Affordable Bluetooth Speaker

The other day I happened to be in the market for a new set of affordable bluetooth speakers, I already have the Bose Mini Bluetooth Speaker which I use and love but I wanted something which was a little cheaper and a little more portable. I stumbled on this KitSound Bluetooth Speaker (£16.99) and decided to go ahead and buy it.

Listening to Peanut Butter Jelly, Obvs.

How lightweight they are is one of the first things that I liked about these and they're not bulky at all so they really lend themselves to travelling, they come with a handy compact carry case which houses the speakers, the charging wire and the audio jack wire (if by any chance you did want to use it wired instead of bluetooth). The initial set up of it is really simple: you switch it on and quick-press the 'play' button to start pairing with a device, you then select bluetooth on your device and wait a couple of seconds for 'boombar' to show up, just click that and away you go! You can control volume on both the speakers and on your device; for a little speaker this really does pack a punch volume wise and the quality is surprisingly crisp even at it's loudest. 

For a set of what I would consider 'budget' wireless speakers, these really are quite brilliant. They work perfectly with any apple device and they can really enhance your experience if you're watching videos/films on your iPad/iPhone. Obviously they will work with any bluetooth enabled device and you can also use them with the audio jack. On a full charge you should get around 4 hours of play out of the speakers and they are recharged by plugging them into a USB charger via the cable which is supplied with them. 

These particular speakers actually come in quite a few different colours aside from the one in the photo so if purple isn't your thing you can get them in pink, red, black and blue so there's something to go with all tastes and colour schemes. The other colours are slightly more expensive so because I wasn't bothered about the colour I went with purple which is the cheapest. 

Are Women More Susceptible To Depression?

If there's one thing I really struggle to tolerate, it's narrow-mindedness. I can't for the life of me understand why there are people out there who can't accept that someone has a mindset different to them (perhaps I'm being narrow-minded for not accepting that people are narrow-minded? I dunno?). Depression and mental illness in general is massively misunderstood; because those affected don't have anything visibly wrong with them for example a pot on their arm or a wheelchair their illness is often considered not 'credible' to even be classed as an illness. I struggle with my emotions and feelings but it's not something I've ever been to the doctors about because I feel stupid, and the fact that I feel stupid about it surely says something about attitudes towards mental illness?

'Why is it always women who get depressed?' was a question I was asked the other week when I was having what I call one of my 'down days', you know those days when you just feel so lacking in motivation, energy or tolerance for anything else but your own company and sometimes even that can be borderline unbearable; those days when you just want to sleep. Depression doesn't discriminate between gender, height, weight, age or anything else for that matter but do you think that as women we are more susceptible? Or do you think it's because women are more likely to talk about it and report that they are feeling unwell? Statistics from The Mental Health Foundation say that 1 in 4 women will require treatment for depression while only 1 in 10 men will require treatment, now that statistic does suggest that women are more susceptible but it only seems to consider those men who have gone to the doctors about how they feel; presumably there are plenty of men who don't go to the doctors because maybe they don't consider it a real reason to get help?! I'm sure some (sexist) individuals would suggest that this is because women are the weaker sex but in my opinion this just shows that women are slightly more comfortable discussing their feelings whereas men feel like it isn't the 'masculine' thing to do to ask for help? The fact that men are 3 times more likely to commit suicide than women must say something, surely? So clearly it isn't always women who get depressed, they just seem more likely to talk about it.

Another phrase that really gets on my nerves is 'pull yourself together', pull myself together how exactly?! Don't get me wrong there are days that are a lot easier than others but if I'm having a bad day I honestly feel like there is nothing that will make me feel any better and to tell me to 'pull myself together' only serves to make me feel even more stupid than I already do. When you're feeling mentally weak, to belittle someone further, to me, is one of the worst things you could do.

I'm babbling on, I know but the main purpose of me writing this blog post is to try and encourage those who don't understand depression, to try and understand a little more. Understand that even if you feel you can pull yourself round from what you feel is a bad mood, other people cannot. What you think is a 'bad mood' is actually probably a swirling downward spiral of horrible feelings that the person probably doesn't know what to do with.

I urge anyone who doesn't consider mental illness as a real illness to read up about it; people who are closest to you might be suffering but because there are often no visible signs it goes completely unnoticed. Don't belittle anyone who you think might be suffering from a form of mental illness and don't ask them to pull themselves together, just be there and if you don't feel you can be there, suggest where they might be able to get some help.

Here are some useful links:

A-Z of mental health - for those who just don't 'get it'

Mind - someone who might be able to help whether it's for yourself or someone you care about

Samaritans - As above

Hair Styling Products for Damaged Hair

I've been really quite impressed with the condition of my hair just lately and I've put it down to a few products that I've been using for the past couple of weeks. Blonde hair can be a real pain to keep in good condition; my hair has often looked quite dry, split and damaged because of the heat styling/bleach that I've subjected it to. Obviously there's no denying that you can't actually 'repair' hair once it's split but you can reduce the appearance of split ends and keep it in as good condition as you possibly can to try and prevent further damage. 

Schwarzkopf Weightless Dry Oil Mist £4.05 £2.70 - This is the perfect finishing spray for me, a little bit like Tigi Haute Iron Spray but better and a sight cheaper. Getting any kind of shine on blonde hair is difficult but this makes my hair look and feel really healthy, it really is weightless but it makes my hair feel perfectly silky smooth after straightening. 

Schwarzkopf Dry Shampoo £4.05 £2.02 - I always say that no brand could get me away from Batiste when it comes to dry shampoo but this puts up a good fight. It's not as powdery and heavy, it smells nice and it does the job just as good if not slightly better. 

Schwarzkopf Heat Protection Spray £4.05 £2.70 - I went through a stage where I didn't use any heat protection at all before straightening and I could really tell a difference in the condition of my hair. Not only does this offer protection up to 220 degrees I also think it helps to keep my hair straighter for longer.

Label M Rejuvenating Oil Mist* £24.95 - This has fast become an important step in my hair routine, I spray this on wet hair before drying it and it is better than any serum or oil I've used in terms of how  smooth my hair is even before I've straightened. I think it's probably to do with the spray which means that it's more evenly distributed as opposed to a blob of serum/oil which is often concentrated on a certain part of your hair. Obviously I don't use this on my roots but for the ends of my hair I really think it's making a massive difference. It is a little bit pricey but I've said it before, for a product that works I don't mind paying!

The Kitchen Tea Room Howden Review

So far this month it would seem that all I've done is eat out, last week I think I ate out every single day which is brilliant for my taste buds but not so much for the Slimming World scales at the end of the week (I took the hit of a 2lb gain this week, so I'm trying to reel it back in!). Anyway, one of the reasons I was eating out was because it was my Nana's birthday. Me and my mum wanted to take her somewhere she'd never been before for lunch so after a little think we chose The Kitchen in Howden.

I'd hazard a guess and say that most of you probably haven't heard of Howden; it's a small town in East Yorkshire within easy access of York and Hull (the M62 is literally a mile or so away so it makes it really accessible from any direction). The Kitchen in Howden is actually a second shop which was opened after the roaring success of the one opened in Snaith (a small village near Selby) so I knew it had to be decent if it was popular enough to warrant two shops!

The Kitchen is a shop and a tea room offering absolutely loads of choice both to eat in and takeaway, judging by how busy it was for the whole time we were in there, it's obviously just as popular with take away orders as it is with people wanting to eat in. There's so much choice even for take away orders and the dessert cabinet looks absolutely incredible!

After a short wait for a table we were seated together on a table for 4, we got the menu out and had a browse for what we fancied. As much as I was very tempted by the afternoon tea I ended up trying to be good; I ordered a Salmon and Prawn Salad and a Skinny Latte however because it was my Nana's birthday I encouraged her and my Grandad to go for the afternoon tea, purely because I wanted to see what it was like.

Everything was brought to our table swiftly by the waitress who was really friendly and attentive, I was so impressed with the little touches from the word go:

Everything from the flowers in the milk bottles in the middle of the table to the little milk churn they served milk in and the spoon which was designed in such a funny way to make it rest on the side of the latte glass, it set the scene perfectly for what was to come. The only trouble we had was fitting everything on the table because it was a fairly small space for 4 people but we managed, we just made sure we got rid of the bits we didn't need once we'd used them.

When the food arrived I couldn't believe the size of the salad for a start, I usually find that salads are a little bit lack-lustre in most places but The Kitchen made one of the most impressive salads I've ever tasted in any eating place.

The bowl it was presented in was absolutely huge and it had some lovely little additions like a small pot of olives and some homemade bread with cheese and peppers (served in a little plant pot - too cute!). The fresh cooked salmon was absolutely divine and there was more than enough to leave me feeling full when I'd eaten it, for £7.95 I thought it was very reasonably priced and it was so tasty.

Next, onto the Afternoon Tea which was very impressive indeed.

(Mum and Nana failed miserably at getting out of the photo, but look at my Nana's face, she looks made up doesn't she, haha)

What you see here is for two which is priced at £18.95, again very reasonable and around what I would expect to pay for Afternoon Tea of this standard. I assume that every one served is different in terms of sandwich fillings and which selection of cakes you get but there'll always be a scone with jam, cream and butter in the middle. Of course if you have any allergies or intolerances I'm sure The Kitchen would be happy to tailor your food around that.

For the sandwiches there was fresh salmon and cream cheese, ham and salad and cheese and pickle (I think, I obviously didn't eat any of them and to be honest they were demolished before I had a chance to look at them properly, I'm lucky I got a photo!). I thought the bread made a nice change to traditional crustless sliced bread although my Nana said it was a little too stodgy for her by the time she'd finished (my Grandad's answer to that one was 'well you didn't have to eat it all, did you?' haha!).

The second shelf had two traditional home made scones with a pot of cream, butter and a mini jam jar full of jam (argh, all the cuteness!). The cream was beautifully light but really nice and creamy, no complaints or areas for improvement whatsoever on this bit!

The final course was the selection of homemade cakes; there was a huge fruit tart, some chocolate brownie and two squares of caramel slice. A nice little choice so you could have a taste of each without being over-faced by it. I was surprised my Nana and Grandad ate it all but the fact that they managed every little bit is testament to how nice it must have been! If you wanted, you could upgrade your afternoon tea to include a glass of pink bubbly each which would take the price to £29.95.

Overall I was well impressed with The Kitchen and I will definitely be visiting again; if you are considering a visit I would recommend ringing to try and reserve a table especially if you're thinking of going on a Saturday as I imagine that will be their busiest day for eating in the tea room. We were there on a Thursday and it was still very busy, but I guess you have to expect it when the food is this good!