They Told Me Not To Talk To Strangers Online....

Hey Nutterettes, 

Niki here again... I'm here to talk about something that is close to my heart. Talking to "strangers" online. 

As a child, I was always told not to talk to strangers online as they could be anyone and you don't know who you are talking to. Of course, this is true but what is also true, is that some of my best friends are people that I have met online - some I've never even met. But where is the line between a stranger and an online friend? I would definitely say the main one is how long you've known each other and what you actually know about the person. 

For me, it all started in 2007, November 4 to be exact. I decided that I was going to join the Harry Potter roleplay fandom on bebo... Yep you read that right, I can't believe that I've actually been roleplaying online now for almost ten years. My first character was Gemini Black, daughter to Regulus Black. Even back then, Manda and I were really close and she actually joined the roleplay community with me that day with my character's cousin Kaylie. Most of the people that I met through that account I've lost contact with as we only really spoke on there, I think the only one that I really talk to still would be Kirsty who roleplayed another cousin. 

From there, many accounts got made and forgotten about, I don't really remember anyone I made friends with on those accounts... The next main account for me on bebo would be a crossover account made in Summer 2008, it was mainly Harry Potter still but I decided to use the characters from a series of books called Mates, Dates by Cathy Hopkins. As well as being a crossover account, it was also a multi-character account - how many exactly I can’t remember but there was a constant stream of more characters being added to that account. From there, I have two friends that I still constantly talk to… Becka and Ria.  It’s hard to believe that I have now known these two girls for nine years, there’s so much that we’ve been through together and they are both like sisters to me even though I haven’t met Becka in real life though. I’ve stayed with Ria many times since 2011. I remember that we would cause so much shit and drama for our characters that we said we would need to start attending DAA (drama addicts anonymous) meetings.

For a few years, I would go around making accounts and roleplaying with different people. After a while, I stopped roleplaying as it was starting to die out on bebo and I didn’t know where else to roleplay it at that point. In 2013, I came across a group on Facebook where people were roleplaying from Les Miserables through pages. I met some amazing people through this group, from all over the world and most of them I have never met; actually I have only met two of the girls (Alex and Liz) since they lived only an hour away on the train! Around 2014, I moved to making Facebook accounts for the roleplay characters and since then; I have been a part of many different fandoms. It was during my time in the Once Upon A Time fandom that I met one of the other girls that I have became rather close to, Abii. We’ve met up a couple of times, the first time being when she had come up to Glasgow and the second being my 21st birthday when we were both at Alton Towers at the same time. The most recent friend that I have made online would have to be Alex, I really don’t know what my life would be like without having her in it even though we’ve not actually met yet. I think we’ve known each other now about two years but honestly, I can’t remember exactly but in a way, that shows just how strong this friendship has become because of how close we are and that I struggle to think of her not being in my life. We met through the Harry Potter Facebook fandom - honestly no matter how many fandoms I end up going to for short periods of time, I always find myself returning there. 

I’m not saying that you should go and tell everyone all about you, but if you do find yourself talking to someone and you end up getting closer, remember that not everyone you meet online are going to be strangers. The way I see it; 

Strangers are just friends that you haven’t met yet.

So what about you guys? Have you ever made friends online that you've ended up meeting or even not meeting? 

NikiNutter x

A Taste Of Independence

Hey Nutterettes!!!

We really need to stop going quiet here on the blog!! So much has happened since I last posted back in February but if you follow us on Twitter then you probably know all about it! I can't believe that I've been driving for just over a year now... George and I have been together over a year... MandaNutter and Jamie have been together for over a year... and literally just yesterday, my mum and dad renewed their wedding vows with a Scottish Handfasting ceremony which was absolutely beautiful! Of course I had my Nutty big sister there with me, along with other friends, family and our boyfriends :) With it being such a small do, it was family that took the pictures on dad's camera so we already have them up and about - here are just a few.

The Cake (the icing is always the best)

Mum And Dad Cutting The Cake

All The Crazy Ones!

NikiNutter And George 

MandaNutter And Jamie

NikiNutter During The Ceremony

Just A Nutter Family

Hugs!!

Binding Them With The Third Ribbon

A Rather Drunk MandaNutter

Also, I got accepted onto the photography course so starting in August, I'm going to be back at college!! 

With the wedding renewal over, mum and dad have decided that they are going on a second honeymoon, they are going up to Orkney for a few days and then touring the Scottish Highlands. This, of course, leaves me alone in the house for two to three weeks, depending on how long they decide that they are going away for... So I am using this time to see if I would be able to handle living on my own again as I am getting older and don't want to be living with mum and dad forever, I love them to pieces but I do want my own place again. Hopefully the next few weeks will be a good way for me to see if I will be able to be more independent with living on my own with all my health conditions. Of course, Manda will be around a lot and keeping me company, as well as going out to see my other friends. 

I can't believe how much my life has changed in these last couple of years.... This time two years ago, I had just gotten out of my engagement where looking back now, it wouldn't have worked out. I was in such a low and dark place but now... now my life is so much better, I'm in an amazing relationship (my longest yet!) and my mental health is so much better too, I still have my days where I feel low but they aren't as common as they used to be. 

With it starting to get to the summer and the holidays coming, we both are hoping to get some more videos uploaded on our Youtube account though we did get one up during the week with myself, MandaNutter, MiniNutter and two friends (nicknamed for the video as MellyNutter and JadeyNutter) doing the Jelly Bean Challenge so if you haven't seen it yet, I would definitely go and give that a watch! We try not to do too much planning and stuff when it comes to filming videos, we feel that it's best to just go with the flow and be spontaneous. We know we aren't famous or popular online; we just do this for fun. It's a hobby that the both of us enjoy and shall probably continue to enjoy for a while. It also gives us more ways to be able to look back on memories; especially if we make videos from holidays that we've been on like I have done a few times. 

Anyway, I thought I would just pop on and give a catch up; will try and write more regularly. Who knows, I'll maybe write a followup blog post to this once mum and dad return home, let you know if I managed to live independently while they were away.

What has changed in your life over the last year or two?

NikiNutter xxx

Catch Up.

Hilo Nutterettes!!

Niki here (again, I'm not really sure where Manda is) and since last time, my health has started to pick up once again and I have an interview for college! I'm really doing it, I am applying to do the photography course and I am really excited and hope that I get accepted onto the course.

Recently, I have been taking a lot of drives around nearby places to me and trying to get different photos that I can maybe use in my portfolio for the interview. Manda has been with me most of the time and I have used her a couple of times as a model for my portraiture ideas, we are planning a photoshoot with a special theme and I am so excited for that! Mini-Nutter also wants to get involved in that shoot which will be so cute, can't wait to do that and then get a post written up to show you guys what we've been up to... Maybe we'll do some vlogging during it so you can see all the fun we have. 

I know that videos and interactions have been low with you guys lately; we had planned to make a video from a Taylor Swift tribute night but the videos weren't working properly on Manda's laptop and when I went to try to put it all together, I realised that the quality wasn't the best and we decided that it was best to just abandon posting it as you guys wouldn't really be able to hear anything.

Right now I am up North with my parents and today I did something completely crazy! I was up at 6am and out the hotel by 6:30am, just so that I could go down to my happy place (Chanonry Point, Black Isle, Inverness) and try to find dolphins, plus I wanted to try and get some photographs of the sunrise. When mum and I left the hotel it was actually snowing, I could imagine us having to sit at the beach in the snow but thankfully by the time we had reached Chanonry Point, the snow had stopped and it was rather clear.. We ended up sitting down there for around two hours and unfortunately neither of the things I wanted to happen did. The sky was far too cloudy so we couldn't see the sunrise properly enough for me to get some photographs and no dolphins decided to make an appearance though we did see a seal a couple of times. Even though I didn't get my sunrise photograph, I still managed to get a few lovely pictures that I can maybe use. 

Right now, we're just resting before going to a party tonight and I am sitting up on the bed playing Pokemon Go! I have recently just evolved some pokemon so I have my second Machoke and a Slowbro. Even though I have been playing the game since it came out; I have only seen 132 and caught 110, though that is including having a Smoochum and seeing an Elekid. Manda and I have been having races to see who can catch/evolve each pokemon first and she's been winning most of them but there are a few that I've been able to get before her (Lickitung and Aerodactyl) which really annoyed her. 

Anyway, I am going to go because I am just rambling on and not really talking about anything important. 

Talk to you laters

NikiNutter xx

You Can Change Your Dreams

Hilo Nutterettes!

Niki here, I know I've been quiet since the New Year but I've not been feeling well at all... Even though I've basically been stuck in bed, there's been some big changes in my life that I'm really excited about. Over the last few years I had been focusing on becoming a classroom assistant for children who have additional support needs but with my health I haven't been able to complete the higher course which specialises in ASN because of this, I have decided to take a change in what I am studying. 

To those of you who have followed us on social media will know that I am highly interested in photography and have been for many years now so I have decided that after the summer, I am hoping to return to college to study photography where I'll learn lots of tricks and ways to improve what I already can do. For my application, when it gets to the interview stage I have to have a portfolio put together and lately I have been going through all my old folders to look at my photographs I've taken to start putting my portfolio together and it's been bringing back all these memories of how much I loved going around and taking photographs of everywhere I have been. 

Some of my favourite places I have had my camera are; Paris including Disneyland (see below), Gillingham/Rochester, Inverness, Orkney, Malaga and Edinburgh. For so long this has been a large passion of mine and I am excited to get started in this new chapter in my life. The application has been sent in so now all I have to do is wait on the interview date coming through and get my portfolio sorted out, oh and get more practice with my dad's camera as he is letting me use that for the course as it is more professional than my own little one, plus I can change the lenses to get better zoom or wide angled shots. 

Have you guys ever changed the path you wanted to follow? Comment below what you were doing and what you changed to. 

NikiNutter xx

Celebrating With Chronic Illness

Hilo Nutterettes!

Wow, it's been so long since either of us used Blogger... We mainly use our other social media outputs; twitter, instagram, snapchat and facebook... we've not even made any new vlogs lately but it's a new year and that's all going to change! 

Anyway, it's your crazy younger Nutter, Niki, that's talking to you just now... Manda is the old dinosaur (even if it is only by 10 days!) I just thought that I would get a start again and get using this to get out everything that I'm feeling. The weeks surrounding Christmas and New Year are always the hardest for me when it comes to my health, as always I have done the 'boom and bust' which is basically just doing everything that I want and suffering from the pain and tiredness afterwards....

Christmas was a sort of quiet affair, well if you can call a family meal of around 20 of us quiet! We spent the day at my aunt's house (mum's side) where we always have our dinner and I caught up with my big cousin, getting rather drunk... The next few days are a bit of a blur, spent them with my best friends and my boyfriend where we were drinking, went to the carnival and watched films. 

After that, it was a couple of quiet days in the house (mainly in bed) where I was resting and then it was back to my friend's house for a Hogmany party! This was spent once again with my boyfriend and I couldn't have been happier, we played drinking games and all just had a laugh out in the hall where all the younger ones are usually found. We spent the night there then headed to my gran's house (dad's side) where we had some food and another drink. 

The next day was mum's birthday but as she also suffers from chronic health issues like the both of us Nutters, she wasn't up for doing anything so Manda and I ended up heading out to the bingo where, if you follow us on twitter, you will know that we end up going quite often though this time we didn't win anything! That night, we did one of our favourite things... We went a drive to play pokemon go up the braes where we know of a car park where there is two pokestops and two gyms, though this was a bit of a disaster... The car hadn't been used since Christmas Eve when I had dropped things off at Manda's and well... we ended up flattening the battery and it took quite a bit to get the battery started again. Thankfully, we got home and had a laugh about it afterwards but it was a bit scary at the time. 

Since then though, my health hasn't been the best, I have been struggling to even lift my head off my pillow the last few days but I am finally starting to get over the pain but the fatigue is another thing entirely, all I seem to be doing is sleeping. Of course, that is just something that I have to live with, what with having fibromyalgia but it is still really hard. I've been diagnosed for almost five years now and I still don't know how to balance celebrating things with this condition... I guess I just need to realise that I am not like everyone else our age, sure they can all go about and do all these things and still have the energy to do everything else but me? I need to give myself time before (and after) to rest up. 

I hope that everyone has had a good festive period though, as much as I have been suffering the last few days, I still loved every minute of it. Especially on Christmas Day when I got to wear a corset again for the first time in ages... 

What did you guys do over the festive period? 
Let us know in the comments!

NikiNutter xxx

Manda~ Destressing!

Destressing is always a good idea when you feel things are getting too much for you!

My latest tips (which will be listed below) are my ideas for tonight!

1. Music

I've always found that music helps me destress. Just laying back, earphones plugged in and some good songs helps me go over things in my head and helps me prioritise everything to see what I need to deal with first, and things that I can worry about another day. Definitely a good tip.

2. Pamper Session

Pamper sessions can include a variety of different things, and for me, it is doing my finger nails and toe nails in different colours, the brighter the better sometimes as it normally tends to lighten the mood of things as well as making you look great. 

Face masks are also a good way of destressing, as well as helping you look after your skin. Always choose a face mask that would be suitable for your skin e.g. If you experience dry skin, look for face masks that are designed to target that, oily skin; face masks for oily skin etc etc.

3. A well needed catch-up with a friend.

Despite the fact that me & Niki (other half of Beauty Nutters) talk every day, we don't always talk about the important stuff, so a good little catch up sometimes over a coffee or else at a sleepover always leaves me feeling a bit better. So, catch up with friends, have a laugh, and I'm sure you will all feel better too!

Manda's first blog!

Hi guys!

One of half of BeautyNutters, Manda here!

Just figured I'd write this little blog to give you all a little bit of information about myself!

My name is Amanda, though, my friends call me Manda. (I know.. My nickname is just missing my initial!) :)

I'm 22, and have a beautiful little girl who is almost 5! 

I'm from Scotland, United Kingdom and absolutely love it!

My main interests (other than being with family & friends) are make-up, nails, vlogging and reading!

Things you can expect to see from me are nail ideas, beauty ideas and some hilarity! You'll also get to see some good vlogs as well!

It's not easy living with chronic illnesses such as those 'invisible' illnesses like fibromyalgia, joint hypermobility syndrome and scoliosis but when your used to it, you still try to live life to the max! And that's exactly what I plan to do for my little princess!