What Happened in July & August

I never wrote my “what happened in July” blog post because I was taking a work break (as you shall read about). So here’s what happened in July and August!

Work break and no social media

The only breaks I’ve taken from work this year have been when I’m in hospital so I don’t think that really counts. I did go to LA for 2 weeks but I was still working and on social media. In July last year Dan & I went on holiday to Greece and I spent a week without my phone. It was glorious!

But so far this year Dan & I haven’t had a chance to go on holiday (although we’re going to Madrid next week yay!). But being in recovery for most of this year has not stopped me from being a workaholic and social media addict. So we’d just moved out of London (temporarily) and Dan was about to start his new job so was off work for a bit. Perfect timing for a break! We went to Manchester for a friend’s wedding and then stayed in my parents house having a bit of a staycation together whilst I was off social media.

It wasn’t as extreme as last year in Greece when I completely turned off my phone. I still used the internet I just didn’t check emails or social media. So I could still text/Whatsapp/make phone calls but no Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube etc. I put all the apps I couldn’t use in a folder called DO NOT OPEN and turned off all notifications. And you know what? It was actually so easy! I would highly recommend it. To be honest, I might do it more often. Every now and then have the odd day off social media. What’s the worst that can happen?

Summer in the City!

SitC came right after my social media break so it was like going from 0 to 100. SitC is a big YouTube convention in London and it was my first proper public appearance, shall we say, this year since all my health stuff. I spoke on a whole bunch of panels about body confidence, podcasts, collaboration, business and sex education. I love talking on panels. And any free time I had I spent at my merch stand meeting viewers and that was amazing. It was so good to meet and chat with so many of you. Also, for those who weren’t there my new merch is now available online!

I was on TV!

I was invited to go on Lorraine to talk about living with a stoma. It was such an amazing experience and Christine, who interviewed me, was so lovely on and off screen. The response to my appearance has been incredible. Thank you all so much for the love and kindness and it’s so great to have ostomies represented on live national TV!

Leaving London and completion notice!

Someone tweeted me a while ago saying something like ‘I can’t wait for Hannah’s next monthly round up blog to find out if she’s moved house yet!’ This made me laugh, I love that it’s become such a saga. Every blog post… we haven’t moved yet. However, I finally have some news! At the end of July we moved out of the flat I was renting in London and moved into Dan’s dad’s house in Northampton. And now at the end of August I have finally received my completion notice! We will be moving on 6th September so get ready for lots of moving house content! I CANNOT BELIEVE IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING!

Other bits

A lot actually happened but I don’t want to make this blog post too long. I went to my first ever Secret Cinema for Rosianna’s birthday and it was incredible! It was Romeo + Juliet and I was a Capulet and everyone else in our group were Montagues. It was like a festival, just so much fun and if I’m a fan of the next film Secret Cinema do I’ll definitely be there! Also, just last weekend we had a big Witton family weekend away. I drew a shitty family tree which I posted on Twitter to show everyone who would be there PLUS all the grandchildren brought there boyfriends. My family does organised fun very well so there were table tennis and poker tournaments and lots of other games and good food. Seriously love my family.

So next month I can say with certainty that I will have moved house! How was your summer? Did you go away? Are you back to work/school/uni soon? And I hope you have a great September!