a really lovely dinner Saturday as this was our last night there and we were leaving Sunday, we also had some drinks in this beach drink place which was lively.  On Sunday we packed up, dropped our luggage of at the airport at stayed locally having some food to eat and a walk about before heading back to the airport for our flight.

MENTAL HEALTH AWARENESS WEEK

I thought  I would  write a post about Mental  Health  seeing as a lot of people suffer from various illnesses.

Mental health holds so much stigma- seen as bad, not coping, being over-sensitive and  a lot of people because  of this hide how they feel and suffer through it not wanting to be a burden to other people and this is not the way.

I don't know how the stigma came about but it should not be there we should see it in a positive aspect  so more people feel comfortable getting help. Although  actually  getting the courage to ask for help and do something  about the way you feel is hard if the world had a more positive  view if Mental  Health people  might want to reach out more.

There is such wide variety  of different  mental health  problems, such as:

- depression
- anxiety / panic attacks
- post natal depression
- anger
- eating problems
- bipolar
- Obsessive Compulsive  Disorder (OCD)

This is to name but a few and people  who suffer from any of these can range from extreme to mild but both can be serious if not dealt with.

I know people  who have had to deal with certrain mental health issues and what they have been through and I admire them so much to being so open  and honest as it can be so hard.

For the last couple of years I have dealt with mild anxiety which I think was started by a bad experience work but after seeking help  I think I always had  it but it didn't  overpower my life. Seeking help was hard, I went to the doctors  with my mum who referred me to a counselling  service where I had a telephone  session for an one hour discussing how I felt in different situations.  I had 6 sessions with a counsellor in cognitive therapy- where they help you learn about what you suffer from and how you can help yourself. I found it really  useful and learnt so much and about triggers myself and how to help myself calm down.

If you feel like something  is not right or you feel sad, please  try to find someone to talk to whether that is a close person, family member or doctors. People are out there to help you and they want to.

Moral  of this post is:  MENTAL HEALTH SHOULD NOT BE SEEN AS A NEGATIVE  THING. WE NEED TO TURN IT INTO A POSITIVE  AND HELP PEOPLE IN NEED!

CYPRUS- Part 1

Summer of 2016 I went to my second home Cyprus with my boyfriend Alex! I love Cyprus and used to go year after year when I was younger but stopped when I was around 15.  This was my first time back since then at age 23 and Alex's first time at all! I was so excited to show him all the beautiful things I remembered and introduce him to my world.

We booked with LowCost holidays which meant we could pay in two stages but it all became a mess when they went into administration in July before our holiday.  When I rang to confirm that our hotel booking was still there they sent me an email to reassure me that the booking was still there and everything was okay.  

The day of the start of our holiday went okay we did miss the bus but managed to get to Heathrow on time and awaited our flight!  The flight was okay and went quick, when arriving in Cyprus it was soo hot and humid! Our taxi guy was hilarious and made us laugh so much we actually used him again once! It all turned upside down when at the hotel I had printed out the emails the hotel had sent us to make sure it all went okay but when they looked up our booking it turned out to be cancelled- a week after I called- I was devastated, the worst news I could have heard, where were we going to stay? Thank goodness Alex was with it I couldn't even talk properly except from having a go at them at the beginning saying how it was unacceptable.  In the end they were able to place us for 4 days at a half board rate which we had to pay for again and then the other 3 days we stayed in a self contained apartment which was okay but not all that.

We decided to try and put the disaster behind us and concentrate on our holiday. We went to our room which was gorgeous and did still have a sea view as well as a view on the terrace below which came in handy a few days later in the evening when there was a magician person around.  After settling in for a little bit we headed straight for the pool not caring it had been a long day!  We had a good time around the pool, basking in the scorching sun! In the evening we just ate in the restaurant a la carte! We went for a small walk along the beach which was calming and peaceful exactly what we needed on the first night after what happened.

The next day we got up early to make sure we enjoyed our day.  I definitely overate big time at breakfast because there was such a variety of foods to eat that was available I helped myself to nearly all of them!!   When I could finally swim, it was amazing , the cool water around me, the sun shining down and best of all, Alex was right beside me!  The pool had a bar which was so handy because we were able to order drinks in the pool if we wanted to!   That evening my sister and Aunty came down from where they were staying and we went to the finikoudes which is a street of restaurants that lies by the palm trees.  We went to a restaurant that I had been to before with my family last time we went called Hobos and it looked just how I remembered it! We had a great evening with my sister and Aunty ending with crepes and cocktails.   We were able to have Tuesday as just our day and not have to rush around to do anything so we made sure to relax around the pool for as long as we could!  For the evening we went to another one of my childhood favourites Gregory's and this brought so many memories from when I ate here with my family and I was so happy to bring Alex to see what it was like.  It hadn't changed a bit, it was exactly how I remembered it and the food was excellent, I wish I could go there every week.  We got the bus into the finikoudes which took ages because we either had just missed one or it was late and we had a few cocktails in town.

On the Wednesday, we just chilled by the  pool, swimming, drinking and relaxing! It was our last day at the hotel and we wanted to make the most of it. We went down to the lovely sunny beach for a walk and we also sneaked into the hotel next door to use the pool.  We didn't leave the pool till late and then in the evening we stayed in and had the mezze that was on offer from the hotel which was included in half board.