January, and a whole new year. Or “the future” as Kirst described 2025 as on NYE!
These are the sorts of posts that I never get round to writing anymore, the sorts of posts that aren’t particularly useful to anyone else but which provide a bit of a snapshot of life as it is right now and allow me to get my thoughts in some sort of order – the sorts of post my whole site was built on once upon a time! Do you miss reading things like this or are you more here for the tips, reviews and listings?
January 2025 – Currently I am:
Reading: A lot of Beth Moran
I’ve been reading loads recently and have found myself reading lots of Beth Moran books – they’re just a really easy read and I’ve not had the headspace for anything more complicated. I read a lot of kids’ books last year and will likely do the same this year too. I don’t typically record what I’ve read and just rely on my kindle to tell me that I’ve finished a book or have read it already, but I thought it might be interesting to make a note of my reading this year and see how many books I get through.
Laughing at: Gavin and Stacy
Somehow I made it to almost 45 years of age without having watched a single episode of Gavin and Stacey despite it being 18 years old and being considered a significant part of British culture. Dave has watched it but I haven’t – even though were living together when it first aired. Anyway, we decided to watch it all from the start and have been binge watching several episodes a night.
Swooning over: A new video camera
I’ve been lusting over a new camera for a month or so now and am desperately trying to pull together the funds for an upgrade – I’ve sold my Go Pro and my Sony RX100 to help fund the new camera but I’m not quite there yet! It’s got me really excited about the idea of filming and creating more video content again – something I’ve been lacking in inspiration for recently but do regret letting slide, especially when it comes to capturing memories with the kids – so keep your eyes peeled, hopefully I’ll have that swish new camera in my hands soon!
Planning: Holidays mostly
I always find that at this time of year my thoughts turn to travel and adventures for the year ahead – whether we can get abroad (we’re not doing our usual family holiday in France this year because of Ben’s GCSEs), where we’d like to go camping, if we can squeeze in any weekends away, which festivals we might like to try (Tramlines is already confirmed for July!)
Eating lots of: Homemade bread
For years now Dave has been keen to master baking his own bread but for one reason or another it has illuded him until the back end of last year when he found a recipe and style that suited him and now he’s unstoppable, baking a loaf of bread every other day using the Le Creuset. He’s recently invested in a bread sling (to lift it in and out of the pot) and we bought him a personalised bread bag and stencils for Christmas. He’s currently making a fairly standard but delicious white loaf but I’m hoping he’s going to branch out a bit and try some fancy stuff over the coming weeks!
Feeling: A little bit out of sorts
I’m starting the year feeling a little bit lost, a bit directionless. This isn’t a new feeling; it’s something I’ve been wrestling with for a good chunk of the last year. My website is still a huge focus and I absolutely love writing and creating content but I need to work out where to take it next – how to continue to grow my audience and secure my income. I also feel like I’m ready for a change – a new challenge, something new – I just don’t know what it is or how to find it!
Watching at the cinema: Nothing
I’ve not been to the cinema in ages – not since I took myself to watch It Ends With Us. It was the first time I’d been to the cinema by myself and frankly it was glorious. It’s definitely something I plan to do again but I’ve not really been keeping up with listings at the moment.
Wearing: All the layers
I’m definitely finding as I’m getting older I’m less tolerant of the cold. When I was younger I would think nothing of queuing for an hour to get into a club wearing no coat – who could be bothered queuing up to put a coat in the cloakroom and paying for the privilege when there was dancing to be done! Even through my 20s and early 30s I hated wearing coats but now I just hate being cold – especially when I’m sat at home working at my desk so you’ll find my wearing jumpers, leggings, thick socks, maybe some leg warmers and often my cashmere wrist warmers. I’m considering investing in an electric throw for working at my desk.
Cooking: Does hot chocolate count?
In all seriousness, I don’t really do any cooking – that’s very much Dave’s domain and it’s something he’s very good at. He’s also teaching Chlo to cook as part of her Bronze DofE award so I’m staying well out of the way.
We’ve jumped back on the Gousto wagon for the New Year as we were stuck in a rut and both heartily sick of meal planning. We’re currently ordering five meals a week for four people (which we can just about stretch to feed five of us as Amy rarely eats loads!) If you fancy giving it a try you can use this link for a massive 65% discount on your first box!
Wondering: How Ben has done in his mocks
Ben had his GCSE mocks before Christmas and we’re currently awaiting a “mock results day” to see how that panned out for him. We set out a revision timetable back in October which he stuck to fairly well – though his results will evidence just how productive that revision actually was! The plan is to reassess that revision timetable once we get his results so he can focus his efforts where he needs to most. In terms of 6th form, his Y10 results would get him in to study the courses he wanted to so now it’s just a case of improving on those to get the best results he can (or at least can be bothered to get!!)
Making: Time to write for the sake of it.
Towards the end of last year I felt like I’d sort of lost my way a bit with writing – I was spending a lot of time updating old content but not really much time creating anything new and I definitely wasn’t writing anything just because inspiration struck. I love the creative challenge of writing to a brief and I love writing up and sharing reviews of places we’ve been but I also love writing posts where the words just flow out of me – sort of like this one! Something I’ve been meaning to do for a while (and I mean actual years) is write a newsletter but I keep putting it off because I know there’s a bit of technical wizardry to be done and also because I feel like I need to come up with a format – or, I could just swallow that frog and get the job done!
So that’s where I’m at as we start January, a bit out of sorts but mostly doing ok!
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