Where have you been?

Hello everyone.

I've been gone for a fair few months now, and before I got back into blogging regularly (which I hope to do), I thought I'd write a little post to announce my return.

I had a few months off because I had absolutely no motivation. I love my blog, and it's taken me quite a bit of time to get it to where I want it, so I didn't want to post content that I wasn't completely happy with.

I've made a very long list of posts I'd like to write, and I'm aiming to post every Sunday, at around 4pm - 5pm. I'm very sorry to anyone who liked to read my blog, but I'm getting back into it now and I'll hopefully be posting a lot more regularly.

Also, please bare with me for the next few weeks as I get back into blogging, I'm currently dealing with bad internet so posts might not be of the best quality, and the overall look of my blog might need some editing.

----- Olivia Rose -----

Blog Motivation

You might have noticed that I haven't blogged in a few weeks, and for that I'm really sorry.

I've had a rubbish few weeks. I've had things going on with friends, stress at school and I've just not been motivated to open up my blog and write about anything.

I thought I'd put up this post to help anyone else, who's feeling really uninspired about blogging, and wants to get back into it but doesn't know how.

Set aside time to write or take pictures

Once you get out of the habit of blogging, it becomes really hard to fit it back into your schedule. Set aside some time to write a few posts and get back into it.

New post ideas

I had some posts lined up that, to be honest, I wasn't very excited about. Blogging is so much easier when you're passionate about what you're writing about, so change up your posting schedule to fit in some posts that you're excited to write, and get rid of any that you're not interested in.

Don't feel guilty

I spent a long time feeling guilty about not posting. Sometimes people can't post. It's as simple as that. With everything going on at the time, it would have been difficult for me to put up a post I was proud of. So don't feel guilty, everyone needs a break at some point.

Talk to other people

I've neglected a few blogging friends recently, because I didn't feel part of the community. Once you start posting again, try and reconnect with people, as being part of the community helps you to feel motivated.

What do you do when you can't get motivated?

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School Tips

As I'm in year 11 now, and will be doing my GCSEs soon, I'm trying to pick up a few healthy habits that will help me survive my last year. I thought I'd share them with you.

Do homework the day you get it
I know this is the first tip anyone will give you, but it honestly helps. You don't end up getting stressed, you have time to make it the best you can do, if you need help you have time to ask your teacher, and above all that you feel really organised and cool (or maybe that's just me).

Get a board for any important things
I have a cork board that I keep on my desk, and on this I keep my timetable, as well as a plan of my week. I also write any homework I have, and the due date, and pin it up on my board so I can see what I have to do.

Make sure you have good stationary
Make sure you've got a good amount of pens, pencils, rulers and other important things. It's pretty obvious why.

Keep sheets in folders
I find folders really useful for when I'm revising, as everything you need is all in one place. I have a folder for each subject.

Do you have any school tips?

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1 Year of Olivia Rose

Photo credit

Hello.

So it's officially one year since I relaunched my blog, and have been regularly uploading. I love blogging so much, and I wanted to thank everyone who reads my blog, whether it be regularly or just a few posts. It means the absolute world to me that people take the time to have a look around my little space on the internet, and I hope my next year of blogging will be just as amazing.♡

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Blogging Tips

I've been blogging for just over a year now, and although I'm by no means an expert, I've picked up a few tips here and there, and I wanted to share them for anyone who's just starting out.

Use twitter frequently. Twitter is amazing for keeping your followers up to date with posts, giving them an easy way to reach you, and connecting with the blogging community. Twitter is also a great way for new people to discover you.

Get involved in the community. Follow as many bloggers as you can on twitter, and retweet, favourite and reply to their tweets (obviously not too often). By doing this, you'll make blogging friends, which means you're more likely to meet new people, and feeling part of a community is really good.

Have a regular posting day. Most people who regularly read by blog know that I upload on a Wednesday and a Sunday, so on those days my blog views tend to be higher. Having some structure to your posting will help any readers to know when to check your blog, and when to get ready to read a new post.

Add pictures to every post. This is a tip I've recently discovered. Big chunks of writing look quite boring to read if you don't have at least one picture in the post. Pictures speak a thousand words, and having the right images attached to your writing will help to draw in readers.

Make sure readers know what they're getting. Some people like to use fancy titles for posts, e.g. whilst someone might call a post ' MAC lipstick review', someone else might go for 'My new favourite lipstick!'. Whilst the second one is a lot more interesting, someone who's looking to buy the lipstick you've blogged about is going to have a harder time finding your review. Make sure readers can easily see what the post is about, because people tend to be lazy and won't want to go through every post to find out if they want to read it.

Do you have any blogging tips?

The Versatile Blogger Award

I'm so lucky to have been nominated by Amanda (check out her blog if you haven't already!) for the Versatile Blogger Award. I think the idea of this is that you can discover new bloggers, which is always a good thing.

The 4 steps to the Versatile Blogger award are...

1. 1. Thank the person who nominated you.
2. Include a link to their blog.
3. Nominate bloggers you follow regularly.
4. Include 7 facts about yourself.

Bloggers I'm Nominating

• Georgia Charlotte
• Courteney Louise
• Melissa Tara
• I Love Your
• Charlie CP

All of these blogs are amazing, and you should definitely check them out!

Facts About Me

1. I'm a massive One Direction fan.
2. I feel really strongly about LGBTQA+ rights.
3. My zodiac sign is scorpio, but I don't believe in horoscopes.
4. My favourite places in the world are London and New York.
5. I'd love to turn blogging into a career.
6. I can't go a day without checking my twitter, instagram and snapchat.
7. I have a habit of buying expensive things even though I know I could get them cheaper elsewhere.

Thank you for reading, I hope you enjoy the blogs I nominated!!

A Week in Fuerteventura

I've just spent the week in Fuerteventura in the Canary Islands, and there was so much to do that I thought I'd write a blog post about it.


Quick Note: My phone broke on holiday so except for the photos of the villa, these photos are from Melissa.


Villa
We stayed in Caleta de Fuste, which is towards the bottom of the island. We stayed in an amazing villa right behind a golf course, which was really lovely. The beds were comfy, the pool was huge and it was in a really good location, only a few minutes drive from a supermarket, shopping centre and harbour.

Beaches
We only visited 2 beaches throughout the week, and they were both really nice. The first one we went to was a beach in Caleta, which was right behind the shopping centre. The sand was really soft, it wasn't much of a walk and the water was nice and warm, so I'd definitely recommend. The second beach we visited was about an hours drive to Corralejo, where we stayed when we last came 4 years ago. The waves were huge, and even though the walk to the beach was quite long, the sea definitely made up for it.

Food
We stopped at quite a few places for lunch, dinner or drinks throughout our stay. On the first night we visited a restaurant called Fado Rock, where I had a pizza. It was so good, and we decided to go there again on the last night. We also went to a place called 15, which wasn't really my thing but everyone else enjoyed it. We also went to loads of nice little cafes which I can't remember the names of, but one was called the Wild West, where we had a smoothie which was really nice, there's loads of lovely places to eat, and the majority of the food was amazing.

Activities
There's loads going on in Caleta, especially at the harbour. I chickened out but a few people went swimming with sealions, and my brother also booked in to go scuba diving which never actually happened because people with asthma aren't allowed to do it, but it looked really fun. On the harbour there's some lovely little cafe and bar type things where we had drinks and ate a few times, and all around the harbour there's fish that you can fefed, either with your own leftovers or with fish food €1.
Another place I wanted to mention was Soul Massage, where you could get really cheap massages. I had a facial and cranial massage twice because it was so good, and it only cost €15!

Overall, I loved my stay in Fuerteventura and would definitely recommend it to anyone looking to book a holiday.

Hand Luggage Essentials

I'm going on holiday next week, so I thought I'd show you what I'm taking in my hand luggage. I've tried to keep it simple because I don't want to take up too much space.

The first thing I'm taking in my hand luggage is my laptop. I'm taking this because I'm hoping to watch a film on it, and also I was always told to take any valuables in my hand luggage because your suitcase gets thrown around a fair bit.

The next thing I'm obviously taking is my phone. I need this for a lot of reasons, and wouldn't dream of not taking it in my hand luggage.

The next thing I'm taking is headphones, as they're pretty essential if you don't want the whole plane listening to your music.

I'm also taking my nivea lip balm as I can't survive a whole plane journey without it.

I'm also taking a book to read, even though I don't really read usually. I'm taking Paper Towns by John Green as I want to see what all the hype is about.

What do you usually take on a plane?

A Day in London

Last week, I spent a day out in London, and as I live quite far away from London, I wanted to make the most of my day by visiting some tourist attractions, as well as soaking up the city atmosphere. I thought I'd share some of my photos with you.

 London from the top of The Shard.

London's famous red buses. 

Some of the many train tracks. 

London Eye & Big Ben 

Tower Bridge. 

The HMS Belfast (is that what it's called?) 

The Tower of London (with LOADS of people queuing) 

The open top of The Shard. 

Hyde Park.

A giant tree in Hyde Park (i'm running out of captions).

 A bird in Hyde Park.

GEESE. 

 MORE GEESE.

 Big Ben.

The sunset on the journey home.

What are your favourite things to do in London?

25 Things To Be Happy About

Hello.

Life can be very stressful at times, and it's really easy to ignore the little things that are good about the world. Here's 25 things to be happy about.

Sunsets
Waking up early and getting things done
The sound of the beach
Getting into bed after a long day
Finding money you thought you didn't have
Clean sheets
Feeling like you look nice
Buying new things
Christmas
Feeling like you've achieved something
Relaxing baths
Summer
Planning the future
Good conversations with people
Waking up on a Saturday morning when you have nothing to do
Checking things off your to do list
Looking out the window on a train
Falling asleep to the sound of rain
New stationary (or is it just me?)
Sunbathing by the pool on holiday
Baking something and it turns out well
Sunday roasts
Group events that go well
Relaxing on a Friday night
Having things to look forward to

What makes you happy?

School Organisation

Hello.

Since I'm in year 10 of high school, my first year of GCSEs, I've been keeping my schoolwork a lot more organised than I have in previous years. I wanted to share with you a few things I like to do to stay organised.

Book Storage

I find that keeping all my books in one place is really useful when you're quickly packing your bag, or you sit down to do some work. I got this basket for Christmas, but you can find similar things anywhere (I'd recommend Cath Kidston or TK Maxx). I keep the bigger books at the bottom and the smaller ones on top so I can always see every book I have in there, and I just keep some revision guides down the side of the shelf.

Stationary Box

I keep all my stationary in a box by my desk, so it's always available when I'm doing work. I got this box with my Victoria's Secret perfume set, but any old box will do. I just keep highlighters, coloured pencils, and other random items that I don't usually use in here. I tend to keep pens and pencils separate on my desk as I need these a lot more often and don't want to have to search in my stationary box for them.

School Folder

I have a giant folder for any loose worksheets. I've separated my folder into subjects, and for each subject I have a few different plastic wallets, one for each subject. I find this really useful because then I can easily find what I'm looking for, and if I'm doing some work on a specific thing I can just take out the whole plastic wallet instead of searching for individual sheets.

Contents Pages

One thing I really highly recommend is to make a contents page at the front of your book. I know it sounds a bit strange, but this was recommended to me by my maths teacher, and I can't believe I didn't do it sooner! It's so easy to find things when you're revising, and if you keep up to date with it then it takes no time at all to keep up.

I hope you've found some of these organisation tips useful! Please let me know in the comments if you have any tips!

Favourite Male YouTubers

Hello.

Last week, I counted down my Top 5 Female YouTubers (which you can read here), so I wanted to also tell you my Top 5 Male YouTubers, except I only have 4 this week. That's awkward.

Troye Sivan
Anyone that's been reading my blog for a long time, or following me on Twitter or Instagram, will know that I am in love with Troye. He was always going to be my favourite channel.

Thatcher Joe
Joe's videos are hilarious. I feel like you really get to know him as a person, and I'm always excited to see his newest video every Sunday.

Caspar Lee
Caspar's life seems so interesting, and I really love watching all his adventures.

Tyler Oakley
It's hard to watch Tyler's videos with a straight face because of the energy he brings to all of his videos. He's such a happy, funny person and his videos always cheer me up.

What male YouTubers do you like?

Favourite Female YouTubers

Hello.

I'm a huge YouTube fan, so I wanted to tell you a few of the channels that I really enjoy. Since I love so many, I've split my list into female and male, so the next one will be coming next week!

Zoella
Zoe was the first YouTuber I ever watched, and even though I'm not as obsessed as I used to be, I still love her videos and think she's absolutely gorgeous.

Velvet Gh0st
Gabby's videos are more American style, and I find them really interesting. I think she's very different from other YouTubers, and I love her videos.

ThatPommieGirl
I first heard about Sarah Ashcroft from her instagram, which led me to her blog, and eventually her YouTube channel. She does her makeup so well, and I've learnt loads of beauty tips from her!

Kaushal Beauty
I discovered Kaushal at the same time I found Sarah. Her makeup always looks stunning and I love watching her tutorials.

Niomi Smart
I think Niomi is so gorgeous, and I really enjoy her videos. I love how natural she does her makeup and her videos are always really well filmed.

Who's your favourite YouTuber?

Anxiety Tips

Hello.

If you haven't guessed from the title, I suffer from anxiety, which is rather annoying. It often gets in the way of my education and social life, so instead of boring you all with my sob story, I wanted to share 5 things I try to do to make myself feel a little bit better.

Go out and see people
If you suffer from anxiety you'll know that this is really difficult. I hate meeting new people, and dread going anywhere where I might see someone I know. However you can still see people, just make sure it's in an environment where you feel comfortable. For example, I invited all my friends to my house for the evening, where I can spend time with people and socialise, but also feel 100% relaxed as it's my house and I have complete control over who I'll be seeing there.

Get enough sleep
This honestly helps so much. I know it's difficult, as a few weeks ago I was up all night worrying about school and by the time I had to get up I felt so anxious that I thought I was going to be sick. But you really need to make sure you're relaxed and ready for bed at a normal time, because staying up late just gives you more time to worry about things.

Stay away from negative people
This may not be the same for all people, but I find that something that really triggers my anxiety is when other people talk about it. I don't like talking about it at all, and even writing this post is making me feel a bit upset. This is why I find it really important to surround yourself with really positive people. Luckily for me, my best friend is like a little ball of sunshine, and in our 5 years of friendship I think I've only seen her sad about 4 times, but for anyone who's surrounded by negative people, try and distance yourself from them.

Don't overthink things
This is the rule I break most often. I am a master of overthinking things to the point that I explode into a big puddle of tears and don't get out of bed for the rest of the day. As hard as it is (and this one will take practice), just try and go with the flow, and think about the present, instead of worrying about the future.

Stay organised
I find that I really dread something if I'm not properly prepared. For example, I find school a lot easier if I do my homework in good time, and keep track of everything.

Do you have any tips for dealing with anxiety?

50 Facts About Me

Hello.

As I said in a previous post, I really want to start doing some more 'personal posts' so you can get to know me better, so here's 50 facts about me.

1] I'm 15 years old.
2] My birthday is the 29th of October.
3] I hate science.
4] My favourite subjects are history & English.
5] I love cats, and I NEED A GINGER KITTEN CALLED IAN WHEN IM OLDER OK.
6] I'd rather have loads of makeup and no clothes than no makeup and loads of clothes.
7] I could live off salt & vinegar Pringles.
8] Christmas is my favourite thing in the world.
9] I'm obsessed with Troye Sivan.
10] I have an older brother and an older sister.
11] I want to move to Brighton when I'm 18.
12] I find serial killers really interesting. (I'm not weird I swear)
13] My favourite meal is a roast dinner.
14] I like everything to be organised.
15] I'm the laziest person in the world.
16] I have a habit of buying expensive things when I know I could get them cheaper elsewhere.
17] I have really bad eyesight, but still refuse to wear my glasses because they make me look like a bug.
18] Literally all of my neighbours are old people.
19] I've never had a 'serious relationship'.
20] The first YouTuber I ever watched was Zoella.
21] My favourite film is The Wolf of Wall Street, but I also love The Terminal and Bad Neighbours.
22] When I'm older I either want to be a YouTuber, an author, a criminologist or work for The Trevor Project.
23] I am obsessed with One Direction, and I've seen them live 3 times.
24] I wish I could sing. But I can't. Sigh.
25] Blogging is my favourite hobby.
26] I can play the piano.
27] I'm terrible at maths.
28] I hate going out in public where I know I might see people I know.
29] My favourite drink is lemonade.
30] Hate is a strong word, but I very strongly dislike Justin Bieber & Meghan Trainor.
31] I took history, music, drama and business studies as my GCSEs.
32] I can't cook very well, and my most elaborate meal is egg on toast.
33] My favourite makeup brands are MAC and Rimmel.
34] I've never smashed a phone screen.
35] I've already decided that I would pay £200 to see Troye Sivan live.
36] I love long car journeys.
37] I hate airport security.
38] By the time I'm 25, I want to be living in New York.
39] I prefer the night time to the day.
40] I'm very unhealthy.
41] My favourite beauty items are perfumes, eye shadows & lipsticks.
42] Literally every piece of furniture I own is from IKEA.
43] I want to start a YouTube channel in a few years.
44] I'm always on Twitter and Tumblr.
45] I'd say my best feature is my eyelashes and my nails (weird I know, but they're fab).
46] I love the smell of petrol (doesn't everyone?).
47] I love Modern Family, but NETFLIX UK DOESNT HAVE LIKE HALF OF THE SEASONS.
48] I spend my life in my bedroom.
49] I can't write on paper that isn't lined.
50] I really want to travel.

What are some facts about you?

Places I Want to Visit

Hello.

As soon as I have enough money, I'm hoping to travel to a few places. I'm desperate to see the world, and thought I'd share with you my top 5 destinations.

Sydney, Australia

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Kraków, Poland

LA

Amsterdam

Where do you want to go?