Eight Items Of Note: What I've Enjoyed This Month
A list of things that have caught my attention, fallen into my bag or made me happy. Including (but not limited to) garden flowers, small plates, multi tasking exercise and French men who don't argue.
It’s been a busy month but there has been plenty that has happened to make me happy, despite the typical British weather that can’t decide if we’re having a Hot Girl Summer or a Noahs Ark style five week deluge. I am desperate for the sun to stick; there is nothing more mood boosting than waking in the morning to a blue sky and walking outside into warmth. Weather aside, we have had an uncommonly social month which doesn’t happen often. The older I get, the more that I make an effort to be LESS social - forget FOMO; JOMO is the only tune that we sing to in our house. We are REALLY fond of the sofa. And the TV. And food (often small plates of food, more of that below). And wine (again, ditto). But despite our love of home, we do occasionally see other people and are mostly always glad that we did.
May was a month of visits, including a trip to Caversham for Judith, my mother in laws, birthday followed by more family members coming here to York. We took multiple trips into the City, where the tourist season has no beginning nor end and neither, indeed, does the wedding season. There is no time of year when you can hit York for the day without encountering at least five Brides To Be and their entourages complete with ‘insert name here HEN PARTY’ t-shirts on their way to The Slug & Lettuce for a bottomless brunch. The other day I arrived home from London and drove over the bridge to the sight of three blow up men being carried over the shoulders. And, of course, the Stag Parties who, in a historical nod to the location, often dress as Vikings, although their penchant for a blow up accessory is just as common. Ah, the joys of living in a pretty City are multiple.
Okay, so back to what I’ve enjoyed and there has been much to lift my spirits and bring joy to my life this month. One of my favourite May events was the continued chatting for my Joy Of Stuff podcast which I am REALLY enjoying doing (you can tap the Podcast tab at the top to watch or listen) and I have one of my favourite female entrepreneurs en route for next weeks posting. But aside from the chat, here are Eight Items Of Note that have made me feel happy and ticked my boxes this month.
1. The Joy Of Picking My Own Flowers
When we moved into our house the garden was barren. Not a border in sight, although there was enough hedging to block out the sun. Over the last eight years, despite being a rather terrible and disinterested in general gardener, I have gradually added in borders and bushes which actually bring me quite a lot of joy. In the front garden, we added bricked borders next to the house which I filled with verbena and a variety of grasses which every year get huge and are super effective. Five years ago, I planted two wisteria against the original brick wall and one has flowered for the first time this year which I was way too excited about. I am not ashamed to say that when I decided what to plant, it was purely based on what I would be able to use in the house and this year, after a long time growing, it is all coming to fruition.
There’s two eucalyptus trees (which grow crazy fast and need to be cut right down regularly) which provide me with an abundance of branches all year round. Two huge hydrangeas which this year are promising loads of flowers (we live in Yorkshire so ours come out a lot later than in the South, ha). And finally, a peony bush which every year gives me at least 50 blooms - I cut these as soon as they are the size of a small satsuma and put them in water; they bloom completely in the house and I currently have four vases of peonies. DEEPLY satisfying whilst also not a penny being spent. Winning.
2. A Colourful Table
I have never been one for pattern in general, really, but recently I have fallen hard for patterned plates and dishes. I blame two things for this - Homesense for displaying their excellent mediterranean range right at the front of the entrance so that I can’t miss it and Habitat, for relaunching the Jackson splatter ware which I am slightly obsessed with. I worked with Habitat this month and in addition to the dinner service, I immediately popped down to Sainsburys and bought the salad bowl, platter and mini bowls for snacks and nibbles so that my summer table could be adorned with colour. There is much patterned excellence on the High Street this season - I’m also a big fan of the Orangery collection at John Lewis (ALL the greens and oranges) and the tonal stripes of the Mango stoneware pieces.
The weather, friends, is not looking particularly clement at the moment (although every now and then it gives it a good but unsuccessful bash) so I am here for ALL the pattern and colour on my dining table. I am a collector by nature and tableware is my weakest link - it is rare that I can pass by a pretty dish on the High Street on in the charity shops and not add it to my haul. It doesn’t have to fit in with a scheme; I get lots of joy from combining colours with abandon, finishing with bunches of greenery from the garden (see also my top tips from a few weeks ago, I’ll link). Mix it with what you’ve already got, layer it up, don’t worry about matchy matchy - the cohesion will be in the abundant joy that you get from seeing sunshine on your table, even if it’s not in the sky.
3. Nice White Shirts
I seem to have accumulated a few more of these this month. I am very much here for the white shirts, despite the fact that my normal day to day living does not work well with them in terms of keeping them clean (the other day I was white shirt resplendent to go to a friends for dinner, the final touch being the black mascara, the wand of which I then dropped right on to the front. Fuming). They go with EVERYTHING. Jeans, shorts, skirts, over dresses, under jumpers. Fully tucked, French tucked, worn loose, worn loose AND unbuttoned over a vest. Hell, even over your swimming costume on holiday. Basically, an all round winner and I am here for them, plus they’re an twelve month wearable non seasonal purchase so I would class, quite frankly, as an investment.
This month, I added two - a linen one from Mint Velvet and one from Other Stories which is more of a blouse than a shirt after being heavily influenced by a Pinterest photograph showing someone wearing similar. I am truly a marketeers dream, but it’s a good one and I would recommend. Side note: I also bought a grey marl vest at the same time to wear UNDER the shirts when open and will link that too - it’s a squarish neck which makes a change from the norm and is very flattering.
4. The E Word
Eighteen months ago, I started doing strength training which, as a woman of menopausal age, has been a total game changer. I am not in any way a natural gym goer. Not even close. Even after all this time, I still hate every moment of it. I feel great when I leave but that’s because I’m getting back in my car to come home for a coffee. But when I started, I could barely box step due to lack of strength in my legs. Now, I split squat and lunge with abandon, although I still can’t walk for three days afterwards.
Anyway, after proving to myself that I do have it in me, I am diversifying my exercise activity and have also taken up a yoga class. I can honestly say that I LOVE yoga. Yes, much of it is spent breathing on the floor which might have something to do with it but it’s also lots of balanced stretching and downward dogs which, thanks to my strength training, I appear to be able to undertake with a level of success. I leave the classes not offering praise to God that it’s over, but instead with a sense of calmness never before seen on a Sunday morning.
And in addition, I’ve started walking. Yes, I admit that this isn’t rocket science but I was forced into urgent action after one evening, I looked at the Health app on my phone and realised that I’d done only 400 steps. This is entirely due to the fact that, like many of us, I spend much of my life sitting at a desk. It’s also not helped by the fact that we have a dog who actively dislikes walking and will sit on his backside so you either have to a) drag him along or b) pick him up. However, we are lucky enough to have a treadmill so I’ve been doing an hour every morning from 8-9 (whilst watching TV which makes it less painful) which ticks those steps off for the day. Small steps (excuse the pun), but it’s making me feel much more onit.
5. 1980’s Eyebrow Update
I’ve had non existent eyebrows for the last 35 years, ever since I plucked them into oblivion as an early teen. In the 80’s, it was standard practice to have eyebrows drawn in a line with a pencil and no one blinked an eyelid but as the years have gone by, there is an entire demographic of people who wished they’d just bloody well left them alone, myself included. My own paltry brows were not assisted by undergoing chemotherapy treatment ten years ago which rendered them pretty much invisible so last month, I went to investigate the possibility of micro blading.
I had been put off by other peoples brows for years, faintly traumatised by slug like examples that had popped up on my social media and had kind of ruled it out. But my laziness at drawing them in meant that my face looked unbalanced; I noticed it in photographs and wasn’t really happy with it so decided to give it a go. Karen Betts (the founder of HD Brows and a medical tattoo specialist) invited me to go and try it out and I cannot even begin to tell you how it has changed my face. Key points of note: I showed her what I wanted, she showed me the colour they’d be, it didn’t hurt at all, I had to keep them dry for five days, they need to be done twice to get the final result and going forward, you need to protect them in the sun with a barrier cream. Life changing.
6. Drinking Less, Drinking Better. AKA Nicer.
This month, I have tried to drink less alcohol. This is totally and solely for the reason that it makes me feel 10000 x worse than it ever did when I was younger, and that’s it. That’s the reason. I LOVE wine. I love a pretty bottle, I love the opening of the bottle and I love the fact it signifies the end of the day/week/activity in general. Anyway, I have said before that unless I am going out somewhere, I now have a (kind of) rule that I don’t drink alcohol from Sunday to Thursday, a rule that I find fairly dismal but that means that I sleep a lot better, don’t wake in the night in a frantic, sleep anxiety driven sweat and that also means that I can sit at my desk at 8am without having to take two paracetamol. Sigh.
What this DOES mean that I feel that on the occasions I am having a glass, I can justify buying nicer wine. This month I headed to Aldi and bought a few bottles, all of which were excellent and even better, an excellent price. The first was their Nicolas De Montbart champagne which is not a new buy for me but is one that I feel I need to share as it’s DELICIOUS. At £13.99 a bottle, it’s worth it if you’re not drinking that much, plus (as my friend Kate told me this week), it’s proven that drinking bubbles limits the hangover - the carbon dioxide in the carbonation helps absorb the alcohol. Also tasty and an even better price at £9.49 is the Cremant De Bordeaux Rose which is a very easy sunshine drink when the weather is warm (I cannot drink Prosecco after a horrific incident seven years ago when I fell over on a dance floor after consuming excessively and ended up in A&E with a torn, blood spurting artery over my eye. The shame remains to this day). And finally, La Belle Rose which is a light and pale rose and is currently on special offer for £8.69. Oh, and one more - Tread Softly pale rose which I tried last week (available at Waitrose on offer for £7.99) is in the PRETTIEST bottle and also tastes like Summer (but only 10% alcohol). You’re welcome.
7. French Men Selling Houses
This month, I am continuing my quest to finish The Real Housewives Of Beverley Hills and am currently on Season 13. Much as I am enjoying it - for those in the know, the transformation of Kyle and Erikas new air of calmness is blowing my mind - I am quite looking forward to finishing it so that I can move on to pastures new. With that in mind, I started Season 4 of The Parisian Agency last week, after falling at the first hurdle watching Buying London (possibly the worst real estate programme I have seen to date, mostly because NO ONE in London dresses like that, plus the whole women arguing all the time about ‘who likes who more’ thing takes the feminist movement back about 50 years).
Anyway, the Kretz family have nailed it, as always. Martin and Valentine not only dress normally, but also appear to know absolutely everything about everything, in all countries across the globe, plus sell shit loads of houses. They barely argue and if they do, it’s not about who likes who more as they all love each other equally. And the houses are SO NICE, hardcore aspirational (the episode with the interior designer who had a white floor boarded home had me wanting to sell up and move to Paris). And finally, they are very good looking which is the icing on the house fest cake.
8. Smaller Plates, Bigger Taste
I have recently realised that I much prefer eating small plates of food rather than large. Having a selection of little portions in front of me rather than a huge plateful is much more appealing and would much prefer to eat like this at every meal. This is obviously not possible (creating individual tapas every night is a lot of work and also not financially astute) but given the option, this would be my dinner of choice. It doesn’t get much better than being presented with a varied selection of prawns, bravas, salted almonds, bowls of olives, meats and cheeses, if you ask me. We had friends over for lunchtime drinks at the weekend (not a proper meal, but still needed a substantial snack) and I did a couple of dishes that you might find useful if you are strapped for time but still want to wow your guests.
The first was the simplest of simple - I mixed mayo, tomato sauce, a splash of tabasco, lemon juice and black pepper together to make a Marie Rose style sauce, then added defrosted king prawns (little ones work just as well). I piled them in to a big serving bowl then arranged baby gem lettuce around, finishing off with paprika, seasoning and chopped flat leaf parsley. Basically a huge prawn cocktail - guests took a lettuce leaf and filled it with prawns. SO GOOD. The second was a recipe I’ve been making for many years and came from the Leon first ever cookbook - cubed sweet potato and chorizo sausage tossed in fennel, chilli and olive oil and cooked until crispy. Served on a board with cocktail sticks - again, super simple but quite filling and looks the part. And finally, a cheats posh hummus - take a supermarket bought pot, add to a bowl with half a tin of chickpeas and some extra olive oil. Decant into a serving bowl, top with extra chickpeas and drizzle with olive oil and finish with a sprinkling of chilli flakes. No one would ever know.
So that’s my Eight Items Of Note for this past month - if you’ve got any views or questions, then let me know in the comments below! Please note that this post contains some affiliate links.
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So much to agree with here Lisa! The jomo, slug brows, yoga & step count to cutting down/out the booze. Apart from the slug brows Ive taken on all the above since turning 50 in '21. A much happier & hopefully healthier Lisa here 🤩. Have a wonderful weekend X
Used to follow you on Instagram Lisa but had a cull of lots of accounts (sorry.) Now caught up with you on Substack. Brilliant, wise and funny and you hate the Daily Mail!