Well here we are once again, it has been a while since I last updated and have been scared about updating my blog as I have had some bad news.

Since writing my last blog post my father passed away, not really the sort of thing you want to shout from the roof tops but all the same it is a very important part of anyones life. I have never lost anyone close to me and the first person I do loose is one of the closet people to me. Its not something you just get over overnight but I am looking to the future and not putting my life on hold as I know that is not what he would want. My dad was in many ways my hero, I have accomplished so much in my life thanks to him.

So looking to the future what are my plans...

Well for starters my beaded jewellery business BeadedLink is starting to kick off well. I am looking forward to this becoming a create hit, as a creative I believe that sharing my creative gift with others to enjoy is one of the most important things. In many ways my Dad did the same, he was an interior designer.

Secondly I am planning my mammoth travelling trip, this is a trip I have been planning for a very long time... so long I can't even remember when it started. What makes it so much more to look forward to is that fact the love of my life is going to be with me enjoying every step; well maybe a few more steps than me as she is already out there, she is currently in India and I will be joining her for 2 and half weeks in November then coming back having Christmas and then heading out in February to embark on a journey of a life time. I will obviously be writing all about my adventures right here, that goes without saying.

So until my next post...

Well I feel I should put an entry in, even if I have nothing to say. So here goes for one of my most boring entries to date, feel free to skip over this entry if you feel it will be wasting your life. I have been working solidly getting my beaded jewellery site Beads up and running to a point where there is enough stock and items to interest anyone who may stumple across my site. I have recently been in talks with an SEO Company to boost the traffic on my site but I am worried about the price as I'm not sure I can warrent it, I wish I could have someone tell me I'm doing the right thing or not. Ahhhh, what to do.

I have also done a few more festivals and have got my first craft fair this weekend. its possibly not the best year to get into this I feel as all the traders at every festival I have done have said sales are down this year, but the weird thing is that the numbers of people going to these things hasn't changed, if anything they have increased, I would be seriously disheartened if every other stall were chatting about record sales and I was the only one being effected but thankfully this is not the case.

Well thats it for now, I will try and make sure somethinga little less dull happens in my life for the next entry.

So I had my third festival as a trader this last weekend, was a bit of a disaster if I am brutally honest, people just weren't willing to spend the money on my wares, they all wanted VW spare parts and the like. Kinda makes sense really as it was a VW festival, Deva Dubs and Rods to be precise. Volksfest was much better though even though that was a VW festival, not really sure where it all went wrong. I spoke to most of the traders and they all had the same problem. People apparently are going to the festivals but just aren't spending the money.

My girlfriend and I printed a load of T-Shirts specifically for the festival as well, a load of T-shirts with VW Vans Type 1's and VW Beetles on. I think they are really cool, but as they aren't for me this opinion doesn't matter, but I have been told by most who have seen them that they are pretty cool. I suppose I will just have to hope the website sales will go better, T-Shirts just in case you wanted to know. (Plug)

Me and my other half hand printed 100 t-shirts in preparation for the festival, but I was very happy with the results, so happy I thought it may be cool to set up another site of the back of it and I hope to be able to hand print a lot more designs in the future, as I said before the site is T-Shirts (Plug,plug)

Other than that not much has been going on, I am finally sorting out my stock for Beads which is nice. err what else, a friend that I meet in Uganda is staying with me at the moment, he is originally from Canada and we jumped of a cliff together in a place called sippy falls, but that is an entirely different story, one that involves lots of profanities which I don't think would be appropriate for a site like this. So until next time, look after yourself and each other, you never know it may actually be beneficial.

Well where to start, hmm... its been a long time since my last entry. I have been excessively busy.

Well I suppose I should probably tell you why... It all may be a bit vague as a lot of it happened a while ago.

I went skiing as I said I would and it was exactly what I needed, gave me a chance to get away and have some fun without thinking of anything like work, life or any other thing that was grinding down my relaxed persona.

I came back feeling refreshed and vitalized, not only because I was talking to my girlfriend but just because I'd had a chance to take a step back and figure out my goals properly. I came back with a fighting spirit some may say.

Relatively I have done very little of interest since I last put an entry but at the same time have accomplished so much. Lets start with my business, I have setup a business last year selling jewellery, 'a guy making and selling jewellery, thats a little strange' I hear you say. I only hear you say it because I told it to my face quiet regularly. I get told by females in the industry that it is a refreshing thing, I get asked by my mates if there is something about my sexuality I'm not telling them. I just do it because I find it fun and there are ways to make money and enjoy it in the process.

So... I setup this business started my own site www.RicoCostumeJewellery.co.uk which is a bit of a mouthful and also I had problems doing something called SEO (Search Engine Optimization) on it. So after working on this site for nearly a year I started again, this time with a better name and a new more appealing site Beads. This site still isn't fully operational because I have had to focus on other parts of the business such as selling at festivals. Bit of jump in topics you may think but its not really, the reason is this is another reason I set up the company because I wanted to be able to goto Music Festivals all over the country basically for free (Or making a little money in the process). So I had my first festival 3 weekends ago and it didn't go to well.

The festival was "Wood Festival" near Reading, the weather was terrible, the organisation of the stalls wasn't great and their weren't that many people, not a great recipe, on the flip side I saw some awesome acts, met some fab people and had a very good time chilling out with my cousin, who was helping me.

The second festival was "Plymouth Volksfest", pretty self explanatory where this one was. This was more of a music stroke car festival, and there were some awesome V-dubs there, some of which you will see in the gallery part of Beads. I actually made a little money here even though lots of the traders near me were complaining of the layout of this festival too. Again I met some wicked people but sadly the music was not to my taste, and I was doing this one by myself, even though it doesn't really feel like that because you are constantly chatting to people, punters and stall holders alike.

I am now gearing up for my third festival which is another VW festival, up in Shrewsbury, "Deva Dubs and Rods" I am looking forward to this one as it is the first one I am doing with my girlfriend. She is a creative too and she is creating a big VW sign for the back of my stall. We are also creating some wicked T-Shirts with a camper van on and another design which I am still waiting to see.

Well thats all I have time for today, don't really feel like I've told you anything but I'll let you be the judge of that.

So its been a while since my last blog update, better late than never hey. Well just a brief outline of whats been going on in my life...

I went skiing like I said I was going to in my last entry and it was awesome, just what the doctor ordered... funny that as it was a doctor who invited me. Huh. Anyways, enough of the lame and weak attempts at humor. So the most memorable part of the holiday, memorable not enjoyable... was when me and my mate turned up, well it started before that.

I arrived at Geneva airport about an hour or two after him. Had to rush out of the package handling area in fear of missing the last train up to the resort and having to pay an absolute fortune in taxi fees. Well my mate had already had a few beers but we made the train. My friend suggests we hit the rum and vodka on the train. Now usually I'd be well up for this, but he said his mum was up at the resort and I don't like to cross her and its always best that I'm on best behavior around her. Anyway he says its fine and that she'd be in bed by the time we get there. So I go 'fine' and we start playing High-Low if you have ever played this you will know there are no winners in this only losers. So we get absolutely twatted. Turn up at the bottom of the resort and get on the bus up the mountain. We meet this nice bulgarian or polish guy can't remember and he's drinking neat whiskey, keeps trying to get me to drink it but this is the last thing I need.

So we get up into the resort and get off the bus to be welcomed by my mates twin brother. AWESOME. I had no idea he was gonna be there, what a great surprise. He foolishly takes us to a pub... not the best idea, we have a few more beers and then start our walk up to the flat. He for some unknown reason takes us the hard way and by the hard way I mean a path that has been completely snowed under and is now a 45 degree ice slide, not the ideal path for two very pissed guys with skies and luggage!!!!

We got up the next day and... well I got up the next day feeling fine, may have something to do with me throwing up all over the bathroom, and I mean all over the bathroom, I am usually quiet a controlled thrower upper. I say this because I am quiet experienced at it, alcohol from a young age always seemed to do that to me, I have got better with age but I have kept my skills. I through up once slouched in a chair and a friend who witnessed this said it was literally like watching a tube come out my mouth, miss me completely and land in between my legs, he said he was quiet impressed, I was only 14 at the time, so you can imagine how experienced I am at the age of 27.

Anyway I got up and my Doctor friend was dead to the world nothing was budging him, I told him if we got up on the mountain he'd be fine, lying obviously but I didn't want to spend my first day in the alps in 3 years stuck in a room with a hangover. I finally got him out not that we did much skiing but it was nice to get out. His bro was a little annoyed to say the least that we hadn't skied with him as he was going home that day. I also need to buy his Mum a couple of nice bottles of wine to make up for the mess I had made the night before... and for waking her up... and for her having to disinfect the bathroom at 3 in the morning... and for the guilt I felt for all of the above, especially as I had been invited very kindly by the parents to stay in their flat.

The rest of the holiday went rather more smoothly with a lot less drinking, the most exciting part for me was using the crash mat in the ski park to perform my first back flip (See gallery) and then proceeding to hurt myself quiet badly by landing face first in the mat and twisting my neck but nothing serious, thank god there was a mat!!!

This is my first entry on my blog, I am sitting in City Airport waiting to bored a flight to Geneva, I am going on a much needed skiing holiday. Much needed... well I have had a particularly bad time of it recently, and like most people my problems are made much bigger by the fact they are mine.

Why have I had a rough time of it recently, well, firstly last week my Dad had a minor stroke, this is due to an ongoing cancer that has been spreading through his body. He recently had a knee operation replacing the whole knee and we were all told that this was it, the final part of this horrific decease destroyed, but alas they were wrong. He has now been told he may have a brain tumor which caused the stroke. Obviously this comes as quiet a blow to my family and me, to give you a bit of background to my Dad, you have never met someone who has worked so hard to get himself to where he is today. He started of with nothing and has become a well known man within his field. Leaving school at the age of 12 because he had to earn money for his family and becoming in my eyes one of the greatest achievers I have ever met. You could say my Dad is my idol and there is nothing I want to do more than make him really proud of me.

The second thing that happened to me is a lot more personal and something only I can really truly understand. I split up with my girlfriend, the person I thought I would spend the rest of my life with, my soul mate. It was circumstances that tore us apart not lack of loving each other, which in my eyes makes it all the more painful. Well thats enough depressing info for now, on with the update.

So I am in the airport and have been since 11.30 this morning not because my plain has been delayed but because I had to come from the other side of London with skies and large bag and was worried something may go wrong, I may get lost or something equally daming for my much wanted holiday. You may ask why am I writing this entry into the Life blog, well I don't really think of going skiing as traveling its more day to day life, even though I haven't been for 3-4 years due to the lack of funds.

Well hopefully I will be boarding soon and hopefully my plane won't be delayed otherwise I might as well driven. So until the next entry...