{one} Monty, our ‘time share’ family dog, ran away this week whilst staying in London with R’s sister. He was missing for a whole, awful night, & I was quite certain he’d been run over, or dognapped, or drowned in the Thames. In an attempt to feel less helpless, I asked all my favourite Twitter types to spread the word, & before long he was getting mentions from the lovely Jon Ronson, Hadley ACTUAL Freeman, India-awesomeness-Knight and, somewhat bizarrely, Kay Burley. All the marvellous London bloggers joined in too, & by the time Monty turned up again – at Canary Wharf, where he was grabbed by a couple of lovely builders – I was on the brink of penning him his own charity single. We’re all elated to have him back, and it goes without saying that we will be fashioning him a giant hamster cage complete with wheel, and never, ever letting him out of the house again.
{two} You may have already noticed, but my site has had a bit of a makeover, thanks to Alfie’s Studio and Station Seven. I’m loving the version of me that this new format seems to suggest – it makes me feel all sophisticated & understated and like I always have lovely shiny hair (I don’t). I’m still working my way through the usual bugs & glitches, so please let me know if you find anything strange – and keep an eye out for more cool stuff still to come!
{three} I quit my job! I still can’t quite believe I did it, but after almost a decade with the NHS I wrote out my resignation and am now officially un- self-employed! I’ve not figured out my job title yet – instagrammarian? content creator? full-time napper? – but I’ll share more of the hows, whys and OHGODWHATNOWs in a proper post soon. Eep!
{four} One of my dream collaborations came true this month when Canon asked me to go along to L’Eroica Britannia with some shiny new toys to take photographs for their Instagram account. You can see my takeover on their account by starting here (& then clicking left).
{five} A bad month for small & fluffy things; first this little bird flew into our window , then Grey-cat brought in a squeaking, bleeding mouse one evening at dusk. R instinctively grabbed it & I asked twitter for advice on how best to euthanise it, but then he began to perk up & now he’s living quite happily in a shoebox in our hall. He’s got a broken back leg, which google tells me will need a few weeks to heal, but I’m hoping we’ll be able to set him free after that. Orla’s in love with him, & we stop by a few times a day to feed him cheese and apple and tell him her latest news.
{six} Sunshine! A heatwave in fact. Orla’s been pretty impressed by the whole thing, adding new phrases to her vocab like ‘paddling pool’, ‘suncream‘, the very specific ‘jelly shoes with glitter on‘ and, most importantly, ‘ice lolly’ – she’s been slighty loopy with sugar & e-numbers ever since. Can anyone point me towards a semi-healthy popsicle recipe I can trick her with? Maybe something involving fruit??
Hope June has been good to you, and full of adventures. Let me know what you’ve been up to, & link me up to your recent posts in the comments below!
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13 Comments
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Faye Larsen
July 07, 2015
Not sure where to begin on all this awesomeness…congrats on taking the leap into full-time instagrammarian and creative type, you are so ready for this and can’t wait to see what you have in store for us. Secondly, that is so excellent that Monty has been found (and that the internet jumped fully on board to help locate him. And umm…India Knight and Hadley Freeman!!) And I will finish by saying the new blog re-design really is tip top. I am excited for summer to land here so I can get (healthy) lolly making too. I even bought some of those wooden lolly sticks for the purpose last year which are still sitting in my draw in an unopened packet because I smashed my blender the day after buying them, such is the way my life generally unfolds. But onwards and upwards as I have now upgraded to a blender PLUS food processor xxx
Lauren - émoi émoi
July 06, 2015
I’m glad you found your dog in the end, and congratulations on quitting your job! That must have been a bit scary, but I hope it all goes well as you adjust to your new life over the next few months 🙂
Lauren
http://en.emoi-emoi.com/blog/
Alexis Allan
July 06, 2015
congratulations – instagrammarian!
TheDaydreamerDiary
July 05, 2015
Wow, the least one could say is that your month has been eventful! Animals did play an important role in it and the good news regarding your mouse (’cause it IS kind of yours now ;-)) and Monty (yours more than ever) cheered me up!
I made these last year for my daughters – fruit Mr. Freeze – instant success: http://www.ilovequeencharlotte.com/2014/06/mr-freeze-aux-fruits-polines-de-fruta.html (I ordered the bags on Amazon and will start making a whole new batch this week probably). Happy Summer to you and your family!
Abigail
July 04, 2015
Wow – the power of the internet! So happy you and your dog were reunited! I love this series of posts – I feel totally caught up now 🙂
So many exciting things ahead now that you’ve quit your job – can’t wait to see your adventures unfold 🙂
http://www.thesnugblog.com
x
Rachael Smith
July 04, 2015
So glad your dog turned up! Sounds like an eventful time for you all, and how exciting about starting a new adventure! Best of luck with it all! I’ve just started blogging for a photography project i got funding for about getting kids outdoors, if you get a minute and fancy checking it out… http://Www.ourbeautifuladventure.co.uk
CaliMel
July 04, 2015
You’re welcome! A girl I know just posted ones that she made with coconut water too, and said her kids love them. They made ice cubes out of the coconut water and fruit to just put in regular water also which looked pretty. I bet they would be nice in fizzy water.
Sara Tasker
July 04, 2015
As I type this, I hear Orla saying to Rory in the background, ‘I want a lolly!’. So suffice to say, this video recipe is going to come in very handy. I love that they look like legit ice lollies! Thanks for sharing.
Yes, some super exciting/scary times ahead! It’s the kind of thing I’d always previously avoided because of my anxiety, but the Monty saga just goes to prove that you can’t avoid anxiety in life, so you might as well just go for it! That’s what I’m telling myself, anyway… 🙂 xx
Clemsy May
July 04, 2015
Hi Sara, I am so glad that little Monty is safe and sound, I can’t imagine how distressing that must have been. Wonderful news about your job too, congratulations… exciting times ahead. I am loving these Green Kitchen Stories Yogurt and Blueberry Popsicles right now; there is a really lovely film on how to make them here: https://youtu.be/4igBKOoX1e4
Sara Tasker
July 04, 2015
Love this idea – pretty pink swirls are right up her street right now, & I’d feel much better about her eating those. Will have a go and report back! x
Sara Tasker
July 04, 2015
Oh that’s a great idea! I wonder if coconut water would work too? I’ve noticed that things taste less sweet once they’re frozen, so they’re all great ideas! Thank you x
laura
July 04, 2015
Congratulations Sara, what a wonderful week! Exciting times! For ice lollies I often make smoothie pops with Greek yog, defrosted frozen berries (the juice makes the lollies pretty and swirly!) and a bit of honey! x
CaliMel
July 04, 2015
Hooray!! Congratulations on the self employment. That’s wonderful. For the popsicles, I’ve seen people use coconut milk and water with fruit in it, or they use fruit infused water and then freeze the fruit pieces in the water as well. I haven’t personally tried them but they look really good, and since it’s not premade juice it has less sugar.