I travelled to Turin, Italy for WordCamp Europe 2024 with Gaz last month. This was the first time we’d spent any meaningful amount of time together since our separation – not counting hourly taekwon-do lessons – and so I thought was going to be interesting. Turns out it was fairly uneventful, insomuch that it was very much like travelling adventures of old; apparently good friends can separate and… Source ..read more

Got “recognised” by two different people on reddit yesterday as “that blogger” and god, if it hasn’t made me miss the olden days of blogging. Write any old crap that comes to mind, publish, receive immediate feedback and support from peers and friends. Do it all again a few days later. I’m not sure at what point I decided posts had to be “worthwhile”, when I stopped just throwing any old… Source ..read more

It is now approximately 2.5 months since Gaz and I mutually agreed our relationship was no longer viable as it was, and just over a month since he moved out. I found the first few days after he left sweet AF. Could have crowned me the Queen of Smugdom as I woke up easy breezy, did the chores, walked the dog, sorted the kids, fed the horde, knocked out a full day’s work, walked the dog again… Source ..read more

Just over a year ago today I blogged that a change is as good as a rest as I confirmed that I’d be taking on a part time role with a local agency in addition to running my own business. My logic felt sound: supplementing my own income while I expanded Ultimately Better so that I could temporarily stop drawing a salary, using time I had been previously spending on the school run… Source ..read more

In my previous post, in which I announced the separation from my husband and likely impending doom of trying to buy him out of the mortgage, I joked that I might have to do Project £20k again. I probably shouldn’t have tempted fate, because as it turns out that this is the number that Gaz has floated in terms of equity buyout, and my rapid expansion and therefore short term lower net profit… Source ..read more

Long term readers (are there any other type now? pretty sure I don’t get any new ones these days ) may recall that in 2014 after splitting from my ex – the children’s father – I launched “project £20k” to raise funds to buy my ex out of our joint mortgage. Well, as it turns out, I might need to do that again. Fun times! It’s official: Gaz and I are separating. There’s been some… Source ..read more

About this time last year I blogged about the chaos that was life at the time (nothing has changed, for the record) and one of the things I mentioned in passing was that I had For the astute amongst you, you may have noticed that some of my social media bios mention “poly” and put two and two together. In short, Gaz and I ‘officially’ opened up our relationship early last year and we… Source ..read more

It’s 14:17 GMT. I’m sat in the front row of an aeroplane, once again en route to Athens in business class. Albeit a cheeky last minute upgrade bid this time rather than a full priced ticket. I’m traveling alone, off to support my partner as he runs his first marathon in the Greek capital. He has no idea I’m coming; he thinks I’m at Alton Towers running a 10k with my husband. I feel less alien in... Source ..read more

I made my first “proper” hire at Ultimately Better last month. Well, proper in the sense that I wasn’t just offering a salaried position to a long-standing freelancer; proper in the sense that I had to write a job spec, advertise, interview and make Big Important Decisions. I find the whole process of hiring someone to be quite scary to be honest. That feeling of being responsible for someone’s... Source ..read more

After posting in April about me undertaking a new “40 things before I’m forty” challenge, I’ve finally got started on the list, ticking off number 5 – Compete in a powerlifting competition – at the weekend. After multiple setbacks over the past 4-5 years I was finally able to take part in a ‘Quiet Focus’ competition run by North Midlands powerlifting. You can read more about it... Source ..read more