Change....

Back in January I posted a picture on Instagram after I was tagged to name my 'Word for 2017'. Since I had already written a 'list of change' in place of new years resolutions I thought the obvious choice would be....

 My list was more of a way of writing down the positive changes I wanted to make to my life to make me happier. 2016 was a difficult, disorganised and stressful year so I decided that 2017 was going to be different.

I never thought for one minute that one of the changes would be that I would be made redundant from my job that I've had for the last 13 years!! I don't want to say too much as its been a really difficult time over the last 6 weeks, a lot of crying, soul searching and trying to figure out where it leaves me.

My last day is the 31st and I will be leaving behind a lot of people who have been there when times were rough, who made me laugh and helped me grow as a person. My first day, back in 2004, I was 24 had only been living in Nottingham 6 months and the only person I knew was Mr.B.....I've met some lovely people over the years and made some fantastic friends.

I have learnt a lot about myself over the last 13 years, and there have been times in the past where I almost left to go elsewhere, but I really feel that this time its the best thing to happen. Almost the kick up the arse that I've needed for a long time. I wont be rushing into something else straight away, I'd like to change direction completely, what.....I dont quite know yet but I'm sure I'll figure it out. I've had the most amazing support from Mr.B and my family and friends, I really couldn't have asked for more.

So even though my belly is a mix of feeling scared, excited and sad all in one go, I'm a big believer in everything happens for a reason. Lets hope that reason is a good one ;)

....Emma xxx

The Handmade Fair - Kirstie Allsop

Hello there my lovelies, happy Fri-yay to you all. 

This time last week I had travelled to Ragley Hall in Warwickshire with my lovely friend Andrea to visit The Handmade Fair which is run by Kirstie Allsop (Location, location, location). To be honest the weather wasn't much better than it was today, grey and raining....however that didn't bother us one bit. We were far too excited to see if we could spot Kirstie and we were looking forward to the two workshops we were booked into doing.

Its quite a long time since I visited any kind of craft fair/show and I was particularly looking forward to a bit of girlie time. It was definitely what I needed to give me a boost!!! I mentioned last week that its been a bit stressful for me lately so it was nice to forget about everything and emerge myself in the craft world. We attended Dot daisy painting and Modern Calligraphy workshops and they were great fun, I even bought one of the painting kits so that I could carry on learning at home. The selection of exhibitors in the shopping village tent was fantastic, what I would call 'real handmade' stands. I managed to just about stay in my allowance and bought 2 brooches, a pin cushion, painting kit and I even brought Mr.B a gourmet brownie home. I had the most delicious paella and finished off my day with a portion of churros.....yum!!!

Oh yes and we even bumped into Kirstie!!!!!!!

The only thing that could have made the day better was if the sun was shining......other than that brilliant. Can wait to go again next year :D

.......Emma xxx

Impromptu midweek post....

Hello there my lovelies, I have ummed and ahhhed over writing this post and even deleted it twice. But I'm hoping this time, I actually get to the end and publish it. Here goes.....

If you have followed me on Instagram you will know that over the last year and half I have completely changed my eating habits and started exercising regularly. I managed to lose in total 20lbs and drop two dress sizes, which I was over the moon about!!! Since Christmas I have slowly started to slip back into bad habits. I'm still exercising but I'm really struggling to keep away from sweet treats, weekends are the worst. I'm not making excuses but there is some other shit going on in the background at the moment which could be linked to my loss in focus.

So I decided that if I came clean here that I could draw a line under it and starting from today try to get back on track. So this is me putting the biscuit tin down right now.....

Hopefully I will be able to distract myself with some sewing this weekend to make sure I stay away from the naughty things!

OK I feel better about it all now already writing it down, thanks for reading, lets do this!!!