Hey everyone!

I have seen a lot of posts from people, on various platforms, about how fed up they are with the lockdown. We are all in this together! Stay strong.

I am not going to lie, I started out with a resistive attitude to all this.

We weren't even on lockdown and I had to be put in quarantine for 2 weeks! Good job we did quarantine too, as all of Miles' family and I (luckily minus his gran!) then got the virus, or at least we think we did!
So as well as being sick, we also couldn't go out, we had no taste so every meal was a battle and we were rapidly running out of paracetamol. Thankfully we were lucky enough not to need any medical treatment and our most annoying symptoms only lasted about a week. However, it was not fun! But the sun came out, and I then got put on furlough, so I have been enjoying using my extra time to better myself (find out more about that here).

Anyway... the bottom line is, due to the lockdown there will be places, activities, people, foods and more that we are unable to do, get and see. So here is 4 things I can't wait to do when the lockdown is lifted.

1. Go and visit my mum and her dogs: Usually I would go and see my mum every Sunday. We would paint our nails, go shopping, talk about the week and maybe look at a DIY project she needed help with. She'd cook an amazing roast, we'd walk the dogs and that would be that. I can't remember the last time I saw mum, but we talk all the time! I really miss the dogs!
2. Go for a long hack on Archie: I am still riding Arch (the pony), but inside the yard only. The roads are still quite busy round here, for some reason?! And his owner and I have decided it just isn't worth the risk. If something were to happen to us if we went out, it would put a strain on the NHS, and the last place I'd like to be right now is in hospital! So I'd love to go for a nice long wander with him, like we did just before I went into quarantine.

3. Meet up with my girls: You just can't beat a cup of coffee, and a catch up with your friends! The lockdown has meant that we have had to celebrate my bestie's birthday over Facetime (it was actually quite fun, if I am honest) and it is likely we will have to celebrate mine, and maybe more of our birthdays over video too. I can't wait to have a face to face catch up with my favourite people. I am however, grateful we are able to have our chats over Facetime!

4. Spend some time away with Miles: We were a week away from booking our next holiday, a trip abroad to celebrate him finishing uni, before the lockdown came into play. I can't wait to get away somewhere special with him. Even if it is just camping overnight in the New Forrest (amazing break choice BTW!) I will be happy. I am sure there will be a lot of people wanting to do this too!

What are you looking forward to most when the lockdown is lifted?

Hey again!

I have been trying to stay as positive as possible throughout this pandemic, as I am sure a lot of you are also doing ;)

Here are a few positive things I have noticed since we have been on lockdown:

1. I am spending more time outside- as far as the weather is concerned, the lockdown couldn't have started at a better time of the year. The sun has been out which has meant, I have been able to spend so much ore time soaking up those rays! I am fortunate enough to live in a house with a large garden so I have been sunbathing (while I do my courses on my laptop), which has worked wonders for my mind!

2. I am trying new things-  I am a creature of habit, and it's sometimes difficult to break the boundaries of routine... but Covid sort of gave us a hand with that, and as a result of that I am sinking my teeth into trying new things, and I am actually sticking to them too!

3. Our home is much more tidy- So, as I have more time on my hands our home is so much more cleaner than it was before. It's not the day to day cleaning that gets to me, its the deep cleaning... the really shitty jobs that I just put to one side. Well! Now they are being done on the regular! i really hope that once I go back to work I keep it up too.

What positive things can you think of that you have noticed since the lockdown started?

80% pay for a minimum of 3 weeks, completely work free?!? Sign me up!

This was the attitude I had on day 1 of furlough.

... For those of you who don't know, furlough is basically when you don't work for a period of time, but you are paid 80% of your wages which is subsidised by the government, in order for you to *hopefully* still have a job to go back to once the lockdown is over.

Now, I am a busy bee... I don't spend much time just doing nothing. In fact, I find doing nothing really difficult. This coupled with the fact that WE ARE ALL ON LOCKDOWN (yes Susan... that includes you! STAY OFF THE BEACH!) lead me to find myself teetering on the edge of an anxiety induced meltdown less than a week into this blessed furlough, until I made sure that each day I did the following things... Try them, if you are struggling a little at the moment, I guarantee you will feel a lot better for it!

1. Make a daily 'to do' list: One of the first things I do when I wake up is write a list of tasks I would like to accomplish that day. I enjoy having some sort of routine and this has really helped to keep me in check with some of the other things I have done below. It doesn't need to be long, nor does it need to have everything you intend to do that day on it (unless you need to be reminded to brush your teeth?!). It just needs to have some core items that you would like to achieve that day written on it.


2. Exercise every day: This is sooooo important! You don't even need to leave your house to do this (yes even if you live in a flat), you don't need to be fit (you're not training for a marathon), you don't need to push yourself too hard (look after yourself!) there are tonnes of great exercise videos on YouTube you can try, from a workout to some gentle yoga. Or if you are like me, I alternate between walking, hula hooping and riding Archie the pony (in the field, very carefully)!


3. Learn something new: There are tonnes of options here, the number of emails I have been receiving with "free course on...this" and "free membership to... that". I am currently doing a Linkedin Learning course in Photoshop, I am also using Duolingo (free app) to learn Italian (there are tonnes of other languages you can learn on this app, I highly rate it!) and I have just signed up to 3 month free access to a digital marketing course (Digital Marketing Institute). See, told you I like to keep busy! But the bottom line here is, there are many businesses sharing their learning services with us for free in this current situation, use it to your advantage! Just don't forget to cancel your subscription so that at the end of the free trial, you don't get caught out with a cheeky charge!


4. Do something creative every day: I am using my spare time to do things I swear I would do if I had more time. For example, I have been posting more videos on YouTube, and getting more gutsy with the content too! I have picked up writing my bloggy again (it took some time but I am back again!), I have even learned how to use Pinterest and I am putting together mood boards for when we move into our new home. But, you don't have to be this extravagant. Order some nice colouring pencils off Amazon, and get yourself an adult colouring in book, or start your own blog... I find being creative a huge release of energy, so it not only helps me to sleep at night but I feel a great sense of achievement after I have done something to get the juices flowing again.


5. Finally. Spend some time outside (in the sun): I don't know where you live... but I am in Southern England. From September - March, it felt like it had rained everyday. Thankfully, when the lockdown came into place... the sun showed its pretty face again and all but a couple of drizzly days, it has been BEAUTIFUL outside! So, when I can, I grab my blanket and chill on the grass for a little while. Its a great time to practice my Italian or listen to an audiobook while soaking up some rays and good old vitamin D. (If the sun is out, remember to wear sunscreen kids!!)

I have lost over 2 stone! & Yes I am incredibly proud!

Hello blogletts!

Happy Valentines day, I hope you are all well?

I am switching things up again today, as I thought my experience with this was worth writing about...

I'd seen a YouTube video back in October of the Ladylike girls at Buzzfeed (Big fan!) doing  DNA tests to find out their heritage. I thought it was a pretty cool idea especially with my heritage. From my mothers side I am Italian/Trinidadian and from my fathers side I am English/Scottish.

So I asked my family for one for Christmas...Roll forward a few weeks and on Christmas day I open up my first present and its the DNA test! Yay! (Thanks fam!)

As soon as I got home, I opened up the box so I could get my sample ready and send it off, unfortunately there is a downside to this test, it takes between 6-8 weeks to process and I am the worlds most inpatient person so I needed to get a wiggle on.




Inside the box I got:

- A prepaid box to send my samples in with
- A sample tube
- A collection bag
- Instructions on how to use the kit


So... I bet you all want to know, how it works? All you have to do is spit in the sample tube, pop it in the post and wait.

Fast forward 6-8 weeks and my results came in... Now, given my heritage, I was a little confused with these results and I was tempted to buy another brand to see how they compared, however I believe this test isn't based on your direct relatives but much much further in the past.

Here are my results:


As you can see, I am even more of a Heinz 57 than I originally thought. Although I am unsure of the results I may buy another brand of test in the future. Have any of you done a DNA test like this? Have you got the results you were expecting?

Hello blogletts,

I hope you have all had a wonderful Christmas, you where well fed and watered and spent some quality time with the people you love the most.

Today I am going to be writing about my first thoughts on La Roche Posay Effaclar Duo +. I thought we'd try something new!



I haven't been sponsored to write this nor have I received a sample of this product. This is total, honest, unbiased opinion on the cream.

For those who don't know, I'm thinking that's almost all of you... I have PCOS (Poly Cystic Ovarian Syndrome). I will write more about it another day as it is a lot to absorb but basically it never majorly bothered me until April this year, when I started to get deep, cystic, hormonal, nasty acne on my previously 90% perfect skin.

This was a gradual thing, I didn't just wake up one morning covered in spots but it did get pretty nasty, pretty quickly. I have never, until this year, ever, ever suffered from acne of any kind. All my siblings did, but not me... of course I have had the occasional spot but nothing like this.

So first of all I stopped wearing makeup as I thought that may have been contributing to the acne as I had treated myself to a Bare Minerals set in January. The acne got worse, so I tried different face washes, different moisturisers anything I could get my mitts on over the counter I was trying, until I had to go to the doctor one day and I told her what was going on.

Unfortunately this is one of the many symptoms of PCOS, so my doctor put me on a topical cream called Differin or Adapalene and after a couple of months of using it, it did start to calm down the breakouts but not stop it.

I have really struggled with confidence since having cystic acne, its funny because when my siblings or friends had it growing up, I never noticed it to be as bad as mine was getting. I'd look in the mirror and it is all I would see, I felt that I looked dirty and that people where staring at me in the street and worst of all I worried that Miles didn't find me attractive anymore. Of course, none of these things were true but there is no where to hide with acne. Sure you can cover it up but at risk of making it much, much worse. (I have now found a full coverage foundation which doesn't cause me to break out, I will write a post on that another day too!) and after the spots have finally made its way to the skins surface, you are almost always left with a horrible, in my case deep purple scarring.

In September I had to visit the hospital to talk to a specialist about the PCOS symptoms I was experiencing, and he suggested I try a drug called Metformin. Long story short, it is used to treat people with diabetes but it has also been used to treat people with PCOS with great results too!

About a month after I started to take Metformin, I started to notice my skin was beginning to clear up. Now, its almost 4 months since I started to take it and my face had been cystic acne free (minus 1 pimple which came up yesterday!!! Grrr!!) for 3 weeks now. So I began to research how to get rid of the nasty scars which now live on my cheeks.

As mentioned above I came across this cream and the reviews I have seen have been really good so after much thought I bought a tube along with one of their BB creams. I found it online at Feel Unique for £12 but it is usually about £16.

It claims to make your skin look noticeably different after a day, I was verrrry sceptical as I had tried other products claiming to do the same. We've all been there, but I guessed the worse that could happen is that I'd be £12 down!

Here is a picture from Day 1, this was taken the morning after I had worn it over night with my Adapalene, washed it off in the morning and re-applied just the Effaclar Duo +.


My brother (who I see everyday) didn't notice any difference on the first day. I didn't think to get a picture of the day before I started it because I am a doughnut!

This next picture is another 24 hours later... With the same routine.


Although there is very little change I can see that the pimple on my chin is much smaller, the skin on my cheeks isn't as red and the acne scarring is that tiny bit less in your face. My pores also where beginning to look much smaller as well !

This picture is from a week later:


The scarring is much less angry and obvious, I am amazed at the difference!

So far I feel that things are heading in the right direction with this cream. I can see a significant change in just a week. Look out for a blog post in the future, with a months update!

I have some very exciting news for you...

(Drumroll please)

Kyrie in Kalamityland has a shiny new website!

Annnnnnd...

There will be a few more changes happening on my blog. I am going to be writing about a lot more than just food (don't worry, you can still get your GF fix with me!).

From now on I will be including a lot more of what I get up to in my spare time.

So much has changed since I last wrote to you all and I feel that this way we can get to know each other a little better and I will be able to write a lot more too!

I’m really looking forward to involving you wonderful lot in more of my life and I really hope you enjoy some of the new things I am going to be including in my blog!