Stick to what you’re good at..

This week’s words of wisdom come from things I’ve seen on social media I think…I know, I’m so zen 🫣😂

No matter the source, I am passionate about learning life lessons (not actual lessons, not academic ones, Christ no - I had to do a short course with a couple of tests at the end a few months back and I nearly had a breakdown).

But I love personal growth and development. I hear a saying and if resonates with me, I like it I put it into practice immediately.

It’s one of the reasons I am so well adjusted after everything we’ve been through as a family…

I’m incredibly resilient and tenacious, but I listen and learn from others before me.

I remember seeing an interview with Olivia Newton John, it was after she’d been diagnosed with cancer the first time, this was way before my diagnosis by the way, but it just stayed with me, and she said that when she was first diagnosed with cancer she kept crying and asking “why me!? Why me!?”

Until one day it struck her “why not you? Why do you think it shouldn’t be you? You have cells in your body just like anyone else”.

It was after that she started being able to process it, and came back stronger, and lived a very long time from her initial diagnosis.

Not that I think a positive mindset cures anything, but I do think it makes the journey through dark times a whole lot more pleasant.

And in a Joan Rivers interview about 40 years ago she said something that made me sit up and take note. She said she never saved anything for best. You could get hit by a bus tomorrow and all the best stuff would have been unused for nothing. And I couldn’t agree more.

We really do need to stop saving anything for best.

Your Life is the moment!

This is it! Truly understanding that this is the one shot you get at life feels very freeing.

If not now, when?

It’s so short and precious, and so incredibly precarious.

Live it well ~ in the moment ~ in joy.

Added to all that, something I heard the other day made me stop and think again;

“Comparison is the thief of joy"

(Apparently attributed to Theodore Roosevelt).

It’s so so true, try as you might you won’t be someone else, you can only be you, so might as well enjoy it.

I was chatting to a friend the other day. She is utterly glorious, she’s like an actual real life goddess.

Naturally beautiful - inside and out, incredibly strong due to many hours weight training, she is magnificent.

As much as I’d love to be all those things, I’m not, I’m just me and that will have to suffice.

She can bench press 120kg, smoothly, and effortlessly.

I can’t, although I have started using dumbbells recently because I want to build some muscle (muscle mass is a huge factor in longevity, so I thought I’d better try and get some, before it’s too late).

I can just about do 1 minute at a time with 5lb each dumbbells. But it nearly half kills me. So it would be utterly ridiculous and incredibly pointless to compare myself with my 120kg power lifting goddess friend.

It would serve no purpose, there would be nothing gained from the comparison, and really it would leach joy from what I am doing, and capable of.

There’s nothing wrong with aspiring to want to be fitter, but just to be fitter than I used to be, rather than to compare and contrast to someone else.

I can’t be anyone but me.

Be yourself, everyone else is taken 😍

That’s the only benchmark to work from - old me to new me. And I’m not talking about visual things like weight, I find that is another useless voyage in pointless comparisons too, I just mean I want to try and be fitter, with more muscle than I had.

I won’t be posting before or after shots because for a start, I am equally valid and valuable in both cases, and secondly what difference to anyone else would it make.

Much like comparing my pre bagged body to my post bagged one. They look different. I am different to how I used to be, but different doesn’t mean worse than.

My worth wasn’t and isn’t based on my appearance or weight. My worth is based on who I am, the fact I like to help people, I’m pretty kind to people who I love and care about, and I try and make the world a better place, and they’re the things that matter to me.

Yearning to be back to my pre bagged self is a waste of my valuable time, for one thing, although that me was incredibly slim and her body was whole…she did have a rather large cancerous tumour secretly growing inside, trying to kill her.

So I like this me far more. Confident, calm, at peace with myself, hopefully getting stronger by the day.

I’ll have to take me as I am, and so will everyone else.

I’m me, Suzanne, I’m all natural (apart from bleached hair and some gel nails), and at this point in time the only plastic on me is my stoma bag.

I would say I’m pretty low maintenance, but my shoes bill is off the chart, so I’ll probably have to keep quiet on that one.

Top from Karl Lagerfeld, Jeans from M&S, Shoes from Hermes

Ben and I went to a yoga session and due to a miscommunication we were the only two there. Which was really good fun. Ben had never been before so it was a fabulous introduction to yoga.

Gym kit from Tesco (in the sale)

Mother and son yoga is to be actively encouraged.

We’ve had a few really great nights out lately. And I very much enjoy putting an outfit together for it.

Top from Sandro, Jeans from M&S, Shoes from Dior, Belt from Hermes.

The man, the myth, the legend…and my sponsor…

🫶🏼

This meal was really good. I would go back to Kerrigde’s for the bread basket alone, we had two this time, but I’d happily go to The Corinthia again and just plough through the breads and only that. Probably the best I’ve ever had.

Dress from Ghost, Shoes Hermes, Bag from Dior

We have membership to The National Portrait Gallery, The National Trust and English Heritage and we like to mix our free time rotating visiting something beautiful…it helps keep me away from shopping, because I’m pretty shallow and shopping addicted - not a self criticism, merely a self observation, seeing as I very much enjoy this perceived flaw 😬🫣😂

Top and Jeans from M&S

My friend and I decided to have another day out in London, we had one a few weeks ago and loved it.

On that occasion we went to Kew Gardens, stayed about half an hour and then went into town shopping. So this time we just went straight to the shopping part, saving the wasted entry fee.

Dress from Me & Em, shoes from Hermes

*I have been trying to buy a Labubu, for no particular reason apart from they are in right now and I thought it would be amusing.

But it’s such a palaver to buy them that I haven’t bothered. I’m not queuing for a toy.

But while we were in a store the other day, we saw a display wall full of them. We asked the shop assistant if we could buy one.

She said no, you have to scan this QR code and enter the prize draw.

We said no thanks, because that seemed like a lot of effort for a toy.

Anyway, that’s when it got incredibly weird.

We were just about to walk away and she said really quiet and shifty “do you want to buy one?”

And we said yes. So she said hold on.

She then went out the back, and then came back with them, sort of hidden.

She then put them through the till quickly, and we left, somewhat confused by the cloak and dagger process.

We were walking around the store when a lady in the dress department said “Have you both got Labubu’s? How on earth did you get them!?!”

She has seen kids crying and screaming because they couldn’t get one after not winning on the QR code.

I have no idea how we got them, or if the parents of the crying children had just pretended not to win on the prize draw so they didn’t have to buy one.

It was all a bit odd.

…By the way, Michelle was so excited to get one, but had no idea what they were. She’d never heard of them until this point in time. 🤣

They are the must have collectible, no different from Chicaboo monkeys of my day, or Cabbage Patch dolls, or Furbies.

I couldn’t wait to open mine, which was a very cute little thing.

I didn’t have any long term plans for it, and for £18 it didn’t seem like a huge extravagance. I was thinking of selling it at some point, as they are very sought after.

We had such a fun day out that we missed our last train back to our town, and I had to ring Chris to come and get us from a station that we could get a train to, and then drop us back to our cars.

Which he very kindly did. A day spent laughing with a friend is medicine for the soul.

I never take any of this stuff for granted. It’s always a joy.

Top from Ralph Lauren, Jeans from Tesco, Shoes from Jimmy Choo, Bag from Dior.

I popped into M&S to pick up some new undies, nothing like bright white pants (knickers) to make you feel good, and while I was there I had a little look-see.

I spied this rather cute set and I really liked it but it seemed a bit young for me and silly maybe.

Anyway I showed Chris the photo and he said he loved it on me, I then showed Kim the photo and she said she loved it too, and wouldn’t mind getting a set as well.

So I gave it some more thought and went back the next day to buy it.

“When will I wear it?”

To be decided…

I probably will have to wear a top under it because 52 year old grandma’s probably shouldn’t go out with their tits all on show, but you do you. No judgement here. 😍

I have taken to wearing dresses for a while, I’m trying to get 30 grams of fibre in a day, it’s incredibly difficult to do for a myriad of reasons.

But it’s easier to eat lots of fibre if I wear loose dresses, for obvious reasons. Although, I’m actually constipated as usual - when aren’t I??

But dresses give me a better chance of free flow should anything miraculously materialise.

I eat really well and very healthily, and even I’m struggling to get 30 grams a day in.

(Health ministry guidelines advise adults eat 30 grams a day).

Most adults are obsessed with protein these days, protein protein protein, which is utterly ridiculous as most of us reach our protein target no problem at all.

It’s important of course, but not more than fibre is, and fibre could potentially save your life.

It’s just not as cool and easily gimmicky to push fibre to the masses like the spellbinding protein is.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think doing everything right will definitely save you, but I think it’s worth a shot.

I don’t drink alcohol, I don’t eat any processed or smoked meats - including smoked salmon. I don’t eat red meat (only fish and a little chicken), I don’t eat ultra processed foods. I don’t eat flame cooked foods.

Will that be enough to ward off any further incidents with cancer?

I’ve absolutely no idea, but what I do know is, if it happens again (god forbid) at least I won’t have any regrets of could I have prevented this?

I’m not cancer blaming, I don’t think I caused my previous cancer, but I was a drinker, and I was bit partial to a Turkey Twizzler back in the day, so who knows.

No one deserves cancer, not smokers, not drinkers, not anyone licking asbestos come to that! No one deserves it.

But sometimes shit happens and I’d like to avoid the shit happening bit if possible.

Dress from Ralph Lauren.

I asked Chris if we could plan a fun day for Saturday last week.

I had hoped to visit the Chelsea Apothecary Gardens, as I’d seen a TikTok of it and it looked really interesting and beautiful.

But it doesn’t open on Saturdays, so that was that idea finished.

Chris came home Friday night having planned a fabulous day out for us.

And it was a goody…

Outfit from Me & Em, Shoes from Hermes.

Chris booked parking in the carpark in Greenwich, which serves The Queen’s house, a stately home once belonging to Elizabeth I, And the Naval Museums, and the Observatory.

It was the most perfect day out.

We went up to the Observatory, but it’s £25 a person to get in, and I’ve got to be honest, I love spending money but that is a ridiculous price to pay to look at the meridian line that I could see perfectly well through the gates!

As shown in the photo below…

I like a museum, but I’m not a sign reader, I’m more of a casual perusing observer, so it just wasn’t worth the money for me.

The view is spectacular though, so deffo worth a visit.

We spent the saved money buying most of the stock in Gail’s, my latest addition to addiction. 🥰

I’ve not found anything I haven’t enjoyed yet, and I have enjoyed a lot of their wares.

A picnic lunch, a walk around Greenwich and surrounding area, a trip to the market and the Cutty Sark. It was the most perfect day.

Would recommend stopping at The Trafalgar Pub for a drink, it’s a bit of a landmark icon.

We went home full, hot, and happy.

Then Sunday Milly, Sam and Zak arrived back from their holiday to our house in Spain.

They make me laugh as they are the exact opposite of Chris and I. We arrive and do very little, they arrive and don’t sit still.

They do things we didn’t know existed, outdoorsy we are not.

Rafting, sailing, hiking, scuba diving and sea swimming. Who knew there was so much to do.

Chris and I go, lie in, lie down, and eat. :)

Anyway, they arrived back in the afternoon, so we all met up for a Sunday roast at a pub locally we like.

Ben and Erin came too, so all of my favourite people were all together, which makes my heart so happy.

Dress from The White Company

It was a fabulous weekend.

Then Monday Zak and I headed out for breakfast and shopping.

Oh, and I have had to relinquish ownership of my Labubu!! Which was ridiculously quick!! I hadn’t even had it a week!

But to my surprise Zak knew exactly what it was, how hard they are to get, and how desirable they are to have.

So bang went my fortune to be made as I had to give it to him.

He was so happy to have it, and very proud of it. So much so he took it out with us for the day and wanted me to photo journalist style its day out!

😂

A lady in a shop asked him if it was a real Labubu and he was delighted. He walked about 10 feet tall.

Soymilk (that’s this one’s name) got an upgrade to Zak’s Pokémon bag 🥰

Dress from Ralph Lauren, Bag from Dior.

He joined us for a very special Nana and Zak day.

I bought Zak a few bits and bobs and then I thought maybe I should do something else with him, that wasn’t just vacuous shopping.

I didn’t want to get the moniker Nana Shopaholic, you know how kids give their grandparents funny little names.

My cousins called our nan ‘Nanny bad leg’ for an unsurprising reason.

As you can see, shopping was enjoyable, but I felt maybe I should branch out to something more wholesome and child oriented, I am a fully qualified NNEB nursery nurse after all.

So we went home, left there car there and walked to our local country park…unfortunately I hadn’t factored in the 30 degree heat (UK 30 degrees hits different to anywhere else in the world, believe me, I’ve tried a lot of them, but 30 here is oppressive).

Anyway we had fun, but we started to feel a bit tired, and we had the mile or so walk home to do yet.

I offered to give him a piggy back home, but he very kindly declined the offer. I think he knew I wasn’t up to the task. 🫣

By the time we got home he had a raging high temperature, and was incredibly quiet.

So my lesson from this experience has been learned. Stick to what you are good at…and that ain’t the outdoors!

Although I look very capable and outdoorsy in the photos Zak took. Hahaha.

We had so much fun up until we realised we didn’t feel so good.

Zak put his Labubu down the slide many times, whilst I had to watch and clap as it got covered in dirt and play bark…so that’s definitely my investment down the drain 🫣😂😂

I’m not going to win entrepreneur of the year award now am I!

But I might have won some Nana points 🥰

As shopping is my hobby, and pleasure, I decided I wanted to get a nice pair of pale cream yacht shoes.

I’d seen a lot of people wearing them in town, and I think they look incredibly classy…which I thought had my name all over it 😬😂

Anyway, the fancy London folk have Loro Piana shoes, and as much as I love a nice shoe, I’m not paying top dollar for pale suede ones.

Not in England, the land of the drizzle.

All absolutely glorious!! And absolutely nonsensical for the UK climate.

Maybe they’d be worth it in the south of France or California, but not Essex, and definitely not London.

So I set about finding alternatives.

Steve Madden do some nice ones, as do quite a few other companies, even Shein had some, but I found two brands that had the look I was after, at a reasonable price.

Aurelien, have some, but I felt they were a tad too plain.

…And then I came across these ones and they are perfect!

I don’t know the brand, it’s Italian, so whether it’s any good or not I couldn’t tell you, and I don’t really care as they are perfect for me.

I ordered a pair and they fit like a glove…or shoe as in this case.

Stylish, comfortable, and elegant.

Looking forward to styling them soon.

Just quickly;

*If you are trying to get more fibre in I made Chris and I these over night oats with chia seeds and fruits.

So tasty and packed full of nutrients and vitamins.

I soaked my oat and chia mix in Jersey cow milk (of course I did 😂) overnight and then added full fat Greek yogurt and fruit and walnuts and almonds in the morning.