Aiming High

 

Sophie and I

What a month this has been! For starters I have become a director of two potentially  international companies and I have had the good fortune to wander around some of the nicest real estate in the UK. These two things are not related by the way.

The logo

I as mentioned before, I visited Hampton Court earlier in the month with Ann and then last Wednesday I visited Blenheim Palace with Sophie. Oh, how the other half lived! In both places it was the gardens that most impressed me. Imagine being able to have a morning stroll around the garden in your dressing gown after your first coffee. To be honest, I wouldn't have enjoyed the impersonal life you would have led if you lived in one of these grand mansions but the gardens were particularly special. Indoors,  the amount of dusting, hoovering and cleaning really did need an army of workers. I definitely prefer something cosier and with less cleaning!

Blenheim Palace 

A rather nice vista- not a weed in sight

Something I do like the idea of is having pictures of ancestors on the walls. I reckon they would be quite a conversation starter when friends come round for a chat. You could share tales of how that one came to a sticky end or another had thirteen children so they built an extension to house them all. Old Winston Churchill was merely a cousin to the Duke of Marlborough but he earned his place at the heart of the family! Blenheim is the only palace in the UK not to be lived in by "royals". That is a good bit of trivia.

Behind the scenes I have found time to register two businesses with Companies House this month. Sarhan Group is Louai's baby. He has big plans now he is finalising his Ph.D. The other one is a partnership with Sammi. We are Boldface Editing. I am there to offer loads of advice  to both partnersnand do a bit of work now and again. I am excited how driven both Sammi and Louai are. Watch this space to find out more about "Boldface Editing" - Sammi's baby.

I had my grand daughter with me this Saturday. Ezra-Mae will be three in January. She is a whirlwind, non-stop talker. I have always about  planned four activities for each time she comes. I like to keep her busy and do purposeful things, This time after she had persistently and  hurriedly shooed Mum and Dad out of the door, we started our day with "blow" painting. This got off to a slow start. Firstly, Ezra-Mae didn't blow hard enough and then we had to work on direction. 

Once we had got over these two hurdles the pictures were pretty good. So, on to the second activity - replanting house plants that had outgrown their pots. Ezra-Mae loves mud! So this is what she did. She made mud and covered herself from head to toe, mostly. Then she wanted wanted more colouring so off we went for more "blow" painting. This is where my plans began to fail. I still had cooking to do and I knew she would be getting hungry. 

With a little "help" I managed to make chickpea fritters. They were frying by the time I realised they didn't have any chickpeas in them. Whoops!! A two-year old does things like that to you. God knows why I thought I could advise my new partners on their businesses. 

The trip to the park after lunch ended with me getting cross when a freshly muddied Ezra-Mae ran across a road - errr. I picked her up like a log and marched her home under my arm, showered her and we watched part of the Postman Pat movie which incidentally, I highly recommend. I suggest you just pretend to have a toddler with you while you watch.

So with thoughts of living a grander life while positioning myself as an international business woman, I reckon I have been brought back to Earth by a two-year old! She insisted she take the blow paints back to Mummy - Good luck with that, Danielle! My sanity would probably be the best I can hope for. That, and to keep smiling. That makes the world a happier place at least.