Hello. I was so excited to capture this heart-shaped space of sky in the clouds for you today! After I found you a heart-shaped tree the other day. Love is in the air! It’s a bit of an elongated heart, but a heart none the less.
The virus situation has got me doing some thinking about life, what I’m all about, what I’m trying to achieve, where my happy place is. I’m not usually one for making New Year’s Resolutions. I generally feel I work myself hard enough without adding extra pressure to achieve more. My New Year’s Resolutions in recent years have included “dry January” which I successfully completed, “have more fun” which I honestly can’t remember if I did or not, and “be more adventurous in my choice of alcoholic drinks while out on the town”. This may seem like a strange resolution, and it made my husband laugh, but I felt I was stuck in a rut of only ever having white wine or lager and there were probably many other delicious tipples out there so I should push myself out of my comfort zone. We are all creatures of habit and I think it’s good to have a routine, but not to get too entrenched in one’s own habits, some of which you may not actually like and can’t remember why you started them in the first place.
So, for no apparent reason except for a lot of lockdown soul searching recently, I have come up with my five year plan. I know life usually makes other plans for you when you make plans, and also I am wary of making my goals too specific. For I know myself, I am a hard taskmaster and if I do not achieve specifics I have set for myself I am likely to beat myself up about that, so I’m not doing that. These are things I think I should realistically be able to achieve. I read somewhere once that happiness lies in setting yourself achievable goals, so here goes…. well, in a minute.. just got to do the next stage of the sausage pie for dinner now… back soon.
I’m back! Covered in flour and so is the kitchen (don’t tell David). The sausage pie is from Nigel Slater’s book above which was a wedding present from my sister. It is actually sausage and potato pie. I have made it many many times and it has never disappointed us. We’ve had it hot, we’ve had it cold, it’s so good with the homemade crumbly shortcrust pastry on the top, glistening onions and sliced potatoes inside. Why is it that when a pie is a bit misshapen it makes it look even more enticing? So hungry now but I digress, here are my very important goals for the next 5 years:
1 To keep working whilst maintaining the balance between work and looking after my family.
2 To help my elderly parents and other family members as much as I can without making myself ill.
3 To look after my own health, physical and mental. Try to eat healthily and exercise regularly. To keep the strong connection with nature I have developed during lockdown.
4 To be the best wife, daughter, sister, auntie, friend, employee that I can be.
5 To continue creative pursuits such as blogging, writing and photography wherever my creative journey takes me, without putting too much pressure on myself. Explore different forms of creativity.. eg art, sewing, crafts, food, writing.
6 To try to live a bit more sustainably. This includes growing vegetables, reusing things where possible, continuing my journey towards a capsule wardrobe.
7 Music – carry on with playing/relearning the piano.
8 Financial – to maintain a healthy balance between spending for now and saving for retirement. To improve my knowledge of our finances instead of leaving it all to David. To improve the security of my passwords.
9 Food – to carry on cooking and learning about cooking techniques, food from other cultures and new ingredients. To explore historic food writers and recipes.
10 Travel – I have no specific goal for travelling except that I would definitely like to do some more both in the UK and abroad, once we can. Possibly to consider doing some travel writing.
Overall I aspire to live a simple, uncluttered life full of kindness, love and creativity without being daunted by the challenges of life.
Right, that sums it all up. I’m sorted. How about you?
The Windsor Waffle 