Call me lazy but finding the mojo to keep writing this year has been HARD! Not only is it hard to find the brain space other than what is needed to navigate day to day during a pandemic but I often feel guilty for sharing lots of positive and happy things.

I have to keep reminding myself that it’s OK to want to focus on the happy moments though (it’s what keeps me going!) and when I share them on social media they are often met with equally happy responses. So with that in mind, here’s a round up featuring some of the work, play and food shaped things that have popped up during September.

September

You already had a wee peek into some of September’s happies, in the ‘Tin Cup Travels’ post but in my classic round up style, I want to share a bit of work and food with you too!

work

photoshoot with holly

After collecting all my thoughts, props and marbles (just kidding, I have no idea where my marbles are!), I headed to Derbyshire to visit the one and only Holly Booth for our usual catch up and Christmas product shoot.

It’s always a joy to catch up with Holly and as you’ll have no doubt already seen, she always knocks it out of the park with my product shots. EVERY. SINGLE. TIME.

I mean, look how bloody adorable my new Vegetable Earring collection looks!

Photoshoots with Holly also mean it’s time for CAKE. The king of cakes…

10 min Portraits

After a wee break in August, I opened my books again for 10 minute watercolour portraits and as usual, you lovely lot did not disappoint with your orders and amazing requests!

I didn’t paint as many as I’d normal do inside Buddy this time though, mainly because this clutz split her shin open on a picnic table earlier in September and trying to find a way to paint and prop my leg up was a bit… well awkward!

Hairy Brewers mural

Before I ran off on my jollies to Northumberland and Edinburgh at the end of the month, I had the absolute pleasure of starting a mural for some good friends of mine.

I still need to pop back and finish it, not just because the beer started flowing but also because the paint needed to dry overnight too - honest. I can’t wait to get it done though, it’s such a fab space for a micro brewery and the beer is top notch!

Ooh and look at the awesome artwork our friend Mo created for the labels too…

play

paddles

As with every month, while we’re allowed out, paddling features heavily! Mostly sunrise because that’s my favourite time to get out on the water…

But there have been the odd ‘Golden Hour’ and Sunset outings too and they’re ALWAYS accompanied by a brew! You can see plenty of Paddle Porn over on Instagram with the hashtag #HelloSunshineSUP, which features snaps from both my @sunshine_jo and @jo_wants_adventure accounts!

gash

As I alluded to earlier, Little Miss Clumsy here had a fight with a picnic bench earlier in the month and ended up with her first ever stitches! I felt like such a knobber, especially given everything the NHS is dealing with right now but the staff were incredible and I was in and out with my new stitches within 90 mins.

I think I’ll have a pretty good scar from it… just a shame the story behind it isn’t that exciting. As you can see though, the kitties were excellent at playing nurse and it was kind of nice to be forced to rest for a while!

Northumberland & Edinburgh

You already saw a fair bit of where we went and what I got up to in my last post so I’ll keep it short and sweet here! With a few extra snaps of places we explored that didn’t feature in my Tin Cup Travels update.

Rei absolutely smashed her first holiday away from home with us and LOVES the beach so much. She was in her element and we were really proud of her… The Beard even let her getaway with sleeping on the bed with me!

From the beautiful coast of Northumberland to the place that stole my heart many moons ago, Edinburgh. It was a short but sweet few days spent in my favourite city but I packed in a visit to my fave stockist, The Red Door Gallery, 4 of the 7 hills of Edinburgh and took a trip to the coast for brunch on the beach and a paddle with my friend.

I don’t think I’ll ever tire of exploring Edinburgh, it seems to be the city with everything and somewhere I am already excited about visiting again in the future!

food

Most of September’s food update will be around the snacks demolished on my travels but there are one or two ‘homemade’ meals in the mix.. if you can call them that!

There you have it, September, or at least most of it… in a not so little nutshell! Ha!

I hope you enjoyed the little round up, I’ve missed writing these and although I feel like I’m playing catch up right now, I hope to have some more posts from this weird old year to look back on before 2020 is done.

Until next time… look after yourselves!

☀️