October may just be my favourite month of the year. I have already switched my wreath out on the front door to something more autumnal, and I have begun making my list of what Christmas presents are needed for what people. To me, the beginning of October is the official countdown to Christmas, and even though that may annoy some people, it brings me so much joy that I don’t even care. We are now in the thick of the ‘ber’ months and I could not be happier about the darker evenings, the cosy vibes and getting to finally layer up under knitwear and chic coats!
THE HEALTH UPDATE
This post is going live on the 1st of October. On the 2nd of October, I am having the operation to remove the portion of bad tissue within my breast. At the moment, I am pretty unsure about how much will be removed as in testing, they were unable to see the full extent of the issue. All I have been told is that my breast stands to look rather abnormal following my surgery. However, as long as this is not cancer, I couldn’t care less. All I want is for the surgery to be done, for me to heal and to move past this period. I can only hope that the past few months do not make my health anxiety worse. As women, our breasts go through enormous changes as we go through our cycle. I am rather worried that during these hormonal times, I will panic when I feel subtle changes in my breasts. At this stage I am focusing on positivity. I’m just getting through my surgery.
In other news, I spent the past weekend in the hospital with an inflamed gallbladder. I have had a slight abdominal pain in a specific area over the past year. Most of the time, this pain will occur when I’m in bed at night and by the time I wake up in the morning it has gone. However, this past weekend, the pain was there, it was persistent and it was excruciating. Even to the degree that I would say that it was more painful than my recovery from my C-section. I am under restricted advice to begin monitoring what foods I am eating and what could be causing issues within my gallbladder. My diet is generally incredibly clean and treat foods are not something that we tend to have in a house. However, I am having to look at trends to determine what may be causing this and if it is a specific food, perhaps or even a food that is cooked in a specific manner that is causing my issues.
THE BEAUTY BREAKDOWN
For my beauty update this time, I want to speak about something different from traditional makeup products and skincare, which I have shared previously; however, this time I want to have a chat about supplements.
Turning 31 is a huge privilege; ageing is a blessing. However, I do not want to look old before my time. Thankfully, I do not have fine lines yet, and when I started my new job a couple of months ago, I was asked by multiple members of staff how I reached my working level at such a young age – little did they know I was a 30-year-old mother. It was a huge compliment.Â
IÂ admit that I feel very lucky to get away with my skin being as youthful as it is. I am rubbish with a regimented skincare routine, I used to sleep in my makeup and I am from the age of people who used to hairspray their skin to lock in their makeup, long before setting sprays were readily available. But I will say that I kind of think that my line-free complexion is due to always wearing heavy makeup and becoming disciplined in never touching my face throughout the day!
With all of that said, I am thinking more about ensuring that my skin stays as good as it possibly can, for as long as possible. Aside from injectables, my mind has been transfixed on supplements. The two that I want to add to my rotation are Biotin and Collagen.Â
Biotin is a fairly simple one, and I have taken it on and off over the years. However, collagen is the one that is puzzling me at the moment. I feel like collagen has become quite the buzzword at the moment, and it is being pushed like a must-have item in order to have a youthful complexion, but it is bloody expensive. A month’s supply is almost £70, and if you are going to take that, day in and day out for the end of time, you will need another job to support the habit. But then, when you look into there seems to be very little clinical data which shows that taking collagen daily actually makes a difference. It is one of those things that you need to stick at it and hope that when you are 60 years old, you look as youthful as a teenager, but as of yet, there is very little data to support.Â
I am going to keep digging into this, but I would love to hear from you guys and know if you have taken collagen and what you thought.Â
THE FAMILY UPDATESÂ
The only word that I am going to say for the family update is teething. Any parent of a toddler will sympathise with me and the current stage that we are going through.
My son has always been a very happy little guy, but sweet Jesus, has that little man struggled when it comes to his gums and teeth. For the past week, he has pretty much moaned and groaned endlessly because of his teeth, and the thing is, you can’t even see any new ones beginning to cut through. He’s going through all of this and isn’t even going to get a new tooth to show off for all of the pain. Because of that, his sleep has been knocked off, he’s struggled with his food and we are having to revert him back to having multiple bottles each day just to ensure that he has a full stomach. It’s hard, but as with everything parenting, it is just a short stage and within a few weeks, we’ll be in a completely different stage once again.Â
THE BLOGGING UPDATE
If you guys have been around for a while, you will know that I have been sharing content on this site others for over 50% of my life. I love having somewhere to sit down, write and share my thoughts. I have just been incredibly fortunate that over the years, I have gathered an audience that seems to enjoy my ramblings.
That is why I want to share that over the coming weeks, my site is expected to change so slightly. At the moment, when you look at my site, it primarily looks like a blog, which is going to be changing. If I want writing, creating and freelancing to be my primary focus moving forward, I need this site to change. Working in marketing as my full-time gig, I know that how we are perceived all comes down to brand, and this is essentially positioning myself, my work, and what I create as a brand and this site needs to reflect that.
My new site will have a blog section where we can talk and interact. I will still upload my regular crap and share reviews endlessly, but the outward appearance of my site is going to change. Hopefully, it will still be aesthetic and be somewhere that people enjoy coming back to, but perhaps just a slightly more polished version that represents me better for this new stage of life that I am entering. Â
THE DAY JOB
My day job is still going absolutely fantastically. Hopefully, these updates will remain short and sweet as I continue to settle in, feel at home and learn more about the role. But there is definitely something niggling at the back of my mind where I am worried that the rug is going to be pulled out from under my feet and it will have all been too good to be true. I think I certainly have some hangups reciting in my head from previous companies, even though my new company has not shown any sign of being toxic like some of my previous management, there is something quite unsettled inside me, wondering why this is so good and what I need to worry about in the future.
Something that was quite sad a couple of weeks ago was when I was talking to a friend. We were just chatting through work, and I told her how much I loved the people there. In the next breath, I was talking about when I’m ready to move on from workplace and go somewhere else. She immediately stopped me and asked why I was already thinking about moving on somewhere else. The truth is that I currently have no intention of moving on from this company. They have great values and a fantastic team. I think that thought came from my previous employers and how they made me feel. My longevity and dedication didn’t gain me anything positive so there is a part in my head now that only sees benefits in flitting and moving on from companies.
I have no intention of moving up I am perfectly happy where I am, and I hope I can work on the part of my head that is quite clearly holding some trauma from what I went through as the company that I was with for the vast majority of my career and the stepping stone that I briefly stopped her before taking on this position.
THE FASHION UPDATE
I think that this may be the most minimal fashion update that I’m going to share with you guys, but I have not added anything new to my closet in the past few weeks. I repeat, I have not added anything new to my closet in the past few weeks.
If anything, I feel like I am really beginning to tape down the number of clothes that I own. Granted, I am not extending that to my shoes or handbag collection, that continues to grow at a ridiculously unhealthy rate. I have been working on my actual clothes.Â
For a long time, I have been an enormous fan of browsing your High Street shops on an app buying everything that I think could work for me and a mask and enormous collection of clothes that ultimately go unworn. I would say, that beginning to edit down my wardrobe came when I lost such a amount of weight and majority of my clothes no longer fit me. There was a time during one of these clear out that I looked at a pile of clothes that were going into a charity shop and I had to wonder why I needed four different black crewneck jumpers. It was a common theme throughout my wardrobe. All of the items which I did. Fell into my classic style and capsule wardrobe intention, however, I just seem to buy those key items on mass.
For every item in my closet, I seriously think if it still has a place and if I’m going to be reaching for it, if it is good quality or if it has seen better days, if it fits me well and suits my style and finally, if I have multiples of the same item. Now the time in a better place with my closet I am thinking consciously about where I buy my clothes from the longevity of the items and how many different looks a certain piece can contribute to.
I feel like it is part of growing up getting to this stage. Many of us that are in our early 30s now went through a vast period of over consumerism. We were handed amazing tools such as the Internet, smart phones and on demand fashion through social media and buying apps. It feels like we are all reaching this stage where more is not necessarily good and it feels fantastic to be on the same page with so many other women in this movement.Â
I do just want to reiterate that this is solely for my clothes, never for my handbags and shoes. Those collections are going to grow tenfold.
THE NOVEL PROGRESS
I am happy to say that for the first time in a very long time I feel like I’m making some headway with my debut novel. Something which is a common theme in my life is how ahead of myself I get. When I initially fell in love with writing, I penned my first book with a matter of weeks. The ideas were flowing and I had an absolutely fantastic time getting the story out of my head and into something tangible that could be read. However, that wasn’t good enough for me. Before I knew it, I had a mostly completed manuscript and I was already looking ahead to watch series as I could create and how I could make 12 novels within the space of the year. That is the wrong thing to do.
I am now taking a look at my debut novel like tears my only intention within the literary world. Looking ahead too much will only slow me down and hold my plans. One step at a time and with that mindset I feel like I am truly going to get somewhere. Also, the realisation and mindset that this is the career path that I want to go down has helped guide me and keep me disciplined when the last thing I want to do of an evening is sit and edit.
THE HOME RENOVATIONSÂ
One word to describe my house renovations is slow. I used to love getting to spend some time on my house and renewing a space. Nowadays, I have to fit that in around working full-time, working freelance and spending time with my son. I paint during naptime, wallpaper when he’s at nursery and try to decorate spaces when he falls asleep at night.Â
Also, I have realised that I am quite a chaotic decorator. I have started small projects in different rooms of the house simultaneously. For my mental clarity, I should have focused on one room, got it to a stage of completion and then moved on to another. But because I need to be 1000 miles an hour, I have started all of these small projects, meaning that there are a lot of unfinished areas around my house that are driving me up the wall.
THE MUSIC REPORT
For the first time, I want to talk to you guys about music. Music is incredible for me. It sets my mood, it perks me up when I need it and can take me to a specific moment in time. Each time I write this update, I will share with you what I’m loving at the moment and why.
Starting with the incredible Sabrina Carpenter. I have never particularly been a pop music kind of girl. Of course, with the exception of Taylor Swift. And that is actually where my introduction to Sabrina Carpenter began, due to the Eras tour. I am not going to lie, I wasn’t always an enormous fan of Sabrina Carpenter. But I do have to admit that her new album has got me in a chokehold. I adore that to most people, particularly the straight man, his songs sound promiscuous and cheeky. But if you listen to the words, they are feminist statements and all about strong women. I am absolutely obsessed.
THE MENTAL HEALTH REPORT
If you happen to scroll back on my site, you’ll see endless mental health reports where I am struggling. I know that I’m incredibly fortunate that this is the case, but after having my son I feel like the mental clarity I gained was life-changing. At times, I do wonder if my mental health and physical health issues have swapped over. Whereas I used to have incredible physical health and terrible mental health, since having my son and since turning 30, that seems to have been flipped on its head. Here is hoping that over the next few weeks, I will be able to bring that back into line also.
THE SOCIAL UPDATE
Once again, do not ask me if I have tried to get out of the house. The answer is no. I mentioned to my last post that it is incredibly difficult for me to get together with my friends. We speak all the time but getting together seems to be a logistical nightmare. We have tried to make some plans for the next few weeks, but with my upcoming surgery, everything has a question mark after it at the moment. However, a couple of days ago I did turn 31 years old, and I am planning a nice family meal with my nearest and dearest soon.
THE RECENT READS
I wish I could say that I’ve been reading a lot of books recently. However, that would be lying. I was stuck on the book Summer In The City by Alex Aster for far too long.I don’t know if I struggled with the book because it didn’t particularly grip me from the beginning. Plus, I did feel like it was incredibly straightforward and predictable from the beginning. Or it could have been the fact that it was a physical book and I, without a doubt read quicker on my phone or Kindle.
The next thing that I then moved onto was the new release from Elsie Silver, Wild Card. You guys should know by now that I love her books, and she could literally release trash and I would probably read and love it. I think that it actually might be my favourite from the Rose Hill series because the yearning and taboo were just delicious!
OTHER RAMBLES
I think, after talking to you guys for so long, there really isn’t much left to say. I hope that you guys are enjoying these posts where I bring everything together for you. In the coming weeks, I may see if I can bring some of the exciting reviews back to my site that we want all connected over. But I am warning you, do not hold your breath.
