Well that's it, over, done, Looby went off to school on her own on the bus for the very first time, I'm not sure given Looby's track record of getting the bus home from school and occasionally ending up in strange places that I am entirely happy with it but with Abigail living in Cramlington now school is very much not on the way!  It does also mean that she's now getting herself up in the morning, going out and I didn't even get woken up, great for me who hates mornings but that same time, it's one of those moments when you realise just how grown up your kids are.

So now for the first time in what seems like months my house is quiet, the low level hum of children playing in the streets is no more and starting the day with a bowl of porridge with just a squeeze of fresh honey, I felt the change in the seasons.  It's also nearly 30c in my back garden currently so I feel we're a long way off winter woollens but if you look beneath some trees there are signs that autumn will soon be here.

Yesterday I sold out all of my sessions on 3 separate weekend dates in October, this year a last minute session does not at all seem possible, I would advise you now to book your Autumn or Christmas card photo shoot right now, it's better to book your session now and get a date in the diary than it is to be disappointed.

These next few weeks are about planning for new projects, collaborating with new brands and catching up, a lot of catching up, I have the most adorable mug of Holly sent to me by Joy who runs Have A Bru I just need time to get it out of it's protective shell and photograph it, I have some gorgeous flowers arriving from one of my lovely clients and the most fabulous autumn coat from another, all just waiting to be showcased and one thing I'm planning this year, instead of a series of gift articles I am going to produce my very first PDF gift guide which will be available for download from October, I'm still looking for more companies to collaborate with on this so if you have a great product or experience you would like to exchange for photos, articles and a page in my gift guide get in touch

September is a difficult month for me, too many demons and memories of Septembers past combined with the blues of the return to normality after an amazing summer I'll never forget but I know all I have to do is plan some great new things to look forward to and after reading Laura's blog this morning I know I'll be adding a little more Hygge (pronounced Hoo-ga) to my home this year, I've already ordered a book called The Cozy Life, rediscover the joy of simple things through the Danish concept of Hygge, I'm actually pretty good at creating cosiness and spend most of my summer hiding in my cool bedroom because my living room is too hot but I'm back in the living room this morning planning a space for a new desk as well as a Hygge corner for relaxing, reading and chilling as well as taking the decision that I am going to take Mondays and Tuesdays off work from next week because I work every weekend, nothing ever happens on a Monday anyway and I'm always exhausted, it really feels a bit alien to take two days off a week after it took me 7 years to just take one but like the Danish it's time to get my work/life balance back and I know it may seem like I'm always going places and doing things but it's just work in other words and a 30 hour week seems like a good plan to me, maybe I am destined to be Danish one day!

Iain was 20 yesterday and Looby will be 13 in 18 days, my children will be 13, 14 and 20, no longer small and dependent on mum, all independent, spirited feisty fully grown young people in their own rights, time I think to not just plan for autumn but for the future, short and long term, lots of changes and maybe some times of turbulence but all for the best, a couple of huge decisions I've yet to make and I am currently sleeping on waiting for signs from the universe, once I know the paths I have to take you can be sure I'll write it here.

So I hope that this first week of quietness after the summer hullabaloo isn't too awful for we know that in just six or seven weeks we'll all be reunited again for half term and for the first time I am planning to work at the weekends of half term and then I'll be going away and doing something fun on the weekdays because life is too short to not have fun dear reader, now go and plan your next adventures

10 reasons to love February

Follow my blog with Bloglovin

Last month I wrote my 10 reasons to love January list and I thought I would continue it as a monthly series, I can't believe it's February, for me it's the real start of the year, if I'm honest, nothing really happens in January, I'm too busy hiding away from the dark and cold and winter but February sees the return of light in the mornings and the evenings once again begin to stretch their light filled arms embracing us with just a tease of a cuddle that spring is somewhere waiting around the corner. Here's my 10 definitive reasons to love February...

1. If January is a month of beginnings the theme of February has to be about love, now it may not be that you are in a relationship but this doesn't have to mean that you don't have love in your life, in February it's great to remind yourself just how much you love and are loved, what form that takes and who it's with is entirely up to you but I for one have never felt as loved in my life as I have since I adopted Holly Bobbins, my crazy beagle companion never fails to give the best cuddles and as she nestles her head in my lap I know that she's telling me just how much she loves me.
2. Whilst we're on the theme of love why don't we all send a valentines card this year, just as gifting should always be about the giving and not the receiving why not send a card to a friend or child or even your pet telling them just how much you love them and how important they are to you. It doesn't have to be a full on declaration of love but it's always likely to make them smile.
3. If you are of course loved up and in a relationship don't forget that it's the 29th of February this year, this day in fable and legend means for one day only ladies everywhere get the choice to propose to their beaus and should they refuse (how very dare they?) they must buy them 4 dresses, now I'm not one for collecting dresses but it's a good excuse to update your wardrobe!
4. As we return to lighter days and nights it's a great opportunity to start welcoming in spring. My console table in my hallway gets more springlike every week as the seasons start to change and the availability of spring flowers becomes more readily available.  You don't have to spend excessive amounts on floral treats though, I find that even Lidl and Aldi have a great assortment of fresh flowers which change on a weekly basis, I've just taken out a subscription to Bloom and Wild, a monthly box of flowers I get to have a faff with, that alone makes me feel joyous.
5. Have you noticed that the shops are full of heart shapes?  Someone once told me that if they could put a name to my decorating style it would be love and it's true, I have hearts everywhere and little signs with cute quotes which make me happy so it's always a great excuse to pick up new heart shaped delights.
6. February weather on a good day can be sunny and lovely and it's great month to get outdoors, to feel some sunshine on your face, to go an extra mile or to walk somewhere you've never been before, go search for snowdrops or early daffodils, finding outdoor patches of loveliness is a great way to warm the soul.
7. Whilst there are days of spring and warmth and sunshine February is the month we are most likely to have snow days so if those magical snowflakes do start to fall get out there, build snowmen, drink hot chocolate and embrace the joy of winter whilst it lasts.
8. February I find is the last month for a while that I'll feel like burning candles, it's a funny thing but I've noticed I rarely burn candles between March - September but during Autumn and Winter I adore the soft warm light and the heady scent of loveliness that you only get from a candle.
9. The light in February whilst still quite low has a lovely soft glow perfect for photography so what are you waiting for pull on those wooly jumpers and book yourself a family photo shoot, it's the quieter lull of my year so you might not have to wait 3 months for a weekend date, Indoor sessions are cosy and intimate, outdoor sessions lead to rosy cheeks and sunny smiles so to book your session just drop me an email and we'll set that up!
10. I don't know about you but February makes me want to get more organised, this week I've just treat myself to Spark Joy, An Illustrated Guide to the Japanese Art of Tidying and I'm hoping it's going to change my life, it's a really pretty hard backed book I know that and even holding it makes me feel better, it promises to revolutionise my life and that's not a bad thing!

Christmas decorating with The Flower Studio

When I stepped off the plane on Sunday night and stepped through my kitchen door there was a large parcel waiting for me teasing with expectation, inside a beautiful red box containing a gorgeous table centre from The Flower Studio, it was exactly what I needed to make sure I didn't have post travel blue and by Monday morning I had thrown myself into Christmas decorating with aplomb.

I adore Christmas and I love to have my house looking as festive as possible but there never seems to be just the right decoration in the middle of the table, but the hot chilli festive candle table centre is just perfect, it's quirky (I never would have thought of chillies at Christmas) and different and I had the idea to add some sparkly beady Christmas lights underneath for a little extra sparkle, you know me by now, you can never have enough sparkle.  It's just perfect and looks lovely on my festive table, my kitchen tends to be the coolest place in my house due to no central heating in there so I have no doubt that this is going to last through the festive season.

When you buy it it comes without candles but that's perfect as you can add your own to compliment your festive colour scheme, I think it would look perfect with red candles as it would bring out the colour in the chillies.  I also love the smell of the fresh pine, I always feel a little wistful that I can't have a real tree because of too many animals but this is perfect and it definitely has that fragrance that signifies that the Christmas season is most definitely upon us.

All around my house Christmas has started to appear, we replaced our silver pop up tree in the kitchen with a beautiful illuminated twig tree complete with winter berries, I just need to find a few birds to sit on the branches and it will be complete.

Our upstairs tree has also been replaced this year, I adore it, it's the closest to a real tree I think you can get and it's filled with decorations I've bought over the years, some have travelled from afar whilst some were picked up from local shops, I even picked up a bauble in Palma de Mallorca on Saturday

I love Christmas, in fact I think I'm probably the queen of Christmas though this year I've actually denied the coming of the festive season until I got home from my european trip so now I'm kind of on catch up and it's good I suppose as I don't feel that I've peaked too early, I am though now starting to have a bit of a panic because other than picking up presents whilst I was away I haven't really started my Christmas shopping and I've just looked at my work calendar for the next few weeks, lets just say I am super thankful for Amazon and their special deals every 10 minutes I picked up lots of bargains yesterday and now all I need to do is wait for them to arrive and then find a helpful elf to wrap them up.

Christmas this year of course is open house at my house, if you don't have anyone to be with this Christmas Day or Boxing Day, rather than being on your own or just alone at home with your kids if you are a single parent you can come to our house and feast on festive goodies, just send me an email and as long as you're not a serial killer then you are absolutely welcome to come and join what I hope will be a houseful of jolly old elves and animals, friends new and old, we'll celebrate together, bring a bottle or a festive dish if you can but if you can't don't worry, I will make sure there's something for everyone.  Christmas shouldn't be lonely but for some it sadly is and whilst I'm only one woman and can't save the world I do feel this time more than any other is the time for being with people so please don't let pride stand it the way, get in the car and I'll be waiting with open arms with a glass of non alcoholic mulled wine (or alcoholic if you're not driving) and together we'll all have the best Christmas ever.

When do we begin again?

It's October tomorrow, the month of glorious leaf fall, bright happy colours and sometimes, just sometimes warm woollen mittens although I must admit that warm woollen mittens do not go well with camera holding so I mainly end up in pointless fingerless gloves which must have been designed by masochists, fingerless gloves have so much promise without any actual point, they're gloves but you still have (or at least in my case) blue numb fingers, yes it's no surprise then that winter isn't my most favourite season.

I've been on my own now, a forty something singleton for over a year and I must admit that although I love my sparkly happy life and I'm grateful for each and every friendship I do miss kisses, hugs and someone to cuddle into on a cold winters evening, I do of course have Holly the Beagle but she's entirely rubbish at political debate.

Last night whilst pondering this and conversing with one of my loveliest friends we mused that when we are old and grey we'll call each other every day just to make sure we haven't died and we aren't currently having our faces eaten off by our cats!

I definitely know now that I don't want to be on my own for the rest of my life and more increasingly of late I've been wondering just when do we begin again.  I have this wonderful friend who's marriage ended just a few months earlier than mine and last week came the news that she and her new beau are to live together, it's so amazing that she's found the happiness that she so deserves and all this whilst I haven't even had one meaningful conversation with another member of the opposite sex in all that time.

I'm a bouncer back, I don't like to be sad for too long, I won't let myself be sad for too long, it's not good or healthy but I can't help but have the occasional pang of loneliness, I watch way too many rom coms, one quick look at the list on Sky Movies is enough to tell me that, there are not many I haven't seen.  last night I watched Man Up, a Simon Pegg rom com about a couple who accidentally end up on a blind date together, well sort of, it's a bit more complicated than that but I really recommend it in fact I cried at the end as I always do because I realise every time that's what I want, I want movie love and for anyone who says that never happens in real life well I would have to disagree, I've had it before and I know that I can have it again, well barring the fact that I am somewhat older now, actually lets not say older, lets just say wiser and much more experienced!

I hope one day it will happen to me, I'm certainly not going to force anything, internet dating fills me with dread and fear so I am leaving it to fate and the universe and I know it'll organically happen, I just hope it's before I die a lonely death and have my face eaten by my cat!

Don't be lonely this Christmas, come to our house!

Apologies for not blogging yesterday but between work and this sweet little face all of my time is taken up right now.

She's just so blooming adorable and I'm totally in love!

So I was lying half awake this morning worrying about Christmas again, I worry a lot dear reader, my daughters inform me that they will be away from Boxing day until late on the 27th and as Iain is getting new games for his PS4 it's unlikely he'll be coming down stairs very often so there's just a chance that I might be a bit blue, obviously I'll have Holly but it would also be lovely to have some company or have something planned to do and I'm wondering if maybe you're reading this and feeling the same, well my message to you is don't be lonely at Christmas, get in touch and lets do something, even if it's just coming around here and drinking copious amounts of Hestons Mulled Cider.  I'd also like to extend that invitation to Christmas day, if you are going to be on your own, why not get in touch and come here, the more the merrier in my opinion and no one, and I do mean no one should be lonely at Christmas or indeed that whole 2 week holiday period, I literally have no plans for the whole of the 2 week period and I love seeing people, kids, animals so lets do stuff!  Now obviously if you are a serial killer I might not be able to accommodate you but lots of regular readers of this blog I already know so if you're one of them and you might have moments of loneliness during the festive period just get in touch and we'll try to make this Christmas the best one ever.

I'm off to the beach this morning for 4 very chilly photo shoots, I'm thinking there aren't enough thermals in the world for being out there for 2.5 hours today dear reader but someone has to do it and tomorrow I have 6 back to back outdoor photo shoots in Saltwell Park, luckily it's supposed to be a tad warmer tommorrow.  Monday I have another 2 photo shoots and then next weekend I am out on Saturday for my final day of photo shoots and then it's a gradual downhill slide into Christmas, I have my shopping deliveries booked for next week, Christmas and the New Year, quite frankly I have never been quite so organised.

What I want to do now is make enough money to secure the time off without worry, a few more gifts on the wish lists for my children and some of my wish list for me, mainly books which should keep me entertained for the 2 weeks I'm off.  It's funny really, I've always worked on the middle weekend but I found that I just never really relax when I only have a few days off so this week 2 whole weeks and hopefully I will be as relaxed as I was when we went to Gran Canaria.

Whatever you are doing this festive weekend I hope you have the most amazing festive spectacular filled with wonder and magic, send me some warm thoughts!

Fairy Godmothers, Book bargains and emergency cuddly paws

Wednesday again dear reader, it snuck up upon me like the cheeky little midweek thing that it is, when my alarm went off this morning I could quite happily have switched it off and gone back to sleep, the dark months are coming!

My wonderful cleaner from spark plus services came yesterday and 4 hours later my house looked like it had been magicked by Fairy Godmothers, we could lie on the kitchen floor and eat our dinner from it if we wanted to, that's how clean it is!  I of course don't recommend eating your dinner from the kitchen floor!

Mandys Christmas Bargain - yes it's that day of the week again and this week it's all for the book lovers, until 5th December you can get 3 books for £10 from Amazon, 3 whole books, that's a whole lot of lovely smelling paper, they have adult books and kids books, a really great selection and if you're like me and love something bargainous, that's 3 more Christmas presents sorted and it's not even the middle of November yet!

I had an emergency cuddle from these paws yesterday, lovely to see Sid again and he's a great tonic to the loneliness of being without a dog and only having 2 cats.

Hopefully the loneliness is only temporary and we'll have some new paws to cuddle soon, we're actually just waiting for the home check from the Beagle Welfare association and then we'll hopefully be able to rescue a beagle who needs a new chance in life, we have all of the equipment needed already so it's just a waiting game and we must remain patient, it's not my strong point dear reader but I'll give it a go!

On the work and business front it's my Christmas shopping weekend this weekend with lots of discounts, giveaways and all kinds of fun on both mandycharlton.com and also Philomena's Boutique, i'll have more news on that over the next couple of days but if you want to be the first to know then you need to be on my lovely mailing list so just click on that link, sign up and you'll be the first to know, you have to wait patiently next to your email box on Thursday at 5pm and then all will be revealed.

And that's all for today dear reader, i'm still a bit battered and bruised because of the events of the last week but I'm trying to be positive every day in many, many ways so go forth and make sure your Wednesday is a wonderful thing.