Sundaze 278: Let’s Catch Up!
Hello my loves!
I’m back from my summer blogging break and I’m feeling really good and glad for it. I really missed ‘chatting’ with you all here. When I was feeling ropey and completely unlike myself throughout June, I knew I needed to go with my gut and log off, pause, and reset for a while.
Just like when I took a long break from social media earlier in the year, the effects were almost instant. My head felt clearer, checking in with my loved ones helped hugely, and I had more time to reconnect with myself and try out doing the things I loved again. I also got to focus more heavily at my day job, which is super busy at the moment. I’m loving it.
After 14 years of nurturing this online space, it’s only natural that I feel different about how and when I ‘show up online’. I couldn’t imagine life without Daisybutter and our community, but I do feel like I’m on autopilot at times – as though part of my life is ‘stuck’ at how I presented myself aged 18 even though of course my content has evolved considerably since then. I really loved Substack this summer. The space has felt so beautifully warm and new and like a fresh place to write in the way that I do. I’m not sure if that even makes sense?! But, I think I’d like to focus my efforts a little more over there.
Hopefully with some big changes on the horizon, the way I feel will slowly shift and that’ll only be a good thing. Perhaps I can return to publishing some of the more important pieces of writing that I’m often too shy or scared to. Thankfully, I am still not yet out of blog post ideas, so I’m not gone-gone. Anyway, to commemorate my return, I think it’s time for a bumper summer Sundaze, don’t you?
Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour
Since we last spoke (because the last few blog posts were scheduled ones!), I’ve become a post-The Eras Tour girlie! After a rough start to 2024, it was truly the best joy to see my favourite artist live again. The Eras Tour is a real force – unlike any other time I’ve seen Taylor – and it completely lifted my spirits.
Plenty of people have already quizzed me on my favourite part of the setlist, and I have to say it was The Tortured Poets Department, ‘folkmore’ and surprise songs. I’m lucky enough to have been to almost all of Taylor’s gigs – Fearless twice, Speak Now, Red, a Westfield London Christmas lights switch-on in 2013, reputation – so, I’ve been lucky enough to see her perform almost all of her songs plus countless acoustic cover sets. It was magical seeing her new stuff live for the first time. Of course I also adored revisiting Fearless, since that was the first full album release cycle that I followed! From getting all dressed up to trading bracelets with strangers, screaming lyrics to waiting with baited breath for Taylor’s surprise songs, it’s safe to say this has been a real highlight of my summer so far. There is nothing like being in a stadium with 89,000 likeminded Swifties.
Deep-dive journalling sessions
Having reclaimed some time by not publishing blog posts and capturing ‘content’ for Instagram, I poured much of my emotional overload into long journalling sessions. I’d light a fresh candle, pour an English breakfast tea, and settle in with my notebook a few hours before bed. Writing has always been my greatest therapy and without the pressure of an audience, I untangled plenty of complicated emotions between the pages.
Fellow content creators, it’s good to be introspective too. Not everything has to be for public consumption.
Health update
I’ve been focused on my physical, mental and emotional health in the past month or two. Mentally, I’m doing far better than I was. In the end, I couldn’t afford to go back into therapy, but I found a wonderful counsellor through my employer’s colleague heath services for a few, much-needed sessions. Sometimes a reset and recalibrate is just what you need.
I shared on Instagram over the summer that I’ve been dealing with women’s health for over a year. In fact, I’m almost at 475 days of a continuous menstrual bleed. Yay(!!) I’ve been to countless GP appointments and TCM sessions over the past few months, yet we’re still here. At the moment, the doctors think it’s down to a hormone imbalance and nutrition deficiency due to my diet and blood type being incompatible. And I’m currently waiting to learn whether I’ll be able to continue eating a vegan/plant-based diet too, but I can panic about that at a different time, right?
Four days in Antalya
We headed on our summer holiday in early July, visiting beautiful Antalya in Türkiye. I booked the trip a few months ago to celebrate my boyfriend’s birthday and we had a truly magical time – it’s easily one of the highlights of my year so far. We trekked around gorgeous Antalya and its clear seas and dramatic cliffs and ancient ruins, and spent a day up at Pamukkale and Hierapolis, which felt otherworldly. Türkiye is a country I’m desperate to see more of, it really seems like a stunning place with so much history and nature beauty. For now, I’m slowly sorting through our photos to make another photo book, and I’m hoping I’ve snapped enough to put together a Daisybutter Travel Guide in the next couple of weeks.
A day in Paris with my bestie
Mid-July, I caught a Eurostar to spend a Saturday in Paris with one of my best friends. I’d booked my tickets spur of the moment back in June, since I knew she was returning to France for the summer but we couldn’t make any dates line up in the UK. And I’m never one to turn down a little adventure! Since I’m lucky enough to have visited Paris a few times already, I wasn’t desperate to see the sights. Instead, we soaked up the pre-Olympics atmosphere, drank wine, people-watched from bistros, and had the best catch-up while strolling the city beneath the sunshine. Perfect!
Girls’ supper club
My work wives and I have inadvertently started a supper club and I’m just obsessed. We pick a restaurant or cosy country pub – perks of not working in London! – and have a girlie dinner once a month or every other month. One of the best parts about having moved from being a freelance business owner to the corporate girlie life is having work wives again, honestly.
I’m moving!
The biggest news I have to share is that I’m moving! In a handful of months, I’ll be moving in with my boyfriend and I’m feeling really excited about it. 2024 has been a real rollercoaster for me: I started it in the process of finally buying my first apartment as a solo homeowner, then pulling out when I felt the fear of being at an important crossroads, and then having a long spiral about the future.
Thank you to everybody that reached out with some nuggets of advice or a kind ear to vent to a few months ago – I’m forever indebted to this incredible community. I was anxious about running out of time and money and experiences, and somehow everything fell into place regardless. Now, I’m really excited for a new chapter with my boyfriend. In fact, it’s the first time I’ll have ever lived with a boy, so I’m both excited and nervous. I’m sure plenty of you understand that I’m keeping much of our relationship a little more private lately, but I’d love to bring you along for some of our moving-in journey.
