I came down with flu on Saturday tea-time quite suddenly and managed to work on Sunday but since then I've been pretty much housebound which isn't fun at all, so far this week I've had to reschedule meeting 2 new borns because I'm too ill to leave the house and there's no way you could risk giving a tiny newborn actual flu.  I know we're always saying "Oh I've got flu" when really we just have cold, I'm sure I've probably done it myself but I promise from this point on to never confuse the 2 things ever again.

I can't remember feeling so completely horrid for so long for a very long time, in fact probably the last time was about 2010 when I had flu.  I'm so lucky to have Iain who has been taking Holly out for her walks, I've managed to get out once a day for walkies but today I'm totally and utterly beaten, I've pretty much slept for the last 24 hours, can't eat because I have no appetite and anything I do try tastes like cardboard.  Iain even went to get me some aspirin and brought back some Lucozade saying in his opinion I should try that, I have a brilliant son!

There really isn't much else to say at the moment, yesterday I wanted to burst into tears every half hour because of that awful depressive low you get with proper flu, I realise that crying isn't going to make anything better and I guess I was just so sad at the entire situation with Christmas and my failings in so many areas, financially, emotionally, practically, I was supposed to be decorating Abigails bedroom this week and I haven't even made it off the sofa today, every single inch of my body hurts and the chills caused by the high temperature have just made me want to go and sit in a sauna which probably wouldn't have been a good idea considering that you have shivers because you're actually too hot.

I'm so grateful for Holly, she's such a chilled little beagle, apart from the mass destruction of anything made of wood, Iain took her out this morning after I regaled him with the news that she'd even had a go of eating the TV stand and my vintage milking stool will never be the same again.  She's a happy little puppy though and hugs me lots, 2 new toys have arrived today for her and she loves her new bear which has no stuffing and her doggy entertainment toy where she has to find the treats, took her about 10 minutes to figure that one out, she's a clever little beagle.

I'm supposed to be working tomorrow afternoon but whether it will happen is another thing entirely, the aspirin seems to have worked so much better at bringing my temperature down than the paracetamol (thanks Sue for that advice), whatever happens though I must work on Saturday, it's my last day for 2 weeks and if I don't we'll probably be sticking pictures of turkey to the walls and licking them instead of being able to afford the actual real life Christmas lunch.

and that was the weekend....

Monday again dear reader and my body is feeling the effects of the lower light levels already this year, last night I found myself having an anxiety attack and it's only October, I dread to think what it's going to be like for me in January this year, S.A.D. is a cruel mistress for sure, I think to protect my mental health as much as possible I'm going to have to buy a SAD light.

This weekend has been pretty good if I'm honest, I had a lovely day on Saturday with the girls and with Paul on Saturday when we all met up to have a family day at Tynemouth, I even bought myself a vintage milking stool for my lounge, I'd been looking for a footstool for ages but never found one yet and the milking stool is the perfect height.  I love spending time together as a family so much and it's always so sad when it's over but I think it's something which we have to do to create stability for the children and while we keep on doing it there's always the hope that one day that things will be better.

Yesterday I worked all day shooting portraits in Jesmond Dene and barring the wind it was the perfect autumnal day and I really took lots of beautiful photos yesterday, it's the best time of the year for photography so get out there and celebrate life, love, family, an hour spent with me having some fun together in a place you love and you will be creating memories which will last forever.

This week isn't hugely busy like next week which already looks chaotic and there's still a week to go until half term.  We're dog sitting for Aggies baby spaniel (8 months old) for 4 days and I have lots and lots of portraits booked with very little availability so if you want a photo shoot during half term get in touch sooner rather than later.

It's a good thing I think that my business continues to grow and thrive even though my life at home is far less than perfect.

You know what I am doing though?  Starting new traditions, I bought a noticeboard and on that board we're suggesting meals for the week ahead and movie choices for our new weekly movie night, I think starting new traditions is a great way to build foundations when all around you is changing and Looby and Iain seem to think it's a great idea plus it's a lot easier than me having to think up a whole weeks meal plan.

Onwards we go dear reader into a brave new week/world

It's the weekend, a wedding and portraits on the way

Good Saturday morning to you dear reader, it's bright and not too sunny this morning in Newcastle and that for me is perfect because I have a big wedding today, I'm really looking forward to shooting the wedding of Louise and Mike later today at St Teresas Catholic church in Heaton and then at beautiful Whitworth Hall, thats the one with the deer!

So I thought I'd pop a quick post up with one of yesterdays layouts entitled Do Not Mess With Abigail, there's some hidden journalling on the tag behind the photo but the title sums it up really, she's not one to be messed with.

Crafty people, I have news of bargains, get down to your local TK Maxx or Homestyle because they have tons of crafty bargains including papers, pens, embellishments and ribbons, the Metrocentre Homestyle is particularly good, how I managed to be as restrained as i was and only spend £60 is a miracle but I came away with lots of scrappy bargains and now have enough Gel pens to last me my entire life, whats the betting that those pixies Abigail and Looby have pinched them all by the middle of next week?!

I'll be in Jesmond Dene all day tomorrow or rather all afternoon, I have several mini sessions, next week sees my return to Tynemouth Longsands and it's looking like a very busy day, I have just a couple of sessions remaining, if you would like to book one there are more details and photos on my Facebook business page or you can contact me through my website or even email me.

Have a wonderful weekend, I shall see you on the other side!

Re-New, Re-Visit, Scrapbook...

Dear reader, some of you will have no doubt read this blog forever, well I hope some of you have, I started blogging in 2003/4 and started this blog in early 2005, that seems like forever to me!

So anyway, you may have time to time encountered posts on here where I've been talking about scrapbooking, it's my hobby, the thing I do to relax, something which creatively nourishes me and stretches my arty crafty gluey persuasions for the parts photography cannot reach.  You see I love photos but I want to do something with them, I want to make albums with stories to leave for my ancestors, a kind of window on my life which the girls will inherit and then they can show their children and they can show their children etc.

My girls love to scrapbook, it's the only time they stoop fighting for more than 30 seconds, anything that can accomplish that is quite frankly a miracle!

I don't get very much time to scrapbook because business is so busy constantly but thats fine, yesterday after spending a day catching up in the office on Wednesday I gave myself the afternoon off and completed 4 pages to add to my scrapbooks, 2 of them went straight into the scrapbooks but I thought I would share a couple of pages.

I'm having a lot of fun creating things with Instagrams at the moment and I've found a couple of great companies who can free your Instagrams from the page.  Photobox.co.uk will do lovely quality 5x5 prints and printing.com will do lovely prints which look like polaroids, I'm testing another service based in Australia at the moment, I'll get back to you when I have the prints and have assessed their service.

Ask any contemporary scrapbooker what they love about the hobby and somewhere in there they'll mention the supplies and it's a really lovely treat to yourself to get all those pretty papers, stickers and embellishments.

I do think my style has changed over the years, in the peak of scrapbooking in the mid noughties we would all spend hours/days/weeks creating the perfect scrapbook page of well, sometimes quite frankly, an insignificant moment, those were the days I used to be a buyer for a scrapbooking company and also ran their design team and it was all about who could get published the most, I think we all took ourselves way too seriously, for me now it's just about having fun, it doesn't have to be the latest or greatest product (though I am still very good at scrapbook supply shopping), it's just about telling the story behind the photographs to leave a window to my world for future generations.

So while I am off photographing a wedding and the little people of the North East this weekend why don't you spend some time being creative, getting messy, and giving yourself an excuse to play, nourish your creativity and you'll be a fuller better more relaxed person whatever field you work in.

Happy Weekend dear reader!

and the portraits and mini shoots keep on coming

Dear reader, I have been so busy that I forgot to blog last week or maybe I just didn't have time, one of the two.  So I turned 39 which in itself is a little uncheery, the thought that I'll be 40 in less than a year now quite frankly terrifies the life out of me.

So here's what I've been up to, some portraits and some personal from my birthday weekend away in Seahouses.

I have so many exciting things going on right now,  I'm shooting my first wedding of the year on Saturday and I'm going right through to December this year, 20 lovely weddings all waiting to be beautifully shot, I will take on another 5 this year so if you would like to have me shoot your wedding please do get in touch via my website.

I'm still shooting Mini shoots as well as my "At home with" lifestyle photo shoots and if you want to see even more examples of my work which are posted a couple of times a day please visit my Facebook business page

I'm also talking to a lot of people about how to market their businesses on Facebook through 1-2-1 training workshops and I'll also be putting out 1 video every week to help you get the best bang from your buck as a page on Facebook.  After all, I've been using social media since the very start of my business, I started blogging in 2005, Facebook in 2006 and Twitter in 2008 and I do no other advertising.  I can sit down with you for an intensive 2-3 hour session which could just change your business life and i have the facts and figures to back it up from my own results (did you know that I went from 400 likes on Facebook in September to over 1500 and not by any black hat schemes or like ladders, every single like on my FB business page is a quality like) so if you would like to sit down with me in real life or via a Facetime chat my how to be a Secret Superhero training workshops are currently at an introductory offer of £150 (special rates are available to the ladies of the Inspire Network) and for such a small investment you could see big changes in your business, every single one of the people I've sat down with over the last few months has been able to use what we've discussed to add value to their business, to bring in new business and to make their Facebook page more active, engaging and interesting which all leads to better Edgerank.

and so for last weeks video, you can watch it here -

If you get something out of it I would love to hear your feedback and if you are interested in doing an intensive morning or afternoon of Superhero training please get in touch via my website, Facebook or you can email me at mandy@mandycharltonphotography.com 

and until next time my lovelies, live well, love lots and laugh hard!