Christmas, Spring/Summer are my favourite times of year to read and as I was enjoying my book this afternoon it got me thinking about this time last year…
April 2020 was a both a confusing and enlightening time for me (It sounds strange I know, stick with me)
Lockdown was fully in swing at this point, Pandemic – WHATTTT, very confusing! But, amongst the madness of Lockdown, for the first time in probably 11 years I had time… time to do the things I enjoyed, unapologetically, emphatically and with a new found appreciation for them.
And with this feeling and freedom in place I got such a heightened enjoyment from the novels I was reading. It of course helped that they were bloody brilliant books… so, lets take a walk down memory lane…
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April. This seems to be a good month for me in terms of discovering new books, especially ones that turn into firm favourites, that I always recommend when someones asks me; ‘Do you know of any good books?’
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In the midst of the OG Lockdown…
I read ‘The Silent Patient’ in a day I was so enraptured by it, gripped to the last page…
We also had another Heidi Swain release, which always makes a month amazing (& this sunny seaside stay is one of my faves of hers) ‘The Seaside Escape’
…and I found another firm fave and cosy number in ‘The Flat share’ which has lead me to many brilliant books by Beth O’Leary as a result.
Fast forward to today…. & I’m thoroughly enjoying ‘The Lido’ by Libby Page. Its a cosy, feel good book that restores your faith in community, friendships (unconventional & not) and yourself along the way.
I’m so invested in this story, its endearing characters and community that I know I’ll be sad when it ends and we aren’t spending our time together anymore (if you know, you know!)
I want to see how it all plays out but I don’t want to say goodbye.
You know you’ve got a good’un when thats the case.
I’m super looking forward to the end of the month as I have a few Preorders coming my way and I’m SO EXCITED!!
They are: ~A Taste of Home by Heidi Swain ~The Road Trip by Beth O’Leary ~Until Next Weekend by Rachel Marks
(& a new Sarah Morgan book at the end of May 🙌🏻🙌🏻)
All we need is for this sunshine to stay, Covid to be kept at bay and a nice cold drink to sip as we enjoy these brilliant books!
I used to share snap shots of my life on her, things we had done to celebrate different occasions, fun days out, holidays, however, obviously this last year has been quite an unpresidented one.
I feel like I haven’t really shared much of what I have been doing because really we’ve all been doing the same haven’t we! Staying home, Locked down, on and off since Summer, working and just trying to stay safe.
But I thought to myself, why not share the celebrations we are still having, as wierd as they may seem in comparison to how it used to be, because it’s all we’ve got at the moment and we should still be grateful for what we can do during such a mad time.
Today is Mothers day and I have shared on here, for several years, our tradition of our Mothers Day, homemade afternoon tea.
This year was a very 2020/21 affair, via Skype, but it still involved Afternoon Tea so no complaints here.
We ordered the individual Afternoon Teas from a small local business (All Covid safe) and enjoyed them at our own homes via Skype.
They were delicious and it was nice to be able to continue the tradition, even if it was a little different to usual.
Most of our ‘Usuals’ seem a distant memory right now don’t they 😣 but, it’s also so important to embrace what we can do, communicate and spend time together however we can, whilst staying safe, because we can still stay in touch and stay connected, and we will all be back together properly one day.
It gets to everybody at some point, this wierd time we are a part of, but I’m so very conscious that there are people in such a worse situation than me, who have experienced some of the worst times during this pandemic.
If the worst part of this whole situation, for me is that I can only speak to people through a computer then I’ll be forever grateful. I know some people have it much worse.
It’s still ok to find it hard though and I hope you’ve had a little bit of light and joy come your way today!
I have done a few hauls over here on my blog before and I usually do one at this time of year because of the Jan sales… and this year was no exception, which is surprising as its such a strange time.
What Lush did this year was that they sent out a list of what products were on sale and their sale price (50% off 🙌🏻) and you rang through your order, paid online and collected in store, socially distanced.
It worked really well and it meant we could still get some bargin goodies.
Me and my twin sister sarah always grab some Lush bargains in the January sales so we were delighted that we still could (and even more so now that we are again in another lockdown! What else is there to do but have a bath when you are bored!?!)
Let’s see what I picked up in the sale…
Shoot for the stars Golden WonderSnow Fairy Bath Bomb & Snow Fairy BubblebarSnow fairy bath bomb ButtervearJurassic Spark gift box A robot and a dinosaur bath bomb!
I was super happy with my purchases! A few of these I have tried before, but I hadn’t tried anything from the Jurassic Spark Box so that’s exciting.
So, I do try and make my Christmas cards every year and I have done for over 10 years now (Sayyyyy whatt, madnesss)
This year, with all the craziness I almost didn’t… but then I thought, let’s just scale it back a little, keep them simple and I just do it for my fambizzle.
So thats what I did… if you are family and are reading this, maybe don’t or your card might be on here 🤣🤣
I still had loads of festive paper left over so I used that as the main design as they are pretty ones.
My calligraphy leaves much to be desired but, be won’t worry about that.
I really liked the simple effect of using the gift tags as part of the design.
I actually really enjoyed making these again. I have utilised Moonapig this year, in order to send cards all over the place, so it was actually really nice to be making them again!
Prehaps I’ll get ahead for next year whilst I’m enjoying it and have more time. It’s nice to do things when you have the time to enjoy it and it doesn’t become a chore.
Right, I’m off to organise our round for the Festive Boxing Day Quiz (2020 stylyyyy obv)
Pets make a great addition to any family, they are someone to cuddle, someone to talk to, someone to look after, someone to love.
This probably seems like a really random blog post but I started this blog to document one of the most important days of my life (our wedding) and since then I have found it my place to write about the things I like, that make me, me as well as the things that are important to me in my life.
I’m so sad to say that our guinea pig Captain died yesterday, Sunday 20th September 2020 😭💛 He was such a lovely chap! An old boy at 6 years and 2 months old. Our first pet together (with Remus 💚) back in 2014, when we moved into our flat.
You were adorable when we saw you at Pets at Home, we both knew you were coming home with us! We’ll miss you squeaking to say hello (or FEED ME) as we come in the front/lounge door.
Thanks for being my little lockdown buddy.. you were great company!
We’ll miss you Captain (Gothmog) Byford💛 🐹 . RIP Buddy X
I love documenting what we get up to in the Summer holidays.
Though thanks to Covid we didnt actually have a Summer ‘holiday’, I also didn’t have to work this Summer, so I had all six weeks to enjoy, have fun and relax ready for Sept!
So, without further ado, let’s have a look at what we got up to…
You’re starting school today, But weren’t you tiny just yesterday? How can it be? Didn’t you just turn three? . You’re starting school today, Little forever I wish you’d stay, It makes me both happy and sad, But the little boy you’ve become, hes pretty rad. . You’re starting school today, They grow up quick they say, I’m so proud that I could burst, I can’t wait to see you ace yet another ‘first’. . You’re starting school today, My little Casey James you’ll stay, Your going to be amazing, hilarious, the class clown, Especially with your sassy frown. . You’re staying school today, Have fun, makes friends and play, Off on adventures on your own, Running crazy, accident prone. . You’re starting school today, It seems scary, you’ll be ok, At school I know you will be great, Now it’s your time to go through that gate. . You’re starting school today
Roseanne Byford 