Hello hello dear reader, happy Wednesday.

Is it me or is this this the most Thursday-ish Wednesday ever?

I honestly sat down on Monday night to watch the first episode of Beef (anyone seen it?! I’m a bit late to the game but it seems great so far!) and I thought to myself, “wow, this has been a long week.”

On Monday.

I’m not even sure why, as I had the most relaxing weekend I have had in MONTHS. It was exactly what I needed. I did a parkrun and ran a few urgent errands on Saturday and Sunday morning and then spend the rest of the time relaxing with James watching the footage. We do it every year and it’s unintentionally become a little tradition now.

But I don’t know, my body is apparently so un-used to having time off to slow down, rest and recover that it’s making me pay for it this week! I seem to be waking up every day not quite knowing what day it is, and I’m having a mixture of terrible nightmares and really weird vivid dreams. Can’t really blame the new moon because that was weeks ago, so who knows what the hell is going on?

Anyway, gotta keep this one short and snappy this week as I have a work call at 8pm so got to get this out – please excuse any spelling or grammar errors! I promised myself that moving forwards, no matter how rushed it is, I would make the time to write this blog. It is a form of self-care after all and we’re on a roll prioritising that lately!

I have some AMAZING, seratonin-boosting stuff for you this week!!!

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Reading

if life is a game, these are the rules

I’m still reading it, and I’m really enjoying it. Another cog in my increasingly well-oiled self-care machine is to prioritise, no matter what, reading before bed. Even if it’s just a few pages, or in my case lately a page, because I just fall straight asleep.

I’m really, really enjoying this book. I mentioned it last week, it’s essentially a 10 lessons for life book. 10 small but practical changes you can make on your outlook that will improve your life. Because don’t we all need a bit of life improvement when it comes to our outlooks?!

No? Just me?

Well then.

The book is littered with lessons for life but also shares anecdotes of real-life people who have also gone through this lesson. I really love hearing about those because whilst they’re not all applicable to me or my life, I do find that I see myself in many of them. And I enjoy learning about how these people have changed their outlooks and life experiences as a result.

I know self-help and personal development gets a bit of a bad rap, but it’s my work and therefore has been my life for the last three and a bit years, and I have found it both enjoyable and transformational. This book is just one of many that I’ll probably recommend over time, but for now it’s a cracking little easy-read. You can find it here if you’re interested (and no I’m not on Amazon affiliate so I don’t get diddly squat if you buy it.) I would have signposted you to bookstore.org to be honest but they don’t have it on there.

Watching

GLASTONBURY 2023 FOOTAGE

I don’t know about you but no matter how much I try, I never get Glasto tickets so I have to resort to the next best thing, spending the weekend drinking dark fruits, eating junk food, and watching it live on TV.

The coverage is pretty good and seems to get better year on year, and I loved spending the weekend flicking through the different stages to catch as many of the different acts as possible. If you don’t do this, I’d definitely recommend it next year. The live footage has much more choice through BBC iPlayer than it does afterwards.

Anyway, there was one particular video I just had to share with you – it’s only one song rather than an entire set you should watch (Fred Again..) but it was just brilliant. One of my favourite things about Glastonbury is the weird and wonderful and this video did not disappoint. Enjoy this video of Sparks ft. Cate Blanchett with The Girl is Crying in Her Latte. SO GOOD!!!!

This amazing video

I tried my best to embed this video into the post, but between WordPress being shit and Instagram having all sorts of weird rules, it’s easier just to give you the link to the video here and let you go over to Insta and watch it there.

Absolutely ADORE this woman’s energy she was so excited just to be on TV and hadn’t realised the question on the screen. Just love the entire clip to be honest, so infectious!!!

Listening

fred again..

I’ve been obsessed with Fred Again ever since I heard him for the first time about 2 years ago during yet another lockdown. I used to listen to a Music for Concentration style playlist on Spotify and I found myself enjoying certain songs, then every time I went to save it, I realised it was ALWAYS the same artist – Fred Again. I listened to his slower stuff in lockdown, and over the years have been introduced to his actual music – his faster stuff – and I honestly adore him.

I recently found an EP of his with all the songs I used to listen to around that time, it’s so relaxing and beautiful so I figured I’d share it with you in case you’re in need of some chillout.

Before You Go…

I just had to share this beautiful kindness. We’re getting our garden patio done at the minute, and I decided to post on the housing estate Facebook group to see if anybody wanted the garden paving stones that came with the house as we would be getting rid of them. I see it done a fair bit and know that people want to extend their patio areas without having to fork out for an entire new patio so I figured it couldn’t hurt, and if nobody took them we’d just add them to the skip we have overflowing on our drive right now!

So I posted on the group, they got snapped up right away and that was that. Until last night, a couple who took some of the flags brought round a bottle of prosecco to say thank you!!! I was absolutely gobsmacked – I felt really caught off guard because we literally just gave them some paving stones that would have gone to the tip, it didn’t warrant a thank you and definitely not a gift! But they took the time out their day to not only collect them but bring us a bottle around. I thought it was one of the most kindest, loveliest things ever. I couldn’t believe it (and of course I was VERY grateful as I always am for a bit of alcohol!!!)

There are wonderful people in the world. It can be hard to remember sometimes in the era of social media and everything feeling a bit shit sometimes, but this beautiful action really gave me a boost. So lovely.

Anyway, I’m off now – have a wonderful week ahead and I’ll see you next Wednesday!