Summer Holiday

Hydrangeas in our garden - I grew them from cuttings - so proud!

Even though I have been back at work for three weeks now, my mind is still on holiday.  I’ve not been able to string three words together to form a post!  Instead I’ve just been enjoying… being.  Our weather is stunningly beautiful – one blue-skied warm-breeze day after another.  I’m sorry if I’m showing off if you are in the depths of winter where you are – you can pay me back in July.

It’s nice to feel like we are still on holiday whilst still going to work.  And one thing I forget about January is that it’s our business’s second busiest month of the year after December.  For some reason I think that after we’ve gotten December sorted I can relax.  And I can, but not until February.

So January is one long stretch of work and relaxation with the backdrop of a sub-tropical paradise.  I’ve been reading all my glorious library books which I have overstocked myself with.  There is one whole bookshelf at home filled with them and I’m loving working my way through the queue.

Plus I’ve started a knitting project and that’s fun, even though it’s slightly out-of-season.  It will be in-season when it is completed.

Something I have re-remembered lately has been thrilling me too – it’s the transformative quality of finishing little tasks.  All those half-done things that get you down, and sometimes they don’t even take that long to do.  But when it’s busy it is all too easy to notice them (yet again) and pass them on by.

One big thing that has been on my back for several months is getting together all our tax stuff.  Because it’s big and once a year it’s hard to get started.  I know I’m not alone here.  And even though I am relatively organised it is still an ordeal.  And now that I’ve completed it and handed it in to our accountant, I wonder what I was putting it off for since it doesn’t seem that bad.  But I do the same year after year.  I will have to remember the empowering feeling of accomplishment and freedom when it’s done so I don’t let the torture of it hanging over me go on for too long next time.

And simple tidying of cluttery piles makes you feel amazing too.  Since we came back from holiday and launched ourselves into January at work, home has been a little neglected (on the inside anyway, outside is going good, with lovely watered and happy growing things).  Yesterday I came home early from work and tidied and vacuumed and I feel like a new person.  I slept so well last night!

And that leads me onto another thing.  I’ve been having late (for me) nights lately and I’m craving early nights.  I heard today that ‘sleep makes you skinny’ and that it makes you crave sugar less and therefore you lose weight when you get 7-8 hours’ sleep minimum.  And if it’s one thing I could do with, it’s craving sugar less.  So I’m off to wash my face and potter ideally at 9pm, definitely no later than 9.30pm so I have time to read before lights out at 10pm.

So I really just wanted to call in and say hi, in this Seinfeld-esque post about nothing.  And for the season I’m in, that’s probably exactly what I need - nothing, to ‘just be’ (when at home anyway).

Before I go, if you haven’t already heard about TonyaLeigh’s French Kiss Life Club, I’d definitely recommend you to sign up (it’s free to join).  Since being introduced to Tonya’s website several months ago by two of my very dear international blog friends, I’ve been entranced by her rose-tinted view on the world. 

I even joined Tonya for her ‘Slim, Chic and Savvy’ programme late last year and it was truly fabulous, well worth the money spent.  I’ve already joined the FKL Club and the first newsletter had so many good ideas in it.  #frenchkisslife

See you next week!