Hi, and welcome to my little blog ‘My life and style over 40’. I’m Becks, and you’ll get to know more about me later.
For a while now I’ve been thinking about writing an honest blog about my life and style (or lack of as is mostly the case!), but not quite managing to get around to putting fingers to the keyboard. I am a member of various lifestyle blog communities and have an avid interest in a wide variety of things but just never had the confidence to put any of my thoughts and ideas into… just something. So here it is…
It’s June 2020 and we’re still in a semi-state of lock down and finally after a very busy and quite stressful couple of years – moving house, taking on some supply work to pay for the umpteen jobs that need doing on the house (more on that later!), kids clubs and childcare to fund and realising I need to evaluate what to do now that I’m in my early 40’s, I find myself actually having that “just do it” moment to start planning and writing a blog. Could it be I’m having a female mid-life crisis? Probably not, I just like to talk and what better way than writing something in a way that others may find interesting and sometimes useful?!
Why a blog? Blogs can be fun, informative and a great way of getting things off your chest and out there, and whilst it seems every man and his dog is setting up a blog these days there’s always room for another. I say why not?! And, can this even be classed as a blog? It’s a diary style blog I guess, as it’s about me and my life with some snippets of wisdom along the way. We humans are a nosy and inquisitive bunch which is why reality shows and blogs are successful. I write from the heart and quite frankly I don’t pay a lot of attention to SEO and all that Jazz. I have found that when I do I lose ‘me’ in my writing, I become someone else. So sorry Google, I can’t be a slave to your search engine optimization gig.
At first I wanted to call it hearing aids and heels – why Hearing aids and heels? All the other catchy blog names were taken! I found myself pondering blog names when I looked down and noticed the heel on my boot was wearing down and needed a trip to the cobblers and then just as this was occurring my hearing aid started beeping kindly reminding me that I needed a new battery and so I put the two together – it made sense at the time! I think it also signifies that ageing is different amongst us all, I began losing my hearing at an early age, but don’t have that many grey hairs yet. For others it’s the other way round. But as I wasn’t sure if this was enough or whether people would understand the connection, so I went for something simple ‘My life and style over 40’, it’s quite simply the musings of a mum over 40.
Why a lifestyle blog? What am I planning to write about when it comes to lifestyle? Valid questions I asked myself before committing to anything. Lifestyle sums up so many things and I can delve into so many areas, so if I have an epiphany one day and I suddenly feel the urge to write about stain removal (Really, I might just do this, watch this space) then I will. This is about my life, both the boring bits and the fun bits. I’ll look at work, fashion and style, being overweight (which I am) and how I deal with it, décor, family life and a whole host of topics. Whilst I won’t give away all my personal information I will be honest in my approach. I’ve put together a Facebook page and also Instagram, both under the tag Mylifeandstyleover40, but I’m still figuring these out so I’m easing in gently starting with a website.
So who am I?
I’m Becks, a 40+ mum of two delightfully crazy, loud and adorable kids and married to a man who loves me for all my faults (well, most of them!). I’m sure I have an inner domestic goddess somewhere waiting to burst out but I’m still waiting. Not sure after 40 odd years it will happen but I can hope. I’m a secondary school teacher and college lecturer by profession and I currently do a little bit of part time teaching which allows me to add a little extra to the household income and allowing us to live reasonably comfortably. It also meant the list of jobs needed on the last house modernisation to bring it into the 21st Century was less of a financial challenge, of which I will post about at some point – the before and after pictures should make for light entertainment. The old Ikea ‘chuck out the chintz’ advert keeps playing in my head my house was just so 80’s when we moved in! I am brutally honest about life and ‘stuff’ and I often say I’m like Marmite – you either like me or not! I can’t please everyone and life is too short to try. Did I mention I like to talk? Some of the posts I publish will have been written a while ago, however, I have only just managed to grasp the courage to get this blog going! Baby steps as they say.
Whilst I envy those who have style and have dreams of one day being a fashionista, I am somewhat of a tomboy and find the concept of style something I am always working on. I am happy when I’m in a boiler suit tinkering with my classic Mini in the garage but I’m also happy pottering around shops or going for a walk with the kids and jumping in muddy puddles. I do, however, make sure I’m properly kitted out for any weather. Here in the UK we can have four seasons in one day!
I am planning to set myself a series of challenges over the coming months, be it a style challenge or a financial challenge or something else. I am also going to challenge some of my personal worries and confidence issues. This could be interesting – emotionally and also physically.
I will do reviews on products on the odd occasion and will likely put a link to the products but I will point out that I will only do this if the product or service is worth it. I aim to do some short interviews with a stylist or two, or even another blogger – I have some fabulous friends who do some pretty awesome things!
But for now, keep well and look out for my sometimes weekly but mostly monthly posts for an insight into my life and style.
Becks
xo
My life and style over 40 