A HAPPY NEW YEAR, APOLOGIES GALORE & THE INTRODUCTION OF A FLUFFBALL

I don’t think this is the sort of thing that people mean when they say make your blog title catchy, and I’m pretty sure Google’s mighty SEO thingy-me-jiggy will just swat this aside like an irritating fly, so I’m already ignoring all the lovely blogging advice I’ve been reading recently, but I didn’t really know what else to call this little article. Because it’s not really an article as such. I just didn’t want to enter the second week of January without me saying hi, and wishing you all a very Happy New Year. I mean, for someone whose New Year’s resolution is to really carve out some time for blogging this year, then it’s quite frankly embarrassing that I’m not actually posting until the 11th January! I’d understand if you can’t quite look at me for a moment or two.

So, officially, happy new year to you. I hope you had a wonderful time and that, like me, you’re raring to go for 2106. Despite consuming my weight tenfold in food and drink, and dodging salads for the entire festive period, I feel strangely refreshed, renewed and invigorated, and can’t wait to get started on all the little projects that are brewing in my head. In particular, I’m excited about my blog as this year I want to really make a go of it, and I’ve got all sorts of things I want to share with you. I learnt so much last year, but the main lesson was that blogging is hard and takes up huge amounts of time, and that for me to share what I want to share with you, I’m going to have to learn to be super organised with my time, and ensure I put sufficient hours aside to dedicate myself to it.

And here’s where the apologies of the title come in. I want to take this little opportunity to apologise to any of you who have been kind enough to visit me here during the last year, only to find a paltry single entry a month (if you’re lucky!). The last thing I want to do is waste your time, and thank you for bearing with me. It’s just that last year was a bit of a strange one for me. Yes, it was exciting because I launched my blog and my new interior design business Carnival Interiors. But it was also a year full of emotion, stress and set-backs. We had to close a shop, wrap up a business and move house. I had a very scary creative burnout where the creative drive I’d had for 15 years just suddenly abandoned me, and I nearly gave everything up. And just as I was recovering, we lost our darling dog Tilly and then my world just fell apart.

Anyway, I don’t want to make you cry. Or more accurately, I don’t want to make ME cry as I still can’t write about her without getting upset! But just be reassured that this year, all being well, is the year I’m going to be able to share so much stuff with you, you’ll be like, shut up already, enough! (Slight exaggeration as some people blog several times a day. The thought of that makes me break out into a bit of a cold sweat, but I’m going to aim for a solid once a week, with any others I manage being a Brucey-Bonus. No over-promising here. Don’t want to let you down again!).

So that just leaves me with the final part of the title, the most important, interesting and exciting part of the title actually, and that’s the “Introduction of a Fluffball” (say it in a big, loud, gameshow host type of way please). Drum roll please………

Please meet Flossie, our lovely Romanian rescue pooch who came to live with us on the 28th November and has brought joy and heart-healing love into our lives ever since. She isn’t without her challenges, having lived in a rescue shelter most of her 18 months of life, and overcoming her fears and nerves is an on-going thing, but she’s absolutely delightful and the progress she’s made in such a short time is amazing. When she’s relaxed at home now, she’s full of happiness and giddiness and has a very loving nature, and with a bit more love, patience and training, she’ll just keep getting more confident and content. We can’t imagine life without her now.

I’ll try not to post too many articles on her!

Happy New Year guys, and see you SOON (this week we’ll be gilding a candlestick!) x