It is with a heavy heart that I’m here to announce the closure of my little blog tour business Neverland Blog Tours. If you’re active in the book blogging community, you’ll be familiar with blog tours and their place in book promotion. If you’re not and don’t really care then that’s fine too. But regardless of where you stand, my business, which I set up in 2014 is closing it’s doors. I won’t say for good because nobody knows what the future holds but for now, at least.
It seems like an absolute lifetime ago now that I was taking my driving lessons and learning how to drive. It’s one of those things that really makes you step back and realise how quickly time is going! As with most teenagers in the UK, I started learning to drive when I was 17, my lessons kindly being a birthday present from my parents. Although I’m heavily into Motorsport and cars now, I wasn’t at the time – driving what just something I wanted to do because I wanted my independence as an 18 year old and learning to drive was the next logical step.
At the time of writing this post (end of May), we have just been graced with the full trailer for the Christopher Robin movie, starring Ewan McGregor and everyone’s favourite bear, Winnie-the-Pooh. The release of the film is fast approaching and I’m certain I will cry all the tears then probably gone back to watch it again. I am a huge fan of Disney (obviously), and this year, I’ve worked hard to include more Disney related content into my blog because it is and always has been a huge part of my life, so why wouldn’t I? The films are so magical and mean an awful lot to me as I’m sure they do to a lot of people who have grown up with the magic of Disney.
I absolutely love working with brands on my blog; it’s something that I never thought I’d see happen for me but alas, after years of hard work, it did and now it’s one of my favourite aspects of blogging! Of course it doesn’t come without it’s stresses, like invoices not being paid on time, rude PR people and products which don’t quite live up to expectations but on the whole, I’ve had a hugely positive experience working with brands on product reviews and sponsored content over the last year or so.
Although it’s not something I frequently talk about on my blog, I do find the concept of dating interesting and I always like hearing about the ways people have met their partners. My own love-life and past relationships are also something I rarely talk about. You’ll probably know that I have a boyfriend but that’s about it and you certainly won’t know about some of the experiences I’ve had with ex-boyfriends in the past! Although not all of them positive, I feel like each experience I’ve had since I started “going out” with people (literally why was it called “going out with”?) has taught me something and left me with a lot of memories to look back on to either smile or cringe at. Either way, it was my life, my experiences and I’m grateful for them.
When organising a social event – from a wedding party, hen or stag party, funerals to a 21st birthday party, an important aspect of the whole event is the food. It is often overlooked when planning asocial event and most people tend to give it the least thought, but the food is a key opportunity to make or break the overall success of your event.
Working from home can be great sometimes. You don’t have to deal with rush hour or commute in the middle of Summer. There are always snacks available and every day is bring your dog to work day. But it also requires an awful lot of self-discipline, motivation and will-power. When there are distractions so readily available to you – like Netflix and your bed – working from home can be harder than what you think it is, especially if you’ve never done it before or it’s new to you. I’ve been self-employed and working from home for a few years now and although I’ve not quite perfected my routine, I do know what works for me. Here are some of my absolute must-have essentials for anyone working from home.
Skincare is something most of us think about daily and something that has definitely become more of an importance in our general upkeep and even within our self-care routines. I don’t have a particularly fascinating past when it comes to my skin and skincare; as a teenager, my skin was okay with no major problems, thankfully. It was only since I hit my early 20’s, when I started on a new contraceptive pill when I started to get acne which bothered me enough to go to the doctors. I’ve tried a shed load of different brands and products throughout the years; full on skincare routines with cleansers, toners, moisturizers and an array of creams down to soap and water. But I’ve yet to find something that works – I mean genuinely works – for my skin.
I rarely write posts which are unplanned, unstructured and spur of the moment. My Type A, obsessive, stressy, organised personality just doesn’t do that. So only a handful of times in my blogging life have I just whacked WordPress open and started typing of my own accord because I had something on my mind which I wanted to write about. This is one of those times. In fact, it almost wasn’t. Typically, I have a “blog post ideas” note on my phone (along with 50 other notes and lists of various things) which I was just going to add this idea to, to write at a later time but then I thought, why the f would I do that? It’s on my mind now. So stop being so goddamn uptight and write. So that’s what I’m doing. Obviously.
There is nothing that gets the creative juices flowing faster than planning a vacation. Stepping that up from a vacation plan to a trip around the world, though, gives you a different kind of buzz. Everyone dreams of travelling, even if that’s getting to see new places in the same country that they live. The trouble is that travelling generally comes with a hefty price tag; it’s why a vacation is usually a once a year event. Money is often the main reason that most people don’t put world travel at the top of the priority list in life but the one thing that most people don’t really understand is that you don’t actually need a lot of cash to see the world. If you make travel a priority, you will always find the money that you need for it instead of spending out on things that you don’t necessarily need. Living on a budget also doesn’t mean that you can’t prioritise getting your wanderlust quenched, it simply means that you have to get a little more creative than usual when it comes to paying for your trips.
