March round up

March has been a funny month, the weekends and Easter break have flown by, but the weekdays have really dragged. We're leading up to our busy time at work and I've clearly been too efficient and got all my admin out of the way too early. I'm now really looking forward to things picking up, but I'm sure I'll change my mind once I'm in the middle of May! Most importantly, Spring seems to have arrived! It's nice to have lighter evenings and not be woken up so early by the light in the mornings, even the rain seems to be have abated. I just hope it lasts.

Work has been full of mixed emotions, we had two members of staff leave, but have managed to recruit replacements and I've met our Orkney contractor for the first time. She's definitely made me want to plan a visit. I love Scotland but haven't ventured quite that far north before.

In other news, Andrew had his final procedure following on from his eye surgery and has now been discharged. Hurrah! He's finally been able to remove the bracelet which warned him against flying or having a general anaesthetic, which has been on his wrist since New Year's Eve. We went out for lunch in an old haunt in Bristol to celebrate.

Cleared to fly!

I gave HD Brows a go, I wasn't sure they'd be able to do much with me as I'm fairly pale, but I was quite impressed, they enhanced them but without making me look as if my eyebrows had been drawn on with marker pen. I'm now on a regrowth programme, which isn't something that I thought would be asked of me as far as my eyebrows are concerned.

I'm not really this cross eyed!

Most importantly, it was Easter, we took an extra day's holiday for a nice five day break. We fitted in some gardening, a day trip to Longleat (more about that here), and finally finished our understairs cupboard. It was the only part of the house which really needed some work when we moved in, with holes from shelves, tumble dryer vents and who knows what else. It's now fit to store coats and the Dyson. We'd planned to finish it over the New Year, but as with so many things, eye events overtook us.

You can't beat having a boss who buys you Easter Eggs

Before and after

As for how I'm doing against my plans for the year:

Read sixteen books
No progress on this, still at 1/16 I'm afraid. I have made some slight progress by buying more books for my Kindle, now just to find the time to read them. 

Find one hundred geocaches
We've done much better this month, we're now on 15/100 after starting the year on 488 finds. We did them over three days which must show that the weather's improving, if I feel there's a chance of venturing out for a walk without being caught in a deluge. 

Maintain Vitality gold status
At least this is one that I don't have to do anything about until the policy renews in May!

Try three gym classes
No progress on this as I'm still waiting for Vitality to approve my claim for my poor ankle. Honestly, I'm thinking it would have been quicker to be referred to a physio through the NHS. 

Meet up with an old friend
After last month's success it's been a quiet month for catch ups, but I'm sure that will change when the weather improves.

Blog once a month
We had a really good day out at Longleat which I was keen to blog about, honestly the monkeys are so much fun, it's well worth the risk of losing a windscreen wiper!

Watch a new film once a month
No progress on this one, the loss of my work-free Friday afternoons has meant we've not made it to the cinema in March. At home we've watched huge numbers of episodes of House and I was fairly late in hearing about the Night Manager, so we watched that over a week. They definitely left it lined up for a second series!

Take two holidays
I'm really looking forward to our trip to the Isle of Wight at the end of April. We should get plenty of opportunity for geocaching, sight seeing and curling up in front of the fire to read books. I can't wait :) 

Take six day trips
Longleat has been our first day trip of the year, but it was such a good one! I've got a few more ideas up my sleeve which I'm looking forward to over the next few months.


April should be a good one with our holiday, Andrew's birthday and a few other things we have planned. I'm looking forward to fully coming out of hibernation now that Spring is here.

Spring has sprung

Although the weather's still a little unpredictable, it's nice to know that Spring is here. The sunshine makes everywhere look more welcoming and the garden looks much better now that it's sprouting. The light evenings make such a difference, especially to my afternoon commute, even if the light mornings mean I'm awake before my alarm goes off!

We've planted up hanging baskets and troughs and they all seem to be doing well, despite being hit by a frost on their first morning. Hopefully by putting them out early their roots will have spread before our first long, dry spell.

I've nipped into the garden a few times over the past month or so, whenever we have some nice weather, to make the most of it. I've included some of my favourite photos below of the garden bursting into life.

Blog Every Day in May - Blog 2 - Spring is Here

Today's topic is 'Spring is here!' It really is. It's been beautifully sunny here today, I've even been working with my window open.

My favourite thing about Spring is the flowers. As we tend to have daffodils from December onwards, I tend to mark Spring with the appearance of crocuses and then the bluebells which usually appear in April. It's also the time when the insects reappear in the garden. We have an ornamental cherry tree which is beautiful when it's in full blossom. I love an excuse to take a few photographs, so I've taken plenty of spring flowers over the years. I've included a few of my favourites below from previous years. Hopefully I'll be able to take a few new ones this weekend if the weather holds.

If you're also taking part in Blog Every Day in May, leave me a comment below and your blog address and I'll come and have a look.