Who's the woman behind AhoTuLag?

Today, I thought of speaking about the woman behind AhoTuLag...the face behind the business.

My name is Sonia, I have 2 boys (13 and 8), 1 dog, Orion (mostly known as Ori) and 2 cats, Sirius and Phoenix. I'm passionate about nature, sustainable ways of living, sports, books, traveling, gardening and art. I live and work in Gravesend, Kent, UK.

I love nature and always have. I grew up in Portugal and some of the best memories I have, from my childhood, are spending the summer months' mornings, at the beach, swim in the ocean, watching the fishes and algae while swimming, the clams and other sea animals, still alive, under the sand, being free to run and explore pine tree forests, climbing the trees, getting the pine nuts out of the pine cones and eat them, in the spot, not from a shop, out of a bag, playing with the bugs and having my naps, under a tree, while my grandma Magda, would read her book.

My grandma, was my biggest role model. The way she respected and loved nature had a massive impact in me. She taught me how to appreciate the beauty of little things and beings and their impact in our lives, like ants, bees, butterflies, flowers, etc...all had their special place and all should be equally valued. We had a lovely small garden, where she took care of our flowers, some veggies and fruits and now I have mine. I didn't grow up used to receive bouquets of flowers, because that meant that they'd have to die, so we could decorate our house and we didn't like that idea. We only had flowers, from our garden, for our birthdays, apart from that, we'd rather have our flowers, in the garden and look after them. I still do the same, now in mine.

I try to provide my children, the closest experience to what I had as a child, and it melts my heart to see they love it, just as much as me. I'm far from being a radical mum, who will make the kids only go to nature adventures, they're allowed to enjoy a bit of everything, nature and their screen time. I love that, just as much as they do.

I love to be a mum, it was something, that I've always wanted to be and I'm very lucky to have 2 amazing boys. Life with them is never dull, we've always gone out, travelled abroad, gone to comic cons together, they're my partners in crime. I've got to confess that I feel sorry for my neighbours, because whenever we're together, our laughter is always loud...it's a bit like 3 kids and the fur babies in 1 house!

All this is lovely and fills my soul with joy, but as I often say, I'm a business woman and a mum, but I'm also a human being, I need to have my me time, to balance myself and not burn myself out. It is my attempt to keep a healthy mind in a healthy body... ha ha ha

What do I do or like to do, during my free time? Well... healthy body wise, I love to do weightlifting, playing Rugby and long walks in nature. There are not enough words to describe how much I love them...I will definitely go on, for as long as my body will allow me to...they make me incredibly happy.

Healthy mind wise, I like to read books, colour realistic colouring pages, I buy from my favourite artists, draw tiny detailed patterns or mandalas and work on the garden. It does wonders, even after the worst days ever.

So there you have it, a little intro to who I am!

Keep a look out for my next post!

Love,

Sonia xx