Happy List: September 2023

Oh my goodness, we’re finally in autumn and I could not be happier about it! If you’ve been around here a while, you know that autumn is just my absolute favourite time of year. I’m a little later than usual posting this but I have been super busy since the last Happy List, all will become clear later on as I have some pretty big news to share in this post which I’m incredibly excited about. In fact there’s a few big things to share in this post. So let’s not delay things and let’s take a look at what happened in September. You’ll probably want to grab a cuppa and get comfy for this one!

1. We’ll kick things off with the biggest piece of news. If you read August’s Happy List you’ll know that I was quite cryptic and alluding to having some really big life decisions to make as I headed back to work for a new school year. Well I can now reveal that I’ve handed my notice in at work to make the switch to self employment! At the time of writing this I only have 7 working days left of being employed by someone else. It’s still really strange to write that even though I handed my notice in 3 weeks ago and was agonising over the decision for weeks before I decided to do it!

It’s been a dream of mine for a long time to work for myself but I thought it would always remain a dream. I’ve never been in a position to just quit my job and start a whole new career. My husband is a freelance writer and photographer so I’ve seen how much hard work he’s had to put in to be in the fantastic position he’s in now. I knew I didn’t want to work in education for much longer but the thought of being employed by someone else didn’t appeal to me either. I’ve plodded along in my current job for 5 years now and the summer holidays were a big eye-opener for just how much of a negative impact my job has on my physical and mental health. I’ve been super fortunate to have been offered some work from one of my husbands clients to get me going and I knew that if I didn’t take this opportunity to make a better life for myself now then I never would.

Our priorities around travel and the kind of life we want to have massively shifted recently, and I’m going to be 100% transparent and say that’s thanks to how well my husbands career is going. Me working in a school tied us to a life I didn’t want and my current job is extremely hard both mentally, and at times physically. I needed to give this a shot then at least I can say I tried and not have any regrets.

So yes, from mid October I will be a freelance writer and I am so excited for this next chapter and how much of a difference it could potentially make to my life. It’s also going to give me a lot more freedom and more time to work on this blog and my wedding blog and I absolutely cannot wait to get stuck in now.

Wow, that was a big bit of news!

2. Another big bit of news from September is that we booked a holiday to Florida. This absolutely would not have been possible for us had I still been working in a school so it feels so surreal right now. We love Florida and have been twice before (although my husband went quite a few times as a kid). The plan was to have our honeymoon in Florida but it just never worked out due to finances at the time. We’re going in April next year and I absolutely do not care that we’ll have been married almost 3 years by that point, I’m still seeing it as the Florida honeymoon I dreamed of! The original plan was to just go to the Universal Parks because Disney World is disgustingly expensive but that changed within about two days of booking the holiday and we’re now also doing the Disney Parks. I cannot wait to be back in the magic!

3. I switched things up with my blogs in terms of design in September. I’d been unhappy with the colour scheme for this blog for a little while and just felt I’d outgrown it. I’ve switched things up to a more retro colour scheme and I’m much happier. I am thinking of changing the theme though as I changed it over on my wedding blog and I like the simpler, cleaner layout over there so I’m thinking of just going for the same thing over here. Both blogs have just plodded along in recent years because I just haven’t had the time to dedicate to them and do all the work I’d like to on them. That’s another reason I’m excited for self employed life and having clean, fresh blogs to work on will feel like a new beginning.

4. September was a game of two halves weather wise. Just as I was ready to embrace autumn we had a heatwave then things started to cool down, although I think we’re in for more warm weather this week. This really doesn’t please my autumn loving heart as I’m ready for cosy evenings, big jumpers, candles and pumpkins now! I even went full on autumn with my nails at the end of September.

So I think that’s it for September, it was a whirlwind of a month and blogging and stuff has had to take a back seat (though not for much longer). I have managed to get a bit of autumn content out there which I’m pleased about as it’s my favourite thing to write though not nearly as much as I would have liked.

I feel like September was completely non stop. I spent a good couple of weeks too far in my own head about whether to make the jump to self employment then once I handed my notice in I’ve been working crazy hours both at my current job and on freelance stuff so I can hit the ground running once I leave. It’s safe to say I’m exhausted!

I’m ready to enjoy this new life and enjoy October and slow down just a little bit. I’m hoping to go pumpkin picking in October and maybe for a cheeky spa break to celebrate my new career and for a relaxing break as my husband is beyond busy with filming and photography jobs between now and Christmas so it will be nice for him to switch off before his busy season is in full swing.

I hope you had a lovely September. Let me know what you got up to in the comments!