I love it in my office. The networking and people focussed culture is one of the things that drew me to the company. I think the richness of solutions you get and the energy behind new initiatives and innovation is massively intensified by involving people and listening to their points of view. I love a catch up over a coffee, a working session in the break out area and love the fact that I can go and perch on someone's desk and ask their thoughts. I get energised by the buzz of this kind of way of working and find it really enables me to feed my creative strength and encourage other people to feed their strengths too.
However, what I've recognised is that there are times when in order to focus, I need to take myself away from the hustle and bustle and give myself an opportunity to remove the external buzz and centre back in my goals and objectives. I can be a little bit like a magpie for the shiny and new! And I'm lucky that I am able to make choices over when I need to do this and am able to plonk myself at home or in a meeting room and crack on with what I have got going on.
This morning, I was due to sit in on a global TC and with a two week holiday coming up at the end of next week, recognised that I need to make sure I am planning my time really effectively. I have made the mistake before of trying to cram everything in before and after a holiday - which often results in the good work of a holiday being undone by the hectic weeks preceeding and following. So, today, I decided to stay at home this morning and get cracking with a plan. To take the time without interruptions to objectively look at what I have coming up and plan when I'm going to do this. Now I'm not a planner by nature. But I've found that by taking this time and mentally committing to things, it enables me to inform others better, make the most well informed decisions on where I spend my time and also allow me to keep on top of my wellbeing too! I really don't want to go straight from work to the airport without having the time to make sure I've had time to pack!!
The added bonus today, was the opportunity to appreciate the beauty of the view from my kitchen whilst doing so. There's nothing like a blue sky and seeing a Red Kite swooping around to help with a bit of calm-perspective planning! Here are just a few snapshots:
There really is something special about learning from others. I stumbled across this 2005 commencement speech from Steve Jobs recently and I couldn't agree with his key messages more:
Have faith that if you follow your interests, it'll lead to something great
Love what you do and don't settle until you find what you love
If you find yourself not looking forward to what you've got in store for yourself for too many days in a row; be brave and address it
Follow your heart and intuition
Don't let others' opinions drown out your inner voice
I have a bit of a guilty pleasure…I love snuggling on the sofa and watching a good old talent
competition. Whether it’s X-factor,
Britain’s Got Talent, The Great British Bake Off, Got 2 dance or Masterchef ……
I love them all!
Now I know a lot of people absolutely can’t stand them, can’t
stomach the idea of people who are awful being ridiculed on TV (which I can
completely understand) but I think there’s something fantastic about them that
draws me in.
What is that magic?
Why can’t I get enough of them???
Well, recently I think I’ve figured out what it is. And I’ve realised they closely link into who
I am and what I love to do….So here goes, my list of reasons for my-not-so-guilty-now-I-think-about-it pleasure…. They encourage people
to be brave and put themselves out there to pursue their dreams. There’s no guarantee of success on these
shows. Every year, I am amazed that there
are still people in the x-factor auditions that take my breath away. Surely they would’ve applied before, released
a record already? etc etc. But there
they are, standing on stage, heart pounding with their nan or family nervously
watching on hoping they’ll do themselves justice and people will love them…. And
boy when they can channel the nerves into energy, they can often create
something special! They encourage people
to be authentic and creative. The
most inspiring performances come from people who don’t just copy what someone
else has done before, but the people who really make it their own. Take James Arthur on the x-factor. He channelled his personality, creativity and
personality to take songs and allow people to hear them in a different
way. I love his take on a Marvin Gaye classic...
This authenticity meant people
wanted to back him, pick up the phone and vote so they could get a chance to
see more of what he had to offer. Which
in turn must’ve encouraged him to push the boundaries even further and keep
true to himself. Which leads me onto…. They people to do what
they do best and embrace their style. Similar to the Whether it’s power ballards, rapping, dance or Motown
that floats your boat, you can really tell when someone is singing in a style
that doesn’t work for them. The encourage people
to take the feedback and lessons learnt and use those to make themselves even
better. There are quite a few acts,
those who are really motivated who you see come back again and again, even if
they haven’t been the winner. I get so
nervous when someone comes on stage to audition that’s been there before and
hasn’t won the competition. Sometimes I
find it hard to watch! But, I LOVE it
when they absolutely smash the audition.
The pride and relief on their face is fantastic to see. And you know what I’ve noticed? Usually the ones that do this are those that
say, ‘I took the feedback from last time and it made me more determined than
ever to work hard and succeed; to become even better this time’. It’s not always easy to hear feedback –
especially when you’re disappointed. But
the right feedback taken on board and applied with some fighting spirit can be
so powerful to help people do themselves proud.
A GREAT example of this was Ruff Diamond dance troupe who came back for the second year running on Got2Dance. Although they didn't win, they made it to the final and I've no doubt will go far:
They show the value
of hard work. Practice, practice,
practice! Although some people are
gifted with talents, if you don’t learn the words to the song, or do a trial
run of your Victoria sponge before the competition, you might not get as far as
you’d like. This year on Got2Dance,
there was a massive influx of talent who had spent hours and hours in their
bedrooms learning their craft. The
outcome of this dedication and commitment to do what they loved and perfect
their craft was amazing!
They encourage people
to believe in themselves. Positive
encouragement and feeling that other people enjoy, respect, love or even accept
them for who and what they are is really powerful. And I LOVE seeing people who have been
nervous as anything, unsure of themselves bloom into confident and self assured
individuals, happy to be who they are and follow their dreams and motivations
to make a difference. And when these
people channel their success to make differences to other peoples’ lives, that
makes me very, very happy!
They inspire other people
to pursue their dreams. Like them or
loathe them, the fact that television captures such a large audience, to me, is
a fantastic thing. If just one person
gets inspired to pursue their dreams by the story or journey of the people who
put themselves out there, then that really is special. In fact, I suspect that they touch a few more
people than that.
Here is the Got2Dance 2013 winner inspiring others with his amazing dance to the voice of X-factor winner, James Arthur:
How does this fit in with what I do? Well, I love nothing more than seeing someone
fulfil their potential and seeing the value in what they bring. When I’m assessing on an interview day, I
make it my personal goal to make sure that each and every person I come into
contact with feels relaxed enough to be themselves. I make sure I show them that I’m interested
in what they have to say. I will make
sure I ask the best possible questions to give them every opportunity to
showcase their skills. And what’s more,
whether they’re successful or not, I make sure that the feedback they are given
is meaningful, delivered in a compassionate and personal way and hopefully
encourages them to play to their strengths, develop themselves further and
appreciate the value of their unique offering.
And boy, when I am told that I’ve made someone’s day, or
that they really appreciate the feedback and understand what they do well /
could improve upon for the future, then that inspires me to keep doing what I
do and take the time to make sure that I don’t lose sight of the value this
personal touch that I value so much adds to others.
So, whether you’re off on an interview soon, entering a talent
competition, or just carrying on your day to day life, remember to be true to
you….Remember to Express Yourself. Love this song for capturing the essence of this.
At work, our team have recently embarked on a journey
together. An exciting journey of High
Performance Collaboration. You see we’ve
been through quite a journey already. Since
I joined just over a year and a half ago, we’ve had:
A new direct sourcing team structure and whole
new way of working
3 new roles introduced into our team – 2 Resourcers
and a Future Talent Exec
2 people move within our team – well done on the
promo Helen and so glad to have you as a fellow TAM Chris!
1 person move out on secondment – Jo, we miss
you!
1 grad Sophie move from a 1st year
grad placement in our team out to Marketing – also miss you Sophie and thank you for getting our new process to where it is now!
1 new grad Greg start 1st year placement
in our team – welcome Gregory!!!
3 further new Associates – the amazing Rachel,
Emily and Shereen – soooo glad all three of you are here!
Now, we’re a very lucky team.We’re passionate.We’re team players.We exude positivity and fun.We love being Ambassadors for our business to
the external world and are passionate about offering an amazing service to our
stakeholders and playing our part in contributing to top notch business
performance.We like trying new things
and get really enthused to learn how we can attract those ‘needle-in-a-haystack-candidates’
or future proof our business by investing in and snazzily attracting the talent
for the future.Line Managers have told
us that they deliberately swing by our desks as we’re always so welcoming, helpful,
positive and smile A LOT!
Sounds like we don’t need much more than that hey! Well, we’ve decided we do. You see, with our positivity, team ethos and
passion for results comes a great opportunity.
An opportunity to harness the unique skills and talents that each of us
bring to make an even bigger impact together than we would going it alone. You see we’ve got our sights on making some
real splashes and we’ve identified some great things we want to achieve to make
us more efficient, more impactful and as a result make the business
better. And what’s more, we want it
all! We want to continue to do engage
and attract the best talent, we want to continue to provide a top notch service,
we want to land these projects AND we want to continue to have wellbeing
objectives at the forefront of our agenda.
We want to make sure we leave work at a decent time most days, we want
to make sure we have time to see our loved ones, cook healthy meals, go for
runs, spend time on our self-development….the list goes on. Basically, we want to have our cake and eat
it too!
So, what are going to do?
Thanks to our amazing line manager aka ‘The Mizza’ who really believes
we can have the cake and eat it (in moderation in line with our wellbeing of
course!); we’re investing in finding out how we can harness the power of
team. We’re bringing in the big gun
trainers, such as the 'energetic-and-ultimate-celebrator-of-each-and every-individual', Sara; and the 'selfless-and-ultimate-engagement-for-business-success champion' Liz. And with their help, wisdom, passion and encouragement, we’re figuring out
how we can become the slickest of slickest operations. Where have we started? We’ve started by understanding us and our
strengths. And boy, do we have some
great ones. We have strategic and futuristic
skills, maximiser skills, communication and achiever skills, empathy and
learners. The list really does go
on.
Our first steps on the journey? To really embrace and learn to appreciate the
skills we bring as an individual. Only
you bring what you bring – so we’re learning to love it and BRING it!
To start recognising that it is really very powerful when
you enlist the help of the right people at the right places or time in a
project. We can use our strategists to
help devise the direction in which we want to head. We can use our communicators to engage people
with our mission. We can use our achievers
to make sure we set ourselves milestones and don’t miss off a step. We can use our empathisers to ensure we’re
putting ourselves in people’s shoes and make sure we’re making the right
impact.
So, we’ve started giving it a go. We’ve now got 5 of us working on an Apprentice
recruitment campaign where last year it was just 2. And do you know what? It feels good! We’ve got people taking ownership for the
parts that really play to their strengths and float their boats. And it seems to be working. We’ve been more creative as a result, it’s
well planned, we’ve planned some amazing communication, we’re hoping for a good
result, we’ve already planned to review, capture learnings and fine tune for
next year. But what’s more, it’s giving
us a chance to work together on something great, work on our development and
thanks to the number of us getting involved; it’s not a massive investment of
time. Wellbeing is still on the agenda!
And boy am I glad it is!
Because on Friday those of us who were in the office managed to leave at
4 and go have afternoon tea together in the wonderful and beautiful CowarthPark. It was amazing! I’m so glad we managed to have a go at trying
the unique blend.
In reference to the amazing pianist who set the mood just right, please feel free to take a look at the pics below of our outing to the following feel good track:
So, I’ve been home alone this
weekend. Hubby has been on an amazing work
incentive in Chamonix and I’ve been mooching around, meeting up with my amazing friend Hannah
and deciding to take a plunge and start this blog. I’ve just got a text message from
my hubby which has made me massively smile, so I wanted to capture our parallel
weekends through the medium of text conversations. Here are a few:
Johnny: Love you Me:
Wow! Looks amazing!! You look well happy in that pic. Love you too xx
Johnny: It is amazing here. Forget the sports. The place alone is stunning. You would love it. The temperature in that picture of me was
21c!!!!
Me:
No way!! Woww!!
Johnny: It was awesome.
Johnny: This place is stunning!
Johnny: We had fondue for dinner
Me: That is amazing! Beautiful!
So, million dollar question: what’s
better, grated cheese or melted cheese? ;-) So glad you got to go bubs xx
Johnny: Grated is best!
Me: Too right! And just now...... Johnny: I love you honey
Me: I love you too. Starving!
I’ve got to go hunter gather for myself…boo! What you up to?
Johnny: Went up the mountain
properly today. It was the most amazing
thing. I am going to start skiing. I love this life! Went back to the hotel and had a sauna and a
swim. Shower and a DVD and now in texas
restaurant waiting for ribs!
Me: Jesus Christ, that sounds like
the perfect day! Love it!! I could be persuaded to come with you next
time (obv not on a work one). Bet you
are well happy with ribs on the way too!
Johnny: Bad ribs!!!!! But still an amazing place. You would love it. So there you have it. Looks like I might go off skiing
sometime. Watch this space! In the meantime, two things. Firstly, I can't wait for Johnny to come back and tell me all his stories. To help me tell him mine, here's a few pics from my weekend:
These pics were taken when off exploring with my amazing friend Hannah. I noticed that she had the Amaretto wedding favour still untouched from mine and Johnny's wedding (where she was a beautiful bridesmaid) and it made me smile!! Here's a quick bridesmaid pic for the hell of it...(lovely Hannah on the left and my beautiful little sis Siobhan on the right)
Secondly, I would be really
interested to find out what you think is best: grated or melted cheese? Please feel free to comment!
We’ve already established that I love what I do. Work is like my playground, where I'm lucky I get to
explore new avenues and ideas, be creative and talk to and positively impact
people on a daily basis. Because I do
have so much freedom to be me and I’m excited by the wonderful possibilities,
it’s really easy for me to get carried away and let my work mojo go wild! Which is great! The thing I’m starting to realise though is
that sometimes I’m then in danger of letting my home mojo take second
place. And I really don’t want that to
happen. Because I want to make sure that
I invest the same energy and enthusiasm into positively impacting and
encouraging those I love too. They mean
the world to me. They help support and
encourage me to be the best me I can be.
And I know that I love them for being them. But quite frankly if I’m not spending quality
time with them, then I’m not always showing them just how much they mean to me
am I? And because I want to do both, I can be guilty of then forgetting to take time to re-charge. I always read before bed. Every night without fail. I love it and it's important for me to switch off. Hubby does too. But this is all well and good as long as I'm getting to bed early enough to allow me to really re-charge!
If you or anyone else you know
finds it difficult to stay on the work / life balance see-saw, then I would
highly recommend this book. I’ve been
reading it lately and it’s really helped me get some perspective. For anyone who likes a good toolkit too – it’s
great for that too. I've taken the image from the amazon page, so the link to look inside doesn't work (I just love a visual) but I've included the amazon link below in case anyone fancies taking a closer look....
I love my husband. He
is my best friend. The Yin to my Yang,
the Beans to my Toast, the Dippy Egg to my marmite soldiers. Without him the amazing holidays might not
actually get booked. Without him my new
car would’ve blown a gasket due to lack of coolant and my old car would still
be sat on the drive. Scrap that, I would
still be driving my old car wishing I had a new one without him. You see he is amazing at making things happen. Recently I’ve been worrying about him. A lot.
Unnecessarily. He’s going through
a learning curve at work and as with all learning curves, there are times when
it can be tricky. It’s hard seeing
someone you love going through these tricky times. And the natural inclination is to want to
help, to take on the burden so they don’t have to. However, I realised recently that I’d been so
pre-occupied with this. I’d been
focusing a lot of my energy on finding out about the problem; trying to come up
with solutions; offering advice; then forgetting what advice I’d offered him
and offering different advice. I
realised I’d forgotten some really important things about my husband:
My husband rocks.He is a very bright man.He is more than capable of figuring this out
for himself.
My husband is not stupid.He will also ask for my help if he needs it
and knows me well enough to know that if he asks, I will jump at the chance to
help in any way I can.
I’d also overlooked a few things about myself:
I was also on a learning curve at work and
personally.
There were challenges I was going through that I
hadn’t figured out (like how to get better work life balance / how to say no in
a way that still felt authentic to me / how to embrace my strengths)
I’m all about empowering people and encouraging
them to do what’s right for them. I wasn’t
convinced I was doing this with him.
I felt awful. Really
awful and so guilty. I realised that I
wasn’t giving him the time and space to figure it out for himself. I wasn’t even showing him that I had utter
confidence that he could figure it out for himself. I was being a douche! Although once I got over my über guilt, I
realised I was being a douche with the best of intentions. So I decided I would figure out how I could
feel like I was helping without interfering.
And so this is what I did:
I acknowledged that I hadn’t been just listening and I let him
know that from now on, he was welcome to scrap what I had said before and just
know that I support him. This one is
credit to Helen at work, who had done something similar with her other
half. She is my go to person when I want
to get some perspective and some logic.
And I’m sure I could see relief on his face when I came home from work
that day and I wasn’t going to ask him how his day at work had been and we’d
just chill instead. I’m so glad I did;
thanks Helen!
I decided to spend my energy instead on doing what I do
best. Actually telling him that I think
he’s great and that I KNOW he can do whatever he wants to do. And so I decided to tell him something I’d
realised the other week I had never told him. I told him that the reason I moved back to our
home town of High Wycombe from Wales where I was at Uni was because he was
here.
You see, our story goes that some
good friends of ours Harry and Lou had put the idea in both of our heads probably
two years before this that we might be good for each other. We’d had a little kiss as a result, but he
was here, I was at Uni and I was determined not to have a long distance
relationship (I’d been there, done that, it didn’t work). So, we met up every now and again. We both went on dates with other people. We kissed again at the wedding of our good
friends Harry and Lou and then for the next year or so spent every Sunday afternoon
for many months talking. We laughed, we
joked. We got to know each other. It was lovely. I was doing my finals and I looked forward to
my Sunday chats with Johnny. He was my
light relief from the revision and the pressure. And when I got my results, I knew he had had
a part to play in helping me achieve them (alongside a fair few others to be honest – Mum, Dad and my lovely Welsh
family Frank, Merril, Llian). And so, this evening when I wasn’t going to ask him how his
day went, I told him two things:
The Text
Message. I checked he remembered
that I’d texted him the night I got my results to thank him for the support he’d
been to me. (I think I’d written: you’ll
never know how much it’s meant to me). He
remembered. So I told him the back
story. I told him that the morning after
my degree results, I had a bit of a moment of panic. I had to check back through my phone to read
through what I’d sent. Why? Because I had a feeling that I might’ve told
him I loved him in my text. Because it’s
that night that I realised that I did.
And it scared the living daylights out of me. ‘You can’t be in love yet, you’ve only been
talking over the phone. You haven’t even
been on a proper date yet’ the internal voice was saying. ‘What if you’ve scared him off! You definitely don’t want that!’ it continued.
To say I was relieved when I realised I hadn’t sent the text message was
an understatement. And I was relieved recently. Because now I got to
use that story to let the man I love know that I loved him before he’s even had
to take me out on a date. I loved him
because of what he had to say for himself and how he made me feel. I loved him because he quite frankly rocks!
By this point he’s looking all bashful because I love to
tell the story and I love to make sure he feels it as well as hears it. So I tell him the next bit. I came
back because I wanted to be with him.
I was scared in case it didn’t work out, but I decided to take the
risk. I thought he would be worth that
risk. I realised that I loved him as
soon as I’d checked for that text message.
I was so afraid to listen to the instinct and feeling rather than the
internal voice. But I did. And it’s then that I made a difficult
decision I’d been pondering over. A really
hard one. You see I had a wonderful,
very special lovely, amazing friend Llian whose family I had been literally
adopted by. I loved them. They’d taken me in, supported me, made me feel
so special and had faith in me. Llian
and I were like a married couple. We had
our own ends to the sofa, we finished each others’ sentences. I loved them all and they made it clear that
I could stay as long as I wanted. In
fact, they told me they wanted me to stay.
And I wanted to. But I also had a
feeling that there was something with this boy Johnny. He made me feel amazing too. And it was that night, sat on a wall outside
a country pub my Welsh family were sitting inside toasting my future, that I
sent that message. And the next morning,
checking through my sent items in a state of excited panic, I decided I had to
go and see about a boy.
Now Johnny and I didn’t talk about this revelation much
after. I didn’t tell him because I
wanted him to profess a better story or to feel like he owed me anything in
return. I told him because I wanted to
share this with him. And I told him because
I thought he’d like to know. And it was
much more fun than asking how his day went and made him smile! So, I learnt that it’s the little things that really do matter. I don’t need to try and fix all of Johnny’s problems,
but what I can do is make sure that he knows how amazing he is to me. They always say that "people won’t remember
what you say, but they will remember how you made them feel". I really hope my husband remembers how that made him feel,
because I know good it feels for someone to tell you just how much they love
you (he does it all the time!). My
husband loves films. This story reminds
me of the Film ‘Good Will Hunting’ It’s
an amazing film and captures what can be gained by following your dreams. A lifetime of love with a special person
(well for my boy it’s since June 2005 to be precise). As he loves films, hopefully by linking it to
a film he likes he’ll remember it every time he watches this film. Film recommendation: Good Will Hunting Here's the soundtrack song to evoke the feel good factor of this film for those in the know already about how wonderful this film is.
If you take just one thing out of this post, I ask that you
take the following: People matter. Don’t
take for granted that the people you love know how much and why. Follow your instinct. That is all.
This is my outlook today. Two words - beautifully sunny.
Picture taken from my bedroom window on the first proper sunny day of the year in rainy old Blighty. To be fair, this view is amazing whatever the weather, that's why one of the reasons my husband and I chose this house. But I must say, when it is like this, it truly does make me realise how lucky I've got it.
On that note, I've got to dash....I'm off to a country pub beer garden with my bestie Hannah. It is most definitely Pimms weather! (allbeit it probably slightly colder in reality outside than I'm imagining!)
I am surprised I left this off my introduction to me, as my
work is, I think, a huge part of who I am.
I love what I do, I work for an awesome company and I get the
opportunity to do what I do best every day.
Not only that, but I work for a company that encourage me to do even
more of these things and take responsibility to make the right choices about
where I go next. I’m not going to mention
the name of the company as all opinions in my blog are my own etc . But I’m lucky (and deliberately chose) to
work for a principle based, family and relationship driven company whose core
values really match my own.
I work in Talent Acquisition but what that really means is
that I get the opportunity to attract and offer amazing people amazing opportunities to
join this business. Then I get to see
them develop, grow and achieve. Whether
it’s an Apprentice or a Senior hire, there really is nothing better than
feeling like you’ve helped someone make the next step on their career and
personal journey. I see it as my personal
responsibility to ensure that they get every chance possible to find out if we’re
the right fit for them and for them to showcase their talents to us, despite
the nerves. I also get a massive sense
of satisfaction from seeing the line manager or team get excited about this new
person who is going to join them. As well as acquiring amazing, talented individuals to help
shape the success of the business, I am lucky enough to get involved in a few
other bits and bobs.I’m a culture
Ambassador and help new starters to the business understand our people and
network driven business, the heritage and principles and the amazing brands we
make.I work in a chocolate making area
of the business – what’s not to love!?!!As one of the line managers I work with once said to me, ‘If you can’t
have fun working in a chocolate business where can you!?!!’I also get to look at fun and innovative ways
to attract people from far and wide to come and join us. Aside from what I do and the fantastic culture I work in, it’s
really the people I work with who make it an amazing place to work.They are talented, passionate, caring, fun,
daring, principled, individuals and that makes for a different challenge and a
lots of fun everyday. And really, isn't that what 'work' should be all about. Getting paid to do what you love with people who value what you bring is pretty fricking awesome!
I find it quite hard introducing myself as I don’t know
quite where to begin and where to end!
So, I’m just going to ramble this one out and see where it takes me….
I’m a positive, life loving, people loving person.
Things I enjoy most in the world are in no particular order:
Cuddles and cwtches (I lived in Wales for a bit
so feel I can adopt the best word for a cuddle)
Laughing until my mascara runs
BBQs.People that know me know that every day is BBQ day if it’s sunny
Bouncing ideas off people and seeing where they
can take us
Letting my imagination run wild and helping
other people do the same
People and all their quirks
Seeing other people smile and making them happy
Helping people believe in themselves , do what
they love, be good at what they do and achieve what they dream of
Sunshine, swim up bars and getting away from it
all
A good book and some good old escapism
Box sets – from Sex & The City & Greys
Anatomy to Sons of Anarchy &The Shield
Weddings. They really are the best day ever. Friends, love, food, drink & dancing.
Christmas. It is the most wonderful time of the year.
The list can and does go on and on and on. Yes, that’s right. I probably should add to the list that one of
the things I love most is looking for the positive in any situation. Because I really do!
My People
People definitely deserve a special mention in my eyes. I love a LOT of people, but want to give a
special intro to my husband and family.
My Husband:
Johnny. My boy. Movie fan, funny man, the yin to my yang. He knows me inside and out and loves me
anyway. Was the year above me at primary
school and he tells everyone I’ve been stalking him ever since and begged him
to go out with him. But we both know
that’s not how it went down.
My Mum:
Known to all in the know as St Katherine of Terriers. She is an ANGEL. Very selective hearing (she ignores us when
we’re joshing with her and can hear a piece of gossip from miles away). She knows everything about everyone. Can usually be found with the phone glued to her
ear. She still answers the phone with the home number, bless!
My Dad:
Otherwise known as Big Malc, Papa Bear or sometimes Don
Corleone (thanks to a party trick he has of popping cherry tomatoes in the
sides of his mouth and pretending to be the Godfather). Family man, also a funny man (although
sometimes questionable joke quality) & gets as excited about BBQ season as
me.
Little Sis:
Siobhan. Known as Bornie
monkeyhead or Ron. A school teacher with
a big heart and a good 'telling off' voice.
Bakes a blinking good cake and loves to bake so always
welcome at gatherings (obv her company also warrants an invite). Loves to travel,
take the mickey out of my husband and can fall asleep anywhere and at the drop
of a hat. Seriously anywhere!
Big Bro:
Rory: Doesn’t really need a nickname in our family, he is
Rory! He is calm, sarcastic and a really
nice bloke. Has an eclectic taste in
everything and learns a new practical skill every five minutes (archery,
slacklining, jewellery making, balloon animal making). He’s always evolving, so I guess a bit like
Kylie, but he’d hate me calling him that….but I always think he secretly loves
it when I call him things he hates, so I will now call him Kylie!
Why Blog:
I am a blue sky thinking, creative type and like to make
sense of my thoughts by jotting them down, playing around with the words and
trying to join the dots and make sense of me, people and the world around
me. I’m not one for making a schedule
and sticking to it, so likely sometimes I’ll post a lot and then I’ll go
quiet. I’m quite easily distracted by
the new and shiny but I do tend to come back to base once in a while to check
in.
