Ten Good Things About February
Hello March! I wrote 10 good things about January last month and as with each year, time speeds up from Feb 1st and before I know it, it's mid December and I haven't done anything on my goal list and I have also failed to buy a single thing for Christmas. This little exercise, I hope will keep time and goals in check. I'm also adding things that didn't go so well to stop me making the same mistakes throughout the year...
So what didn't go so well...
Deposits - I work on trust, alarm bells ringing I know! Companies and organisations work a certain way but with individuals, I allow people to book me, I schedule time, we plough through emails back and forth, set dates and then they can cancel or indefinitely postpone. I then have to use tippex in my diary which I dislike because my pages are off white and tippex is Polar White. But seriously, it's not unreasonable to ask for a small deposit and it shows a proper commitment from the other side. If anyone has any other ideas let me know, the paperwork / admin side of running a business is not my favourite thing to do!
Me. This month has been tricky in terms of cash-flow. I don't know if it's because February follows the end of the financial year and everyone had to pay the tax man first but everything is late this month, this stresses me out and the first thing I fling out the door is self care. I can't sleep, I work more, therefore I drink more coffee and I eat like Augustus Gloop, fistfuls of chocolate to keep me going. My good habits have disappeared and finding and starting again always seems like a mammoth task. I've read this book recently 168 Hours and it definitely changes the way I look at time, thinking about 168 hours in a week rather than 24 hours in a day - changes everything. There is time for self-care, along side all the other 'must dos'.
Lets get on to the positive!
The most talked about Cookies on Instagram from Alison Roman's book Dining In. I confirm wholeheartedly that these Salted Butter Chocolate Chunk Shortbread Cookies are nothing short of genius. If you find the image on my Instagram you'll find the link to the recipe and the conversion from cups to 'proper' measurements. I will also post this later in March so it's easier for you (and me) to find!
We went Out-Out with friends! So, I have a long list of places I want to go this year, The Sky Garden was ticked off last month and Cahoots this month! I can't tell you how much I love The Tube, I feel like I have lived on the Central Line and if we counted the hours I've spent shuttling back and forth on that line it would add up to years. So a place decked out in nostalgic underground memorabilia AND cocktails why wouldn't you want to go? The attention to detail is brilliant, the steps down are the old wooden escalators do you remember those? Apparently Greenford Station (on the Central Line, obvs.) has the only wooden escalators still in action. The staff are all decked out in 40s gear and we had a booth with the old style leather and orange check seat coverings. I loved the place. Now the cocktails are super pricey! We managed one each before heading off with friends for an amazing Indian at Masala Zone.
My Grandma turned 90. So Eden & I flew to Barcelona to party with her and the rest of the family. My Siter is an amazingly kind and generous spirit, who insists you are cold no matter how much you tell her you are not. You have to sit with either slippers on or your feet on a magazine despite just coming from the beach and running barefoot through the waves. It was just a 48 hour trip but I'm so glad we made it to celebrate.
From Sand to Snow. I wonder if the Beast from the East will be as talked about as the Great Storm of 1987. It's certainly the most snow I've seen in many years. Naturally everything came to a standstill. Schools closed although Haven's nursery managed to remain open throughout. Either way we had a Snow Day. Haven lasted precisely 12 minutes outside. Eden made a snowman.
Flowers Everywhere. How wonderful is it to have the house filled with flowers? I love working with Wild Things Flowers. Their vision, styling and quality is just incredible. This was followed by another shoot with The Real Flower Company the shoot is for the April issue of 91 Magazine so all will be revealed then but all the left over blooms meant I had a beautiful time creating images for pleasure and our home looked very sophisticated!
I attended Kathryn Davey's Natural Dye Workshop I won't go into too much detail here as I have a proper blog post all about it coming next week but I really, really enjoyed the day.
New Recipes; the successes this month have been this Rhubarb Cake (for grown ups), Tacos, and coming to the blog soon this Orange Cake.
This gets it's own mention. I nailed my mum's lasagne! My mum makes the best lasagne, it is my birthday request dinner but I've always been too afraid to make it until Eden wanted it and so I got the recipe from my mum and made the most awful version, somehow the pasta sheets went crunchy and burnt and when I took it out of the oven Eden laughed. We ate the middle bit and he told me to keep trying and that one day I might make it a bit better! So I've made it 3 times since and the last time, nailed it! Woohoo!
Soho House. Exciting news I will be creating content for Soho House, as a long time admirer of Soho House, waaaay before Instagram - I'm so delighted to be working with them!
Clearing out the understairs cupboard. Do you have a space in your home that if you open the door or drawer you never know what will spill out and no doubt everything you need at that moment is somewhere inside but no amount of rummaging will reveal the missing item? Our understairs cupboard WAS that space I have had it on my list to clear out for months and you know what? Michael did it. I love that guy! I hope you had a great February, share your stories or links to your blog posts I love to be inspired. x