Happy New Year!

Welcome to my first blog for 2015, hopefully the first of many.

I'm a bit 'bah humbug' about New Year, as one of my friends put it : 'different year, same s**t' and I am inclined to agree with him.  I stay up to see in the New Year, finish my sparkly drink, wish my loved ones the best and pop off to my bed.  However, last night, as many of you may know, the BBC broadcast a Queen concert so it was a pleasure to stay up and watch the amazing Brian May, the new vocalist and sing along with the songs - a happy New Year indeed!

Seriously though, New Year is a time for reflection, for remembering what was good and not so good, what was achieved and what came up rather short. 

When 2014 was just over three months old, I began with Lily Maud Vintage online.  You know the story of how it all came about so I won't bore you with that again, but it was a very exciting time for me.  I found a lovely young man willing to put my crazy ideas into website speak, to put up with me saying yes to his work then saying I wanted to change it and, finally having the website you see today.  Rhys is still getting emails asking him to do things or how I can do things and he replies straight away with the answers I need.  If you wish to have your website designed then I'm happy to recommend Rhys.

I have tweaked and changed things about on Lily Maud but never seemed to have the time to work at it properly.  Lily Maud has a Facebook page and a Twitter account but neither has been that successful because, as soon as I had the time and the motive to actually do something, life always came up and hit me in the face with unexpected hurdles. As in many people's lives, these came almost one after another with little space in between to get back to my real passion - Lily Maud Vintage! I do sound like a real moaner don't I; these life hurdles happen to everyone and I guess if I had managed to be more organised about my life on a day-to-day basis, Lily Maud would be on her way to some success.

That success has eluded her is wholly down to me and my lack of time management skills.  I used to have them once, had to as I worked to a timetable on a daily basis, but working from home, even on something you love so much, needs much more of a steely resolve than I have had.  I think I have let the hurdles get in the way rather than jump over them as they came along - now that is out in the open I can do something about it and so I will!

All was not bad though.  I am so happy to have become a Pioneer for Pretty Nostalgic and the Pretty Nostalgic Society.  I resolved to write an article for the first edition of the new Pretty Nostalgic Compendium published in December. I loved every minute of the writing, got the manuscript to the Editor on time and was so chuffed to see my name in print - I admit to being on a bit of a high when I saw it!  Even better, I am about to become a proud seller of the Compendium on Lily Maud.

So what of this New Year which began today? I'm not one for resolutions because, apart from one, nothing I have ever resolved to do at this time of year has ever come to anything!  Guess I'm not alone there either! However, I have to get better at three things in particular if I am to achieve success with both Lily Maud and Pretty Nostalgic.

Firstly, I must get into writing myself a list of  'things to do', divided into two categories : A = Absolutely Essential and B = Better to be done. I don't have anyone to whom I can delegate so to put this into practise means that I will have to manage my time much better by using my calendar and diary and being very strict with myself. If I have time set aside for  Lily Maud work then that is what I must do at that time in that week. Anything else has to work around Lily Maud as far as possible.  I have done this in a previous life and it worked very well because it gave structure to the day and week.

Secondly, I must work on everything to do with Lily Maud by proritising : listing, facebooking, tweeting, promoting (alongside Pretty Nostalgic),  blogging, researching ..... mmm ...... this could be a long list! However, if I remember the phrase : 'Your yes means more when you can say no' : I just might make it work.


This has been a bit of a personal blog, I have indulged myself!  I have always believed that writing down things which are important helps in making decisions about those things and this blog has helped me do that. With luck, you will see the results of my deliberations and become more involved with Lily Maud.


A monthly review of how I am getting on and what is being achieved may well be here soon!

A very Happy New Year to all who read this and thanks for being with me.