If you had asked me at the back end of 2015 what I would have been doing the first quarter of 2017 I can guarantee you the answer would not be: on maternity leave! My blog posting went AWOL when the morning sickness kicked in. I had 14 weeks of non stop yakking into the loo. I would smile at my lovely clients, make some excuse of going to get them a drink, wash my hands or some other small task so I could run and heave. I couldn’t even keep water down. To make matters worse you don’t share the news in the first trimester, so the tiredness and sickness had to be disguised with concealer & a smile. It was awful. Work was really busy, so when I announced my pregnancy news I was at the height of the busy period and had no time to try and get back into ‘baby mode’. I started to wind down in December. I had to admit that physically I was struggling this time. Over the course of the pregnancy I had several colds & sickness bugs possibly caused by being run down at the start with so much vomiting. Even the medication prescribed didn’t stop me hurling every ten minutes. It was all worth it in the end though when smack bang on her due date little Miss arrived weighing 8lbs4oz. We have all been in love ever since. I continue to lash on the concealer to disguise the dark circles brought on by sleep deprivation.

So here we are; 4 children ages 12,6, 2 & 11  weeks. I know what you are thinking: time to hang up your gel brushes and lash tweezers is it not Jo??? Childcare will be a killer Jo. You will be tired Jo. All of the above do apply. I am tired, child care will be tricky, but 12 years in this is not the time to pack away the glitter. Right now I am taking a step back to enjoy my family, but this is not the end. 12 years in and the year of the big 3-0 I have plans. Things are going to get very exciting over the next few years and I promise you there won’t be a dull minute.

2016 did not end well. The flood brought about a lot of changes in my life. I still drive past the salon feeling mixed emotions, it represented the loss of a business, the loss of equipment, the loss of money and even the loss of a friendship. At the same time it also represented a dream fulfilled, the birth of a new home based and mobile business which was more flexible & suited to family life, the birth of this blog, & even better the birth of my beautiful baby girl. Yes the flood was horrible and stressful at the time, and for the months after, but it inadvertently brought about big changes, new ideas and a new path.

So whats in store for the rest of 2017?? In between nappy changing, potty training, teenage tantruming & adding to my ever growing gel colour & nail glitter collection (we all know I just can’t help myself) I plan to continue writing this blog. Family and friends are still willing to be pampered and beautified so I can keep my skills current & I am also researching which training course I hope to partake in before returning to work properly in September.

Expect to see make up reviews, industry news, nail trends & share in my mummy moments over the coming months. Watch out glitter fairies as I am back and raring to go,

stay fabulous,

Jo x

mummy moments

yes that is a brussell sprout on my fireplace. The worst of it was we weren’t even having sprouts that day , the 2 year old had managed to dig out an old sprout from his toy box and leave it as a present. Thanks little man. Note to self

I go into Arya’s nappy box (where frustratingly there was no nappies) to find daughter no.2’s brand new £60 toy shoved in there the same day she got it. Apparently she didn’t want it to’ keep her awake when she was trying to sleep at night’. It was only 2 o’clock in the afternoon. She had been wanting one of these things since Christmas, however seeing as they were like gold dust at the time we never got our hands on one. Now she has it, its safe to say the novelty is quickly wearing off. #notworththemoney

Sleep deprivation causes me to forget many things: including the £10 note left in my back pocket. I now own the cleanest tenner in town.

and finally….

I got the chop. My once almost down to the butt hair got cut off. I now enjoy half the blow dry time and save a fortune in conditioner. However the new hair style still didn’t hide the dark circles or make me magically lose 3 stone, but it did make me feel good (as long as I looked at the hair and nothing else lol). I’m still working on the rest.