Getting back to blogging

It's been 941 days since I last blogged but today felt the urge to check back in.

It has taken me over an hour to login successfully having forgotten passwords, trying to find which email this blog is linked to, and what platform it's running on; I blame my age and time of life as a female for most of that!

So, where have I been?

Since 26th August 2018 I have quit my teaching career, retrained, set up my own business, stepped away from said business due to the impact of Covid-19, taken on a new job to fill the gap, tried something new, left a job within two weeks as it wasn't working for me, and finally settled into a new post which gives me a great home and worklife balance - for which I am truly grateful. 

I don't run like I used to but instead have found a real love for walking.

The children are no longer little but instead have flourished and are now into full teen territory.

We still haven't moved to Cornwall but instead have bought a small wood in neighbouring Devon.

The sun is shining, Spring is here, I have a smile on my face and after a rather bizarre 12 months of uncertainty, lockdowns, clapping on doorsteps, home learning, back to school, back home again, burst bubbles and all the related stresses and strains on everybody I am now really looking forward to 2021.

I do love making plans and writing lists so here's just a snippet of my 2021 intentions:

• embrace the outdoors more and more each week
• find more walks close to home
• camp in our little woodland
• begin to walk the South West Coast Path

 

As I approach the halfway mark of my forties I am going to give myself some goals to work towards, or hopefully achieve, before I hit the big five zero.  There are just a few on this list already:

• wild camp
• walk The Ridgeway continuously
• walk the South West Coast Path continuously
• get back to New England

A girl has to dream right?!

Soul Circus Yoga & Wellness Festival 2018 {Review}

Sat here, on a chilly wet Sunday morning, my mind takes me back to last weekend when the sun was shining down on a small and cosy yoga and wellness festival in the west of England.

Soul Circus Yoga and Wellness Festival returned for their third year at their home in Elmore, Gloucestershire. Easily accessible off junction 12 of the M5, the festival soon takes you away from the hustle and bustle of everyday life.

The festival, run by husband and wife team Roman Wroath and Ellie Guilding, has grown in size slightly over the last three years but not too much to take away from the intimacy and friendliness of the whole site area. Add to this the fact that the Soul Circus crew and ambassadors are all a smiley and approachable bunch and you've got yourself a warm and welcoming festival suitable for all; whatever your age, yoga background or previous experiences.

Camp Bestival 2018 {Review}

This morning I woke up in a bed I hadn't planned to be in. Now before you get too excited, this bed was my own at home - but I should have been waking up in my cosy tent bedroom in the grounds of Lulworth Castle having slept off the last day of Camp Bestival 2018. But, the British weather struck in the way that only British weather can. We should have known really with the school summer holiday just beginning. The stark change from the barmy heatwave to incoming coastal winds and sideways rain meant that the festival was shut down on Sunday afternoon due to safety issues on the festival site - the campsite was a fairly precarious place to be too with damaged tents and flying gazebos. This obviously left 1000s of families gutted, including me as the Sunday has always been my favourite day where I spend the day sleepily wandering around finding those last minute things to do and taking lots of photos before it ends. However, the three days that preceded the shut down was full of glorious weather and we had the most amazing time!

Yoga, Soul Circus and where I've been!

So, it's been nearly 7 months since I posted here and quite a lot has changed. Stepping back from the blogging world just slowly happened as other events in my life took over. There was no big 'I'm escaping from social media and finding time for myself' - other things came into my life and the focus went elsewhere. Which leads me to the yoga adventure...

As well as my children's yoga qualification, I am now a qualified adult yoga teacher having successfully completed my 200hr YTT in Cirencester back in April. This has led to me slowly stepping away from my classroom teaching job and increasing my time in schools spreading the yoga love to hundreds of local children; a job that I simply adore. I am slowly building up adult classes in my local village hall as well as some amazing yoga by the lake sessions at a nearby creative business work-space. To say I'm pretty happy in my new career would be quite an understatement.