Five things in March

A month of change, travel, and some much-needed sunshine. I feel like we didn’t really take any time to breathe in March; we have been doing a lot – although we did get away for a lovely little break in the first half of the month, of course! Without further ado, five standout things from last month…

1. Settling on our new house!

We’re starting with the big one, and the event that really influenced how we spent the rest of the month – officially making our new house ours! In the middle of the month we had one of those fun days where the lawyers and the banks did their thing all day and then, mid-afternoon, we got word that settlement was complete and we officially owned the new place! It felt great to be in – although all the things that need fixing or improvement suddenly become a lot more obvious when the previous owners have taken out all their furniture and you own the house and its problems. What an opportunity though 😍 – and to be fair, I did always say I wanted a project house!

2. Birthday celebrations

It was so nice to take a short break away for Hayden’s birthday. We had such a lovely long weekend, and it was so good to celebrate him – he is such an amazing person who probably doesn’t get celebrated enough. Mind-blowingly, Hayden is now 18 years older than he was when we met – that’s a whole other adult person! I’m so glad I get to celebrate this birthday (and a lot more to come as well I hope) with him (after all, there was certainly no guarantee that would happen!).

3. Kicking off the house renovations

When we first viewed our new house I distinctly remember saying that there would be things we wanted to change, but it was perfectly liveable as it was and we would just go slow and take our time. Ha! Hahahahaha. As if that was ever going to be the case when it involved us. When we got the keys, we walked through the empty space and made a list for every room of all the basic things we wanted or needed to do for us to feel comfortable in the space – and what we ended up with was pretty lengthy to be honest. We decided it makes sense to take it room-by-room, and started with Amelie’s bedroom as our first priority, and it has been very exciting and very fulfilling! We’re not naturally handy but I’d say we are more capable than we would have previously thought.

4. This absolute dream of a bedroom

I was looking through old photos on my phone and found a screenshot of this scene, which I think I took trying to show Hayden the warm, casual-yet-elevated vibe I’d love to be able to create in the main bedroom in our new house. We are definitely not there yet! In fact Hayden said to me the other day that we – and I quote directly – “don’t have enough pillows on our bed” – which is amazing because for the last few years he’s muttered at least once a month about having “too many” pillows on our bed up in the country. Obviously this is completely styled for the shoot – the bed placement would be odd, to say the least, in an actual home, but as inspiration, it’s serving very well.

5. Shrinking on Apple TV

Have you watched Shrinking? Without giving too much away for those who haven’t, it follows Jimmy (Jason Segel), a therapist who is dealing with the sudden death of his wife in ways that seem equal parts unhealthy, realistic and painfully difficult, while still trying to be a good (if unorthodox) doctor for his patients. I really do enjoy Jason Segel, but the rest of the cast in this show is just incredible, outshining him in the best possible way (e.g. I think that is both intentional and really beneficial for the programme). Jessica Williams and Harrison Ford, in particular, are so great! We’re trying not to just binge it but we’re ten episodes in and we’ve only been watching a couple of weeks, so take that with a grain of salt. I find it funny and sweet and sad, and it’s a great watch.