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We all know how beneficial drinking water can be for our health. It can help improve the condition of our skin and hair by providing it with hydration. It also helps the immune system by straightening it to help fight off illness. Water is also good at providing you with energy and preventing you from getting dehydrated throughout the day. It can also be used as a way to cure any cravings you might be experiencing and it also helps to remove waste in your body e.g flushing out those nasty toxins. 

Now we've got a good idea of how great water can be for us, let's get into the easy ways you can drink more water:

1. Make it part of your routine - Most habits we want to try bring into our lives fail because we struggle to fit them into our current routine. But making time and the space for drinking more water can make your consumption a lot easier. If you're someone who doesn't already drink any water at all or you need a good place to start, then schedule in drinking water at a certain time each morning and night. Ensuring it's the same time each day can really help to keep you into that routine and turn it into a habit. You could even start the day with a glass of water and get the full impacts of the water straight away. If you want to be able to drink it more than just certain times during the day, then always have some to hand to be able to keep up this consistency. Move onto the next point to see how you can do just that!

2. Get a water bottle - It sounds pretty straight forward, right? Water bottles can be a great way to keep you in routine and be a reminder that you need to drink more water. There are loads of different water bottles out there. I always find getting a design that I really love and find I will always be picking up helps me massively to drink more. I've also found that the water bottles marked with the times of the day on very helpful as they show you how much you should be drinking every hour. This can be a great way to keep you on track throughout the day and also help motivate you. If you cannot afford or even find one like this, you can easily draw on the times yourself with the appropriate measurements for every hour. 

Water bottles are so great because you can take them wherever you go. They're great for travelling with. You can keep them at home, take them out to the shops with you, bring them to work or school with you. Wherever you go ensure you can refill it when you need to. There's also the water bottles you can use for any fitness adventures you go on!

3. Promise to reward yourself - Whenever you're trying something to new and giving yourself a challenge, it's always a good idea to reward yourself along the way. We all try so hard to achieve our best, so it's only right we give ourselves something back. Perhaps you could use your motivation for not only improving your health, but also buying something new for yourself. You could reward yourself with a new outfit, a new style at the hairdressers, a chance to get your nails done, whatever it is focus on that and give yourself the love for working towards your goal. You could even put a time limit on your goal, so you have a clear idea of when it needs to be completed by. For example you could set a goal of drinking 1.5 litres a day. Remember to be realistic. 

4. Set yourself reminders - I'm someone who definitely works better when I have set myself reminders and made a note of what needs to get done. Setting yourself reminders to drink more can be a great way to keep on track with drinking more water. You could do this by setting an alarm to go off when you need to have your next drink, you could set a reminder on your phone on the reminders app, you could stick some sticky notes around the house or if you keep a diary you could make a note on each day of the week about how much water you need to be drinking. By setting yourself reminders you've giving yourself that extra bit of motivation and turning your intake into a habit which in time will make you remember off your own back to drink more.

There's also apps that you can download from your app store on your mobile phones or tablets, such as Daily Water Free or My Water Balance Daily Tracker. These apps are really useful in ensuring you're drinking the right amount of water and also monitoring how much you actually end up drinking. It can also be a fun way to turn your goals into habits and motivate you with your challenge.

5. Add flavour to your water - Whenever I've had discussions about water in the past, there's always been someone who doesn't drink water because they hate the taste. If you're one of these people and can't stand the plain taste, then a good way for you to still get your water intake is to add flavour to your water. Fresh fruit, vegetables and herbs are a great way to add lots of flavour to your water. Fruits like strawberries, lemon and grapefruit can be used. Where as Vegetables such as cucumber, ginger and celery are alternative options. There's also basil, mint and lavender which are herbs that can be added too.

6. Drink your water with meals - If you want to up your water intake more during the day then swap the usual drink you have at meal times with water. I tend to do this anyway as it's just easier and means I'm still getting my water intake for the day. The also good thing about having water during meals is that it can stop you from overeating because water helps to make you feel full. So instead of overeating and feeling hungry, drink a good glass of water in between eating to prevent this from happening. You can also opt for water in restaurants to get the full benefits.

7. Eat water rich foods - Aside from drinking water, you can also add water to your diet through eating water rich foods. This could be good for you if you cannot stand drinking a lot of water, the taste of it or simply just don't have time for the constant toilet breaks. Eating foods that are rich in water could be the option for you. Cucumber, zucchini, grapefruit and soups are some great options to start you off.

Once I have planned my post out, I then like to go back to my check list and make a note that I have planned the post. This means I can then move onto the next stage of creating the post which is either the photographing or the writing up of the post. This usually depends on the weather which one I do. It's also good at keeping me motivated and organised because I can see exactly what has and hasn't been done. 

When I have planned out a good few posts, then I like to take a look at my content plan for the month and see where they can fit in. I'm currently posting every other day on my blog, so there's always plenty of room for posts to fit in with me posting more frequently. I'll usually draft this up in my A4 notebook, before I go to my main notebook with the nearly finalised one. This is just incase I have to swap things around for any reason. But I usually write things up in my main notebook when I've got every part of the post completed.

Are you a planner? Or do you enjoy blogging spontaneously? 

Lauren x

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What hair tool do you get lots of use out of?

Lauren x

This post contains affiliate links. Products marked with a * are PR samples. 

Disclaimer: I just want to say that by no means am I encouraging people to be unhealthy and to put themselves at risk healthwise by not taking care of themselves. But I am hopefully highlighting that by being kinder to ourselves and eating a mixture of different foods in moderation, we're giving ourselves more love and happiness than dieting and trying to be a particular body type ever will. Instead of allowing people to decide what we should and shouldn't be eating, we need to look inside and see what our body needs. We need to ask ourselves 'What do I fancy?' By doing this, we're creating that happy relationship with food that we all want to have without the shame and guilt hanging over us for doing something we love.

Do you notice diet culture?

Lauren x

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Now you've gathered some ideas and inspiration for what your theme is going to be for your photos, you're going to want to choose a background to shoot your photos on. When choosing a background you need to pick one that compliments what you're photographing well. A plain white background is a great go to option because it makes whatever you're photographing stand out and in particular those makeup products. You want to pick something that isn't too distracting or over the top as this can spoil your photos. Your background also needs to match the props and the theme you're aiming for. 

If you're really stuck on what background to go for then take a few photos with the background options you have and see which one you like the best. If you really cannot decide, show someone else and see what they think about each other. This feedback can really help you reach decisions. There's no harm doing a little trial and error between each background shot. It will be worth it. 

Some quick and easy ideas aside from a plain white background could be marble (a beauty lovers go to), wooden floor boards (for  a rustic cosy vibe), a thick blanket (extra warmth and cosiness) or a desired coloured card (for a pop of colour). Be as experimental and creative as you want.

The low down on props

Some good go to prop ideas include flowers as they add a freshness and natural feel to photos, books because they can work well in lifestyle themed photos, blankets if not used as the background add a cosy and warm vibe to your photos, drinks or food add a realness to your photos, ribbon can be good to cover up corners and confetti can be good to add a touch of something else to your pictures. Remember that it doesn't have to just be objects that you can use as props. Your own hands are a great way to add a realistic relatable touch to your photos and also help showcase what it is your photographing.

Props are one of the main things you experiment with. This also means that you will be moving them around, swapping them in and out between different shots, as well as continuing to add to your collection over time if this is something you intend to do.

Once your ready to shoot, gather everything together to start to style your photos:

Friday Faye aka Faye 

If you're not already following Faye, then where the hell have you been? Faye takes the most beautiful photos I have ever seen. Honestly her Instagram feed is the most swoon worthy thing I have ever come across. Faye is one of my go to places for inspiration whenever I'm taking Instagram or blog photos. She just has such a good eye for detail and bringing images together. She not only has such a good talent for photo snapping, but Faye is also so down to earth and lovely. She also started a blog last year where she shares her photography tips and all her beauty loves. You would have never have guessed she only started blogging in 2017 from her blog and her photographs, she is a complete natural and someone who also deserves all the love. 

Some posts I love from Faye include...

What bloggers are you glad you've discovered?

Lauren x

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I already had a rough idea of how old most people were who read my blog through checking out my readers blogs and engaging with them on social media, so it isn't a huge surprise for me when I had seen that most of you guys are between the ages of 16-20 and those between the ages of 21-25 were closely followed behind. But what did shock me a little was that some of you guys were actually over 30 and being a 20 year old girl myself, I had no idea someone older than my own demographic would be interested in my blog. But this has definitely made me super happy to know we have a good range of ages here! Everyone is welcome after all. 

Where do you currently live?

Again with this one I had a good idea about where most of you guys came from. Most of you live in the United Kingdom and this was closely followed by Europe. I was aware of this again from reading your blogs and also interacting with you on social media. One thing that did amuse me was that quite a few of you seem to also be from Norwich which is where I live. I don't know whether this is people who I know actually reading my blog or I just have people who read my blog from the same area as me, but either way it's still pretty cool!

How often did you read my blog in 2017?