Oh July, you have been a month of it all! Ups and downs a plenty and I have to be honest towards the end I wasn’t looking forward to looking back and reliving some of it but here we are. Let’s start with the good times!

fun times

weddings a plenty

Every weekend bar one this month, we were invited to a wedding, which was pretty fantastic! From fancy University college settings and beautiful villages to beautiful barns (complete with llamas!) Each one was amazing and so special, so different and unique to each couple. I bloody love a good wedding!

One of the very few photos I took at our friend’s wedding in Oxford but what a gem! 😂

Kayley & John (and of course little Frank!) 🎉

The most beautiful couple! 📷 pinched from my friend, Amy.

The wedding fun times aren’t over yet though, we have another friend’s the first weekend of August and I’ll be working at another towards the end of the month. YAY!

robin hoods bae

Terrible word play aside, we had the most spectacular, last minute overnight stay in Robin Hood’s Bay a few weeks ago. We were heading to Yorkshire for a wedding and as we were taking Buddy we decided it would be nice to park him up by the seaside for a night and make the most of being ‘up North’.

We stayed at Hooks House Farm Campsite, where I knew we would be able to have a shower and pimp ourselves up a bit the morning of the wedding, and my goodness! What a beautiful campsite. It overlooks Robin’s Hood Bay with stunning views and a lovely walk down to the beach and town.

We stopped off in Scarborough along the way for a chippy tea and fought off some mean looking gulls before we arrived to set up camp and wander down to the seafront - the weather was glorious!

SUP B*tches?!?

‘Scuse the swears and terrible pun but July brought more paddle fun times as The Beard and I joined the SUPer Whale gang for their Live Love SUP social along the Backs of the River Cam.

I was ridiculously excited to be taking Quaver on a new part of the river but equally nervous about all the punts there would be through town. It was great fun though and I met some lovely new faces as well as catching up with some familiar ones!

Later on in the month The Beard and I also went out with a wonderful group of beans on one of the hottest days of the year! It was scorchio! Will doesn’t have his own board yet (I’m still nagging him) so we went out tandem-style, which was quite slow and wobbly but a lot of fun - we looked pretty daft!

We met our fellow SUP pals on the river and paddled down to pub for a cheeky beverage before heading back again. The perfect way to end a super sweaty day!

Not so fun times

Little Pickle, Pegs

We had a pretty scary time this month with one of Sunshine Tower’s VIPs. Thankfully she’s back home now and recovering after spending over a week with the vets. A week or so ago, she just wasn’t herself and stopped eating so we took her to the emergency vet late one night.

Poor Pegs was diagnosed with kidney problems very early on but they weren’t sure what was causing it - whether it was an infection, kidney disease that may have been brewing a while or something worse. Either way her initial tests and scans showed she had seriously deformed kidneys and needed fluids and antibiotics.

Pegs stayed with our local vets for a few nights whilst they did the relevant tests but with her bloods not improving after 48hours on a drip and upon seeing the scan results they referred us to a local specialist for further tests. It was heartbreaking in so many ways, knowing she was so poorly but not knowing how or why, not knowing how much pain she’d been in or for how long, and most of all just not having my little shadow at home. Toby was clearly missing his sister too and kept shouting as he hunted for her about the house.

Pegs, trying her best to discharge herself!

Despite her being so poorly, Pegs responded really well to being on fluids and was full of purrs and cuddles after a couple of days - I hear she charmed every staff member she met too! After nearly a week on her little drip her bloods became stable and the specialists took out her IV to see if she could come home - thankfully she did great and they were happy to let us pick her up last Friday.

The team at our local vets and down at the specialists were amazing! They kept us regularly updated and let us visit our little Princess. Pegs has been diagnosed with Chronic Kidney Disease, which I understand is common in cats and fortunately it can be easily managed with diet. She still has a nasty infection to fight off too though so we will need more tests after she’s finished her antibiotics to see how severe her CKD is… but things are looking a bit more positive.

Anyway, we have our Little Pickle, Pegs home again now, she’s still following me around the house (albeit a little slower until she builds back her strength) and we’re all enjoying plenty of cuddles and cat naps together while she recovers. The fancy food and meds seem to be going down well so far too so fingers crossed she keeps up the promising recovery and before long her and Toby will be tearing up the house again!

work times

don’t be allama-ed

As if being invited to one of my creative friend (and girl-boss crush’s) wedding wasn’t enough, I was thrilled to take my paints and paint some of her wonderful guests on the day too. It was magical!

Looking like the happiest big kid in the world, doing what I love!

I got to catch up with some of my other creative pals (and more girl-boss crushes) whilst I was there and spent a couple of hours painting between the most incredible ceremony I think I’ve ever been to and the main meal. Seriously, just check out the hashtag #2becamus1 and you’ll see just how epic the day was.

Hello Sunshine Portraits Kayley & John Watercolour.jpg

I couldn’t be more happy for Kayley and John and literally cry-laughed throughout the whole ceremony. It was all so beautiful and perfectly them! They even had llamas, who I was gutted to miss as I was painting guests but I just HAD to capture them in Sunshine form for the happy couple!

make make make

It was another busy month for stocking up on jewellery as I had a few lovely wholesale orders to fulfil and I am trying my best to get ready for my first market of the year - Norwich Maker’s Market on 26th August. Eee! I’m sure it will be here before I know it so I better keep on making and get my stall set up looking smart!

Head over to their event page for more info : HERE

social slump

Early on in July (and throughout a lot of it to be fair), I was feeling pretty deflated around social media, Instagram in particular. A combination of not feeling inspired enough to post myself and spending less time scrolling was making me feel a bit meh but at the same time, I wasn’t seeing a lot of what my pals were posting either so I was feeling quite out of the loop.

Never my work that gets the likes in, always potato-based snacks. Gotta roll with it I guess!

One Friday I decided I’d had enough and thought I’d do a little ‘stalk and share’ so I could see what all my creative friends (people I love following but weren’t popping up in my feed) were up to. It was nice to catch up with people virtually and feel a bit more connected as lots of people joined in, replied and shared their similar feelings. It felt like a big group hug in a way so I celebrated with a grown up lunch, which incidentally got me the most ever likes on a single post (bonkers!)

SHOUT OUT

Following on from my little stalk and share, I just want to end this post with a little shout out to some wonderful beans, who I have either bought from, been gifted, or swapped amazing goodies with! This creative community keeps me smiling most days and when you get to support each other, it’s the best feeling ever so check out the loveliness below and go show these guys some love!