First one of 2021 and this year these weekly Sunday posts are going to replace monthly round ups completely. So Happy New Year! It might not be the start we hoped for January 2021 but I’m staying positive that once we are through this lockdown storm things will improve, but it’s bloody hard at the moment isn’t it? The cold grey days don’t help and it is lonely, roll on spring. Here’s what I’ve been loving this week.

Despite it being very different I actually really enjoyed the no pressure New Year’s Eve we had. We got an M&S dine in meal and played vinyls all night while making our way through some of the wine we’ve had in the house for a while. It was a lot of fun, and we had a couple of quick zoom calls with friends throughout the night too. I’m all for this type of New Year in future to be honest – minus the zoom calls but staying in with friends.

I was dreading Kieran going back to work and me being unable to go very far, so I was worried how I would feel this week but then I began watching Bridgerton. Absolutely loved it, so I‘ve watched it twice. If you haven’t watched it yet then you need to. It’s all the scandal and debauchery of 19th Century London high society trying to marry off their daughters in a good match.

I even bought the book as it’s based on the first of seven written by Julia Quinn. So hopefully there are 7 more seasons to go if Netflix get their act together. It’s produced by Shonda Rhimes so if you’re a Grey’s Anatomy fan you’ll know it’s been done very well.

It was so nice having Kieran off for the Christmas break, as I’ve spent a lot of time alone since the November lockdown. We woke up early to snow on New Year’s Day so got ourselves ready and went for a walk through Jesmond Dene. It was absolutely beautiful and Arthur loved it.

Wednesday was a sad day for our family as we said goodbye to our little nana, but due to circumstances we couldn’t get together afterwards so did a big family zoom instead. It was nice to be able to see and catch up with everyone and hopefully we will give her a proper send off when we can.

To cheer myself up at the end of the week I did book our flights to Paris. I arranged the trip last year for Kieran’s 30th present but held off booking flights until now. Just having them booked made me feel better about having something to look forward to, I got them for a reasonable price and they’re changeable if we have to move it. I also took out the Covid insurance which was just £7 and fully covers us if the pandemic affects the trip in any way.

Once I finished Bridgerton I did get my act together with some blog posts, and I’ve shared one on bullet journaling, and one on things to do in January this week. If you’ve ever wondered what bullet journaling is have a read, as I really like the concept of it. My things to do in January had to be cut down quite a bit thanks to lockdown, but hopefully it gives some inspiration for the month.

Yesterday after a few miserable rainy and snowy days the sun was shining again so we went to Tynemouth for a walk. I’m glad we went early as it was starting to get busy along the coast as it always does by the time we left. It was absolutely freezing, one of those bright Baltic winter days. Allards have released a pretty special limited edition takeaway hot chocolate menu this week – I was very annoyed I’m doing 5.2 and couldn’t have one to warm me up but if you’re at the coast then please tell me how good they are. They look amazing.

Last night we picked up a takeaway from Chaophraya, who invited me to try their Chaophraya at home menu. I love their dumplings so we had those followed by chicken in green pepper and chicken pad Thai. The dipping sauce for the dumplings is unbelievable, and the green pepper chicken was delicious, but it definitely felt like a takeaway that wasn’t too naughty. There’s more on my instagram story if you want to take a look or find their menu online here.

We had to collect it, and walking up Grey Street towards Monument I honestly felt so sad. It was all but empty, just unheard of for any normal Saturday night at 6pm in Newcastle. I hate seeing all the bars and shops in the dark with no lights on and people rushing about shopping or starting their night out. But taking the positives at least every day we get that little bit closer to normality and I cant wait to be inside a bar again.

That’s pretty much it for this week, hope your first week into the new year lockdown was swift. One down, god knows how many more to go.

Stay positive x

Other posts you might like:

40 things to do in January and why 2021 is the year of the mini adventure

What is bullet journaling and how to use it

North East Walks