People often say how a time of reflection is good for you. A time to refocus and be refreshed. And there are times when I absolutely agree. When you write a blog it can become all consuming. You fall in love with writing and sharing and the interaction and engagement from readers and followers encourages you to keep writing and keep sharing.

But it can take over your life! And not always in a good way. I see more and more bloggers talking about "technology free nights", days which are no laptop days and self imposed restrictions to help with the quest for a balanced, happy family life. There is always something to share or someone to share it with, strangers, acquaintances and friends online, who at any time of day are there to talk through your worries or celebrate your successes. 

It's hard to switch off. 

And the most frustrating thing of all is being forced to switch off. We moved house a little over 3 weeks ago and it has taken almost that long for our internet to be reconnected. 3 WEEKS! When your work relies on staying connected this feels like a lifetime and I can tell you that tag team trips back and forth to the Waitrose cafe, whilst trying to juggle childcare, has been a challenge!

But it's given me time to think, time off the treadmill I was on of feeling under a self made pressure to post several times, often more, a week. 

Being a successful blogger doesn't mean you have to spend every waking minute blogging. I know I couldn't. I've tried that in the past and I ended up feeling like a busy fool. The boys don't want to spend weekends being photographed for a blog post and Sammy starting school meant my model assistant suddenly had better things to do in the precious couple of hours after school than holding something or playing a "game". (Which was really a blog idea in disguise.)

I've realised in this forced period of quiet that I blog at my best when I am sharing the things I love the most, taking my time to create quality content, rather than chasing traffic. We all define our own terms of success and ratings and rankings are not the same as readers. 

I've been terribly guilty in the past about flooding my site with seasonal posts, I'm sure my most loyal readers have rolled their eyes during Halloween season at yet another pumpkin related post! Posts I can pin, posts that I can submit to Foodgawker or Craftgawker or another collective site I know will boost my traffic figures for that week. But those figures are fickle. 

Cue some themed photos... Psst these photos are for a lovely party company, Feather and Grey, I had the pleasure of working for recently!

I feel very fortunate to have been recognised by the blogging community for the blog I have established and developed and winning awards helps you build a platform to help and inspire others. And that's what I want to do going forward.

Yes I still want to involve the boys and journal our family life, I want to share some Christmassy ideas in the festive season but I want them to be real. There are times when it's easy to make life one big blog post opportunity, getting swept up in the comparison craze and drawn into silly spats on Twitter. 

And then it takes you and your blog away from what it really is. For every blogger their goals will be different and I respect that. For me, it is my living CV, a digital record of our family life and an opportunity to hopefully inspire the people who take the time to read it. 

I get to promote companies with lovely products who value my time and it has led to creating long lasting commercial relationships with photography clients. So whilst all work and no play has made this blog a quieter than usual place, (Watch out subscribers for the longest overdue issue of my huh hmm weekly newsletter!) I have been quite busy, snapping away. 

My blog is a huge part of my life but for a while it became our way of life and that's not quite right. I want my it to be my creative escape, part of my working life and something that enhances our family life, rather than rules it!

I love being able to share my work on my blog and let my readers be part of my journey to become a photographer. Eek.

I feel very proud that my blog has been and continues to be, the reason I get to introduce myself as a working mother, consultant, blogger and product photographer. 

So I have a few ideas for the coming months. A #backtobasics photography series, taking us all right back to the start, building our knowledge of our cameras through to composition, styling and techniques and tips I have learnt to help your editing processes. And put new life into old ideas, to get everyone even more excited about photography. I also want to blog our house renovations. 

It's fair to say we are in a bit of a muddle. This house is going to be a labour of love! There are a few more things than we originally thought that need attention but we will get there... in time! I can't wait to share our ideas and I love that there's a whole wealth of interiors loving people out there who can help give us some advice and inspiration! 

First up is our family/dining room and the boys' bedroom - I'll be blogging our ideas later this week! 

Oh and for anyone wondering when my range of backdrops (I am producing a range of blogger friendly vinyl backdrops) are going to be available... I am working on them now, in time for Christmas presents ;)

Happy healthy blogging everyone!

October, I am not ready for you. I am going to pretend we are still in September (and that is why this post is a day late) because the to do list just went supersonic.

I've said before I need a few extra hours in the day, but for the rest of 2014 I need an extra weekend every week! 

September has been a big month of change. Finally out of our temporary home in Weston and after 5 removal van trips back and forth, into our forever house.

We are under no illusions that it will probably take forever to do everything that needs to be done! But that's the fun part. I am normally a person in a rush, but with this house I don't feel in such a panic. 

I want to lovingly update the house, work room by room, and decorate it slowly. 

So this month's family photo had to be on the day we completed! The removal men moved our stuff in a week later, so for the first week all we had was a mattress on the floor, blow up beds for the boys and camping chairs! 

The sun was shining on the day we picked up the keys and it has barely stopped shining since. We've all lived in shorts and feel like we been blessed with a second Summer, which has helped when carting carpets in and out and moving boxes to and from the garage.

It's been all hands on deck and we've been so lucky that our family has been able to come and help with unpacking, cleaning, painting and despite having two very willing helpers (of course in pants), we have a decorator starting next Monday to get the family dining room finished!

We have decided to use the conservatory as a playroom until the day in the future when we can afford to extend the kitchen and make one larger room. Toys are unpacked, bunting is up and the next job is to think of some flooring for the colder weather coming in Winter and make sure they will continue to use the room as much as they are now. Then next Spring time, paint the woodwork a lovely fresh white.

We've realised having had almost 3 weeks apart (bar weekends) with Sammy living in a B&B, it has taken them a little while to adjust to living together again. We have moments of wonderful imaginative play, make believe and then it descends into a battle or a competition! But they are so lucky to have a space of their own and are enjoying covering it with tiny balls, cars and lego every day!

So for now we have a pocket of normality in amongst all the boxes and cables and pipes that need moving and replacing. We have a cosy area in front of the dining room fire which we are going to use as a family space, with no tv, a space to read and relax. And I have already started snipping around the garden, lucky my old box of bottles were one of the first boxes I unpacked ;)

A little bit of calm in a sea of chaos!

Make sure you pop across to the other hosts of Me and Mine, Lucy, Katie, Lauren, Chloe and Becky and join in with us and share your family snap from September. We love seeing them all. 

I am still without wifi (2 weeks and counting) and slowly going potty! But as soon as we are online again I will be visiting them all!

On January 1st this year we said to each other we were going to slow life down more this year. Less travelling, less Sunday nights spent unpacking the car and carrying sleepy boys into bed and lazy Saturdays at home, in pjs.

Well. we are now almost in October and life is as hectic as ever!

But I wouldn't change it for the world. I started the week full of nervous excitement and ended it in the same way! On Tuesday we watched our emails, waiting for the all important, "It's official" message from our solicitor to say the forever house was finally ours forever. And earlier than expected, before I had even left Weston to head towards Somerset to the estate agent, to be ready to collect the keys, a short and sweet email popped up saying, "It is yours....!"

Mum headed to the estate agent and I headed to the house to meet my in laws with Rich and Ollie following from Weston after pre school.

All three of them tooted like a fanfare as I turned the key in the door! 

In 48 hours we had pulled up carpets, uncovering a beautiful oak herringbone floor in the sitting room, hired a sander and started bringing the floorboards in our room and the boy's room back to life and filled a skip in almost 10 minutes flat.

We all sat with plastic glasses of champagne, on camping chairs, with fish and chips on our laps taking in the garden (which I still can't believe is really ours) and toasted the start of a new adventure! I can't thank them all enough, the house needs.... well....more than a lick of paint and they all just got stuck in, cleaning, ripping down old partitions, running errands and entertaining boys! And then my sister, Andrew and Yasmin came to visit with a croquet house warming set! 

But it's ours. And now we have all the time in the world to bring new life into it. 

Then from sanding and painting I whizzed up to London (complete with my hair in heated rollers in the car) to celebrate with all the Finalists in the MAD Blog Awards. I shimmied into a sparkly number in the car as we approached the hotel (classy I know) and ran up to join everyone at the champagne reception.

It is both wonderful and surreal to be in a room with all the people you talk to online. Lots of hugs and kisses and giggly hellos! I love it!

I had the pleasure of sitting for the dinner with lots of bloggers I hadn't met before and our table definitely gave the loudest cheers of the night! Go Emma and Lori! It's a night to celebrate the hard work that everyone puts into their blogs and it does make me laugh to look around the room and see the majority glued to their phones! 

It was a complete honour to hear my name called as the winner of the photography award. It is incredible to win again this year and I feel so lucky! I have worked hard this year to try and challenge myself technically and creatively and it is amazing to have all my love for photography rewarded by my peers. Plus the competition was stiff! Annie, Katie, Charly and Helene, you are all talented photographers and I was very lucky to win this year. 

I wished I could have stayed the night, brought my camera and had had longer with all the lovely bloggers, (A big shout out to the adorable Jenny for my beautiful vintage serving spoon - what a sweet gift!) but we had to head back to my in laws in Poole for an overnight pitstop, we got back at 3am, and then raced off to the house on Saturday morning for more DIY. 

A million thank yous to everyone who voted, for everyone who puts up with being friends with and family of a woman in love with blogging and to Rich for driving me home, having spent the evening pottering around London on his own. 

I have felt so loved by the blogging community this year, so supported and showered with kindness. As I said in my speech on stage, we get to share the worst of times and the best of times, and this is one of the absolute best!