I went on the most fabulous hen do for a very dear friend and colleague. We spent the afternoon singing our hearts out to Michael Jackson tracks at a recording studio. So completely hilarious and heart lifting at the same time.

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Dear Friends,

Thank you for coming over to find out what my big plans are. Sometimes you have to be brave, take a leap and see where it takes you. And this is where I have landed up, launching my joint venture with Kat Goldin today.

We share a love of photography and recording the fleeting moments of childhood. When we first started talking about this idea the instant excitement which fizzed between us was a clear indicator that we’d hit upon a true passion. Sharing our inspiration with others.

Capturing Childhood is all about creative photography of your family which captures the moment and personality. Our interactive courses will not only support you in developing your photography but will provide a community for you to share with.

There has been a lot of hard work to get us to this point today where I can tell you the Capturing Childhood is out in the world. Registration for Collect the Moments opens tomorrow, Saturday April 28th at 2pm BST for the Summer class beginning 28th May.

I won’t give too much more away here as I want you to head over to the photography eCourse site, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.

I really hope to welcome some of you to what I hope will be a bright and inspiring journey. Here’s a taste of what we have planned.

Kat xoxo

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Doesn’t life just catch you like that sometimes? You look around and realise a whole week has passed almost unnoticed.

After I wrote that post last week I breathed a deep sigh of relief. It is so good to voice it and be able to start asking myself how I wanted to make changes.

I made a conscious decision to move from ‘surviving’ with my work to ‘building’ the future I visualise for myself. There may never be a perfect time to make the leap of faith and set up the business I want. So I’m leaping anyhow because if I spend the rest of my life planning and imagining the time will have been and gone. The time is now. Or tomorrow morning to be precise.

I am so excited to share with you what I have planned. I am working with one of my favourite people to create something beautiful that I hope you’ll love. I feel terribly mean teasing you like this. I hope you’ll join me here tomorrow morning for the launch.

As I can’t talk about the oh-so-exciting-but-secret new project I’ll tell you a bit about what I did over the weekend. On Saturday I got up crazy early and jumped on a train to Birmingham for BlogCampUK. This was my third outing to BlogCamp, a series of free day workshops on blogging, and I have to say it was yet another superb event.

My face ached from laughing at Stu Heritage (rule number 1: don’t be a dick), I came away with a whole heap of things to think about from Lee Smallwood and Susannah Conway and I had lots of laughs with my friend Claire.

I love BlogCamp, it’s a hive of ideas and discussion. If you love blogging then I would suggest you sign up to their mailing list for the next event near you. I can honestly say the things I have learned at BlogCamp have made a positive difference to my blog and my business.

One more nugget of wisdom before I head off to make the finishing touches before tomorrow: Beware interesting clouds – they result in long diversions…

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Remember my ranunculus? I’m missing them already.

I find myself here, at this stopping point, every couple of months lately. In need of grounding and to reconnect with my goals.

We still live from day to day, taking all the work we can while keeping our responsibilities going. It is necessary at the moment for us  to be so focussed on our income, no new business will allow you to take your eye off the ball. But boy, is it draining.

This focus on building my income, narrows my sights and I forget what the purpose of my efforts is. The task and the goal get blurred and I put more importance on work than giving energy to my family. And right at that point is where my endeavours lose their significance – if I am not working for them then for what?

There is no easy way to work full time and be a full time childcarer. I sometimes imagine what I would achieve if I had some childcare but of course the whole point of me working from home is that they don’t have to go to someone else for their care.

There are moments when I look at what other people are achieving and I think if only. Fleeting moments because as the breath escapes me the longing is gone and I remember what I’m working for. My greatest achievements.

I am going to bed lighter for voicing that, I am so grateful for this space. This week I am working on a project which is taking lots of my energy so please forgive me if I am a little quiet around here. I’ll be back with some photos and maybe even a recipe or two… Kat xoxo

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

It seems to have become a little annual tradition around these parts. Spring flowers and a thank you for sending your votes my way.

Each year when I see Housewife Confidential’s name come up in the list of blogs nominated for an award in The MADs I feel overwhelmingly grateful to you, the people who take the time to appreciate it.

Last year so many of you nominated Housewife in the photography category you sent me to the final. It meant a whole lot that so many of you took the time to do that.

Truly, I love sharing this space with you. Housewife Confidential is like no blog I’ve written before because it is while here that I have finally grown into myself; settled down in my heart and found peace with who I am.

Thank you all for coming here to read, share, comment and join us in our little corner of the world.

Kat xoxo

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Monty loves his pigtails. He says they’re brilliant.

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Covent Garden

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Trafalgar Square.

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Yesterday we headed to the beach to run around and make the most of the last day of the holidays. Things have changed quite dramatically around here in the last month and some time sitting listening to the waves and watching clouds was much needed.

As you may recall, Mr Kat’s employer stopped paying him last summer and that didn’t change much. I would love to share with you the details of what happened, nothing better than a gossip over the back fence, but it is not for me to tell. Suffice to say Mr Kat has leapt and set up his own company with one of his colleagues.

It is quite liberating to be free of that situation but more than a little nerve wracking being out on our own. In truth: I’m trying not to think about it.

I am working away at bringing in more digital work for me. While housewives of yore may have taken in ironing or gone out to char I have been running social media accounts, writing blogs and creating websites for small businesses. I’m not selling cakes from the back door but advertising space and little by little I’m making my income count.

By no means is the year ahead certain and I have no doubt it will be hard work and scary at times but I am excited by what lies ahead.

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.

Last weekend we travelled to Birmingham. Perhaps a little ill advised so close to Christmas but we were invited to attend the Flip Flop Flip for which I wrote a sponsored post recently. I’d got the wrong end of the stick about something and thought that Keri-Anne Payne and Rebecca Addlington were going to be at the event along with Duncan Goodhew – a lesson in skim reading!

Held at one of the Pools 4 Schools temporary pools which was situated in a school in Birmingham (which turned out to be the children’s great grandfather’s school – small world) British Gas released 1,000 flip flops into the water in a flip flop water lottery.

So the ladies weren’t there but as you can see, Duncan Goodhew was. I’ll admit to being a little awe-struck listening to him field questions from young swimmers. He has had some truly remarkable experiences and is an inspiring speaker.

After he and the other swimmers had signed autographs I had a couple of minutes to talk to him. With Rachel’s questions about motivation fresh in my mind that’s what I led with.

If you are looking to stay motivated, here is Duncan’s advice (paraphrased by me). Think about how you talk to yourself, listen to that internal voice and the things you are saying. Before you get in the water, or start the work out, take a moment to say how happy you are to be there and that you’re going to enjoy this session. Look at the way the light moves over the water, imagine you’re on holiday. Talk to yourself during, notice how well you’re moving through the water. When you’re finished say how much you enjoyed it because you’ll be filled with endorphins and you will feel great so take the time to feel it. It’s important to go to events like sponsored swims or races, to get that sweaty palm feeling of excitement, to have something to look forward to.

It’s interesting to hear Duncan speak about self-talk being an important part of motivation and enjoyment. I talk to a lot of parents both through my work as a childminder and via emails to this site asking for advice. One of the biggest themes I have noticed is the way parents speak about themselves and how harshly they judge what they are doing. When I posed this to Duncan this is what he had to say: When you’re worrying about history homework try imagining you are 80 years old and you’re sat with your child. What would you have wanted to give to them? A good sense of humour, resilience, a love of live, these are the things that are important. You want to have given your child the skills to live in the world and not just that but to be able to work with the world because that’s what’s important.

Wise words and worth holding on to in the tedious moments which pepper our lives. It is so easy to be lost in the moments of the day to day that we lose sight of our goals and aspirations. Next time I find myself feeling frustrated and fractious I’ll be taking a moment to remind myself of this conversation.

If you’d like to see some decent pictures of the event head over to see the British Gas Flip Flop Flip album.

©2012 Housewife Confidential. All Rights Reserved.