My mood has been pretty good over the last few months. While I've still had my bad days, they are fewer and farther between compared to the start of the year. However, low mood, high anxiety and low energy days are becoming a lot more common now we're heading into autumn due to the joy that is Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD).

Now that summer is over and the days are getting shorter, SAD is starting to kick my arse. Getting out of bed in the morning is harder, especially as it is now dark when my alarm goes off, which makes the fact that I don't sleep well even worse. I feel tired and unmotivated much of the time, which isn't helpful when I'm trying to be more active and workout regularly. My ADD is in full swing, setting off my anxiety and generally leaving me feeling like I need to do things but I don't want to do things and I'm too tired to move.

So basically, SAD is a lot of fun for me and those around me. I'm trying to cope with it though, using some tried and tested methods, as well as new ones. Here's how I'm trying to work through SAD and some ideas that could help you:

As with most people who start work at 8am five days a week, I have become hugely dependant on coffee over the last few years. Considering I need to engage my brain most of the day in order to write, coffee is one of the main things that has allowed me to do this. However, several cups of coffee a day also means a fair bit of milk and a lot of spoons of sugar, which really isn't ideal.

On top of this, I'd end up crashing once the coffee wore off so I'd need to drink more, which isn't a great cycle to get into. I've tried going cold turkey before, but that doesn't really work great while cutting down still left me shattered. This is why I started looking into matcha green tea to see if a glass in the morning could substitute the majority of the coffee I would drink in a day. After finding Purechimp matcha - which a friend recommended - I gave up my payday bottle of gin (not a regular thing, but something I'd planned on buying this month) in order to buy a couple of jars.

Yesterday we went out for an early anniversary celebration (we're both working on our actual anniversary), which included the husband taking me out for lunch. When he asked me where I wanted to go, I think he was expecting me to opt for somewhere fairly pricey and with seats, but all I wanted was a bourek and some mint tea from Cafe Moor in Kirkgate Market.

Cafe Moor is one of my favourite places for street food in Leeds, especially as they have vegetarian and pescetarian options that are absolutely delicious. I've been meaning to take the husband for ages, but haven't got around to it so a Saturday off seemed like the perfect excuse to indulge.

Yes, I know that August has come and gone, but my holiday put me behind on some of my reviews as I didn't get the products until I got back to work. As I like to give everything a good try before I give my verdict, I've held off on writing up the contents of my August LoveLula box until I had something more to say than 'the products smell nice' - which they definitely do.

Now that I've been using everything for a few weeks, I've got a better idea as to what they are like on my skin, and I have to say I am really impressed. Everything in this box was just as good as last months so I was really excited to get September's and give that a try too (which I am now doing).

I definitely recommend signing up for a monthly beauty box as it is such good value for money and is the perfect way to try gorgeous products without having to pay through the nose. Here's what I thought of August's haul:

When I left Cornwall to move to Leeds, I had finally found that mythical thing in the beauty world: the perfect hairdresser. I cannot describe the sense of loss I felt moving 400 miles from the salon that had tamed my tresses after years of mistreating them with bleach and dye. It really does take a lot of trust to let someone cut your hair, especially if you've had some of the hideous experiences like I had.

Luckily, I have now found the perfect salon t'up north. One that has saved my hair after the biggest bleaching disaster I've ever had, stripped out layers of black hair dye and generally made me feel gorgeous and confident every time I go there. No, this salon isn't too good to be true, it's located on Whingate Junction (although it will be moving soon) and it is Gray's.