Welcome to... Ireland

If you don't already know, I'm from the south west of Ireland and since quite a few of my followers are from other countries, I've been wanting to do a post like this for a while.

Ireland has recently been having a heat-wave.  To others its probably nothing but for us who live with rain for the majority of the year, this is a lovely surprise.  Needless to say, I was out basking in as much sun as I could because lets face it, it's probably going to rain for the rest of the year.  

I took my SLR camera with me a few days ago when me and my friend decided to pretty much be tourists in our own county.  It's crazy that I live in such a beautiful county yet it took me until our recent trip out to realise it.  

Welcome to Kerry, Ireland (Killarney to be precise).

**Picture heavy**

A lovely dog we met by the lake

Another lovely dog we met!

Theres just a little snippet of where I live.  

I'm definitely going to take more advantage of living in such a beautiful place from now on.  

Hope you enjoyed this post.  

Zara

Meet.....Me?

As most of you know, I put up a post last year explaining my self confidence (Read) - or lack of and just a general chatty post about me and my life. 

I received an overwhelming amount of comments from the post after I explained that I was not comfortable in posting pictures of myself anywhere online.

When I was about 5 years old, my parents noticed I had a limp.  

After months of seeing doctors, they diagnosed me with Perthes disease which is when there is a temporary loss of blood supply to the hip, therefore causing me to limp.  

I was always an active child, involved in all sports and danced competitively.  The doctors told my parents that in order for me to have a 'normal' life I would have to rest for an entire year.  

That meant not even walking to the bathroom.  Therefore my parents had to carry me everywhere and I got little exercise.   

The other option?  End up in a wheelchair.

Due to not getting any exercise for a long period of time, I put on weight and was a chubby little child.   Throughout my teen years, this has always been the same.  I have struggled with weight my whole life and it truly upsets me to think people presume that because I am overweight, I sit in McDonalds all day everyday eating so much food.  

I eat pretty much the same as anybody else my age who are all quite slim and have a generally healthy lifestyle.  Of course I could eat better and exercise more, but lets face it, we all can do that.  I have recently lost 3 stone and I am hoping to continue my weight-loss until I finally reach a point where I am happy.  

Due to this, my self confidence has been non existent.  

I grew up being bullied and cried everyday going to school.  

I kept myself back from everyone, stopped myself from doings things I should have experience as a teen and eventually ended up loosing most of my friends in secondary school.  

I wouldn't allow myself to be happy because I felt that I did not deserve it.  

After secondary school, I went on to college.  I am now just finished my third year where for the first time in my life, I have gained a small amount of confidence.  

From the friends I've met and the things I've experienced, college has been one of the best things to have ever happened to me.  

I have my good days and my bad days, but I think that gaining that little bit of confidence in myself has allowed me to come to this point.  I have been contemplating putting myself up here for a while.  Should I, should I not? were the questions I keep asking myself. 

To others, this may seem like a big deal.  It's just a picture after all.  But to me, accepting myself is one of the hardest things I am trying to achieve which makes things like this extremely difficult for me.  I am afraid of peoples opinions and always want to please everybody.  I guess I just want them to see past what I look like and look at who I am as a person.  A shy-at-times, funny, caring girl who just wants to make the best out of her life.  

But lately, I realise that if I want someone to believe in me, I need to believe in myself.  

So here you go, for all of you who have been wondering who the heck Zara is...

My advice is, before you judge someone for their weight (or anything for that matter), put yourself in their shoes.  You don't know their story, you don't know what happened in their life or why they are like that, so treat them with the same amount of respect you would like to be treated with..please.  

It's only fair.  

Slán!

Zara

x

This is not a 'pity post' or anything of the sort.  I want to be as open as possible on my blog and felt there was a wall built up because of this.  Therefore, I felt it was the right thing to do and I hope you understand it that way. 

Best Lighting for Primping

This post was kindly written by Ross Donald to give you all some great tips on what lighting it best to use when applying your makeup each day.  

This is not a sponsored post, I just thought he had some great tips that you all would like to read.  

_____________________________________________________

Author Bio

Ross Donald is a stay at home dad and interior design junkie with a bad writing habit. His free time is often spent attempting DIY projects and perfecting his PB&J recipe. Ross writes for the light fixtures supplier LightingSale.com

Most people get ready in the bathroom so lighting is extremely important.  Of course natural light will give you the best results but for some reason most bathrooms aren’t positioned well enough to actually give you the best results when you are primping. What makes it even worse is that very few bathrooms have the correct lighting installed in them so it is up to you to make sure you get the best lighting possible.

Choosing Light Bulbs

The idea behind creating the best light for applying makeup or whatever else is to create the most natural look light possible. This requires lots of bright, non-florescent light.  When choosing bulbs for your bathroom fixtures, look for ones that say incandescent or specify that they are non-florescent. Some light bulbs are more likely to mimic natural lighting than others so do a bit of research to find what will work best for you.

The reasoning for this is that florescent light is extremely harsh and will magnify every mark or blemish on your face. Most women respond to this by applying more makeup than necessary in order to cover what the florescent light is showing. While your skin may look flawless under the florescent lights, as soon as you step outside into natural lighting it will be apparent that you are wearing too much makeup.

Positioning the Light

Now that we’ve settled on what type of bulbs you should be buying it’s time to think about where in your bathroom you should position the light to get the most natural effect possible. It’s my opinion that, like clothes in the springtime, you should layer your lighting. One of the worst things you can do is rely solely on the preinstalled lighting fixtures.

Think for a moment about where the lighting in your bathroom is positioned. More than likely, the only lights that your bathroom is equipped with are a few naked bulbs above the vanity. While having a vanity light is useful, it should not be the only lighting available. If the lighting above the vanity happens to be recessed, I suggest that you avoid using it to apply makeup because it will create shadows that will fall on your face.

Adding Some Extras

As you begin to add more lighting to your bathroom, beware that you should focus on placing lighting in front of you as opposed to behind to prevent shadows. One of my favorite looks is to attach sconces onto either side of the vanity.  Not only will this help to pull the room together, but they will cast an even glow across your face. When you position the sconces, aim to place them at the same height as your face will be. Positioning them too low or too high will cast shadows. If you want to go for more of an old Hollywood feeling in your bathroom, you can place lighting strips around the edge of the mirror instead.

If your bathroom already has an overhead light fixture you have a few options. You can leave it as is and use it when you feel necessary, or you can swap the fixture out to create a different lighting texture. Chandeliers add a nice touch of femininity while track lighting will allow you to position the light in whatever direction you wish. The decision really is up to you.

Other Options

Less permanent options for bathroom lighting would be to add a floor lamp in a corner or a table lamp on a shelf.  You can also add some extra mirrors to reflect the lighting you already have in place. The options really are unlimited so have some fun with it.

_____________________________________________________

I hope you enjoyed :)

Zara