Inspiration

There are times when I fall out of love with Instagram and all it involves, there are also days when it is just plain hard to get motivated.  Particularly when you are accountable to only  yourself.  Well on those days I look at these affirmations and they are all I need to kick start me again.  This is the reason I am here on the gram and I am grateful to each and every lovely comment.  Thank you. x   Love following your account – upbeat, positive – you set a good example of how to expect ups and downs, go through them and carry on. You are amazing and gave kept so many of us going through Lockdown.  Now … Read more

It’s been a long time since I wrote a blog or recorded a podcast.  I was wondering why this might be, and it occurred to me that when you have very little happening in your day to day life, your creative juices don’t flow as readily. There is very little content of note available to talk about.  This led me to think about how I have got through the last two lockdowns, and how I intend to tackle the third, and I think possibly the hardest. The first lockdown was easier in a strange way.  I remember being shocked and upset about it, but once we had negotiated the return of two of our children from abroad I began to … Read more

About last night…..   I couldn’t sleep again, another one of those nights.  I have no problem going to sleep but then wake at the bewitching hour of anything between 2 and 4am.  My brain seems to go into overdrive and I start to overthink, and worry.   It’s not a nice place to be and I know I am not alone.  Why does everything seem so much worse in the middle of the night when you feel like the only one awake?  It does always look so much better in the morning, once I have awoken from the fog of falling back into a deep sleep in the early hours.  You know that slightly sick feeling you experience when you … Read more

Stillness comes in many forms, but sometimes you have to give yourself permission to seek it. The dictionary meaning of stillness reads as ‘an absence of movement or sound’.  As we embarked on lockdown this was very much the case.  It felt surreal and as though we were on another planet, it also felt like an adventure in some ways too.  Venturing into the unknown.  The drawbridge was up and we were all at home and all in it together.   It was that pivotal moment when the world stopped, planes were grounded, there was barely any traffic on the roads and people had to stay at home. It will always be remembered as a difficult time for everyone, no-one … Read more

Has Covid-19 put paid to all our holiday plans?  I am pretty sure if the trip was long haul then it will likely be delayed until next year.  Easyjet have today announced that they will be flying to most European destinations by August.  BUT the question is, do you fancy flying?  More importantly what is the airport experience going to be like?  Most likely longer queues to check in and bag drop and security could be interesting.  As some of you know we have a villa in Portugal which we also rent out during the summer.  Obviously any bookings that we had have been put on hold, however, Portugal itself and the Algarve in particular, state they are open and ready … Read more

    I am a big believer that you should wear what makes you happy and what you feel comfortable in.  I also think that the clothes you wear can contribute to your mood or frame of mind.  For example if I am wearing my ‘trackies’ I feel less likely to engage with things in a progressive way.  By that I mean I will probably end up pottering around the house or garden and not focus on the job in hand.  Days like these can leave me feeling  unproductive.    When I get up on a Monday morning and want to nail the week, you are more likely to find me in a pair of jeans or a skirt and … Read more

Something that is very on topic at the moment, and has been written and talked about a lot, is the subject of Millennials.  I find this is quite close to my heart because – obviously I am too old to be one myself, but I have kind of raised three Millennials.  Although the parameters of when you are born are quite precise to make you a Millennial, it’s neither here nor there, as there is an entire generation below us who have been deemed to be entitled. Lets look at this.  The generation in question were raised in a very different way to the way I was raised.  We definitely had to wait longer for things and there was no … Read more

When two men break into your home wearing balaclavas and carrying hunting knives let me tell you, it’s a GAME CHANGER. Not least because at the time I had two very small children asleep upstairs, and was the only adult in the house.  Feeling helpless doesn’t even begin to cover the stream of emotions that race through your body and mind as you realise that this is real and not a dream.  As the ordeal progresses you begin to process things in a different way as your body goes into fight or flight mode.   When there is a knife at your throat I can assure you all thoughts of fight disappear extremely rapidly.  You soon realise the safest ending to … Read more