Picture of tulips against blue background

By: welliesontheschoolrun July 12, 2018August 3, 2018 Lifestyle, Love, Reflections, Self Improvement, UncategorizedCreativity, Featured, Happiness, Health, Mental Attitude, Mental Health, Quotes, Self Discovery, Thoughts, Writing9 Comments

Lighting Candles and Other Notes on Happiness

Lately I seem to have so much to say that I don’t even know where to start writing it. Over the last year I have absorbed such a lot of information from reading, podcasts and just living that I really want to share. Some of this is on health, some on happiness, some on self-improvement…

The North Coast 500, Also Known As Home

There is a road I see from the front door of my home in Caithness that forms part of the North Coast 500. As kids, we knew it better as the road ‘up west’, a passage imbued with the promise of beaches, picnics and sand between our toes. These days, the route has a new title…

By: welliesontheschoolrun April 9, 2018August 1, 2018 Lifestyle, Reflections, Social Media, Uncategorized, Writing and BloggingBeliefs, Featured, Kindness, Opinions, Quotes3 Comments

Opinions, Beliefs and Social Media – Maybe We Should All Just Agree to Disagree

One of the reasons I stopped spending so much time on Facebook was due to the amount of online ‘arguing’. For a while there, it seemed like conflict was the order of the day. It was particularly noticeable around big issues like the refugee crisis, Brexit and the Scottish Referendum. But in general, arguments could…

By: welliesontheschoolrun March 22, 2018May 30, 2019 Health & Lifestyle, UncategorizedAutoimmune Disease, Autoimmune Disease Awareness Month, Autoimmune Illness, Chronic Illness, Chronic Pain, Featured, Hashimotos, Lifestyle, Living Well, Living with Chronic Illness, Thyroid Disease, Underactive Thyroid12 Comments

What Autoimmune Illness Really Feels Like

As March is Autoimmune Disease Awareness Month, I wanted to share my own experience of living with an autoimmune condition. As autoimmune conditions – an immune response which causes the body to attack itself – are by their nature often invisible, they can lead to misunderstanding, misconception, and sometimes disbelief. Many sufferers are confronted with the notion that their health complaints are somehow…

By: welliesontheschoolrun February 28, 2018August 1, 2018 Family, Love, North Coast 500, Reflections, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, Travel, UncategorizedBeach, Featured, Photography, Roadtrip, Slow Living, Sunday Well Spent7 Comments

A Sunday Well Spent

Last Sunday we took a trip ‘up west’ to enjoy some unseasonably sunny February weather and sample some of the best beaches the North of Scotland has to offer. We are fortunate where we live to be able to reach something akin to a wilderness within a half hour or so of our front door. The…

By: welliesontheschoolrun July 20, 2017August 1, 2018 Family, Photography, Scotland, Travel, UncategorizedBeach holiday, Campervan Travel, Family Travel, Featured, Outer Hebrides15 Comments

Ten Things to do on a Family Holiday to the Outer Hebrides

Having just returned from a wonderful campervan trip to the Outer Hebrides, I honestly can’t think of many places I could recommend more wholeheartedly for a family holiday. With mile upon mile of white sandy beaches, scenery to die for, and history seeping from every single island, this idyllic setting would make for a fantastic…

By: welliesontheschoolrun June 21, 2017August 1, 2018 Books, Family, Health & Lifestyle, Home, Kids, Lifestyle, Love, Parenting, UncategorizedBook Reviews, Featured, Mindful Living, Minimalism, Present Over Perfect, Reading, Self Help38 Comments

Saying No to Perfect

Last week I picked up a book called ‘Present Over Perfect’ from my local library and read it in the space of one weekend. I can’t remember the last time I did this – but something about this particular book resonated with me deeply, and brought to the surface a lot of things I have…

By: welliesontheschoolrun April 26, 2017August 1, 2018 North Coast 500, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, Travel, UncategorizedFeatured, Harry Potter, Movies, Photography8 Comments

12 Reasons to Plan a Scottish Road Trip

If you follow my blog regularly, you’ll know that I’m Scottish, and that our little family spends a lot of time touring our lovely country in our VW campervan. Few things make me happier than spending time enjoying our beautiful landscape and encouraging others to do likewise, and this Easter we completed an epic, 1100 mile west-of-Scotland road trip…

Life Lessons in Lockdown, Introversion and Dreams of Springtime

By: welliesontheschoolrun March 31, 2020March 31, 2020

Caithness, Health & Lifestyle, Inspired Living, Parenting, Reflections, UncategorizedCoronavirus, Covid-19, Family, Home, Introvert, Life, Motherhood, Scottish Writers8 Comments

In the week or so since I last wrote the world has shifted once more, with another layer of the UK’s Covid-19 response unfurling towards ‘lockdown.’ Citizens are restricted to a narrow range of activities, with outings from the home permissible only for work, obtaining food or medicines, helping the vulnerable or partaking in one…

Picture of tabletop scene with painting, drawing and pens

Preparing for Homeschool – Ideas for Routines and Activities

By: welliesontheschoolrun March 22, 2020March 22, 2020

Family, Parenting, UncategorizedCoronavirus, Covid-19, Homeschool, Kids, MotherhoodLeave a Comment

When I need to occupy my mind (and who doesn’t right now?) I tend to make lists, make plans, and do what I can to channel my anxiety into action. This weekend, I’ve been using some of the extra time at home to think about plans for homeschooling my children – in fact, I’m feeling…

On Anxiety, Covid-19 and Kindness

By: welliesontheschoolrun March 19, 2020March 19, 2020

Caithness, Health & Lifestyle, Reflections, UncategorizedAnxiety, Coronavirus, Covid-19, Mental Health, Scottish Highlands10 Comments

In the week since I last wrote, the world seems to have spun completely on its axis. The Covid-19 virus has the UK in its grip, a pandemic that threatens not just our wellbeing, but the very essence of how we live. All around us, the social structures that anchor us to the world are…

The March Moon, Cold Comfort and Being Astonished by the World

By: welliesontheschoolrun March 12, 2020

Caithness, Health & Lifestyle, Reflections, UncategorizedAnxiety, Depression, Home, Mental Attitude, Mental Health, Scotland, Scottish Highlands, Scottish Travel, Scottish Writers, Sea Swimming5 Comments

This week, I have found myself reflecting on the changing seasons as winter slowly turns to spring, and then back again, in the game of back and forth that so often characterises March in Caithness. Here and there, primroses peek out in cheerful colours, while on verges, daffodils open up like yellow, honeyed eyes. In…

Reading Lately – Looking for Alaska, A Monster Calls, The Wisdom of Wolves & Red, White and Royal Blue

By: welliesontheschoolrun March 4, 2020March 5, 2020

Books, Reading, UncategorizedBook Reviews, Books Change Lives, Books to Read, World Book Day2 Comments

Happy World Book Day book fans! And what better excuse to share my latest reading round up? A stormy month of weather here in Caithness meant that February was a perfect month for reading, and I spent many a wintry evening curled up with my nose in a library book (in truth, my very favourite…

Picture of Vitality Parkrun sign at Caithness Parkrun

Reaching My 50th Parkrun Milestone – And Why I’ll Never Be A ‘Proper’ Runner

By: welliesontheschoolrun February 27, 2020February 27, 2020

Caithness, Family, Health & Lifestyle, Inspired Living, UncategorizedInternational Women's Day, Mental Health, Parkrun, Parkrun UK, Running6 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, I reached my 50th Parkrun milestone – a feat I never would have imagined possible when I turned up at my first Parkrun event around eighteen months ago. Back on that day in late 2018, I was looking for ideas on family-friendly activities for a stint on BBC Radio Scotland,…

On Big Ideas and Creating a Community of Kindness

By: welliesontheschoolrun February 20, 2020February 20, 2020

Inspired Living, Lifestyle, Opinion, Parenting, UncategorizedInspiration, Inspiring quotes, Kindness, Life, Motherhood, Quotes4 Comments

It might surprise you to know that our household does not possess a dishwasher. About a year ago, our dishwasher broke, and we decided to find out whether we could get along without it for a while. Granted, there was also an element of laziness involved – ‘finding out whether we could get along without…

Six of the Best Book-to-Screen Love Stories for Valentine’s Day

By: welliesontheschoolrun February 13, 2020February 14, 2020

Books, Reading, UncategorizedBook Reviews, Books to Read, Films, Love, Movies, TV, Valentines Day

Amongst my favourite things in life are books, films and box sets. One of my other favourite things in life is love, and Valentine’s Day offers a perfect excuse to curl up with a romantic book, or persuade/force/cajole my husband into watching one of my favourite soppy films. Better still, both – with books about…

Picture of Gail at the John Lewis cafe, Edinburgh

The Lion King at the Edinburgh Playhouse and the Year of Experience

By: welliesontheschoolrun February 13, 2020February 13, 2020

Family, Lifestyle, Travel, UncategorizedEdinburgh, Inspiration, Places to Visit in Scotland, Reviews, Scotland, The Lion King, The Lion King Edinburgh Playhouse5 Comments

Years ago (MANY years ago…. 😉 ), in the days when I was a student living in Glasgow, my friend told me about the Lion King musical. She had just been to see it and couldn’t stop talking about how absolutely amazing it was. I was of course, envious, and also broke – not the…

Little Women, The Snow Queen, To Kill a Mockingbird, A Few Changes and Two Perfect Words: The End #LittleLoves

By: welliesontheschoolrun February 3, 2020February 7, 2020

Little Loves, UncategorizedAm Writing, Blogging, Books, Cooking, Lifestyle, Living Well, Mindful Living, Social Media, Writing Plans6 Comments

It’s been a while since I shared a Little Loves round up, having had a brief hiatus in December. With this in mind, some of my ‘loves’ span both December and January, so please forgive me if you see the odd glimpse of a Christmas tree, or some fairy lights, in here! It’s been a…

Wellies on the School Run

Lighting Candles and Other Notes on Happiness

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The North Coast 500, Also Known As Home

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What Autoimmune Illness Really Feels Like

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A Sunday Well Spent

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Ten Things to do on a Family Holiday to the Outer Hebrides

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Saying No to Perfect

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12 Reasons to Plan a Scottish Road Trip

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Life Lessons in Lockdown, Introversion and Dreams of Springtime

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Preparing for Homeschool – Ideas for Routines and Activities

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On Anxiety, Covid-19 and Kindness

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The March Moon, Cold Comfort and Being Astonished by the World

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Reading Lately – Looking for Alaska, A Monster Calls, The Wisdom of Wolves & Red, White and Royal Blue

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Reaching My 50th Parkrun Milestone – And Why I’ll Never Be A ‘Proper’ Runner

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On Big Ideas and Creating a Community of Kindness

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Six of the Best Book-to-Screen Love Stories for Valentine’s Day

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The Lion King at the Edinburgh Playhouse and the Year of Experience

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