A LITTLE LIFE UPDATE

It feels like a very long time since I just sat down and bashed out - mind out the gutter, please - a blog post. And I don't mean actually writing a post because a few have popped up here and there over the last few months (more on that later), but I mean the kinda post where you just grab a cuppa, put your headphones in, zone out from the world and just type away. Mindlessly*.

*Hence numerous typos no doubt but in all honesty, in this moment - 2 wines in and deliriously tired - I'm not sure I really care.

Soz grammar police/Mum.

So I thought I'd do a mini life update come ramble of a post, mostly to be like I'M SO SORRY I'VE BEEN SO MIA AND CRAP I PROMISE I'LL BE BACK SOON and partly because I took some photos whilst risking being stung by 34893843 bees, so may as well use them, right?

Work

My blog has been neglected for a long time now. It was my baby, my first ever platform and still to this day, my favourite platform. But with the rise of instagram - my own and as a whole - I found it so ridiculously hard to produce content over there every day, reply to my emails, film youtube videos and blog. And for anyone thinking, how long does it take to take a selfie - yes someone did say that to me recently and yes I managed to respond with punching their balls, go me! - I'm going to give an example. The average instagram for me will involve planning an outfit to specifically match the background, researching a location that I haven't shot at before which also matches my theme, a 2hr round trip to get to said location, recently a 4:30am wakeup call to avoid the summer sun and lots of people, getting the shot (try 2983294824 photos and just managing to find one that you like), 1 hr to edit.... you get the gist. Then add in 4/5hrs of emails per day, negotiating projects, responding to event invites, working out trips, creating content briefs etc. etc. etc. Plus 4ish hours to film and edit an entire video.... I am by no means being a moaning myrtle raving it up at a pity party for one but I guess I'm trying to explain that yes I have been crap at writing posts but it's in no way because I don't love this platform anymore, it's purely because other commitments/work/life has got in the way.

However, I am currently undergoing a huge redesign WHICH I AM SO BLOODY EXCITED ABOUT, which will probably be live within the next few weeks. I am possibly getting some help with emails and content and life admin - I'm going to be that tit that says they can't say anything right now, but I actually can't - so yeah, soon, there will be better and more frequent posts and I am so bloody excited about it.

Other than that, work is good. Amazing in fact. I still feel lucky to wake up every day doing a job I love and I still have to pinch myself that I get to make content and travel the world off of the back of it. There are so many exciting things coming up and I can't wait to take you along with me.
Friends/Life

It's hard to talk about my "personal" life without turning into a little school girl with a crush but things are very very nice (nice is such a crap word isn't it?) right now. 

I mean, look, it hasn't been a bed of - very instagrammable, obvs - roses. I went through a health scare - pre cancerous moles fyi, no you're glamorous - as well as an old school friend sadly passing away from Cancer (for anyone that follows me on Instagram, you'll know what I mean and thank you so much for your support and anyone that donated to her fundraising page for treatment, I am eternally grateful), as well as some shitty friend stuff... it's been a little bit of a rollercoaster. But with the sad has not only come a lot of perspective but also a hell of a lot of good. So yeah, even with all the crap, right now I am probably the happiest I've been in as long as I can remember, and that feels really bloody nice.

I have the best friends imaginable - Ally and Hayley I'm glaring at you in particular - and I'm finally at a point where every single person in my life is exactly the kinda person/people I want to surround myself with. Those that put others first, those who value friendship over stepping up the career/life ladder, those with a kind, honest heart. 

If there's anything I've learnt from the last couple of months, it's that letting negative people/people that do things that put you in a negative mood go from your life is single handedly the best thing you can do for your state of mind. I'll leave this topic with a quote I found recently with summed it up perfectly...

"You are only going to be as good as the people you surround yourself with, so be brave enough to let go of those weighing you down"

Travel

Travel is such a blurred line for me whether it comes under work or life as 99.9% of the trips I do are either for work, or I spend 80% of my time working... but I have been so lucky to travel to some amazing places recently and I have so much more to come. Including, incase you're interested, Santorini, Disney World Florida, Venice and possibly Canada, NYC and Florida (again. I know, I hate myself too). 

So yeah, I guess that's about all my updates. I mean, there might be a couple more that may or may not have contributed to said happiness but that'll all come trickling out soon. For now, thank you so much for anyone that's still stuck with me even though I've been more MIA than Kanye's braincells 99% of the time (lol, imagine if no one but my Mum is around anymore. Oh well, HI MUM). And also... please let me know if there's anything specific you'd like to see over here as I'm always open to ideas.

Thank you so much for reading Mum I can't wait for you to see the new ellenextdoor.com soon!

xx