Families, be they blended, extended, tiny or titanic

For years is was just me & my mum with a sprinkling of wonderful cousins in far flung places.

Independence to me as a teen was everything & I set about living a very driven life of work, buying homes solo, work, holidays with friends, work, lots of fun, oh and work.

Never meeting "the one" it didn't really bother me that having my own family was decreasing in likelihood until I hit 40.

Then it did, hit me I mean.

Then I met "the one" 2 weeks before my landmark birthday but kids weren't to be on the menu. Bizarrely, or maybe that's just how grown ups talk, he told me very early on & asked if that was going to be a dealbreaker. For a few days it felt like it was but never having had that maternal gene as a strong part of my DNA, I accepted that it was what it was. I could feel with him that life was going to be an adventure & that he was going to be my best mate through it all & that was going to be just perfect for me.

He had two kids of 10 & 14 as we met, so a steep learning curve & the adventure began!

Over the years, friendships have become so wonderful that they feel like the brothers & sisters I never had, the cousins, the in laws the whole kit n caboodle. Does it matter that the biology is different?

Names & titles can be a funny thing too, "step" this & "ex in-law" that, so when I was asked very sweetly, thoughtfully & beautifully to be nanny / glam ma to the now 24 year old son's yet to be born baby, I was blown away.

They both have their own mums so this baby is going to have 3 women who will love her & it brings all of us closer as one very blended & very extended family. Christmasses are going to be interesting!

What's happening next?

So the rest of May and through June I am going to dedicate posts, tips, idea sharing, to all things family however yours are made. International Day of Families starts on Sunday 15th so I thought that a perfect opportunity right up to & beyond Fathers Day on the 19th June.

Next week I will have live facebook chats with Alison Kent (Judith Chalmers of our time) where we will show the best places to go on holiday this year on a variety of budgets.

When you book with Alison, she will happily provide drop n flop holidays, something super bespoke like your own private wine tasting tours, and every style of holiday you can imagine in between.

She can do this because she knows all the tricks, the nooks & crannies of places and the contacts she has to enable her to book these things is remarkable. Fully ATOL protected via Travel Counsellors she describes places so that you can smell them!

And everything is within your budget - if you tell her you've got £1000 each then that is what she works with - from door to door.

To compliment this, I have a facebook live with Annabelle from House of Colour who will show us how to create the perfect summer capsule wardrobe to make packing easy but more than that, to make buying summer clothes simple & budget friendly too particularly if you have or want to change your style as you (ahem) mature.

If you're not already part of my small but beautifully formed facebook private group, come on over & join in our daily little nuggets of shared wisdom and live events.

By the way, "our granddaughter" was welcomed to the world 2 days ago, but photos & details are private, for now. She is ridiculously cute & so alert already - maybe I do have some maternal genes after all...

Love from Lucy x