Exciting Announcement: Midlands Bloggers Meet Up!

Well I'm making a brief return from my gnome-induced hiatus to tell you about a little meet-up I am organising with the fabulous Kelly from To Become Mum

Last month, I responded to one of Kelly's tweets asking about a blog meet up for Midlands Lifestyle and Mummy Bloggers, as this was something I had been on the look out for.  Well in true Emma-fashion, we decided to mastermind a meet-up ourselves AND I am proud to introduce the Midlands Bloggers Meet Up, which will be happening on Saturday February 22nd 2014.

The finer details are still to be confirmed, but it will take place in Nottingham and we will be updating attendees nearer the time.  The meet up will run from 11-3pm and will be a wonderful chance to meet other bloggers, enjoy a few treats and share ideas and discussions.  You are welcome bring your baby or come alone, we are working on a suitable event that will cater for lots of us and will be child-friendly also.

There will be goody bags for all attendees - so if you are reading this and are a fabulous Midlands-based brand, or know one who might want to get involved, we would love to have you on board!

If you would like to attend our meet up, please email either Kelly or myself to confirm and we will keep you updated with further info.  We are also using the hashtag #midsblogmeet on Twitter and would LOVE you to share this event with your followers - the more the merrier!

It will be a lovely way to make new friends and something to look forward to in the New Year, Kelly and I are hoping to put on a fantastic event and if you are Midlands-based, you'd be mad to miss out!  What are you waiting for?  Give myself (missemmaberry@gmail.com) or Kelly (tobecomemum@gmail.com) an email and reserve your place now!  

We look forward to seeing you in February!

x

NaBloPoNO - A Little Ode to Blogger Burnout

So, I've been a little off grid recently, I'm sorry!  I hope this post goes some way to explain why.  When I decided to take on the #NaBloPoMo challenge, throughout November, I was excited to see if it would reignite some fresh ideas and exciting challenges for Life is Peachy.  Bloggers across the world enjoy taking part in a month long challenge of posting a blog everyday - aided by set prompts or using their own ideas.  Why not join in the fun?  So thought I...

In truth, I am in awe of anyone who can post on their blog every day!  I set about scheduling posts, following prompts and eager to write new and exciting posts about me.  I hope you've enjoyed reading little tidbits about my life, my past and my Bucket List!  But, whilst I think the spirit of the challenge is wonderful - I don't feel I can carry it on.

I'm writing this at the end of a very difficult week.  There have been very late nights, very early mornings, lots of knitting deadlines and a case of mild conjunctivitis for Little D which, as any parent will know, is most distressing.  So, perhaps, it wasn't really great timing to be throwing myself into posting every day - but then again, when is there ever a good time to do it?  I'm forever trying to catch up with emails, research, crafts, #CraftBlogClub, orders, Little D, Mr Peachy and, somewhere in there, a little bit of 'me' time.

Then again, I think perhaps partaking in this challenge has made me accept the very real existence of Blogger Burnout.  It is real, it is out there and I've finally had to accept that no person is capable of running a blog 365 days a year.  

I'm a list maker, an organiser, a forward-planner and I get incredibly excited about new ideas and projects to start.  It's been a real eye-opener of a year, having to adjust to the wondrous unpredictability of a baby; so dealing with day to day tasks can be somewhat testing. And when I didn't quite get that scheduled daily post out on time, or didn't have something planned for the following day - I started to panic.  Which took the fun out of my blog.  I worried that people would stop reading, I worried that my content wasn't as engaging as it should be, muted amongst other topics that I wouldn't perhaps have chosen to write about.  Then I worried that my worrying was coming across on my blog.  Then I stopped and had a sudden epiphany - who and what was I really writing this blog for??

For those of you who have read my blog from the start, Life is Peachy was originally set up to encourage and inspire new parents with finding their identities.  I feel so strongly about this and have forged my way into my new role as 'Mummy' whilst keeping an alarming amount of my own personality intact (alarming, only, as I was assured this wouldn't happen)!  But, it seems, in the 6 short months that I've been religiously writing this blog, it has grown and developed at such a pace, that I almost feel it is time to acknowledge a new direction and re-vamp my entire little web space to accommodate for something new.

I'm positive, always, but I'm also a worrier.  I worry that I don't craft enough right now to warrant running #CraftBlogClub, I worry that I'm running out of ideas and I worry that I have so little time to dedicate to each of my little projects at the moment that I am, sadly, suffering from an incredible case of burnout.  I have spent the last few days catching up with my gnomes, staying with my parents and nursing D back to fighting fit, but I can't ignore the constant whirring in my mind - when will I post this?  What will become of Life is Peachy?  Do I need to migrate to something newer, a clearer direction?  The answer to that last one is, yes.  I need to.  And I want everyone who enjoys reading my blog to continue following me as I am about to undertake some big changes and focus, A LOT MORE on my Frugally Fabulous Year Challenge.

I hope you don't mind, I'm breaking all the sacred blogging rules, I'm taking a little break - just 2 weeks, to get things straight and plan ahead for Christmas and beyond.  I wanted you to be the first to know this.  I'll be back, brimming and beaming again - but right now I need to think, research, be brave and be innovative.  And I guess, despite its difficulties, I have the wonder of #NaBloPoMo to thank for bringing it all to my attention!

Life is Peachy will return.....I look forward to seeing you then!

E x

#NaBloPoMo November 14th: The Big 30 Bucket List

There is absolutely no use in denying that next year, 2014, I will be turning 30! T.H.I.R.T.Y.  Strangely, though, I am quite looking forward to hitting the next decade.  When I think back to my early twenties, I shudder at the indecisiveness and the years I spent babbling through insecurities and finding my way in the big bad world!  There is something to be said for a contented nature, that really only comes with age (and some kind of strange wisdom), I hope to be even more of the person I am today when I hit my thirties.

Wistful musing aside, I thought I would write a bucket list of '30 Things to do Before I Turn 30'.  I have less than one year, that really isn't very long - but when have I ever been one to turn a challenge down?!

1. Finish the first draft of my Novel.
2. Learn to Dress Make - one of the bigger challenges in my Frugally Fabulous Year
3. Feature my work in a National Publication!
4. Bake an unrivalled cake for Daisy's First Birthday!
5. Take up driving lessons - of sorts - again.
6. Take Daisy to the beach.
7. Visit Whitby
8. Take a trip to Berlin
9.  NAIL baking Mince Pies
10. Complete one month of Blogging Every Day
11. Watch Doctor Zhivago (it's been sat in its cellophane wrapper for over a year)
12. Visit Sheffield (other than passing through, I've never stopped for a shop)!
13. Add to my Tattoo Collection
14. Design and make my Dream Garden Space.
15. Organise #CraftBlogClub meet up
16. Take a Family Camping Trip
17. Draw a Self Portrait
18. Finally go to see Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake LIVE!
19. Learn Amigurumi Crochet...hell, just learn to Crochet
20. Visit the Bronte House in Yorkshire
21. Collect and read the final books in Anne Rice's Vampire Chronicles.
22. Have a Vampire Marathon - watch all my favourite Vamps in one day!
23. Enter a short story competition
24. Re-visit my old stomping grounds in London
25. Learn to Knit In The Round
26. Make Memory Bears from Daisy's first outfits
27. Take Daisy to White Post Farm
28. Upcycle my first BIG piece of Furniture
29. Organise a Twisted Tea Party for my 30th
30. Learn to make something with Polymer Clay

Have I missed anything?  What's on your bucket list??

#NaBloPoMo November 13th: #CraftBlogClub 'Countdown to Festivities'

Well this is incredibly late going out...but here, I have a valid reason!  I've been juggling some of my gnome orders with a bit of a poorly babes this week - winter truly is hitting us hard, it seems!  It really is incredible what you can do with limited sleep and a lot of determination isn't it!

So Tuesday night, we had a rather relaxed #CraftBlogClub chat, where I decided it was high time that we talked about THE BIG C!  What with the names and addresses now officially out for our Secret Santa challenge, it's been at the forefront of our minds!

It was so lovely to see some new people joining in the tweets and we mostly chatted about our plans for homemade Christmas gifts and our 'staple' products!  I'm quite accustomed to making shortbread for family and friends and I'm clearly not the only one who enjoys making yummy treats to give as gifts.  We shared some amazing ideas for delicious fudge and treat hampers.  It seems us crafty lot are, as ever, in a quandry with what to make, how to make and just how much we can fit in between now and the big day!

So how do we manage our time??

Well, if you're like me, then pretty badly, it seems at times!  There were some great ideas flying around - calendars and lists are always favourite, but t'is the season to be busy and at this time of the year, particularly for those crafters who run a business too, there simply are not enough hours in the week!

I think we left the conversation (which now officially runs from 7-8.30pm), feeling a little festive and excited for the upcoming season!  I hope you're all excited about our Secret Santa challenge and I am sorry to those who missed out - if enough people decide they want to be involved, I'm happy to pair more people up!  

Right...just a quick one this week, I'm off to catch up with everything else and start planning my Secret Santa surprise!

Stay Crafty!

E x 

#NaBloPoMo November 12th: Pumpkin and Pepper Soup

It's been a while since I posted a new recipe...so how about a nice warming recipe to use up a few ingredients in your fridge.  I had a little bit of pumpkin left over from Halloween, so I decided to whip up one of Mr Peachy's favourite soup flavours - Pumpkin and Pepper.

A lovely, spicy soup that I served up with some lovely, crusty onion bread;

Pumpkin and Pepper soup is one of the easiest recipes that uses just a few simple ingredients that you will have lying around.  Soup is a great way of using up those few veggie stubs and stock that would otherwise go to waste - food waste is a huge problem faced by UK households at the moment and this is a way of making sure you are not throwing food away unnecessarily.

Ingredients (to serve 2):
400g Pumpkin - chopped
500ml Vegetable Stock
4 Shallots (chopped and halved)
1 Leek (chopped)
1 Red Pepper (halved)
1 tsp Lazy Chillies/Half Fresh Red Chilli
Salt and Pepper to taste

Method
Under the grill on a medium heat, place the two halves of pepper face up and cook for about 15 minutes until the edges are slightly blackened.  Remove from the grill and place in a bowl to cool - covering the bowl with clingfilm will also keep the flavour ripe.

Meanwhile, in a saucepan, heat your shallots and leak in a bit of olive oil, cover and cook on a medium heat until softened and slightly browned.  Add your pumpkin, chilli and seasoning and continue to cook for a further 2 minutes.

Add your vegetable stock and bring to the boil.  Cover and allow to simmer for about 20 minutes until the pumpkin is tender.

Whilst the soup mixture is simmering, cut the red peppers into small pieces and, when the soup mixture is ready, using a hand blender, add the peppers and blend until the soup is smooth with a little texture.

Serve with crusty bread and butter for a cosy, winter treat!



 

#NaBloPoMo November 11th: How Does Your Garden Grow?

The first fruits of our labour this Summer!

So I've given myself the weekend off from #NaBloPoMo...I figured a blog a day, five days a week, was probably the best way forward.  A little like full-time blogging!

Today, I thought I would share some of my ideas for growing, maintaining and keeping a garden, in a very small space!

Our little house is absolutely lovely!  We moved into the terrace in September 2012 and have been extremely happy here.  But, like most projects, our house is always a work in progress and there are still bare walls and unfinished works of art to be getting on with!  Our garden, is something of a bugbear of mine, a cute but small and concrete space that have never looked anything other than 'pokey' to me!  

This year, we have harvested our first batch of lovely homegrown tomatoes and have also started growing herbs and flowers - with some success!  With winter drawing in, we are tidying up our garden, ready for the cold weather; but I've started thinking about what I'd like to do to our garden, ready for next Summer.  So if you, like me, have a small garden space to work with, here are some great ideas for sprucing up a small space into a growing haven!

Plant Pot Pond
This idea really appeals to me - a pretty, rockery style pool built inside a simple terracotta pot, with layers and greenery to give it a 'miniature pond' effect.

  I'm not sure I would go as far as putting fish in there, but one or two of these pond babes would sit really well in our garden space!

Hanging Bottle Garden
I love this idea of using wall space to grow small flowers and plants, even herbs, without sacrificing ground space to move around.  The bottles in this image have all been corded together and screwed in to the walls.  If I were to do this, in my garden, I would most probably paint the bottles to disguise their, well, 'bottley-ness', but this is a great space saver and would look so pretty with the addition of some colourful flowers.

A Window Sill Greenhouse
As I mentioned, we have had some success growing herbs throughout the summer, most of which were grown on our kitchen window sill.  They thrived in the natural light and we were able to keep them fed and watered - plus picking fresh herbs straight from the plant made for some very flavoursome sauces!  

The start-up materials for growing herbs are really very small.  We used old tomato trays for growing seedlings and egg boxes work really well too.  If you find you have lots of herbage leftover - why not chop and separate into ice cube trays, fill with water and freeze.  These are great for adding straight into sauces and prevents waste.

Upcycled Garden Furniture
I LOVE antique garden furniture and I am always on the look out for an old garden furniture that I could restore to its former glory! 

Right from my childhood love of films such as The Secret Garden or Moondial, I have loved antique furniture and statues and have inherited two garden statues that belonged to my Nan - this little angel sits pride of place with her broken wing in our garden!


Jam Jar Tealights
I would love to use our garden space for entertaining and have seen some lovely ideas for jam jar tealights to light up your garden on a Summer's evening.  Simply place your tealights or candles inside an empty jam jar, cover with a thin gauze or mesh and Bob's your uncle!  A very cost effective way of lighting your garden space - but be careful to keep these out of the reach of children!

Just writing and researching a little about this, I'm really excited to get my garden up together next year - and we haven't even had snow yet!  There are plenty of other things you can do - if you have time, simple plant pots and colourful arrangements can brighten up a dull outside space and also encourage pollination!

Do you have any hints or tips for a small outside space?  I can't wait to get started!

#NaBloPoMo November 8th: A Picture Says A Thousand Words...

We are nearly one whole week into the #NaBloPoMo challenge - to blog every day throughout November - and I'm already surprised at how much I've shared using some lovely prompts from BlogHer and the lovely Vonnie over at Nowt Special.

Today's prompt has been no different - to write about your picture on your 'About Me' PIcture.

This photo was taken back in August, just before I headed out for an incredibly rare night out with one of my best friends.  It was the first night out I had had alone since Daisy had been born and I was going to the cinema to see What Maisie Knew; a film I had been ridiculously excited to see for months.  I chose the photo as I think it's a pretty clear representation of me, my style and one of the rare photos I genuinely quite like!  It was a turning point for me and my blog, I had dreamt up a whole bunch of new blog projects, including the early stages of The Frugally Fabulous Year AND I was giving this lovely old Whistles blouse it's first post-pregnancy outing!

Positive Image
I love uploading the odd picture of me and Little D onto my blog and, like most mums out there, I take endless photos of each outfit she wears and each change she makes, but as my blog has developed over the last few months, I have realised the importance of showing more of 'me' than of 'us' - to reflect the 'lifestyle' nature of my blog, rather than the fact that I'm a parent.  Gorgeous as she is...of course! 

I like to think my readers can absorb themselves in my fashion and craft posts and get a glimpse of my life, my interests and my inspiration.  I guess I could be seen as confident, lots of people have said they wouldn't have the guts to 'pull off' my style.  I can't really be any other way - Mum or not, I don't care enough about what other people think and I'm not so much confident as positive; I believe in learning to see the very best in your beautiful self, without comparison.  As a Mum to a daughter too, I feel I have a moral responsibility to set an example of strength and positivity when it comes to body image.

The truth is, like pretty much everyone else who has ever given birth, I have found it hard to get used to a new body and a new way of thinking - something I've talked about in my Ditching The Jeans post and in a guest blog I did for Vintage Shopper.  My post-pregnancy body isn't quite shrinking back as quickly as I would like and my post-pregnancy 'treat outfit' (a 1960s vintage leather pencil skirt) is sat, gathering dust in my wardrobe.  

Those last few days...

I eat well, I walk pretty much everywhere with the pram and I'm desperate to get back into an exercise regime, that my lifestyle doesn't allow for right now.  So why beat myself up?  Hey, there is a big reason I stopped buying women's magazines - it's because the fairer sex are, indeed, not always fair at all.

Why Be Positive, When You Could Be Normal?
In an article in the Guardian recently, one writer discussed yet another epidemic sweeping the nation - a new obsession with the 'thigh gap' and the absurd suggestion that there should be one.  24 year old model, Robyn Lawley, graced the coveted cover of Vogue magazine, only to be condemned through various social media sites, for not having a 'thigh gap' to speak of.  So why, after years and years of mixed messages in the media and new 'imperfect' body parts to be paranoid about, from muffin tops to cankles, are we STILL turning on each other?

We know that airbrushing exists, we know that even the world's most beautiful, most esteemed females have off days and spots and yet, there still seems to be enough put-downs and imaginary beauty standards that all women MUST adhere to.  Nowa days, it's the norm to be bombarded with 'picture-perfect' photo sets and red circles of doom, adorning the hundred of magazines available to us.  It is normal to see most girls under the age of 18 try and copycat the styles of oversexed, under-stimulating pop stars and it is normal, somewhat sadly, to look for imperfection in everyday beauty.

But it shouldn't be.

Life is Peachy is my haven to showcase who I am, what I do and what I believe in.  I don't believe that women should compare themselves to plastic, processed images any more than I believe Miley Cyrus is flying the flag for modern-day feminism.  I want to reach a goal weight for ME, to wear my precious vintage skirt for ME, to dress to suit my shape and size for ME and I don't want to be forced to conform to unrealistic 'ideals'.  I choose to look, dress and feel the way that I do, because I have spent far too much time worrying about the size of my arms, my straight eyelashes and God only knows what else.  I choose to be positive about how I look, in the hope that I can inspire others to feel the same about themselves, whether carrying a little extra baby weight or not.  My body isn't the body it was, but it's the body that I'm in for now and I want to be positive about it, even if it takes a little longer to push the 'publish' button on those selfies!