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Embarking on a Magical Journey: Starting Your Witchcraft Journey

In a world filled with technology and fast-paced living, many individuals are seeking solace and connection with nature, spirituality, and the mystical arts. Witchcraft, an ancient practice rooted in nature and energy manipulation, has gained popularity as a means to explore one’s spirituality and tap into their innate power. If you find yourself drawn to the mystical and are ready to embark on a…

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Romanticising my Life

We had a terrible first few weeks of 2022! However, the last few weeks I have felt such a shift in my mood and a lady I follow on TikTok hit the nail on the head, I’ve been romanticising my life. Just my general day to day life. Doing the videos has made me really made me review and look at each day in a totally different way! If you don’t want to put videos on TikTok then why not take pictures…

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Why I love my thrifty lifestyle!

Mum “Lets nip into this charity shop”. Me “No way”. That was me maybe 23 years ago as a teenager when charity shops weren’t cool (not to teenage me anyway), I wouldn’t even stand outside! Little did I know what treasures were inside! It wasn’t until I moved to London in 2012 when I discovered how fantastic charity shops could be. My housemate invited me to Brick Lane one Sunday and I bagged…

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Diary of a Girl Up North: Appreciate the small things!

This week has been super full on but I still got to visit some fab local businesses! Had a beautiful breakfast at the YMCA’s Bradbury Cafe! Definitely worth a visit if you’re nearby! it was delicious and really reasonably priced too at £3.50! I also visited the RSPCA in Hull and met some gorgeous furry creatures. Those of you who know me know I adore animals as a kid our house was like a zoo…

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Diary of a Girl Up North: Thrifty Shopping!

This week I’ve really been enjoying finding amazing thrifty finds in our local charity shops. If you’d have asked me as a kid years ago to go into a charity shop I’d have been mortified! But I LOVE how times have changed and I would say the majority of my wardrobe has been thrifted. I used to just buy whatever I saw in charity shops and ended up with loads of clothes that I maybe wore once and…

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Diary of a Girl Up North Entry 1:

Been feeling a little run down this week and ending it full of cold! So feeling a little sorry for myself whilst curled up on my sofa with a cuppa writing this post. Autumn and Winter are actually my favourite time of the year, the leaves on the trees turning beautiful browns and oranges, the cold, crisp weather setting in, Halloween movies and then Christmas movies! Warm cups of cocoa and cosy…

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Cakes, Manifestation and Sunflowers...a week in my world!

Cakes, Manifestation and Sunflowers…a week in my world!

So this week was a short week as we had the bank holiday on Monday. But I’ve managed to cram a lot in. I have been in the office on Hull this week. Been ensuring I get outdoors on my lunch break. Makes such a difference to my mental health. One lunch break I got my free coffee from Cafe Nero, I took my lunch and sat near Queens Gardens. It was a beautiful. So relaxing. I have really been…

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Birthdays, Books & Thrifty Finds

Birthdays, Books & Thrifty Finds

Wow what a week! It was Mr Steels birthday this week so I took two days off work to celebrate with him. We went to our favourite place Browns Cafe the seafront for a birthday brekkie our first time in there since lockdown and it was delicious! So nice to be out and about again supporting local businesses and seeing many friendly faces. We had a stroll down the seafront to one of our favourite…

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My name is Gemma and I am a people pleaser. There I said it! I recently did a workshop with Hannah Schkaapens in her membership programme The Connection Method with guest speaker Hannah Manning around limiting beliefs. It’s amazing how things snowball and after the training I got chatting to Hannah M following on from a story she’d posted on her Instagram about surrounding yourself with…

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Lockdown Life, Round 3!

Lockdown Life, Round 3!

Wow this third lockdown is kicking my butt and after speaking to other people I don’t think I am the only one. I am able to work from home, and I feel super lucky that I can do this. John is still at work as he’s a key worker and then on his days off he’s homeschooling the kids, which I must say he’s doing a fine job of! But lockdown three is a lot more full-on that the previous lockdowns, I feel…

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Rituals

This week I have been reminiscing with a friend about some of the things we used to get up to in London when I lived there five years ago. We had some amazing times, gallery openings, parties, shopping in Oxford Street, climbing Big Ben, haunted ghost tours, Jack the Ripper tours, partying with the New Zealand All Blacks, spending £45 on three shots in Mahiki, the charity shop hauls, Jam at The…

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Meet the Local: Vince Weavers

Meet the Local: Vince Weavers

Today we meet Vince Weavers, local paddleboard enthusiast and co-founder of EBB & FLO Living.

Tell me a little bit about yourself?  Hi I’m Vince, 42 years old, husband to Toni, Stepdad to Luca (12) and Dad to Myles (8). I am the co-founder of EBB & FLO Living along with my wife Toni. I work as a Project Manager for Orsted, global offshore wind leaders. I am a qualified paddleboard instructor,…

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End of Year Goals Wow I can't believe it's Autumn, how quickly has this year gone! 2020 has been a strange year for us all, COVID-19 brought the country to a standstill and it has effected people in so many different ways.

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Local Artist: Ruth Wilde Ruth Wilde is a local artist. Having gained a degree in Fine Arts where she mainly worked in painting and sculpture Ruth has been focusing more recently on ceramics.

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The Girl Up North Blog started in 2017 whilst living in Manchester. I had been suffering with anxiety for years, working in the fast paced world of recruitment in the tech industry my anxiety was at an all time high. After attending lots of events I met a number of people who were writing blogs and I thought, maybe I should give it a go I loved to write and it makes me feel relaxed so worth a try!

I wasn’t really sure where to start, or what I’d even write about. I’d heard of WordPress and knew a lot of people used that as a place to write blogs so I set up adn account and just like that the Girl Up North Blog was born.

It originally started out as a bit of an online journal, writing about what I’d been up to in Manchester, the events I was attending, I even wrote about make-up (not sure why I’m not a make-up crazy kind of person). But really the blog was just a way of doing something I enjoyed.

The first time I realised that people actually read it was when I was at a meeting for a tech business in Manchester, the Director popped his head round the door of the meeting and told me he’d read one of my posts about “not giving a f*ck” (check out Sarah Knight she’s awesome) and he’d really enjoyed it. It made me realise what a platform blogging can be.

In 2018 I was made redundant and I decided whilst I was looking for a new role I’d stay with my parents in Scotter. It was during this time I met my partner, John and decided to move in with him back in my hometown of Lincolnshire. What really stood out to me when I moved back was how much the area had changed since moving away 8 years ago. So many thriving, independent businesses had popped up and the support they all gave each other blew me away.

That’s what inspired me to pick the blog back up again and dedicate it to promoting how wonderful the area of Lincolnshire is.

We see so many negatives online and in the news, I wanted the blog to be a positive space out about what a fantastic place we live in. It’s not a buisiness blog, although I love to support local, it’s also about the people who live here, the fabulous outdoor spaces we have and all the amazing things that happen here.

I am often asked if I get paid for what I write, the answer is no I don’t. I love to write and if I can help a local business owner, or bring awareness to an event that is going on then I am more than happy to do it. Now and then I’ll be gifted a product or an experience, however I do always state if something has been gifted to me and I will always write honestly about anythign I am sent.

I did consider doing paid advertising, or paid Instagram posts but that’s not why I started the blog, I started it for me, for my mental health and if I can help people along the way then that is great.

If you’d like to have a chat with me about featuring on the blog, or have any ideas for collaborations please give me a shout I am always open to chatting!

Girl Up North Blog, The Beginning The Girl Up North Blog started in 2017 whilst living in Manchester. I had been suffering with anxiety for years, working in the fast paced world of recruitment in the tech industry my anxiety was at an all time high.

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Meet the Business: Dudley & Roo

Meet the Business: Dudley & Roo

Today we meet Chloe from Dudley & Roo:

Tell me a little bit about you and your business? Hello, I’m Chloe; I’m the one behind Dudley & Roo! I make sterling silver jewellery, non-precious metal jewellery and personalised gifts using the hand stamping technique. Personalised jewellery is my speciality.

Why did you decide to start your own business? My little velcro baby, Hector, arrived in 2015. He…

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[GIFTED] The Variety Girls, Tracy Baines (spoilers)

[GIFTED] The Variety Girls, Tracy Baines (spoilers)

*** Spoiler Alert ***

I love to read and was delighted when I received a message from Tracy to say she was sending me a copy of her book The Variety Girls as I’d recently added it to my Goodreads “to read” list.

The Variety Girls is based just before the Second World War and is about Jessie Delany a young aspiring starlet who feels claustrophobic whilst living with her overbaring Aunt Iris with…