A few months ago when I was talking to my friend, I was explaining to her how I hadn't been feeling myself; how I've been feeling like shit and, as a result of those feelings I found myself comparing myself to influencers thinking they are pretty and I'm not etc etc. Then I started deeping how powerful the mind is.

CONFIDENCE / HAVING LOW SELF ESTEEM is one the hardest things to deal with. LOL as I write this I can hear someone saying Elizabeth? you low self-esteem?! * inserts confused face gif*  because, I'm literally the one person you will always find gassing themself up. I used to be that person that when you tell me ' Aww you're pretty' I would respond thank you with an awkward smile whilst saying LOOOL you so blind in my head, and that could be coming from a friend, a guy I like, or even a family member. Tell me that now I would probs respond with thank you and say I know in my head after or vice versa depending on who you are. 

Learning your worth and understanding who you are without needing another human being to make you feel good about yourself is one thing that is so important to learn. As humans, we are accustomed to people giving us positive words of affirmation it helps to feed our egos whether you believe that or not argue with my toe. Now I'm not saying that people shouldn't give you positive words but what I am saying is that you need to learn your own worth without someone telling 'OOO you're so pretty' like that shouldn't have to define who you are as a person.

Self - esteem/ confidence are things controlled by the mind, and with the generation that we are in, it doesn't help that everything we do is centered around social media. I even find myself comparing myself to influencers that are labeled the most prettiest girls by social media or have the nicest body shape and some of those that I compare myself to are not even real, let's be honest. As a society, we have been conditioned to compare ourselves to unrealistic beauty standards. 

''You are actually that bishhh!'' This is a phrase that I acc love to use when I'm getting ready to go out and I go to the mirror to check my fit I'm like '' Dami you're acc that bishh , you're cute you know'' then I tend to giggle at myself after lol. Doing things like that helps me to make myself feel better about myself even on my down days. Another phrase my friend got me saying is '' My ye is great'', this was inspired after I was venting to her about how I was feeling and she just said " Your ye is great you know" and I was like "YOU IS RIGHT"! The phrase was even Twitter name for a little bit.

1) After you finish reading this post I encourage you to look at yourself in the mirror or use the front camera on your phone and just stare at yourself (I used to do this so much) and start to talk about the positive things. Start saying positive things to yourself! 

2)If social media is what makes you view yourself negatively I recommend deleting those apps. Take time to look at yourself through your own lens and, not the one that society has conditioned us to look through. The one that makes us compare ourselves to others or has us thinking we are not good enough.

3) Take care of yourself. That fitness plan you've been too lazy to start go and do it! Go for walks pamper yourself. Start putting you first, make time for YOU. 

4) Surround yourself with positive people. I know that sometimes we don't want to feel like we are burdens to our friends but, it is always nice to know that when you are on your low days there is someone you can turn to. What type of people have you chosen to surround yourself with and how has that affected the way you view yourself?

5) If you have a faith,  turn to it! For me personally, this was one thing that really helped me, being a Christian and knowing that there is a God that cares and loves me has helped me at my lowest points. Once I began to connect more with my faith; I started to see myself the way that God sees me and not see myself the way others see me. 

Elizabeth xox 

Let me just start off by saying that, who knew pancake batter and Oreos could make one beautiful creation. I was watching my friends snap one day and, the way my mouth was watering I was like 'me too, I will enjoy !' 

Ingredients: Recipe enough to make 12

1 pack of Oreos 

Self-raising flour: approx 100g 

Caster sugar: approx 90g 

1 egg 

milk: 1 cup


Steps:

1) Mix about 100g of flour with 90g of sugar

2) Whisk your eggs in a separate bowl until they become frothy

3) Once your eggs are frothy add your cup of milk and whisk again

4)Pour your egg mixture into the flour and sugar mix and, whisk together

5) Once mixed, observe. I say this because you don't want your batter to be too runny. If it is add more flour to thicken the batter

6) Put oil into a deep pan (or whatever that you have that is suitable for frying) and heat the oil.

7) Whilst the oil is heating up, put your oreo in the batter using a fork to help cover it

8) Once the oil is hot put your oreo inside the oil

9) Make sure to turn them over and take out once brown

10) ENJOY! If you're feeling cheeky eat them with some ice cream and, whipped cream. Trust me it slaps. 

QUICK TIP: I've noticed that if I dunk the oreo in milk for 5-10 seconds and, then put it in the batter the Oreo and the creme center melts more in your mouth. 

Hi, hello and dem tings der

Like the other posts, I make I'm just typing as things come to mi headtop.

The inspo for this post is the fact that so far 2020 has been the definition of higgy hagga. If you're not familiar with the phrase, let me break it down for you.

Noun: Higgy Hagga

Definition: Mess, doesn't make a sense, confusion, throw away

That's my definition of the word anyway. Now you're probably wondering why its been Higgy Hagga... CORONAAAA aka MISS RONA is the reason why!

Rona, has come to just mess everything up! I should be in the library aka jail revising. Instead I'm at home because of the lockdown, still revising. However, it's not the same everything just takes longer to do. Boris said we gotta stay home so that's what I'm doing and I can't lie to you I don't even want to leave my house. Every time I watch the news I get more scared (# stayathomepeeps). I have been home for over a month now and, I've hardly stepped foot outside, the only time I have has been to 1) help my mum take the shopping out of the car and, 2) return a parcel which was just a major L.

Now, as we all know we should all be inside unless; you are a key worker, going out for your daily exercise and, buying essential items. Soooooooo I'm just really confused as to why I saw on twitter that people were still getting their hair done... like leaving their house to go to the hair salon to get their hair done.

Let's be honest none of us are going anywhere, like as I type this I'm wearing a scarf and, my hair is in twist like Asap rocky. Amy, Krissy, or even Susu have not made contact with my head (the names of my wigs lol) since this lockdown began. Restaurants = LOCK OFF, Cinema = LOCK OFF, University/ Uni depending on which you go = LOCK OFF... so where are you going ?! Now if you are an influencer and Instagram is your source of income then... maybe I get it by like 2%, by getting your hair done you are promoting the person's business which, results in possible money for you.

Like I said, this Rona has come to mess everything up, which I understand includes a lot of peoples hustle. Some people have been made redundant and, for those who are 'creatives' that depend on regular bookings to get your shmoneeyy I can attempt to understand why you would violate the lockdown rules... like I'm attempting. In all you do just bear in mind why the lockdown was set in the first place; its there to protect you. Wouldn't you want to protect your life, and your client's life rather than, risk it for the sake of laying someone's hair just so that your client can put "what lace ?" in their caption?

We all know that everyone needs money to survive and, in a crisis like this you definitely need money. How are you going to buy food or pay bills with no steady income, that just makes everything harder. My mum even told me grocery stores are reducing the amount of discounts in stores, to stop people from overbuying. Which I get because, people were out here clearing the shelves of toilet roll like how am I seeing on my friends snap someone with a deep trolly just filled with toilet roll and, the toilet roll is even falling off the trolly. People were doing tooo much but I guess that's what happens when you are scared and you don't know what is going on, or how long you will be stuck in your house for. You overbuy!

I'm not going to be ignorant and say things like ' you should have money saved up anyway' because, sometimes being able to save money is a luxury if we are keeping it 100. This pandemic has made me realise the things that I take for guaranteed and has made me appreciate them so much more. Things such as having a roof over my head and having space to myself has made me more empathetic to homeless people with no family. As its times like this when it's really nice to be around your family no matter how annoying they are.

So before this lockdown happened I was screaming 'omds my birthday is going to be inside' (ngl still upset about it) and, I was upset that I wasn't going to be able to go on holiday. However, after having a deep thought and putting certain things into perspective, I'm thankful that I have life and that my family and I are safe. If you have managed to read this far, just deep the fact that you are alive right now and that unfortunately, there are people who are struggling to stay alive because of this horrible virus.

To those that have lost family members or friends, I pray that God gets you through this challenging time. To those that have family members or friends in intensive care or are isolating, I pray that God protects them and, that they will not fall victim to the virus. To those who are key workers and front liners I appreciate you! My thoughts and prayers are with you all.

See I started writing this post on the 25th June but because I'm lazy I'm only just posting this now ...  Hope you enjoy.

SOOOO

 It's the end of my first academic year at the university that I attend (the name shall not be disclosed x)  I'm currently doing nothing and quite frankly I feel jobless (I'm sure some of you can relate; edit: I now have a job thank God).

Anywho back to the main subject of this post which is my first-year Uni experience. Let me start off by saying that my uni experience did not match up to my expectation. I thought that I was going to be going out all the time, that I would be so involved in the societies that I wanted to join and just generally living my best life. I also thought that I was going to LOVE my course and go to all the careers events.

Did that happen? Erm NO (I tell a lie, to an extent it did). I mean I joined 3 societies Which were  MecSoc, the equestrian society (yes ! I'm a black girl who horse rides) and ACS. The only society that I can actually say I was involved in was ACS; the funny thing is that the society that I was most excited to join the most was the one that, I was least active in and that was the equestrian society.

Looking back I notice that I was more interested in socialising than studying. At the times where I would go out instead of "focusing on my books"; I would have flashbacks to my dad telling me in the car that I didn't come to uni for fun and games that my education comes first. He would also tell me that I shouldn't drink alcohol and that I should drink Shloer instead lol. I soon came to realise in second semester that I am not as good as balancing my time as I thought I was, and learning how to balance your time in uni is so important. You no longer have teachers chasing you for homework, or calling your parents telling them you haven't been doing your work. I also learnt that I don't know how to say no. In second year I am going to say no more lol.

In terms of friends, it's true what they say: the people that you meet in the first week of Uni will not necessarily be the friends that you will have at the end of the year. Having said that I think it's very important to be open to meet new people, you never know what doors the people you meet can open. Everyone is nervous; you're all in the same boat. Especially if you came to Uni by yourself,  If you came with a group of friends then I guess you're calm, just don't fall into the trap of not socialising with other people but at the end of the day, it's not by force. I think what I liked most about my uni experience was meeting new people.

So... here are my 10 tips for first years:

1) Pay your rent on time

2) Don't use your SFE to buy Gucci (that's not financially prudent)

3) Budget your money

4) Make sure you get a student bank account I recommend Santander, it comes with a railcard

5)  Join freshers chats

6) Go to your lectures ... First year is actually important the people who tell you otherwise throw them in the bin

7) Utilise lecture capture it will become your best friend

8) Drink responsibly *pulls left eye*

9) Don't follow the crowd be true to yourself

10) Enjoy first year you don't want to look back and wish you did things differently

                        To all the friends I made during first year, you're all annoying x

DESGIN IS HAPPENING EVERYWHERE

When I started thinking about the title of this post; Designing for the future: trends we need to consider now. I wasn't sure how to approach it, I then thought to myself what exactly is design ?!

Here's the definition I found on Google:

1)"A plan or drawing produced to show the look and function or workings, garments, or other object before it is made"

2)" A decorative pattern"

Design is something cool and so broad. living in a city where construction is always happening I find it so cool, others may not but seeing a building  slowly being made up to completion is one of the things that I find so fascinating. I love the art of design even though we have the google definition of what design is my own person definition of design is the freedom to express your self and your thoughts. However  I feel as though the harsh reality is that that, within the design industry the different sectors seem like worlds apart. 

Despite this feeling that different forms of design are now where linked together but they actually are. Many fashion designers have helped to design the cars that we like to admire such as the Range Rover Evoque which was designed by Victoria Beckham. Fashion designers take their design inspirations from everyday things from cars which help to determine either the tones of the garments or the theme of the clothes that will be created, to nature using earthy tones in a collection of clothing. Or simply just make old trends new again such as baggy clothing, chokers and going natural with your hair. I just thought these were things that us 21st century humans came up with but no our ancestors before us were already one step ahead of the game.

Like we are shown in  movies such as, Meet The Robison's where there is a whole world full of flying cars; I feel like the future of design is moving in that direction where everything starts to become more futuristic and, the way that we do our make up or dress becomes more simple, the effortless look seems to be in trend. For example the KKW contour kits by Kim Kardashian West were made so that people could quickly do their makeup look flawless but, without having to put much though or effort into it.

I was recently shown by a friend a video of a car design in Dubai which they are hoping will be able to fly. Wether they were successful with this design I don't know however, it makes me wonder will I ever see something that cool in my lifetime. Maybe you never know, we could even say that the UK starting to enforce electric cars into the UK is a step in that direction and, with technology advancing everyday the opportunities are endless. 

To conclude I would have to say that obviously there is no distinct way to determine what design will look like in the future however, I will have to say that I think that things are going to get more over the top. Feathered eyebrows and putting your face full of makeup in cold water is just the beginning especially, with old trends becoming new and technology being taking to another level that no one ever thought they would see before. 

Disclaimer: This blog post is a part of Design Blogger competition organised by CGTrader