Happy New Year to you and yours! I'm so glad to see the end of 2020, as I'm sure you are too. It was a year unlike any other, and I still shudder when I think about our lockdown here in Abu Dhabi. As we are in an apartment 27 floors up, we didn't have access to a garden (oh how I longed to have our garden back in England! Or a balcony, at the least) and I think it's amazing that we were all still friends by the time we were allowed out for "socially distanced exercise". We miss our family and friends, not only in England but in South Africa as well - I don't think that the world has ever felt so big before, or so far away. We are all in this together, but apart.

Happy New Year from us and all the dinosaurs!

Happy New Year to you and yours! What an interesting year 2018 was. Full of opportunities, learning and changes. I keep thinking about a post that I must write, a moment that I must share, but I haven't stopped in the last six months. Not even for a minute. Not even to jot down notes or stitch a tiny bit of that embroidery or even have a play with paints. All I've done is work. It's been the most bizzare time of change, upheaval, acceptance and opportunity, and I find myself back here as a way to share our journey with you all, my friends and family who seem further now than once before. Shall I tell you what's been happening? You might need a cuppa for this.

I'd been working a lot of long hours, seven days a week - making soap, wrapping orders, attending markets and events, stocking shops - and was burning out fast. I couldn't sleep, I was constantly ill, and I was struggling with a thyroid problem that the doctors just couldn't crack. And then in the blink of an eye, Isla turned four. We had a unicorn party (with a pinata of course). We started a new school year. We moved into our soap workshop, and I started teaching classes more regularly. And then - Graeme was offered a job abroad, and accepted it. I was suddenly a single parent with two children and a more-than-full-time job. I burnt out.

We'd agreed that the best decision (for now, for health and happiness) was to follow Graeme a few months later, packing up our most treasured belongings to pursue an opportunity in the UAE. My heart was broken, my soap business - a true labour of love and commitment - would need someone to nurture and grow it. And I'd always seen that as my job. In a marvellous meeting of opportunities, this coincided with exactly the moment that my mother-in-law decided to emigrate and return home to her native United Kingdom.

More and more people are switching to bar soap which is a brilliant thing for the planet, and for everyone's skin which has collectively long suffered from exposure to the harmful chemicals included in liquid soaps and handwashes (included for their ability to dilute and stretch the product, and to prolong the shelf life of liquid soaps or body washes, producing a commercially viable product). Every month we meet new people who have suffered with eczema, who get rashes from body wash, or who are newly enlightened to the benefits of using natural soap. They tell us their stories, share their journeys with us, join our family. It's an incredible place to be - humbling, honoured. We've expanded, and now have two people who help out and Audrey (my amazing mother-in-law) has jumped in to help too, making soap and wrapping orders. She's become the gardener who looks after the seeds I've planted. Once again, I've been so humbled and honoured to have family like this, it takes a lot of patience to share an inherited dream and to work across continents to make something that is so filled with love.

We recently did a few markets together and so many other traders were appalled and completely taken aback that I was working with my mother-in-law. Yes, we do get along. No, she's not wicked. We are actually rather good friends!

And what of moving? Well, we did it. We've been here in Abu Dhabi for a little over a week. It isn't permanent by any stretch of the imagination but it is home for now, a base for traveling and for our comings and goings across the world as we go between home in South Africa to visit family, and home in England to work and to teach soapmaking. It feels a bit like a no-man's land to me right now, but I'm sure in time it will evolve. I can't spend crazy hours in our workshop making soap any more, I can't work late nights wrapping soap, and I can't attend market after market after market while I'm here. So that means I can do all the things that I've not had a chance to: a new brochure, an updated website, better social media posts, blogging. Most of all, experimental soapmaking. The spices and teas here are extraordinary, my mind has been reeling with ideas and new combinations that would be the perfect addition to a luxury bath time collection.

And of course, all the things that I've been wanting to do for me. Watercolours. Project Life books. Studying. Are you on instagram? I'm sharing my progress there. I'll be back here more, too, with big group updates so you can all see at once. Skype and Whatsapp calls are blocked here, so we've had to come up with new creative ways to communicate with relatives abroad. I'm going to try post a little more regularly with the things we're discovering as we travel, and the things I'm making too as we go along. I've enrolled to the Herbal Academy's introductory herbal foundation course which I'm thoroughly enjoying and so excited about. I've unpacked my paintbrushes and notebooks. It's time, I think, to get creative.

Oh, we've had a marvellous time. We cooked and cooked and cooked - and then ate, and ate,  and ate. We had visitors from near and far, and we celebrated the festivities of Channukah/Christmas (Christmakkah, my cousin calls it) across many meals.

I think it would have been more fun if I didn't have an emerging wisdom tooth (at 32!) and a subsequent abscess on said tooth (no dentists open over Christmas!) and didn't nearly slice off part of my finger (still bandaged up and sore). Although, all things considered, we did rather well.


We were all very good, of course, and our stockings were filled with lovely things. I got the yarn I asked for (for a crochet vintage-style cardigan). Isla got her Hungry Hippos game. Finnlay got a car he can sit in and pedal about like the Flintstones. Such lovely things, such happy smiles of delight upon opening.

Isla is still convinced that it is Christmas every time she wakes up. But Mummy, I've slept. Santa must be here. We've just packed away the tree and sparkling lights, and we've taken down the tinsel. I've explained about new year celebrations and that birthdays come before Christmas in our house, but she doesn't agree. Mummy, do we have mince pies for Santa?

I hope that you've had a wonderful time with family and friends. These treasured moments, however plagued with dental concerns or forgotten stuffing (oops), are the things that make them all worthwhile. We all wish you every happiness for the new year celebrations ahead - here's to 2018!

Hello, January. You came along really quickly. We've had a magical journey on the way here - markets, soap, essential oils wafting through the hallways, unexpected marquees, craft events, last-minute flyer design and printing, business networking, thermals, cold wintery market days, packaging packaging packaging packaging packaging packaging, and then suddenly : Christmas.

We were lucky. A very large family group descended upon us in Southend-on-Sea for roasted dinner and a few overnight stays. They swept through our home with joyous festivities and enthusiasm, we had a brief visit to the beach to pick up seashells, and we saved our found treasures in pockets stuffed with tissues and handwarmers. It's freezing cold here, with ice covering the roads and a frost in the air. It's not quite snowing, but we had a chilly festive season nonetheless.

It feels as if just yesterday we were doing our first craft market, and - in this imaginary timeline - the week after that it was Christmas. Now, it's January and I'm still playing catch up. Somewhere along the way we lost four months. Still, I'd rather be here, taking a quiet moment out of a very busy day now that the kids have finally fallen asleep. I know I have a good half hour until Finnlay wakes up again - as he does every hour throughout the day and night - and breathe while Rick Stein, on the TV, dreaming up glorious foodie getaways to the cobbled roads of Bordeaux. It's busy, but it's marvelous.

Happy New Year! Did you have a magical farewell to 2015, and a cheerful wave hello to 2016? Oh I do hope so.
Here's Isla, waving at Granny on skype while wearing her festive headgear and pyjamas. As you do. "Christmas" was a wonderful week in our house: we were off work, all together. We stayed in bed late every day, we ate breakfast in pyjamas, we indulged in mince pies and went on walks to the park. We ignored the email alerts on our phones and didn't think about work. We ventured out to family and friends and ate many, many helpings of roast potatoes.

This is the first year we didn't go away to a country cottage or an escape from the city. Because this year, we also had other things happening.

Happy New Year!


We've been away, adventuring along the Cornish Coast and enjoying lazy afternoons in front of a fire.


It was time to get away, to recharge, to re-evaluate and to reconsider the New Year. To live differently, for a short time.

Did you make New Year's Resolutions? This year, after much consideration, my resolution is to finish things. Not just projects and WIPS (although there are very many of those waiting in a queue!) but also to stop putting things off. Clean it up now. Make a change now. Do things differently now.

It all sounds like a lot of effort.

But it also feels very important to do this now.

There were a lot of storms, a lot of flooding. Thunder and lightning. Torrential rain and hail.

We played games. Uno, scrabble. Something called The Magic Tooth Fairy Game. There were books, discussions, debates, and most importantly - laughter.

It's all very festive in London at this time of year.


There are lights, there are trees, there are giant baubles.


There are even reindeer, if you know where to look.


And so, with Liberty's gold paperchains, and a bevvy of festivity, we say goodbye to 2012. It's been real, yo.


And next year is going to be amazing. 2013 is a year of possibility. It's a year of bouncing back. It's a year of things improved, and targets achieved. For me, 2012 was a year of progress and process: a means to an end. While we enjoyed and appreciated every day, I always knew it was a way forward towards something else.


And, as a final goodbye, 2012 (in exactly the fashion I'd expect from such a year) has left me with a bit of a sniffle. As I write, I'm sipping on Lemsip. With every slurped sip, my face involuntarily shapes-shifts, like I'm making my way through a bag of sour sweets.


... but that's okay. Tomorrow is a new day, a new year, and it's the start of a lot of amazing things. The last day of the year is supposed to be a day of resolutions. What are your resolutions? This year I plan to sew more, and to learn how to properly sew clothes (starting with a dress for me!). This year, I plan to do more and spend fewer late nights at the computer working. This year, I want to see Venice.

And so, until tomorrow - goodbye, 2012.

It's Rosh Hashana, y'all.

Happy New Year!

As we move into the new year, it's important to take a few minutes out of your day to take stock of what has passed, what you've achieved, what you're thankful for, and what you're aiming for in the new year.

What has passed: We spent another year in London, we got married, we visited Prague, we made new friends and learnt new skills. I joined the EEWI, and I bought a sewing machine.

What I've achieved: In the last year I've successfully run my own business (and reached the end of year 1!) and met some fantastic people in the process. I've focussed on the skills I want to develop, and I've rediscovered a passion for design.

I'm thankful for: an amazing and supportive husband (it's still odd to use that word, almost one year on), an incredible family who constantly stay in touch with me through the magic of Skype, and a group of irreplaceable friends who are spread across the globe but still feel like they're going to pop around for tea at the weekend.

It's also an opportunity for something new. This year I want to: sew a dress, from scratch, using a pattern that comes in a book or packet (and not from a dress I already have). I want to give workshops and craft classes to share what I've learnt. I want to create a book of home projects, and print fabrics to go with it. I want to bake flawless soufflés.






















Shanah tova! Isn't this picture lovely? It's exactly what we should all be doing all of the time - and I know I'm guilty of doing this almost none of the time. May the new year be full of tea-drinking, tree-thinking moments like these.