I awoke with a start this morning, a knock on the door, only when I ran down to answer it in my half sleep, half awake state there was no one there, once again my dreams predicted a delivery that wasn't quite ready in the real world.

I haven't blogged for a few days, I've had a blogging rest and then there's also the fact that I'm very much sitting here typing somewhat encumbered by the dressings on my left hand, I had a bit of a disagreement with a Jamón knife yesterday leading to 2 hours in the walk-in centre, and a bit of a blue peter repair of sticking me back together, I have to go back again tomorrow for clean dressings and my usually Flash like fingers are typing at a much slower, more fat-fingered pace than usual. 

Whilst I looked on enviously when everyone finished work and school earlier than us, I'm now smiling smugly that the girls aren't back to school until Monday and so I'm actually going to get to spend some time with my gorgeous daughters this week, the very festive and social Miss Charlton's have been so busy that I've seen them less than when they are at school, we shall be binge watching Harry Potter today to make up for it.

Yesterday, though, I was grateful for Looby and the first aid skills I didn't even know she possessed, after trying plasters which just laughed at my bloody lacerations she fashioned some dressings from our now much depleted first aid kit and waved me off to the walk-in centre, I'm also grateful that the battery on the iPhone7 Plus is stupendous, I never have to worry about running out of charge during the day now, I used it solidly to pass the time whilst I waited to be stuck back together.  One other joyful thing I'm super grateful for is Mr France and his hilarious silly humour getting me through the two-hour wait with much laughter, medical centres are lonely miserable places to sit and wait in, especially on bank holidays when everyone seems to be ill or having accidents, I felt dreadful for wasting time but the nurse was so lovely and confirmed that it wasn't something I could have dealt with at home, on my own, without glue and strips and dressings so another thing I am definitely grateful is the fact that in our country we still have the NHS and walk-in centres a short walk away on busy bank holiday afternoons.

I've practised gratitude for several years now, of course, I always fall off a little during the dark grumpy days when I selfishly hide away not remembering how much more splendid my life is than the less unfortunate, we all do it from time to time and there's nothing wrong with that, it's the human condition after all, "Why God, Why Me?" we lament, often holding our fists to the heavens but it's at those moments when we need to take a moment to breathe and count our blessings, I am so lucky in my life right now, I have the best friends, amazing teenagers, wonderful pets, a great job and of course Mr F who expects nothing of me other than to be just me and I in turn only ever expect him to be just him as he is.

So today, in the dark January day when you are going back to work and the traffic is bad, your lunch is horrible or your boss is mean and grumpy, just take a moment to think about all of the good things in your life right now, see if you can make yourself smile because if you can smile then you're on the path to being happy, really happy and extremely content.

Breaking News - Mandy Charlton Photography shortlisted for Photographer of the Year

It's always an honour to be recognised by your peers and I have an admission, I never enter photography or indeed photographer competitions, I used to and then I won over 100 separate awards for various photos and came runner up for photographer of the year in 2010 and so I'd done what I sent out to achieve and moved onto the next thing I wanted to achieve so I was a little taken aback when I received a phone call totally out of the blue yesterday afternoon telling me I've been shortlisted for Photographer of the Year in the Northern Wedding Awards.

The truth is that as you probably all know I only shoot a handful of weddings every year now but here's the thing, I love it so much, I choose each one carefully so that I know I can do in and give all of my heart when I work.  It's changed the face of my business entirely, I'm not competing for weddings any longer, I don't have meetings, I simply send over a brochure and direct my future clients to a recent wedding and if they love it they book, it's simplified my process and I've just adored shooting weddings this year. 

The biggest thing now is that it's not about the money, I choose the weddings based on many things but I go with my heart and it's worked so well.  When the focus of my business was weddings it was so stressful but now it's amazing.  I love smaller weddings, I shot a perfect 3 hour wedding on Friday and an 8 hour and a 4 hour during September, coming up I have another 4 hour wedding on Friday and then a Dr Who themed wedding at the end of October, my last planned wedding of the year is just a short 2 hour booking for clients I've photographed before.  I give my heart and I shoot with love, I tell the love stories of couples I feel close to some of them without even meeting them until their wedding day.  I adore what I do now and I think it shows.

I don't at all expect to win these awards so I'll say a couple of thank you's now, one to my lovely longstanding assistant Stacey who I really couldn't shoot most weddings without, she gets me there, she keeps me calm, she helps me organised the masses and she picks up stuff when flaky old me puts it down in places and then I forget!  Also a quick thank you to Jamie  who comes along to some weddings and second shoots for me or assists me just like Stacey in her absence, it's great to be able to work with people you also call your friends and I'll never stop appreciating their skills and friendship.

There's no final voting process and this isn't a popularity contest so you dear readers don't need to do anything, what will be, will absolutely be, I can't attend the awards sadly as I'll be away on a travel assignment but I'd like to wish everyone else who's been shortlisted the best of luck, there are many amazing photographers out there who truly deserve the accolade and I definitely don't expect to come anywhere near being the eventual winner but to get this far is an honour all the same and so if you nominated me then you are amazing because without you I would just be a mad animal lady with a camera!

Holly "the chomper" Beagle and the decline of my soft furnishings

I had rather hoped,  dear reader that I would be feeling significantly better by now but blimey I'm still really not well at all, flu is such an awful thing, I got up super early to take pain killers again for my muscle pains, I feel about 4000 years old right now!

I'm thinking of changing Hollys second name to "The chomper" and so she will now be formally known as Holly (the chomper) Charlton, we have a lot in common my beagle and I, we both love our food a little too much, it's just as well I don't actually like to eat wood, rugs or blue lametta, you don't ever want to have to pull blue shiny lametta out of your beagles bottom...

She's definitely keeping me on my toes and it's hard to imagine life without her, she really is my gift from the whole universe.

You'll note that butter wouldn't melt expression whilst being surrounded by soft toy stuffing, RIP Mr Camel!

I think Christmas combined with all of that gift wrapping paper might just be the most exciting thing ever if you are a 6 month old beagle, she's so like a toddler it's unreal, you know instantly if she's quiet and you can't see her then she's probably doing something she shouldn't.  I think someone might be getting some doggy toys to keep her entertained this Christmas, it might mean I have a slightly better chance of still having my remote controls still in one piece!  My rug on the other hand, well lets just say I'll be looking for a new beagle proof one in the January sales.

On friendship and being grateful

Good morning dear reader, another Monday heralds the start of a new week and you find me still very much under the covers and this is pretty much where I plan to stay today because I am ill/poorly/sick.

The germies have absolutely infiltrated  and I have my first cold of the year which during the night was kind enough to graduate to my chest and stop me from breathing properly.  It's not the best way to start the week but at least I have an Iain who is going to pick up Looby from school later and Abigail will get the bus home, small mercies having older children, Petunia is staying at her dads until tomorrow as she's off to visit her pack today, she goes every couple of weeks to see all the other lovely huskies and she loves it.

I think given my current state I might just hold off on conquering any small countries for the foreseeable but I am pleased to report that I did get through Loobys birthday luncheon before the germs really took a hold thank goodness.

Looby had a great luncheon joined by Abigail, her daddy and 4 of her very best friends, all who are utterly lovely girls, they're also all moving on to the same secondary school together which is lovely as when Abigail transferred there was only 2 other pupils from the same school who went with her.

It makes me realise just how important friendship is, even from a very early age our friendships help to define us as people, they become the people we laugh with, we cry with, people we turn to in times when we're not strong enough to face things alone and we in turn do the same for others.  It's taken me many years to have a solid, small, sturdy group of friends who I can share my life with and over the past few weeks I have really come to understand how much I'm loved by that group of special people as much as how much I love that group of brothers and sisters who have become an intrinsic part of my daily life.  Some of them I may not see very often, some of them I have known for years but only on line but that doesn't mean that they are any less special to me and if you're one of them who is reading this right now I want to say that I love you and I want to thank you for being in my life right now.x

I'm so proud of my beautiful daughters and my son too although the chances of you seeing a photo of him on here anytime soon is slim!  They really do amaze me with their wit, knowledge and strength of character, Abigail and Looby are like chalk and cheese for two people who have only 16 months between them you really can't get 2 people with more differences between them, it's lovely then when you see them hugging and telling each other that they love them.  Looby gives freely with hugs and love, Abigail not so much but occasionally she does tell me she loves me and hugs me back and that makes it all worth it, behind every hormonal angry teenager is a lovely young lady just waiting to get out!

So today think of me with my Lemsip cold and flu tablets, at least I have a comfy bed, warm blankies and a lovely environment to be poorly in (well apart from the 22 My Little Ponies and Lucy the scary welsh doll), some people are truly alone in this world without friends, family or a nice place to live, some don't have a place to live at all and so today lets all be grateful for the things we do have, go tell someone you love how much you truly care about them today, I promise you will make their day and it will make you smile inside your own heart too.