CHARLOTTE LOUISE

As much as I love the concept of warm, cosy nights in the Winter with a gingerbread latte or a good old fashioned cuppa, curled up on the couch with my little kitten Mitsy watching Christmas films and listening to the wind and rain from the inside... which I probably do no more than twice in the festive season to be honest! In reality thats not really how it goes is it! Apart from the wind ruining my wanded hair or the rain changing my straight hair to a mad AFRO, we also have to remember to leave for work 10 mins early to ensure our cars are de-iced, layering up because its FREEZING but actually sweating underneath because you've been walking too fast to rush out of that frosty air, thinking of every excuse to not go to the gym because you can't think of anything worse than going out of the house. I could go on and on!
Don't get me wrong I love love loooove the festive season when it includes Christmas parties, cosy nights in with the boyfriend or going for a catch up with the girls, Christmas shopping and visiting the Christmas markets. Winter is a bitter sweet time of year for me and especially for my skin!

It has only been the past year or two (now that i'm getting a little bit older I suppose...erugh!) that I have realised the effects winter has on my skin, it is so important to keep your skin healthy through out this time of year and I have found some amazing products that do my skin wonders!

ENVIRON
For years I have struggled with my skin being so dull and dry but over the past year my skin has become ridiculously oily all of a sudden, I would apply my make up and within an hour I would be able to wipe the grease/oil off my face and that is not what I want!  One of my friends had suffered from oily skin for a long time and had told me about this skin care make called Environ, I decided to go to Harvey Nichols in Liverpool One to see if I could find out more about the product.
I had a skin test done and it was showing up all kinds of blemishes and bags under my eyes, some wrinkles I was shocked about!!!
I was just eager to get rid of this oily skin so I ended up buying;
Moisturiser AVST 1 - £38 (I apply in the morning and before bed)
Face wash - £17 (I use every time I get a shower)
Vitamin A capsules £15.50 (1 a day)
Then the saleswoman gave me two free samples of their Body Oil and Hydrating Lotion. These I was told to use on my chest as I had a few heat spots at the time (bought in August) and within a week these spots were gone and my chest was silky smooth again! They are small bottles but I use twice a week just to keep my neck and chest hydrated and I still have loads left!
Yes these products are very expensive however, after using for 3 months now my skin has never looked better!

MAC Lip Conditioner Hydrant. £12
My lips have always been dry but in the winter they are that chapped they crack and bleed constantly! I have tried everything you can think of to get these lips smooth and soft but nothing! Then I came across this Lip Conditioner from MAC and I have to say it helps my poor little lips out so much! I put it on a few times through out the day and then just before I go to bed. Even though my lips are still slightly dry, its a lot easier to wear colourful lipsticks now as they are a lot more smoother than they used to be!

Tropic 'Eye Revive' Firming Cream Concentrate. £20
This is a vegan based product and has really helped with the bags underneath my eyes, not only does it pain me to say I had some slight wrinkles at the age of 23!! In the winter my eyes can become quite dry around the edge of my eye and on my eyelid. This works perfectly keeping my eyes feeling soft and smooth.

Lush Bath Bombs. £2.60-£3.95
These little babies are an essential when I draw a piping hot bubble bath! Theres just something about getting in from the gym or work and having a bath when you know its freezing cold outside. Just love the smell and aroma you get off them. My faves are; 'Think Pink' & 'Sakura'. Literally can not go shopping without taking a little detour to The Lush Shop in Liverpool.

YANKEE Candle. £21.99
Non-related to my skin but come on I had to include these! Now I know they are the craze at the moment and I'm probably the 1254656th person you've seen blog about these amazing candles BUT they really are addictive aren't they!? Just love lighting them all over the house and smelling something different every time you go into another room! Bliss for the Candle lovers anyway!
Non-Christmas faves
Clean cotton
Soft Blanket
Vanilla Cupcake 

Christmas Faves
Sugared Apple
Vanilla Frosting
Winter Glow

 Having a sweet tooth as a type 1 diabetic is...lets say a challenge! Not only do I crave the most sugary foods all the time, I usually don't say no to them either! Theres only so much Sweetex and Canderel bitterness I can take in my tea and coffee! Now don't get me wrong, I am grateful there is an alternative to sugar as I would be in a bit of a pickle wouldn't i! However I am known to drink half a cup of tea and leave the rest to go cold because of the unpleasant aftertaste. My Dad doesn't even ask me if I want a cuppa anymore because he's just assumed I don't like them... Nice one Dad.

Anyway, I have discovered this little tube of joy in Sainsbury's. Agave Nectar £2.59.
Thoroughly researching the internet, diabetic websites/blogs and shops after realising that most sweeteners have 'aspartame' in which is just as harmful as sugar to your body especially a diabetics body! I NEEDED to find a replacement.
Yes it is a small bottle and yes it doesn't really last as long as sweetener tablets do, think my pack of Sweetex was purchased wayyyyyy back in 2012 ha. However it really does tick all the boxes in terms of sweetness and making my drinks or food much more enjoyable.

Why is it different?

It's an organic plant called 'Tequilana' found in Mexico and its 1.4 to 1.6 times sweeter than sugar and honey. Suitable for Vegans incase y'all feel sly on the bees.

Positives.

• It tastes 10x better than sweetener, sugar or honey!
• It never really affects my blood sugars as I only ever use a small amount.
• It hasn't got killer side effects the way aspartame has in normal sweetener.

Unfortunately the only downside is...the syrup is primarily made up of glucose and fructose and I can't use it constantly as it does still have 3.58g of carbohydrates per tsp but because it is 1.4 times sweeter than sugar I near enough use half the amount. For example, If I have a cup of tea I would usually put 2 sweeteners in (2 sugars in my dreams) whereas I only put in about 3/4 of 1 tsp in now!

I also use this in my porridge, some cereal and natural yoghurt as it really does take away that evil craving for sugar I have daily.
You can get it in different colours depending on what you use it for, I get the amber colour as its got a mild caramel taste to it.

Obviously the correct product to use as a diabetic is sweetener but my terrible habits and addictive nature can sometimes be overpowering and I will choose to have sugar. So this for me, is a way of keeping off sugar all together and using less and less each time so I can train myself out of this Sweet Tooth Syndrome (Just made that up).

Ahhhhh...The 'love/hate relationship' I have for this little machine. So i've had this little swine for about 2 years now and even though I have thought about 'accidentally' braking it ha! I honestly don't know what I would do without it now. This is one of the reasons why I can control my diabetes much better than when I was using injections 4-6 times a day!

What is it?
It's basically a small machine powered by trusty AAA batteries that is connected to my body through a cannula. The cannula is changed every 3-4 days depending on how much food I eat (Probably closer to 3 days, when the carbs are calling...what can you do!) Now to most people they would think EW! something is stuck in your body permanently!? I was certainly one of these people, took me 3 years to have the balls to try it out and I haven't looked back since and you literally can't feel a thing, I always have to take a minute and look to see which side of my bum its in because I forget! The pump automatically puts small amounts of insulin in each hour acting as a basal rate and then when I eat I just press some buttons and the insulin goes straight in.

Where do I keep it?
Well... as a teenager and a grown adult I have always complained about having size B/C boobs... however lo and behold they have actually come to some good use as I have a clip that goes on the back of the pump and just clips straight on to the front of my bra... Perks of having NO cleavage girls! Put it this way, If they were any smaller you would see the pump and if they were any bigger i'd have no chance fitting it in between!

Technology these days ey!
When people ask me about my pump I tend to tell them the same salutation every time! Even I was stunned when I found out some of the features.

1. When I test my blood sugars it bluetooth's the number straight to my pump... Who ever invented that feature was an efficient man or woman!!
2. Theres a feature called the 'bolus wizard' so I enter what my blood sugars are...then I put in how many carbs are in the meal i am about to eat and all by its little self it calculates exactly how much insulin to take. 
3. I can set an alarm to vibrate every 2-4 hours to test my blood sugars.
4. I have a remote...Yes a little cute remote that attaches to my house keys so I don't have to look like that awkward woman in the corner feeling myself down my top to get my pump out! The remote has 2 buttons to basically count the insulin and insert it in! Again...these inventors always thinking outside the box!

After 'umming' and 'ahhing' about whether or not to make a blog I have decided to do so! Not really sure what I am doing in the slightest but it's worth a go!

This first blog will just be a little introduction as I feel my blog is going to contain some very random yet important features in my life that probably won't piece together until I have wrote a few!

I am a 23 year old from Liverpool currently studying Primary Teaching, WELL... I say that, I don't go back to finish my second year until January but that really is an abomination of a story to get into on my first blog!

Even though this main subject I will be writing about a lot isn't something I have chosen to love but unfortunately is stuck with me for the rest of my life so I have to try and love it in some way; DIABETES. I am a Type 1 Diabetic and have been since 2008 (7 years) I have had many struggles, ups and downs and plenty of hospital trips to now know its time to change my lifestyle for the better and be as healthy as I can so that I can have a happy and hopefully long future ahead of me!  I have been thinking about it so much lately and always seem to want to write all my feelings down in a diary however, bottom line is more often than not I can never be bothered writing when I don't have to! purely down to laziness OFCOURSE. Anyway, this isn't going to be a depressing blog of how the diabetes gets me down blah blah blah...this is going to be something that will hopefully keep me optimistic as positivity is key! My HbA1c (for those that haven't got a clue what that means its the average blood sugar levels over the past 3 months) was 12.8% this time last year which quite frankly is shocking! The average should be 6 or 7%.  Over the past year I have managed to get them down to 9.2% which is the lowest they have ever been in 7 years and I feel I owe it to myself to feel good about that! I will be sharing some of the things that have helped me bring it down and obviously welcome any tips or comments from anyone else!

AS I SAID...this isn't just going to be a diabetic blog, I have many interests including Health & Fitness, Beauty/Make-up, Music and anything else I feel is important in my life.