Here we are, my 13th blog anniversary (blogiversary) post, and it’s all a bit of a weird one.
Not necessarily bad weird – it’s good in some parts too – but to think back 13 years ago when I first ventured into blogging, it seems like some totally different entity that has NOTHING to do with what it’s all about today. If you’ve read blogs for years you’ll probably know what I mean, if you yourself blog you will surely know what I mean. I’m not going to have a whinge about it, I’ve done that plenty in the past! Today is about good stuff ♥
So I don’t really have a specific “topic” for this year’s blogiversary post. No listicle, no story as such, just a few random, positive things I’ve been thinking about today (which is actually the day before, Monday 22nd – I don’t work on my birthday and never have: yes today is my birthday too!) – and I’ll share them here. Just a few interesting observations and bits n pieces.
[Reading time: 4 mins]
I’m trying to get a little “looser” with my blog writing. It may not be for everyone. I’m leaning towards stuff that’s a bit more on the chatty side, if you like. If you were still here hoping for regular outfit posts, you’ve probably realised by now that that ain’t happening anymore (not none, my last post was an outfit post!) – outfits are just not regular anymore. Maybe I’ve over-curated/over-proofread posts in the past and that’s why I’d like my writing to get a little looser? Hey ho, let’s see what happens when you throw out the rule book. The blogosphere moved the goalposts BIG time, so guess what? I’m kicking the ball with a Jude Bellingham-style scissor kick and it’s gone in where the goalkeeper could NOT get to it (WAY to big up my own blogging skills there, and no, I don’t know what I’m talking about, either.) I think my brain is part perimenopausal brain mush, part frazzled from too much physical labour today (see first paragraph, below).
But anyway, it’s my birthday! I can do what I like when I’m the Birthday Girl! (Them’s the rules – in my family, at least…)
My bastard darling health
Sooo… life has been a bit up and down lately but the status quo is “things are okay, sort of”. The chronic pain from my sciatica is no longer chronic thank goodness – it’s getting a little bit better day by day. Physiotherapy has done wonders. But this weekend Keith and I worked on the garden and sorting out the garden shed and oh my GOD our bodies cannot take the physical stuff like they did 20 years ago. We went to bed after the first day of hard physical work and we were SHATTERED, our bodies broken. We’re laying a whole new patio area instead of getting someone in to do it because we don’t have a spare £5,500 lying around (as per the quote we had). So hard labour and broken backs (yeah, I know I have to be careful…) are how we’re going to be spending our weekends for the rest of the summer. We’ve realised we’re going to have to restrict the graft to just an afternoon or a morning per day otherwise we’re going to drop dead with exhaustion (and/or I may undo all the good work my physio has done, eep).
Shit hot birthday plans
The British summer has been a disaster so far – the first hot days only really shuffled in this week, but it’s the law that the weather is good on my birthday and the forecast says it will be 22°C (72°F) with sunny intervals today: let’s hope I’m not regretting writing that one day in advance! A pub lunch with Keith is planned (he has the day off work – he is not allowed to work on my birthday either and at the beginning of the year I make sure he books 23rd July as leave straight away): we’re going to a local place that has a lovely pub garden (literally) down by the River Otter. I might even go paddling. I’m 52 today, but as I don’t like my age being an odd number I’ve “been” 52 since the beginning of the year so I’m not actually changing my age today. Welcome to my logic 😉
The British weather (let’s turn this frown upside down…?)
But talking of the weather, this year has been absolutely dreadful all year so far. It’s been thoroughly depressing and Brits all over the country are thoroughly fed up with how much rain we’ve had. Let’s look at this positively – we need to will it to get better, yes? And if you’re in a hot country somewhere with too MUCH sun and/or heat, please send some our way. Thank you so much in advance, thank you thank you.
Writing me tits off
A good thing for me: I’ve been threatening to do this for a while now, which is to write a book, as in a novel. I’ve been toying with the idea for a while and in a flash of inspiration a few weeks back, I came up with (what I think is, anyway) an absolutely brilliant idea for a story. Imagine my Substack stories or the sort of personal stories I’ve shared on the blog, make them longer and there you have it. There may or not be a heavy dose of “me” in the main character (well they do say Write about what you know)… I’ve written about six chapters in less than a week and I’m loving the process. I’ll keep you posted.
A few great quotes I read, plus: Elizabeth Taylor
These came to my attention this week and I wanted to share them with you. Let’s hope they’re real because who knows what’s real and what’s AI these days, amirite?! (AI is very clever and jaw-droppingly impressive, but equally as scary…!)
Maybe the journey isn’t so much about becoming anything. Maybe it’s about un-becoming everything that isn’t really you, so you can be who you were meant to be in the first place. ― Paul Coelho
Home is not where you were born; home is where all your attempts to escape cease. ― Naguib Mahfouz
We often complain about the repetitiveness of our days. Day in, day out, the same. Morning alarm, breakfast, housework, work, looking after everyone else, dinner, baths, bed, wake up, repeat. But do we ever stop to think how much peace is in consistency? How lucky we are if everyday is the same? No big disasters or nasty surprises? How there is so much value in enjoying home life? To get up and do the same tasks day and night is actually a blessing. Laying your head on a pillow at night and thinking of what to cook for dinner the next day is a level of restfulness some people will never experience in their whole lifetime. This world can be cruel and unnecessary; so if you have the peace of a ‘boring’ home life, you really have won the lottery of life. – @deepbreathssmallsteps
I just liked these A LOT, and unlike a lot of quotes I read these days I’ve not seen them before. That third one really hit home with me this week… I needed it.
And then there’s this piece of brilliance…
At the time of writing (Monday 22nd, after another day’s assault on the garden and the shed), I’m a very tired 6. Hopefully the beginning of my birthday will start with a 5 and then move onto a 3, ending with an 8. (I might be too tired for 4, lol.) That’ll be a good birthday, I reckon.
✷ ✷ ✷ ✷ ✷
So I’ll bid you farewell, until next time. Here’s to another(?!) 13 years…!
Have you been following my blog since the beginning (or how long)? On a scale of Liz Taylor, how are YOU feeling today? Chat about anything you like in the comments below, I *will* chat back (gimme a day or two though, it’s my birthday and I ain’t gonna work today!) ♥
Thanks for reading,
Linking up to… Monday: Stylish Monday (second Monday of the month), Inspire Me Monday, My Glittery Heart, On Mondays We Link Up || Tuesday: Style With a Smile, Trend Spin/Walking in Memphis in High Heels, Turning Heads Tuesday, Confident Twosday, Happy Now Blog Link Up || Wednesday: WowOnWednesday || Thursday: Chic & Stylish, Ageless Style Linkup (third Thursday of the month), || Friday: Neverending Style, Fancy Friday, On the Edge
Happy Birthday and Blogaversary!
I think I came in around 2016? Love your writing!
We’ve had a relentlessly hot and humid summer in New England USA. You are welcome to have it!
Author
Thank you Michelle! Wow 2016 seems like a lifetime ago… and YES PLEASE to the offer of sunshine and warmth, we’ll be glad to have some! 😉
Belated Happy Birthday! I hope you had the day you were hoping for and better!
I’ve followed your blog long enough to have zero clue how long that actually is. 😀 I remember it first being this colourful fashion blog that delivered lot’s of inspiration on how to combine what I already owned in new ways and over time your content got a lot deeper and teaches so much more about life. I am very curious to see into which directions Not Dressed As a Lamb and your creative works will head in the next year(s).
Author
Frieda thank you so much – yes I made it last into a birthday week, and it was lovely. The sun even came out yesterday for a family BBQ! I really appreciate your kind words, it’s so nice to know people still like reading blogs, makes it all worth it xx
Happy birthday to you and your blog ! I’m very excited to hear you’re writing a novel And I am currently a 7 and/or a 9 on the Liz Taylor scale Hope you really enjoyed your birthday x
Author
Oh no Lizzie, your namesake level needs to be less of a 9 and more of a 4 and/or 5!! 😉
I had a lovely birthday thank you, and that’s great to hear that you like the idea of a novel… I’m hoping for one from you too one day!!
Definitely feeling like a 7 today…. and wishing you a birthday as Liz 4.
( If you fancy a chuckle, have a look for the LeStat Scale 😉 )
Good luck with the book and where that takes you. If you’re enjoying that, that sounds like a good place to be, and hopefully your lived experiences are giving you plenty of material to draw from. Oh and I think I would rather read about drama, than be living through it
As to age, we helped out son and his girlfriend move, and I don’t remember being that, well, frankly, knackered! 😀 I guess we have to take it steady and not over do things. But, that’s easy to write, and not so easy to act on when you get stuck in.
Author
Hehe the Liz scale is so good, isn’t Lynn… I hope you’ve got yourself out of the 7 by now?! 😀
I’m reeeeeally enjoying writing the book, the only problem is that I have a lot of ideas late at night and I’m desperate to get them down on “paper” as it were, it’s not good for my sleep pattern so I need to sort that out asap! And oh god YES to moving house, even when my husband and I last moved in 2018 (I would have been… 46?) we said we had never, ever worked SO hard in one single day. We were absolutely exhausted/broken by the end of the day, and we did it on one of those boiling hot July days in that heatwave year. I think it might be why we both said we’re never moving ever again 😉
I am a 2 on the Elizabeth Taylor scale. Life is good but I still have dreams …
Happy 53rd year on the planet (it’s already the 24th here in New Zealand).
Author
2 is pretty good, Sandy!! You need that one plus a touch of… 4 or 5?! LOL
And thank you, I’ve had a lovely birthday week! x
And a Happy Birthday !
Author
thank you my lovely xx !!
Reading since 2014! Thakk you and happy birthday!
Author
Wow Danielle – 10 years!! Thank you so much xx
oh, I liked the quotes, as someone who feels that life has become a bit same old, same old, the one about the deep peace of boring everyday stuff was comforting. And since I’m in Greece which so far has had non-stop heatwave for 2 months, I will gladly send you some of the sun, and would love some cool, rainy days in return. We did have a lovely if short lived storm this afternoon. It’s not much cooler but smells wonderful after the rain. And my flowerpots will be so grateful.
Happy birthday! And Blogversary. I love “How you feel ” on the Elizabeth Taylor scale. I also love that you’re writing a book. Way to go!
Author
Thanks so much Gail – the book writing is becoming a bit obsessive right now but I’m taking that as a good sign of me enjoying it! I’m more of a 2 on the Liz scale today, my birthday week is kinda over but I’ll move onto a 5 soon enough…! 😉
Author
Isn’t it SO good, Maisie?! It’s not unlike a 20-point sheet thing I printed out from something I saw on the internets somewhere a long time ago, being 20 reasons why your life is so good right now (but you don’t realise it). Like the fact that if you have a roof over your head, food on the table and a bed to sleep in, your life is richer than 60% of the people on the planet (I’m totally guessing the numbers but you know what I mean). I really resonated with this quote as well 😀
I’ll gladly do a swap of our weather, though saying that, today is pretty hot here and tomorrow will be as well. But we’ll still take some of yours so we can have them on reserve if that’s okay…?! x
“The peace of a boring home…” I needed to hear this today.
I’m a Liz 2. She is unbelievably beautiful. I’ll be any Liz you let me be.
Sending sweaty birthday hugs from 112* (44.5c) Aging is tough…. But we are so lucky to get to do it. ❤️
Author
I’m so glad the quote resonated with you Michelle – when I first read it, I thought exactly the same as you…! Reminds us what we DO have to be grateful for I think 😀
Agree on the Liz beauty thing. She was absolutely stunning. And thank you for the sweaty birthday hugs: we have some hot weather at the moment (finally!) but we can still take some of yours if that’s okay for the inevitable crappy days that are bound to come in August!