I usually love September: chilly mornings; sun-warmed afternoons; golden evening light; the leaves just beginning to change colour whilst plenty of green still remains.  The skies are always spectacular at sunrise and sunset.  And yet this year something has felt… ‘off’.  I can’t quite explain what it is. I’ve gone through the motions of noticing…

August has been a memory-making (and patience-testing!) month of travelling and first experiences.  We began August on a week-long family holiday in Spain where we completely switched off for seven days, swiftly followed by Ella and I spending a whirlwind 24 hours in London for a gig the day after we arrived home.  The end…

July has been busy.  And… different.   I decided to take the whole month off from client-facing therapy work so I can focus on some other stuff that I’m creating behind the scenes and that has resulted in an entirely alternative rhythm in my day-to-day life. At the start of July I had a much-anticipated trip…

The first month of summer seemed to pass by in the blink of an eye.  There have been school trips and appointments and social get-togethers and sport events for the girls; a weekend away in Leeds watching cricket for Neil; our 8 year wedding anniversary, plus all the usual school-and-work-and-life-admin to navigate. Here are all…

On my 33rd birthday six years ago, I wrote a post called ‘40 things Before I’m 40‘. It was a list of forty things that I want to do, achieve and experience before I turn forty years old in 2023. I’d originally started the list when I turned thirty but I hadn’t launched my blog at…

May always feels like being on the cusp of something good: the promise of summer being just around the corner; everything is suddenly abundantly green; trees and hedgerows are full of life; wildflowers burst into colourful existence seemingly overnight; and there are warmer days, blue skies and sunshine. It’s been a bit of an up…

April has been a busy month!  I’ve spent a good portion of it travelling – up to Manchester for an evening, down to London for the day and a family holiday in Cornwall for a week during the Easter holidays. Nothing makes me happier than being out and about doing stuff so although I’m utterly…

March has been an unusual month in every respect.  I spent eleven days solo parenting whilst the husband was on holiday in Barbados, watching cricket with friends and living his best life by the pool.  We’re still trying to get some support for Lola, who now hasn’t physically attended school for seven weeks due to…

February was an immensely challenging month for various reasons.  A lot of my time was spent supporting a friend going through a crisis; all of my Dad’s anniversaries fall in February (his death, his birthday and the day of his funeral) and Lola started to really struggle with her sensory issues more than usual, which…

I find that I need to ease quietly into January, the way you might tentatively slip into a cold swimming pool – I’m not a fan of diving in head first and getting the shock over with.  It’s probably a good thing that I prefer to start slowly as January almost never goes according to…