Thursday, June 04, 2015

The Girl Behind The Wafflemama


If I'm asked to describe myself I will tell you I'm a thirty something mum of two, I live in the midlands with my husband and we have three cats, I'll probably bring up cake at some point too.
There is a lot more to me though and one of the greatest things about blogging is reminding myself of those things and bringing them to the forefront again for a little limelight!

So this is me, the other side of Wafflemama...

I originally come from a small town near Brighton. I grew up shopping in Brighton, Crawley and on a good day, London too. I love Brighton, I truly think its my soulmate in geographic terms and I hope to be back there one day. I miss the shops, the sea and the atmosphere. I always felt like I fitted in, like I haven't quite anywhere else. I feel like a total oddball everywhere else, in Brighton it's OK to be the oddball, in fact I think its even celebrated a little. Heaven.

Growing up I've always loved art, photography and music. As much as my husband laughs at me for this, as a young teenager I was in a girl band called 'Back To Back', a duo with modest dreams of Eurovision. We were clad head to toe in Kappa (in a cool way I think not a chav way). Needless to say we never hit the big time and as I went on to college, my tastes changed and I became bassist and backing vocals in a ska/punk/metal/pop-hop band called FOM (Fear Of Music) which was just the most fun. We used to practise in Brighton studios (or my front room) and perform at parties and college battle of the bands. I was also part of an Afro Cuban percussion group with which I performed loads of gigs, festivals, seafront buskings, played for the Queen herself and even made a CD with lottery funding, such amazing times and memories.

It seems like a lifetime ago and I rarely even get to listen to music nowadays let alone play it. Occasionally my phone will play a Felix Baloy track on shuffle and I'm whisked away straight back there!
At college I got stuck into my artwork and although I was a good fine artist I got into digital work, with modern teachers it was so much easier to get a good grade and I became a Photoshop addict which I still am today. 
At University I majored in new media, though my biggest regret was not doing Graphic Design or Illustration, but that's hindsight for you, something I am coming across a lot lately

I met my husband at uni and we soon got stuck into work to pay for our own place. We couldn't be fussy about what we did, but it wasn't so bad looking back. Mr Waffle ended up in the banking industry, much to his horror as a fellow creative. We moved from down south back to the midlands (why oh why!?) where we have stayed since. Mr. W wasn't happy in work, but his job did mean learning lots about finance, business, managing staff and meant we could buy our house. I ended up firstly working for a  subscriptions company for some of my favourite magazines. I liked the staff, the job was OK and I felt like I was somewhere near working for a magazine which has always been my dream. I believe I was made to be some kind of picture or sound editor, I love it and I think I'm a natural, but it's another one of those things that isn't to be. 

In the midlands where we are, its predominantly agriculture for emplyment, so I bagged myself a job in that. I was working in admin and finally in the marketing department which meant driving lots of hire cars, making millions of calls and attending shows. I liked the fun parts but soon had to leave to have my number one boy, that was nearly four years ago. Since then I have been a busy parent and working in retail which is truly dire and absolutely not my calling on this earth, but it pays a bill or two and that's that really. Mr. W is now much happier in his mega technical business, you'll have to read more when I feature him in one of my 'What's your day job?' Posts!

I spend my spare time largely blogging now, for around 4 hours a day and looking to increase this when I can afford to have a little childcare. I want to make a living from my blog and it feels so good that apart from the bare bones of blogging, which for me is offloading my waffle and emptying my mind, I can also utilise all my experience eventually. I can feel the creative juices flowing which is a great feeling. I have dabbled in various crafts that had the potential of a little extra earnings but each was met with some wall of pointlessness, so they didn't continue. I love drawing so aside from the blog, illustrating, teaching myself adobe illustrator and similar software will be my sideline/hobby.  

I hope you have enjoyed getting to know me a little better,

Thanks for reading,

Wafflemama