We are officially on the countdown to Christmas, and I could not be more excited. Over the last couple of weeks, I have been incredibly busy and that means that generating content for my site has fallen by the wayside. However, I am happy to be back and to kick things off, I will share with you guys a monthly update.
Moving forward, I will share with you guys a post like this on the first of every month. Throughout the month, you will then see a couple of other updates in terms of fashion, beauty, and lifestyle content. As well as the odd rant and ramble about my career, motherhood and where I am in releasing my novel. Headache after headache, but hopefully you guys will find my honesty and outbursts rather entertaining.
THE HEALTH UPDATE
I do hope that this could potentially be the last health update that I have to share with you guys. I began sharing these with you a while ago when I had the lumpectomy carried out on my breast. What I’ve been waiting for is the results on the analysis of the lump which was removed. Essentially, the hospital needed to confirm to me that they had removed all of the lump, and tested the area around to ensure that a healthy border was present.
These results should have been given to me on the 10th of October, and week and week out, the hospital was ringing me to inform me that my results were not yet ready. One of the last phone calls that I received from the hospital, the receptionist informed me that never have they had never had anybody waiting so long, and it would be an educated guess on her part to assume that my sample had been lost or misplaced. Then, on one random day, I had a phone call asking if I could urgently get to the hospital as my results were in and they needed to discuss them with me face-to-face.
Naturally, I began to panic as anybody would. I went in, sweating and in a state of panic thinking that they had suddenly found this sample, and it was the worst news. It turns out that I simply wanted to get myself to tell me that all of the issues would be removed successfully and that I was being discharged from the breast clinic. All of that panic for nothing. However, I’m trying to simply look at it as the end of this scary chapter and I can move on from it.
THE BEAUTY BREAKDOWN
My beauty updates have been lacking recently and I will say that this is probably no different than the previous upload. At the moment I feel like the base product that I’m using are absolutely fantastic and I don’t think that my make-up has looked as good as this in a very long time.
Where things have changed for me recently is in terms of my skincare routine. Many times I have shared that my skincare routine has always been severely lacking. I am lazy when it comes to skincare, I get confused with the number of products of the market and quite frankly, I have no idea what is actually a benefit to my skin and could cause issues. What I have been focusing on recently, especially with the vast changing weather, is the level of hydration. I am an absolute moisturiser fiend at the moment and I feel like I am on the hunt to find the best products both of my face and body. If you do have any recommendations, make sure to leave them in the comments below and I will surely pick them up soon, add them into my rotation and try them out for myself.
THE FAMILY UPDATESÂ
I am not going to lie, I truly didn’t realise that being a parent would be quite as incredible as it is. Many times I have shared here on my side that I feel incredibly blessed that motherhood is always felt incredibly wonderful to me and I have never struggled With motherhood in general, nor with how I feel about myself as a new mother. If anything I feel like a better person for being a mother, I feel like I have a direction in life that I wouldn’t have had without becoming a mother and even in a physical sense I have never been more happy with my body because it gave him my son.
I feel like with the comments which I see other people making about motherhood, I have always been in a state of waiting for the rug to be pulled out from underneath me. Waiting for the days where it is hard and I’m struggling. Waiting for the days when I’m craving bedtime just to get a moment to myself. And don’t get me wrong, I do have days where I might share a tea or two while I am cooking at the hob because I’m so exhausted. Or I’ll have a grumble to my husband about my frustrations that he is such a fussy eater. But here we are, nearly 18 months on and I think that every day is better than the last. exhausted. Or I’ll have a grumble to my husband about my frustrations that he is such a fussy eater. Plus, I also want to add that for nearly 4 months my baby screamed every night, I was incredibly sleep deprived and things were not easy. Some people have liked to tell me that I have enjoyed the journey so much because I have an easy and happy baby, but they only know what I choose to tell them. Things have not always been smooth, nor easy. But here we are, nearly 18 months soon and I think that every day is better than the last.Â
Some people may think that we sharing that is rather irritating into some. Yes I guess it may be difficult to realise that some people do have a blissful start to motherhood, and I am deeply sorry if that has not been your experience. However, with there being such a negative narrative around motherhood, I want to share that there is also The absolute joy of it. You don’t have to be quiet about loving every single moment of it.
THE SITE UPDATE
I hope that it is very obvious to you guys that I have been slowly updated on this website. Over the past year, things have changed fastly in what this site means to me, how I want it to be moving forward and the kind of information that I want to be uploading. Because of that not only have I had to change the kind of content which I played, but the base functionality of the site also needed to change. No longer is there just a place where I can upload my rumbles freely, it is a springboard for the other areas of my career.
I hope that within the next few weeks I will have the baseline set and then it is just a case of small updates and generating new content as of when I think it is suitable. Nothing will change in terms of what you guys read and how you consume the content, What really changes is some of the base pages on the site which I hope will reach the right people. I think what some people really struggle to see is that even though you might just see a simple post on the service level, what goes into running and maintaining the site is an enormous task and it has really been taxing on my free time. I am getting there though, I feel good with where I am currently and I know that it will be something to be proud of once I feel like I am at an end stage that is then just in maintenance and update mode.
THE FASHION UPDATE
Because it has been around four weeks since my last update to you guys, it is going to seem rather excessive if I purchased this volume of products within the space of a month. However, in my defence some of these have been on order for quite some time. I hope that justification makes you all hate me slightly less.Â
The first item which I paid was a beautiful jacket from the Ralph Lauren store. For awhile I have wanted a beautiful neutral coloured jacket that I can wear with a simple pair of jeans and a white T-shirt. I had been looking around for a while for the perfect item and then when I was walking around the men’s section with my husband, I saw the kind of jacket that I was looking for. I tried it on and instantly fell in love.
The next item is a very ridiculous purchase and probably rather impulsive but I absolutely adore it. I am of course talking about an iconic Chanel 25 mini in black caviar leather with a cream Borg trim. When I saw this on the runway last year I knew that I had to own it and I began working with a personal shopper to add it to my collection. Because of that the money has been out of my account for quite some time and getting this in a month of November felt almost like a free treat… Even though I’m very much aware that it was not and so is my bank account. This has really become my winter go to handbag and I have worn it on countless occasions already.
Penultimately, I invested in a Louis Vuitton bag in November. I am now at the stage of motherhood where I no longer need to take a plethora of milk and different things with me. All I need on my person with a clean nappy, a small pack of wipes and a snack borrow too. No longer do I need an enormous bag, I need something which I can sling around myself, allowing me to be completely hands-free to capture my toddler as he runs away. This is what the bum bag allows me to do. It is a beautiful Brown Borg material with a garage LV plastered on the front. I adore it and whenever I’m out with my little guy, this is the item that I’ve been reaching for.
Lastly, and this is where you all may want to throw rocks at me. I purchased another Chanel 25. This time it is in the small size, and in the stunning brown suede which is taken the Internet by storm. When I first began seeing people carry the stunning version, it had to be mine. I rang myself assistant almost instantly and she admitted that she had been filled in hundreds of requests for the same item and they were in very short supply. However, luckily their store obtaining stock coincided perfectly with my work trip to London and I was able to get the train down, taking a lovely trip into the store and walk away with this item. At the moment, it is essentially sat on a pedestal and I am too scared to wear the suede outside until I fully protect it from the elements. To say that I am happy with this purchase it would be a vast understatement.
THE NOVEL PROGRESS
At the moment, I feel like I cannot really share the full updates of which I want to share. When conversations and negotiations have been hard, you have to keep things close to your chest and not lay everything out so openly. However, you guys know me, one day I will share everything about the discussions for are currently happening. Things are exciting, though. I am feeling good about where I am, and it is the first time that I am truly beginning to believe that I have a chance at developing these novels, which were once a hobby and something to soothe my OCD brain, into a long-term career. One that I do, get to be creative in and spend my days tapping away on my laptop like a maniac as my overactive imagination and away with itself.
However, I am trying not to get too ahead of myself. We all know how J. K. Rowling was rejected an unbelievable amount of times with Harry Potter, so why in a world that is packed with an abundance of romcom kind of novels wouldn’t mind be picked up by a publishing house? At this stage, I am just keeping everything crossed, doing what I’m told and trying to go into these discussions with defiance for what I think I deserve and want, but also trying to grab the opportunity.
THE HOME RENOVATIONSÂ
I am going to state that my husband is a blocker to me updating and renovating our home. He has always allowed me to do whatever I like with our home; however, he has put his foot down and said that some of the next changes which I want to make are completely unnecessary. Sadly, I have to agree with him.
Our house is absolutely wonderful. And whenever we have people come to visit us, they agree, and that is a truly wonderful feeling. As I am a huge fan of interior design, and I want to ensure that my home always feels beautiful and welcoming at the same time, that means that I often want to change things which have not long since been updated. Changing things so regularly is obviously an expense, and one that we do not need to make at this time. I need to learn to be happy with how our home is currently and not constantly see something new on Pinterest and instantly try to implement it into a corner of our property.
The only thing which I think we are in agreement about is that our small home office needs an update. It used to be used primarily as my dressing room, and I had shelves in the bookcases all around the perimeter of the room. However, when my husband needed a more dedicated home office, I sacrificed my space, got rid of my shelves, and we purchased a desk that he can work out of comfortably. Because the walls have previously always been covered, it is now an empty shell of a room, and even though it probably killed him to admit it, compared to the rest of our stunning house, it doesn’t really fit the bill
THE MUSIC REPORT
I’m one of those incredibly annoying people who can’t listen to the same song over and over again, and I will never tire of it. I know that it absolutely drives my husband insane, but listening to a song that I love once or twice is not going to scratch the edge. I can listen to the same song 60 times per day and still want to put it on again. The songs that I’m going to share with you now, some of them are new, some of them are old, but all of them I have been loving and consuming like they are going to be pulled from my Spotify, and I will never hear them again.
The first one is by Ella Langley, and it is called Choosin’ Texas. There is not much more for me to really say other than that this is an absolute iconic song that I think will become one of the favourites that I listen to for many years to come. I can remember years ago when I first really got into listening to country music, and I made a comment about how I didn’t particularly enjoy female country singers, and I naturally found myself listening to male artists. That has now completely changed. I feel like over the past few years, female country singers are really having their moment,and it is amazing songs like this that really solidify that female country artists deserve a space up amongst some of those iconic male singers that have dominated the space for far too many years.Â
Ok, so next is Die For You by The Weeknd and Ariana Grande. I am not sure when this song was initially released, but it came on one of my daily mixes on Spotify a while ago, and I questioned why I hadn’t heard it before. At the moment, I am really going through a period of loving deeper, and quite sultry-sounding music, and I feel like this song perfectly fits the bill. For the last few days, I have found myself with this song on repeat every time I listen to it. I find something new that I adore about him. The main thing that entices me to a song like this as I thoroughly enjoy the juxtaposition between the deep male voice and the feminine tones that the female brings to the song.
Lastly, it is Turn This Truck Around by Jordan Davis. If you guys have visited the site sometime, then you will know that I adore this artist. I saw him last year when I was heavily pregnant and I looked every single minute of throwing myself around that room having an amazing time, despite the fact that i could have gone into labour at any minute. I think I love about this song is that it is about a man yearning for a woman, and we all know how much I love that, both in novels and in songs. I just love his tone throughout this song, and that is why I have had it on repeat.
THE MENTAL HEALTH REPORT
I will say that over the past month, it is the first time in a good while that I have felt the itching of my mental health bothering me. I have been incredibly blessed that even with all of the change happening this year, I have not fallen into a negative space. For those of you who may also struggle with your mental health, I do want to say that with every dark period that I have gotten through, I feel like my resilience increases tenfold, and that means that I can fight against the next attack, as someone may call it.
I think that perhaps my wobble recently has been down to the fact that I have got so much on my plate. Whereas other people may see it simply as an increase in my stress levels, I’m very tuned with my stress levels, my mental health and how easily I can fall into a depression. I certainly don’t feel like I am on the pathway at the moment but it is something that I am consciously keeping an eye on.
THE SOCIAL UPDATE
My social life is pretty much in the toilet at this stage. I do have a few things planned with my friends over the festive period, but up until now, I’ve hardly left the house. Thankfully, my friends and I are all in a very similar position in our lives. And for some more than others, Christmas is a difficult period to find the spare funds to go out and frivolously spend on drinks and food.
I do have a few great things time looking forward to. Both with my lovely little family, my colleagues that I’ve been working with now for over six months and my wonderful friends that I don’t get to see often enough. Even though I am not particularly good at leaving my son, I am looking forward to some adult conversation and a few good drinks with the people that I care about.
THE RECENT READS
I am not going to lie, I have been struggling ever so slightly when it comes to reading. I am not sure if that is simply because I have been struggling to find a time to sit down and simply enjoy a good book. Either that, or the books that I’ve been reading simply haven’t captured my attention. Over the years, I have learnt that I am not the kind of person who can set aside a novel if it isn’t capturing my full attention; instead, I will persevere with it, and it will take me an incredibly long time to close the book.
I recently read The Pumpkin Spice Cafe, which seems to be a cult classic amongst people who seem to enjoy the same genre of novels, which I do. However, I found the book just slightly too ‘nice’ for me. I thought that in reading this novel, it would be an opening of the gateway to the entire series; however, I’m not sure, based on this first one, if I want to commit to reading the entire series. I will keep you posted.
The other book that I have been reading recently is Consider Me by Becka Mack. I will admit that I thoroughly enjoyed the yearning throughout this novel, and I love the confidence and cockiness of the MMC. However, I feel like I’m not getting anywhere with this book. I feel like some of it is just fluff for the sake of fleshing out a book. That might be a rather harsh analysis, but I feel like up to this point, I have read quite a lot that isn’t adding any substance to the actual narrative of the story. And ask somebody who believes that they can read pretty quickly, I am still at 80% and I have been chipping away at it for almost an entire week.
OTHER RAMBLES
I really don’t have much else to say. One thing that is constantly on my mind at the moment is ensuring that, as we move ahead, we start to save slowly throughout the year for Christmas. My son will be almost 18 months old this Christmas, so he is much more aware of what is happening, and because of that, we have naturally gone overboard with the number of presents that we have bought him. And I assume that will only increase as he gets older. This has been a lesson to me that we need to think pragmatically about how we can ensure that we are not going overboard and that we have money set aside for this expensive period of the year.
I would love to hear from you guys below about how you budget and save for the Christmas period.
