I started blogging in 2014 when the industry generally consisted of Zoella, ‘What’s in My Bag?’ posts and other fairly wholesome content. Although I missed out on the prime Tumblr days, I found my people a little later via blogging instead. It began as a way to share my silly little days out and quickly evolved into a core part of my life. I formed some cherished friendships, got to take part in some amazing events, got chatted up by a celebrity old enough to be my dad (when he began to unbutton his shirt, his horrified PR quickly ushered me out the room, thank fuck), poured my deepest, most v ..read more

It’s around this time of year when I drag myself out of my self-imposed hibernation. March has brought us some beautiful pre-spring days, which make the whole thing a little easier. I’ve ramped up the tarot recently, maybe out of some misplaced need for comfort and guidance. The Empress card has been giving me a solid nudge to spend time in nature after cropping during almost every single reading. Either that or I really need to work on my shuffling skills. Even if divination isn’t your thing, there’s no denying the power of the great outdoors and the incredible impact it can have on our mind ..read more

It’s such a cliche that February flies by in what feels like the blink of an eye, but here we are, facing a brand-new month already. I do enjoy the quiet promise of lighter days ahead as Imbloc rolls around and reminds us that we’re officially on the other side of the harsh winter months. I celebrated with lots of candles and an evening of quite reflection. Here’s a little round up of what else I got up to in February: Travel Most of our plans in February were scuppered due to the extreme weather. Last weekend, we planned to visit family in Chester, however, a snowstorm had other ideas. Adam a ..read more

January is notorious for being one of the most unpopular months, with good reason. As someone who openly struggles through those dark dreary mornings and thinks human beings should allow ourselves a period of hibernation until spring, January 22 has actually been a pretty decent month for me. I have been hammering the vitamin supplements and forcing myself to move more, which could be a factor. When I was working from home during lockdown, I got in the habit of taking a 30 min walk each morning before logging on. The positive impact this had on my mental and physical health was obvious within ..read more

There’s nothing quite like a warming homemade soup to help soothe the soul and fill the gap on a cold, dreary lunch break. This recipe was eventually born from years of little tweaks, adding and deducting ingredients until I found one I was truly happy with. Tangy but not too acidic, I think the addition of cream cheese was my winning moment. Enjoyed best with a wedge of crusty bread or two. Ingredients – serves 3-4 12 large vine tomatoes 2 carrots 1 small potato, skin on 2 pointed / sweet peppers 1 red onion 1 whole bulb of garlic 30g fresh basil 1 tinned chopped tomatoes 1tsp white sugar 2tb ..read more

I haven’t done a chatty blog post for ages so thought this was a good time to have a post-Christmas brain dump. I’m fortunate to be able to take annual leave at this time of year, so have had a festive whirlwind week of family visits, eating too much, and allowing myself some much-needed rest time. Christmas Day was slightly different for us this year. It’s the first time in 21 years that I didn’t spend Christmas Eve / Christmas morning with my girls. They’re both grown-ups now and it’s a pleasure seeing them create their own new twist on our established festive traditions. I’ve never really b ..read more

It’s National Grief Awareness Week (2 – 8 December 2021) and I’ve had this lurking in my drafts for ages so thought it was a good time to share. Be warned, there is no real rhyme or reason to this particular blog post. The truth is, it started off as an Insta caption but ended up far too wordy, naturally, so I moved it here. Grief is an incredibly surreal and deeply personal experience. You can read all the advice and listen to the stories but ultimately, it’s something you navigate alone. It’s something we don’t often candidly talk about either. There are many types of grief. It’s a complex m ..read more

It’s become somewhat of a tradition now for me and Adam to book a minibreak for our wedding anniversary. Although the pandemic has kept us closer to home than we’d planned for the past two years, we didn’t let that dampen our celebrations. York is a city that we’ve mutually come to know and love, so seemed like the obvious choice for this year’s trip. We stayed at The Churchill, a Grade II listed hotel about 10 mins from the Minster. I’d also pre-booked a few activities for us so after check-in, we headed into the city. This is a condensed version of what we got up to during our three-day stay ..read more

Last month, Adam and I spent three glorious days in one of our favourite UK cities to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary. I’d planned a loose itinerary for us; even though we’ve been to York a lot in the past, I still didn’t feel like we’d seen everything it had to offer so wanted to make sure we made the most of our time there. When it came to booking a guided tour, I opted for Invisible Cities. Lucie and I attended a Manchester tour with Danny last year and I was glad to have the opportunity to hear about the city from someone who had viewed it through a very different lens than my own. I ..read more

*AD | gifted tickets The last time I went to Bongo’s Bingo was for the 2019 Christmas Special. I saw Dene Michael of Black Lace fame perform ‘Agadoo’, danced to a hardcore version of ‘All I Want for Christmas’, and laughed for about four hours straight with my girls. If I’d have known that was going to be my last social event before the pandemic hit, I’d have definitely stayed out longer too. Not to be deterred by social distancing, the Bongo’s Bingos team quickly pivoted and their free virtual bingo nights were a highlight for us last year, providing some much-needed light-hearted entertainme ..read more