Hi there, I’m Katy. We are a family of 5 who live in a rural Sussex village near the south coast of England. There’s my husband Andy, our 3 sons Jonathan (19) Ewan (15) Joel (7) and myself. Just to make our lives busier, we have a black Labrador Hudson and a crazy cat……Marty Mcfly! I am a Registered Staff Nurse of over 20 years and am currently working part-time as a Covid vaccinator and as an Ear Microsuction expert (glamorous huh!). Andy is a Physiotherapist and has his own busy Physiotherapy business.
Why do I blog?
I simply love to share what I have learnt. I spent 10 years as a Practice Nurse in a busy GP practice and the vast majority of that role was spent advising people on health, and I have never grown tired of it! I particularly enjoyed the psychology behind effective communication of the advice I needed to share – there is, after all, a high risk of coming across as “preachy” when discussing weight! I feel this passion to help kindly, mixed with a love of writing, is a winning combination for a blog!
What do I blog about?
Skincare
As a qualified nurse with over 20 years of experience, I have gained a handful of specialities under my belt, one being wound care and dermatology – it really is the bread and butter of the Primary Care world. Where we don’t get involved with the beauty and anti-ageing skincare industry per se, there has always been a certain amount of overlap……after all, skin is skin!
Having that understanding of the anatomy of the skin, and the evidence-based treatments and processes that are required to resolve any damage done to it, I found myself applying that knowledge to my own skin. Thus a skincare dork was born!!
The skincare marketing industry is full of sciencey-sounding words that make no sense anatomically, but fool the public into believing it will create miracles. I do, however, understand, it’s draw….I get the buzz of buying a new product that promises so much, feels wonderful on our skin, makes us feel like a million dollars and provides us with a much-needed pamper time when applying it!
Well, right here I can promise I will help you keep that “spa from home” pamper experience, but with the science to back it up – win win!!
Self Care
Something I do feel particularly passionate about is encouraging carers to look after themselves to be able to be effective carers. This is what I originally intended to be the basis of this blog for fellow parents out there. You won’t see any sticky back plastic or toilet roll innards here – this is all about us parents taking care of ourselves so we can be the best parents we can hope to be for our family. There is a reason we are told on planes to put our own air masks on before applying our children’s in the event of an emergency!!
We all realise early on in our parenting journey (like, the first month!) that we have to adjust our expectations of being able to do what we want, when we want to. The dream of having the time, and finance, to take ourselves off to a spa for a pamper session may seem well and truly over, but we don’t need to be rich with either money or time to do that from home.
As Mums we are straight-A students in the art of feeling guilty, and nowhere else is this seen more than finding time and money to pamper our skin, put a spot of makeup on, style our hair or even wear clothes that make us feel good about ourselves. Well, get those thoughts straight out of your head……just a small amount of pampering can do wonders for our confidence.
I’m here to guide you through a daunting world that progresses at lightning speed, so you don’t get left behind in a world of nappies, taxi services or teenage angst.
What’s Next?
Right now, I really want to grow this little blog by combining my passion to help Mums take care of themselves with my professional experience and knowledge in skincare, however, I also plan on dipping my toe in the makeup world.
Ultimately, I would love to grow this blog into a whole host of areas which would give you a round-up of a full self-pamper package. Fashion and home decor are on my To-do list, so watch this space!
