Hey everyone, long time no blog I know! I realised I have only written one blog post this year. Which, for me, seems crazy! So I thought September would be the perfect time for a bit of a relaunch. I’m finally feeling motivated to write again so I have put a big list together of blog posts I want to write and will try and maintain a more regular posting schedule from now on for you guys! I’m celebrating my 5 year blogiversary too (I started August 1st 2015) - I can’t believe that! I’m really wanting to renew my focus over here on my blog more in the second half of 2020 as this part was always my first love. I’ve blogged before about How Blogging Has Opened Up My Small World - and it’s still true!
So 2020 hey?! Certainly one for the history books and we’re only 2/3 of the way through! Seriously though how are you all coping? I hope you’re all well and keeping as safe as you can be.
I have been really struggling with my mood and to feel motivated and inspired this year. As the majority of you will know I have chronic illnesses so I have been having to shield since mid March. I think lockdown has affected everyone’s mental health in different ways. Some people have absolutely loved it as they’ve had all this time at home to do things they wouldn’t normally or perhaps time away from a job or lifestyle they didn’t like or found too stressful. For me I had been enjoying a lot more freedom in recent years. Going out and about to places and socialising so lockdown put me right back into those feelings I had during my teens and early twenties of feeling trapped and isolated from the world again and it wasn’t a nice feeling. At first I thought, I’ll be totally fine with this being at home all the time thing “I mean I’ve basically been training for it my whole life right?!" and at least this time everyone else is in the same boat as me! The point is though that we all come out of this as healthy as possible but I can’t lie, it has felt like a struggle a lot of the time.
So I thought I’d do a little recap of my year so far before I move onto all my upcoming new content!
January
Although January seems like a distant memory now and may have actually been a fairly good month for the majority of the world in comparison, January was actually a complete write off for me. I was really ill from Christmas until the end of January with one of the worst flu’s I’ve had in a long time. I was so feverish that I remember I couldn’t sleep for a whole night, sore throat, headache - it was grim. Plus my pain had become unbearable and I was having fainting episodes almost every night. Yes, it has crossed my mind it might’ve been Covid 19 but I figured I’d probably never find out for sure. However I got randomly selected to take part in an Covid Antibody test for a research study at the end of June. I got sent a finger prick kit at home which was all fairly easy to do and then you upload your results onto the database online. It’s all saved under my ‘health’ highlight on my Instagram if you’re interested in seeing more. So my test ended up showing as negative. Although they said in the information provided that the test wasn’t 100% accurate and either way I would have to keep following the guidelines regardless - which of course is what I would’ve done anyway. I did read a few days later that it is thought that the Antibodies for Covid May only stay in your body and protect you for up to 6 months. In which case they wouldn’t have shown up in my test by the end of June anyway as I was ill in January. So I guess I really will never know!
I had planned a Harry Potter theme for my Instagram in January - help combat the January blues and all that but it couldn’t go ahead because I was too ill to shoot anything sadly and I ended up taking most of the month off Instagram. So I anyway decided that 2020 will officially begin in February - that went well!
February
I was still recovering from being so ill really but I did shoot some fun Valentines & Galentine’s content this month. I also had a trip up to London for an exciting meeting with Pinterest which was amazing - I am thinking of creating a blog post with all the tips and tricks I learnt there if that would interest you?
It still seems hard to believe that back in February I was going around London having meetings, going into cafes and getting in and out of Uber’s to be honest!
March - June
As is probably relatable to most of you March started off okay but with an increasingly ominous feeling that things were going to change soon, even though we had no idea how much! I finally started my Harry Potter theme on Instagram and we were due to go to the WB Studio Tour again mid March which I was really excited about as the last time I visited was 2018. However by the time the date came around it seemed way too risky to go anywhere so crowded so we decided to postpone and a few days later they announced they closed the tour anyway! I feel like my Harry Potter theme was still really successful though, provided me some much needed escapism so I continued it for longer than planned in the end. I will definitely be bringing back some more Harry Potter content soon!
During lockdown I tried to keep myself and my mind busy. Redecorating and reorganising my bedroom has been one big project - something I had been putting off for a while! My house plant obsession literally grew out of control and I have many new plant babies now. I’m thinking of doing a blog post showing you guys a tour and what I have changed and updated if you like?
I’ve also been listening to a lot of podcasts this year, including one from Sara Tasker called Hashtag Authentic and it’s helped completely reset my mindset on how I view my business on social media and feel a lot more positive about things going forward. I’ve become addicted to Audible (the audiobook app) as well, downloading it when I was really ill back in January because I wanted to read but I just felt too poorly to actually pick up a book! I’ve continued to use it ever since though, I just love it! I can have a book playing whilst I’m doing photography, editing photos and before bed in the evenings and it’s really relaxing. You guys can download it here if you are interested.
July & August
I enjoyed spending time out in the garden in the gorgeous weather and I probably got the best tan I ever have as well! I then had my birthday at the end of July and did a fun birthday shoot at home with a flower wall, lots of balloons and a massive pink cake, see post here. Shielding technically finished on August the 1st, although I’m still being super careful and not going anywhere crowded or indoors if I don’t have to. But I did think I’d be okay to go out to our friends café for breakfast on my birthday. She sat us by the open doors and it was really quiet and so lovely to finally get out to be honest! We then had a little garden party in the afternoon with lots more food which was really fun.
The shots in this post were taken in early August on my first photo shoot trip outside of the house since mid-March and it felt so good! This is a cornfield just round the corner from where I live.
Unfortunately August ended really sadly as I had to say goodbye to darling cat and bestest friend of 22 years, Mandy (aka The Burrowing Bean). I’m absolutely heartbroken. Having grown up together she has been with me through everything, first getting ill with my chronic illnesses at 13, greeting me every time I got home from hospital, cuddling me when I was upset and always knowing when I am in pain. I’ve felt like she was my guardian angel at times, always there looking after me. I can’t remember what life was like without her by my side but I know how lucky I was to have her and for so long as well - she was 105 in cat years! I did this blog post for her 19th birthday back in 2017 if you fancy checking out lots of cute and hilarious pictures of her and us together. Thank you to everyone who sent me a kind message through text or Instagram by the way. You’ve all been so lovely and supportive and you have no idea how much I appreciate that!
So that’s my little life update for you - congratulations if you read this until the end. I'm feeling really hopeful for positive things to come during this last third of 2020 and going forward into 2021. The world certainly needs it and I do too!
