In progress #003
A small spring bucket list
Spring is here!
The clocks have changed, my kids are on Easter break, and apart from the weird snow/hailstorm we had in London last week, it feels as though spring is finally here. This is my second favourite season (after summer), because the increased sunlight brings me back to life after the winter. I came home at 6:45pm on Thursday and it was light enough to see the keyhole for my front door without turning on the light from my phone. Hurrah!
Over the next couple of weeks, we are mostly just mooching about the city. I’m working next week, and have the second week off, so am hoping that will give me time to do some of the things on my tiny spring bucket list.
I want to…
Go to our local city farm. There’s a really lovely walk we can take to get there, starting at the big-Sainsburys-where-you-can-get-pick-and-mix-Lindt-balls (as it’s lovingly called in our house), then along a river, past a little free library and then on to the farm. We all get a kick out of feeding the goats, the kids will burn off some energy in the playground, and we can see if any of this year’s babies have been born yet.
Plant out some seedlings. We are away for the final weekend of the holiday, so I want to get our seedlings planted out before we go, as long as the weather looks okay. I have a full tray of tiny plants that I think will be big enough to survive outside in a week or two (depending on the weather forecast), and would love to get out into the front / back garden to do some planting.
Decide what colour to paint the hallway. A couple of years ago I painted one wall in our hallway yellow and I loved it for at least a year, but I now really want to change the colour and either go for another bright colour (I’m thinking blue), OR something dark (a navy) OR just paint it white and make it feel crisp and clean again (apart from that wall, the rets of the hall has not been painted since we moved in). The trouble is, I can’t decide, so I haven’t done anything and it’s still yellow and I don’t like it. So — at some point in the next couple of weeks, I’d like to get some tester pots and see if I can at least pick a colour, even if I don’t actually do the repainting.
Take the kids to our local swimming pool for their inflatables session, where the pool essentially turns into a watery bouncy castle. Adults aren’t allowed, so I can sit quietly with a coffee and read my book for an hour, hurrah!
Take the kids to the V&A. I went on my own a couple of weeks ago and it was WONDERFUL. There was so much stuff I wanted to revisit with the kids, and I think they’re going to love it.
March in progress
A few of the things I’ve enjoyed over the past month:
📺 TV:
Paradise, season 2 (Disney): I’m really enjoying the second edition of this post-apocalyptic series, and I LOVE THAT THIS IS RELEASED WEEKLY. It’s so nice to anticipate the next episode and look forward to on Monday nights.
📚 Books: I finished:
Now, Conjurers — YA, witches, kind of The Craft-y. This was quite a fun read, and I liked it enough to pick up the author’s other book from the office.
Bel Canto — This is the second time I’ve read this (the first was about 20+ years ago!), and although it didn’t have quite the emotional impact as the first time (when I remember weeping at the end), it’s still an Ann Patchett book, so lots of beauty to be found within.
On Wings of Blood — Faeries, vampires, dragons, werewolves, all in one book. Medium-low spice, if I’m remembering correctly, but I may be getting confused about what happens when because I immediately moved on to…
The Blood that Burns — Book two of the series, which was extremely spicy, but the cliffhanger really got me because I then immediately moved on to…
The Wings that Bind — Which I’m currently reading. I loved Fourth Wing, but struggled with book 2 in that series and found book 3 unreadable. This has a lot of similar tropes to that series, but I’ve enjoyed books 2 and 3 even more than book 1, which is what you want with any series really, isn’t it?
🛍️ Loving:
There were two things on my wishlist last month, and I got both of them!
First was Jenn Lueke’s new cookbook, Don’t Think About Dinner. IT IS SO GOOD. I have been cooking from it every week since I bought it and haven’t had a bad meal yet.
And second was this storage bench in coral pink. I built this in an afternoon and now it holds all my arts and craft supplies. I’ve also rearranged the kitchen so that the bench forms seating for our kitchen table, meaning the kitchen feels about 3x bigger. It’s great.
Wishlist:
I feel like my list is long with things that all seem to be £30-£50, which isn’t that much individually but adds up quite quickly — a new hose, some tennis raquets, some paint, some compost, new trainers — extremely boring things but altogether they add up to about £300, and between trying to save more and replenishing my funds after buying the bench, it’ll be a little while before I work my way through everything here.
The biggest thing on my wishlist is NOT a need, but I want it most of all. These shelves. I have a perfect home for them in the kitchen now, and look how cute they are! They are currently out of stock, which is a good thing, or they’d be going straight to the top of the list, when really the hose probably needs to be the first thing I get…
How has your month been? What have you been watching and reading and listening to?
I had no articles to share this month! I’ve read a lot but nothing has really stayed with me. Have you written or read anything interesting lately? Please share in the comments on reply to this if you’ve got it on email!
PS! The Joy of Beginning is always free but…
Thank you for reading! The Joy of Beginning will always be free to access, but I’ve decided to turn on payments just on the off-chance someone thinks ‘hey, I’d love to buy Katie a coffee every month and keep her art supplies topped up’.
There will be no additional content for paid subscribers, but you can upgrade to paid to support me and this hobby I enjoy so much. If you would like to support without a monthly / annual payment, you can also buy me a coffee :)