Time for some Honesty...

 I  have been an awful blogger lately. I have had no new outfits to post, i have not been replying to emails or comments and i haven't been swinging by or linking up to any of your wonderful blogs. 

For this i sincerely apologies! I love the blogging community, it feels like a protective wonderfully lovely bubble against the "real" world. 

A few of you may remember i mentioned some genuine stress and anxiety a couple of weeks ago, but didn't say why. So i thought i would unveil the reasons behind my cryptic comments and talk to you all about my current "real life" situation in all its crappiness as i just can't fake enthusiasm today. Life has worn me down.

 For those of you who have been with me from the beginning you may recall (or not, so i shall tell you) that my husband ,Paul and I ran a business together since the beginning 6 and a half years ago, just think of the film Jerry Maguire and that was kind of how we properly got together and started the business but in a less dramatised way,lol!

We have had good time (hitting one million turnover, winning Young Entrepreneur of the year, generally working together) and we've had very bad times (huge debts, people stealing and back stabbing, recession) Its been more tough than good, but we plodded on. 

Then the dreaded recession hit and we struggled on through until we had 3 customers go into liquidation consecutively leaving an outstanding total bill owed to us for over £100,000. 

We tried and tried to recover but we couldn't. 

So this is me telling you that yep, life is pretty shitty right now (please excuse my cuss words but sometimes an expletive in this condition are necessary, in real life i am actually cursing like a trooper)

We are closing down our business which is so hard, for many reasons (practicality, nostalgia, necessity)

and we are having an awful time doing it.

Seeing as I'm being totally honest here i will also say, we may be loosing our house, some belongings and cars.  Its an awful situation to be in.

We have never been a flash couple driving round in expensive cars (i drive a little mazda, which i luff!) or in fancy houses and we don't spend a lot of money on anything, we have not had a holiday in over 3 years and we don't own anything super expensive. I hope you all know that about me, i'm actually quite  a cheapskate!

So our personal lives are amidst the mess that goes hand in hand with the business. We are currently on the roller-coaster and, in all honesty i want to get off. It has been an atrocious week of no luck and things constantly going wrong even when you thought they couldn't possibly.

 I am running off about 3 hours sleep a night and getting up to work harder than i ever knew i could. On one hand i think to myself "Rachel you are made of tough stuff, keep going" on the other hand i am in a mess on the floor crying my eyes out. 

I am super grateful to the lovely ladies i work with in my "new" job (i started it in October and had been running 2 jobs for a while there) for being supportive and flexible and just generally making me laugh when i thought i had forgotten how, and our dear friends Estelle and Dean for giving us so much help and just generally being wonderful friends...salt of the earth, you guys!

I know this isn't really my normal post type but i think i really felt the need to vent and this is my only place i guess. I also wanted to offer up an explanation as to why posts may be sporadic in the next few weeks. I may still manage it all as i actually find it a wonderful distraction from the crappy reality right now, but it may not be on regular days. I have a wonderful Sponsor Spotlight coming up for you soon and a beautiful set of photos my husband took which will be coming tomorrow.

So if you could all bear with me through this tricky time, i am *hoping* to be back in a happy, bubbly, fun place on the blog and in real life, soon.

If you're wondering these photos were actually from a sponsored post i did over at the lovely Marisa's last week. They are from the snowy time we had a couple of weeks ago. I am completely loving polka dots right now. Even in times of stress i still do like a nice polka-dotty number ;-)
Thank you for listening to my stressy rambles, when i get emails /comments /tweets through it really still does make me smile and feels so good to have you all, my extended friends from across the globe.

 Dress: Ebay 

Chambray Shirt: Next

Tights: Matalan

Red Clogs: Lotta From Stockholm

Brooch: Vintage

Jacket: River Island

Snow More

 Snow, snow and more snow.. Its been snowing again last night and this morning and now its turned to that crappy slushy stuff with more forecast for tonight! I'm getting cabin fever from being in so much. My eye- concealer is completely emptytoo and i can't get to the shops to get it, so its au natural on the eye-bags front, lol, sorry about that!
Neo has been a bit poorly too today so its been cuddles on the sofa with extra TV time and lots of movies... we've had Cars, Fox and the Hound and i introduced him to my personal favourite; The Little mermaid, He tells me off though whenever i sing along (the little mermaid has the best sing a long songs..ever!!) apparently even at 2 and a half he thinks his mother is embarrassing.... not cool.

After all your comments from you lovely concerned readers on my last post in heels i thought i'd show you some wellies! These are my MEL wellies that i've had a year or so, just sat in the bottom of the abyss that is the shoe chest in my house. I completely forgot about them! so thanks to you lovely lot it made me remember them and pull them out of  storage. I'm sure, being British and all, they will get a lot of wear!!

 I am really loving purple and red, a combo i wouldn't have thought of if it wasn't for blogging. That's the good thing about the blogasphere, inspiration is all around. Its truly wonderful! And of course the fleeced lined amazing tights were back on today...oh yes ladies.. best invention ever!! (British ladies, these are from Primark for a few quid)

Holly REALLY likes the white slushy stuff!

Dress: Dorothy Perkins

Cardi & Scarf: Tesco

Tights: Primark

MEL Wellies: Very

All really old

 Head to tippee toe another really old outfit. I had this dress when i was pregnant 3 years ago and all the other bits are from years gone by. This cabin fever of being stuck in doors with the snow is making me wanna shop and break my no spend...:-/ Seriously want a little fix hahaha! So instead of breaking my no spend i have been thinking of potential forthcoming events ie. valentines day and my anniversary. Now for a 3rd wedding anniversary tradition says to give leather. But i'm not one for strict traditions (or a big leather type person) but it did get me thinking along the lines of a nice bag... (you see where im going with this,haha!)  I stumbled across this beautiful blue bag that is a great size and colour. I'm trying to weed out a lot of my crappy bags as i have a lot, and replace and keep just 3-4 really nice practical bags. The blue Ted Baker ticks all the boxes for me. But then this impractical but stunningly sweet little bag struck a big cord in my bag  loving heart.

 But the million dollar question ladies is: 
Practical and pretty bag or cute small bag? 

(yes i have waaay to much time on my hands thanks to this snow!)

Think i'll be sending links to Hubby with a message in the Subject line of: URGENT! haha! Gentle hints, yer know, gently gently catchy monkey (or bag as the case may be;-)

 So me and my wellies are off for now.... Hope you're staying safe and warm this week lovelies!

 Ciao for now!

xxxxx

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Snow Day!!!!

Today it snowed and it was FUN!!

 We've had a fair bit of snow around this time for the past 3 years and this time has been the most fun! We took Neo out on a sledge and had an epic snowball fight (which Paul won hands down... i throw like such a girl!) and then we built a little snow teddy bear. I'm exhausted now!

 I put layered outfit together this morning and then changed for snow play this afternoon. I didn't realise when i put it together that there's actually 3 types of pattern going on (stars, check and animal)  but i kinda loved all the different pieces together! Plus super layers meant warmth. The tights i have on are fleece lined and are the best invention ever! To go play in the snow i put my jeans on over them and my   Lands' End coat which is unbelievable warm. I had the hood up and took it down as my head felt so warm! That was until Paul got me in the face with a snow ball... ugh!! It's his birthday today so i shall let him off!!

Looking at this photo i look like im phony laughing which im totally not,(although i am actually rather good at fake laughing and fake enthusiasm .. its a skill!) I had literally slipped and then slipped again and could not compose my balance at all. I do love these boots but they have ZERO grip. Best kept for non snowy slippy days me thinks. 

Star Sweater & Boots: Next

Blouse underneath, skirt and tights: Primark

Do you have Snow today? 

What's your favourite thing to do on a snow day?