After spending most of yesterday with 2 migraines, one when I woke up with it at 4am in the morning and then the other yesterday afternoon I really don't have a lot to blog about this morning dear reader, I did in between times manage to put the first coat of paint on the walls of the loo, we're going Urban Jungle though if I'm honest it looks a bit like urban mould after the first coat, buying more paint today after my one photo shoot of the day which is thankfully in doors at home, it's the best time of year for at home type photo shoots, I also like indoor photo shoots because mostly I get cups of tea and coffee and my toes don't go numb and they're never cancelled due to bad weather!

I didn't even make it to slimming world last night though to be honest all I have been doing of late is really keeping a check on my weight, I haven't really lost anything but it definitely means I'm more conscious of the things I eat so I am at least not ballooning to the size of a large portion of butter!

It's the 26th of November and at that means it's only 29 sleeps until Christmas, as I was saying yesterday I was just sneaking bits and pieces out of storage and putting them where no one would notice, well of course now I'm trying to distract myself in moments of festive need by cracking on with the decoration of the house, one more coat on the loo and then Abigails bedroom which should at least be empty tomorrow after a visit by St Oswalds Hospice to take 20 charity bags and then another visit from the council to take the rest of the rubbish.  The partial end to the decoration is in sight, it's not going to be truly finished until way after Christmas as Iains bedroom needs decorating and the hall on all 3 floors is abominable but I am only 1 woman and though my children offer to help they do get exceedingly bored quite easily, Looby lasted about 10 minutes painting yesterday before declaring mass boredom.  If anyone fancies coming and giving me a hand with some painting I'm open to bribing you or imbibing you with copious amounts of mulled Cider and mulled wine!

Well dear reader that's your lot for today, whilst life here continues on a daily basis it's mostly same old, same old, I'll be back tomorrow with perhaps some news of a black Friday/sofa Sunday/cyber Monday offer, to be honest I haven't actually decided yet but it feels appropriate to do something wonderful to celebrate the decline of society into the free for all that is the proper start to the Christmas shopping period, I'm nearly done with mine, thanks of course mostly to Amazon, I know some people have major ethical issues with Amazon and I totally understand but if you are a busy single parent trying to run a house, a family and a business there's nothing quite like doing a 1 click purchase from a wishlist and having it arrive the very next day!  They have some really great deals on this week too!!

Oh how I wish I was a minimalist

Life would be a lot easier if I was dear reader, I could have spent years moving nothing around a virtually empty house musing about the spaciousness of it all.  Sadly I like stuff on the walls, the shelves, in fact pretty much every surface I have has something on and when it doesn't I feel it looks empty, I like a homely home, I like a cluttered home, I like vintage trinkets and treasures to adorn the furniture which is also usually used because I hate new stuff.  This of course is a problem with wardrobes because of the weird town house we live in I can't actually get assembled wardrobes up the stairs. The one in my bedroom which is from around 1930ish had to be dismantled and reassembled and you can imagine the glee that caused ;)  The only solution to the top floor bedrooms will be to buy flatpack Ikea wonders...harumph!

Halloween is almost upon us, I'm also not a huge fan of Halloween because I feel it gets in the way of Christmas but the kids like it and the Amazon Halloween department has just about everything you could ever need for next weeks spooky spectacular.  Looby has her costume already, she's going to be little red riding hood and Petunia is going to be the ferocious wolf, I'm not sure she's going to be able to carry that performance off quite frankly!  Abigail mostly hasn't decided if she's joining in because she's at that funny age where she'd still like the big haul of candies which make your teeth fall out but she feels she's to old and sophisticated to go and knock on neighbours doors wearing a witch costume.  I have a feeling knowing Abigail that she will as ever decide right at the last moment and I'll be ordering the day before hoping that Amazon haven't sold out.

I've decided that I'm not buying house decorations this year, I only end up throwing them away the next day whereas I always store Christmas decorations but I just feel it's an unnecessary spend and after taking 3 black bags full of stuff to the Charity shop yesterday, giving away some Disney costumes, a slow cooker and a hoard of craft supplies I am definitely trying to downsize the clutter I have an not increase it with dead hands and rubber faces.

I finally framed some of my recent images and they'll make the perfect Christmas gift if you're planning ahead, the rustic framed ones are only £25 and the black framed ones are £35, if you would like to purchase one just send me over a quick email and if you would prefer to do your own framing then you can purchase any prints from my Etsy store Philomena's Boutique

It looks like a beautiful day out there, I am going to Jesmond Dene for a couple of photo shoots and it looks like being a sunny lovely morning so whatever you are up to today make sure it's a fabulous Thursday

The continuing quest to have a house just like everyone else

Yesterdays weather rather wrecked all of the plans I first had, I wasn't a huge fan of Washington Old Hall and Gibside was closed due to high winds so Petunia didn't have the huge day of walking but I did go and buy some storage and a shoe rack that matches the coat stand I have in the hall, all I need now is a console table and my hall will very much look like the halls other people have, instead of somewhere filled with clothes horses, ladders and bikes which is pretty much the way it's been for 10 years.

I framed photos yesterday and these two frames are now proudly hanging on my lounge walls, I think there's only 1 gap now that needs a picture/painting/photo, I'm never painting the walls or moving, the displacement of about 50 photos/paintings/pictures would be a nightmare!

Speaking of decorators, I spoke to one yesterday and even though he can't fit me in until the end of November I have hope that by Christmas my house will be fixed and beautiful and in the mean time I'll soldier on and see what more I can achieve.  Both of the bedrooms on the 2nd floor are being gutted and 1 is having a New York loft industrial feel and the other is mostly going to be Maroon with black accents, that's because it's Iains bedroom and he needed something manly and they're his favourite colours.  The NY loft was a theme suggested by Abigail and then I've developed that, it'll be a great teenage bedroom.  My bedroom has a hunting lodge theme and then my living room is overwhelmingly a tribute to a Highland home, my kitchen doesn't really have a theme but at Christmas it becomes Narnia.

I really need to have people over soon, just 1 or two so I can work through the terror of having people in my house, I'll get there one day I'm sure and then I plan to have a house which is constantly full of people, it'll be a lot cheaper than meeting in coffee houses that's for sure!

work continues to be so busy and I thought I would share a few portraits I've shot lately, if you would like to book a family portrait photographer in Newcastle just click on that link and send me an email and I'll try to fit you in as soon as I can either at a location of your choice or I have lots of photo shoots coming up in Jesmond Dene, in fact sometimes I'm there just about every day.

Now go forth, have as much midweek fun as you can and may all of your Wednesdays be wonderful.

Feeling festive far too soon...

I know what you're thinking dear reader, it's just too early to be even feeling a little bit festive but the truth is that for years I have held off until at least October half term to start watching Christmas movies but yesterday Looby and I threw ourselves into the murky world of the Netflix Christmas movies and watched 3 in a row, terrible made for TV American Christmas movies and you know what we loved every single one, it was just the ticket after a weekend spent constantly working.  I think really there's always a place for Christmas movies, they're like Disney movies I find, easy watching, there's usually a bit of love or loss in there but in the end it's always Christmas day and everyone is happy again by the end of the movie.  A bit like real life really muahahaha....

So I'm thinking about what's on the planner for the rest of the week and it really is hectic, photo shoots every day, 2 weddings to edit, a ton of admin, I'm still trying to readjust to single parenting, I have no idea how single parents manage to hold down a business, keep a tidy house, look after the kids, pay all of the bills and not look at total mess, I'm pretty sure it's not possible to have it all.  I do sort of have a plan that once I've financially readjusted I'm going to get a lovely cleaning lady in to help because I think it's a necessary with 3 kids, a dog and 3 cats.

I did also manage to run around like a crazy woman yesterday tidying and cleaning and thankfully had a bit of help from Iain and Looby, we are a pretty good team really.

One of my biggest tasks I have to sort out is the decoration of the house and that's starting with the bedrooms on the top floor and I would also like to get everything done in time for Christmas so that we have a bedroom fit for guests being that my lovely friend Li and her daughter are coming to us for Christmas this year, yes I am going to have a houseful of people for the first time ever, that's going to make me the happiest woman in the whole of the world.

I'll keep it quite short this morning as I must get dressed and I have a hangover from the migraine medication I took at 4am, that's a sure sign that I must actually have my day off and not be tempted to work through it.  I think Petunia perfect paws and I should get on our boots and go for a big walk with some cake and coffee at the end of it and maybe even a light touch of Christmas!!

On friends, on lunch and on sorting out my house

Today dear reader I bought myself something really special... A massive industrial strength tube of glue which claims it'll stick anything to anything, so far the washing machine and one of the kitchen drawers have been glued and hopefully are on their way to staying glued.  By the end of the week everything with cracks and breaks should be glued back together, my heart might take a bit longer because I don't think Loctite glue is meant to be applied internally, well not to people anyway.

I'm making a resolution to have a fabulous house, content happy children and more importantly a feisty, happy, fabulous me.

I went out for lunch with Aggie, one of my very best friends, she's pretty awesome and between her and her gorgeous little boy I feel so much better than I did this morning.

By the time my house is finished it will be an artistically vintage haven or as my children tell me "filled with other peoples old stuff"  I'm not a fan of the new and the flat pack although don't get me wrong Ikea Expedit do the most awesome functional cubes of which I have several.

If you want to book me for work I have come to a decision that week days I am going to work 9-3 which gives me plenty of time to spend with the kids when they come home from school and I should warn you that if you are looking to have a family photo shoot in Jesmond Dene, Heaton Park, Tynemouth etc I am now full at weekends until Sunday October 19th.  If you want to book a photo shoot for weekends after that please do it now or you risk missing out on beautiful photos and gifts you can give to your family.

I have a few outstanding commitments this week but mostly I am not going to go back into the office until a week today, I need a little time to sort things out including myself.  There's a definite adjustment period ahead for the kids and I, the cats and Petunia and I figure this, i'm going to start another 100 Happy Days project because I figure that, 100 days from now I'll be in really good shape and as someone who is usually extraordinarily positive I find when those less positive times come along if you can just find one thing each day to make you smile then it's a very good start indeed.

Let this be the start of a thoroughly fantastic and fabulous week.

At home with the Charltons and other random things

It's no big secret that since I started shooting weddings I've always gone to clients houses for consultations and I never really minded although hubby and kiddies weren't too chuffed waiting 2 hours when it started getting dark and they could no longer nash off to the nearest park. The thing is that there's a reason why I always went out. I was pretty much brainwashed to believe that no one would come to my house, that it was dirty and smelly and anyone who did come would turn around, quickly retreat and never come back again. Well tonight I'm taking the pretty big step to start holding consultations at home (EEK< GULP) I've had therapy, I know I'm good enough but I still can't shake the house thing off! The thing is that we're renovating at the moment on a pretty big scale but The Sitting Room and the Kitchen are pretty much finished so why not see people at home, I mean it beats lugging a load of hugely heavy albums all over the north east and if I'm at home it means I can feed my clients cupcakes until they come out of their ears!!

I have a consultation tonight and one tommorrow and the lovely people who are coming have been forwarned that only the kitchen at the livingroom are finished and they''ll have to shut their eyes as they walk through the hall and up the stairs to the sitting-room!

One thing I definetly still need in the sitting-room is some wall art, One of my prints arrived today which I'd had blown up to A3 size but it's far too small, I think I'm going to order a couple of canvases in the new year as I have a pretty enormous wall to fill!

Excitement as Abigail and Laura are angels in the Nativity, Abigail is head angel and has a couple of lines, can't wait for Thursday till the performance :)

Ooh did you know that Rose is coming back to Dr Who in series 4, whats that all about?

Lots and Lots to Tell....

I really have been so very busy I've hardly had time to draw breath!

So on Saturday we really got down to starting the total renovation of our house, not an easy task considering the size, we were pretty certain that as long as we could get the Livingroom done we really could cope with the rest of the house until after Christmas. For pretty much 3 solid days we decorated (baring in mind that I had a photoshoot in that time as well!) at at 1am this morning we finally had a room we love.

Gone is the hideous carpet and we welcome with open arms the painted Chocolate Brown floorboards, gone are the peach walls and we welcome the wholemeal walls with our accented Autumn Red wall!

We now have a contemporary fireplace, I've never had a fireplace before so thats probably one of my most exciting things! Wanna See?
Thats my fireplace and my new wholemeal walls.

I won't bore you all with too many photos but this afternoon after spending the day with Abigails Year 1 class at Whitehouse Farm having a festive animal frenzy we decided that on the way home we would buy our Christmas tree, a beautiful 6ft Nordman Fir decorated by the children (although they were banned from using anything that wasn't gold or red!!) all we have to do now is buy a new angel as our current one is Silver and doesn't go!


There's still one thing missing from the livingroom and thats all the family photos, I need new frames and new photos as well as a couple of canvases so thats my project for the next couple of months!

You know what, I think it's beginning to look a lot like Christmas!!

On being busy and unexpected disasters

Well after yesterdays post you all certainly took me seriously and I booked 4 photoshoots in the space of an hour yesterday, Yes indeed I am looking forward to every single one of those! Today though we've had joiners here making more mess and disrupting us even more, please hope tommorrow is the last major day of disruption, It's kitchen upheaval day tommorrow, after that we should be able to start thinking about decorating, I've already got a couple of tester pots and a bag full of paint charts!!

We've had a major disaster today, this morning as Paul attempted to take the children to school he discovered that the car wouldn't drive forwards and well it's not exactly practical to drive everywhere in reverse so we called good old Green Flag who sent a lovely man who in a calm manner told us that it was our cylinder head gasket, ARGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH, we drive this teeny Hyundai Atoz + it's an S reg and pretty much gets us everywhere, we're a bit devastated to know that it would cost more to fix the car than it's actually worth so we're tommorrow paying the princely sum of £250 for an L reg Golf which will hopefully get us through to the new year. I can kind of manage without a car as I have an assistant who does all the driving to weddings but as I can't have consultations in my kitchen at the moment we really don't have any option plus Paul definetly needs a car for his business! Oh well, lets be positive but can I just ask any potential clients to be put off by our sad old car, I promise it's no reflection on my photography, strange thing is that I now own lenses that are worth more than the car!!

Tommorrow should be a better day!

Decorating...

Noooo, really? Yes actually I am and I can tell you if my new wardrobe doesn't arrive tommorrow there is going to be trouble, the blinkin thing was suppose to arrive with some burly men to carry it this afternoon between 1 and 3pm and it just didn't show up so I'm not a very happy bunny!

Oh yes if you haven't guessed it's the master bedroom that is getting a makeover, we're going Coastline and Chocolate brown, thats duck egg blue and brown although all the skirting is country beige which is sort of milk chocolate! Tommorrow I'm promised that the curtain pole, the bedding and the totally gorgeous taffeta silk chocolate brown curtains will arrive, OOh I'm thinking they're going to be heavenly and I just can't wait. We've lived without wardrobes for 2 years and the time and finances were just about right for us to actually have bedroom furniture, I'm wondering though if once it's done I'll ever come out again!

Hubby is starting work at 4am in the morning meaning he has to get out of bed at 3.15am, some people don't even go to bed till that time so think of him fondly as you're snoozing the night away, and hubby if you're reading you work so hard to get us the things we need, want and desire and without you life just wouldn't be nice or even possible, we all love you more than words can ever tell you, even if you do pull funny faces whenever I point my camera in your direction :)