January really isn’t my favourite month. Because I’m such a Christmas freak, I really struggle when it’s time to go back to reality – especially when the reality is cold weather, grey skies, everyone pushing diet culture in your face, and the potential of having to wait 4743847 days until payday. Thankfully, we made it – and February, well February I quite like. I’ve gotten over the fact that Christmas is over now, most people have given up on forcing themselves to pointlessly do things that make them feel miserable, and I genuinely do love Valentines Day too – I always have done, even when single. Oooh… and, we’re now getting closer to pancake day, and that bit of the year when there’s constant bank holidays every other weekend. Not bad at all.
Anyway, to get me through dull January I slowed things down and spent some time investing in the things I enjoy. I re started Yoga, and really threw myself back into wedding admin too; this involved going for a wedding dress design consultation (lots of blog posts coming up about this soon), and also getting my makeup artist booked in – it always fills me with a little bit of excitement, every time we solidify another wedding plan. And whilst I do have the majority of things sorted now (I like to be massively organised), I do still have a few little bits to do – and I think stationery is going to be next on my list. I already know the lady I want to create it all for us, it’s the same lady that I get my favourite illustrations from (below), so we just need to start really piecing together some ideas now.
If I’m being honest, by the time “Blue Monday” came around, I was feeling pretty pants myself… and so to overcome that, my boyfriend suggested we buy the pink chair I so desperately had my eye on – not really being a fan of pink decor himself it was a lovely gesture, that really did cheer me up. However… this one pink chair ended up leading me to re designing half of our house. So the pink chair went in place, which then led me to move the chair that had been their prior, downstairs into our lounge. Taking a step back and looking at that, I realised the positioning worked, but we needed a bigger armchair, so armchair ordered, this then led to the “requirement” of a new side table, which then also led to the “requirement” of a new, rather large house plant. Once all that was in place, we then decided we wanted to mount our TV on the wall, which obviously then led to not requiring a tv stand, so then another move around of furniture… THAT then led to a new coffee table book and candle (above). Oh. Dear. Saying that, it did completely eradicate any blue Monday feelings, as I really do enjoy a nice little project.
I also received a little bit of exciting news blogging world wise, and so decided to treat myself to a few of my favourite bits… my two favourite gin liqueurs, and a little selection of all my favourite bits from Bettys. Lovely!
We also spent quite a lot of our time scouring garden centres in January; we decided that we would have a weekend of garden centre hopping, picking out lots of bits to really bring our garden to life… although I did a much better job of eating and buying gin, if I’m being honest. Nevertheless, we picked up loads of gorgeous new additions, which also helped to brighten a particularly grey month. I’m really, really excited for Spring now.
I also took a trip over to Wentworth last weekend to spend the afternoon with friends indulging in afternoon tea at Wentworth Garden Centre – I’ll do a full blog post on this place shortly, but it was such a nice way to spend the day, browsing the gorgeous shop, and stuffing our faces with cake and hot chocolate.
Actually, as much as I’ve had a bit of a moan about January in this post, when I reflect on it by writing this, it wasn’t as much of a rubbish time as I thought it was… however, I’m now very much ready for Spring – I get so excited by the seasonal change, and also enjoying everything Valentines Day has to bring, like I say I even loved it when I was single, because who can not like a day dedicated to the colour pink, chocolate, and love?
