​Hello and Happy Sunday! I'm so so excited to tell you that my brand new E-Book is now live! I've been in a writing cave for the last few weeks, and before that, in a messy but fun photo-taking studio cave. I have loved putting this together, stretching myself with the photography and styling, and flexing my long form writing muscles (thank god for editors) It's called A Soulful gathering: Simple Ideas to host 2 or 200. ​ It's 130 pages (It's a beast!) of all of my best tips and tricks, inspiration and guidance to help you to host your own gatherings with soul. The release is timed to coincide with the Autumn/winter gatherings we are all thinking about ahead, but it is applicable all year round. I designed it to be inspirational yet practical and achievable.

Hello friends,

Things have suddenly felt wintery here in the UK, yet amongst the still blazing colours of the trees. ​November is a month on edge of two seasons; Autumn holds on, but winter gathers force. November has some of our favourite celebrations, and it's a good month to take stock and quieten down before the furore of December too, so clear those decks and hunker down.

I find noting the changing of the seasons, especially into the colder months, such a grounding, helpful thing to do for my mental health. The switch in to winter mode can be a particularly triggering the for people sensitive to darkness or find the Winter months difficult. Spending time outside, or simply looking out of your window, just noticing whats happening in nature, can be an immeasurably helpful mindfulness practice, it’s absolutely free and can be done anywhere. My favourite ideas are below.

I turned 34 a couple of weeks ago. It happened on a Monday amidst the usual family bustle, and also as it happens, at the beginning of a bad stretch of anxiety. A serendipitous meeting the previous month with a PR led to me booking a solo hotel stay at The Gallivant for my birthday, and it ended up coming at the most perfect possible time. It was heavenly.

The experience of being alone was just bliss. I simply pleased myself. I had a pedicure, ordered room service breakfast, journaled in the window seat. I made liberal use of the toiletries kindly gifted by the hotel; the body oil, foot cream and face mask. I journaled some more. I went for a walk at golden hour and was moved to tears by the sunset reflecting off the wet sand which placed the sky beneath me and above me. I was aware of my family and thought of them, but I just knew deep in my guts that I needed this. (Truthfully I needed 2 or 3 nights of it, but we couldn’t spare me for that long!)

This is a collaborative blog post with Eve Sleep, and includes gifted items.

I am slowly writing about each room in my home, which we moved into last December. You can see my study/studio in this post here, and today I’m showing you our bedroom. The colder weather always makes me want to nest and cosy up, and especially to focus on the bedroom, ready for winter. This room has a working fireplace in it (I know) so it has become our favourite room to relax in in the evenings.

This room was used as study when we moved in, so we first had to remove some wall mounted bookshelves, then fill, sand and repaint the walls. We stalled there for about 6 months. Auden’s cot was in here until a few months ago too, so when he moved into Frankie-Rose’s room, it spurred us on to finish the room. Our home is rented so we weren’t making huge changes, rather finishing off, making good and dressing it as beautifully as possible.

Welcome, October!

October is my favourite month of the year (I know, I know I say that about lots of them!) It’s my Birthday month and the most beautiful, colourful, Autumnal month too.

I have been taking stock of the last year as my birthday approaches and also finalising plans for the last part of the year, which is shaping up to be busy! I am finishing off an e-book at the moment, it’s a Guide to styling and Hosting a gathering which will be out in the next couple of weeks. I am also planning the launch of my first E-Course too - all about the Life Book (aka The January Book) and journalling (this is the first time i've formally mentioned that one- whoop!). LASTLY I will be releasing tickets THIS WEEK to TWO festive workshops in my home. One wreath making evening workshop, and one day long festive workshop with Milkwood candles; where guests will make a bespoke scented candle and a Christmas wreath with me. Hurray! Get on the mailing list here to be the first to be notified. I’m excited to get all of these creative babies of mine out into the world and am loving the turn of season as an excuse to hunker down, write and be creative.

I visited House of Grey on a whim, last minute, as a plus one with my friend Abi. I’d missed the previous two years of design festivals due to pregnancy/babydom but I was craving some time alone, in the city, away from my house, so I went, despite my tiredness. I wasn’t sure what to expect and had no plans at all, but I met Abi at Finsbury park and we began our day at House of Grey, a location house curated by Louisa Grey. (Thank you again Abi! Not to self: make friends with kind people who are more organised than you and have great taste). What I experienced there will stay with me for a long time. This is far, far more than a beautiful space. In fact this embodies everything I believe about the power of interiors.

How are you all doing? We are approaching the final weeks of the summer holidays and we are all feeling… tired. It’s not the exhausted end of school tired we were experiencing in July, but rather a sort of heat induced miasma that makes us all a little extra grouchy. Dave and I have been going to bed at 9.30 every night and the kids have been asleep early too (they raise really early- so we make up for our evenings together there!)

I haven’t been around much on my blog or Instagram, and when I look around at my community online, it seems many of us have taken a break or aren’t around much online at the moment.

Whether you have kids or not, July and August in the UK is an odd time, when emails are mostly met with ‘out-of-office’ replies, and the heat makes working that bit harder. Lounging around by the sea or pool in the heat is wonderful, but trying to function and work and parent in it every day for weeks on end certainly took it’s toll on me! This summer has confirmed that I am definitely not a hot hot hot weather person. Keep me at 24 degrees please. Lots of parents are busy with their kids over the holidays and things just seem quieter.

I have been thinking recently a lot about the the importance of finding happiness and contentment in our every day, in the daily tasks and moments that make up, well, our whole lives. Wishing always for bigger, better or more (holidays, houses, partners, money, stuff, instagram engagement (!) etc etc) and comparison really are the thieves of joy. I believe deep in my guts that the magic happens (aka happiness!) when we can learn to ground ourselves in joyful little moments and things throughout the day.

To read part one, covering our accommodation, nature safari around the reserve, energy cleansing session, opening feast, morning yoga and candle making workshop click here.

Following the pack lunch and some free time, our guests convened in the coolness of the barn, for a "Styling with Nature" session led by me, in which I talked about the importance and power of the spaces around us and the benefits of using natural finds in your home. I then demonstrated two different wreath making techniques, using primarily dried or fresh ingredients.

Last Autumn, I was given the opportunity to co-host a retreat. Initially, I was keen to take the role I was most used too; a background presence making the space beautiful, warm and inviting. But the request was explicit; that I actively head it up, a Seeds and Stitches live, so to speak. At that point in my maternity leave I had no idea what I wanted to do so, in the spirit of taking things lightly, I agreed, and thought i'd test it out. I am generally trying to be "a trickster, not a martyr", as Elizabeth Gilbert puts it. I'd made a commitment to stop working for free, to find work in Kent or London, and heavily limit travel elsewhere and this ticked all the boxes. So I went for it. I began to create my dream retreat along with yogi Kim Hill, and it finally happened last week. 15 women gathered at my favourite place on the planet. The weather was glorious, the setting flawless. We ate incredible vegan food. We stretched, we meditated, we journalled. We created and chatted and laughed. We slept, and connected and created much needed space for ourselves.

I have split the retreat up into 2 posts because there are simply soooo many photos and details I want to share with you. So here is part one, up to half way through the retreat.

In January I released a free downloadable guide called the January Book. It is the planning and review process Dave and I go through each year, and I put 9 years worth of experience into the guide. The response it had blew me right away and it has had to date over 1000 downloads. Part of the January Book process is reviewing it in the middle of the year, so I wanted to write a post about this. I also wanted to write a mini mid-year review guide.

Incredibly, we are half way through the year of 2018, and at the peak of summer. The Solstice has passed, as has the full moon for the month, and all of these factors have inspired me to release and review. The 1st July marks the start of the last half of the year. It is a very good time to review the goals we set at the start of the year and see how we are doing, assess whether any of our goals need to change, harvest the lessons learned and figure out some practicable action steps.

Whether you have been checking in on your goals regularly, or you can’t really even remember what they were, this process is useful.

My July Book is a shorter version of my January Book. Similarly to the January Book, this guide is the culmination of 9.5 years of mine and Dave's planning and review process. We have tweaked and fine tuned the process over the years and this here is the best version yet, and the one that serves us the best. We hope it can be helpful for you too. It won’t take long to fill in, but I always find the mid year check in incredibly useful.