That Time That Anne Frank Changed My Life
It was February half term and the rain was thudding against the front room window, I was whinging to my dad about how bored I was and my dad searched on Teletext for what was on the television that day then he said “watch this movie, I bet this girl wishes she was bored”. I sat in silence for the full 180 minutes watched the story of Anne Frank unravel, the whole story fascinated me and I decided that day that I wanted a diary like hers, her diary was called Kitty so I called mine Puppy and that was it… From that day on I pretty much had the same ritual every single evening. I would get my PJ’s on, brush my teeth, climb in to my bed and then I would put a pen to paper and put the world to rights…. My diary was my sounding board…. I used it to recap over each and every day and if my mum had pissed me off it would go in the diary, if my brother lied it would go in the diary, if my friends were being bitches it would go in the diary and I never had any secrets from my diary. Every time I would write my thoughts and feelings down I felt ready to face a new day, I guess I felt completely cleansed.
My diary has been there through some of my most memorable and hardest times growing up, the first day I got a boob and I thought I was dying, when I lost my Nana, the time I decided that I wanted to be a nun, the time I decided to run away from home (hide under my bed for 2 days), the first time I got my “girl time”, my first snog, my diary also absorbed my tears from my first breakup.
I loved keeping a diary and I kept one for years until my mum started reading it and started asking questions like “So… your planning on having sex next week then are you?” or… “So…. Your thinking of shaving your legs?” or “So you were drinking with your friends last week?” It ended up getting me in more trouble than it was worth so I put my diary away and decided to head towards womanhood alone.
I began keeping a diary again in my 20’s and although I didn’t write in it every day it was great to vent to when I had a shit day at work or when a friend had stolen a boyfriend.
So here I am now at 20 (plus 10) years and after what started as a hobby and something I enjoyed doing on the side has now become my job and I am so happy. After over 4 years of studying to be an accountant, last month I decided that I wasn’t going to go back to work after my maternity leave and I handed my notice in and I am now a fully-fledged mummy blogger and I have also created the UK’s fastest growing Baby, Toddler and Pre-school Directory which is pretty cool.
I have had a lot of support from friends and family about my new venture which is great and it makes me feel confident with the decision I have made. I have had a lot of people saying “ohhhh your so lucky not working” etc. Perhaps people think being a mummy blogger and having a website doesn’t really require a lot of work but let me tell you I am working my ass off at least 40 hours a week. I am so lucky to have my mother-in-law who has George on a Tuesday morning and a Wednesday so that I can focus on writing (and yes today is Wednesday hence the post). The difficult thing with me is … I don’t know when I am going to be in the mood to write it just kind of happens, I can be waiting for a dentist appointment or driving in the car…(I pull over by the way) and more often than not my writing and ideas come to me in the early hours of the morning.
I can understand people thinking working from home is easy and if someone told me a year ago that I would be working from home, I would have rubbed my hands together and said “bloody great”, I would have pictured myself with my feet up on the desk, filing my nails and having no boss but “Working for myself” on my own website is actually completely different to how I imagined. There is never enough time in the day, I often work in the evenings and whenever I can and I am pretty much on call all day and every day. When I do get a minute to myself I opt to work instead of tidy which I am sure must annoy Danny. I have blog ideas and reviews coming out of my arse but no time to complete them. When I was thinking about the website and the directory I get so excited thinking about all the things I want to write about… I am trying to make sure that I am making enough money from my blogs, my reviews and the directory to have a life too.
So anyway… I have actually forgotten the point of this post but I guess it is just an update on my career and where I am up to. I now work from home and enjoy my job so big thumbs up, I am also currently eating and drinking at my desk and I am still in my dressing gown at 2pm in the afternoon so… I think that deserves a fist pump.
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Carla is the founder of MyBump2Baby. Carla has a huge passion for linking together small businesses and growing families. Carla’s humorous, non-filtered honesty has won the hearts of thousands of parents throughout the UK.
She has previously written for the Metro and made appearances on BBC News, BBC 5 live, LBC etc. Carla is a finalist for Blogger of the Year award with Simply Ladies inc. Carla is also the host of the popular Fifty Shades of Motherhood podcast and The MyBump2Baby Expert podcast.
Hello, Awesome page. I want to see a lot more of your suff.
What an amazing blog Carla I did read your diary your most inner thoughts it was
the only way I could find out what was happening in your world .
So proud of you Carla you were made to be a blogger
Signed your Mum xxxx