Starting over...

wishingthemortgaheaway

ladymay wrote: »

Ooo, I'll have a look. Thanks Wishing! Hope you're well?

No, France and Belgium. Both of which I love, but I'm staying firmly in winter

Enjoy your time away, even if it is working.
I am well thank you, having to make an emergency work trip towards your neck of the woods sun-tues (Somerset rather than Devon, but close enough) but then it should be time to start enjoying Christmas with the Pickle.

ladymay

wishingthemortgaheaway wrote: »

Enjoy your time away, even if it is working.
I am well thank you, having to make an emergency work trip towards your neck of the woods sun-tues (Somerset rather than Devon, but close enough) but then it should be time to start enjoying Christmas with the Pickle.

I hope the weather's been kind to you, Wishing! It's a beautiful part of the world. I've just subscribed to your diary and will enjoy reading it when I have a chance

Got a wedding confirmed for June next year with deposit paid, which brings my gig total for next year to 20 - another 20 and all my bills and essentials are covered for the year! I have at least another 10 decent gigs to be confirmed, and I have lots of wedding fairs coming up so I'm feeling pretty good about everything right now! :T

I'm still feeling slightly scrambled about all my different projects: right now I'm working on
- Main business, split into two
- Nursing homes
- Weddings / corporate / festivals
- Setting up the duo
- Studying my dementia care course
- Trying to get a book published - continue writing

Time management is something I really struggle with, but seeing as that's five main things to concentrate on (plus my volunteering, which I'm not willing to give up), maybe it would help if I worked on a different project one day a week? Ah, I don't know. I guess I'll figure it out at some point :T

Thoroughly enjoying a glass of vin blanc and catching up on my studies in cold and sunny St Malo today - when I think about where I was last year, I can't believe how lucky I am...

DebtFreeDuo

Just checking in and wow you're doing so well! It sounds like you are juggling a lot but as long as you are well organised with it all then you will do just fine. I'm so happy that everything is working out nicely for you.

ladymay

Hi DFD :hello: thanks so much for the good wishes, it's nice to feel so positive I must admit!

Off the ship for a few hours - finally got the banking done, now I need to do some online errands:

- Email new wedding booking to confirm receipt of deposit :j
- Sort out rent for the month
- Check out new web-hosting options
- Figure out how to change domain name on main website
- Research pop up banner design and send designs I like to my lovely friend who is designing one for me
- Study
- Reply to two new hotel enquiries :j:j

On another note, I had a dream last night where fuel was less than a quid a litre. It was *sniff* so beautiful...

Happy Wednesday, everyone xx

ladymay

- Email new wedding booking to confirm receipt of deposit Done
- Sort out rent for the month Done
- Check out new web-hosting options Done
- Figure out how to change domain name on main website Done
- Research pop up banner design and send designs I like to my lovely friend who is designing one for me Done
- Study Done
- Reply to two new hotel enquiries Done

Wednesday was a really productive day, yesterday not so much courtesy of an incoming migraine. Caught it in time and went straight to be as soon as I could with my medication so no migraine hangover today :j

Three most important jobs today:

- Figure out if I have the IT nouse to use particular web hosting platform
- Send on song list to wedding couple
- Finish cover letter and send to company taking over my current contract (I've decided to ask for cover work next year)

Passed Unit 2 on my course :j Next unit is due 2nd Jan so I'll try and get that finished next week.

Just had a chat with the director of the company taking over my ship's entertainment contract. He said he was delighted I'd called because he'd heard a lot of good things I explained I wasn't available full-time next year - even without gigs coming in, I'm going to need to be around more for Mum next year - and although he sounded disappointed, he said we can work together to find work that would suit me. Fingers crossed that's my back up work sorted!

Right, best get cracking! Happy Friday! xx

ladymay

… I have to move again.

My landlady has informed me she's moving in with her daughter and I have to be out by 17th January. I'm on board til New Year's Day, I'm rehearsing in London 3-5 January and am working in Blackpool 13-15 Jan. Which leaves me 9 days to find somewhere.

I'm freaking out.

UncannyScot

Wish I were closer missus

Things will work out for you, dinnae fret

ladymay

UncannyScot wrote: »

Wish I were closer missus

Things will work out for you, dinnae fret

Thanks Uncanny - it was a pretty rubbish day yesterday, I also found out my Mum is having to go in for tests because the doctors have no idea why she's having a lot of digestive issues and pain atm... they've had to stop her pain medication for her arthritis so she's really uncomfortable and I'm hundreds of miles away

On the upside, my gram (what I call my grandma) has invited me to come and stay with her for a while until I find somewhere I want to live. It means I don't have to rush to find a place, and it also means I can save at least a couple of hundred quid to put either towards savings or into the business. So the second week of January will be finding a storage unit, packing for the fourth time in two years - I'm so sick of moving - as well as working and gearing up for a big industry showcase I'm performing at.

Also, I have a bit of romance in my life again! :eek: I've started seeing my best friend's husband's best friend hehe! He lives in the South East so he's not going to be clinging onto me while I'm trying to build the business, and it means when I feel like it and I have a few days off I can visit and work from his. He's a genuinely lovely guy and my friends are delighted - they've been trying to make this happen for months so they're both pretty smug right now

Work-wise, everything's motoring - I have a meeting with the new ship entertainment company on 3rd January, I've had another wedding confirmed for next year, I signed contracts on 13 gigs with a holiday park company yesterday, and I'm booked on for free digital marketing mentoring in March. And for the duo, I'm nearly ready to launch the website and social media pages, band rehearsal and hotel are booked for the showcase, costumes are ordered, business cards are being ordered today... between my friend and I, we're on top of things.

I'm going to make a real push to try and get published next year and am booked on to a critique group and a publishing workshop next month.

The sun is shining today in St Malo and I'm back to my sunny self.

ladymay

Well, I hope everyone had a lovely day yesterday! It was a long work day for me, but the passengers are just lovely and we were all really feeling the festive spirit!

In Antwerp getting a bit of work / studying done. It's cold and sunny and very Christmassy

I'm still feeling pretty anxious about everything I have to get done next month. Once I'm actually in the throes of it I'll be fine; it's just that not being able to do anything right now is frustrating, and that frustration turns to worry very easily with me...


Bank balances are all looking fine, just waiting to get paid from my final 2018 invoices. MOT is coming up on 2nd Jan, fingers crossed it's just more advisories... Nothing more I can report financially until I'm home and have a couple of hours to tally everything up (I've tried doing it on the ship before and I find it impossible! I'm going to set some pretty stingy targets for January to get back on track - I have a lot to pay out on the business and the car, but once I've paid my moving costs my living expenses should be really low. Lots of NSD's coming my way!


Think that's it for now, back to coursework I go! xx

ladymay

Sat at home in my pj's :j

Had a great final week on board, lots of lovely passengers and it's safe to say I helped the old company go out with a bang!!

I have a ton of stuff to catch up on so I need to make a list before I hit the sack...

I'm so happy to be home