A mid month catch up: February

The passage of time is a very strange one, isn’t it? One month crawls, and the next breezes by before you’ve had a chance to register its passing. That is how I feel about the start of the year. January was slow – between 97 and 90538764 days long, according to the Instagram captions that amassed beneath unrelated photos while we were all feeling the drag – but February seems to be running full speed ahead, and I’m not sure I’ve taken a breath.

And now, to completely negate what I’ve just said; this month began in a hot tub, with a glass of prosecco my oldest friends, and the prospect of a relaxing weekend ahead, which is not a bad way to begin anything at all.

It was an extremely satisfying two slow days of eating, lounging, and just being. I left my phone upstairs for hours and hours without glancing at it. I (we) stayed in pyjamas – matching ones! – late into the morning. There was talk of yoga, but instead we sank willingly into the luxury of doing nothing at all.

And it was very much needed, because I may have *slightly* jumped the gun with my assertions that I was calm and balanced and aren’t-I-wonderful-for-finally-learning-to-chill in January. Let’s all laugh at past me.

It wasn’t so extreme as I’ve just made it sound; on the whole, since my last catch up post, I did manage to steer clear of feeling frantic – and felt better for doing so – but also it turns out that it only takes one thing to knock you out of line and all of the plates you’ve been so dutifully spinning tumble to the floor. Pause to gather them up, and before you know it you’re playing catch up again.

And trying to catch up – I know, it’s boring, I go on about it all the time, etc etc etc – is what I am doing now (presumably this will either become my permanent state for the rest of my life or I will be forced to accept that I just need to care less about certain things). Anyway, since those two rather lovely quiet days that began February, I’m not really sure where the rest of the month has gone.

And that’s not to say that it’s a bad thing; it’s been a good work year for me so far, and the past couple of weeks have brought with them a promotion (hello, I am now a Marketing Manager) and being shortlisted in our company awards. The funniest thing about the latter is that the award is called ‘The People’s Champ’. I fear I might be a real pain to work with, and I also dislike people, so the irony of this is not at all lost on me.

Still, having spent much of last year with not much idea what on earth I was doing and feeling a bit strange about everything I was and everything I thought I wanted to do, I’ll willingly admit that it has given me a confidence boost.

So aside from that first weekend, I think we can safely say that my attention and focus has been primarily on the daily grind. Taking the recycling out, running errands, going to work, moaning about the weather, cooking and eating, washing my hair and trying to remember to keep in contact with people; riveting stuff. And for the rest of February? Well, we have a holiday to sort. Our flight to Cuba is two weeks today and we currently have accommodation for 3 out of 14 nights.

There’s also visas to pick up, rucksacks to locate in the dark hole of possessions that is our flat, a wardrobe that’s both backpacking and instagram friendly AND doesn’t involve me buying too much stuff to sort (is this possible?!), and activities and an itinerary to research. I’ll need to get work in a good position to leave for over two weeks and make a speedy effort to come to terms with the fact that yet again, I don’t seem to be going on holiday in the body of a supermodel.

I have a very exciting wedding dress shopping trip (not my own wedding dress, obviously) and an afternoon tea coming up, plus a book and a couple of blog posts I want to finish in the next 8 days. And, of course, I’ll be continuing my attempts to become a happier, less frantic human.

I’m not sure if there’ll be a March edition of this, as we’ll be away and we leave too early into March to make it worth scheduling anything (I don’t think I can quite write from a mid month perspective on the 5^th). The idea of putting up a very off the cuff version while in Cuba is very appealing – sitting amongst greenery with an ipad and a rum and dashing off a stream of consciousness – but we’ll see what the wifi situation is like when we get there!

How has February been for you so far? What’s your focus this month? Until next time, lovely things x

What I’m wearing

Coat – Primark| Trousers – H&M| Bag – C/O Miss Selfridge | Trainers – C/O Ted Baker | Top  – Zara

Photography: Sarah Ellen Photography