A Life Update – The Good, The Bad & The Scams

A New Life Update

Hey everyone! I know it’s been a long time since I gave you all a personal update. Life has really gotten away from me over the past however many months, and my health has not been good either. I’ve been dealing with a lot, and it’s made me not want to shoot many pictures at all, plus I’ve had to buy an entire new, but small, clothing collection as absolutely nothing fits me anymore. My laptop completely broke while I was away, too. I managed to spill Pepto Bismol in my backpack and all over my laptop, rendering it unusable… I now have a new Macbook Air. Anyway, I’m back in the UK and as autumn has just hit us, I’m working on a few new collaborations with brands and I’m super excited to share those with you! I’ve divided this blog post into sections so that I am updating you on various aspects of my life separately.

Road Trip & Travels

Christen and I took another road trip this summer. We toured the East Coast of the USA. We spent time in Boston (which is amazing) and New York, then we visited Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Vermont, New Jersey, Pennsylvania… these were all incredible! We visited Harvard and Yale campuses, we went to the top of the Empire State Building, we had fun in Times Square… I shared a lot of stories on my Instagram about these trips, so you can check out my highlight reels of those. I am hoping to share more on my blog about them, but I’m not certain if that’s something you’d like to see, since it’s all available via Instagram.

While we were here in the UK, we went to Stratford Upon Avon for a few days too, which was amazing! We also visited London again and went on the London Eye, crossed Abbey Road crossing, and… PARIS! We went to Paris in May, and that was the very first time I had ever been to Paris officially. Seeing the Eiffel Tower at night is something I will never forget. That was one of the most magical moments of my life. The food, the culture, the history… everything about Paris was incredible and one of our favourite holidays to date. I saw the Mona Lisa, went to the top of the Eiffel Tower, and toured the city by bus. I definitely plan on writing a blog post about Paris, but of course, you can check out 3 highlight reels on my Instagram entirely dedicated to Paris.

Online Scams

One thing that I really wanted to bring to all of your attention is the scams going around using my pictures. I get messages weekly from people alerting me to scammers who are pretending to be me. These are on dating websites, social media, WhatsApp, Telegram, etc., and it is NOT me. I am not single. I am not dating. I am not talking to you and offering you a job or anything like that. There are 30+ Lorna Burford’s on Facebook, and they won’t take them down, no matter how many times I report them. So the only place you can ever reach me is via my official social media (linked on my blog), which is @LornaRaindrops on Instagram and my official Facebook page Ford la Femme (both have blue official check marks).

You can also leave comments on my blog here, and I will respond to those, as well as my official email address (for work purposes) on my contact page. Other than that, you won’t be speaking to me. So please, if you think you’re speaking to me outside of what I just said, report it; it’s not me, and you are being scammed. I’ve had one guy even messaging me saying ‘does your boyfriend know what we have’ and trying to make out that I was in a relationship with him, intimately, so it’s genuinely horrifying what’s happening outside of my control.

My Health

I got diagnosed with MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome) in May/June, and it’s something that I have suspected for a while. It’s a pretty common issue to go along with Ehlers Danlos Syndrome, and I’ve actually had it for a very long time. Getting sick from chemical smells like perfume was one of the main reasons I thought I had it, combined with my digestive issues and hundreds of other problems.

I’ve been put on Ketotifin, which is an antihistamine with Mast Cell blockers, which is supposed to help stabilise my histamine levels. I also take DAO enzymes to help eliminate histamine from my food. All of this was helping me initially, as I had a lot more energy, and I would recover much faster from doing things that usually make me exhausted. My digestion was good and normal, too… but it doesn’t seem to work anymore. I don’t know if my body got used to it or not, but I’m back to square one.

Since I arrived in the USA on July 1st, my stomach was BAD. I couldn’t keep any food or water in. Just sipping water hurt. I would constantly have to go to the bathroom multiple times a day, urgently, and that has been going on for three months. It’s not as bad as that initial flare-up the first week of July, but it’s been bad enough to affect my whole life, almost every single day. My stomach is in a lot of pain during these episodes, and I know something bad is going on. I’m kind of worried that I might have an IBD as it’s in the family history. I’m waiting for another doctor’s appointment to go down that route. It doesn’t make much sense to me to be having digestive issues like this, yet gaining so much weight…

Weight Gain

Unfortunately, I have gained a lot of weight. I am the heaviest I have ever been in my life, currently weighing 165 pounds at 5ft 4 inches tall. I have had to buy all new clothes as I literally can’t fit anything anymore. I’m extremely uncomfortable and not happy at this weight, and it’s not coming off like it used to if I gain a few pounds. It keeps going up instead. I’m trying to work on losing weight as I didn’t intentionally gain it, but with the PCOS and digestive issues I have going on, it feels impossible. I have gained roughly about 21 pounds now.

Acne

The one really good thing is that my acne is fully under control! I haven’t had one new spot/pimple for a few months now. I’m back on Clairette (combined birth control) as my hormones got out of control, and I started getting acne all over my back as well as my face, and my weight gain wouldn’t stop creeping up. I’m happy this is finally working for my acne!

My Birthday

On August 3rd, I celebrated my 37th birthday. It actually didn’t go well; that entire day was a write-off, so we re-celebrated the week after. It’s weird to think that I started this entire journey when I was 17 years old, which was 20 years ago! That’s when I first got into online fashion writing, and my interest in premium denim grew, leading to all of this. Ford la Femme was founded in 2010 (under the name Raindrops of Sapphire), and that was 15 years ago! It’s insane how much time has just flown by, and it’s even crazier to think that I will be 40 in less than 3 years time.

So that rounds out my small update! The next few posts will be outfit posts from me. Lots of love!