Hello April!
We’ve found ourselves in strange and uncertain times recently haven’t we? I’m still trying to get my head around March, it was truly a bizarre few weeks! And now here we are in a new month, with very little in the diary bar Zoom catch-ups and lots of banana bread making.
I don’t think I achieved a single thing from my March goals – we didn’t go to New York, our renovations in the new flat have been put on hold for the foreseeable, even the content I had planned for the month didn’t go ahead. But we’re getting by! We are healthy, we have a roof over our heads, and we’ll cope with the coffee shop being closed for the time being too.
I wanted to share some of the small things that will be bringing me joy this month, and hopefully you can share a few with me in the comments too!
01. Having a space to work in. Our spare room has been a bit of a dumping ground for the longest time – I’m sure a lot of you can relate! It was always piled high with parcels, beauty products and the odd item to go in to storage or bags to go to the charity shop. It was stressful to be in so I’d usually carve out a place to work at my desk and ignore the rest! Last week when we realised we’d be inside for a long time, the four of us (cats included) trying not to get under each other’s feet while we work, live, stay sane – we knew we had to do something!
We’ve spent the last few days turning the spare room in to a functioning office for us both, and it has been life-changing! We tidied up the walls, painted, put new curtains up, rearranged the furniture and decluttered. Now the room feels bright and airy, it’s so much easier to work in… and we can close the door on it in the evenings when the working day is done! I highly recommend sorting out that spare room or corner of your living room for a functional working space – we might be living like this for a while!
02. Spending more time with Jordan. Behind every good blogger is a very patient, understanding partner – and that is definitely true for us! Any spare time Jord has, he’s happy to assist me. He edits my weekly vlogs and helps with ideas, photos and all the admin. I really enjoy working with him and I think we’ll definitely use the coming weeks to find our groove with working together full time! I’m excited to have him around more, it’s been really fun and motivating working from our little workspace. At first I thought we really might kill each other, but thankfully we seem to have figured it out now and it’s working quite nicely – how is everyone else getting on?
03. Morning walks before the day begins. We’re in lockdown in the UK at the moment, but we are allowed out for exercise once per day. We live near a beautiful big park so I’ve been using my usual early morning gym time to go for long walks first thing before the rest of the world is up. I’ll either listen to a playlist, call my dad in Australia or sometimes Jordan will come along too. It’s easy to hit 10k steps before breakfast and afterwards I feel so inspired and ready for the day ahead! Spring is starting to show too, and we always have the best weather early in the morning in Scotland so it’s really helped me to feel like a functioning member of society.
04. Baking, baking and more baking! My friends and I were talking about how everyone is making banana bread at the moment and I said “why do you think everyone’s making it? My blog traffic is crazy high from everyone using my recipe” and she said “because it’s like a gateway bake if you’re new to baking” which made me LOL.
I never really have the time (nor the metabolism…) to bake usually, but I’ve really been enjoying whipping up the odd sweet treat to freeze for when I need a sugar hit! Choc chip cookies are always my vice, but I love carrot cake and lemon drizzle too!
05. The regular Zoom hangs. Can you believe this weekend I have double booked myself? In a LOCKDOWN? My Zoom social life is in full swing and I’ve been loving it. We have a pub quiz and a group hang on Thursday nights, it’s absolute chaos because there’s about 30 of us but last week left me wondering if we’ll ever go back to evenings in the pub! Zoom hangs are cheaper, slightly less rowdy, and there’s no worry of missing the last train home. This could be it for me, you guys.
I think it’s really important to not put too much pressure on yourself at the moment – it’s a strange time to live through and I know a lot of us will be feeling anxious and exhausted. My advice is to slow down, listen to your body – sleep if you need to, get fresh air if you can, take care of yourself and call your loved ones. Use this time to make small, positive changes if you can, and to rest up. We’ll get through this.
What are the little things you’re finding joy in at the moment? Sending love to anyone who needs it!