Disney, Harry Potter & Lots of Roller Coasters!

As I sit here on this cold, wet and miserable Sunday afternoon, I can't tell you how much I would rather be back in sunny America!

Holiday blues have well and truly kicked in, and I couldn't be more upset that I'm home.

If any of you follow my Instagram, you will know that the boyfriend and I have been in Florida - Orlando for the past 2 weeks, having the time of our life!

I won't bore you with a day to day routine, because thats a lot to talk about, so I will upload some of the snaps we took.

Seaworld

Before I carry on with all the park photos, I feel like I should mention the food. Oh my gosh, if you love food and you haven't been to America, you are missing out massively!

Personally, breakfast was my favourite. Pancakes/crepes, eggs, hash brown, sausage, bacon, what's not like?  

Lets also talk about Denny's Oreo Milkshake, WOW!! The best milkshake I have ever consumed in my life. I wouldn't of even thought about getting this if my best friend didn't mention it to me. 

Outbacks Bloomin' Onion.

Just amazing! It's so unhealthy, but so good. It's basically a large onion, cut to resemble a flower, battered and then deep fried. This is an appetiser and its massive!

Portion sizes in America are huge, a slice of pizza is a quarter of a ginormus whole pizza.

When I went to America 4 years ago, I found a love for Corndogs, I just couldn't get enough of them. So when I returned this year to see that they had doubled in size, I was more than excited!

Right, lets get back to the parks! I won't bombard you with every single photo, so i'll just post a few from each park.

Animal Kingdom

Universal Islands of Adventure

Typhoon Lagoon

As this was a water park, we didn't actually take any photos, sorry :(

Epcot

Busch Gardens

Universal Studios

Magic Kingdom

The castle by day and by night! Heart eyed emoji? Yes I think so!

The title photo right at the top, is also Magic Kingdom during the fireworks.

Hollywood Studios

We did also go to another waterpark called Aquatica, but we didn't take the camera with us.

We did a lot of shopping too, you have to when your in America right?

All in all, we both had the most amazing time here and didn't want to ever come home, but like all good things, they have to come an end. 

Until next time America..

Have any of you been to Orlando? 

Where did you stay and what was your favourite park?

I would love know, so leave comments below.

Speak soon,

Love Beckii

xxxx

Why I Started a Blog

As I reach almost a year since I began my blog, I thought I would share with you all why I started a blog and a few tips from what I have learnt.

Why I Began Blogging

I had thought about starting up a blog for quite some time, but kept putting it off.

I thought too much into it, "people would laugh at me" - "my life isn't interesting enough"

In the end I just went for it. People don't have to read my posts, but there are some people who might.

The hardest thing for me about starting my blog, was figuring out what to call it. You need something interesting, something nobody else has. I think I changed mine about 3 times before I was finally happy!

The views were quite slow to start off with, but over time, after posting more and more, the views have risen.

Social Media

I think its very important to advertise yourself on social media, my favourites are, Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.

I mean, how else are you going to share your blog with everyone?

I do use Bloglovin' occasionally, but I'm still getting the hang of it, so any help would be appreciated.

It's also important to have the same name for all your accounts, so people can find you easier. When I first started, all my social media accounts were completely different, but since changing them I've gained more followers.

Content & Consistency

I'm a fine one to talk when it comes to consistency - which I am working on, I promise - 

I feel that being consistent will excite your readers more, by keeping your posts on certain days and times - again I'm working on this -

The content is up to you! You can blog about whatever you like! I started off with just wanting to blog about Beauty, but now its a lifestyle blog also, with days out, holidays and so on, which I feel works well for me. 

Photos on your blog does make it look better, but like myself, we aren't all professional photographers, but practise makes perfect right? So don't worry too much about this for the beginning. It also looks better when you have used photos which you have taken yourself.

I'm extremely happy I started blogging, not only for the hobby, but for the people I've met on social media also. The blogging community are sooo supportive of each other and I can't thank those of you who have supported and helped me enough!

I'd love to know why everyone else started blogging!

Leave comments below telling me how!

Speak soon,

Love Beckii

xxxx

Greece

With Summer pretty much over and Autumn upon us, I sit here dreaming back to my holiday. 

From sunshine, sea, sand and unlimited cocktails, to cups of tea, duvets and jumpers, its safe to say that the colder days here are very depressing!

So here I am, under my duvet, writing to you guys to try and warm you all up with some of our holidays snaps.

I have only ever been to Greece once, and that was way back to when I was a lot younger, so I don't really remember too much about the country.

My boyfriend and I decided on Zakynthos, which at first we were slightly anxious about as neither of us had been before, but we were very happy with our choice.

It is such a pretty island and very hot!

I have never been to a country where the sea water was as warm and as clear as this was. I was amazed.

The beaches here are known for Loggerhead Turtles, which we were lucky enough to see a few in the sea when we went out on a pedalo and on a boat trip.

The locals are very protective of the turtles, meaning they close the beach from 7pm-7am, to avoid any hatching turtles getting injured, as there are hundreds of nests along the beach front.

We went on a trip to see a shipwreck to a place called 'Smugglers Cove'. This was honestly such an amazing/stunning place! I have never seen sea water as blue as this before! Here are a few snaps:

I'm not sure what I was expecting when we came here, but we absolutely loved it. 

The weather was scorching, and the country is just beautiful!

We now want to visit the rest of the Greek Islands.

I'll leave you here with a few more photos.

I hope you enjoyed having a nosy into our holiday!

I would love to know where you all visited this year, so leave comments below.

Speak soon,

Love Beckii 

xxxx 

My Gymnastic Days

Seeing as it is now the Olympics, I thought I would throw it back to when I did gymnastics.

Back in 1999 I started gymnastics at The Berkhamsted Gymnastics Club.
I absolutely loved it and progressed so much.

You would always catch me doing cartwheels, handstands and the crab whenever I could.

Beam always used to be my least favourite, as balance just wasn't my thing!

I always used to remember practising my balance at home, to improve on beam by placing a scarf on the floor and attempting to do a routine on that. 

You can even see in the photo above by my toes how much I'm trying to keep balance!

 A few years on, I got to the age where I started competing in competitions. 

Counting down the days to my first competition I was excited but VERY nervous.
Being the centre of attention does not go down well with me, so the thought of 'all eyes on me' was extremely terrifying!

First Competition

Considering how nervous I was, for my first competition I did quite well.

I received two medals overall for this competition, 1 bronze and 1 silver!

Second Competition

My second competition, I was still very nervous, but I knew what to expect which calmed me down a lot.

I remember trying my absolute hardest when training, to be the best I possibly can!

Which clearly worked as I came first in Bars, Vault and Beam! 

I received a silver medal for this competition overall, which I was very happy about.

I carried on going to my training and competing, getting better and better.

One of my last competitions, I remember saying to myself and family, that I was determined to come home with a trophy.

I DID IT!

The awkward smile in this photo is deceiving. I was so so proud of myself, I just hated my photo being taken.

I came first overall in this competition, resulting in me receiving a gold medal as well as the trophy.

A few months after this competition, I was approached to join the Competition Squad, meaning I would be competing a lot more in much more important competitions!

At the time this scared me a little bit, as the coaches said this could potentially get me into the Olympics!

So, I quit gymnastics altogether..

Looking back now I massively regret that decision.

About 3 years ago, I decided I was going to go back! I called my old gymnastics club, and to my surprise, they were still there. 

I went back once a week, but I just didn't enjoy it like I used to, due to me being a lot less flexible than before. 

I would love to know if you ever did or still are doing gymnastics and what your favourite peice is?

I'd also love to know if you are watching the Olympics and what your favourite sport is?

Speak soon,

Love Beckii

xxxx