blogging

Finding my blogging niche – and why I won’t be bothering

30/06/2016 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

I’ve been doing this blogging lark for a while now. When I started out, this blog was supposed to be nothing more than a place to dump my thoughts and to get stuff off my chest that simply had no where else to go. I never set out with an agenda. I didn’t start this to be ‘a blogger’ I started to give myself ‘a space’. The lack of a derivative of the word ‘mummy’ in my blog title should tell you that. My blog is me.

So imagine how alien I find the concept of finding ‘a niche’ for my blog? But this is what successful bloggers are advising now. I can understand why. The market place is crowded for one. Having a ‘thing’ will make you stand out in the, to be honest, noisy crowd. And I don’t know, maybe people want to to be able to compartmentalise their lives in these days of ultimate connectivity. A case of ‘I get this from her’ or ‘that from him’? I guess. But, do you know what, I don’t buy it.

I want to read about people. About everything in their lives. I don’t follow a blog for their niche. To be honest I don’t really follow any blogs that I don’t enjoy reading. I want that person to speak to me, to hear their voice in their writing. And it doesn’t matter how much you pigeon hole yourself, if you can’t write a coherent, interesting piece that speaks to me, regardless of subject, I just won’t come back.

The best compliment about my blog I’ve ever received was from distant family member. They told me they’d been reading for a while and had absolutely no interest in the topics I was writing about but just couldn’t stop reading. It blew me away, but confirmed to me that I don’t need to pin my colours to any one subject.

Yes I write about being a parent. My stay at home life means parenting is a huge part of what I do. And in that I also write about Autism, what it means to our family, the dizzying highs and the stomach churning lows. But hey I write about me too. I am more than my family, my child, than his diagnosis. I refuse to squash my square life into a round blog hole. It’s messy and confusing and full of heartbreak. Just as it’s bright and exciting and full of achievement.

My niche is me. And no one else can write about that.

Square peg in a round role

#BML16 and why I’m choosing to focus on the positives

28/06/2016 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

I’m quite sure most of you who read my blog have no interest in the practical side of blogging. I can’t imagine how boring a post about a blogging conference would be to someone with no interest in the industry. But more for my own sake really, I’ve decided to write my reflections on my first one, #BML16, that I attended in London this past weekend.

So ok, I’ll be honest (as I always am) it wasn’t perfect. What event is? I could talk about how I spent some of the day wandering around alone, unable to find a familiar face or approach an unfamiliar one. I know now others were feeling exactly the same and I suggest next year giving some space over to a dedicated ‘making friends’ area. Not everyone who attends has a group to ‘hang out’ with. I’m pretty confident and even I felt I couldn’t always approach people in case they didn’t want to talk to me!

I could talk about how mixed in terms of usefulness the sessions were. The technical ones were fascinating, but waaaay too short. Other just felt like a massive ego stroking session (theirs not mine!), not really what I signed up for.

I could also talk about how I was so dismissed by the first brand I approached, that I barely spoke to another all day. I went in fully aware that, in terms of stats, I was a small fish in a big pond, but to be shot down like that so early, meant I didn’t get the network contacts I went to the conference hoping to get. My fault and not theirs I guess, but still….

But you know me. I try and focus on the positives when I can. And so I have decided to concerntrate on my personal highlights of #BML16.

My dress

Come on! How could I not talk about my mushroom dress? Everyone else was! I received so many wonderful compliments on the dress, it’s material and look. Which was lovely! But the best bit was totally the amount of these faces ðŸ˜±ðŸ™€ðŸ˜® I saw when I told people that my husband Ben had made it for me. For one it was a great icebreaker (oh my god you’re the girl with the mushroom dress /didn’t you make this or something/ btw can I just saw I love your dress etc) but everyone was soooo nice about it that it also gave me confidence in a room where I knew practically no one.

Top conference tip: wear a dress in an eyecatching fabric that someone unexpected has made for you!

Mushroom pattern dress — The mushroom frock

A good lift selfie. Gotta be done. The dress looked surprisingly good with my Next pleather jacket

Friends

Blogging is a funny old sport. You get to know people you have never met in real life, sometimes quite intimately. You can talk for years before actually meeting in person. So actually getting to meet and hang out with some of what I would class as my blogging buddies was fantastic.

Me and Natalie from Diary of an Unexpectant Mum — Me and Natalie from Diary of an Unexpectant Mother. This is a bit blurry but I had just had a bottle of wine!

Me and Maria SuburbanMum — Me and Maria from Suburban Mum. Crazy lighting in the main room for the Brilliance in Blogging Awards (which I was not nominated for boohoo 😉 )

Kelley from BringingupGeorgia, when we finally got our full size Coke Zeros. Happy! — Kelly from Bringing up Georgia, when we finally got our full size Coke Zeros. Happy!

Fangirling

Getting to talk face to face to some of the bloggers I admire was an amazing, if a little disconcerting, experience. Once I got over the “oh, I know her from somewhere don’t I?” feeling, I was able to approach people to thank them for their writing or to introduce myself (although the first time I did this it came out a bit gushing “hi I’m Lisa I follow you on Instagram I love your pictures” literally without pausing. I’m not sure poor Hannah from Make, Do & Push knew what to make of me!).

The Fat Girls Guide to Running

I have nooooo interest in running. Never have. However, the keynote speech given by Julie Creffield from The Fat Girls Guide to Running, really touched something in me. Not to start running necessarily, but the points she made about motivation, self belief and setting goals, or as she calls them Big Fat Stupid Goals. My life is about to change. Oscar starting school is really going to shake things up around here and it feels like the time to DO something is coming. I got to talk to Julie afterwards and it was super interesting. Watch this space!

Making new friends

I’ve been joining Laura’s #effitfriday link up over at Life with Baby Kicks for a while, but we only started talking recently over Twitter. We had a great chat on Saturday. I couldn’t get over how much she reminded me of my sister in law Rachel, which may explain why I later went on to pinch her bum as I walked past. It was only afterwards that I wondered if that might have been a bit forward for someone who I’d only just met. Turns out not, when I saw this on Sunday.

And this really is what I went to this conference for. The human connection. Reaching out to real people. I love blogging and the space it affords me and the friends it creates online but nothing compares to real human interaction.

Yeah the conference had it flaws and if I’d gone with the sole goal of making money I think I might be feeling pretty maligned. Thankfully I got to make connections and touch someone (and I don’t just mean their arse). Conference made.

This was next door to my hotel and seemed so very apt! — This was next door to my hotel and summed up my feelings about the day.

I’m going to #BML16

24/05/2016 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

OK, in case you don’t know, which if you’re not a blogger you would have no reason to, BritMums is an online community of what they call ‘lifestyle bloggers and social influencers’. Swish. And every year for the last five years they have held one of the biggest conferences for parent bloggers in the country BritMums Live or #BML16. Despite being in this game for a while now I’ve never had the time (or the money) to go before. But this year, I decided I’d been doing this long enough to hold my own at this sort of event, so I found the time and money. I’m stupidly excited. I get to wear a badge announcing myself as Mrssavageangel. And that makes me really happy.

So in case you bump into me at #BML16 on 25th June here’s the low down!

Name

My real name is Lisa. I tried ‘Her Majesty’ at home, but it didn’t fly, so Lisa will have to do.

Mrssavageangel? Really? What’s with the blog name and why doesn’t it include the word mummy somewhere?

Many years ago when I first started needing a username for online stuff I chose the name Savageangel because a) my boyfriend’s name was Ben Savage b) I was his angel (I know, I know!) and (almost worst than b) c) I thought it sounded kinda kooky and cool. Oh. Dear! However, it stuck and became my username. Then I married said boyfriend, so I changed it to Mrssavageangel. I am Mrs Savage and I guess I’m still his angel ðŸ˜‰. When I started the blog, it was only ever meant to be an online diary for me. I didn’t start out to write about being a mother in particular, so I didn’t feel the need to think up some clever pun on the word mummy. And when the blog took off I chose not to change it as I still think of it as a multi subject space. Yeah I’m a mother, but I’m other stuff too. I’m Mrssavageangel! What do I blog about?

I write primarily about my life, my family, what it is to be a parent today and my six stone weight loss. In the last year I’ve also been writing about my only child’s Autism diagnosis and our transition to an SEN family. I’ve been writing Mrssavageangel for three years. Seriously, I think I’ve been blogging longer than I’ve ever been in one single job. Except for motherhood, which I’ve been working at for four years!

What do I look like?

Here I am. I’m 5′ 9 with dark hair. I may or may not be wearing glasses. I’ll also be wearing a badge that says Mrssavageangel. If you see me come say hi!

What I’ll be wearing (for identification purposes only obvs. This isn’t some red carpet situation.)

The plan is to wear a sleeveless, fit and flare dress that my clever husband is currently making for me. It’s made of Cath Kidston Mushroom fabric and I love it. You’ll not miss me that’s for sure!

Let’s chat

Want to get hold of me then Twitter, Facebook or Instagram are your best bets. You can also find me on Google, Pinterest et al. I’m Mrssavageangel, wherever you go.

What I’m most looking forward to at #BML16

As this is my first blogger event, I’m looking forward to all of it. I don’t really have any preconceived ideas, I just want to experience it all. I’ve already been studying the session list and have an idea of the ones I’m most interested in. But mostly I’m looking forward to connecting with people and other bloggers I’ve only known as a thumbnail until now. Because really that’s what blogging is all about; bringing people, real people, together.

See you there!

Mrssavageangel Slimming World – Week 6

18/02/2016 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

Hello!

Sorry this is a bit late going out, but (as you may know) it’s half term this week, meaning I don’t get my 2 hours in Dylan’s or Costa or wherever just to switch off and write. How other bloggers do it, writing solely in the evenings, I really don’t know. I’m usually so pooped by the time he’s in bed, all I want to do is eat dinner and veg out in front of the telly. Anyway, blogging gripes aside, half term has actually been pretty good. We’ve gone out every day and had play dates and made new friends and his language is having a mini explosion. Which, you know, I love. 🙂 This week he has told me he emphatically loves both pizza and carrots. And that he equally emphatically doesn’t like my ‘pumpkins’ (or orange peppers, but who’s counting). Yeah it’s been a good week!

It’s also been a good week for my social life (how come the kids have such better social calenders than us !) Social occasions can often come with their own issues. Do you plan and moderate or do you throw caution to the wind and limit damage around the event It’s a choice and both can work equally well in my experience and usually depends how much you drink ( you can plan all you like but after a couple of glasses of vino Good luck with that!) So this weekend I had Galentine’s Day lunch with the bestie and it was as awesome as I’d hoped. But I did plan ahead. Firstly I knew I wanted onion rings (have you tried the Onion Rings at the White Horse Amazing!) But for my main I checked the menu the night before, made my choice before I even got to the pub, all the things we talk about doing in group. I chose, what looked like the lowest synned option on the menu, a Bulgar Wheat and Quinoa Salad with beetroot, chicken, spinach and seeds. It was delicious, however it was covered, and I mean covered, in dressing. I couldn’t tell you what the dressing was and as it wasn’t mentioned on the menu I didn’t even think to ask them to leave it out, which was a bit of a shame. However it was so amazingly filling I could only manage half the dish! I had one drink, then moved back to diet coke as I knew I needed to keep my wits about me, if only because we had friends coming to dinner that night!

OOTD for our Galentine's Lunch — OOTD for our Galentine’s Lunch.

I like having people to dinner. It gives you so much more control over what you’re eating, without making a fuss. And I’ve yet to meet anyone who is served up a SW friendly dish and rejects it on account of the lack of lard! Saturday’s dinner was a tried and tested Savage household favourite, Pepperpot Stew. A warming spicy take on a winter classic, this Slimming World friendly syn free dish is served with rice and our guests loved it. So much I thought I’d detail it here.

Pepperpot Stew

Serves 4

Frylight
800g lean stewing beef, all visible fat removed, cut into chunks
3 red peppers, deseeded and cut into bite-sized pieces
1 sweet potato, peeled and cut into bite-sized pieces
300g green beans, trimmed and halved
2 garlic cloves, finely chopped
2 tbsp jerk seasoning (I use Bart’s spice mix – it’s got a great kick to it!)
1 tbsp red wine vinegar
400g passata with onions and garlic
400ml beef stock
2 tbsp Worcestershire sauce
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Spray a large flame and ovenproof casserole (I use my Le Creuset) with Frylight and place over a high heat. Add the beef and fry for 4-5 minutes, or until lightly browned, stirring occasionally.
Add the peppers, sweet potato, beans, garlic, jerk seasoning, wine vinegar, passata, stock and Worcestershire sauce. Season and stir well.
Cover and place in the oven on 180/gas mark 4 for 2 hours, or until the beef is meltingly tender.

Serve with rice. I cook my rice in vegetable stock and when it’s done I stir through fresh chopped coriander.

Syn Free and delicious! And so handy! I made this the day before and it heats up really well. It meant I could spend more time actually being with my guests and having a good old laugh!

So that was syn free and fine, but then there was wine. And a small amount of lemon tart (although it was served with berries so….). And we had a super night.

Sunday was Valentine’s Day and my lovely hubby eschewed the traditional chocolates and went with beautiful yellow lilies instead. I cooked us a lovely Valentine’s dinner, which included heart shaped Heck sausages. Sausages have always featured heavily in our relationship. Ben doesn’t have an emotional attachment to comfort food in the way I do, but when he’s had a bad day, a sausage sandwich can cheer him no end. In fact in our wedding vows I promised to make him sausage sandwiches, whenever he was “blue”. So to me, sausages always mean love and what better way to express that love than with heart shaped sausages. Heck very kindly sent us some of their limited edition Peck heart shape sausages to try and boy oh boy did they go down a treat! Ben had his in sandwiches, me with jacket potato and vegetables. At 5 syns a pop I used most of my days syns on them. But they were totally worth it! Delicious and juicy and just so cute!

Heart Shaped sausages from Heck. 5 syns each and worth every one!

Anyway, my point is that although the weekend was large, it was all about trying to find some balance. Finding the place that lets you be you and do the things you love, with the people you love and yet stay in some semblance of control. And do you know what I think I just about managed it.

Slimming World

Nope, I wasn’t expecting that AT ALL! Mega happy dances all round. That puts me at 12.5lb lost in 6 weeks. I’ll take that!

So obviously I am very keen to replicate this loss again this week, if only to reach my one stone. We are out for dinner this weekend (OK, look I don’t usually have this much of a life!) but my darling friend Jane has sourced some Thai themed Slimming World recipes for us all and I can’t wait. But I’m also realistic. Just because it worked last week, doesn’t mean it will work this week. So I’d just be happy not to gain. Anything else is a bonus!

Have a super week

love

Lisa

Eight Photos of Happiness

17/07/2015 by MrsSavageAngel Leave a Comment

So recently I was tagged by the lovely Maria over at Suburban Mum to share 8 pictures that make me happy. They can be from any time period and of any thing as far as I can tell, they just have to make me smile. So here you go Maria and thanks for the lovely wander down memory lane!

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1) Apologies for the poor quality of this one, it’s a scan of a print out, but it was too cute not to kick things off with. I love this picture for several reasons. Firstly it’s of baby me and how cute was I (and how much do I look like the boy here!)? It was taken one Christmas (I think I must have just turned one – yes I was also an early walker!) and I love the retro tree in the background. It was taken at my beloved Nanna and Granddad’s, where I spent so many happy days as a child. But mostly its because of the bongabonga drum. That thing in my hand. It was some kind of drum with beads on string that made a noise when you twizzled it back and forth. As the first grandchild it was my duty to pull both the beads and the strings off this bad boy. But it remained on display, hung on the wall in the lounge. All the grandchildren played with it over the years and when my Nanna died, it was the one thing from the house that came home with me. This is probably the last photo of the bongabonga drum intact(ish). And it always makes me smile!

Lisa in Newquay '96

2) My second choice was this picture of me when I was 17. It was taken outside our holiday flat, on my first holiday without my parents. Me and three friends (Loulou, James and Liam) all trundled off to Newquay for the week and it was the most exciting thing I’d ever done at the time. The weather was so so and the flat really ‘vintage’ shall we say, but I didn’t care. Even when it rained we played games of Shithead that lasted hours and drank huge bottles of Country Manor. It was awesome. I also love this picture because I think its the nicest one I have of me as a teenager. I bloody loved that dress.

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3) My third choice is this one of me and the hubster. We met when we were just 19 and this was taken four weeks after we met. We were both dressed up to go to our friend’s 6th form leavers ball (or what would now be called a prom). It was such a great night and doesn’t he look a dish? I’ve had this photo framed and in the lounge of every house we’ve ever lived in. It’s one of my absolute faves!

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4) My fourth picture is this one of me in the Indian Ocean. Ben and I got married in 2008 but we knew years before we got married that we wanted to go to the Maldives for our honeymoon. So in March 2009 we did (we waited until the following year to go in the Maldivian summer). This picture was taken not long after we arrived on Komandoo and was taken from the balcony of our water villa. It was absolutely THE best holiday I’ve ever had.

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5) My fifth photo was another one taken on Komandoo. We were walking along the beach to dinner, when I grabbed this great shot of Ben’s footprints in the sand. I love the light in this one and I’m pretty pleased with the composition too. I want to get it printed and framed for the bathroom (one day, when I get round to it!)

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6) My sixth picture is this one of Ben with Oscar. It was taken on our first (or second, it’s a very hazy time for me) night home with our new baby and no one could sleep. Oscar would only stop crying if Ben held him wrapped in his dressing gown like this. I know it looks like Ben is asleep (it was after all taken at 3 in the morning), but he’s not. He just looks so peaceful. That time was anything but peaceful, for either of us, but this photo reminds me that there were moments of bliss.

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7) My seventh picture is this one of Ben and his sister Rachel. It was taken on a childhood day out in the 80’s. The venue had costumes to dress up in and took a ye olde time photo of you wearing them. I found this one at Ben’s mums house a few years ago and nearly wet myself laughing. Its Rachel’s face that gets me. She swears she was just ‘not smiling, because they were told Victorians didn’t smile in photos’. I think she looks like she’s about to do someone some serious damage. When Ben’s grandparents celebrated their Diamond Wedding in March, the family put a book of photos together for them. Fortunately this was added and even more brilliantly we were all given copies of the book. Now I can take it out and laugh at this one any time I like (sorry Rach!)

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8) My final picture is a recent one, taken on our wonderful family holiday to Bluestone Resort in Wales. This was taken on our trip to the beautiful Barafundel Bay, which was such a special day for me. Oscar surprises us most days, but that day he really shocked us with how grown up he seemed. He ran ahead, but never ran away. He laughed, he smiled, he didn’t run straight into the sea. What could have been a nightmare, turned into a dream and this picture of him confidently striding down the steps to the bay, fills my heart with happiness. Especially as I know seconds later, he turned round and asked to be carried. He’s still my baby ?

Thank you so much for inspiring me to do this Maria. I’d liked to tag:

Nat over at Diary of an Unexpected Mother

Carly at Carlyakamummy

and

Stevie at A Cornish Mum

If they’d care to join in.