Well it’s been a while since I’ve done any kind of yearly, or even monthly, round up style post and to be honest I’m not sure how this one will turn out as I’m still not really ‘feeling it’.

Last year was a big old mix of ups and downs and to be honest I think I’ve come out of it in a similar place to where I was last January, which has left me feeling quite flat. HOWEVER, I know there were happy times and I thought it might be nice to spend a little bit of time to cherry pick some of my fave highlights.

So here are some of the moments that lit up my face last year:

JANUARY

NEW YEAR’S SUNRISE

Spending New Year’s Day watching the sun rise on the beach with Rei. Well worth the early night and driving Buddy in the dark for these views and the most peaceful start to the year..

NEW STUDIO

Getting the keys and moving everything into my new space at Unit 13 was both the most exciting and daunting thing of last year. Whilst I LOVE having a dedicated work space and being in a building full of wonderful creatives, I really miss working at home with the cats and the added expensive during such an uncertain time will always be a worry.

It’s almost a year since I moved in though and things are still going well. This is one of my favourite views when the sun is shining and although I’d very much like to knock a hole in the wall so I can have a window during the darker months, I’m forever grateful for this space.

FEBRUARY

WET + WILD WEDDING IN WINDERMERE

I had the absolute honour and joy of taking my paints up to the Lake District for a wonderful wedding. The weather was wet and wild up in Windermere but painting portraits brightened my weekend no end, and hopefully provided a bit of sunshine for the guests and happy couple too!

Rei also had an absolute blast exploring Windermere and chasing her frisbee around in torrential rain and wind strong enough to blow her away!

GO GO POWER RANGERS

Towards the end of the month I was invited to a 40th Birthday Party with the best theme ever - I love the 90’s. I bloody love fancy dress, honestly, I miss the days of uni parties and my bottomless fancy dress box! There were so many choices with such a fun theme but I decided to dress up as a Power Ranger… the yellow one obvs!

It was so much fun and although I spend most of the night sat in the corner chatting and giggling, because I’m not a natural dancer, I had the best time and it was a fun way to round off a pretty shitty month.

MARCH

PEAK DISTRICT GIGGLES

Starting March with more laughs and the best night out at the beautiful Buxton Opera House watching Ed Gamble perform. his brilliant stand up show, Electric. Even thought I’d seen his initial two ‘practice’ shows in London (Oct at the Black Heart) and Cambridge (Jan at Cambridge Junction), I laughed so hard my stomach hurt and tears rolled down my face. My goodness, I love that man.

We also enjoyed two beautiful hikes, one around The Roaches and another along Dragon’s Back whilst we were up in the Peak District. It’s such a beautiful part of the country, I never get bored of exploring here!

BACK OUT THERE

Craft and Flea in Cambridge was my first market of the year and a bloody brilliant one at that. These events are always so well organised with such great footfall and it was the perfect way for me to get back into the swing of things after the studio move.

APRIL

IT FINALLY GOT ME

OK, so getting covid might not sound like a highlight but the time off allowed me to ‘pimp my ride’ and give Super Hans Solo a little sunny make over. To be fair, there wasn’t that much work to do but given how poorly Covid made me feel, that’s definitely a good thing!

ANTI SOCIAL AS SUP

Two things kept my sane (sane as I can be that is) during my isolation time and that was walking Rei at ungodly hours of the morning and Sunrise Paddles - nobody else wants to get up at 04:30 and that’s fine with me!

Granted, I could only really manage a paddle towards the end of my second week being sick as it really did knock me for six. But even the shortest, most gentle of paddles soothed my soul and busy brain.

MAY

May brought another wonderful road trip for more brilliant wedding portraits, down in Kent this time and as it fell the day before my birthday, it was the perfect excuse to take Buddy and spend the rest of the weekend by the sea.

Waking up to skies like these and welcoming my 38th year in this weird old world was pretty awesome. I felt very lucky to be treated to such a sky show as the rest of the weekend was rather grey and soggy!

NEW THINGS

May was also the month I popped my cherry a couple of times. No I’m not an almost 40 year old virgin, get your heads out of the gutter! I got my very first skate board..

I suck but I can at least stand up and move on it and that’s something my 15 year old self would be proud of!

I also went to my first gig alone. I’m not really sure why I’ve never done this before. I guess I’ve always had folk who wanted to go to the same gigs with me but when my friend was sick at the last minute, it occurred to me that going alone was something out of my comfort zone.

I went anyway though, and seeing Sleep Token and Architects (two of my favourite bands), live on stage, especially after what feels like an eternity of missing out on live gigs, was INCREDIBLE. I sang my little heart out with no shits given and had the best time!

JUNE

Carrying on the music theme and heading to Slam Dunk festival with two of my favourite human beings was a massive high light this year. So many amazing bands, such a great atmosphere and a day full of unexpected sunshine and daft dancing to punk rock and metal madness!

hello NATIONAL TRUST

June was also the month I accidentally got myself the job I never knew I needed! I wasn’t looking for work at all but when a Facebook advert popped up asking me if I’d like to spend my lunch breaks at Anglesey Abbey, it caught my attention. Mostly because I LOVE our local National Trust and who wouldn’t want to be paid to spend a day or two a week in such beautiful surrounding and be part of something so special?

It’s a stark contrast to most of my days working on my business as I’m generally alone in my studio space and being a Welcome Assistant at one of the busiest National Trust properties is… well.. full of people! As an introvert I was worried how I might cope but honestly, it’s one of the happiest, most hilarious roles I’ve ever done - the team, the customers, the surroundings, it’s something else!

There is never a dull moment and I can’t quite believe I get to be part of somewhere so brilliant - they look after me so well and I always look forward to my peaceful lunch breaks in the beautiful grounds.

JULY

STOCKIST STALKING

A trip up North, brought a lovely evening spent celebrating a friend’s wedding and a fun trip over to Yorkshire Sculpture Park, where I stock some of my laser cut and enamel jewellery. It was so nice to see my work on display and explore the grounds!

BUDDY ON THE BEACH

From up North to down South (west) we also enjoyed a weekend away in Buddy and were treated to some gloriously sunny days on the coast. It was the start of that insane heatwave earlier this year so we didn’t do much but a 6am stomp up and around Brean Down provided much needed fresh air and views.

We also got to park Buddy on a beach, which felt quite surreal (and was quite tricky when we got stuck in the sand on the way in) but it was a stunning way to spend a sunny day by the sea. Seeing Buddy on the wide sands, agains the blue skies and enjoying playing in the sea with Rei so close by was pretty magic.

AUGUST

GET OUT OF BED BITCH, GO!

If you’ve been around here long enough, you’ll already know about my love affair with Scotland and a trip to Glasgow fuelled that even more in August. Not only did I get to explore one of my favourite cities, catch up with friends, and eat all the things, I also got to see this god of a man… Marc Rebillet.

One of the most insane, hilarious, random gigs I’ve ever been to (alone) and possible one of my top 3 faves of all time! The weather turned out to be absolutely blinding too, so on my last day I took the train over to Edinburgh and went to the beach.

It was a pretty special day too - Pizza, Pants and Vest swim in the sea and a cheeky Porty Vault trip, which resulted in me bumping into and awkwardly chatting to Ed Gamble *swooooon*. Even my awkward potato self and underwear soaking through my clothes couldn’t put a dampener on that moment - sorry Ed!portraits and market weekend

WORKING WEEKENDS

Between working at Anglesey Abbey, painting at another wonderful wedding and heading to another market, there were a lot of working weekends over the Summer. But when you get to take home pretty pompom flowers, see so many smiling faces and eat your heart out at one of your favourite street food markets, it’s really no so bad.

SEPTEMBER

JAILHOUSE ROCK

The hardest month of the year as we lost my Mama. After a Summer of watching her deteriorate though, it was a blessing to know she was finally off to join my grandad again. And I’ll never forget the Vicar’s face as her coffin disappeared to sound of Jailhouse Rock by Elvis - she would have loved it!

I miss her every day but I know she is up there, smiling her beautiful big smile, probably clutching her handbag full of sauce sachets and crisps whilst singing to Elvis and buttering up some cobs for Grandad. Thank you for letting me paint your nails before you went and for all the wonderful memories, Mama.

SEA, SAND and HAIRLOSS

Exploring the Northumberland coast was a welcome escape but quite a bittersweet trip overall as it was where I was when I found out Mama had left us and the day after that news, I discovered my hair had been falling out (again).

I know, this doesn’t seem like a highlight either but it is because it highlighted that once again, I’d been ignoring signs of stress and anxiety for too long and my body decided it’d had enough.

It was the start of another self care journey, one I’m currently struggling to navigate now - I have a lot of work to do and things to figure out in my noisy brain but I’ll save those thoughts for another time, when I’m feeling strong enough to share them.

OCTOBER

MONTH OF MUSIC

October was a good month for live, local music as I enjoyed 3 gigs in Cambridge. First up was super fun cheesy rock night at Cambridge Junction seeing Monster Truck, supported by Those Damn Crows (who I actually enjoyed more than the main act).

Next up was my all time favourite dreaded red-head, Newton Faulkner who was also at the Junction. I’ve seen him perform so many times now and each time he blows me away - what a voice, what a skill and what a bloody nice chap all round! I’m not ashamed to say I cried quite hard when he played ‘I Need Something"‘, a song that really hit me hard then and still does now.

The third gig was a at an awesome new rock n Roll venue in Cambridge. The Six Six Bar is like all of my Nottingham favourite haunts rolled into one small but perfectly put together bar. I walked in and as cheesy as it sounds, felt right at home. My face and soul lit up watching Roshambo, a UK SkaCore band perform! I’d never seen them before but combining a mix of my favourite music genres and with the most fun-filled, enthusiastic stage presence, how could I not love them?!

LOVELY LOWESTOFT

I was invited to take part in a lovely market at a brand new venue earlier in the year and I can honestly say, East Point Pavilion is one of the nicest venues I’ve had the pleasure of setting up my Sunshine stall in. It was a really well organised and attended event too, despite the awful rain on the day - I had a brilliant time!

As an added bonus we took Buddy so we could camp over at by a nearby beach the night before - it was a real treat being so close to the sea and watching Rei enjoy charging about on the sand.

NOVEMBER

CHRISTMAS CRACKERS

As most small businesses will know, Christmas usually starts in the Summer and by the time November hits it’s full on madness. This year I felt it more than ever though with events creeping up on me before I knew it and sales being better than I had anticipated.

It was a wonderful whirlwind of a month work-wise and I’m so grateful people are supporting small businesses and happy to be out and about shopping again after such a weird couple of tears in and out of lockdowns.

WONDERFUL WALES
Amidst the madness, I was lucky enough to escape to Wales for a long weekend with some of my favouirte faces.

The weather was a bit wet and windy but we enjoyed sunny spells too and a cracking fish and chip supper by the sea one night - the giant pickles were a definite highlight!

DECEMBER

BEST MARKET EVER

I was lucky enough to get a spot at Ely Cathedral Christmas Market this year and as much as people had told me how big, busy and brilliant it always was, I never imagined it would be as successful for me. It was 4 days long, one of the longest events I’ve ever done and it was fucking incredible.

The venue was stunning, the crowds non-stop and the fact I sold out of sweary Christmas jumpers in a cathedral within the first day was as funny as it was mind-blowing. Thank you so much, Ely - I hope you’ll have me and my swears again next year!

WINTER LIGHTS

Another absolute highlight and bonus of working for the National Trust at Anglesey Abbey is that I got to see and work the Winter Lights several times and it was AMAZING!

“Nature by Night, Nature by Light is a beautiful, sensory after-dark journey that brings the gardens and creatures of @angleseyabbeynt to life in all their wonder. Nature from the Lost Words and Lost Spells books thread throughout the experience with songs, poems, sculpture and magical projections.”

A few years ago I bought The Lost Words by Robert Macfarlane for a number of small humans in my life and it’s one of the most beautiful books ever! So to see it come to life in a place I’ve come to love so much this year… well it’s a bit bloody special

WRAPPING UP

Not a bad year overall when you take a peek at some of these lovely moments and memories. Don’t get me wrong, there have been very dark and shadowy parts of my year too but the main reason I take so many photos is so I can look back and remind myself there’s always a bit of light and hope during those darker times.

So, whatever 2023 my bring, and however I may feel along the way, here’s to capturing and sharing many more happy memories and moments - no matter how big or small.

Happy New Year!

☀️