The little things, #2.

Since my first 'little things' post I've been trying to keep up the habit of immersing myself more frequently into the smaller, lesser noticed moments of joy. When positivity becomes habit I truly believe that life moves at a far more pleasant pace, or at least it does around these parts anyway. 

For that reason I'm going to make these posts a frequent thing, and keep my head firmly in the moment, taking notice of the specks of happiness that grace my every day. 

Here are the things that have kept a smile on my face this week. 

1 // Adam's incredible kindness. His gift is placed next to the bed until I find a frame for it, so I can't help but think of it every day. It served as a reminder of what a wonderfully thoughtful man I've bagged myself. I've since downloaded a stargazing app on my iPad and seen where my star is, which was an amazing experience. 

2 // Seb getting more and more comfortable with us. He's even come out for a little run on his wheel whilst we've been watching telly this week which is a first, he usually waits for us to go to bed. I love knowing that he's growing with us and watching our strong six month old boy develop every day. 

3 // Really taking the time to enjoy a good book. I'm reading 'The Book Thief' before I watch the film and I'm really enjoying it, although it's written differently to anything I've ever read before. I've also joined Alyssia's kindle book club which I'm excited to get involved in to kickstart my reading goal for the month. 

4 // Finally having a diagnosis as to what's been wrong the past few months. I have a severe case of labrynthitis - cool name, not cool symptoms. It gives me pretty much permanent feelings of vertigo but having a name foor it and knowing the next step have put me in a far better place mentally. 

5 // Lying on Mumma's bed for hours on end on my sick days, feeling sorry for ourselves and talking about life. Mumma S has become my best friend in adulthood and our conversations have become so fulfilling and enlightening. She's really looked after me these past few days (as per usual) and I'm feeling very well taken care of. 

6 // Snatching a few days of quality time with my sister when she came home for some family time. We didn't get as much time together as I'd have liked but it was good to see her at all when we were expecting to be apart until Easter. 

7 // Lighting my two new candles and reading my book in bed under freshly clean sheets, after a long hot bath. I honestly think there are few better feelings. 

8 // Taking Ellie, Adam's parents' dog, on a thoroughly muddy walk. It ended in one wet dog, a ruined pair of leggings and cowboy boots caked in dried dirt but it also ended in one smiley pup and a very satisfied couple. I can't wait for us to have our own four legged friend so we can enjoy such afternoons all the time. 

9 // Being a part of the team organising our work charity day for Sports Relief. I've never done anything for charity before and I'm really enjoying coming up with ideas to raise us a whole heap of money for a worthy cause. 

10 // The feeling that I'm finally starting to get somewhere with my finances - it's going incredibly slowly, but it's still going. Working full-time is becoming very fulfilling when I can see the reward of getting up every morning. 

What are the little things that made you smile this week? 

"It is not in the stars to hold our destiny but ourselves".

Sometimes, someone does something for you that is so incredibly unexpected and beautifully thought out that you can’t help but get emotional at the mere thought of it. Adam did something like that for me this week and I’m still finding myself tear up a little when I describe it to people.

Before I start, you should know that I grumble at Adam a lot for not listening to me. I sort of assume he isn’t if he doesn’t answer me, or if he’s doing something else, and when he gave me this gift all of my doubts about what he notices in our relationship fell away. In fact, I’ve been feeling incredibly understood ever since.

One day last week I came home feeling physically and mentally exhausted. It had been one of those days where you find it really hard to fathom how you’ll get even half of your workload done and time is going too fast for the amount you’ve still left to do. I climbed into bed feeling quietly pleased with my efforts, but absolutely knackered after working my absolute hardest…and then Adam said those beautiful words “there’s a present over there for you”.

The long box that the gift came in gave a huge clue away but having never heard of the company that it came from, I still had absolutely no idea. When I opened the box I was still completely oblivious – inside was full of silver string and white feathers, and I could see that there were two rolled up sheets of paper.

When I finally stopped marvelling at the contents of the box and unrolled the sheets of paper, a hand flew to my mouth and I muttered “you didn’t?!” – it was most definitely the most out there, incredible gift he could’ve thought of.

That’s right, he’d named a star for me! It gets more amazing and a hell of a lot more emotional, too. He’d named the star Arthur, the name of my Grandad who passed away before Adam and I met. Not only that but my nickname in the family is ‘princess’ and Grandad’s star is in the constellation ‘Andromeda’ which is named for the mythical princess.

Honestly? I had no idea he even remembered my old man’s name, let alone enough to name a piece of the sky after him. What’s best about it is that when I assume he’s not noticing me, he is. Most evenings I dawdle between the car and the door because I’m so busy craning my neck to look up at the sky, murmuring “it’s so beautiful”.

As ridiculous as it sounds I’ve found myself comforted over the last few days. My certificate tells me the exact co-ordinates of my star - simply downloading an iPhone app would show me the basic area that it’s in. Grandad doesn’t have a gravestone or anything like that and so there’s nowhere that I can really go to ‘talk’ to him. Now, not only can I gaze up at the sky, but I can be content with knowing that a piece of him is up there looking down at me.

Monthly goals // March

I’ve never appreciated the arrival of March as much as I do this year. Winter has long outstayed its welcome, even in my world, and I've been desperately craving the feel of sunshine on my cheeks. Finally this week we were granted a proper taste of spring and I’ve reveled in every moment of it.


It’s been a tough week to be honest, but I’m confident that I kicked its butt. I haven’t felt like that in a really long time and it’s making me approach the coming week a whole lot more differently. I’ve been thinking about what I want to achieve this month and the fresh arrival of spring has made me keen to get some goals in place, to make the very most of the next twenty-nine days.

Here are the ten goals I’ll be working on in the month of March…

Read a book a week // I haven't spent nearly enough time reading recently, and when I do its slow going. I love the feeling that getting lost in an incredible book gives me and I feel all the more inspired when I'm immersed in great literature. I've picked up a whole pile of new books this week (Asda's deals were too good to pass up) so it's about time I got around to throwing myself into them.

Write, write, write // On the blog, in a journal, in notebooks – just write. Words are my happy place and I’ve been feeling so inspired over the last few days that I want to get this jumble of thoughts onto paper and see where that leads me.

Be less irritable // I’ve been noticing myself get more and more snappy over the last couple of months and it’s making me a lot ruder than I mean to be. It’s something that I absolutely despise in other people so it’s something that I really want to cut out. I’m going to make a huge effort to be kinder and talk to people how I’d like to be spoken to.

Write a 101 in 1001 list that I’m really happy with // I know, I know. I wrote one not long ago but I rushed it in a bid to get it on the blog as quickly as possible. I want to take some real time in thinking up goals that I really want to achieve over the next couple of years.

Watch at least 10 movies // Adam and I went to the cinema to watch ‘Wolf of Wall Street’ last week and it made me realise how much I miss watching films. Whether it’s at home or in the cinema, I want to make more of an effort to immerse myself in other worlds this month.

Start looking after my body // I’m overweight, I’m miserable with it, and I’m noticing the health implications. I want to fix that way before it’s too late, I want to enjoy my body for the rest of my adult years and it’s going to take some drastic action now to do it.

Spend more time on the blog // I love this little space and I love the blogging community, I want to spend a little more time making the very most of it.

Be more mindful of my finances // Now all of my bills and such are paid, I have a real idea of the “disposable income” I’ve got for the month. I’m aiming not to spend more than £100 a week, but that’s the very maximum. I’d like to keep it way under that this month, and I’m going to be take all of the necessary steps to start being a whole lot more mindful of what I spend my money on.

Take more pictures // I’m enjoying my life so very much at the moment, it’d be a real shame to have no pictures of the time that I finally found joy in the littlest of things.

Keep working my hardest at the day job // This week I felt incredibly appreciated at work and it was such a good feeling, especially when I then got to celebrate with my team at the pub on Friday evening. I’m coming up to my three month mark which means passing my probation period and finally being a permanent member of the department. I enjoy it so much more than anything else I’ve done and the people there are amazing, so I’d love to end the month knowing that I’ve put my all into being there. There’s no point doing something half-hearted, after all.

What are you hoping to achieve this March?

The little things.

I took a little time off work this week for my birthday and I am so, so glad that I did. It’s been a tough few months around these parts and I’m ashamed to say that I’ve not handled it very well at all. My week off couldn’t come soon enough and in the end, a little time to myself and soaking up the love of my nearest and dearest has done me the world of good.

At the beginning of the week I made a promise to myself not to waste it. That didn’t mean doing something every minute of the day, in fact I did very little, but to really take note of all the things that made me smile.

Since I love lists, I thought I’d make one of all the moments that made my heart soar this week.

1 // Wearing my cowboy boots often and everywhere. In the office I have to wear quite plain black shoes so it was really nice to get back into my comfort zone for longer than a few hours.

2 // Between eight and nine o’clock every evening we get Sebastian (our pygmy hedgehog) out for bonding time. Usually he explores and runs around for a little while, before curling up in one of our laps and dozing ready for his nightly duty of running on his wheel until dawn. A few nights ago he settled on my shoulder and when I moved the blanket a little later, I was met with this beautiful and oh-so-cute-it-hurt-my-heart sight.

3 // Last Sunday Adam and I took his parents’ dog Ellie for a walk and it was so lovely, strolling through the woods and talking about our various projects. I love hearing his creative ideas for uni and it was really nice to catch up properly on how he’s doing.

4 // Having lots and lots of time to sit in bed in my pyjamas reading, drinking tea and watching Adam work.

5 // My kid sister arriving home this weekend and promptly filling the living room with balloons and insisting on singing “a very happy un-birthday” to me because she couldn’t be here on the day. She’s also cooking a steak dinner tonight, and we’ve got kid’s movies and snacks – I love it when she comes home.

6 // Drinking tequila with my best and oldest friend and her girlfriend on my birthday. I love seeing one of the most important people in my life so loved and well taken care of.

7 // That same best friend sending me a video of my god-daughter singing “happy birthday Auntie Dino” on Monday. I couldn’t help but tear up a little, especially when she blew kisses. For the record, my godgirl is freakin’ adorable.

8 // My girl Sam and her daughter Aria coming for a tea date on my birthday. It was so good to really have the time to sit and catch up with someone who is so important to me.

9 // The moment I decided to take full control of my life and rid it of the negative influences that had held me back for a little too long.

10 // Feeling the sunshine on my face again, no matter how brief. The mornings are getting brighter, the evenings that bit longer and I’ve seen the occasional patch of flowering daffodils around our neighbourhood. It might still be chilly but at least there’s a hint at spring arriving.