Life Lately

Hi everyone! I hope you're all okay and still staying safe.

It's been a while since I last posted a 'diary entry' style post about what's going on with me so I thought it was about time I did a little update about what life's been like for me lately and what's going on. Grab a cup of tea and let's catch up.


Wow, I've sat down to write this and I feel like I don't know what I'm doing! So, where do I start?

Life in lockdown

First of all, the lockdown affected my life in more ways than I originally expected it to. As a teacher, I'm considered a key worker and so I've been working every day in some form or another which has been pretty normal most of the time. The day itself has been very different from what I'm used to and I ended up teaching a different year group entirely for the last few weeks. The 'new normal' meant a lot of hand washing, strict rules to follow and finding new ways to do things. I've felt very safe throughout it all and I think it's important I mention that because I really have and it's been nice to still have my work routine throughout all this. It's kept my mental health up for sure.

It's now the summer holidays though and I'm excited to have a whole 6 weeks to enjoy doing whatever it is that I want! One of those things could very likely be moving house... (finally!)

Moving update

If you've read my recent blog post about my experience with moving so far, you'll know that COVID-19 has affected my house move. Since writing that post, we learnt that it affected it more than I could've expected. It has been about NINE MONTHS since we put an offer on our house. We've since lost the sale on this one once and we've sold it again to another buyer. Now, we know what exactly is taking this move so long and I think (I sincerely hope!) that we're in the last few weeks of this journey. It's the final stretch and I just hope that I get to say we're moving soon and start my moving diaries series once and for all!

We've started to pack little things now that we're imagining the finish line. Once we have confirmation that everything is good to go, we'll be packing to move into the house we've held on to for so long. It'll be worth the wait... I know it.

We booked a little break

On the topic of waiting, we held off going on holiday or having a little break away for a long time because of this move and we're in desperate need of some time away. Last weekend, we decided that enough was enough and booked a little stay at a lodge in Norfolk.

I'm so excited because I haven't been to Norfolk in the summer and I know there's a possibility of seeing baby seals there and having some decent weather to enjoy. I also heard you can go fossil hunting at the beach too which I'm pretty intrigued by. I'm a learning-nerd at heart, can you tell? I just hope that the lockdown doesn't stop us having a nice time up there.

It's the break we need and as of this moment, we know we won't be moving the week we go away as we won't be able to move that soon even if we get confirmation on everything on Friday. (I'm writing this on a Thursday night!)

Learning new skills and growing as a blogger

Over the last couple of months, the lockdown gave me time to focus on a few things. I definitely had a lot more free time which I have made the most of. I started to spend time focusing on my blog and I also learnt some new crafting skills.

During the lockdown, I signed up to Grow and Glow so that I could learn what I needed to do to take my blog to the next level. I learnt so much about what I needed to do to make sure that my blog posts were seen and how to drive traffic to my blog. I also learnt a little about Instagram and though I took a little break from things last month, I'm planning to spend a lot of August catching up on the bundles and learning a little about TikTok, how to pitch to brands and how to do better with my Instagram stories. It's such an amazing platform and I'd highly recommend it if you're a blogger looking to glow up.

The lockdown also gave me time to learn new things. I wanted to be creative during this time and I feel like I'm finally back to my old self where I wanted to craft and create every evening. Here are some of the creative things I did during the lockdown:
  • I bought some watercolour pens and created some art for the new house.
  • I learnt how to crochet and made myself a basket (which I still can't believe I haven't posted about)
  • I bought myself an electric sander so that I could finally do some DIYs I've had planned for months. I upcycled a dining table and chairs, glammed up an old cabinet to turn it into a mini gin cabinet and made a pom-pom rug. (Blog posts linked)
  • I also got a sewing machine and learnt how to sew a bunch of cute things.

Launching Cece Designs UK

Learning how to sew led me to finally do something I'd been thinking about and wanting to do for a long time. Since the beginning of the year, I'd been thinking about opening up an Etsy shop - something I've wanted to do for years.

I had the idea of sewing pencil cases, scrunchies and other fabric goods for a while but didn't have a sewing machine to do this with so I planned to borrow my mum's one to get started. Well, after my mum heard my idea, she was so lovely and bought me one. I practised my sewing skills until I was happy with what I was creating and took the plunge.

I opened up Cece Designs UK on Etsy and thought, why not... let's just go for it! It's only been a month but I'm slowly but surely growing a following on my shop's Instagram and TikTok and I've had four orders. It's just the beginning and I know it'll be a slow start but I'm excited about this new journey and what it could bring me.

I want to eventually start selling my art as prints too, so once I have a few that I like, I'm going to invest in a really good printer and paper and plunge into selling prints too!

I'll write a whole blog post about Cece Designs UK soon. As I now have the summer holidays, I have a lot of time to blog to my heart's content!

Plans for the month ahead

As I mentioned before, I think and I hope that I'll be moving in the next few weeks which will be so amazing to finally get round to doing. We've been waiting for such a long time and I'm just so ready to be at our new place once and for all! This will also mean that I can finally start getting a lot more home content up on my blog and Instagram. With a house somewhat packed, it's not a pretty sight and I've run out of home content right now.

On top of that, the staycation has been booked which is also in the next couple of weeks and I plan on getting caught up and also ahead on my blogging too. I want to write my posts for the next few months so that I can build a bank of content for when things start getting busier and I'm working again in September.

I'm also going to be making lots of stock for Cece Designs UK, making TikToks, Blog and Instagram content and hopefully getting back into a workout routine. (I've sucked at working out for the last two months.)

What are your plans for August? Are you staying away anywhere or focusing on something you want to grow? Let me know in the comments! Also, let me know if you have any questions about Cece Designs UK! I'd love to do a Q&A style post sharing my new small business and answering some questions about the new shop.

Have a great weekend everyone and stay safe!

1 comment

  1. Can't wait to see you finally settled in your new home!

    Isobel x

    www.fashionistachic.co.uk

    ReplyDelete