Bonny Snowdon 00:06
Hello, I'm Bonny Snowdon, ex-corporate person, a mother turned successful artist entrepreneur. It wasn't that long ago though that I lacked the confidence, vision and support network to focus on growing my dream business. Fast forward past many life curveballs, waves of self-doubt and so many lessons learned and you'll see Ignite, my thriving online colour pencil artists community, a community that changes members' lives for the better and gives me freedom to live abundantly whilst doing what I love and spending quality time with my beloved family and dogs, all whilst creating my best artwork with coloured pencils, and mentoring others to do the same. But this life wasn't always how it was for me, it used to only exist in my imagination. I've created the It's a Bonny Old Life podcast to help increase people's confidence, share mine and my community's experience and hope through fascinating personal stories, champion the other amazing humans in my personal, professional and membership community, and create another channel through which I can support others to realize their dreams. If you're a passionate coloured pencil artist, or an aspiring one who's looking to create their best work, and a joyful life you love, you're in the right place. Grab a cuppa and a custard cream, let's get cracking.
This week it's going to be a shorter podcast, and me waffling on again for a few minutes. I've got, the naughty puppy in the studio with me. The big dogs, the three, Vinny, Snipper and Nelly have all had a trip to the vet's today an impromptu trip to the vet's. And, because what happened was, I had to nip out. So, basically, actually, I was gonna do a podcast on time, but actually what I want to do is a podcast on how my mindset has changed so much that the events of today have left me in a place where actually I'm fine and I'm going to be starting drawing and I haven't just written the whole day off.
So it all started really on Thursday. DPD was supposed to be dropping a package off for me. So, I've bought a new Mac. The Mac I have in the studio is quite old. I got it in 2017. And, because I've got somebody else coming to work with me in November, I felt we needed a new workstation. I didn't really want a laptop, so I've bought a new studio Mac. So DPD came on Thursday to drop it off and I wasn't in because the dog had eaten through the wifi cable. And I was in Ripon in the rain trying to find - on Market Day - trying to find a new wifi cable. So DPD didn't drop it off. And what DPD used to do is they used to redeliver. They used to, you know, give you an alternative date and they'd come and deliver it. But no, they don't do that anymore. They drop it off somewhere else and you've got to go and collect it. So today I had it in my diary. Okay, so I've got, you know, half an hour I'm gonna nip out, go and collect it.
Off I went onto Ripon Market Square, the parking angels gave me a parking spot right outside the shop where it was and I nipped in. I hadn't forgotten my passport. I got the QR code already. Off we were, taking the box back out into the car, thinking this is brilliant. Home within 25 minutes. I opened the door and there is just ripped-up parcels everywhere. And, my dogs are really good. They don't rip anything up. They don't rip anything up. And what happened was some lovely person had sent me a parcel. Some lovely person had sent me a card telling me how much they loved my podcast. And just the most lovely, lovely, lovely message. I mean, you know, when you read it and you just think, oh gosh, this is just such the loveliest message. There's this lovely, lovely, lovely message, a super card, I mean it, it's absolutely gorgeous and, and really heartwarming. And, they'd also sent me a box of praline chocolates and, and some other chocolate as a little treat for me, which is, which is lovely. I am very partial to chocolate. I shouldn't eat it, but I'm very partial to it. Anyway, it had been delivered when I was out, in the 25 minutes that I was out, it had been delivered and, and the dogs had eaten it. The whole box. The dogs had eaten the whole box.
So I was pretty certain that the, the main culprit was Slipper because she's a proper foodie. You stop sniffing. I've got the dog on my knee now and - the good dog, the one that hasn't eaten the chocolates! And anyway, so I phoned the vet's because I never liked to take a risk with my dogs. So, you know, they probably would've been absolutely fine. But anyway, so phone the vet. "I think we'll have all three of them please". So, I had to then take all three dogs in the car. So they thought they were going on a road trip. Oh my goodness, they were so happy. Their tails were wagging, all their leads on and Slipper's in the boot, and Nelly and Vinnie are in the backseat and it's all, you know, very exciting. And, we walk into the vet's and there are loads of people there. Nelly and Slipper are, straightaway, paws up on the counter saying hello to everybody and trying to get the treats and it's all very exciting. Anyway, so they were taken away one by one to a room to be made to be sick. I came home for sort of like about an hour, got a phone call to say, yeah, they'd all been sick. Slipper and Nelly had actually eaten chocolate and the wrappers! Poor Vinnie hadn't eaten anything!
Anyway, so I've, I've just been to pick them up and, oh my goodness, they are so subdued. I think they all need Bloody Marys. They all look like they've been out on the, on the tiles and they've got the most horrific hangovers. Poor Vinnie is looking like the saddest thing. I've put him on the settee and he's got all of his cushions around him and he's got a cover over it. Nelly's eaten her food with all of the charcoal in it, and of course, she's got charcoal all over her face and all over the kitchen floor, which has all been cleaned today. So that's really lovely! And Slipper's refusing to eat anything that looks black and disgusting and is just sulking on the chair.
Now, when this happened this afternoon, I could have basically lost it. I could have just gone, you know what, "what on earth is going on? This is, you know, this all culminated from the DPD man not dropping off my thing. Oh my goodness, I'm so cross with DPD, you know, I'm so cross that I left the house. I'm so cross with, you know, Postman for posting something through the door". And actually, I've just got in the car, I've taken them, I had a laugh with the nurses and the vet, come back again, sat and had a cup of tea and a play with the puppy, been out and picked them up again and sort of had all of the sick rags all over the car just in case they were sick even more. But I haven't- Oh, don't do that! We're recording! You can't touch that! But I haven't, I'm absolutely fine. I'm, I'm pretty tired, I have to say. And I'm, I'm a bit of a sweaty mess, but I'm absolutely fine.
Now, if this had happened, I don't know, three years ago, four years ago, I think I would be in a pretty crap mood by now. I think I'd probably gone to bed! Oh, and to make matters worse, when I was on the phone to the vet, I put the dryer on pause so I could hear what they were saying. The dryer has got my bedding in it, so my bedding hasn't dried. So I've got no bedding tonight! So, I'm gonna have to sleep with, with no bedding on my bed! But do you know what, in the whole scheme of things, it doesn't matter because my dogs are okay, you know, nobody's sort of got injured or, you know, God forbid anything else. Everything is fine. I've had a pretty stressful, crappy day, but I haven't, I'm not snapping at people, I'm not shouting at my son. I'm not getting angry. I'm just like, you know what? It's happened, deal with it. We'll sort it. The insurance will pay. Hopefully, if they don't, I'll just pay it. You know, what's the worst that can happen? At least my dogs are okay. The floor, which was beautifully clean, has now got drips of charcoal all over it. Does it really matter? No. Could I get really cross? Well, what's the point?
So, you know, what I'm trying to say is I've worked on myself so much these last sort of three years that now when things really do upset or, not upset, but when things really do happen like this, where it's just like total and utter chaos, total and utter chaos, actually, it's okay. It's fine. And everything's fine. And I'm about to sit down and I'm about, about to draw the fourth leg of a horse and, and I'm gonna have a really lovely evening drawing and having a cup of tea and, and everything's fine. I am gonna have to try and get the dogs to eat charcoal again later, but if they don't eat it, so what? And, I think sometimes we're sent lessons to test us to see if we've actually learned those lessons. And I really do think I've learned my lesson in keeping it cool and not getting stressed and angry about stuff because, in the whole scheme of things, you know, life's stressful and I want to spend my evening having a lovely time drawing. I don't want to spend my evening stomping around the house getting cross.
Anyway, so short and sweet, basically. Yeah, I was gonna talk about time, but it ended up being me talking about charcoal, dogs being sick and lovely chocolate, which I'm sure was lovely, but I didn't get to have any of it! I think there's a note there as well. You know, if you're sending a present to somebody who you know has got dogs, don't send chocolate because, you know, oh my goodness. It's just one of those things. I got a picture of the dogs in the car, and sent it to my children. "We're having a road trip to the vets. They've all had chocolate", and they're like, "oh no!"
So anyway, that's that. It's all, it's all done. Understood. They're all okay. They're all fast asleep in the other room looking terribly jaded. And I'm just sitting here with a puppy who's trying to eat the microphone. We've, I've got like one of those dead, do they call 'em dead cats, dead rabbits, I dunno, on the microphone thing. Those fluffy things, she's trying to eat that. But she's being very sweet and good, aren't you? Hey, you're being very sweet and good! So, there we go. So short and sweet for me today, you know, I think I'll probably label this one "Charcoal, Sick and Dogs". Something like that. So yeah, I'll see you again next time.
I really hope you enjoyed listening to this episode of my It's a Bonny Old Life podcast. If you did, I'd be so grateful to you for emailing me or texting a link to the show, or sharing it on social media with those who might like it too. My mission with this podcast is all about sharing mine and my communities experience and hope by telling your fascinating personal stories, championing the other amazing humans in my personal, professional and membership community, and to create another channel through which I can support you to realize your coloured pencil and life dreams. If you haven't done so yet. Please help me on my mission to spread positivity and joy throughout the coloured pencil world by following me on my socials at Bonny Snowdon Academy, or by getting on my list at bonnysnowdonacademy.com, and remember, I truly believe if I can live the life of my dreams doing what I love, then you can too. We just need to keep championing and supporting each other along the way in order to make it happen. Till next time.
