7 Free Self-Care Apps (and if they're actually worth downloading)

Being a grown up is hard. It always looked like so much fun when I was little, going to bed when you want, eating whatever you want and getting to go to work instead of school. Turns out, all you want to do is go to bed early, try to avoid eating pizza and get stressed. Joy.

More and more people are turning to self-care to help them manage their stressful lives and to improve their happiness. Anxiety and mental illnesses are now part of our every day and it's something we can improve without shelling out loads of cash or taking too much time out of our busy schedules.

Technology is at heart of a few of our modern day anxiety issues but it can also work to help improve your positivity, mental health and outlook on life. I downloaded 7 of the most recommended self care apps to try out for a week to see which (if any) were worth using and helped make me feel happier and like I had my shit together just a little bit more than usual. Judging by the photo above, I should now go and re-paint my nails as they are covered in kitchen paint, great.

Planning our Nursery

Somehow life has gone into fast forward and we've already made it halfway through our first pregnancy! It seems like time has absolutely flown from when it was the size of a poppy seed when we found out to now when it's a sizeable banana wriggling away in there.

I always said we'd wait until the halfway point until we even thought about buying anything or planning the nursery, but... I'm a bad person and I've been keeping a little list of things that have tickled my fancy because it would be rude not to prepare right?

My Skincare Saviours

My skin always struggles in the transition between seasons and this year has been no different. The bloody awful changeable weather has been wreaking havoc on my skin and if you throw pregnancy hormones as well as getting older in to the mix (my 30th is nearly in sight, eek...) my skin is taking a bit of a battering.

I've added a few new products into my skincare routine to try to combat my skin and body woes, some I've loved and some have been banished to the back of my beauty drawer for ever more. I wanted to share a few of my favourites with you and give you my honest opinion on the ones I'm not sold on.

Home Renovation Plans and Spring Cleaning

There is something about the first sunny day of spring. It's a glorious, momentous occasion when the shroud of winter lifts and we start to embrace the new season but it's also the day when you can clearly see just how covered in filth and dust your house is. Swings and roundabouts eh?

Our spring season is planned around house renovations, all geared towards making our home more of a family home before our new arrival makes an appearance. The main areas of the house that will be getting a face lift over the next couple of months are the kitchen and the bathroom so I thought I'd start with a bit of a before and plans for our home renovations. I'll definitely post a before and after once they're ready too of course, I cannot wait!

The Real Life Morning Routines of Successful Women

The other morning as I checked twitter whilst shovelling make up on my half asleep face after shouting at Joe to get up for the third time, I spotted this tweet by Emma Gannon. She had started reading My Morning Routine: How Successful People Start Every Day (a book, out in May) and realised how she really wasn't a morning person.

This completely resonated with me as I've read so many articles detailing different morning tales from successful women who wake up at the crack of dawn, do an hour of meditative yoga, complete an 18 step skincare routine and have a super green juice smoothie concoction all before they get to their desk at 7am. Though this routine would be amazing, I do absolutely none of these things. So I thought I'd get in touch with a few real life successful women who I know and ask them the same question, what is your morning routine?