The Big Update

 

I know that after my post a couple of months ago, you guys may be wondering why I’m yet again posting on my little corner of the Internet. As I mentioned in my previous post, I had reached a point where I was unable to juggle all of the different plates that I had spinning within my life. It was never my intention to step away from creating for this site after having a child, however priorities changed and all I wanted to be with present for my child before going back to work at the end of my maternity leave.

Now that I am back working again, my son is in childcare and loving it and I finally feel like I am on top of all of those very spinning plates, I finally feel that I have the capacity to add creating content back into my life. I hope that what you will be seeing from me will be rather different to what I used to upload. The main reason for that is because since becoming a mother, I truly feel like a different person, for the better.

As I have spoken about many times here on my site before, I did not grow up with much money. Over the course of my adult life, I have made it my mission to change this and with a lot of hard work and different career opportunities I feel like I have been able to turn that around and lead an incredibly comfortable financial life.

 

 

It wasn’t until I was debating returning to the blog in space, but I had a new opportunity to look at what I wanted to create, review what I had previously done and carve out a new path for myself. The truth is, when I began to look at what I had uploaded previously, I didn’t like the content or the tone of how I was writing. Mainly because, I think there is an incredibly fine line between speaking about the things that you love and are passionate about and gloating about your monetary accomplishment.

I feel like even though it was never my intention, some of the older posts which I’ve previously uploaded could air on the side of gloating rather than advising. From my perspective I wanted to share my experiences of the upbringing which I had and how I was able to turn things around. I can remember being the girl that would spend any spare bus change money that I had saved on a cheap copy of Vogue, cutting out the images of a Chanel flap bag and sticking it onto my vision board above my bed, never would that girl that had to eat plain pasta for tea every day, consider that she would be able to purchase these extra extraordinary luxury goods.

The reason for sharing my purchases, reviewing them has been to show that anybody can achieve these things with dedication. Nothing is out of reach, and also to give people a glimpse into a world that perhaps they’re not reaching yet, but it may be in the future for them. However, achieving that balance is difficult and the post I saw I did not particularly align with. That is why I am now seeing this opportunity as a clean slate and a new opportunity for my site.

I am going to upload a post every fortnight. Rather than sit and review specific items, in these posts I am going to share with you guys a roundup of the things that I am loving, where I am at in my life, how my career is going, updates on my little family, and anything else that I think Would be worth communicating with you guys.

And my reason for wanting to do this rather than completely step away is the time I am incredibly proud of this site and what I was able to create over the years. I think it is an incredible privilege to have a platform, and I want to continue to speak to the people that have supported me and allowed me to gain access to some fantastic opportunities throughout my career. I just hope that moving forward rather than seeing this site as a career building tool, this is going to be a place for community where I can provide you with casual updates.

 

THE BEAUTY BREAKDOWN

So, I feel like I need to start off this house by talking about beauty seen as there are that is probably the thing that brought most of view here in the first place. In truth, I really haven’t been buying that many new beauty launches. When I stepped away from reviewing new items, gone was the requirement of overspending on make-up. Instead, I have been using items in my collection that I thoroughly adore. I am talking about the likes of my Haus Labs Foundation, the MAC Full Coverage and more recently the Charlotte Tilbury Exaggereyes mascara.

I think that my next beauty purchase will probably have to be the Vieve Foundation Balm because it looks absolutely unbelievable on the skin when I stalk their social media.

 

THE FAMILY UPDATES

I cannot believe the time saying this, but in just a few short weeks my son will be turning one year old. I feel like these days it has become quite a trend to speak about how hard motherhood is and how unfulfilling it can be. They also look for things that I was told before and during my pregnancy anyway.

The reality of motherhood for me has been the most magical journey of my life-and I know that sounds incredibly cheesy but there is no better adjective to describe how the past year has been.

I think that my perspective may be slightly different because we tried for so long to get pregnant with our child and thought that it might never happen to us. I’m grateful for every single day with my baby and now that he’s walking and beginning to talk, I cannot wait for the next stage despite how chaotic it maybe.

There are certainly plans to expand our family, God willing.

 

THE DAY JOB

My standard office job with something that I wasn’t sure that I was going to mention within this post. However, the more I have thought about it, the more I realise that it plays an enormous part in my life.

For context, even though I could make a full-time career out of my freelancing opportunities, I have always really enjoyed working in an office. I am a senior leader within marketing, and I have always loved that wrong. Beyond that I love working around people, helping to fix problems and the general routine that an office can bring.

I was due to return to work in May following my maternity leave. To cut an incredibly long story short, before going on maternity leave, I had been at the same company for 13 years. I thought that in a professional sense, that I was at a comfortable position within my career timeline to have a baby and take some time off. That wasn’t exactly what happened, and I was made to feel somewhat unwelcome about returning. With that said, I decided that it was the right time to look for a new job to return to.

I got a new job that sounded great, but in reality, the company that I moved to was seriously flawed. I even reached out to somebody that they had hired previously in marketing and her advice to me was to get out and run a mile. I quit last week. Thankfully, I have a really exciting job lined up and I am starting next week – so I’ll keep you posted how that goes.

 

THE FASHION UPDATE

I wish I could say that I have reined in my spending on luxury accessories but that would be a barefaced lie. My two loves at the moment are without a doubt my Hermes Birkin 25 in Noir and my stunning Louis Vuitton Petite Malle.

However, I am also on the market for a large tote that I can use for work. When I came off my maternity leave I did treat myself to a Birkin 35, but in all honestly it isn’t that large for everything. I want one bag that can hold all of my daily bits, my work laptop, a water bottle and my lunch with ease.

I’m thinking about taking a look at a big Saint Laurent black leather bag that looks almost too large, but it would be great for me when trecking into the office.

 

THE NOVEL PROGRESS

I wrote a novel. I don’t know if I have mentioned that before here on my site, but if I haven’t, there is the official announcement.

I started out writing it to kill some time and keep my OCD mind occupied – never did I think that I would actually have a completed novel at the end of the process.

I was going to bury it within the depths of my files and leave it there, but after allowing my best friend the chance of reading it and getting to know my inner thoughts, she urged me to take it further and do something more with it.

Currently I’m working with a private book editor so that I have a perfected manuscript before going out to book agents to give me the best possible chance. If within a few months there’s no progress, I’ll take a look into self publishing, but there’s so much to do before I reach that point!

 

THE HOME RENOVATIONS

Because I quit my job last week, I have had lots of time at home. My son is still in childcare for three days per week while I am off work, mainly because he thrives in routine and if he has a week away, it makes the following week even harder and I need things to run smoothly when I start my new position. So, I am using the time that I have at home to my advantage and I have a long list of the things that I want to do, that I am unable to do with an 11-month-old clinging to my legs.

I have been painting, paneling, organising and just about everything else in between. One of the biggest changes currently is that I am dismantling my dressing room, shelf by shelf. I don’t know why, but it just felt a little narcissistic to have all of my wealth displayed on shelves in a room. Plus, if I ever get pregnant again, we’ll need that room as a bedroom. In the interim, it will just be our home office – sans shoes and bags on display.

 

THE MENTAL HEALTH REPORT

Before having my son, I was worried about how I would cope in terms of my OCD and depression. You cannot schedule things with babies in the picture and usually when my routines are thrown out of the window, my depression kickstarts.

Over the past year, I can quite honestly say that my new life has changed my mental health in a positive manner for the better. There are times when I do think that things could potentially flare up, but when I think of things in perspective to our baby being well and thriving, everything else almost drifts away into pointlessness. I am much more levelled because of him and that makes me so happy.

 

THE SOCIAL UPDATE

I wanted to mention social life in a separate area because if you have been visiting this site for some time, you may know that before getting pregnant I was forcing myself to leave the house more and live a more social life. I was doing so well and then I saw the two little lines on a pregnancy test.

Since having my baby, I have gone out a few times, but I have to admit that it really isn’t all that much. I have always said that I fill my cup by spending time at home, but now that I have my baby, which has increased tenfold. Everything that I love is at home and I don’t feel like I need or want time away. But I do know that from a social perspective, I need to nurture my friendships and get out a little more. Perhaps soon.

 

THE RECENT READS

Ok, so I have been reading loads lately. I have actually probably been reading more than I have been writing myself, but that is fine because it comes in waves. The one book that I need to talk about, or should I say series, is A Court of Thorne and Roses.

A few weeks ago, I was speaking to my friend, and we were going through our book recommendations and I happened to slip in that I had never read the ACOTAR books. If looks could kill, I would be dead. She honestly may as well have hit me in the face.

Needless to say, I read them within a week, and I am now hooked. Rhysand is my one true love. Closely followed by Cassian and Azriel. I’m consumed by the novels, as is my TikTok feed which is now a dedicated ACOTAR fan stream.

 

OTHER RAMBLES

There isn’t much else to really talk about that I haven’t mentioned above. Things definitely feel pretty up in the air at the moment and there is so much changing yet again, but I feel really positive about it. More than ever, I feel absolutely grounded, and I think that has done amazing things for my outlook in general.

 Well, I hope that catches you up on just about every single aspect of my life. I’ll be back in a few weeks, and hopefully with this post doing post of the heavy lifting, I will be able to keep it short and sweet.