January has felt like a looooong old month.  Illness; readjusting back to the routine of school life after the Christmas holidays; and grey, damp, chilly days have meant that we’ve not done anything very exciting.  Instead our weekends have been spent mostly at home in the warm – snuggled up under blankets reading, doing piles of homework and attempting to sort out a few more boxes from our house move (there are still SO many to unpack).

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That said, as much as I hate being indoors and crave fresh air and long walks on a daily basis, we’ve all needed this downtime and the chance to hibernate a bit.

There have been some bright moments this month too – we celebrated Lola’s birthday just after New Year, I won a competition and we’re trying out something new in our home in the hope that it makes a positive difference to all of our wellbeing.

Here are all the little things I’ve been loving lately throughout January…

READ

Click Magazine: One of the gifts I asked my husband to get me for Christmas was a print subscription to Click Magazine, part of the ClickinMoms* collective.  My first one arrived mid-month and I savoured every single page.  There is an enormous wealth of knowledge in there from photographers I have been admiring and inspired by on Instagram for years.  Plus of course, the images are beautiful.  I mean, just look at that front cover.

This month’s beautiful edition of Click Magazine

Shadowhunters:  I’m finding this series to be utterly unputdownable.  This month I finished #3 (City of Glass*) which I’d started at the end of December, completed #4 (City of Fallen Angels*) in just three days, devoured #5 (City of Lost Souls*) in another three days and I have now almost finished the sixth – and final! – book in the series (City of Heavenly Fire*).  I haven’t read this much in one go in years and was literally picking them up to read a few pages whenever I got the opportunity, desperate to know what happened next.

Whenever I’m watching an exciting film or TV series I always get to the end and realise I’ve been holding my breath pretty much the whole way through.  I’ve found myself doing the exact same thing with these books.  I always think that the sign of a good book is when it takes a while to readjust to the real world after you’ve finished it because you’ve somehow been irrevocably changed.  It feels like you were actually there adventuring alongside the main characters, who feel so real that you almost expect them to walk into the room you’re sat in.

They’re not going to be everyone’s cup of tea – young adult supernatural fantasy fiction – but I’m thoroughly enjoying diving into the Shadowhunter world and escaping reality for a short while every evening.  I think I need to take a break once I’ve finished the one I’m currently almost at the end of and let my head be somewhere else, but I’ll be raiding Ella’s bookshelves for the sequels, the prequels and the companion/spin-off books in a month or so’s time for sure.

WATCHED

Lola turn ten years old:  At the start of the month we celebrated Lola’s tenth birthday – my last baby to reach double digits!  It’s always a funny time of year for a birthday – the excitement of Christmas and New Year are over, no-one knows what gifts to get for her and most people’s thoughts have already turned towards going back to school and work – so we try and make it as special as we can.

We took Lola and her sisters to The Kitty Cafe in Birmingham on the morning of her birthday, which she LOVED.  Her main present from us was riding lessons, which she has been begging for continuously for the last few years.  She was meant to have her first one a couple of days after her birthday but she got really poorly so we had to cancel it.  It’s now booked in for the start of February and she’s so excited, bless her.  So am I!  I can’t wait to watch her and see her face when she sits on a pony for the very first time.

I remember being given a gift of ten riding lessons for Christmas from my Dad and Stepmum one year as I’d loved horses since I was little.  I ended up going for weekly lessons and summer holiday Pony Club weeks until I was about 12 or 13 years old I think and I loved every second of it.  I’ve probably still got the voucher tucked away neatly in a keepsake box somewhere – I kept it as it had been hand drawn and it meant so much to me.  It was literally a little girl’s dream come true. I really hope Lola feels the same.

The birthday girl. I still can’t believe she’s ten!

Stranger Things:  Neil started watching the first season of Stranger Things on Netflix.  It’s not really the kind of show I like to watch but I found myself getting drawn more and more into it as the episodes rolled on (the fantastic 80’s music soundtrack helped!).  After we finished the first series I think it took me a whole week before I was able to walk into a dark room without my heart thumping and was able to go to bed without needing all the lights on!  I gave season two a miss, and then got completely sucked into Season Three, which was brilliant!  I hope Season 4 comes out soon – I need to know what happens next in the story!

HEARD

Lewis Capaldi:  On repeat.  Sophie gave me Lewis Capaldi’s CD for Christmas and it has been on non-stop in my car ever since.  I loved the song ‘Someone You Loved’ since it first got released (even if it did make me cry every single time I heard it – I think I’m immune to it now that I’ve heard it so many times!) and honestly, every single song on the album is just as good.  The girls get just as obsessive as I do over music so it’s the only thing we’re allowed to listen to at the moment until we get a new CD to enjoy.  ‘Before You Go’ is the girls’ favourite.

Happy competition news:  On a whim I entered a competition on Instagram a few weeks ago and only went and blooming won it!  To say that I’m thrilled (and incredibly grateful) is an understatement!

The prize is a two-night stay at Ca’Doria, a stunning ‘Grand Designs’ style eco holiday home on the outskirts of Malaga in Andalucia in southern Spain.  We’re still finalising all of the details of our trip but I am so excited that we’re going to be able to get a bit of springtime sunshine and the chance to relax as a family for a couple of days.  Spain has a very special place in my childhood memories and my heart and I can’t wait to get back there.

I’m so excited that we’re heading off to Spain for a mini-break thanks to winning a competition on Instagram!

MADE

My intention for the year: Every January I set an intention for the year.  An intention isn’t a resolution, it’s more to do with making a choice about the way in which I want to live my life and a decision about who I want to be over the next twelve months.

Last year, 2019, was my year of more and less.  It took me a while to figure out what I want 2020 to be about and it involved a fair bit of reflection on where I was at the end of 2019 and whether I’d aligned to the intention I’d set.  I got there in the end though and finally made my intention a few days ago.

2020 is my year of… ← (you’ll have to read the post to find out!)

20 goals for 2020:  I don’t typically make goals.  But 2020 feels different – special somehow – and I have a lot of things I want to achieve this year, both big and small.  I thought it would be useful to set those things out as specific goals to help keep me focused and accountable.  There are twenty goals in total (20 goals for 2020) and I’ve already made a start on some of them!

One of my goals this year is to play around with and learn how to use my film camera properly

A decision:  I’ve been thinking for a while about giving essential oils a try.  I’ve heard so many good things about them, mostly to do with how they can really support and enhance your physical, mental and emotional health and wellbeing.  All I want is for my little family to be happy and healthy and there have been quite a lot of times recently where that hasn’t been the case at all.  All three girls struggle with a few things – disturbed sleep, anxiety, sensory issues, big feelings, teenage hormones etc… – and the husband and I both have certain things that we could do with improving too.

I did a LOT of research into the different kinds of oils and the various companies that distribute them and made the decision to sign up with Young Living.  It’s an investment in something that I think is really going to benefit us all.  I received my starter kit of oils and diffuser a couple of days ago, just three days after placing my order.  We’ve been using them morning and evening every day since and I’m really interested to see what a difference it could make.

The girls have been super excited about the whole thing and have been choosing which oils we use each time and what colours we set on the diffuser.  I’m getting them to be as involved as possible so that they can begin to recognise what support they need and when, and how to get it for themselves – prioritising self care is a resource that I really want them to learn and develop.  They already each have a favourite scent (Lola likes lavender, Mimi likes the citrus scents of orange & lemon and Ella likes a blend called ‘StressAway’) and I’m looking forward to adding to the collection of oils I already have.  Even Neil is quite keen to see the benefits they provide, which really surprised me.

I’ll report back next month with what differences we’ve noticed.  If you’re interested in finding out more about essential oils and Young Living, feel free to email me at hello@picturetakermemorymaker.co.uk.  If you already use essential oils and want to top up your supply, or would like to start using them and are keen to sign up with Young Living you can use my referral link here* to get wholesale prices.

WORE

Perfume: I got a new bottle of my favourite perfume for Christmas from the husband and have been wearing that every day. Does that count?!

AND FINALLY…

Kitty Café: Lola’s birthday treat was a visit to The Kitty Cafe in Birmingham.  She’d been desperate to go for months so she was thrilled when we told her where we were going.  It’s a gorgeous place – a colourful interior with a huge adventure playground/jungle landscape for the cats and kittens to explore and play in, lots of space, twinkly lights, squashy sofas and it was supremely clean too.

The cats are free to wander around and you’re allowed to stroke them and play with them but not pick them up or wake them up if they’re sleeping.  Our favourites were Twix and Crunchie, five-month-old tiny siblings.  They were utterly adorable little things with ears that were far too big for them and squeaky little meows.  Crunchie looked very much like our beloved Pumpkin who we lost to a hit and run driver just over two years ago.  I wanted to adopt them ALL and it took every single ounce of willpower I have in the world not to take them all home with us.

Outside the Kitty Café in Birmingham

Lola was so excited to be there – can you tell? Look at that smile!

Obligatory (blurry) family selfie

Crunchie. He was so cute!

A poorly Lola:  Sadly, the day after her birthday, Lola got poorly.  We’re still not entirely sure what it was.  It wasn’t a tummy bug as the rest of us were absolutely fine and she hadn’t eaten anything different to us so we don’t think it was food poisoning either – it remains a complete mystery.  She was sick several times over the course of a few days, had horrendous tummy cramps and got so scared to eat or drink anything that after five days of nothing passing her lips we almost took her to hospital.

Thankfully she turned a corner, managed to keep down a biscuit and a few sips of water and gradually got better from there.  It was a very scary time though – she missed a full week of school, lost a huge amount of weight and was so weak that she couldn’t even stand up on her own.   Not the best way to start the new year, bless her.  I’m so glad she’s fully recovered now, and forever grateful that my work and my husband’s job are flexible enough that we could look after her in shifts.

A very poorly Lola

Recent blog posts:  The start of a new year (and a new decade!) is a good chance to reflect on the year/years gone by as well as plan for the upcoming twelve months.  I’ve recently written quite a few blog posts doing exactly that so if you’ve missed them you can catch up here:  We opened our 2019 Happy Jar on New Year’s Eve and enjoyed looking back at all of our favourite memories from 2019.  I measured my year in numbers (the important ones, like how many sunrises and sunsets I watched, how many times I said ‘I love you’ and how many photos I took) and I had a look back over all the things that have happened in the last decade.

We have so much to look forward to this year.  I can’t wait for Spring to hurry up and arrive and for the first of the adventures to start.  I hope that 2020 has had a positive start for you too and that you have lots of things to look forward to this year as well.

Joining in with Sincerely, Anna and Little Loves.