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!

Top 10 holiday destination wish list

Dear reader it's the summer holidays and I've been feeling a little sad that we can't go away for a family holiday this year, this time last year we were gearing up for 2 weeks away in Gran Canaria, it took me 6 years of business to be able to afford that one and the combination of writing a book, a wedding cancellation and general busyness within my business just means we won't get away at all this year.  I'm not going to be all sad and maudlin about it because I am in such a privileged position to be travelling from city to city in the UK writing about our great cities but I have been thinking I'd like to plan 2 weeks away of family time which leads me to write the top 10 destinations I would love to travel to with my family.

1. Japan
2. Machu Picchu
3. Florida
4. Italy
5. San Francisco
6. Venice
7. Barcelona
8. Cape Verdi
9. Switzerland
10. New Zealand

You see the thing is that I might be an expert on the cities of the UK in fact I'm pretty good with all aspects of travel in the UK but because I had my children when I was young I didn't do all of the travelling that some people get to experience, I don't regret a thing though because now the kids are older it means we can all get to experience these places together and as a travel writer, blogger and photographer I feel I'll appreciate them a whole lot more now than I did in my twenties (the travel, not the kids, I loved them from the day they popped onto the planet).

So I thought I would write this list and I would put it out there into the universe and see what happens, after all, when I started my photography business back in 2007 my business goal was to shoot a wedding at Durham Cathedral and I finally achieved that yesterday (that's going to be a post coming soon you do not want to miss).

If you are a company looking in and wishing to hire a travel blogger/writer/photographer then please do drop me an email and get in touch.

And back to my current summer schedule, this week I shall be mainly travelling to Preston in Lancashire and Lakeland in the lake district, it's the only city which is in the lake district and I have high hopes that it'll be as pretty as the rest of the region, Preston is a brand new city so I am eager to see what they have to offer and it'll be lovely to spend some time with Looby who returns from Turkey tomorrow after being on holiday with her best friend.

Whatever you are doing this summer holidays, make sure you make some time for family time and some time to do something you have never been done before

2 weeks in Puerto Rico, Gran Canaria

It's been a month since I last blogged Dear Reader, please forgive me for I have a very good reason, I've been on holiday!!

Yes for the first time in 13 years we had a 2 week family holiday to sunny Gran Canaria or as I like to call it 1987!!

Going to Gran Canaria is like re-visiting the 80's, not quite Blackpool but pretty touristy with a lot of Variety acts!

So here's a few photos from our trip and I should add that I didn't take my proper camera, for a couple of weeks I managed with my Samsung Galaxy camera which is actually quite a nifty little thing!

and so that was it, our holiday, 13 years in the making over in just 14 days which seemed to speed past us faster than we could blink.