PUMPKIN AND HONEY FACE MASK

Think again when you are about to chuck your pumpkin carving insides into the bin!     This evening I was carving my pumpkin for Halloween, you may think it's a bit too early but there is a reason for this, I am going to the caravan for a long weekend with family and friends. We are a family who go all out for seasonal events such as Christmas, Easter and Halloween and every year we dress up and have some sort of party. This year about 50 of our family and friends are going to a caravan park to stay over Halloween weekend and we have decided to have a pumpkin competition so I thought I would get it done at home rather than struggle to when I am in a caravan. 

Gosh I do babble on don't I?!

Me and Mum decided to oven roast some pumpkin seeds to eat and it led me to researching what you can make with the inside of the pumpkin other than the obvious... pumpkin soup. I read that Pumpkin has many benefits for your skin and found a simple handmade pumpkin mask online to try it out for myself.

Ingredients 

- 1 table spoon of cooked pumpkin

- 1 teaspoon of raw honey ( I used Manuka honey)

Firstly instead of using 1 table spoon, I used all the pumpkin I carved out because I read you can keep in in the fridge for up to 5 days. 

Instructions

Blend the cooked pumpkin with honey and apply to your face for 15 minutes.

 I tend to leave face masks on until I can be bothered to take it off. It's entirely up to you :). When I first put it on I wasn't expecting it to work but it soon dried into my skin and when I took it off, my face felt amazing. 

I stored the rest of the mask into a jar and into the fridge and am looking forward to using it again over the next few days. 

Let me know if you have tried this before and what did you think? 

BETTER THINGS ARE COMING

FRESHERS FAIR STALLS

I have been volunteering a lot for CLIC Sargent in these past few months as it has been childhood cancer awareness month. One of my volunteering activities included running a freshers fair stall. Myself and my wingman Pete were very apprehensive when we were told we would have to run a stall as it was something we have never done before. 
We didn't have a clue what to expect and honestly, the first one we went to didn't go particularly well. 

For anyone who doesn't have the slightest idea what I am talking about, freshers fairs are located in local colleges and universities. Many support groups, charities and unions each have a stall and encourage students to get involved with what they are offering. 
The more popular stalls were food stalls and sexual advice stalls, we expected this for students, they were also offering freebies which were very popular...not many young people think of volunteering as being exciting and a go to stall. 

After realising that the more popular stalls were receiving more attention because they were giving away goodies, we decided to prepare goody bags for our next few fairs. 
As we are a charity we couldn't offer too many free goodies but we did invest in brown paper bags and filled them with leaflets, stickers, rubber wrist bands and a few sweets and to our surprise, our stall was popular all day! We both felt really proud and at the end of the day we managed to give away over 40 bags and had 22 students sign up to volunteer for CLIC Sargent. 

This may not seem like a huge achievement to you reading this, but I have to admit are extremely happy about the result! After noticing what we could change to improve and gain a bigger audience our hard work paid off! 
Happy Days! 

BOOTS MACMILLAN EVENT

I was kindly invited to an event with Boots and Macmillan and unfortunately I have been very poorly this week with tonsilitis so wasn't going to go. It wasn't until I phoned my best chum Kate and she encouraged me to get my ass out of bed and to stop feeling sorry for myself. God i'm glad that I went. 
It was a makeup and skincare event at our local boots store, after closing hours which was pretty cool. I was allowed to bring a plus 1 so obviously I took my makeup addicted best chum with me. 

It was focused on dealing with skincare and makeup problems with cancer treatment side effects. There was a variety of different women who were about to start treatment, having treatment and post treatment. I love going to events like this because even though I am nearly 3 years post transplant I love to meet others who are in a similar situation to myself, either finished treatment or about to have treatment. I love to show others that there is hope on the other side if they haven't currently finished their treatment as when I was going through it myself I was very isolated from the rest of the 'cancer community' so want to share my positivity now! 
I found the event very interesting and picked up some tips on skincare that I didn't know about before going. Since having cancer my skin has changed a lot due to all the treatment I received and being currently post menopausal has effected my skin a lot.
 Oh the joys (thumbs up) 
I also splashed out on a few products because I haven't been feeling too well I thought I would treat myself. 

 There were also free goodie bags which were bloody splendid.
 Who doesn't love a few freebies?

PUBLIC SPEAKING ROTARY CLUB TALKS

The word 'public speaking' has always been completely daunting to me. It is something that I never imagined accomplishing. I am a very confident person when I am with people I know or have had a few many too wines and you can't shut me up but the thought of  talking in front of strangers absolutely scared the life out of me. 

Being a volunteer representative for CLIC Sargent has led me to some amazing opportunities, one of these is having the opportunity to publicly speak about the charity.

 I remember my first ever talk, I felt really sick to my stomach. The great thing about my public speaking experience is having the support of my wingman Pete, we do a lot of volunteering together and work really great together. 

I have completed 4 public speaking events now and feel that I am getting better every time. I use prompt cards which makes me feel more comfortable as by only looking at a word can reel a complete paragraph off the tongue. I love meeting the people who we talk to. At most of the talks, there is also a sit down meal before which enables us to get to know the people who we are going to talk to making us feel completely comfortable with them. 

As well as raising awareness and trying to gain supporters, we have also been encouraging people to buy gold ribbons for CCAM. We managed to raise just over £150 which is amazing. 

I would advise anybody who has the opportunity to work on public speaking to do it! I have been told by many people that it is an amazing life skill to have. 

I Believe

SEPTEMBER FAVOURITES

Hello October!

James Bay - Chaos and The Calm Album 

I have always loved James Bay's classic singles, hold back the river and let it go being the most popular. One of my friend's suggested to listen to his album and I downloaded it onto my phone to give it a whirl. I absolutely love it, hence why It is making an appearance on this months favourites. It is an amazing album and his voice is so dreamy! 

He is definitely on my 'watch live before I die' list. 

Soap and Glory Butter Yourself Moisture Lotion

I absolutely love soap and glory products. I always receive a Soap and Glory set every Christmas and use the body products throughout the year. I have been using this for a few months now and it is the best body moisturiser I have used in a long time. 

It smells heavenly and feels amazing on your skin. 

It doesn't leave a sticky residue like a lot of body moisturisers and soaks into your skin instantly.

Evenings at the beach

How beautiful had the weather been this September? I have been making the most of it and spending a lot of time outdoors. I have been spending a lot of this tine at the beach. My family adore the beach and my whole life, any time the sun makes an appearance we go to the beach. It is somewhere I have grown up and surprisingly went through a faze of hating when I was a stroppy teenager. 

We are so lucky to live so close to lots of beautiful beaches. Make the most of this weather while you can!

Maybelline Colorsensational Elixir Lip - Caramel Infusion 

This was not an intentional buy but when I was in boots buying some makeup essentials, there was a 3 for 2 offer so I decided to pick this up. My friend used to rave about how good this lip product was but I didn't understand the obsession until I bought one myself.

I absolutely adore this product, I have a slight obsession with buying and trying lip products and rarely find ones that I love. It is very long lasting and has a smooth, glossy finish which I prefer as a matte finish tends to leave my lips very dry. It is very mousturising on you lips and doesn't leave your lips flaky or clumpy throughout the day.

The applicator is handy in getting a precise application and the packaging is very pleasing. They have a beautiful range of lip colours to suit all skin tones, I am going to pick up more myself. 

Adult Colouring Book

This is a huge craze that a lot of people are obsessed with. I bought one recently for a friend who is poorly in hospital and regretting not buying myself one. 

 I have jumped on bang wagon and  couldn't resist picking one up when I was in town this week. I feel like such a child but am loving sitting down in the evenings with a cuppa and spending a few hours colouring. 

The pages are very small, complicated designs and my concentration levels are tested. 

SLIGHT PANIC

At my most recent transplant clinic appointment, my consultant noticed that a big mole on my back looked slightly unusual. I informed him that I have always had the mole and recently noticed a change in it so he booked an appointment for me to see the dermatologist. 

I knew that it was most likely nothing to worry about but since finishing my treatment and being  told that I am more likely to experience secondary cancers, I shit myself every time my consultant is worried about anything.
I'm not going to lie I was very scared and had already diagnosed myself with skin cancer, expecting the worst.  

Since having my bone marrow transplant I constantly worry about any little thing, weather it is a rash, a flare up of mouth ulcers or a funny looking mole. 
I will always feel on edge for the rest of my life but it is something that I am trying to get used to. 

Anyway, after having the appointment my mind was cleared and my mole was absolutely fine. It is amazing how they can check any mole on your body, I don't know if you have been to a dermatologist to have moles checked before but they use this amazing apparatus which microscopically looks at the mole to see the cells up close. The dermatologist checked other moles and they were all fine. 
I do feel like a loon sometimes but then think to myself it is better to have it checked just in case, after everything I have been through has taught me not to ignore any changes in my body. 

MY MONTH IN PHOTOS | SEPTEMBER 2015

This month has been a very busy month. 

This is probably the most random thing to do seeing as I am not looking at getting married any time soon but I attended a wedding fair this month. I heard that on the radio there was a wedding fair at our local zoo, Dartmoor zoo. It was free entry so I thought why not make use of it and have an evening stroll around the zoo to look at the animals for free so we did exactly that.

Me and my wingman Pete have been really busy this month volunteering for CLIC Sargent. Some of you may know that it is Childhood cancer awareness month this month and it is out job to encourage supporters and to raise awareness of the charity. We have been doing lots of fresher fair stalls and public talks at rotary and lions clubs. We have also raised over £100 at these talks which is rewarding! I am planning on writing detailed posts of our volunteering for CCAM so keep an eye out!

We are now in the month of October and still have amazing weather! I am astonished that the sun is still making an appearance and hope it continues to do so! These photos are from a day and evening at the beach in this beautiful weather. I know it isn't hot enough to sit in swimwear and catch a tan but it is lovely to sit on the beach with the sun on your face and sit and enjoy the view.  

I sang with the Macmillan singing group, Hot Mustard this month at a local fun day. There were food and gift stalls and rides for children. I couldn't help myself taking a photo of Esme having a ride on a very old carousel.  

Have you had an eventful month?