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.

Project 365 2017 #46 & #47

Another backlog of photos this week for weeks 46 and 47 of Project 365 2017!

Day 316
A lovely walk in the Autumn sunshine to the local Toast Office to meet the in laws for a cuppa.
Day 317
An unplanned Monday afternoon run resulted in a 5k PB round the local roads.
Day 318
My usual Tuesday morning run was a solo affair today so I stopped to say hello to the cows.
Day 319
Some bedtime reading to seek some enlightenment.
Day 320
A cheesy affair for dinner tonight with three vegan 'cheeses' on my jacket potato.
Day 321
A gorgeous evening sky tonight.
Day 322
Autumn leaves in Cirencester ahead of another weekend of yoga training.
Day 323
An early start back in Cirencester for a day of assessments - the day didn't start too well with one dead pheasant and a broken grill on the front of my car.
Day 324
Dinner time photo again! Linda McCartney sausage and basil pasta.
Day 325
Back with my running buddy this morning for a 10k full of chatting.
Day 326
The husband bought me some rather lovely vegan chocolate so I had some as a post yoga class treat - I love dark chocolate so much now.
Day 327
Some home yoga practise tonight with some music from the past in the form of the Chemical Brothers.
Day 328
Gong bath tonight which was worth going out in the freezing dark for.
Day 329
A fabulous Saturday teaching yoga followed my a lovely couple of hours down in Glastonbury for the Frost Fayre.

x x x

Project 365 2017 #43 #44 & #45

Three weeks to catch up on for Project 365 2017! That might say something about balancing everything in my life at the moment!

Day 295
Autumn walk with the kiddos to kick off half term.
Day 296
Making eye pillows for yoga.
Day 297
New yoga mat and props.
Day 298
Day trip to Glastonbury.
Day 299
Energy in half term for an 8 mile evening run.
Day 300
Shopping trip to Bath and lunch with my girl.
Day 301
Mindfulness and meditation weekend in Cirencester.
Day 302
Mindful walk.
Day 303
TD day so morning cuppa out with my boy.
Day 304
Halloween pumpkin.
Day 305
Misty morning.
Day 306
Cosy new bedding.
Day 307
Lazy Friday dinner.
Day 308
Bonfire Night yoga.
Day 309
Vegan pancakes for breakfast.
Day 310
Circle of friends.
Day 311
9 mile Autumnal run.
Day 312
Favourite yoga pants.
Day 313
paper crafting with my girl.
Day 314
Lazy Friday dinner - again!
Day 315
New jar of Biscoff!!

x x x

Project 365 2017 #42

Week 42 of Project 365 2017 took us towards the start of the much needed half term break.

Day 288
A walk with the kiddos to the local village Toast Office for a cuppa and cake passing the farm pumpkins and flowers on the way.
Day 289
A busy day teaching yoga then it was time to relax and take part in some yoga in a yurt.
Day 290
Tuesday running was without my buddy today so I pushed myself round the town for 8 miles via the sunny churchyard.
Day 291
A quiet day at work then yoga again tonight. It was so good to be back to my usual class that I have missed for two weeks.
Day 292
A training day at work today and a run tonight with buddy number two - four and a half miles running at night, I am never a fan of running in the dark.
Day 293
Friday and the alarms were switched off! The boy was keen to get on with his homework though - set by Dad who is teaching him guitar.
Day 294
My head was all over the place today so after a lovely morning of yoga teaching we took a family walk around the local fields to let Storm Brian blow our heads clear.

x x x

Project 365 2017 #40 & #41

Weeks 40 and 41 of Project 365 2017 and a busy fortnight of work, teaching and yoga study.

Day 274
Day 2 of my 200hr yoga teacher training course in Cirencester and a lunchtime walk took me past this beautiful hare.
Day 275
Back home and time to write up all my notes from the weekend - I now have Sun Salutations going through my head 24/7.
Day 276
A lovely 7 mile run with my buddy took us down to the cow field in a nearby village - had to stop and say hello like I always do.
Day 277
A nondescript day, apart from illness getting to me again for the second time in as many weeks, and a patio photo of my two year old September birthday plant - quite the record for me to see it still alive.
Day 278
Still feeling sorry for myself tonight so instead of running me and my girl took a walk around town - the local graffiti isn't quite up to Glastonbury standard.
Day 279
Feeling much better today - maybe it was that Friday feeling? The sunrise looked beautiful as I got into the car to drive to work.
Day 280
Another early start and back up to Cirencester for the second weekend of yoga training - the venue is beautiful.
Day 281
A beautiful Sunday morning back at the training venue and the moon was still awake.
Day 282
Back home and a package awaited me at the post office so after a morning of yoga teaching I popped into town to pick up - the walk took me through a lovely old part of town.
Day 283
Tuesday morning run with my buddy again. Another 7 miles - I wanted to throw in the towel at 6 miles but she kept pushing me on, not bad as I hadn't run all week.
Day 284
A big bowl of muesli to fuel my day and get me through late parent's evening at work tonight.
Day 285
A lovely day at work and home to a throw it together type of dinner - spaghetti, peas, Marmite, nutritional yeast and vegan cheese...yum!
Day 286
Friday the 13th! I don't believe in it and I had a lovely day at work again - back home and 6pm comes around and I'm wondering where my supermarket delivery is...I forgot to check out properly when I amended my order last night!
Day 287
A lush morning teaching yoga then this afternoon off to the supermarket and then I finally got around to sorting out our front window after 12 and a half years living here!

x x x