Sundaze 210

I started writing a Sundaze post last weekend and, spoiler alert, never managed to finish it because I was up visiting my best friend in Hereford. And lo and behold, here I am on another Saturday night trying to keep my eyes open and finish a post! But I’ve loved penning these old school catch-up posts ever since I started the series, and so I’m pouring myself a tea and I’m determined to capture this week’s memories forevermore in a post.

It’s been such a lovely week in my little world, not least because I’ve been on annual leave from my day job. I’m not sure what it is about Working Through A Pandemic, but I’ve hit burnout more times than I can count and it’s been BLISS to enjoy lie-ins, and spend most of my time playing hide-and-seek with Milo and be away from screens. Speaking of which…

Some personal news…!

They say jump and the net appears, so I’m over the moon to finally share that I’ve handed in my notice at work, and I’m heading back into the freelance world again from August. Not only that, but I’ve chosen to divide my time threefold between freelance copywriting, the blog(!!) and & Chai. Yep! I’ve never worked on Daisybutter ‘properly’, but I’m thoroughly excited to pour a little more time, energy and love into this online space that we call home and focus on it being a bonafide income stream of its own.

Plenty of soul-searching and seeing what I naturally did during my downtime from work over the past year brought me here. Although it’s a little scary, it feels really good to go with my heart and gut, and I’m looking forward to whatever comes next. So much has changed in the last two years and finally everything feels like it’s falling into place.

A week of annual leave

Hand in hand with that, like I mentioned earlier, I enjoyed some time off from work this week and it’s been SUCH a good week. I ticked off plenty of errands, including washing my car, pampering myself with hair, lash and nail appointments, and I even managed to hang out with some friends. Weeks like these make me sit and notice just how much I love my little life when I have the headspace outside of work to. Plus, having a clean car kitted out with a new fragrance (my lil car now smells like & Chai’s Signature!), a fresh box of facemasks, and hand sanitiser and cream makes me feel like I have my life together.

On Tuesday I zoomed into London for an incredibly overdue dinner date with my girl Ghenet. We feasted on the vegan menu at Royal China, caught up on almost every topic under the sun and generally had the best time. Oh I’ve missed our little friendship dates! And in between busy & Chai sessions and finally getting ‘round to watching Dr.STONE, I squeezed in another couple of friendship dates, including a long walk around a pretty part of town and a cosy day in of gaming. You could say I’ve had a pretty excellent week.

Our latest & Chai drop

And, last but certainly not least, our latest drop landed at & Chai! We partnered with the incredibly talented Daphne, from Coffee + Scribbles, to create our first ever illustrated candle and stickers set. It’s a gorgeous, light fruity-floral scent, perfect for those summer cottagecore vibes. I’m really proud of this partnership; I’m absolutely LOVING working together with fellow ESEA creators to make magic. You can shop the limited edition set right here!

Links I’ve Loved

Michelle shared her favourite K-pop songs from the first half of the year.
Although I’ve not quite got back to my usual reading pattern yet, I enjoyed seeing which books Jaye read in May and June.
And this post by Sian was beautiful – she talks about social media feeling like information overload, and a little like emotional whiplash.