Ten Good Things about April
One. Easter
How lovely that everyone came to us for the day! In the morning just us four went to a massive Easter egg hunt that is held locally and the small things loved it! It's a little bit new for us to do something on the morning of a traditional day, it would never occur to me to do something other than family dinner on Easter or Christmas and I'm really glad that we got to do both.
Two. Happier Pod Casts
I've driven A LOT this month, maybe not in terms of mileage but I've spent hours in traffic getting to and from jobs, often leaving at 5 or 6am, my usual go to podcasts, Tim Ferris, Chase Jarvis, James Altucher have felt a bit too heavy or I'm not feeling the connection with the guests so I don't know why I didn't try it before as I've read 3 of Gretchen Rubin's books and love the ideas and concepts so I'm just loving the Happier podcast! I love that it's hosted with her sister Liz Craft and I love Gretchen's laugh, she really finds her sister funny. I also on my last journey listened to Happier in Hollywood a podcast Liz hosts with her writing partner in LA with an insight into the pilot they are writing and producing from ABC.
Three. Kempton & Petersham Nurseries
Mid April there was a long overdue visit to Kempton Antiques, I found some lovely props and also got to catch up with my dear friend Steph of Fairy Nuff Flowers. I also swung by Petersham Nurseries in Richmond, the original Petersham and whilst I do like the one in Covent Garden, this one I've visited for years and years and always delights me with it's incredible displays and wonderful florals.
Four. A Big Shoot
This was a BIG deal for me, I'm not being deliberately vague but I won't mention the title until it hits the shelves, just in case I get cut from the issue!! From a meeting at the beginning of the year to being booked to shoot in April, I've been so excited to do this and thankfully it went well in my eyes anyway. Fingers crossed the shoot stays in!!
Five. Russell Norman
I've mentioned this a few times over on Instagram but Penguin host a Happy Foodie event every so often, the last was with Candice Brown, this was to celebrate the launch of Russell Norman's (author of Polpo) new book Venice: Four Seasons of Home Cooking. The attendees all make and bring a dish from the book and gather at Rye London, where we share the food and chat about the book. There was a live demo with Russell making Malfatti a recipe from the book that was delicious. It's a wonderful way to be introduced to a new book, thank you so much Happy Foodie for having me. Coincidentally my friend Sandra visited at the end of April and brought me a present Spuntino Russell's other book which I don't have but Sandra and I had a lovely dinner there about a year ago and I had forgotten it was actually created by Russell! It's a wonderful book I love the New York images it's really inspired me to go off and capture some travel stories. And the craving to revisit New York is stronger than ever! Thank you Sandra!
Six. Lego Land
Have you been? I had never been because it's sooo expensive but we managed to get a deal via The Times for tickets and Eden is crazy about Lego Starwars at the moment. It was one my few days off this month and we were out from 830am til way past bed time. Legoland is amazing, I loved Mini Land, seeing miniature versions of my favourite cities, if there was one, I'd enroll us all into Lego Academy - I can't help thinking that working for Lego must be amazing!
Seven. 1-2-1 Workshops
I hosted another 1-2-1 workshop, I'm enjoying these greatly I just wish I had more time to fit in more! It's so satisfying to help someone achieve what they want in photography and styling. It's wonderful to see the complete change in confidence that occurs by the end of the day. If you'd like to know more please click here.
Eight. Dean St & Hoxton Grill
Such a pleasure to have access to the menus of these wonderful restaurants and photograph away, I love the interiors of The Dean Street Townhouse, those sumptious velvets and deep rich tones. Just wonderful!
Nine. MOT
I'm so anxious about anything car related, MOTs and Services and general unknown flashing lights on my dashboard which I have been known to ignore as long as the car keeps going forward. Thanks to the school mums for recommending a garage that just charged me for the MOT! £50 I was expecting a huge bill, being told I needed a new engine or 5 tyres. This is the first time ever I have just had a pass. Phew!!
Ten. Breaks
Booking in some breaks, April was by far my busiest month ever, being freelance it's like that all the jobs come in at the same time and of course you say yes as have you seen May? There's almost nothing going on! (insert freelancer panic in now) but with that of course you totally burn out, and that's no good for anyone, so it was nice to think and plan in a few short breaks just a night or two without the children. Something fun to look forward to but I'm not sure how I got roped into planning a night out to see Solo... Harrison is not even in it?!
Hope your April was good and you have lovely plans for May. x