It's been a full on week of sparkle barring the last couple of days when I've been pretty ill, still feeling quite horrid this morning but I'm off into the world for 2 photo shoots in Jesmond Dene this morning and then I'll run home to a blankie on the sofa I think!

This weekend I have 4 photo shoots in Wharton Park, Durham and then 6 in Jesmond Dene on Sunday so it's a much busier weekend than the last couple of weeks but that's a good thing, I really need those 2 weeks off at Christmas without worrying about financial implications, it's always a bit of a battle taking time off when you are self employed!

I have kept up with living a life of sparkle and yesterday once the bin men had taken the 20 black bags I'd cleared from Abigails bedroom I managed to make our seating area just a little bit more sparkly and festive.

It's still a little too early for the Christmas decorations but it's never too early for a bit of extra sparkle in our lives.

I also made a practice batch of peanut butter tablet, a roaring success containing about a million calories in every bite but what the heck, it is going to be for Christmas presents after all.  I've amazed myself this year, I've made blackberry jam, I've pickled beetroot, I've made my own sweet mincemeat, my Christmas cake is maturing nicely, I've made quite good progress with Christmas shopping too, amazing what you can do when you put your mind to it!  I think I might be getting good at this single parenting thing, if I manage to get Abigails room decorated next week then I've nailed it, if only the cats could do housework ;)

So whilst you go about your wonderful weekends enjoy every minute of them and remember that being nice doesn't cost anything at all, be kind to yourselves and others dear reader and I'll be back on Monday to regale you with tales from my weekend, hoping to fit in just a little festive stroll around Durham tomorrow after my photo shoots!

Germs, Christmas Lights and photo shoots

Good morning dear reader, you find me full of germs and other yucky things this morning after I was floored with a White Christmas related cold, yes it's true, when I started watching White Christmas last night I felt fit as a fiddle but by the time it ended I was sneezing my literal head off and so this morning I am hot, full of cold, have a huge headache and I'm sure there's a teeny tiny person sitting in my throat dancing on razorblades!  It's lucky that I am up to date with work and I am also staying home with Abigail today anyway as she's done something to her arm (her right arm) so she's having a day of rest from school and we're going to try and go to the walk in centre to see what she's actually done with it!

Yesterday I found myself completely up to date with work so it feels ok to be ill, I don't feel horribly guilty about it in the way that I sometimes have in the past but it does need to sort itself out and go because I have a super busy weekend with photo shoots in Jesmond Dene tomorrow and Sunday, and also Durham on Saturday.  Really looking forward to the 4 photo shoots in Wharton park, Durham as I don't get there nearly enough anymore and I have lots of lovely Durham clients, I'm always happy to go to Durham when I can find the gaps in my diary, sometimes it's easier than others dear reader!

What else is on the schedule today, well it's the annual Christmas light switch on in Newcastle this evening and somewhat of a tradition for Looby and I, we haven't really missed a year for about 5 years so I am going to stuff myself full of cold medications and vitamin C and we'll hopefully get there as it's always such a festive highlight in our Christmas calendar, singing along en mass to Christmas songs can make even the biggest scrooge feel just a little festive.

So that's your lot for today dear reader, it's been quite a quiet week and I love that, I'll be quite happy to have many many more of those thank you very much!

Have a totally top-tastic Thursday everyone.

Groceries, Business, Christmas and Facebook Unfriending

Well good morning to you dear reader, it's Wednesday again, aka hump day (fnar fnar) and what do I have in my schedule?  A photo shoot with an adorable little one in Jesmond Dene and I will be awaiting with eager anticipation my grocery order, my Waitrose driver was so delighted to see me last week "Mrs Charlton, I haven't seen you for ages" he said and that dear reader is why I get my shopping delivered by them.  I was going to sample another supermarket but what a faff it is to actually set up your shopping from the beginning whereas because I'd used Waitrose before I could just go into an old order click everything I wanted and then add other things, I did my Christmas grocery order at the same time, just a warning if you are thinking you might want to do the same, the Christmas delivery slots were already gone, the latest I could get was the 22nd but that's ok, we'll cope I'm sure!

Not wanting to spend an entire blog post talking about my grocery shopping habits, it's well, erm, a bit boring but if I'm honest there's not really a lot going on apart from hard work and enjoying being with the kids when they're around, it's become a quiet period of my life and I for one couldn't be more delighted about that, seriously a few years without any drama whatsoever will be just what the doctor ordered.

Business is incredibly busy and you should note if you want to book a photo shoot that the last order date to guarantee your prints arrive before Santa does is the 15th of December, any orders placed after that date will be available for collection from me in Heaton so there's always the chance you could have a photo shoot on the 20/21st of December and still have prints as long as you can pop down to collect them, I promise to give you some festive sweeties or a mince pie, it is the loveliest time of the year after all.

I realise of course that Christmas is the time of year when many families are together for maybe the only time that year so if you would like to book a photo shoot during my Christmas break please do get in touch, all photo shoots during this time will be from £40 depending on the location you choose.

Finally, I was on my iPad last night when I stumbled across the fact that it's much easier to have a Facebook clearout than ever before, it's literally one click and so I had the biggest clearout ever, I noticed this morning that I'm still on about 750 friends but that's a marked improvement, tidy Facebook, tidy mind people!!

So off you go dear reader, skip and hop all of the way through Wednesday and whatever you do make sure that it's a wonderful thing indeed!

Living a life of sparkle

It's been such a long time since I could say that I feel like myself again but I think I am finally getting there, yesterday I caught up to date with work for the first time in a year, mainly thanks to going into my office for a Colleagues On Tap event, surrounded by other business owners with a healthy dose of Jayne Grahams amazing millionaires chocolate shortbread I completed everything that had fallen by the wayside over the last couple of months.  I can't recommend Colleagues on Tap highly enough if you need to just go somewhere and get stuff done, Jayne is also one of the most experienced and knowledgeable business consultants I know (as well as being a whizz in the cake making department).

I think I really started to feel myself again on Sunday, I'd actually been thinking for a few days that living a life of sparkle is the only way forward and believe me when I say that I might not quite be full on sparkle yet but I am definitely getting there and that feels good!

I've ramped up my marketing efforts and I'm pretty sure that I can fill all of my work days from now until Christmas so that I can give the kids an amazing Christmas both by making sure Santa brings some lovely gifts but also by making sure that I am financially stable enough to be able to take the whole of the Christmas holidays off at home with them doing wonderfully festive activities every single day!

So far on the menu for Looby at least is a trip to see Peter  Pan at the Whitley Bay Playhouse, and Get Santa at the Northern Stage and we'll mix that in with lovely long crisp frosty walks and cosy hot chocolates and christmas movies under fluffy blankets, I'd say in front of the fire but the reality is that my fire is electric and it's only ever been used once when the central heating broke, it's definitely not economical and it has a strange smell so no one is going to be cosying around that!

If you are doing your Christmas shopping currently I hear the number 1 best selling Christmas present of 2014 is the Frozen Elsa doll now Looby hasn't mentioned that she wants one but she does still have a bit of a penchant for dolls, I did note that you can get Frozen Top Trumps and they seem like a good stocking filler for under a fiver, they're my top bargain tips for this week, buy them early before they sell out!

So my wish for you all today is to sparkle like a festive thing, I'm not encouraging you to put up your Christmas decorations just yet although I was speaking to someone yesterday who had put their Christmas tree up and when I exclaimed it was quite early they replied telling me that they're quite late with it this year, do people really put their Christmas trees up before the very end of November/beginning of December, when is the correct time to adorn and festoon your halls with holly and such festive decoration, do leave a comment and let me know

Kirkley Hall Christmas Fair, Newcastle Christmas Continental Market and festive photo shoots in Saltwell Park

Good Morning dear reader, it's been a bit of bumper weekend and I'm not sure how we managed to squeeze so many wonderful things in but it's definitely been a good one.

On Saturday the girls and I went to the Kirkley Hall Christmas fair and had a thoroughly festive time, I had mulled cider, the girls did zipwiring, Looby rode a pony, the both went on a big wheel and we bought just a few Christmas presents, it's been lovely this year not working the whole weekend and being able to get into the Christmas mood doing festive things on the 1 day off at weekends.

Yesterday Looby and I went to Saltwell Park for a couple of early photo shoots and then into town for the Christmas continental market which is as ever based around the monument area of Newcastle, I really do recommend a trip, I had an obligatory mulled cider though if I'm honest it wasn't as nice as the one I had at Kirkley Hall but Looby didn't complain about the crepe she had and you know what? It's lovely just wandering around and it definitely fills you with a little festive spirit or actual spirit if you indulge in one too many mulled beverages!

Last weeks suggestions on our family to-do board were written by me and Looby and I managed to do all of them, they ranged from cuddling friendly animals to talk to squirrels, last night I noticed that Looby had written this weeks suggestions which made me smile a lot, I think if we can do all of these things this week it'll probably be the most amazing week we've had this year, I especially can't wait to sing a happy song together as a family and obviously I'm crossing my fingers for adopting a beagle though we still haven't heard about the home check, it'd be good if that happened on a tuesday after the cleaner has been, it's the highlight of my week you know!

Today I am going into my office and I am so near to being up to date for the first time this year that I hope I can achieve everything I have written on the business to-do list on my head, oh and let me share a couple of photos from this weekends family photo shoots in Saltwell Park, since I've changed my pricing to a flat £25 for a half hour in Tynemouth, Saltwell Park or Jesmond Dene things have gotten busy so if you would like to capture some wonderful family memories before Christmas please do get in touch, it'll be your most favourite thing you've done this year...hopefully!  Get in touch via my website, my facebook page or via email

34% off at mandycharlton.com and Philomenas Boutique, it's the Christmas Shopping Weekend

That's right dear reader today I have spectacular news, it's my annual Christmas shopping weekend and you're all invited and what's more, I have 5 mounted and framed art prints to give away.

To win a framed and mounted copy of The Secret Garden and Ranunculus all you need to do is one of the following things - 

Book a photo shoot (to be taken at any time in 2014) before midnight Sunday and you're entered to win 2 of my framed and mounted art prints.  (remember half hours at Saltwell Park, Tynemouth Longsands and Jesmond Dene are only £25, all other locations and at home start from £40 depending on where you are)

Buy a gift certificate (and get an extra 20% value added) and you'll get an entry.

Place an order from a live gallery on mandycharlton.com/cart (get 34% discount on many items with the code CHRISTMAS) and you'll get an entry.

Finally make a purchase from Philomenas Boutique and you'll get an entry. (get 34% discount storewide using the code CHRISTMAS)

https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/PhilomenasBoutique…

and I also have 3 more framed and mounted prints which I'm also going to give away randomly throughout the weekend to people who've done one of the above things so there'll be a draw on Friday Evening to win - Freesia

If you do any of the things on Saturday you can win - Hyacinth, Freesia and Anenome

and if you do any of the things on that there list on Sunday you can win a framed and mounted copy of Autumn in the forest at Wallington

That's just three of them, took a quick photo of them as they were framed this morning, you know I would love these on my walls and it's going to be a wrench to actually give them away!

If you have any questions or queries about any aspects of the weekend or you want to purchase gift certificates or book a photography session you can email me here

For each draw over the weekend there must be a minimum of 5 entrants, if there aren't 5 the prize will roll over to the next evening with the maximum roll over being through to the grand prize draw on Monday morning when all 5 prints will definitely go.

Please help me to spread the word about this super Christmas shopping weekend, I couldn't exist as a business without all of my lovely clients and there's a whole lot of thought and preparation gone into this years, more than ever before so tell your friends, shout for your family and there's almost certainly something for everyone.

Headaches, Freedom of Speech and 34% off at Philomena's Boutique

Wow it's 11am already and I'm still in my pyjamas dear reader, tartan pyjamas non the less!  The truth is that I woke up with a huge headache so I've just been bumbling around this morning and not attempting anything too energetic.  I've had this recurring headache for most of the week so I can only assume that it's wholly stress related.  I actually can't wait for the Christmas break this year so I can just spend the 2 weeks at home with my children.

Speaking of my kids, hello to Abigail if you're reading, we went out for dinner last night and she said she skim reads my blog most days but it's not got enough appeal for 12 year olds so just for you Abigail "teen angst, hunger games, mocking jay oh my life is so bad I could cry and everyone hates the world and I hate the world and no there's nothing wrong with me"  There you go, that should appeal to you and any other tweens or teens looking in.

The truth is that I really don't write my blog for anyone but me, it's just kind of an accident that 15,000+ people a month happen to read it, I know it's helped lots of people in similar situations to mine over the years though because I get the emails and the comments and I don't intend to stop writing any time soon, freedom of speech is probably the most important civil liberty we all possess whether that be speaking out about a personal situation or something political you feel must change, i'm actually so proud of Abigail being on the Youth council and I think she can run for a seat in the youth parliament next February, destined to be the next female prime-minister that one!

oh and if you are here to read the exciting news, well 6pm today is the start of my festive shopping weekend where you can win 2 of my framed and mounted art prints, more news of which ones in tomorrows blog post which will be all about this Christmas shopping weekend but just to whet your appetite if you are a lover of my fine art prints get yourself over to Philomena's Boutique and when you are checking out enter the discount code CHRISTMAS and you will bag yourself a whole 34% off just for this weekend, tell your friends, your family, do all of your Christmas shopping and you'll also be entered into that competition to win both of the framed and mounted prints.

There are more ways to win and more ways to save but at the risk of crashing severs I'll just leave you with that first offer until tomorrow.

May your thirsts be quenched with the fabulous flavour of a festive Thursday.