First Day Nerves!

Hair washed, nails done, lunchbox assembled, pencils sharpened, school bag packed and I'm ready to go ...

Or am I? 

Actually, nothing to be nervous about at all. All very lovely people, slight information overload and the first day is done and dusted! 

The real work starts tomorrow, when the children return back to school. 

Back to the blogging ...

OK, so I haven't blogged for nearly a year now! What have I been doing with myself since my last post? Well, I have qualified as a teacher of English as a foreign language; I have moved house; I have volunteered at a local primary school which led onto a teaching assistant post in Year 6; I have been a English tutor to 5 kids ranging from the ages of 8-15; I have taught English to Romanian children as well as being an ESOL tutor to a group of adults for the local council!

Wow, put it in writing and it looks quite impressive! Now I can see why I haven't had time to blog for the past 10 months!

The question is then, why bother to start again ... four days before I start my SCITT (schools centred initial teacher training)? Am I completely mad? Yes, obviously!

My aim is to blog about my experiences on the SCITT Programme, with perhaps some notes and tips thrown in along the way. There will no doubt be some tears and tantrums, but all served with a pinch of humour sprinkled on top!

Wish me luck ...

Stella
x

Boots for the Mid-Lifers, Kinky or Otherwise!

To be honest, I can't believe that I have lasted this long with bare ankles: I haven't managed to bare my legs since our return from Costa Rica, because whatever you guys keep telling yourselves, this is not hot weather!! For the past year, we've been sweltering with daily temperatures of 37 degrees C, falling to a cooler 32 degrees in the evenings, so the legs and arms (and occasionally the tum when no-one was looking) were continuously on show. But no, since our return to beautiful Blighty mid-August, it's been jeggings and jeans every day, worn (usually) with my new flavours of the month, the wonderful  navy boat shoes from Vans that I bought in Seattle in the summer. 

Wish I'd bought the grey pair too!

Failing that, I can usually be seen sporting my cute and fruity Rocket Dog pumps that were a bargain in the sales of summer 2013.

Fancy and Fruity!

However, as we've all duly noted, autumn hit the streets of the UK this week, and as I tweeted yesterday on my way to college, the winter boots came out of hibernation! 

My Wonder-Woman boots, all aboard the 8.44 train to Waterloo!

Now, I absolutely lurrrvve wearing boots and I love me red Fly London boots more than anything else (apart from maybe chocolate ... and vodka ... and ... well you get the picture). I love these boots so much, that when we packed up in August 2013 to move to the tropics, whilst all my other boots were mercilessly culled and sent to the charity shops (slightly regretting that decision now!), I took these boots with me! Yes, I know, who the bloody hell would take a pair of leather boots to the tropics, let alone wear the damn things? Well, I did, and I'm so glad that I did. It was like being reunited with a long lost friend yesterday morning; I just put them on, zipped them up, set off for college and we spent the day like we had never been apart, comfortable in each others company. 

However, much as I love these beauties, a girl needs more than 1 pair of boots to see her through autumn and winter doesn't she? And so the quest begins - knee-highs or over-the-knee? Riding boots, ankle boots or Chelsea boots? Then there's the material to consider - leather, suede, patent or pony skin - and of course there's the all important colour to think about. Lordy! It's enough to make your head spin. 

So what style to choose when in your heart you are still a girl, but in your head you are trying to be a grown-up? Well, I quite fancy a pair of black & tan riding boots, but I think their trendsetting days are over for now and the look is so not me - yes, I'm well aware that I live in Surrey and can be seen most weekday mornings doing the school run wearing my skinny jeans, but still, it's not a look that I feel particularly suited to.

In my pre-CR days, I used to possess a pair of black patent knee-highs. Very cool! The problem was, was that each time I wore them, I felt that I had to wear black and white clothes and oodles of mascara, aka Twiggy in the 1960's!

Over the years, I have had the pleasure of wearing red ankle booties, navy suede pixie boots, brown knee-highs, purple shoe-boots, black riding boots, red Hunters (and subsequently blue then green). In fact, you name the boot and I have probably worn a pair. But what to buy this year, that is the all important question!

Now, I am ashamed to admit to you that I do have a slight confession to make. My red Fly London boots are no longer the only boots that I possess. I have sneakily purchased the obligatory Ugg replicas; a nice, cheap chocolate brown pair from the kids section in Costco (the bonus of having a Size 3 shoe is that I can usually buy grown-up styles in the more affordable girls footwear department!). I have also overcome my phobia and ventured into relatively unknown territory and snapped up a pair of animal print shoe boots from ... Clarks!! Yes, Clarks! It has taken me exactly 30 years to return to this store as I was scarred for life at a local branch at the tender age of 13 ... but I think I'll save that story for another day! 

Animal Print from Clarks!

Much as I love my new purchase, and the awful blisters that they gave me on the first day of wearing them (stupidly, I wore them for the first time for a day at the shops - what was I thinking??? Told you, 40 something girl, trying to grow-up). Anyway, still love them, but they are not exactly suitable for a walk into town in the rain are they?

So my question to you is ... what boots do you 40 something girls have your eyes on this autumn? Let me know in the comments box.

Love

Stella

x

A new blog!

So here we go! My first words on my new blog. 

The reason? 

Well, why not? 

I thoroughly enjoyed writing Letters from Coco, my blog about our life in Costa Rica: the trials and tribulations of living not only in another country, but another continent; trying to learn a new language (fairly unsuccessfully in my case, I might add); attempting to photograph the beautiful scenery and wildlife: basically enjoying life on the beach and in the sun ... the continuous heat and blistering sunshine(not that I am trying to make you jealous, honest!) is all but a dim and distant memory now that October and autumn has kicked in (go on, bring out the violins!). 

But all good things come to an end, and for one reason or another, myself, Mr C and the kids find ourselves back in Blighty; leafy Surrey to be exact and ready to embark on the next adventure of our life. 

To be honest, I am not entirely sure what the main focus of this blog will be at the moment! Bit of a concern at this late stage, don't you think? But what I can tell you is that this blog will be about me, a forty-something girl, attempting to become a grown-up! I may well include some fashion posts for the over 40's as I am trying so hard to stop dressing like a scruffy student and dress a little more ... stylish, is that the word I'm looking for? Not sure really. I might throw in the odd book or film review(well my thoughts on them at least) and I shall probably include a recipe or two. Oh, and of course there will be rantings about the husband and kids no doubt! But generally, 'castle and the bruce' will be a bit about my life, loves and hopefully a few laughs along the way. 

To kick off then, here are a few of my favourite photos from the last year, living in Costa Rica! I just love the colours of the blossoms against the intense blue skies. 

Our local beach in Playa Hermosa 

The blossoms in February

Blossoms on Playa Hermosa beach

I hope to see you soon as I would really like it if you came along for the ride.

Love
Stella
xx