I just realised that the name of these monthly posts doesn’t really make sense! I mean, they should probably be called ‘goodbye whatever month’ rather than ‘hello’ but seeing as nobody has pointed that out to me yet and they’ve been going a couple of years maybe I’ll just gloss over it for the rest of 2019.

Anywho, another month has been and gone and it’s time for me to spend a bit of time reflecting on what happened. As with the previous couple of posts I’ve picked some work-time and play-time happies to share with you all on this mighty Autumnal day. I absolutely adore Autumn, especially when the the sun shines bright and there’s a chill in the air. It’s the perfect weather for me and the skies are just incredible… you’ll see what I mean shortly but before I share all the sunsets, let’s start with a bit of work.

work-time happies

YIKES! I’m in a magazine

At the start of the month, the shiny new Mollie Makes magazine came out and the beautiful photos Holly took of me, the kitties, my studio and Buddy were in it.

You might remember me sharing a peek at these back in March but we had to keep them all to ourselves for SO LONG because Mollie Makes wanted to feature them and interview me - I still can’t get over it to be honest! I’m over the moon and beyond grateful to Holly for her fantastic camera skills (as always) and to Lottie Storey for the lovely write up.

If you don’t already know about Mollie Makes, it’s a brilliant lifestyle magazine, filled with creative projects, recipes, home and fashion inspiration so if any of you lovely lot managed to grab a copy, I hope you enjoyed the the little section of Sunshine!

It’s probably worth adding that in all my excitement chatting to Lottie, I jumbled my words (shock!) and the article says I went full-time with my business in 2018 but I’ve actually been full-time Sunshine since April 2015. That’ll teach me to get over-excited and not proof read things properly!

it’s beginning to look a lot like…

OK so Christmas has been brewing here at Sunshine Towers for a few months now but everything came together earlier this month as I was getting ready for another catch up with the lovely Holly Booth.

I had the pleasure of spending a day in Holly’s BEAUTIFUL studio, catching up, drinking all the tea and cuddling Remi, Margot and Juno. Holly worked her magic and created some beautiful shots of the shiny new festive treats I’d been making and I CANNOT WAIT to share them all with you in the coming weeks!

portraits in the broads

I was lucky enough to be asked to paint portraits at a BEAUTIFUL wedding and venue this month. I met Steffi through one of the SUPer whale socials earlier this year and we’ve been paddling together a couple of times and when she asked me to paint at her wedding I was OVER THE MOON!

Langley Abbey in Norfolk is a stunning little venue and we had bright Sunshine all day! It was such a pleasure painting so many wonderful guests and chatting to everyone for a couple of hours. I was also super chuffed about taking my little pop up stand with me - I was particularly please with how cute it looked outside in the sunshine.

You guys probably know how much I love painting at weddings by now and even though it means I have to work some weekends I really don’t mind - especially when The Beard tags along and we can bring Buddy!

After the wedding we drove out to Reedham and took Buddy on his first ferry trip! YAY! It was the tiniest ferry and only a couple of minutes to cross the river but it was great fun! I think Buddy liked it anyway and we had a lovely time watching the sun go down before enjoying a fabulous supper at The Reedham Ferry Inn, where we were also camping for the night.

The following morning I was up super early thanks to my bladder but my goodness was I glad it woke me up because the sunrise was just insane! I toddled over to the river bank by the ferry dock and watched the sky change through the most amazing fiery colours as the sun came up. It was so peaceful with just the sound of birds, I even had a visit from a kingfisher! I took a little video of the dawn chorus I enjoyed, which you can listen to/watch over on instagram here.

I guess that last work highlight turned into a non-work happy in the end but a lot of work makes me happy so I suppose it’s OK to mash it up a bit.

play-time happies

norway

I won’t waffle on about this too much as I’ve only just published my ‘Norway Adventures’ post but in case you missed it… we went to Norway at the start of September and it was BLOODY AMAZING!

You can read all about our adventures and what we got up to HERE but if you’re hanging on to read about the rest of the month I’ll just leave you with this snap of me, The Beard (if you can spot him) and the kitties hiking up to Trolltunga!

SUPtember

I’m so happy that I got to enjoy lots more playtime with Quaver this month! As the nights have drawn in over the month it means we’ve had some lovely sunset paddles, complete with bat watching.

The snack game has been strong too, especially after our trip to Norway!

To help combat holiday blues, I also had a day out at Houghton Mill with my friend, Alex. It felt like the perfect summer’s day, the sun was out, it was warm enough to rock my Batako swimsuit and shorts and we spent the whole day paddling around the rivers and streams surrounding the beautiful Mill.

I felt a bit like we were in a wildlife show too, there were so many amazing birds, (we watched a heron catch his breakfast), there are tonnes of fish and we even saw a seal! A SEAL! Honestly, I nearly fell of my board when Alex said the bobbing thing in the water was a seal - I didn’t believe him and I think he was joking at first until we both realised it was!

Sadly I didn’t get any photos but we saw him (or her) bob up the surface a couple of times and apparently it’s a common occurrence at Houghton Mill. People hope to get a glimpse of the seal(s) each year as they visit.

But I did get photographic evidence of my headstand skills on Quaver (thanks Alex!) and although my legs aren’t quite straight, I’m well chuffed I didn’t stack it!

This time of year is just so beautiful and being out on the river in the golden sun drenched afternoons was pretty special - even if our last paddle did include some sideways rain and epic winds before the sun showed its face and treated us to a rainbow!

we’re on a podcast

Crikey! With being in a magazine AND being asked to record a podcast this month, I feel like I’m in some sort of weird dream! I would normally put any interview-type stuff under work-related happies but this is more about Buddy and The Beard and was basically us hanging out with friends for an afternoon, so it definitely doesn’t feel work related.

Our lovely friends Mike and Andrea came to visit us in Cambridge with their beautiful camper, called Rocky. Mike runs a fabulous business called Way Out Westie where he offers aircooled engine servicing and runs workshops for VW Campers.

We first met on a Bearded Outdoors Hike (thanks to our mutual friends, Joe & Sam!) and have kept in touch since. We popped along to the Just Kampers Show to visit Mike and Andrea earlier this year and basically could have chatted for hours - it was then Mike invited me to chat to him for his podcast so we set up a date!

I was a bit nervous, as I always am about speaking and being recorded but it was SO MUCH FUN! The fact it wasn’t just me talking as The Beard joined in too, made it just a casual chat with friends and we covered all things from Science (Will’s work) and Sunshine (my work) to adventure planning and sh*t… yes I brought the toilet talk for a shock.

Mike also ran a mini workshop for us, which I was really excited about. Will has already taught himself and learned so much about Buddy and his engine but I am quite clueless. I’m super keen to educate myself though and even after the short time Mike spent explaining how to service the engine, I feel confident having a bash myself next time Will is tinkering.

I’m also hoping to book me and Buddy in for a full 1-2-1 workshop too - that’s if Mike will have me!

You can check out Mike’s awesome podcast HERE and if you head to episode 4, that’s where you’ll find us jabbering on and giggling in the back of Buddy.

food glorious food

This might seem a bit random but as I was flicking back through my photos, I noticed a helluvalot of food shots. I mean, food is a big part of my life most months but it struck me that September has been an excellent one for good looking snacks. Here’s a cheeky peek at some of the delights sampled this month…

Last weekend I also got to spend the day hanging out with one of my faves, Claire, who is working on a very special blog post right now - it may or may not contain lots of melted cheese. More on that soon but in the mean time keep an eye on Claire’s blog for cheesy updates!

I hope you’ve enjoyed the round up if you got this far and thank you all for your lovely comments and messages about the magazine feature, my fitness blog post and generally for all being awesome with your continued sunshine love and support!

YOU ARE AMAZING!

☀️