Long Overdue Return To The Blogging World

Wow oh wow, I'm not quite sure how I managed to forget all about blogging since October last year and we are now in February already, crazy! I have spent the last few days having a huge catch up on everyone's blogs that I follow and do hope you're all well.

I am determined to get back into blogging as I found it a great way of recording what I had been up to as well as a good way of spending some time to relax and read everyone else's lovely blog posts.

Since my last blog post where I mentioned that Jack and I got engaged, I haven't done much in the way of wedding planning, I'm actually rather terrible at it and need a kick up the butt! Jack and I have done quite a bit of discussing about what we both like and have said that we would like to get married in June 2018, so a good 16 months away but that will soon come around and I like to be organised so I'm hoping we can get a lot sorted out soon. We're sticking to a budget and don't want some big fancy showy wedding as that's just not us; we're all about love, family and food quite honestly! So if we have all of them at the wedding then that would be perfect! I'm also terribly shy and I'm already feeling sick at the thought of everyone looking at me but I suppose I will have to get over that, or that's what everyone keeps telling me anyway! As and when we have more plans I will of course share them with you on here and any advice is greatly appreciated from your own experiences of planning for a wedding!

I have also changed jobs since my last post. I was feeling incredibly unhappy in my previous job even though I had only been there for eight months, but it just wasn't for me and it started to really make me question whether I want to do accountancy for the rest of my life - the thought actually made me feel rather depressed in all honesty! I was however approached by a local community-run village shop & cafe about whether I would like to take on their accounts. I thought that this may be a little more interesting than management accounting that I had been doing (analysing, budgeting, forecasting, blah blah - no offence to anyone who enjoys that!) and the shop also asked whether I would be interested in taking on the assistant manager role in the shop and cafe. I did a couple of trial days to see what I thought of it (it's been a long time since my days working in the retail giant Next but I think these came in handy) and I really enjoyed myself. And so I accepted both roles and have been working there since late November. I'm absolutely loving it there. The shop is wonderful and the people I work with are all so friendly and helpful. It's a busy little shop an cafe for a village but word of mouth means a lot and I think it's beginning to become better known now. It's in a very pretty location too so if you do happen to be in the West Berkshire area then do pop in, the shop is called the Hampstead Norreys Community Shop and their Facebook page is here; https://www.facebook.com/Hampstead-Norreys-Community-Shop-157054151020624/ The website is currently going through a re-design if not I'd have given you that. It's a great little place anyway and does a lot to support the local community and stock local produce. We have local artists and crafters that sell their wares in the shop too and they have already asked me if I would like to sell some of my crochet items in there, so I really must pull my finger out and get busy making things! To say I'm a lot happier job-wise is an understatement, it's just so good to have the variety of working in the shop for a couple of days each week and then my other days I work from home completing their accounts, plus it is only two villages away from where we live, happy girl I am! The accounts side has given me a lot of stress initially as there was no accounting software used so I'm in the process of setting this up and getting a better system in place, at the moment it feels like I'll never catch up but I'm really enjoying the challenge of it all. Jack is very relieved to see me much happier about work these days too!

Life at home is all good; we have continued with decorating jobs and I did so much glossing one week that I think I gave myself a throat infection from all the fumes! I have painted the hallway and landing magnolia instead of the white it was previously as white just shows up every little grubby mark, especially with animals in the house! We have been busy filling in the holes and cracks in one of the hallway cupboards which Jack is turning into a pantry for me. It sits right next to the kitchen and I have so much baking and cooking equipment that I'm rapidly running out of space in the kitchen cupboards so I'm very excited at the prospect of my very own pantry! I've shown Jack some photos of pantry ideas on Pinterest and he says I always like to pick the most complicated of designs, but I'm quite sure he loves the challenges I give him! The back garden is looking rather dull and drab which is always the case at this time of the year. I'm counting down to when Spring arrives and there's a little more colour and a little less moss out there. I've just treated myself to some vegetable and flower seeds and I plan on sewing some seeds in the warmth of the conservatory when I get a spare weekend.

Spare time at the moment isn't in plentiful supply because a new bundle of fluff joined our household at the weekend, everyone meet Nigel!

Nigel

He's a gorgeous and playful Border Collie, currently eight weeks old. We first met him and his siblings at four weeks old and really fell for him. His markings were gorgeous and his Mum had such a lovely personality. We always intended on getting a Border Collie this year and had been researching for ages to find the right breeder. The breeder he came from is wonderful, a lovely family with a passion for Border Collies. They only breed to continue their own lines and show their own as well as do some judging too. Nigel's Dad is a very handsome chap also from showing lines and he has show champions in his bloodlines too which is why I'm now considering giving showing a go when he's old enough as an extra activity. Barry adores playing with other dogs though he is initially nervous around bigger dogs, which is why it will be nice that Nigel will grow up here with us and Barry will no doubt be boss! We brought Nigel home on Saturday and Barry absolutely adores him! They play lots and Nigel is a real live wire! A fearless explorer in the garden and wants to eat EVERYTHING!

Sleeping Buddies

Puppies are certainly hard work but so rewarding too. I'm sure both Barry and Nigel will continue to feature heavily on my blog as they're such big parts of our lives! Just as my tortoises are too; they successfully hibernated for 7 weeks over December and January and are back to running around now and chomping away on strawberries and the extra goodies I have been giving them.

I think that's enough in terms of the updates for today; keep all your blogging too as I so love to read all of your posts, I will get around to some comments later on.

Speak soon!

Em x