Hello! Thanks for stopping by. Whether this is your first time reading my blog or you have been following my wittering for years, I am very grateful that you’re here.
Over the last couple of weeks I’ve been planning what I wanted to write about on here and decided I needed to start off with an ‘about me’ post in order to let newbies know a little bit more about the person they are reading about. Then it dawned on me that I have never really written a ‘proper’ blog post about me before.
I guess that’s because when I first started this blog the people who read it already knew me so I never felt the need. Then as time went on I learnt you actually needed to use fancy SEO tricks and social media in order to reach a wider audience, but was already well into the throws of blogging so the idea of popping up a blog post introducing myself seemed silly.
However this post feels like a fresh start. My blog has moved hosts from Blogger to WordPress, it has also had a proper tidy up by a professional website building type person and is ready to go again after months of neglect. Plus my life is so much different than it was previously when I blogged.
So here we go then; a blog post all about me! Where do I start? Well, my name is Nicki (as I am sure you’ve already guessed). I was born and reared in Essex in a teeny little village that no one knows of unless you’re local called Stanford le hope, where I grew up with my mum and younger brother (parents split up when I was about five).
I liked school and actually did well at my GCSE’s, much to the surprise of my mum I think. By then I was more interested in going out with my friends and drinking over the park than revising. Next I went to college to study 3D design which included studying interior, graphic, animated and jewellery design. However to be honest it was an excuse to bum around for another two years really. After leaving college I hadn’t a clue what I wanted to do with my life.
I moved out of mums when I was 18 and sofa surfed for a while before moving in with my dad for a couple of years. When I finally moved out properly to rent an actual home I moved out of Stanford. I have no issue with my hometown, I am proud of where I am from but I always knew I wanted to be somewhere else. I just wasn’t sure where.
When I was 26 I got married to my long term boyfriend, Patrick, on a beach in Kos. Three years later I gave birth to our daughter, Savannah.
In 2016 we moved from Essex to Norfolk. Patrick had often said about wanting to move here, he has family friends here and spent loads of time in Norfolk as a kid. Also property is much cheaper here than Essex so when we were finally in a position to buy we figured it made sense to get as much house for our money as possible.
I absolutely love living in Norfolk. I never realised what a difference moving to another place in the UK could make. I feel like Norfolk is my true home, more than anywhere else I have ever lived previously (well, the various places in Essex).
At risk of sounding like a bitch (I really don’t mean to) that has mainly transpired since my marriage ended in 2018. I feel as though I’ve found ‘me’ again. I love being a single mum to Savannah and being back working (I was a stay at home mum for five years before we split). Plus I have made new friends and have a great social life again. Not only that, as a cheeky little bonus I am now in a relationship with an amazing new man, Matt, who makes me laugh, makes me happy and is brilliant with Savannah.
Plus Norfolk is just beautiful. The people are lovely, the scenery is lovely, there is also so much to do. Living here in this new life only makes it more perfect (I know, vom).
Work wise (I have been asked this a lot on Instagram) I have always had office jobs. My current job is a Business Consultant advising clients on how to save money on their business outgoings. I actually really enjoy it because I use parts of my brain I wouldn’t normally and find the problem solving and research element interesting. Naturally my brain is more creative; I did performing arts as a child and teen and was always painting, drawing or writing stuff for others. I always knew my dream job was something creative but never had the confidence in myself to find out what. Until I started blogging. Blogging opened up so many doors for me. I can’t believe that I’ve had work published in magazines and newspapers and been on TV thanks to blogging. I even worked for two years as a freelance copywriter while Savannah was a baby. That still feels crazy to me.
On here I usually like to blog about every day life as well as dealing with anxiety and self confidence because I had extremely low self esteem in my teens and twenties. Something I have worked hard on overcoming since turning 30. I am also a typical blogger in that I’m fashion obsessed so there will be plenty of outfit posts on here too. I don’t like to take life too seriously and this blog usually reflects that, even when I write about the serious stuff. I love tattoos, big rings and have a weird obsession with skulls. I also love crime / murder shows and podcasts, music, reading, going out for dinner or drinks and running. (Well it’s more of a love / hate thing when it comes to running). Of course I also love doing stuff with my daughter.
And that is pretty much it. Obviously there is a lot more to me than that but I am now running the risk of this turning into an increasingly long blog post. Anything else you need to know about me you will learn along the way so I hope you stick around.
To make sure you don’t miss any new blog posts you can follow my Facebook page, also if you want to see me post endless photos of outfits you can follow my Instagram too. (Thanks!)