A lot happens in 13 months!!!

I haven't blogged for over a year and today actually realised how much I missed it! There are many reasons I have not blogged, I was thinking it was a little self indulgent, who actually wants to read about my life and what I do. I didn't have the time to do it and the main reason my family of 4 became 3 (my husband left) and it has taken time to adjust and I can now say the three of us are back on track.

Since I last blogged, I have organised lots of events in London, Birmingham and the more glamorous Cannes in the South of France. I took the children on a few holidays (Florida, Le Touquet, London) and we had the most amazing time. I have spent more time socialising and being with my friends. I have brought myself the two Mulberry handbags I have always wanted! And I have adjusted to being a single parent. January 2014 is the start of my new life and it seemed fitting to restart writing again.

So the coming posts will be the trials and tribulations of trying to remain organised, things I love, products / services that review, etc.

DIY & husbands

Unfortunately in my house these two do not go together. Today we had a list of chores that needed doing before winter set in and that we had been putting off. The first involved replacing the felt on the shed roof, now my husband however fantastic he is he is not known for his DIY skills, within 5 minutes of this task I could see it was taking a drastic turn for the worse with the rain pouring down and those mortal words 'well you bloody well do it then'! So me being me did but thankfully he did return with a cup of tea for me and help finish the job!

After a few hours of prepping the garden for winter, clearing out the shed, putting away garden furniture, clearing guttering (see how glam my Saturday is) it was time to chill. I came in to find the two men of the house cosy from their shower snuggled up watching a war movie and as the little lady was at a party I took the opportunity to catch up on my google reader and stumbled across Get organised with Alejandra and found myself gripped to her You Tube videos on different areas of organising. Now this women is super super organised, I think even maybe suffering from OCD. I kinda liked watching the videos but felt they went on for too long. Although watching them did confirm that I needed to buy me a label printer, I have been wanting one of these for ages and having just cleared out the cupboard in the kitchen where the boxes are crying out for labels I thought why not. Plus I love how they look when all labelled.

I shouted to the boys that I would be back in half and an hour and went off to my new favourite store, Staples (I was actually nearly gone an hour and a half)! I set out to research label printers but also wanted to pick up some supplies for organising my recipe folder and also a sneak at the Martha products again.

Only this time I also stumbled across and fell in love with their Arc customisable notebook system. I haven't been happy with my notebook system for work and as my filofax was made redundant last year (I store most stuff on my iphone these days) I still need to make notes when with different clients. The arc systems seems perfect for what I need as you can have zip pockets, different types of paper and business card sleeves (although sold out of these) so I treated myself to an A5 olive green leather cover notebook, dividers and zip pockets.

My new 'arc' notebook system

It is more olive green than the lime green in pic

I also saw some label printer's and was quite keen on one but the packaging didn't really have enough information for my liking so I took the details down and did some more research when I got home. I am pleased to report that after I managed to find exactly the same one on-line for £12 cheaper a purchase was made so now I just have to wait a few days for it to come in the post!

All in all a productive day with the family at home!

All about the heel

Great excitement in the house tonight as it was my daughter's school disco and she was wearing her new pair of Cinderella shoe's. What's so special about the shoes, they are her first with a heel!

She had a fabulous time and was buzzing when she came back and spent the next 30mins going through everything that happened, who said what and showing me the dance routines.

It is moments like this that I wish I could stop time and stop her growing up.

School folders

For my daughter's first school year's I kept a scrap book with photos, certificates and bits she had done but time takes over and to be honest I haven't had the time to keep it up or start one for my son.

Then I came across a fabulous idea on an American blog which unfortunately I can no longer find :(  and with school certificate's and artwork mounting along with school photos that stay on the computer never to be printed I decided to take action.

I purchased two presentation ring binders (one for each child) from Staples these have a clear film covering the outside which enable you to put in your own personalised covers;

Dividers were added for each new school year;

They have photos that were taken at school and due to the digital age we now live in they tend to stay on the computer but I came across the fabulous Martha Stewart Home Office range which is also available in Staples and these sheet protectors are great for displaying photos;

Finally it was time to personalise the covers, I used patterned paper and printed their names within a border on coloured paper and stuck it on to the patterned paper and slotted into the clear film.

Now when ever they come home from school with anything they wish to keep, they file it themselves in their folder and the plan is every couple of months I will update the photos. 

For larger artwork and end of term project books we have a clear artwork carrier to store them in.

Total bliss

After dropping the children off at school this morning, I got on a train with a cup of tea, an interior/homes magazine I love to read and a slice of bread and butter pudding and for one hour I spoke to no one and did nothing other than eat, drink and read... total bliss.

I don't randomly get on trains to do this, I did have a reason, a client meeting in London and although with the train being delayed by 10 minutes I got an extra bit of bliss time it did meaning dashing to meet my client. I was feeling a little nervous as it was the first meeting and will be my first time working with them but thankfully after a very productive if not long meeting, it was then back on the train for more bliss time, reading my mag and lunch before back to reality of being a working mum!

Martha comes to the UK!

I often read on American blogs about Martha Stewart products and have always been envious of the product range which unfortunately we do not get in the UK.

Then on my first trip to our local Staples a couple of days ago I stumbled across the 'Martha Stewart Home office with Avery' range. It had only recently come in and had 40% off all items, I could have cried with happiness seeing the display (see how sad I am).

My mind went into organisation over drive; what could I use the labels for, do I need another note book, if I start a cleaning schedule I could buy the folder and dividers, shall I treat myself to a pen pot!

After calming down, I decided on two large horizontal plastic pocket's which claims to stick to many household services (and they do) to hold my monthly calendar on my wall by my imac and one for the fridge. I also brought the smaller version for holding takeaway menus on the fridge. After only having them up for two days I do wonder how I got by without them!

 




I also purchased some sheet protectors for a children's school folder project I am about to do (post about that later) and kitchen labels for when I finally get round to re-organising my kitchen cupboard!

I have fallen in love with this range and have already thought of other items I will go back for.

Do you know of any other Martha Stewart products in the UK?

Not a day too early!

I had a heavy heart this morning as the little people were going back to school after half term, I am afraid to say this isn't the reason for my heavy heart but the fact I couldn't await to drop them off! I always love school holidays, we chill out and go out on adventures together but we didn't get up to much last week and my two turned from easy going kids to ones that just annoyed the hell out of each other which then in turn wound me up! Thankfully we did finish the holiday with a great day in London yesterday.

I work freelance for a local publishing company and cover a lot of projects for them and had to be in their office for a meeting today. I like going in as I really like the people I work with and it is nice to be 'me' again, wear smart clothes and have adult conversation's. With the children being in different schools I used to find the school run and then going into the office, being corporate and then back to two schools runs really stressful but when they started the autumn term I told myself I would not get stressed about it and just make sure I leave plenty of time rather than backing out of the office door still talking work with minutes to spare! Thankfully I have managed it every time I have recently been in the office... yeah!

Once home they were shattered after their first day back and on top of their late night in London the night before (opp's not great planning on my behalf). So it was tea and early bedtime - yeah!

With the house quiet I was looking forward to a night of catching up on my admin. I went to look for something in my kitchen cupboard that stores all my cook books, craft stuff, candles, napkin rings, ribbons, cotton reels, sewing box, etc - I found myself two hours later opening and closing the door to the cupboard repeatedly, admiring my re-organisation - sad I know! Having gone in it for some ribbon the cupboards were in such a mess that I then spent the next two hours organising them. Funny enough I had brought some storage boxes from the £1 store for when I had time to get round to doing this and they were perfect.

Now, I love before and after photos more than anyone (I am so nosey) but as I did not set out to do this I did not take a photo of the mess before I started and it was a mess, but look at it now!

After a major declutter

Loving my new storage boxes

Bottom shelf hasn't changed but the top two have

Think I need a plant or something by the cookery books and then label the storage boxes and it is done! Oh I also then went on and did the under stairs cupboard now this is really dark and dingy so no pics of that but it did include using some more of my new storage boxes!