'It's Thanksgiving' Child Stars

It never fails to amaze me just how many people out there that are willing to do literally anything to try and become a child star! I mean we've got the ones who do generally have a talent, maybe they can sing, dance, do some weird and wonderful thing. Which yes I suppose can be warranted some exposure. But it's the ones such as all the child 'stars' that it's clear have only gotten their record deal or reality show purely because Mummy and Daddy were willing to pay for it! The most famous example is probably Rebecca Black. I think we all remember the lyrical genius that came up with 'Got to have my bowl, got to have cereal!' In 'Friday'! Oh memories aye?

But the one that stands out to me is the wonderfully auto-tuned rendition of 'It's Thanksgiving' by Nicole Westbrook. The lyrics are awful. The video is poor and don't get me wrong the girl doesn't sound terrible singing but she is blatently been heavily edited. Curtosy of parents who were desperate for thier little angel to be the next Disney megastar! But unfortunatley love we've all fallen far too much savvy to these types of media promotions now to even acknowledge this anymore. I think it's safe to say Nicole won't be making it into any of the charts any time soon.

Although I do comend her on the fact that I've managed to endure this oh so delightful video and song even though I live in England and we don't even celebrate Thanksgiving! So I congratulate her for that! All I can say is enjoy your 15 minutes of fame, I hate to be cruel but I really don't see it lasting. Unless Mummy and Daddy pay for yet another single for her...

For those of you who haven't heard the oh so delightful song (lucky you!) then I've posted the video below. Just in case like me you're too curious not to!

Let me know what you think.

Emily x

Who knew a bulldog could make such a difference? Instant Mood Lift!

I've got to say there are only a few things that really do lift my mood when I'm feeling low. Exercise being the obvious one, then things like going for a coffee with a friend. But recently something I've found that helps quite a lot is watching videos and looking at pictures of cute animals. Don't ask me why but it does. I think it's the whole cuteness appeal and the innocence of them. I just feel better for watching them. So I've decided it's not exactly a bad thing and thought I'd share one that I particularly like. This video is a whole compilation of bulldogs and I've got to say it is one of the most sweetest things. If this can't make you smile I don't know what will!  

Let me know what you think!

Emily x

Ziftit - Helping you give and get the gifts you really want!

I'm always struggle to buy presents for certain people. I either have the issue that I just have no clue what to get someone, or if I do know an idea I don't actually know if they'll like it. I find my parents are always a problem to buy for especially! You ask them what they want and all they ever say is 'I dunno, anything'. Well no, you wouldn't just want 'anything' would you? It would be so much easier if people could actually tell you what they want! 

I admit I'm probably the same myself. For those that know me enough to get me a gift but not enough to know everything I like, hence buying gifts that well, I don't want to sound ungrateful, but aren't necessarily something I'd want.And it's the same with me buying gifts for other people. So it begs the question why we don't just make it obvious what gifts we want! If only we could post online a list of gifts we wanted like a 'wish list'! Then when people want to get you a gift for whatever reason, they could just look at your list and get you something you genuinely will like!

It's a good job that Ziftit offer just that service. This is a shopping/ gifting website and app that allows users to create 'Zift Lists' (wish lists) for any occasion. You can add any item at all, from any online shop too and store it in your Zift List for all your friends and family to see. Gifters can then purchase the gifts straight from you Zift List and have it sent directly to you. So they don't even need to worry about postage and packaging! It's all too simple really, I keep thinking there must be some sort of catch!

Well apparently not! Plus Ziftit has some other good features that makes it stand out from others of this kind too that I actually was quite impressed by. Such as the personalized Trending Feed that will fill up with products that it thinks may be of interest to you based on your personal style. Always good for when getting ideas for things you may want, plus an excuse to add some more items to your list!

Then there is also Ziftit’s Events page. This function allows you to create events online and then send out invitations directly to your friends and family, also allowing you to receive RSVPs too. So it also acts as your own little organizer. Plus it's perfect if you need to arrange any sort of society based event at uni or even just meeting up with a group of friends.

That's without even mentioning the mobile app, which includes a Barcode Scanner allowing you to scan products when out and about in shops and then receive a list of where you can find that product (as well as the different prices it’s listed at) online! Perfect for finding a bargain!

Finally, Ziftit’s Pitch In feature allows you to split the cost of gifts with your friends! So no more issues about who needs to pay what , if splitting the cost of a gift! I really don't know why I haven't used this before tbh! Would have made life so much simpler! 

Ooh and that's before I even mentioned the current competition they have running at the moment! Ziftit are holding a Trendsetter Contest and will give away $10,000 to one winner! All you have to do to enter the contest is gather unique products from all over the web and add them to your personal Zift List. Then by using the “follow” feature, you will need to try and gain a following on Ziftit by adding products to their Zift Lists that you think will appeal to your followers. Anything you add to your Then on December 15, the participant with the highest overall influence rating will win $10,000 and will be named “The Trendsetter of 2013.” 

So if that's not a reason to give this a go then I don't know what is. It's certainly worth a look into anyway!

Let me know if any of you do give it a go and I'll be sure to follow you!

Emily x

This is a sponsored post.

Prank Calling Puppies - Surprising Mood Lift!

Hello there,

On a mission to keep my mood up, plus the fact that I was majorly procrastinating from doing my uni work I came across this cute little video on Youtube that certainly put a smile on my face. I think this would be one of the only times I would except a prank call and actually be alright with it. (Well only if Skype was involved!) If not I think I might be a little confused by what was going on but I'm sure you'll see what I mean when you watch the video yourself! So anyway here is something that I hope puts a smile on your face too and I think you'll agree you wouldn't mind getting a call from them either! 

Have you come across any other cute prank calling animals? If you have please let me know! 

Emily x

Lack of self control

What is wrong with me? Well I could name a lot of things actually but the one thing that I'm talking about is constantly eating! Okay at the moment this is fine. It's good in fact! If anything I should be eating 24/7 and trying to put on loads of weight! But it's the fact I'm eating when I'm not hungry then feeling really bad about it later as it's a waste of food I could have had at a later time! To most people this is ridiculous! If you want to eat something you should right? Well my head is still too messed up for that right now! I wind myself up because it's like I have a  lack of self control. If something is in front of me I just feel the need to eat it whether I actually wanted it or not! Which at the moment as I said is probably not all that much of a bad thing. What concerns me is the fact that I know I won't be able to stop when I am at a normal weight! I have this fear that I'm just going to continue being like this and end up huge. I don't do enough exercise to warrant the amount I eat! 

Eurgh I hate the fact I think like this! When will these thoughts stop!?

Emily x

Admittance is the key to everything... right?

Hey,

Okay there is a reason that I haven't been posting. Not only is it partly down to laziness and lack of self motivation but as you can probably guess from the last post I actually wrote I haven't been exactly in the best of places. I wrote in my last post about how I believed I was depressed and was planning on seeking medical help. Well I can happily tell you I did in fact go and see a doctor and they've put me on a course of low dose anti-depressants. And you know what. I think they're actually working! Since I've started having them my mood has significantly lifted. It's not just me who has said it either. My Mum has said I seem so much better and she's noticed a real change! Equally my Dad said he doesn't feel like I was as snappy with him anymore and was more willing to laugh and joke about things, just like I always used to.

Now I'm not saying it's a miracle cure. I've still had my low days and things do still get me down. The other day for instance. I went on a real low. I absolutely detested myself. All for the most ridiculous of reasons. Well I guess to me it's not ridiculous otherwise I wouldn't have let it bother me in the first place. But to everyone else, on the surface, it's absolutely nothing. Unless of course you're in a similar situation or have been there. You see it's one of those things that unless it's happened to you, you can never understand. No matter how much you try. Or even think you do. You can't!

You're thinking this is linked to the whole depression thing. Well I guess in a way it kind of is. But it's also linked to something that has been an ongoing problem with me for the past five years. I always thought I'd gotten better. I always thought I'd beaten this horrific illness. But I guess deep down I always knew it was still a problem and it was only going to be so long before it started to take over again. I guess secretly it's been going on for the past two years. But then when I started university and I really thought I'd finally beaten it. I really did improve. I went from being so controlling to having much less of a care. I became so much more willing to try new things and I guess everyone just couldn't be happier with my transformation. But in a way this was also my downfall. Because with that I developed new obsessions. Possibly even worse than the original ones as even though I'd beaten one demon, another was slowly emerging underneath. And really it was the same thing, just in a new form.

Yes I have an eating disorder. As much as it pains me to write that I know it's true. Now I haven't got an eating disorder in the sense I'm starving myself (like I did when I was severely anorexic at 13/14). In fact I love food. As I write this I'm sitting eating a bowl of cereal! But I know food is an issue with me. The fact I count every calorie in my body is a fine example of that. But don't get me wrong. I will happily eat really high fat treats and snacks. Today I ate a cinnamon swirl. I got my Mum to buy me a pretzel from Mr Pretzels today, two in fact! And I will eat them. Over the past few days I've even eaten croissants, pastries, chocolate, far too much cake and doughnuts! To anyone I look like I can't stop stuffing my face. But that doesn't stop me from resenting myself for it! That doesn't stop me from feeling so physically disgusted in myself for eating it. It doesn't stop my overly obsession with exercising! It hasn't changed my absolutely ridiculous eating pattern of attempting to not eat all day only so I can stuff my face all night! Only to regret it horribly when I'm awake till half 3 every night and then wonder why I'm so bloody tired all the time! Plus it makes me feel even worse when I end up snacking on something really nice but awfully bad for me at like sometimes not even lunchtime! But why do I do this to myself?!

I know I shouldn't feel guilty for eating high fat foods! I know I shouldn't feel bad for eating.... normally! I'm young. My metabolism would burn it off anyway. Plus I do exercise so it's not like the higher fat foods with lots of calories would even really effect me that much. Also I'm severely underweight! Eating a lot more and actually putting on weight will do me good! I need to! I keep telling myself that I'm trying to! But I guess really I don't. I guess really I'm not trying that hard. I may think eating all these really high fat foods are making me put on weight. But really I know I'm probably still not eating enough calories in a day to put on weight. Maintain yes. But not put on. I guess what I'm trying to say is that I know I have a problem and I guess I need to admit that to ever be able to do anything about it.

Let's just hope I do.

Emily x

Feeling low and getting help...

Now I know we all have bad days but why do I seem to feel like I always have more than most? Is there something majorly wrong with me? I admit it. I failed in my aim to be positive this month. I'm sorry to all my readers. I did make you a promise and I never achieved my goal. I guess deep down I knew I wouldn't last. I think I've known it from the very off. I'm just not a positive person and tend to see the negative in everything. Which I know is wrong. I know I need to stop being so down all the time but I don't know how to stop myself from feeling like this. Well actually I do and that's why I'm going to make a change.

You must be thinking, 'she says this all the time'. Which yes I do. But this time I'm getting proper help. I thought it's best that I tell yous all first as I really don't know how this is going to effect me or what I'm going to turn out like. Let's hope for the better and I suddenly gain a new lease of life. But to be honest you never can tell. But fingers crossed it will all be good. Anyway I've actually gotten round to doing what I've known for about 8 months I needed to do. I've booked myself a doctors appointment for Tuesday and with any luck they may be able to help me stop feeling so low all the time! 

I do believe I may be depressed. Either that or I have severe anxiety/stress/OCD. Well in fact I have all of those two. Plus I know I still have eating issues as well, not so much in the sense that I've got an actual disorder but I'm still conscious. I guess it's something that I probably always will be though ever since my eating disorder when I was fourteen. But that's a whole other story. Connected to this. Possibly. The entire reason for this.Not even the slightest.

I'm hoping my going to see the doctor on Tuesday they might be able to offer me some sort of antidepressant. I know they say that antidepressants are a last resort but I really have tried everything else. I've tried counselling  I've tried hypnotherapy. I've tried herbal remedies of all kinds. I've spoken to endless amounts of people and they're not making me any better. I need something to actually give me a boost! And let's fact it, how many people in the world do actually take them? Thousands. If not millions. They're not abnormal! And I won't be abnormal for having them. If anything they will be making me normal! 

So I guess we'll just have to wait and see how I get on. I really hope they see how much I need them. It really is a case of need. Of course I will listen to their suggestions and discuss alternatives, but I really can't see any other alternative right now. So keep your fingers crossed for me!

Emily x

PS:  If anyone else is in the same situation or had similar experiences or anything. I'd really appreciate some ideas and advice. Equally I'm happy to discuss my own experiences too!