LIFESTYLE | THIS IS THE END

Hello my lovelies. It has been a very long time since I wrote to you all and now you're probably wondering Katie what on earth is going on? What do you mean by the title of this post? What is ending? 

Well the answer to that is in the title. This is the end, my blogging journey. Six solid years on this platform, you guys have experienced so much with me from age 16 to 21. What a journey we've all been on. I've grown up documenting parts of my existence on this website and I've created content that I feel so proud of and I am still so passionate about. Which I will definitely continue into my future life and career whatever that may become. I've discovered more about who I am and where I want to grow and the woman I want to become as I continue my twenties. I feel very grateful for this platform to express a version of myself that I never knew I would actually become and I feel very bitter sweet that this is ending with a positive outcome. 

 I can't express how much every single one of you readers mean to me. Whether you've been here since 2013 or just within the last year. 

I've always had such a struggle with regular posting just because of general life and motivation, which I felt a lot more in 2019 because of having a job and I kind of lost motivation for a lot of things I used to adore. Sadly blogging was also in that list. I didn't plan for that to happen I just kind of fell into it and before I knew it I didn't know how to pick myself back up and get back to being me. As an adult it's so easy to just work and wait for the weekends or whenever your days off are but I've realised more than ever that you can't wait for anything. If you want to do something or go out and get something you have to motivate yourself and believe in yourself otherwise you'll consume yourself with doubt. Like the famous Pinterest quote states, 'Doubt kills more dreams than failure ever will.' I don't want that to be me. Since leaving uni I've barely blogged, I've not done any performance based work, barely done any creative work, and I sort of just lost elements that used to make up me. I don't want to be the one who didn't go for it and I don't want to be someone who lives in the same town for the rest of her life and works at the same job for the next 10+ years and suddenly finds herself sitting at home one day in her 40's or 50's thinking 'Why didn't I go for it when I was young and had the whole world in front of me?' 

You can't focus on everything at once and it's okay to not know what you want to do. But don't let yourself believe you can't do this because of that and you can't do that because of this. If you're in that boat like I was stop yourself. We are all capable of more as long as we believe we are. Dreams and goals don't happen overnight, you have to work every day and strive to be better and no matter how many knock backs you have. Remember it's not to put thoughts in your head it's to redirect your approach to what you want. Keep going, keep growing, keep striving. No one is you and that is your superpower. 

However with all of that said you're probably wondering why I'm ending our blogging journey here together. I don't blame you for questioning it. I just feel for myself right now this is the right decision for me. I do love blogger, I always will. I've made some incredible break through's with content on here and I've created elements that I feel work really well together through series and styles of content I love expressing myself through. I've also made great connections with people through the blogging community. So many wonderfully inspiring and infectious individuals who are all so important in the grand scheme of bloggers and what bloggers represent. It just shows anyone has the chance to do whatever they want. If you feel you have a voice to inspire others or that you can give people something that will benefit that persons life in ways you don't even know then what are you waiting for? 

Blogger will always hold a special place in my heart because it's where I discovered how to become a blogger. I know that sounds ridiculous but if you guys have been here since 2013 then you know how much I've grown and changed with content and in who I am as a person. I hope in these six years I've given you something that has made you think, inspired you, changed your thought process, made you want to make a change, entertained you, given you the confidence to be yourself, spread positivity, helped you start loving yourself, that you learned kindness is key, and that being you is more than enough. 

Thank you so much for your support, your encouragement, your comments, your feedback, your kindness. You will never know how much you all mean to me and how much I've loved these six years of creating, learning, and growing. It makes my heart feel so full which will be how I'll always feel when I look back on these years. 

Love, 

Katie

However, I haven't been entirely honest with you guys. Everything I said above is still very much true but do you really think I'm going any where? 

Is this the end of my blogging journey? On Blogger yes. Forever, of course not.

I have a special announcement guys. I've been thinking of doing this for a while but I kept going back and forth and I wasn't sure but I finally took the plunge. We're officially starting a fresh on Wordpress. 

I adore Blogger. It's where I started this blogging journey and I have learned, changed, grown, and started to develop into the woman I always knew I could be. Which I'm going to continue to strive towards as I carry on learning, changing, growing, and creating the life I want to live. Which I hope you all continue to experience with me over on my brand new blog. Right, I think I've kept you waiting long enough so if you want to check out my brand new blog, click the website link below. 

katieloudoeslife.com 

FEBRUARY 14 | HAPPY SELF LOVE DAY

Hello my lovelies, the day of love is approaching and for those of us who are single (another year for me) it can be a day with a feeling of what's the point in caring. However there's a false sense of what love means around Valentine's Day. If you're in a relationship, yes you love your partner (at least I hope you do!), but you also love your family, your friends, your pets, and of course yourself. 

And if you don't, I think it's time you did. 

Each type of love you have is different for different people, but 2019 is the official year of loving ourselves each and every day. No doubt life gets busy and sometimes we end up sacrificing time for ourselves to benefit other people. So this year on February 14th don't be disheartened if you haven't got someone to take you on a date - take yourself on a date!

Over the course of 2018 I perfected the state of spending time on my own and enjoying it. It's so unhealthy to constantly depend on other people for your love and happiness. I'm not saying that you should completely desensitise yourself from your feelings of longing for other people. For example, I crave touch and affection from others when I haven't had it for a while. But what I'm expressing is we should all have the power to say, I'm fine being on my own. Which I'm hoping this post will resonate with a few of you so you can feel comfortable in yourself to go out and do these things or spend time with yourself etc. 

So aside from just saying those things, I'm gonna give you all some ideas of how you can put that state of being into practice. And how you can spend this Valentine's Day loving yourself. When I say self love I don't mean you have to love every single inch of you every single day. We're all human and we all have days where we might dislike our skin or our legs for example. But if you're at a point in your life where you're mostly comfortable in yourself within your own bubble, then those negative feelings don't last for more than a short period of time. But I do think when it comes to doing things on your own the way you're feeling about yourself can sometimes affect that more than we realise.

Let's be honest, a lot of the things you do with others regularly you can do by yourself anyway. E.g. going for a coffee (we know I do that every damn day) or going shopping (again, do that 6/7 days a week). On this blog I have mentioned too many times to count how important it is to go out and do things by yourself. Take yourself out to lunch or to dinner. Take yourself shopping, give yourself a pamper day/night. The possibilities are endless of what you can do so let's discuss a few of my favourites. 

GO FOR A COFFEE

One of the easiest things you can do on your own. If you're like me and go for coffee a lot it might not feel like a treat when you do it so often. But you could go to a coffee shop you love but you don't go to very often. Or you could go and try out a new one that's opened that you've been meaning to try. For example I go to Costa basically all the time just because I like too. However in my town there's a coffee shop called The Rustic Bean, which again I love but I don't go there all the time. So when I do it feels more like a treat. 

BUY YOURSELF A PRESENT 

Whether you're in a relationship or not, on a day like Valentine's Day it's nice to get a little present to know you're appreciated and thought about. So why not go out and treat yourself to that ring you've been eyeing up in that window display at Pandora or those brand new heels at New Look even though you don't know when you're gonna wear them but you like the idea of them. Let's be honest we all buy things just because we can, but they're normally little things here and there. But actually treating yourself to something you wouldn't necessarily buy in general feels so nice and and like a real treat.

For V-Day this year I'm gonna treat myself to a ring in Pandora that is one band but it meets in the middle with two hearts, one slightly bigger than the other. It's quite simple but I think it's a really lovely ring to wear on my ring finger, I'm very excited to purchase it. It's only £45 which is pretty good for the quality of the jewellery, I've also got a voucher and some money saved especially to treat myself so it really will feel like a treat just for me. Make sure you all treat yourself to something special this Valentine's Day! 

LINGERIE 

The power of nice lingerie that you feel good in is crazy. Only a few years ago I hated all my bras. I hate wired bras - I've tried to wear them but they're not comfy, I don't like them. But trying to find non-wired bras that also have padding to support my boobs, that actually fit but are also pretty is one of the hardest tasks that has ever graced my life. The only place on the high street I can rely on is M&S. Marks and Spencer's is great for bras and under wear. I've had white, nude, and black bras from M&S for years but I'm so bored of wearing those colours. Yes you always need a bra in a neutral colour, they're handy. But for years and years that was all that was on offer to me, white, nude, and black. It made me feel like I didn't care about lingerie because there was nothing on offer to me in the types of styles I wanted to wear but couldn't because of my personal level of comfort over fashion/ sexiness etc. But within the last year I've managed to buy some dusky pink ones and a dark purple one which I absolutely love. I love how soft they are, how comfy they are, and how good they make me feel for me. I wanna buy a set I've seen recently that's got a white and a red one included as they look really lovely. So that's my next investment.

When it comes to pants, my preferred style is Brazilian and I love anything with lace and silk and pretty patterns. Buying pants has never been as big of an issue for me. I normally get them from Primark but over 2018 I had a bit of an issue finding my size. I'm an XL in Primark's underwear and for some reason they sort of just stopped doing their underwear in that size in every store I went in to yet they still made their clothes in XL? Sorry but what? You can't have certain sizes in certain styles of clothes and not the others. God brands and their sizing annoy me to the max but anyway, that's a topic of conversation for another post. So when I was having trouble finding them in Primark, I decided to try out M&S' underwear which is honestly probably one of the best things I ever did. They're so comfortable and extremely flattering, they're true to size, and they have so many styles. I bought loads of new ones that were in the sale recently and my god do they make me feel good and feel sexy. If you're struggling at the moment for bras and pants then I'd recommend having a look in M&S. 

*WARNING*

ADULT CONTENT AHEAD... 

Right, what I'm gonna talk about now I made hints to it in a post I did last year for Valentine's but I never directly said it. But I'm in my twenties now, I'm sure quite a few of you are as well, so I feel like we're in a safe zone. If you're not in your twenties or you're just not interested in this topic I'm about to mention then I understand if you wanna skip to the end or just leave the post here. 

SEX AND MASTURBATION 

I feel like as you transition from teenager to young adult this is a topic that a lot of us between the ages of 16-24 don't really know how to mention or discuss with friends etc. Even though I'm pretty sure we all know we do one of them at least because we're all human and we have needs. 

I started masturbating technically at 15/16 but that was before I really understood what it was and what it meant and why I felt the need to do it etc. But even though I started then I never felt good after I'd done it each time. But I think it's because all throughout my teens it was made known that it was normal for guys to have a wank, but in terms of female masturbation it was almost like it was embarrassing to admit that you touched yourself in that way. Looking back I don't know why we all made it such a big issue. Did anyone else go through this? 

It's so normal to masturbate for both men and women, it is one of the most natural things that we do as human beings. And for a lot of people, it's the first experience with pleasure and feeling good in a sexual way. I think as I've got older masturbating has become less of something I shy away from. Obviously I don't shout it from the roof top of my house or chat about it over Christmas dinner, but talking about masturbation and sex with friends has become a regular chat every so often as we've all got older. 

Up until kind of the end of last year I never really felt confident going into places like Ann Summers just because it's whole new barrier to cross from being a teenager to going into adulthood. So in January I finally went to Ann Summers and bought a sex toy. I got a rose gold vibrator and it's honestly one of the best things I've ever invested in. When starting out with sex toys they do say to start with a vibrator or just something small as obviously it's all new and you're just experiencing using them for the first time etc. But it has made masturbating easier and so much more enjoyable. And I hear sex toys are great for couples too, according to Ann Summers 69% of couples said their sex life is more enjoyable with sex toys. 

And if there's gonna be any day when you make love to yourself or have love made to you, surely the day of celebrating love is one of the best days to do it. 

Plus, at the moment Ann Summers currently have a Valentine's promotion going on. I bought a really sexy red velvet two piece pyjama set that was originally £25.00 and it had 30% off, so it would've been £17.50 which I thought was a pretty good deal anyway. But I got to the till it was only £12.00! Honestly what a steal. I'm not sure how long the promotion is going on for or if it's on everything in their stores but if you've got a chance to go to Ann Summers before the fourteenth then I would recommend! Whether you're single or in a relationship, treat yourself to something sexy this year to please yourself or benefit you and your partner. 

Personally at the moment in my life these categories have been been quite prominent over the Valentine's period. But there are many other things you could go out and do either on Valentine's Day or in celebration of Valentine's Day. Obviously having a pamper session is always a great idea. Face mask, eye mask, paint your nails, a really nice bath, moisturise your skin etc. I really do love a pamper night and I do them at least once a week these days. 

Take yourself out for dinner. I know this is quite a big deal for some people; when you imagine a dinner date the average number of required guests is usually at least two. So I totally get if it feels a bit too out of your comfort zone to go out somewhere like a restaurant because they're places associated with being social and meeting people. But I took myself to dinner once because I really fancied a Nando's and none of my friends were free to go and I'd had a really shitty day so I just decided to go out by myself and it was honestly really nice. It was a very therapeutic experience in a weird way, I would recommend. 

 One thing I really want to do in general is go and watch a film by myself. There's always so many things I say I want to watch and then I never go and see them. Partly because I can never find the time but I'm gonna make a date for next time I have a day off and if there is anything on at the cinema I want to watch I'm just gonna go.  

Well my lovelies I think I'm gonna wrap up this post here. Thank you all very much for reading, I hope this post gave you a little inspiration and confidence about feeling good in this season of love. And reminds you that the greatest love you can ever have, whether you're single or in a relationship, is the love you give to yourself. 

Happy Valentine's/ Self Love Day. How ever you're spending your day I hope you are filled with nothing but love and laughter and I will speak to you all again soon. I promise. 

Love,

Katie 

LIFESTYLE | Things September Has Taught Me

Hello my lovelies. Happy Tuesday, I honestly I cannot believe it is October, where is this year going? 

I recently read a blog post from another blogger I absolutely love and that is Bryony Baker. She did a post titled 'things I've learnt about myself recently', click here to check it out, and it has inspired me to do a very similar post but for the month of September. 

So, it's no secret. Blogtember was a bit of a fail and you know what I'm okay with that. Everything I had planned literally didn't go to plan and that is fine. That is literally life doing it's best which brings me to the first thing that this month has taught me. 

When I look back on the start of September I didn't think I was pushing myself too hard. But four weeks down the line I've realised I am not super woman. I said to myself yes I'm going to blog every day for this month because there is physically nothing to get in my way, I decided to throw BORN TO BE within the mix of posts I had planned as I figured I'd have all the time in the world to blog with not having any major commitments when I started the month. I figured I could pretty much blog every single day and work on other posts throughout every day as well as apply to a bunch of jobs and just try and sort my life out and figure out how to be an adult. 

Four weeks later I've realised that I can do anything but not everything - at least not all at the same time. I've felt a lot of pressure this month to sort my whole life out and get into a system and I think that's quite normal after you finish university. I know a lot of my friends have also felt the same way as me. There is so much pressure on young people to have a career picked by the time you're sixteen and then after you've done all of your required studies and you instantly think you're going to walk straight into the career you wanna be in or a job similar to your studies and the reality is, life is not that easy. I've never had a 9 to 5 job as of yet simply because I haven't been successful in the companies application processes. Which is very disheartening but you just have to keep pushing on and trying and as long as you know you're trying your best that's what matters. Trying to do everything for my blog and apply for every single job going in my town and going to interviews and receiving phone calls from employers whilst still socialising and catching up with friends and taking care of my own needs it has proven difficult. I've learned that I can do anything whenever I feel like but I've gotta stop putting pressure on myself to do it all at once. 

Speaking of jobs one thing I've learnt whilst applying for a whole range is at this very point in time I am not 100% on what I want to do with my degree. Within drama I learnt so many different things and after three years I have delved into so many different subject areas that I love, so now I'm in a position of not knowing what path to go down when it comes to starting out in an area of my degree. The ultimate dream and goal is to be able to do everything I love all in one. So obviously carry on blogging and creating amazing content, to be a paid performer whether that is on stage or on screen or both (both would be awesome), to have my own theatre company one day, potentially be a lecturer at some point in the future, I also want to carry on studying the idea of mindfulness and how that can relate to actors and performance etc, and there's just hundreds of things I want to do. So with all those different ideas it's hard to commit to just one. The main advice I've had from all my lecturers is to not worry about your career right now and to just go out and experience a range of different activities. 

So when it comes to jobs, at the moment all I want is to find a job where I can just earn money and work. I don't really want to do a job at the moment where I have to think of having a career in that job. Which is also something else I've discovered recently, just because you get a job that has no relation to what you want to do or your chosen career path at the moment doesn't mean you're going to do that one job forever and that's it. Life is all about experiences, challenges, and learning curves and I imagine I'm going to have a lot of those throughout my twenties as I discover where I want to go and what I want to do etc. Just because I'm going to get a job that has no relation to my career and me as a person really, doesn't mean I have to limit myself to that one possibility when I've got so many other goals I want to achieve, and I know there will be so many other opportunities that come my way as I learn and I grow. 

Something else that's been highlighted to me this month is that everything costs money. Now obviously I already knew this but before coming home I always had the excitement of looking forward to my student loan rolling in this time of the year for the last three years (I miss you student loan, come back to me) and obviously now I don't have that it means I am very limited on the funds. Kindly my mum and dad have given me some money over the summer to go out and do things with friends and whilst I've been looking for jobs etc. But obviously I can't ask them for money forever because not only is that not fair on them. But it's also quite degrading when you're in your twenties and you have to ask your parents for money for the things you want to go out and do. 

So yeah, money literally means everything. And it's obviously gonna mean even more when I have my own place one day and have to pay rent and bills etc. But at the moment if I don't have any I literally can't go out and live my life. 

And the final thing I've learnt this month is that adulting is hard. Now I'm aware that I've not reached the peak of adulthood yet where I have my own place to live, and I've gotta pay loads of bills, manage my money, manage children, etc etc etc. But making the slight incline from student life to young adulthood life is actually a shock to the system. Over the past three years I've been so used to having my student loan and living with my best friends and going out and spending money on Costa's every day because we easily just could. I lived for all of those days and now the hard reality has hit that all my friends are across the whole of the UK, if I want money I've gotta earn it now by doing a job I don't really want to do in the long run, and I suppose I've essentially just got to take every day as it comes now. I know I don't want to live in my home town forever and I know I don't just want to work in a dead-end job forever. But because I don't know where I 100% want to go or what I 100% want to do I've just got to focus on what I need to do right now rather than what I want to be doing in a few years time. 

I hope you all enjoyed this post and let me know what September has taught all of you down below. 

Thank you all so much for reading.

You can follow me on Twitter @katielouj0hnson, Instagram @katiej0hnson, Pinterest @katielouj0hnson, and Bloglovin' @ Katie Johnson. 

Love,

Katie

BLOGTEMBER | Tips for Finding Inspiration

Hello my lovelies and welcome back to another post! I hope everyone is well and had a nice weekend. You may have noticed that a couple of things have changed around here. No nothing major apart from a brand new blog theme!

 *confetti canons explode and streamers fly everywhere through the air* 

This theme was once again kindly made by one of my best friends, Charlie. He also made my last one for me. We were talking about logos and things the other day and we both agreed that my blog theme and vibe was a little bit out dated and it just isn't as exciting anymore. So we decided to go for a brand new theme of gold and pink and I absolutely love it. I love my new logo of 'klj', i.e. Katie Louise Johnson in this more handwritten theme with the strokes of pink/purple and gold paint. You will notice that the grey is still apart of this new look as the writing is grey and we've got a brand new grey heart for the end of my posts as well. We've also added some extra's down the left hand side of my blog for you to enjoy. The tabs are different, instead of my social media being in the tabs we've taken that away and we now have a few categories. So we've still got Home where you can find all of my posts I've ever done, we've got the About page like always, but now we have a page dedicated to Lifestyle, Reviews, Coffee Chats, Mindful Mondays, and BORN TO BE. We decided to have pages dedicated to those categories in particular because they're the posts I do the most of now, especially my own series of Coffee Chats, Mindful Mondays, and now BORN TO BE. So if you ever want to find a post in particular in relation to those categories then you can click on the tab and it will take you to all of those posts. There's a couple in each tab right now so go and check them out if you fancy. 

Under my logo we now have a bit of a tagline as well, treating ourselves. Charlie originally had the tagline as 'beauty, fashion, lifestyle' and if you had asked me 3-4 years ago if that's what my blog was about I would've said yes. But I feel like my blog has developed as I've grown up. So we were thinking about it and he asked me 'Well what would you say your blog is about?' and honestly I couldn't answer it. So he scanned through the different styles of posts I've done most frequently over the past year and he came up with 'lifestyle and positivity' and I love it. Lovelies you all know that on this blog we talk about a lot of life related things and I'm always trying to stay positive and help you all find the positives in life situations. So when I really thought about it, the tagline couldn't of been more perfect. Another little extra thing he kindly did for me, on the tab of where it says what web page you're on, you'll see that next to the 'KLJ - Lifestyle & Positivity' there is an icon of a 'K' against a pink square instead of the 'B' which you normally see on blogger accounts. Honestly I can't get over how awesome that is, don't ask me how he managed that because I've got no idea but I am so grateful.

And the final thing he kindly made for me as a bit of an extra. For my two series, Coffee Chats and Mindful Mondays, he has made me two logos specifically for those two series. Honestly I am beyond grateful, I love them and I can't wait to share them with you all. You'll obviously have to wait to see those until I do a new post in those series (hopefully soon) but I'm sure you will love them as much as I do. 

Honestly I really can't thank him enough. He does so much for me and my blog design wise and I wouldn't know what to do without him. Thank you so much Charlie, I love you to pieces.

And now finally, it's time for what this blog post was actually intended for. 

Whatever you do, at some stage we all go through a rut. Whether that's writers block or we lose passion for whatever it is we're devoting our time to, or we just feel a bit bored and unmotivated with what we're doing. Being a blogger and from having a massive shift in my life (moving home from uni) it has meant that my way of life and my emotions have been a bit all over the place because honestly moving home from uni has been a lot harder than moving to uni. But that's a discussion for another day. Anyway because of that traumatic experience (believe me I am really not exaggerating) it has meant I've needed to figure out ways to find inspiration for things again. As I've found I am less productive at my parents home because I associate my home-home with being a teenager again I suppose and just not really doing anything when it comes to work based things. And I associated my life in Chester as my young adult life because I ran my own life every day and did the things I needed to do and went out when I wanted to without any judgement or explanation needed etc. So I'm not going to lie, going from everyday independence to living back at home under the house "rules" has been really hard to settle back into which has affected my ability to be inspired and find ways of focusing. So I figured if anyone is in a similar position to me right now maybe this post could be beneficial and even if you're not in a similar position to me, hopefully the points in this post can help you refocus your mind for inspirations. 

I've been on the hunt for a job recently and it is mentally exhausting. When I lived in Chester I'd go out regularly, about 5 or 6 times a week, whether that be with friends or by myself. But at home I'm finding I can't do that as often, one) because of money, two) because my friends at home don't all live with me like we did at uni, they also have jobs, and we actually have to travel into places to see one another. It's not like when I lived in a city and we were all in walking distance of one another. And three) because my parents always want to know where I'm going and what I'm doing. I know it's only because they care and they want to make sure I am safe but sometimes I feel like I can't go out and do anything without permission. Anyone else feel me? 

Due to all this lately I've found it harder to find inspiration and motivation for life in general. It's only recently (within the last two weeks) where I've been able to figure myself out a bit again. 

So tip number one is to find the right balance of going out and doing things and being busy etc for you. You have all heard me say countless times that I am a very balanced person and if I don't have the right balance of time to myself and time with other people and going out etc, it affects me massively. I also need time to myself at home as well as time to myself when I'm out and this brings me to my next tip. 

Number two, find something you enjoy doing by yourself and for yourself. It's good to spend time out with yourself. You don't have to make it a big thing or anything major. For myself I like to go out to cafes (we all know it's usually Costa) and just sit and relax or read or write and plan posts etc. I just find it an activity I love to do with myself for myself and it's another way of self care and self love for me personally. 

I know a lot of people don't like going out on their own and I really can't figure out why. I'm not judging my loves as everyone is different but I can't imagine not going out on my own now. Maybe it's an independence thing or self confidence thing in general, I don't know. I once went for dinner on my own which I know is a big deal for some people. Try it, push yourself, it's quite liberating. 

Number three, take yourself away from whatever you're doing/ working on. Breaks are always important in life. In our day and age we always feel like we have to do everything right now which I am 100% putting down to society. Your early 20s is an odd time because it seems there are two categories. You're either getting married, having babies, working full time, getting a mortgage etc. Or you're going to university and living your life surviving off minimal funds and going out every Friday night. I feel a tremendous amount of pressure to find a job right now and have my career sorted and stable when in reality life isn't like that. Everything will fall into place eventually and you've got to have faith in yourself as well as faith in time. 

I've noticed recently I've been trying to focus on too many things at once - doing things for my blog, trying to find a job, trying to settle back into a completely different lifestyle, trying to keep up with friends, keep up with content on social media, and honestly all of that 24/7 gets exhausting. So learning to take a break and to not quit everything is one of the best adulthood lessons because as you get older you cannot quit everything just like that. You can't quit your day job if you have bills to pay and a family to provide for etc. A lot of the time in life some things have to instantly take a back seat if you've got other things that are demanding your focus and that's okay, that's life. 

Another good reason your taking a break is if you lose your passion for whatever it is you're focusing on. Whether that's a few days or a few months (depending on deadlines and things). I've had to do that with my blog a lot in the past year; you do your best work at your happiest, most inspired, and most motivated. So try and consider that when you don't feel you're doing as well as you want to be. 

My fourth and final tip for you all is to stay up late at night. This one will not be for everyone as I know some people who go to bed before 3:00am. I can't relate, what's that life like friends? I'm always up late just because naturally I don't fall asleep until around 2:30am or 3:00am even if I have to be up early the next day. 

Personally I find that some of my greatest creative ideas, post ideas, and thoughts come to me when it's late at night. There's something really special about being up late with the fairy lights on or a candle burning with inspirational or thought provoking music playing in my ears and just sitting and thinking. It feels like you're the only one awake in the world because of the surroundings you're amongst at that very moment. I find that really inspiring and I can't completely describe the sensation it brings, you just feel something different ignite within your body and within your mind. Anyone else experience this? 

As I never go to bed early because I physically can't I use the late night vibes to work creatively as I'm more productive in that sense than I am in the day time. It's not always the best as sometimes after a late night blogging session I'm much more awake and my brain is more alert which results in me not wanting to sleep at all. So I wouldn't recommend it all the time but it's good the engage with every so often. 

I've found that lately doing all four of these tips have improved my creativity and my want to make content that is different and interesting. Also doing all four of these has also improved my mood, I've noticed I've been a lot happier, and when you're in a happy mood you're more likely to engage in certain tasks more often than you would when you're feeling down or anxious. So I'd recommend for you all to give these a go for when you're feeling unlike yourself or you're feeling demotivated or you feel a bit lazy when it comes to whatever work you do etc. 

Thank you all so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed. 

You can follow me on Twitter @katielouj0hnson, Instagram @katiej0hnson, Pinterest @katielouj0hnson, and Bloglovin' @ Katie Johnson. 

Hopefully, I'll see you tomorrow. 

Love,

Katie

BLOGTEMBER | AUTUMNAL TRY ON HAUL: Newlook, Asda, Next, and Primark!

Hello my lovelies and finally welcome back to another post in Blogtember. I am very sorry that Blogtember has been a little bit of a fail. If I'm honest I think trying to blog every single day for this month and working on BORN TO BE (cheeky plug, but if you've not checked out the first post in the series click here) was a bit too ambitious, even for me. I've found that even though I have done all of the research and I've got all the media content etc, I'm still finding the actual physical typing of the posts take a lot of time to complete because I want it to be as effective for the readers as possible. So for the rest of September I'm going to try my best to do as many Blogtember posts as I can and the ideas I don't manage to get up for Blogtember I will just upload through October. 

So anyway, if you guys follow me on Instagram, if not you should (@katiej0hnson), then you might remember me banging on about this haul I was gonna do and well you can judge by the title that it's finally arrived. I decided to wait out for a bit because I felt like what I had originally purchased wasn't enough for a try on haul and I knew I'd be buying more clothes because there's so many nice bits out for autumn at the minute. 

The mustard and yellow obsession (you'll see throughout this haul) continues for me as we start with 

this gorgeous oversized knit jumper with a bit of a roll neck. 

This jumper is honestly so comfortable and soft, the sleeves are nice and long but you can easily roll them up for a bit of a different vibe, I love the slouchy roll neck on this. I usually really hate when roll necks are so fitted to the point you feel like you can't breath but this one is perfectly comfortable. 

I got this in a size 20; as you can see it sits just below my stomach which is nice as it's not overly long but it's not cropped. It's also not tight around the cut of the hem which means it's nice and loose and carefree to wear. I'm so excited to pair this with leggings like you see here or a pair of jeggings with boots or easy slip on shoes. This colour just screams autumn and I can't wait to wear this out when it's that crisp cool air but it isn't cold enough to wear a coat yet. This little gem was from Primark and was £10.00! I also think they have other colours in this as well. 

We may as well continue as we mean to go on with the yellow theme. I got another slouchy jumper but this time it's not knitted, just standard cotton. However this has got a bit of fleecing inside so it's another one where I'm going to be super cosy and warm. The sleeves are once again really big and roomy and I love the 'Hello Yellow' writing on the front in this pinky red shade. I think the colours compliment one another really nicely. Like the last one, it again sits just below my stomach and the cut of them hem again makes it nice and loose and comfortable. This material is actually really heavy but in a good way of it feels like it will last for a long time and will keep you warm throughout the really cold weather we get here in the UK. This is actually a size 22 - I just preferred the more oversized fit compared to the size 20. I've already worn this out before and I wore it with denim jeggings and some slip on yellow sandals (yes I was that person) but in the colder months I'd probably wear just some standard slip on shoes or boots. 

This was from Next and was £22.00 

Yellow strikes again, shocker. 

This little top I am actually obsessed with because it's so easy to wear. It's really soft and again is a slouchy fit; in gold writing it has 'Je'taime' across the front which gives it a little extra detail which I like. I actually love the tie front of this which is suprising as sometimes I find them to be too tight and fitted when they're right at the front and on my body I personally don't find that very flattering. But I think having it on the side gives it something a little bit different that your eye catches. I also like that the sleeves are a little bit longer than your average these days. 

I got this from New Look in a size 18 as this was in their standard range. As you can see it's again another slouchy fit and slightly oversized. It's a little bit cropped but it sits on my stomach comfortably for me to feel like I can wear this with jeggings or leggings without the shape of my stomach being fully exposed through my clothes. It is a little bit see through because the material is so thin however it's nothing to be worried about when you go out. I wore this the other week just like this and wore a denim jacket and some easy slip on shoes. This is a great top for our weather here at the moment in the UK because it's dull and cloudy but it's still quite humid. Today as I'm typing this it's 22 degrees but the sky is completely overcast. So this is great for days like this where you feel warm but you don't feel appropriate to go out in a vest top and shorts etc.

This was actually in the sale for only £4.00! 

To conclude our yellow obsession we have this tie front shirt/ blouse. I really struggle with shirts because they never fit me right. They're usually too fitted around my stomach which I really don't like and then they're too loose at the top. Or the actual fit of them makes me look boxy and I'm personally not into that style. So I honestly didn't expect much from this piece but I was pleasantly surprised. 

This actually fits quite nicely. As you can see it's just your standard button down shirt/ blouse with a little pocket with mid length up-turned sleeves but it's got a tie front which makes it much more casual than your standard shirt. I really like the pattern; yellow and white stripes down the front. 

It's a little bit shorter in length than your everyday shirt because of the tie front but it sits really comfortably on my hips without being too tight or fitted. It's again a little bit see through but nothing too much that you couldn't comfortably wear it out. I would most likely wear this with blue wash denim jeggings and slip on shoes or lace ups. 

Again this is from New Look so I got this in a size 18 and it was £17.99 or £19.99 I think. 

Now when this trend came out of the stripes down the sides of leggings, trousers, jeans etc I was never really that bothered by it. But I saw these in New Look's sale (we all know how manic that has been throughout the summer) and I decided to just try them on and see what they're like because you never know until you try and I think it's pretty evident that I really like them otherwise I wouldn't have bought them. 

These are in a size 18 and I was surprised that these did fit because I tend to go for size 20 in leggings. But as you can see they're just jet black and they're not see through which is fantastic. There's nothing worse than super see through leggings; with these thick coloured stripes down the sides of the legs. 

One thing that is really interesting about these is where the stripe down the side of your leg is, it almost gives this like slimming effect. You can see it better in real life than on these pictures but it's just really weird but I think it is to do with how thick the strip of colour is. It might just be how it fits to my body but some how they make my legs and hips appear more slim-curvy than they actually are. 

These were £6.99 each and they were originally £12.99 each. So I got two for the price of one, bargain!

I am obsessed with New Look's new autumn range this year. I am pretty much in love with everything in there. So much so that I'm gonna share a New Look wishlist with you all. But I tried this exact outfit on when I was with Chloe a couple weeks ago and I fell in love with it. I just love this pattern of leopard print on these trousers because the background colour is kind of a soft creamy shade with hints of yellow in with your classic black leopard print spot shapes. I just thought it was a bit different to your classic dark brown/ orange leopard print colours. As you can see they're kind of culotte style whilst still being fitted from the knee upwards. 

Although these are fitted and hug my legs and hips which I think you can tell on these two images. These are not tight at all, they fit really nicely, they're kind of like crepe/ crape material but much thicker, and they have an elasticated waist which we all know is the key. If it ain't comfy I ain't buying it. I'm also really happy that they don't have a tie at the front of these trousers because when they do I feel like I'm forced to wear a crop top or something I have to tuck in because of the tie front detail. So I'm glad I still have the tie front detail but on this top instead. 

This top is honestly so soft and so comfy. I adore this brick brown/ red shade for autumn and I know I'm gonna get so much wear out of this because I could easily wear this top with patterned trousers or jeggings or leggings etc. This top isn't cropped, it's just a normal length top which is an actual miracle in our day and age. The tie front is really loose which I like as it means it's not really tight and it's a nice slouchy fit. I love the sleeves, I love the neckline. I might have to consider buying some more of these in this style as I've seen recently that New Look have released quite a few of these in different colours and patterns. 

This top was £15.99 and the trousers were £19.99. 

Again when I went shopping with Chloe, when I actually wore these trousers out, we went into New Look again because we've got a serious problem. I saw this top that is half a cropped cardigan kind of style but it is not as thick as a cardigan. As you can see it's 3/4 length sleeves with a v neck and buttons going down the front like a normal cardigan or shirt/blouse. You can't really tell in these two images but the texture is kind of ribbed but the material isn't very soft. It's a little bit rougher to touch however wearing it, it is not itchy or uncomfortable. 

This material is a little bit thin but again nothing to feel too worried or self-conscious about. The main reason I wanted to get this was because I thought it would be a good staple piece to have as we transition to autumn when it's too cold to wear short sleeves or no sleeves at all but it's too hot to even wear your thinner jumpers with long sleeves. So I think this will be a happy medium for me and because it's black it will go with a lot of my autumnal wardrobe. And of course you could just undo the buttons and wear this as a normal 3/4 length sleeve cardigan if you felt like it.

This is also from New Look's standard range so I got this in a size 18 and it's slightly more fitted than the brown/red tie front top but it's not tight. I've still got room in there to breath and as you can see it is slightly cropped as it sits on the middle of my stomach (where my belly button is). But when I tried this on with these trousers I actually really liked it together for when I just want to wear these casually with a black top that I know is gonna together. As I do have days when I'll wear whatever I like and feel confident - bold colours, patterns, you name it. But I also have days when I want to feel neutral with the bold patterns. So like with these two pieces here. 

So I'm really excited to wear this and see all the different things in my wardrobe I can make it work with. It's definitely going to be a great staple I think. This top was £19.99 I think. 

The final item from New Look is this bandot crop top with caramel coloured stripes and the actual top it's kind of an off white colour. It's got fabric buttons down the front which is a really nice detail and has an elasticated stretchy band under the bust as well as across the shoulders. Now I wont lie, this is not usually my style. Yes I do wear crop tops more often now than I used to but I've never worn one that is this short. With crop tops like this I have to wear something highwaisted because I can't deal with having my whole stomach out.

I would have to wear this with a skirt like I am here or with a pair of loose fitted shorts because even trousers for me are sometimes too fitted on the shape of my stomach for me to feel confident enough to wear a crop top with a pair of jeggings, leggings, or trousers etc. Anything where there is no coverage on my stomach, e.g. a tie front or something like tassel detailing etc, makes me feel self conscious the majority of the time which makes me less confident as a whole. Wow that was long-winded. 

But despite all that I still bought it. I think the overall cut of the top is really flattering and feminine which I love. The elastic waist band makes it pretty comfortable and you've still got room for your boobs to sit comfortably. I personally can't wear crop tops or any tops or any dresses etc for that matter without a bra. I just don't feel comfortable going out and knowing my boobs are not supported and I just don't like the feeling of it personally. So it's always important for me that I am still able to wear a bra in a crop top. Especially because some of them can be quite tight as I know many people go out in just a crop top with no bra and obviously you need to be confident enough to know your whole boobs aren't gonna fall out if there's too much room in there. 

I'm trying to work out if this top goes with this skirt or not. Lovelies let me know what you think in the comments about this combo together. I think the colours go as this off white shade is also within the skirt but I'm just unsure if the patterns clash or not? 

I got this in a size 18 and this was only £6.00 in the sale. 

As you've already seen the skirt, we might as well now talk about the skirt. If you guys saw my IG story the other day then you will have seen me put a picture of this up with a bunch of other skirts asking you to try and guess which one I purchased and well now you know. You should all know by now that I was obviously going to pick this one because it's floral, I adore my floral patterns so very much. But in particular what I liked about this one was the muted tones of colour because it makes the design feel a bit vintage. 

So originally I tried this skirt on with the black cropped cardigan I showed you earlier because I thought it would look really good together, mainly because I though the cardigan was going to sit higher up than it actually did. So imagined wearing it without tucking it into the skirt but it just didn't look right so I decided to change it to this top which is what I wore on the day of taking all of these outfit photos and I actually prefer it a lot more. The khaki top really compliments the bursts of khaki in the skirt and I think it just looks really good together.

I love skirts, they make me feel really feminine and really girly, however sometimes they can come up quite short and I'm not going to lie this one is quite short. Maybe a little bit shorter than I would normally go for but I just love the design and how the skater style looks on my figure. The main reason it comes up a bit short is one because I'm tall, I'm 5'11 so anything that is a skirt or a dress always runs that risk. And two because I've got big curvy hips and a big bum for this to sit comfortably over. I got this in a size 20 and it does cover my bum but only just, but I figured if I wear really thick tights or even leggings (maybe) then it should be fine. I'd wear this as it is in this photo but just put some tights or leggings on and wear some slip on shoes or boots. 

This is actually from George at Asda and it was only £10.00! Oh and for anyone interested, this top is also from New Look but I've had it for a good few years now. 

And we have our final item in this haul, possibly my favourite item in this haul. You all know how much I love a jumper. When you think of me as a piece of clothing it's an over sized jumper isn't it? This is also from George at Asda and honestly Asda as a clothing brand are so underrated. They have such gorgeous pieces for great prices and they actually fit how they should fit. So, I purchased a couple of jumpers last year from Asda which I loved and I still love now and they were like almost velvety but much softer and they don't have that weird gritty pulling feeling when you touch them unlike velvet. They had another one in this year in that same material but in a pattern like this one with white, burgundy pink, and purple. But I have a lot of pink and purple things so I decided to go with this one as I don't have anything like this in my wardrobe. 

This is in a size 20 and you can just see how cosy and comfy and over sized this is. I think this is cable knit style which makes it really chunky. I love these block colours together, they compliment one another so nicely because they're more on the pastel side of things. I love wearing colours like this in the winter as I associated soft cool colours with snow and the feeling of cold etc. Also whenever I wear blue coloured clothes people always compliment me and say it goes really well with my skin tone. 

The fit of this jumper is honestly just perfect, completely what I look for in an oversized jumper. It's loose, it's cosy, it's comfy, it's soft, it's easy to wear. Throw on with a pair of jeans or leggings, some cute slip on shoes or boots and I'm good to go out the door and get on with my day. 

I actually wore this the other day when I met Chloe but I originally was going to wear that floral skirt, black cropped cardigan, tights, and my black slip on shoes but I wasn't feeling it. And on those days when I'm not feeling it in any of my outfits that I put together in my head. It's important that I have pieces that I know always work together and make me feel good when I'm hating every piece in my wardrobe. I'm gonna address this more in the upcoming instalment of BORN TO BE (cheeky spoiler for you all) because it's a serious issue I've been dealing with a lot recently. I also want to do a post where I share my go-to outfits on those days when I'm hating everything in my wardrobe and I've got somewhere I need to be. 

As you can see it goes past my stomach comfortably and isn't tight fitting in any way. I'd pair this with leggings like these or jeggings like the other day when I met up with Chloe. With some boots or lace ups, slip on shoes etc. 

I got this for only £14.00, such a bargain price for a jumper of this quality. 


Well my lovelies that is everything in this haul. I hope you enjoyed and you saw some bits and bobs you liked. Let me know down below if you've been adding to your autumnal wardrobes yet. I'm gonna do my best to get as many posts up for you guys as I can for the next 11 days to make Blogtember semi worth it. 

 But you guys should definitely follow me on all of my social media if you don't already. I'm always posting things and getting up to bits and bobs on my IG story. 

You can follow me on Twitter @katielouj0hnson, Instagram @katiej0hnson, Pinterest @katielouj0hnson, and Bloglovin' @ Katie Johnson. 

Thank you all for reading and I'll hopefully see you tomorrow. 

Love,

Katie