I’ve spent more time in my life, feeling achey and sore in my joints, than not… and that is pretty normal day-to-day life for me but perhaps not the ordinary person.

Hi, my name is Francesca and I suffer with Joint Hypermobility Syndrome 💁🏻‍♀️

Joint hypermobility syndrome (JHS) is a pretty common umbrella of syndromes, and there is almost 1 in 5 people that may have hypermobile joints (see here!)

Some people can go huuuge periods of their life, before even knowing or being formally diagnosed – I wasn’t formally diagnosed until the ripe old age of 19, even though I had been in and out of physiotherapy from 8 years old.

The older I get, the more aware I am of my joints. The more I know what triggers the pain, what I can do to try and prevent it, plus how to recover from the days where it’s just too much.

It is something that I have found difficult at times – most recently being when my neck started to crack. Now my joints crack a whooooole bunch. I frequently get told ‘You’ll get arthritis if you carry on!’. But let me tell you – I know that I need to crack my joints sometimes. I can literally feel pressure building, to the point I need to crack or I will be in pain for days and knots will appear out of nowhere.

When my neck started cracking, that was a whole different ballpark. It was painful when the pressure built and then painful to actual crack and release pressure. Plus the added fun factor of if you crack your neck incorrectly, you could die – fun fun fun! 👍🏽

So you take preventative measures – you exercise, you move daily, you make use of painkillers when needed. My issue is, at the ripe old age of 24 (yes, 24, so incredibly old that I’m basically a grandma 👩🏻‍🦳) I was leaning more heavily on painkillers that I would have liked. But I was doing everything else I’ve been told in my life – everything that every doctor, nurse or specialist has recommended to me.

So I took myself to get checked out, begged and pleaded for a specialist appointment – to be told there’s nothing else they can do. It’s pretty disappointing at such a young age but it’s not gonna hold me back. I have a great support network of people who are able to pull me back to reality. My other half has been my rock, especially at times where I’ve felt so frustrated I cried.

The whole point of this post is not just for me to splurge all over the page, but to raise awareness. There is 1 in 5. 1 in 5 people suffering that perhaps have no diagnosis, no awareness and just live in constant pain.

I’d like to drop a little video here – it helped me explain my JHS to my other half when we first started dating… go ahead and watch, then come back here!

It’s so hard to just put it down to achey joints – there are so many symptoms that are linked to JHS and so many other factors to consider that perhaps wouldn’t be on your radar. And why would they be? Things like fatigue, the ability to bruise easily and flat feet are not exactly what is top of my list when I think of joints. But it’s so important to be aware, and for you to be aware! You could be reading this right now thinking, woah this makes a whole world of sense!

And if this achieves anything, I hope it achieves that. I hope it sparks discussion and makes you think! And if you are ever wondering or simply curious – I’m happy to answer questions in the comments ☺️

Francesca

xo

I’m back for another – is it worth it?

This time I tested out the new ’16 Wishes’ range from Florence by Mills (a.k.a Millie Bobby Brown – world class young’un who is making her way into anything and everything). I managed to get my hands on the eyeshadow palette and the clear lip gloss, created some looks and had a real deep-dive of this collection 👀

So these are the five key points we’re gonna look over:

• Packaging – how’s it lookin?

• Ease of use – instructions are clear? Easy for you to use?

• Price point – is it worth it?

• Would I buy again?

So, let’s dive right in!

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Packaging – how’s it lookin?

I won’t lie – I’m a little bit obsessed with this packaging! It’s super cute colour scheme and the brushed cardboard feels so good! Plus, it’s recyclable which I’m a fan of. However, the palette itself is sadly not up to scratch…

I love the innovative idea of the magnetic break apart palette, splitting into colour schemes – but as someone who likes to hold the entire palette whilst they create their look, it was a hassle as the palette kept falling apart in my hands and the fallout from the eyeshadows ended up all over my black clothes… not so fun and not so useful.

With the fallout, the palette itself ended up looking very messy, very quickly. Which is a shame for its price point of around £25.

Now the lipgloss – the packaging again, super cute and colourful, and again a huge fan of the recyclable packaging. The tube was very standard of lipglosses, and therefore can’t differentiate too much.

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Ease of use – instructions are clear? Easy for you to use?

So the palette was split into colour options, which is nice – makes it easier to create specific looks and stick to colour schemes rather than dipping through all the colours and perhaps creating something which doesn’t quite work.

But on closer look at the eyeshadows themselves, there is some issues that I found. There is fallout the second you start using them, some shades appear to be really delicate in comparison and this is before I even put any on my lids.

When creating a very basic nude look, I found that by the time I came to blending the colours I ended up having to over-compensate on shadows… So from what I thought would end up as a nice everyday look, turned into a very heavy night-time look… Not great at all, but I just could not for the LIFE of me get these shadows to work.

Side note – I did try this palette on both a concealer and urban decay eyeshadow primer…

The lipgloss is super glittery – like I wouldn’t apply this liberally, just a quick dab and then spread that across my lips… but it is great for jazzing up my lipstick for a date night. One slight thing – the packaging clearly states that it is not sticky, but it is indeed very sticky (which is the usual for most glosses). Just don’t claim it is not sticky, when it obviously will be 🙈

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Price Point – is it worth it?

I so wish I could say these products were worth the price point… I really wish I could.

But in comparison to other palettes I’ve bought and used across the years, this just does not cut the mustard. It’s colour range is a little meh, the consistency of the palette is not 100% perfect and this palette is just not for me.

The gloss, again, not something I’d really reach for. It’s a nice gloss and it’s pretty pigmented in the glitter department – but not something I’d really splurge out on.

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Would I buy again?

Based on how these products worked for me, I wouldn’t buy these again 🤯

I have however, gifted these to my beaut mumma, in hope that she can get more use out of them!

Francesca xo

*disclaimer: as part of the Boots Review Panel, I was sent this product for free to review. I have not been paid to review this item and the thoughts and views above are my own.

So we’re almost at the end of January (can I get a hell yeah?!) and soon will be heading into February – almost into month 2 of 2020…

I have seen an increase of new members at the gym – hey guys, welcome and please remember to PUT YOUR WEIGHTS BACK – and people getting fitter and healthier. First off, if you are one of those incredible human beings – go you, you rock and I hope you smash your resolutions and keep at it 🙌🏼

In regards to my own resolutions, I’ve been sticking at it and using Habitbull to track those weekly/daily challenges 🙌🏼 I have not yet bought a lunch for work this year and have been swimming weekly and learning why I love being in the water again (seriously, I could swim for hours…)

However it has been a struuuuuggle – it took me almost a whole week into January to take down my wall of photos and cards, the 2 litres a day and the weekly swim are sometimes a lil much – but 100% pushing through and reminding myself on the daily the reason for these challenges.

But boy do I feel gooooood 😏😏😏

I’ve noticed I’m feeling stronger, feeling healthier and loving life a little bit more!

I am trying to keep track of my year long goals and planning ahead as much as I can, but I tell you what – 2020 I am ready for you 👀

How are you lovely lot getting on with your resolutions? Are you sticking to them?

Francesca xo

We all have it – whether you go back to work on the 2nd January or managed to squeeze a few extra days off and like me you’re heading back on the 6th – the dread starts to fill you about going back to work and actually returning to normal life.

Now I won’t lie, my first week back at work is a little bit like ring of fire – I have a pretty busy week lined up, with 7am starts and 7pm finishes – so I’m trying to get ahead of the game and prep lunches and dinners for the week so I don’t feel too overwhelmed and I don’t stress out unnecessarily.

But something I want to start doing in 2020 is looking forward to new things – so next week may be tough, but I’m looking forward to getting in the pool and swimming. I’m looking forward to cosying up with a book in the evenings. I’m looking forward to a week going really quickly.

It’s appreciating the little things in life (right now I appreciate that I booked off 17th Jan to head to London for fun) but appreciating what I have got the time for.

Even though we all get those Sunday blues, thinking about going to work and everything else, it could be worse couldn’t it? I mean I know it’s January… but going to work makes me crave the weekend just that little bit more 😍

Are you ready to head back after the holiday break? Or could you do with another two weeks off??

Francesca xo

How is it 2020?

Where has 2019 gone?

Sometimes I honestly feel like that I blinked and whole seasons went by last year… but all jokes aside, not only have we begun a new year, but an entire new decade.

I feel as though this year I will attempt to get my s**t together (lol, jk) but it’s a new year and I’m excited for it.

This entire decade has been a little insane. In 2010, I was 14 years old with my first long-term relationship (lol we were together till right before my 18th 😱), I visited New York on a school trip and was basically a baby.

In the entire decade, I went through another long-term relationship and ended that, visited over 20 countries, went to university and graduated with a LAW DEGREE, bossed tinder and met my other half 🥰 and so much more. I relaunched my blog under a newwww url #excitingtimes and started an instagram to match 💁🏻‍♀️

It’s been a real adventure in the past ten years and I’ve learnt a lot – like how to squat properly, how to take a decent selfie and how to just enjoy myself. And it’s crazy to think that it’s now a fresh year – I’m super excited to see how it goes!

Check out my insta to see my 10 year difference!

So, as it’s a new year, that means a whole new list of challenges and this year it’s 20 things in 2020! The challenges I didn’t complete in 2019 have come over to the new year…

• Run a 5k in sub 45 minutes
• Complete Rough Runner 🏃🏻‍♀️
• Do Go Ape
• Complete a cooking class 👩🏻‍🍳
• Save £XXXXX in House Fund
• Climb Snowdon ⛰
• Go on the Harry Potter Studio Tour
• Start the CIPD
• Complete Spanish Duolingo 🇪🇸
• Squat 100kg plus bar
• Swim once a week 🏊🏼‍♀️
• Publish 30 blogs
• Read 12 books📚
• Drink 2 litres of water a day
• Bench press 25kg plus bar 💪🏼
• Complete a ride along
• Meal prep for lunches
• Self-care once a week 🧖🏻‍♀️
• Plan 12 dates
• Learn to french braid 💁🏻‍♀️

So 20 things to achieve in 2020 – I’ve downloaded Habitbull to help me track those daily/weekly tasks but I’m looking forward to the challenges and I can’t wait to see how they turn out – if you have any recommendations for books to read or meals for prepping – let me know in the comments below!

Francesca xo

So don’t know what’s gotten into my system, but I’ve been reading like no tomorrow recently. I used to be such a bookworm when I was was younger, going through a book a day sometimes! But growing up, sometimes all I want to do is put Netflix on and relaaaax.

However, it’s one of my ’19 in 2019′ challenges (see my blog here for the full list) and so I’m 1.5 books off of my goal this year of non-fiction. And I tell you what, now I’ve got back in the swing of it, I’m hook, line and fully sunk. But let’s crack on with a review of ‘This is Going To Hurt’ by Adam Lay.

Now, this was released in 2018 and I feel like everyone I knew was reading this book. I saw people on the tube, people on sunbeds on holiday – EVERYWHERE I LOOKED PEOPLE WERE READING IT! And so, deciding to finally take the plunge a whole year later (obvs late to the game…) decided to read it.

First off, it was a nice easy read – although it’s evidently a medical based book, the author has kindly explained in the footnotes those medical terms that are a little bit confusing who are not in the profession. Secondly – it based on the diary format, then split into chapters dependent what job role they were in.

Now – in parts of this book – I laughed hard. As his career focussed on obs & gynae, the book highly focusses on the labour ward. Now I’m nowhere near the having kids part on my life, plus after reading about births and vaginal tears and all that gloriousness in the book – my eyes are deffo open to it all and it deffo isn’t happening any sooner 😂 Sorry mumma, but you’re a long way off being a grandma!

However, this book is also an insight into the NHS. I have friends who work for the NHS, and I already hear stories of their long hours and ridiculously low pay. But this book is a way for people who don’t have a connection to the NHS to begin to understand the stresses our nurses, doctors, medical staff and all other wonderful angels of the NHS go through. We are so incredibly fortunate to have the NHS in the UK. But unfortunately right now, it’s becoming extremely noticeable that more and more of it is becoming privatised – as those who do work for the NHS are not paid what they truly deserve and there just isn’t the funding into the public services anymore.

Whilst this book is side-splitting at times and has nearly made me spit out my tea at points, it’s ending does bring you straight back down to earth. It opens your eyes that not everything can be fixed. It shows that there is clearly times where mistakes can be made and sometimes it can be life-threatening. It’s a sobering ending and makes you realise the extreme stresses of the workers of the NHS.

It took me a year to read this book, and I can only wish that I had read it sooner. Adam has written an incredible book and I can only hope there are more books to follow. I’m definitely looking into attending one of his live shows (he’s now a comedian… not a consultant) and dragging my other half.

Go get it out of the library, pick it up at the book shop, ask a friend to borrow it! Just go read it and thoroughly enjoy every page.

Let me know in the comments below if you’ve read it and what you thought! Also what are you reading at the moment? Always looking for new book recommendations 👀

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Francesca xo

Where has this year gone? HOW ARE WE 75% THROUGH THE YEAR!?!

At the start of the year, I set 19 goals. 19 goals for 2019. I thought as we’re 75% through the year, I’ll check in and see how I’m doing…

• Run 5km in sub 45 minutes 
• Go to a cocktail making class 🍹
• Take part in a Tough Mudder (?)
• See a pantomime
• Go to Go Ape!
• Take part in a cooking class 👩🏻‍🍳
• Visit somewhere new!
• Save £XXX for House Fund 
• Squat 80kg (including bar)
• Climb Snowdon
• Go to the Harry Potter Studio Tour
• Publish at least 26 blog posts in 2019 
• Have a deep clear of my wardrobe / Create a capsule wardrobe
• Read 5 non-fiction books
• Bench Press 20kg 💪🏼
• Go fruit picking!
• See Jon Bellion live!
• Do an elephant experience at the zoo (totes already eyeing up colchester zoo…)
• Plan 12 date days/nights ❤️

So, 9 down and 10 to go. I’ve planned 9 date nights, so almost done that, have a voucher for a cooking class and may have tickets to see Jon Bellion in October 👀

It’s nice to do these check-ins – see what I’ve accomplished so far this year and what I still have left to go.

What goals have you set yourself this year? And how are you getting on with them? Let me know in the comments below!

–

Francesca

xo

So I’m still trying to hold onto summer so badly – as much as I loooove autumn and all things that come with, I don’t feel like this summer has given it’s all just yet…

So in order to try and re-live summer for just one more day, here’s a little recap of my recent trip to Rhodes 🇬🇷

We travelled to the Lindos Imperial (which is located near Kiotari) and spent a beaut week at the hotel and beach. The resort itself was amazing – like honestly I could see myself going back next year 👀 There was so many pools to choose from and going out of school holidays meant it was nice and chilled!

The resort was located close to the beach, but fairly isolated – which was kinda nice (there was still ways to explore the island, but tbh I was READY for a week of relaxing… see my recent post stresshead). We explored 3 of the 4 outdoor pools – mostly the main pool and activity pool, because hey – there was water slides and I’m a little kid at heart 😅

However, despite reading 3 books, sliding into the pools and drinking a lot of cocktails – we did escape the resort a few times!

We joined Lepia Dive Centre for a scuba session in San Paulos Bay, just a bit round the island from where we were based. I had neeeever scuba dived before and I won’t lie, I was just a tiny bit terrified that I wouldn’t be able to do it. Don’t get me wrong, I love being in the water – I was just never very good at sinking to the bottom of the pool as a kid.

The guys at the dive centre were A-MAZ-ING. It was a detailed lesson in scuba above water and they were really helpful in the water too – I was pumped when I finally got the hang of it and was able to inflate and deflate my BCD on my own without crashing into the ocean floor 😂 I passed the test and intial dive, meaning that we could go out for a second dive into some coves just outside of the bay, but unfortunately my ears were not agreeing with me after having some difficulty equalising one of them. So I sent my other half into the ocean to enjoy a second dive (bad choice – he’s now decided for it to be his new hobby… 😂)

If you are in Rhodes and do fancy a bit of scuba, I really recommend these guys – they were fun, helpful and super informative. Plus everything felt safe which was majorly important for me!

Our second trip out was to Rhodes itself, to explore the history and do a lil sightseeing. We walked up to the Acropolis and took in the incredible view (we very luckily managed to stop a taxi for the way down!). I always like to do something a little different if possible and wanted to explore the ruins after someone recommended it in the comments of a previous post 🥰

We then headed into Old Town, Rhodes – yes I did joke about the song Old Town Road a lot… – to explore a bit more of the city and pick up a few souvenirs and possibly my bodyweight in ice cream….

The area was rich with history and views were incredible everywhere you looked. We walked all around the dock and through all the winding streets, stopping for a few ice creams and the biggest fruit smoothie I could imagine (I gave myself brainfreeze 3 or 4 times, drinking something the size of my head 👀) before heading back on the boat to get back to the hotel!

The trip in its entirety was super fun and super relaxing – already possibly looking at going back for next time…

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Francesca

xo

Bless – my incredible pops has finally hit his mid-fifties ❤️

My pops will probably never see this post (mostly as he literally only got facebook yesterday and is fairly inept with the whole internet)

But I wanted to talk about him, especially as he’s a year older, bless him!

I’ve been incredibly lucky in the parent lottery – my pops is not genetically my pops – but he’s still my pops ❤️

He is my back-cracker, my advice giver and just a general great human being. In general, he’s always been there when I’ve needed him – no issues too big to help. He’s been there when I locked my keys in my car, when I needed to learn how to drive, when I needed to learn to put up a shelf and how to enjoy a nice rum 👀

He’s cooked me food when I was up late studying for my degree, he’s given me pep talks for interviews and has always been there when I need to de-load all the cr*p in my life!

He’s been part of my life since I was little and will always be there to have my back.

Now I know not everyone hit the jackpot with the parent lottery, or unfortunately don’t have their pops around for whatever they might need. To those out there – your pops might be someone who might not conventionally who you’d expect. Your mumma might fit the role, your uncle, your friend. But the comments and my email is always open for those that need it ❤️

However, to my pops – Happy Birthday and welcome to the internet – hope you don’t need too many tutorials on how to use or find things!

–

Francesca

xo

I write this after recently reading ‘The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck’ (book review post pendingggg) and after having possibly one of the more stressful weeks of my life that I’ve encountered so far – I have realised I took on NONE of the learnings of that book.

note to self – re-read the book, learn the lesson, start giving f*cks as and when needed…

However, I thought I’d get this down on paper, or more appropriately, typed on the internet for the world to see.

Pretty much everyone in their lifetime will deal with stress at somepoint in their life. It could be work, family, mental health, personal issues, whatever. But everyone on this planet we call home, will stress about something in their life.

The important thing here is how you deal with that stress, to ensure that you don’t make yourself sick – and that can be both mentally and physically. Stress can affect you in so many ways and most of the time, I reaaaaally let it get the better of me. To the point where my skin breaks out, my hair starts going grey and my heart starts getting palpitations – suuuper not healthy.

I won’t lie – I will never live a stress-free life or at least a life where I don’t let stress get to me. I’m a Type A personality, and a bottler of emotions. My other half knows this too well and luckily just tries to distract me most of the time. However, this stress session has caused me to shut myself off a little bit – at least from social media and blogging and all things I love to do 💔

But I’m getting better, and I swear to god just typing these words out makes me feel a little bit more like me.

But I just wanted to put it out there into the universe for you, lovely reader of mine, that stress is something that can be overcome. Stress is something that can be dealt with. Any mental health issue, big or small, if you ever want to talk – I’m here in the comments or even via email. I know sometimes how amazingly and wonderfully lighter the weight on your shoulders can get, once you’ve been given the opportunity to just release it all to someone who is willing to listen.

In the meantime, I’m going to slowly get back to the things that make me feel like me, get back to posting photos of things I love on insta and get a good book on the go with some ice cream – all about that self-care right?

Let me know your favourite things below for a self-care day – and if you just want somewhere to release those frustrations too ❤️

Francesca

xo