I woke up on Friday morning to an email from Oliver Bonas.

‘Thank you for your order!’ it said.

Wait what?

I looked at the time of the email – Thursday at 11.19pm.

Ah.

Apparently I had been feeling particularly decadent at 11.19pm because this is what I bought:

Well. That all looks lovely doesn’t it? View Post

Although the general vibe of my house is cosy and colourful, since I had the wardrobes fitted and had to clear the entire contents of the room, my bedroom has been decidedly minimalist.

You might remember I shared some pictures after I’d done a little makeover and all I had was my newly spray painted pink bed, a rose gold coloured floor lamp and a plain, white bedside table. (Check out the post if you want a nose.)

Not a huge amount has changed, although I do now have a matching bedside table on the other side, complete with Swiss cheese plant. I love the architectural style of these, and feel like they’re perfect for adding a soft touch whilst keeping that sparse style.

Apart from that, I’m still open to ideas.

Essentially I don’t think I want to add too much at all as I love how clean and tranquil it feels. I want the bedroom to be an escape from the physical and emotional clutter of day to day life – somewhere clean and clear and beautiful. Comfort obviously is key, so the bed has to be GOOD and I want the best mattress I can afford.

I love fresh flowers in the room, for a little injection of colour and a connection with the outside world, so this is something I want to incorporate. View Post

What’s the first thing you do when you wake up?

Have a little stretch maybe, check to see how many people have liked that picture of some wisteria that you posted on Instagram just before bed, get up and make a cup of tea – all totally normal things to do, but all things we take for granted.

Generally I would say that I’m a very optimistic, motivated kind of person. You have to be I think to run your own business – you need to be on the ball and prepared to manage your time well, to keep yourself going no matter what. But there have also been periods in my life when I’ve not felt so great.

About three years ago I went through a particularly difficult time. I’d had a relationship break down, work was very busy and I had just moved house, to a new town. I started experiencing horrible anxiety, which I’d never had before. I’ve had short periods of being depressed, but the anxiety was new and I did NOT like it. For several months even doing the most basic of things felt really scary.

I would wake up every morning really early – at about 5am – and immediately feel terrified. I didn’t really know what OF, but I could feel the adrenaline pumping and over and over in my head I was saying ‘I don’t know what to do, how will I cope? I can’t cope.’ I’m sure this is more common for a lot of people than we like to believe, but I think the fact that it was so out of character for me made it worse – I had no coping mechanisms and no idea of what to do to make myself feel better, or even if I ever WOULD feel better.

I remember one morning lying in bed, crying, thinking I would go downstairs to make a cup of tea. That’s a simple enough thing to do isn’t it? Except it wasn’t. I managed to get to the kitchen and switch on the kettle, but I couldn’t stop crying and just couldn’t see how I would be able to make the cup of tea without something terrible happening. Because something terrible WAS going to happen, I was sure. Looking back I can’t even quite describe it – it seems such a simple thing not to be able to do – and yet I just couldn’t. I went back upstairs, still crying. I couldn’t even make a cup of tea. What was I going to do? How would I ever be able to work?

Just BEING felt overwhelming. View Post

I always *think* clothes review posts are a good idea. I get the clothes, and it’s exciting – ‘ooh I got new clothes!’ – and then I remember that I have to take pictures of myself wearing them, and I only have Belle to take them. (I could quite do with a boyfriend who also happens to be a professional photographer. Please apply in the comments with examples of work.)

When I put on my first items from Elvi, Belle was on hand to give me the confidence boost I needed.

‘You look just like Gran in that!’

Thanks Belle. (No offence Gran, but you ARE in your late sixties. Also, Belle meant me and not the clothes.)

I tried a variety of awful poses, while Belle clicked away. ‘I think it would be better if you held the camera straight,’ I suggested meekly,’ because I’m a grown up?’

‘I’m just trying to get an angle where your hair doesn’t look so thin,’ she reassured me.

Awesome.

I figure this must be the angle that Belle thinks makes my hair look best

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This week I had one of those moments where you feel like the universe is trying to tell you something.

I was having a bit of a funny morning one day, where I was feeling a bit unsure about something, and just kind of wandering about feeling twitchy and indecisive. I decided to go into Waterstones, because really, when DOESN’T looking at books make you feel better?

The first display I saw was this one:

That book stands out a bit really doesn’t it?

I had a bit more of a mooch. I picked up a book at random and opened it at a random page. This page in fact: View Post

When we moved into our new house, the garden had a very distinct look. I’m going to call it ‘prison yard chic.’

Now for some people, the idea of a square of gravel might be bliss – no grass to cut, no plants to maintain – but for me, not so much. Our living room runs the width of the back of the house and has a very big window. I didn’t especially want to sit on the sofa and gaze out onto this:

Nope.

I wanted a TROPICAL PARADISE.

I described it to my friend Lucy, and she drew me some stratgeic plans: View Post

A couple of weeks ago I did something that was pretty disgusting but potentially very interesting. I filled a tube with spit and then I took a sample of my own poop.

Even better, I then put both of them in the post.

You want to date me RIGHT NOW DON’T YOU?

I’m not going to go into too much detail about how exactly I did it, suffice to say that it wasn’t the most glamorous of occasions. On a scale of 1 to 10, with 1 being receiving an award at a glitzy ceremony and 10 being the time I accidentally pooped a little bit on a midwife whilst giving birth, it was a strong six. However, when my samples arrive at the Atlas Biomed lab for analysis I’m going to find out some very interesting things about my DNA and my gut bacteria.

It’s kind of weird really that those are both something that for nearly 40 years I’ve known pretty much nothing about, given how key they both are to how my body works. Both are unique, and important factors in things like disease risk, and yet we wander around, oblivious to what’s going on behind the scenes. View Post

Here are some things I love:

1. Books
2. Winter evenings when it’s cosy indoors

For this competition, 1 + 2 = EIGHT books to keep you busy as the evening draw in and you find yourself at home, wondering if it’s okay to watch three episodes of the Dynasty remake back to back.

It’s not really okay guys. Switch the TV off and do something wholesome instead, like enter this competition and learn how to make a bunch of paper flowers.

This competition is brought to you in partnership with The Book People, who I absolutely love. They are such a staple for me, especially in the run up to Christmas, that the top shelf of my wardrobe turns into a big pile of The Book People boxes during November and December. You could do most of your Christmas shopping with them I reckon, and at the same time look way more generous than you actually are, as everything is such a bargain.

In today’s competition, I’ve chosen eight craft related books, which you could either keep for yourself or give away as gifts. I’d recommend going for a general browse through their craft books craft books too though, as there is so much to choose from that picking out these eight was HARD.

So, here’s what we’ve got: View Post