Well, hello there! Honestly, I never quite know where to start when I’ve taken yet another impromptu blogging break. So, it feels right to get back into the swing of things by rambling on with a little life lately post.
August has been A MONTH, if I’m being honest, but you don’t need to know all the details. Anyway, let’s ease ourselves back in with a little catch-up…

Two new looks
Notice anything different? Yep, I did another two redesigns whilst I wasn’t writing any blog posts. The old design had been around for a year, but a couple of things had broken with the last WordPress update (it’s all really boring stuff) and so I had to look for a new one.
This one’s not too bad, is it? What do you think? I’m just tweaking a few bits of code (that I don’t understand at all) here and there at the moment, but it’s getting there.


Birthday
It was my birthday at the start of the month, and like everyone else’s this year, it was a tad strange.
If you’re a regular reader, you’ll probably know that I spent the last three birthdays having afternoon tea at Bettys Tea Rooms in York, but obviously, that wasn’t really feasible this year. So, we had a little homemade afternoon tea at home, complete with a birthday cake delivered from Bettys. (The new lilac Instax was one of my presents, by the way.)
On the day itself, I ventured up to Chatsworth with my parents (it’s genuinely one of the only places I’ve been to over the past three or four months.)
We went around the pretty garden in the glaring sun – I shared a TikTok of our trip there last week, which brings me neatly on to my next point…
TikTok
Your granny here finally caved and signed up to TikTok (despite the fact that I’m nearly thirty, so I’m far, FAR too old for that kind of thing). I’ve genuinely been enjoying it so far. Despite my obscurity, I’m just relishing being a little creative with video again.
I hestitated because I’d assumed that it was all just teenagers miming to songs I’ve never heard of (because I listen to an oldies station now, as is the way when you’re in your late twenties) but I’ve discovered a community of creatives who make cosy, cottagecore (yeah, I had to Google what it meant too) videos, which are so lovely and calming to watch.
If you fancy following your granny over there, you can find me here.


Money, money, money
This year, I’ve made huge steps in taking charge of my finances after years of burying my head in the sand. (I keep a calculator on my desk now and everything.) So, I thought about sharing bits of my financial ‘journey’ along the way. I’ve written a couple of posts about it that are in the pipeline at the moment – you’ll be able to read them soon.
One thing that I’m toying with the idea of is ‘no spend September’, where I’m going to try and challenge myself to buy nothing but absolute essentials. (Quite difficult for the girl who literally calms her anxieties by opening the Amazon app or cracking open Safari for a quick scroll through the Boots website in search of more products I don’t need.)
So, if I’m feeling brave enough to actually challenge myself to it – and I’ve no idea how I’d actually blog about it in reality – you’ll know pretty soon.
How’s your August been so far?