The Saturday Update

We've had a fab productive last week of the holidays here. Isabella went back to nursery on Tuesday which gave us a bit more routine as well as peace and quiet! She has loved being back among her friends, it bakances her out.

We've used the time to get the house sorted out, Christmas tidied away for another year and our official / financial paperwork done and sent.

Joshua's settling more and even slept through one night! He's getting more alert every day.

I did lots of creating - one thing each day and I'm still excited about my goals and one little word this year.

I'm going to miss having so much family time next week but I am looking forward to getting into a routine with my little man.

Links!

My next DIY sewing project.

Need an update for the new year?

Start thinking about next year early.

That delicious recipe again.

Let's put some good karma out there.

And a social update too.

Wanderlust.

Another new blog I'm enjoying.

Made me laugh, and cry.

Self-help is so important.

Recipe: Chocolate Berry Dessert

I tried this new dessert from cupofjo this week. It's easy, quick and delicious. It's also quite heavy so you could reduce the recipe or invite people round!

Ingredients:
170g butter
198g chocolate
200g sugar
3 eggs
45g flour
1 cup frozen berries (defrosted)

Melt the butter and chocolate. Combine all of the ingredients. Transfer to a baking tin and move to a preheated oven for twenty minutes at 200°c.

We served with vanilla ice cream to cut through the bitterness.

Netflix

After some consideration, Nico signed us up for a trial month with Netflix. It's been less than a week and we're converts.

There's way more choice than I thought. So far we've binge watched The Crown and one and a half series of Prison Break. It really is infectious, especially since it automatically starts the next episode.

We'll almost definitely be signing up for good, I'm really looking forward to new series. I'll be looking for something girly to watch while I'm feeding Joshua or knitting when Nico's back at work.

I also like that you can set up different accounts. Isabella's is PIN protected so she can't get into anything she shouldn't.

If you're looking for me...

Goals!

I spent a lot of time in December thinking about what I want to make of 2017. I'll be on maternity leave this year. It's longer than I had with Isabella and it will be less hectic as we're not moving house. I'm grateful for both of these things.

I'm a fan of Ali Edwards' project One Little Word. I lost track of it last year but I'm planning on being more focused this time and I've chosen the word 'create'. I'm really excited about this.

Create can cover so many different aspects of life and I made a little mind map yesterday. I want to continue to create things through my crafts, I want to create homemade meals for my family, I want to create a happy, healthy home environment, I want to create better relationships with friends and family, I want to create healthy habits so that I can do all of the above.

I aim to create something every day, no matter how small and in doing all of this, I hope to create some happy memories with my family.

My monthly goals are going to reflect these intentions this year and here are January's:

• Try two new recipes.
• Start a crochet course.
• Restart Project Life.
• Put away the Christmas decorations.
• Eat my five a day.
• Write two letters.

Make it Monday - January Birthday Cards

Here's a preview of this month's birthday cards. I've stuck with my November / Christmas theme of the brown cards with black letter stamps. I still love the effect but I am planning on getting more creative this year. I'll be sharing more on that this week.

2017!

Happy New Year!