My Thyroid Surgery 1 week on

I had the first operation of my life last week, and I had a partial Thryroidectomy. Thought I would do a post on my experience as a whole and my recovery after 1 week and then I plan to do another in a month or so. I am doing this as I found blogs like this extremely helpful to calm my nerves before surgery.

I had to have the surgery due to a 'nodule' found on the right side of my thyroid, I had known it was there for a long time but I dismissed it as I thought it was normal. you can see roughly how big it was in this photo.

I know the photo isn't great but I found myself getting conscious of it so any photos that showed the lump I would ask people to delete them. The thing that bothered me most was the way it moved as I swallowed as this made it look like an Adams' apple.

It was starting to become uncomfortable especially when I was laying down flat it felt as though my throat was closing.

As for my surgery the surgeons have all told me it went very well, I had some discomfort as I came round and felt as though I couldn't breathe or talk but my mum has told me since that apparently the drain that was in my neck had been pressing onto my vocal chords. The anesthetic made me sick and they gave me medication for this through the line in my hand which eased it massively but the worst part for me was they flushing the drain with saline, it felt like poison going into my arm, I don't know if this is a common feeling or not but it wasn't fun.

For anyone having this surgery I would say try and be calm about it for me and I'm guessing most young women having this surgery the scar is a huge factor in the anxiety about the procedure, I know I must have looked at 1000 different images of peoples scars trying to gage what mine would look like. I saw it for the first time yesterday and I am coming to terms with it. The scar isn't big, maybe an inch and a half long and it is very thin, its just the fact that it is in full show, I have gone out to buy scarves and clothes with a higher neck but I am really struggling with what to wear as I cant grab my favourite clothes from my wardrobe as they make me feel to on show and the weather is quite nice so a roll neck isn't an option.

I am going to put a picture of my scar in here as I think it will be helpful for people having this surgery.
This is after 1 week.

I am going to be using bio oil and I have started taking multi-vitamins as I have been told it speeds up the recovery of scar tissue so I would recommend this to people even though I haven't seen the results yet.

As for recovery time I felt like I was able to get up and dressed and eat normally after 24 hours but this will vary from person to person.

I have been extremely lucky and I have had great support from friends and family, I would advise someone be with you for the first couple of days to help wash your hair or move anything heavy for you. One silver lining is I have received some beautiful flowers and cards and presents :)

I wish anyone luck who might be having this surgery and would love to hear from you if you are and if you have any questions.

SkyDive!!!

Not that you can tell, but that's me up there!! Having the absolute time of my life!!
I did a skydive at Sibson Airfield in Peterborough to raise money for Greenwich and Bexley Hospice on Saturday and it was by far the best thing I have ever done.
I had a really lovely instructor called Mark and felt completely safe with him and would really recommend for people to use that Airfield if you are thinking of doing a skydive, there are cheaper places but you don't necessarily want a bargain when it comes to jumping out of a plane at 10,000 feet!!!

We had to leave home at 5am to get there for 7 and then it turned out the weather was too bad to jump at that time, I was doing the skydive as part of a record attempt so there was just over 100 people jumping on the same day but luckily I was in the d#second group so I eventually managed to jump at about 12 o'clock when the cloud started to clear.

I wasn't as nervous as I thought I would be, the only time I got really scared was as they opened the door of the plane, all I could see was layer of cloud as I jumped out which probably made it slightly easier as I couldn't see the ground but falling through that cloud into clear skies dotted with fluffy clouds was amazing!! once the parachute opened it was so beautiful being able to see the green fields, and my instructor was so much fun and once he asked if I was ready he started to do tricks with the parachute spiraling us round and swooping around the corridors of cloud it was so much fun!!!1 once I'd landed I literally wanted to get up and do it all again.

Definitely a bucket list experience that I can tick off!

One note I need to make is about the company the skydive was booked through called skyline, they were pretty badly organised they didn't tell the airfield that my sponsorship online covered the cost of the jump so I ended up paying on the day and the information they sent us said we could arrange the photographer on the day which they couldn't so I missed out on getting photographs of the free fall, so I wouldn't advise booking through that company if you are considering it. But I don't mind too much because I know I will be doing this again!!!

So huge thanks to Jane Borrett from the hospice and Sibson Airfield staff

Me in the sexiest hat going!!

Getting strapped in!!

My certificate

Doing parties on a budget... get crafty!!

This is going to be a bit of a random blog but thought it might help mums and dads who have childrens birthdays coming up but don't want to pay through the roof for entertainers and soft play centres.

My brother and sister always have their birthdays at home, it means that although they cant have the whole class round you can save huge amounts of money and you get to spend money on personal touches to suit your child's interests and the children get to go home with memories of a party unlike any other!

Last year my sister had a fairy party! we decorated the house with everything a fairy kingdom would have, toadstools rainbows fairy lights etc.

We painted a rainbow onto some lining paper which was basically free

We used some Christmas decorations of fairies and butterflies (we have an eclectic tree)

Homemade bunting (this takes a while but you could buy this to save time)

One of my favourite ways of decorating a space for any occasion is these paper pom poms me and my sister made these and it is really simple!!

1. Take around 8-10 sheets of tissue paper and place them in a pile (any colours you like)
2. Concertina the paper (fold it like a fan)
3. Tie in the middle with invisible cotton or anything you have around string or thread.
4. Cut the ends into a rounded or pointed edge
5. Carefully unfold each layer till you have a pom pom

This was our Fairy Throne just covered a childrens chair in some fabric and I made the flower design by cutting up carrier bags and sticking them to a piece of card the stuck a flower shape in the middle.

The colourful rabbits were left from Easter and we painted the toadstool on the same lining paper from before.

 Another bonus from throwing parties like this is that the kids can get involved too Holly helped with most of this decoration and found it nearly as much fun as the party itself!


It was her 7th Birthday this year and she decided on a Mermaid party, This was one of the easiest themes to come up with decorations because there are so many under the sea ideas that are really easy to achieve, always look on Pinterest as people post some great ideas on there!

My Mum was very adventurous this time and decided to make an under the sea caste cake herself complete with sugar icing mermaid and coral!! It looked amazing but we now know if you make a sugar icing mermaid don't leave it near a lamp :-s she looked slightly drunk by the time the party came!

There are some really good books on cake design  my mum found this idea in a book from the library, but I'm sure you could search online as well.

We had just moved house when we did this party so I painted a mermaid mural on the wall, obviously this isn't an option for everyone but you could make big posters instead?

Also some great games that the kids always love are pinatas, you can get ones in all shapes and sizes from ebay, We had a fish for this party and a unicorn at the fairy one. My brothers party is this weekend and he is having a games themed party we bought some angry bird re-usable stickers to decorate the walls and we are planning on decorating the cake with little figures of Mario and Luigi.

Hope this has given people a few ideas?

If you would like to see how I decorated and the food and cocktail I did at my quirky birthday at home with a few friends let me know??

Happy Holidays... Morocco

I have just got back from one of the most amazing holidays of my life! Me and my boyfriend went to Morocco.

I haven't had a holiday in nearly 2 years and really felt like I needed to get away, we booked it on www.lastminute.com which was actually really handy we only booked it about a month before we went which made it even more exciting as there wasn't very long to wait!
We stayed in a beach town called Agadir which was a bit of a compromise as Nelsen wanted a beachy holiday and I wanted something where we could do 'Activities'. So we stayed in Agadir but we went on a day trip to Marrakech which was crazy!!

Our hotel was absolutely beautiful!! it was called Blue sea La tivoli and was really clean and well looked after and the whole hotel had Moroccan design throughout. We ended it with a huge room with a whole wall of wardrobes and a kingsize bed and our own balcony.

The weather was really nice considering it is February, the first day was a bit windy and overcast but it really brightened up afterwards. Managed to not get burnt which is a bit of a miracle for me! I'm practically albino haha.

Was such a different culture to any holidays I've ever been on, although I had never been to any Arabic countries before. The people were all extremely welcoming but as a woman I did notice a difference in the way I was treated as a woman, never had anyone be rude but if I was walking with my boyfriend all conversation would be aimed at him.

But did meet some of the friendliest people I've ever met, even leaving shops and our hotel at the end of the holiday men would hug us and always tell us how welcome we were.

Marrakech was one of the most lively exciting places I've visited, everyone is loud and the place is bubbling with energy. Down the lanes I saw some beautiful crafts, bags, tagines, and trinkets, rugs, everything you could imagine!! In the main squared there were snake charmers and people with trained animals, we had a bit of a problem with one guy with a monkey, he came up to us and offered his hand to shake Nelsen's hand so as it is polite, he shook his hand and the guy had obviously trained the monkey to jump across at that point and then charged people for holding him. So I ended up shouting at him that we don't want this monkey!! haha a bit ridiculous really!. One thing I would warn people looking to travel to Marrakech, is be prepared to get approached constantly with people trying to sell to you! got a bit much at one point so we went and hid on a rooftop cafe for a few hours.

I'll finish this blog with some photos.

Looking forward to mine and Nelsens next holiday adventure, really want to see the world with him.

Here's to a new and happier year...

I am aware there has been a huge lack of blogging on my part recently, have really lacked any motivation over the last few months, I definitely need to give myself a huge kick up the bum to get up get out and do what makes me happy and to spend my time surrounded by people I love and doing things I enjoy.

So I have decided the turning of the new new year is the perfect time to do this.

I am going to  'Do what makes me happy'.

So I've decided to make 2014 a happy year full of excitement and adventures, I've signed up to do a skydive on the 14th of June for Greenwich and Bexley hospice.

It has been without a doubt the most difficult year of my life, growing up really is rubbish there's no one to sort all of your problems out for you, (although my mum is still doing a pretty good job!) but some things even she can't make better, I've never lost someone I love until this year and at nearly 23 years old I do count my blessings for that. The people at Greenwich and Bexley hospice do such great work I wan't to give something back, although I have raised money for them in the past I wanted to do more than a bike ride this time and try to raise as much money as possible.
If anyone would like to sponsor me please click this link below which... if I've done it correctly should take you to my just giving page.



I am also going to try to do other things that will give back to others and will be trying my best throughout 2014 and onwards to do at least one good thing for someone else every day and this is something I think everyone should try to do, don't focus on negatives (which I know is hard) but life could be so much nicer.. so the next time someone is struggling on the underground escalators with a big bag why not offer them a hand? you might just make their day a little easier.

I am also going to make more effort, make sure I see the people that live further away, actually save the money to go on a holiday this year even if a couple of months are a bit tight you don't make memories sat at home every night.

I'm wishing everyone a very happy new year and hope 2014 brings everyone lots of happiness.
Sorry for this slightly soppy blog but it was for my benefit as much as anyone else's now its written down it has to happen! :)

Happy new year guys and girls!!

Scarlett

How to do vintage on a budget, my new room...

As some of you may know, I recently moved house...
I was so excited to get the chance to decorate my own room, to my dad's (a painter and decorator's) dismay, I was looking for something that incorporated my style, which is a bit eclectic with some antiques and ditsy prints thrown in, but that wasn't too girly.
I decided on a light blue for the walls from Dulux, I think its lovely and fresh and has a calming effect, which I definitely need! And i'm interested to see how it looks with some winter accessories, like a tartan throw for the be and some more seasonal cushions.

I am a huge fan of bootfairs and charity shops to find things to decorate my room, like these suitcases i have stacked up to use as a stand for a television.

•  Top: Case bought for me by my dad full of old postcards some as old as 1900: around £5
• Middle: Case given to me by my grandparents: Free
• Bottom: Animal protection charity shop Pickford lane: £5

Think this has so much more character than a standard television stand you can pick old leather suitcase from all over the place normally between £3- £5 at bootfairs and charity shops, don't bother going to expensive 'vintage' and 'retro' shops they will rip you off! 

Another different idea, instead of using a bedside lamp I used a paper lampshade that I bought at a charity day for Greenwich and Bexley hospice and filled it with fairy lights. Fairy lights are honestly one of my most favorite things in the world I don't hang around for Christmas I love fairy lights all year long!

• Paper lampshade : £2
• Fairy lights: £1

Gives off a really warm glow in the evenings when you're all cosy in bed.

I really wanted to use my childhood dolls house and fill that with fairy lights but my room wasn't quite big enough in the end, but that's another idea!

Here are a few pictures of some other item's I've collected along the way all from charity shops and bootfairs or handouts! haha!

• Pink clock: £2
• Chinese tea set: £2
• Egg salt and pepper set: £1.50
• Glass bottle: gift 
• Bassett's tin: 50p

I use this old Allsorts tin to store all my nail varnishes. 

As you can see below I have a slight obsession with old camera's, I have got quite a collection going now! I love they way they look and I love imagining the people before me using them to photograph the people they loved and things they enjoyed. I have only tried to get one of them working which i know is lazy! but I just like looking at them.

My most recent and one of my most exciting purchases was this old sewing machine, and I am in love with it!

I have been searching for one for a while now but lots of them are a bit pricey! (my pricey probably isn't the same as most people's pricey) but when I saw this one and the guy said £5 I was so happy! Its not a brand I've ever seen but I think the colour is gorgeous and it's so 1950's .

The thing with bootfairs and charity shopping is that you can't expect to find exactly what you want straight away but if you stick with it your bound to find something eventually.

 My dad found these really cute postcards in frames outside someones house with a sign saying please take they are really funny they have all surf images on them.

I'm going to finish with a few other photo's of parts of my room I like, I'm working on a magazine wall in my bathroom which you can see below but I've had to stop because I've ran out of images I like so that's an on going project.





I hope this was interesting for some people and maybe gave some of you some idea's?  I think rooms look so much more personal when they are full of objects that reflect you an have stories behind them.
Happy bargain hunting!

By the way sorry if the images are a bit wonky I haven't got the hang of blogger yet it looks fine when i write it then when i publish it, it goes all wonky so Apologies!!