WHERE DID SUMMER GO!?

Hello everyone. I hope you are all doing well. I thought I’d write a blog post today as it’s been a little while and I’ve found myself with some time on my hands.

Today is the 31st August, which for many marks the end of summer and the beginning of Autumn. I don’t feel ready for Autumn just yet. Anyone else? I feel like this Summer has whizzed past in the blink of an eye. Looking back at it, it’s been a busy and fun packed one, so I thought I’d take some time to reflect on it and share some of the highlights along with my favourite outfits.

Outfit 1:  

Shoes – Coach

Shirt – Zara

Trousers – Asos

June started with a work trip to Belgium, and I made a start with the roof terrace makeover. This has been a long time coming but as those of you who follow me on Instagram may know, we’ve had a lot of issues with neighbours building work which resulted in it being destroyed and pretty much unusable for the past year so it was nice to give it a fresh start.

One day after arriving back from Belgium I was due to fly to Dakar, but unfortunately I’d got my dates muddled up so wasn’t at all prepared for the trip. I received a message at 10pm reminding me I was flying the next morning, which was honestly like a bad dream! So a long night of sorting life stuff out and packing ensued, followed by emergency vaccinations at the airport the following morning at 7am. The exhaustion combined with the jabs and anti malaria tablets made me feel sick and anxious for the entire trip, which wasn’t ideal when you have to work all day and remain positive and drive a shoot, but I took a lot of comfort in knowing that the feelings would pass and I’m now in a position where I can deal with anxiety and not let if grow into a bigger problem for me. Unfortunately there was nothing I could do about the anti Malaria tablets side effects and I was running to the toilet every hour the following week which was pretty grim! I had a bit of down time on the last day so I took that opportunity to totally relax.

Outfit 2: 

Tshirt – Zara

Trousers – Spoke London 

Shoes – Coach 

Back in London I went along to the Ikea Autumn and Winter Press day which was so exciting to see their new collection and I took part in a wreath making workshop.

July kicked off with a magazine commission, which is very exciting for me as it’s the first time I’ve been commissioned to create and produce a DIY for print. I’ll be sharing that with you in September, and I’ve got another one in the pipe line. They are both easy to make and hopefully you will like them and want to give them a go!

I also went to London Pride which was a very fun day in London with my partner and sister, basically just watching the incredible floats, drinking in the sunshine and having lots of fun. It’s always such a fantastic atmosphere and gets better and better every year. I love London, especially on days like that.

I’ve also been going to Car boot sales throughout the summer which I’ve really enjoyed. I found some absolute bargains and I always have a laugh chatting to the stall owners and hearing the funny stories about the items they are trying to palm off onto me. I’ve also been braver with my haggling skills and managed to get most items for a deal. It’s all part of the fun.

Another work trip took me to Catania, Sicily which was really beautiful. If you watch my vlogs you’ll know it was another challenging one, due to my room being right next to the bar area. I honestly turned into Victor Meldrew on that trip. Just when I thought the wedding party, which had been blasting out wedding songs on the loud speakers had finally finished at 2am, after a couple of minutes silence I heard the annoying intro to ‘Mambo Number 5’ start up. You could have heard me scream ‘I don’t believe it’ from the top of Mount Etna. The poor man on the reception desk didn’t have much fun that evening either.

I’ve also been working on a longer project in Manchester over the summer that started in June and then turned into a 6 week shoot throughout July and August. It’s been fun going back to Manchester and working on a returning series and seeing lots of the same faces and being reunited with a brilliant crew. It’s also been a bit of a killer, I honestly use every single scrap of energy I have when I’m working in a studio, but a lot of fun all the same.

With week days up in Manchester the weekends in London have been flying by, I’ve been spending a lot of time on the train (usually editing YouTube videos) and on the weekends I’ve been trying to keep up with projects at home and keep my uploads on YouTube regular.

Outfit 3: 

Polo & Trousers – Spoke London

Shoes – Topman

I had a brilliant weekend down in Brighton for Brighton Pride. Seeing Britney perform was such a highlight. I’ve always loved her since I was a teenager, and haven’t seen her live since her Circus Tour. It was brilliant, and I always enjoy visiting Brighton.

Whilst I was up in Manchester I was invited along by my Instagram friend Medina from the Blog Grillo Design to her launch event for her collaboration with Iconic Lights. It was fantastic timing as I was already in Manchester for work and was great to finally meet her in person along with lots of other inspiring and talented interior bloggers.

Last weekend I forced myself to get the last of the roof terrace finished. It was a long afternoon / evening of painting, drilling, planting and tidying but I’m so glad it’s finished. I’m just keeping my fingers crossed we have a few nice evenings throughout the Autumn so I can sit out there and enjoy it.

And that’s us up to date! I’ve just finished the 8 week job in Manchester (we managed to crack through the schedule so we wrapped early today) so now I’m sitting in the Foundation Coffee House, which is also where I went to one of my first ‘blogger’ events this time last year!

Looking back it’s been a bit of a crazy Summer and I’m looking forward to taking a bit of time out in October. I’ve got some holiday booked and I’ll be spending some time with my family. I’d love to know how your summer went and what you’ve been up to – I hope it was a good one! And are you ready for Autumn yet? Thank you for reading 🙂

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