Monday morning and all is quiet, so quiet that I don't seem to have written anything for nearly a week!  I'll be honest, last week was a huge challenge, several business things caused headaches, I had arguments with both of my lovely teens, I had a man fitting Sky Q which lead to having absolutely no internet for over 24 hours, not because we were changing over (heaven forbid no, Sky broadband is awful).  I'm not really sure what he did but our super fast broadband became super non existent and then the Hive installation engineer turned up so I ended up sorting out lots of things via the phone which I hate but now our house is well on it's way to being fully automated, which depending on your point of view is either terrifying or quite exciting.  The smart lighting is next followed by individual smart thermostats but they're not cheap and I'm saving for a Canon 24-70mm f2.8L MkII, go click the link and have a look at the price, it's quite scary but I've had one on hire for the last couple of weeks and I know it's going to be the best lens for my business and I.

Yesterday for anyone who wants to get ahead with booking their 2018 mini photo shoot, I finally published my mini photo shoot schedule right up until the end of September 2018, if you click that link it will have all of the places and dates plus a link to book and tell me what time you would like, it's the most bodacious move I've ever made and when they're gone, they are gone, I'm booking no more until the Oct/Nov/Dec period but I really didn't want to publish those just yet as it feels like I'm wishing the year away already.

Speaking of which, I currently have no travel plans for this year, you might remember that I booked a cruise with Abigail but then she asked if I could cancel it as she'll be at a "really important" Youth Parliament thing and I know for her this is once in a lifetime where as you can go on a cruise any time you want now so I took one on the chin and cancelled but it does make me crave for travel on a daily basis currently.  I currently have a couple of trips I'd like to do with Looby, one of which we're going to be talking about this week, Looby has an interest in geography, rural studies and of course all things horse and countryside so I'm going to try and plan a week travelling Scotland and will hopefully make it on a couple of train journeys I've always wanted to take but haven't so far, those being the West Highland line and the Far North railway line.  I'm hoping we can take Holly Bobbins along too and stay in some lovely dog friendly places, if you have any recommendations please do let me know in the comments.

This week is the week everything should start to change, we are on the downhill slope into spring and I for one am so ready, spring is my favourite season and the one which makes me the bounciest happiest lady in the whole of the north, fancy skipping into the spring flowers with me?

Book a spring mini photo shoot in Newcastle upon Tyne

So that was the week that was, 7 days in hospital, surgery, antibiotics, steroids, a hole in the forehead, double vision, glasses and 1 very brave 12 year old who I'm so thankful has come through it all still smiling and being a mostly excellent patient.

We had the stitches removed today but she still has a small open hole where the surgeon drilled to put a drain in so it's covered over until it heals, suffice to say it's amazing to have her home and I'm not at all bothered (in fact I'm quite delighted) that she's not going back to school until after the Easter break on April 11th.

It's been the most traumatic time to watch your little one get ill and from other parents I've spoken to I hear the same thing over and over, you just want to put yourself in their place, to take the pain away, to suffer for them so they're better.

We see the ophthalmologist on Thursday to check on her eyesight, it's hoped that she'll make a full recovery but it's such a scary thing to think all of this has happened as the result of a cold!  

I've tentatively returned to my desk today and I have a way to go before I'm even vaguely up to date, the situation forced me to completely stop, I had no other option, for nearly a week I could think of nothing else but Looby and praying that she would get better.  It's a funny thing though isn't it, after nearly 2 weeks off you take your foot off your marketing pedal and you find yourself with a much more empty diary than you would prefer.  I had an idea, a way to make those lemons life throws us into a sort of photographic merengue.  I'm reintroducing mini sessions and they're available until April 11th.

Here's how they go - 

Book a mini session at Jesmond Dene, Saltwell Park, or Tynemouth Longsands, it's a 30 minute session and it's £125, you get all of the edited images via a digital download and you can do whatever you want with the digital images, they are yours to keep.  Bearing in mind that the least you can usually have a session with digital files for is £250 it's extraordinary value but it's a good way for me to get my family back on track and my business to.

So here's what you need to do to book -

Email me to book your session, then all you do is pay a small £25 retainer and on the day you just need to bring along the other £100 in an envelope in cash and that's it.

This Saturday and Sunday I will be at Jesmond Dene, Next Saturday I will be at Tynemouth Longsands, you choose your location and I will see when the next date/location I can do.  They're available all through Easter, the Easter weekend, the school holidays, whenever is good.  The only catch is that I won't ever shoot more than 5 of them a day because the rest of my day is devoted to being with Looby!

So, go tell your friends, your family, anyone who'll listen, book your mini session today because they're only going to be around until April 11th!