Idle Waters: Quaint Cottage Countryside Retreat
Why Solo Travel & Why Now? What Solo Trips Mean To *Us*
Unplugged Retreat: A ‘No Phones’ Countryside Break
New Home Tour
Ello ello! Before we jump into a medley of food and wine and days spent working from home, let me explain the persisting radio silence from my end. This new website I've been yabbering on about for weeks is - *fingers crossed* - soon to be finished, so I've been shooting, writing, and prepping ideas for when the final product goes live. Although when you read 'writing', consider it with a pinch of salt; my period turned up a week early which always sends my creative disposition into a downward spiral, so as much as I'm struck by light bulb moments whilst hunched over the kitchen sink, my ability to tease these modest breaths out into considered conversation is strained, to say the least. Nevertheless I'm still beavering away. I always find the week before my period to be much more challenging than the actual period itself - something about the drop in estrogen, right? Explains why I cried so fucking hard at the final episode of Fleabag...
MONDAY
Guess who had a Monday hangover?! Me! One glass of wine at the pub turned into two, then three, then four, and culminated in myself and Caitlin (Keiran's sister) sitting on floor eating footlong Subways from the bag. Felt slightly worse for wear on Monday morning, so I text Hannah and told her I wouldn't be around until 10am, then jumped back into bed. Still felt like a bag of crap when I got up though, so I forced an egg sandwich down myself and took it slowly. Brush teeth, wash body, put on some concealer to mask the regret. Eventually I made it out of the day, and hey, what do you know, after a little bit of coffee and some human conversation, I came to. Hannah and I took some photos in town before I came back home and spent the rest of the day working with my assistant (Charlie, Keir's family dog). After that, a bath and an early night.
TUESDAY
Tuesday saw a last-minute change of plans. I was supposed to go into London for a few meetings, but by the time 8am rolled around and I'd popped open my laptop to quickly browse through some emails, two of my appointments had cancelled which just left one floater in the afternoon. I try not to travel into the city for only one meeting as the train journeys take up a fair bit of time, and being a sole-trader, I also have to consider the cost of travel in terms of cash flow, so I ended up rearranging my final meeting and deciding to work from home instead. It was such a dull day that I only have two photos to share: one of me with a frizzy-panic of hair, and one of a new disposable cup I was sent by JOCO. Fun, huh?
WEDNESDAY
My Nan and Grandad have a favourite pub just outside of Ipswich which they visit most weeks for a discounted pensioners' lunch. I accompanied them last Wednesday as a little pre-celebration for my Nanny's birthday; they live about a 35/40-min walk away from my house, so I used the opportunity to get some much-needed fresh air and to stretch my legs, stopping at Applaud (a local café) along the way for a latte and a few hours of work.
After eating and drinking tea and perusing my Nan's garden for the most professional tips any avid gardener could hope for, I walked home and jumped in the bath. I haven't been reading nearly as much as I should, which is frustrating because it directly affects how consistently I'm able to write articles I'm proud of and how easily I'm able to process and flesh out ideas in my head. I thought maybe a mid-week bath would be the perfect opportunity to get stuck in to Ordinary People by Diana Evans, my latest project. But no such luck; Keiran returned home as soon as the water stopped running, and gleefully popped his body right down into my warm, suddsy bath. Little git. By this time my pre-period was welllllllll in its swing, so after stressing about how LITTLE-TIME-I-GET-TO-MYSELF-TO-READ-MY-BOOK, I popped outside into the garden to care for my flock. Being out there with the flowers and the birds and the peace and the solitude, even for only five minutes, seems to zen me the fuck out. I know I harp on about gardening time and time again, but it's such a useful and rewarding avenue for practicing mindfullness. Plus you get stuff you can actually eat!
THURSDAY
Finally, time to go and do some ~ proper ~ stuff. And by proper stuff, I mean jumping on a train with Hannah to visit a few press days in London. Easter Holidays struck with their busy, vibrant vengeance, however, and the first off-peak train was so packed that we ended up sitting on the floor between carriages for the entire journey. Hannah still managed to do some writing and I some reading, so it wasn't a total shit-show of a journey, but still a bit shit.
We made a beeline for the Next Press Day and took a goosey at the new summer bits, including the sustainable cotton collection which I was pleased to see they were making a big deal of. It's all well and good for household names to push their eco-ranges and the steps that they're taking to be more green, but if these initiatives aren't spotlighted and given as much, if not MORE airtime than the regular lines, then I think it falls flat. They also had a cracking mini vegan sausage bap on offer, so that was a bonus.
After that it was over to La Redoute to browse what they had coming up, the most notable of which for me was of course their beautiful homeware. It was rug and rattan heaven. An absolute delight. We then moseyed over to Wahaca for a late lunch, before taking a few snaps and catching an afternoon train home.
FRIDAY
TGIF bitches! Although not really, because by this point my pre-period mood was so ferociously low that I was sure every decision I'd ever made in my life had been the wrong one, and I was now destined to live in regret and fear for as long as my squashed body could carry me. Yep, very dramatic. As is often the best thing to do when such a mood strikes, I got up and out of the house, heading to Starbucks for a coffee and some quiet work time. Nothing of any particular interest to show you here. Just a quick mirror snap before I left the house, and the 'K' locket from Carrie Elizabeth Jewellery I wear whenever I'm in an especially foul mood. I like to carry a little bit of Keiran with me on those days. It's nice to have him close to my heart, and it helps me to feel a little warmer.
