Five Highlights From July & My New Content Plans

Well hello there! How are you doing on this fine Friday morning! Are you well? I thought you were. I haven’t done one of these monthly check-in posts for a while, but they were always some of my favourite to write and collate, so I thought I’d revive it and chat though the best bits from the past four weeks and share some of my favourite photos that we’ve ever taken blog (see below for context).

July has been a pretty mad month, but mad in a good way. Although it hasn’t included international travel I still feel like I’ve been here there and everywhere with weekly trips up to London for meetings and events (and Baby Grey hugs of course!), and two visits in two weeks up to Birmingham for a wedding and birthday party *and* my work calendar is popping. I’m attempting to produce more new bits and bobs of content than ever before and I’m feeling it – enjoying it too – but my days are more packed than ever before. So what have been the standout ones? Well, have a read…

Chez Newton Is Back In Business. Weekends where we have our friends come to stay with us are always the best. I love spending a procrastination-heavy Friday afternoon turning the office into a guest bedroom and rustling up a cake for the next intake of B&B guests. Having friends that live in Mark’s hometown of Birmingham and Uni pals who have relocated to Amsterdam, means that when they visit they do so for the whole weekend and it’s always one that I look forward to in the diary. This time round our Netherlands-based mates came loaded with Tony’s Chocolony and in return we dined out at some of our favourite places in Brighton (revised city guide coming SOON!), had a BBQ, went for a walk over the South Downs and had a picnic at the top and went for a wander down the beach too. #Memories

A Busy, *BUSY* Month. I feel like since we’ve returned from California my work calendar has ramped it up to the next level. I’m not complaining as it’s always the end of the workload spectrum that I like to be on, but it’s meant that I’ve had to make some big changes on my end in order to be able to take it all on. Perhaps it’s my new content calendar (see below for the deats)? Or maybe it’s just that summer tends to be heavy when it comes to branded work? But either way I’m not sure I’ve actually completed my weekly to-do list since we’ve been back. It’s a brilliant predicament to be in though and I just wanted to say a big thank you to you lot for being such a kind and supportive bunch *insert heart emoji*. Your feedback on everything that I put out is always appreciated and your readership and viewership is the reason why I have the chance to partner with dream brands of mine and collaborate in new and creative ways, so THANKS FOR HANGING IN THERE <3.

Getting Into Spin. I know I sound like a broken record spouting my love for spin at any given chance, but I’ve thoroughly enjoyed adding a new form of exercise into my routine. I love Reformer Pilates – MAD FOR IT – but I felt like I needed a boost of cardio in my routine and seeing as the spin studio is approximately 17 steps away from the Pilates one and I still had some spare credits for classes from a brief dalliance I had with spin a year or two ago, it seemed like the stars had aligned. So I’ve been going a couple of times a week for the past month and now I’ve been bitten by the bug. If you’ve tried it before and not thought too much of it, I’ve learnt that the instructor is key; how they teach, the moves they do, speed they set the pace at and the music, all play a *HUGE* role. So I’ve found my faves and don’t mind sweating my balls off in a dark room with strangers. Weird, but wonderful.

A Girl’s Weekend. Getting me and my three best pals together is like trying to squeeze back into the dress you wore out for your 18th birthday. Ain’t. Gonna. Happen. Babies, boyfriends, work, holidays, wedding invites and just life in general mean that getting our diaries to align is like level 91879 Tetris, so we’ve learnt that we have to plan our precious time weeks in advance. So we did and we were still one man down, but we ended up spending a rainy Saturday afternoon and evening in my mate’s front room with enough junk food to feed 15 despite the fact there were just three of us and we chatted, drunk gin and watched music videos from the early 2000’s, singing along until we ended up hoarse. In bed by 10pm and a only a mini hangover come Sunday morning. LOVELY.

The Best Lunch Break Ever. On the hottest day of the year so far, Mark and I padded down to the seafront for an epic lunch break that we always talk about but never do. ‘Oh you live by the sea, you must always go to the seafront!?’ – erm, no. So we finally did what people always assume we do and went down to the beach and even into the sea, for a lunchtime dip. We took just our towels, some money for a quiche (or in Mark’s case, two) and an ice cream and our oldest camera loaded with black and white film and had a lunch break to remember. It was seriously lush and I hope we get the chance to do it again over the summer. Nothing like being a tourist in your own town, even if it’s only for an hour.

So? The new plans. I’m trying to cook up something new daily for you lot because that’s just what you need in your day right? MORE OF MY FACE. The Monday and Friday 8am blog posts are here to stay, delivering you beauty news, style inspiration (LOLZ), city guides, travel tips and general life musings twice a week. YouTube videos will stay the same too – 9am Wednesday and Sundays – you know where to find me. The new additions come in the form of Instagram bumf. For the past few weeks I’ve been attempting to do an Instagram Live every Tuesday, and you know what? I’s fun. I absolutely shit myself each time, but it’s one of those ‘feels good when you’ve done it’ things. Plus it give us a chance to catch-up, for me to answer your questions on the spot and give you a BTS completely unedited look at what’s going on. Timings will vary as to what I’m up to each week, but I’ll give you some notice on Instagram Stories before each one so you can clear your calendars for this very important event. To accompany these I’m also dipping my toe into the world of IGTV – live every Thursday morning. They tend to be snappier than what I’d upload to YouTube and a good place to chat about more specific topics like product reviews, books or fashion favourites. It’s an odd thing getting used to watching videos in vertical and watching longer formats on Instagram, but I’ve started viewing way more on there these days and there’s some decent stuff in my feed that I was previously skipping past. Don’t knock it till you’ve tried it. So that just leaves us with Saturdays, but DON’T PANIC! There’s something in development that will be coming in the next few months that means that they’ll be newness round these parts 24/7. Right, *wipes brow* – I’d better get back to my to-do list…

Photos by Mark Newton on Canon Sure Shot BF

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