May 11, 2017 at 10:19 pm by Angela
The last few days everything that has happened over the last month suddenly hit me. The turbulant times at work, some stresses at home and, on top of that, some random virus (giving me stomach cramps, diziness and headaches) saw me smash into an emotional and physical brick wall. I wasn’t motivated to do anything more than the mundane at work. I ticked off all the core chores at home but nothing more. I skipped any exercise plans and then abandoned planning all together. And, most unusually, I lost any inclination to blog. To read. To tweet. To Instagram. To even go on my computer and pretend.
May 10, 2017 at 6:35 am by Angela
As a young child, my family and I lived in Berkshire (we moved back to my native homeground in The North when I was 12). One of my favourite treat outings as a kid was to Whipsnade Zoo. I have such fond memories of seeing all of the animals there. So you can imagine my delight when almost two decades later I discovered it was only a 40 minute drive from where we live in Hertfordshire. And now I’m a parent, I have a brilliant excuse to go regularly as it’s a great place to introduce Little H to all the different creatures!
May 6, 2017 at 7:15 am by Angela
I knew I wanted to go back to work part-time from before Little H was born. A couple of weeks before my maternity leave started my boss and I even had an informal conversation about what I was thinking and he told me that he could not see any reason why a formal request would not be accepted. Early in my maternity leave I had some moments where I missed my job. Then later, as I had adapted to caring for Little H, I had moments where I doubted my decision. But once I was back in the office in January 2016, I was pretty confident I had made the right decision for me*.
May 3, 2017 at 6:20 am by Angela
Every month I share my ‘Five Favourite Finds’ for the month. They can be absolutely anything new that I have come across. The challenge: making sure I find five each month. Some months really do prove tougher than others but there is lots of fun had in the search. I’m using it to try encourage myself to find new things and also share my finds with you all to save you the leg work! So without further ado and in no particular order…
April 29, 2017 at 7:25 am by Angela
Ah my lovely we’ve had such a good month together. The weather has been nicer so we’ve been outside exploring. You enjoy walking everywhere now and you can get around all the steps in the garden unaided. You genuinely do not stop talking my love! Let’s check out your busy April…
April 26, 2017 at 6:20 am by Angela
Tuesday 18th April 2017:
06:00 – I’m in the middle of a dream when the alarm goes off at our usual work time. It’s a shock after the ‘lazy’ (well, in parent terms) Easter weekend mornings have taken their toll because I struggle to drag myself out of bed. I down a load of water and then start the getting-ready process.
April 22, 2017 at 7:12 am by Angela
I have kept a Gratitude Journal since the start of 2016. Over that year it made a MASSIVE difference to my mental attitude; I now more naturally see the positive in things. My blog is a place to share thoughts and opinions. But more than that, it’s a place I record life so I can look back in the future and remember how things were. Whilst I will always have my private journals, I also decided to take a leaf out the books of other bloggers and create a monthly gratitude feature. Here’s what I am grateful for this month:
April 19, 2017 at 6:30 am by Angela
Whilst some of the best moments in my life have been experienced since becoming a mother, my best holiday memory is years before Little H was even a thought or a plan. One day I genuinely hope that a family holiday will claim the Top Memory Spot, but we’ve had mixed success with holidays to date. So for now, my favourite holiday memory is from when Sam and I went to Rome in 2011. Until that point I had never made it to Italy despite Rome being one of the few places I was desperate to see with my own eyes. The Roman Civilisation is one of two that has fascinated me since my childhood (the other is the Egyptians…if you’re interested!) and expectations when we boarded that plane were incredibly high.
April 15, 2017 at 7:30 am by Angela
Welcome to my monthly feature in which I share some of my favourite online articles for the month. I read a lot of blog posts and articles online and whilst I share a lot of them through tweets, it’s easy to miss them and hard to come back to them at another time. This is a list of my top ten reads for the month, a mixture of formal news articles and blog posts. Enjoy!
April 12, 2017 at 6:25 am by Angela
When I think of a happy summer evening, one of the memories that comes to the front of my mind is from when I was a little kid. In the memory I’m snuggled in my bed ready to go to sleep. I have my Forever Friends bed sheets on which match my Forever Friends flower curtains. I didn’t have blackout curtains when I was young (how my mum got me to sleep I have no idea!) so the evening summer sun is glowing through my window. I don’t remember anything else apart from feeling so contented and happy.
