I'm not back back quite yet to a full blog schedule but I am back to talk about my new year which always feels much more appropriate in September  with the new school year than in January!  I love setting my goals at the beginning of September and this year feels more relevant than ever.  It feels like the World has been asleep for the last 6 months (well actually it has) a bit like Sleeping Beauty and now we are all beginning to wake up and get on with life - the new normal. 

​I am pretty horrified at the slow pace though, you know that I am a big supporter of working at the office and not at home.  I am also really keen that we find a better perspective on the Covid-19 statistics, I am afraid I fall into the more relaxed camp and as long as we are all sensible (keep a bit of a distance in public places, wash or sanitise our hands regularly and watch out for symptoms) then I think life should get back to normal.

So what will be on my planning list this year?  Well to understand myself better, I like to look back at the previous year and of course my blog is great for being able to do that.

In September 2019 I was talking about the beginning of my empty nest and I had a very nervous daughter about to go off to Bath for university.  Well that was one hell of a bumpy ride initially, I did wonder if she'd make it, the homesickness was so bad.  But she did and now we are getting ready for her second year.

Every year I take a little break from my blog, usually if I am away in the sun!  Or like last year when my daughter was starting at university and I wanted to spend time with her.  This year it is for different reasons, if only I was away in the sun, but I need to deal with some personal issues ... I am okay but I am needed elsewhere for a few weeks.  And my husband and I then have a late summer break in Cornwall to look forward to.  I will be back in September with renewed energy and enthusiasm and I hope a better outlook with regard to the current Covid-19 situation.  Isn't it all so contradictory and confusing?

I will be honest, I have found lockdown and easing of lockdown hard.  I have found the work from home situation really difficult.  You can read my thoughts on work from home here.  It has been a full house with my son working from home, my daughter back from uni for longer than planned and my husband working sporadic hours.  So a few weeks ago I hatched a plan to have a couple of nights away by myself.  Its the kind of plan that often gets talked about and thought about but doesn't actually happen.  But with no girls weekend this year and no little trips to Bath to visit my daughter, I decided I needed it to happen.  So once we were allowed to book an overnight stay, I did, in Lymington in the New Forest.

My #beingfiftyandfab post this month is therefore going to be about my few days away, in diary format.  I am planning a social media break but I am going to take my Mac with me and write about each day as it happens.

Many many years ago, when I was a PA at senior level working in the corporate world, an odd afternoon or day spent doing work at home was a bit of a treat, it meant I could attend an appointment or get my head down with a specific project.  Then when my children were pre-schoolers my husband did a one-off property development project and I did all the admin for him at home.  Finally we decided to set up our own business and I had a desk at home, taught myself bookkeeping and managed the admin from home whilst still being able to be a full time mother to my two children.  It worked, for a while!  Then as the business expanded my husband needed an office more, somewhere to do estimating, make phone calls and manage his own paperwork.