Life lately

Can somebody please explain to me how on earth it is nearly the end of February already?! This year seems to be racing away before my eyes and I just can't catch up!! It's been a long while since I rambled on and updated you on life in general so I feel it's about time for a personal update and a few photos of life lately...

 

February so far has been ridiculously busy, it's been non-stop since we got back from skiing and I haven't had one single day where I've just stayed at home and relaxed. I've had a crazy few weeks with work, sorting out puppy daycare for Rosie, getting the never-ending housework done, desperately trying to cram in bits of my dissertation and squeezing in dates with friends. We've enjoyed some lovely dog walks recently though and it's safe to say that we've fallen even more in love with the area we live in. The countryside on our doorstep is so beautiful. I'm happy that the mornings are slowly getting lighter which makes getting up feel a bit more bearable and even though it's still absolutely freezing outside there are signs of Spring cheer appearing in the form of daffodils, blossom... and mini eggs.

 

We've been planning our holidays for this year which has been rather exciting, you can't beat a bit of travel wanderlust in dreary February to cheer you up. In May we're heading up to Scotland to visit some of Rob's family and my parents are renting a cottage in the Scottish highlands for a month so we're going to take Rosie and stay with them too which should be lovely {I'm not looking forward to a 12 hour drive with a puppy in the car though!}. We both fell in love with Scotland after our dreamy trip to Loch Lomond last year. In June we're going to Guernsey for a friend's wedding which I'm looking forward to as the Channel Islands are supposed to be beautiful. Then I've got two weeks off over August but I'm not sure that we'll go anywhere, you get pretty ripped off with holiday prices in August and I like the idea of having a few weeks at home in the middle of the Great British Summer, to relax in the garden {let's hope it's sunny...!}, celebrate my birthday and crack on with odd jobs around the house that I'll never otherwise get round to doing. I've got a week off in October too... we would go skiing but it's a bit early for the skiing season, most resorts open in late November. Iceland is big on my travel list, but again October is a bit off season. So we've been looking at flights to New York instead, for an indulgent week away of sightseeing and shopping which is pretty exciting. Any other ideas of where's ideal to go in October?! 

The house is coming along slowly, you might have seen my kitchen and bedroom posts. We're still adding little touches around the house to make it more homely and personalising it which is rather fun. I can't quite believe that we've been here for 7 months already and have only just got round to putting things on the walls, but I guess that's all part of the fun of being homeowners. I keep having to remind myself that there is no rush! I've been creating a monochrome gallery wall at the top of our stairs which I'll blog about soon and 'project spare room' has officially begun...

In other news, this week I took the plunge and finally deactivated my Facebook account. Has anyone else decided on doing the same? I reached the point where I realised how few 'friends' on there I actually see in person which led to me getting freaked out by how many people had access to all my personal information, photos and news. As much as it's a wonderful way of staying connected with people, unfortunately I think it tends to make people lazy with friendships - it eradicates curiosity you may have about others and as a result it can become all too easy to avoid having proper face-to-face conversation. Plus it was such a time waster!! I never quite realised how much time I spent mindlessly flicking through Facebook until the last few days and I've got to admit that it feels pretty therapeutic knowing that it's gone from my life... for a while, at least.

Rob and I both worked all of Valentine's weekend but I arrived home to the loveliest card and a years two days supply of Reese's peanut butter cups. He knows the way to my heart! I framed him some special photos of us and Rosie. Not sure who is more romantic...

 

On Monday I had a much needed spa day with my friend Georgie, we went to the Hogarth Health Club in Chiswick for treatments and a sauna, steam room and a swim. I had the most heavenly full body Swedish massage and we enjoyed the yummiest, healthiest lunch in their Crucial Foods Cafe which is a total gem if you're a lover of guilt-free, organic, detox foods.

So all in all, life lately has been good. I must remember to soak up the good times and remember to appreciate the small things.

This weekend we're off back to my parents house for lunch with Rob's mum. I haven't seen my parents for a while so I'm really looking forward to catching up. I need to get through tomorrow first though... Rosie is off to the vets to be spayed. I can feel the tears coming already...


Lydia xxx