So I got an email from my friend Claire, entitled 'An idea Thelma?' It continued; 'I need an honest and spontaneous wingman so thought of you obviously.' Signed off 'Louise'. Turns out she needed me for a girls trip to Cornwall to (the weakest excuse I've ever heard of) listen to a band she was thinking of hiring for the husband's 60th. I did, of course, point out the internet existed and she could probs check them out on there, but she basically fancied a trip and so I said YESSSS. Was really glad to be getting away having just finished the inquest into my dad's death, so packed up a large bag and off we went.

As we drove down smaller and smaller roads it felt like we entered the Twilight Zone. Penzance in the Winter turns out to be have  more than it's fair share of randoms, a lot of whom appear barking. And I can say that because I'm Cornish. We stuck out a bit but gleefully embraced it, spending the majority of the 3 days eating  loads of yummy food, enjoying lots of brisk, blowy (rainy) walks and being naughty. The B&B was beautiful, an amazing re-modelling of a huge Georgian town house with massive baths in wet rooms with waterfall showers. The only downside being I was so excited about all the free lotions and potions that I smeared peppermint foot lotion all over my body; note to self, always put your glasses on to check a label now you're over 50.

We went to the concert (sold out at 20 people, some knitting throughout), bought funky random gifts (lamp made of old lorry headlight), visited my mum's rose in the Garden of Remembrance, went as far as Land's End (well, pointed at it from a nicer beach nearby), chatted up some surfer dudes (probs as old as us and still rocking) and on the last day I had a cream tea for breakfast.  Gotta be done.

I'm editing footage of the trip and will post it when I'm finished. May be a while now Christmas is nearly upon us. There's a lot of stellar material to get through ;-)

In the meantime just posted the vlog below about finally ordering my Look Fabulous Forever products, so if you're thinking about buying some and are worried about the reality of your purchase, check it out. And another one about some environmentally friendly ideas for stocking fillers this Christmas.

Have a great Christmas wherever you are and whomever you're celebrating with! xox

You might have noticed that I've had quite a long break from this - as the plan was only to vlog for the one year - but have discovered I quite miss it and had enjoyed messing about with random stuff. That said I have decided to get going again!

I also feel there is a vast number of younger people out there doing it, and being successful, so why shouldn't I have a go?

In the meantime, as a quick recap, I didn't have a meltdown when my youngest daughter left for uni. Being in an empty nest (with my husband) only actually lasted a year until my middle daughter finished uni and was back home. She's been here for 18 months, working locally and getting some cash + experience. It now seems she's heading off for London so we will be empty-nesting again before long.  The year they were all away I thought it might be grim, but the reality was I found it quite relaxing! There was nothing to pick up or wash unless it was our stuff, and I don't mind doing that so much :-)  I discovered that without any kids around I was reasonably tidy - which I certainly hadn't been before I became a mother.  Another bonus was that I had to be nicer to my husband, as he was the only one to talk to, so I think he liked that and we got on better. Also had the time to realise we still enjoyed each others company, so that was also a plus!

However, we've just done 18 months with Number 2 daughter in the house and although it took some adjusting, it's been great having time with her on her own, as being the middle child she never got it when she was little. She is very easy to have around, albeit messy!, so we've enjoyed the time.

Now we're about to move into another phase, and be childless again. Let's hope this time it goes as well as the first time. Fingers crossed!

What a weird day when your youngest child finishes school. I have been a stay-at-home mum and involved with the school run for what feels like decades, so to think that suddenly it's all over is bizarre. The times I moaned about it, had to yell at the children to get ready on time, had to go back and forward to school about a million times for after school clubs....it seemed endless while I was doing it, but now it's over! Not a clue how I'll feel about that in the long term, but I know in the short term I'm looking forward to a lie in :-)

I hadn't realised it was automatically uploading my videos onto here, so sorry doesn't look much like a blog! If you have the time, and go further down, there's more posts that are actual blogs, rather than just a link to the video.

Just checking to see if this will working. Putting a vlog on a blog page...:p