little white truths

Hullo and welcome to another monthly positives post!

I wanted to sneak this in quickly this morning, since I have an outing for once today (more on that below) so best I don't ramble on too much now and let's just get into it.

In no particular order...

I'm going candle crazy, and I like it

I don't know what it is, but every winter I start lighting a candle every evening in the bedroom. For most of the year I'm not fussed about candles and I tend to have a couple hanging around as decorative pieces only, but when the cold hits, I'm firing them up something chronic.

I suppose you could link this candle obsession to a reaction against the grey, cold outside: as in, 'weather, you've taken my light, sunshine and warmth away - so bugger you, here's the finger.' 

And you know what? The finger's working. As soon as I light my evening candle, I feel my muscles relax after a long day of chasing the kids around. There's something special about staring at a naked flame, yes? I'm not going to wax lyrical about that (ha), but I will say cheers to candles and firing them up against the dark winter chill.

We had a brief getaway last week, and it wasn't disastrous

Travelling with young kids is never easy, and since my husband and I have had disastrous trips away ever since having my daughter, we've decided for now that we're not going to spend the money on flights and hotels (plus all the usual extras like meals) because all holidays have meant for us so far is complete exhaustion or worse (like me travelling back from Bali with blocked ears: that didn't end well). 

For some reason, any trip away we've had, has involved one or both of the kids failing to sleep well at night (if at all), meaning that all of us have been up all night because you can't 'quarantine' the noise-maker in holiday apartments like you can do at home. Every 'holiday' we've had, my husband and I have returned in zombie-like states so it's just not worth it for us.

Anyhoo. Last week we went away for four days to my parents' holiday house down the coast, and while one of us was up all night with my son, at least we could separate him and alternate caring for him overnight. Not the best break, but not the worst one. And we ate lots of ice-cream. Boom.

A good friend just had her little girl

One of my friends and I have had two kids at similar times (so her son is a year older than my daughter, and her daughter is nine-ish months younger than my son). Both of us aren't good pregnant people and have really struggled through the whole pregnancy thing, but you can't talk about that with everyone because we're both acutely aware that it's a privilege to not only be able to have kids, but also to have someone willing to have them with you.

Long story short, she had her little girl a few days ago and I couldn't be more happy for her. There's something transcendent about feeling your body return to itself after a pregnancy and in holding a newborn in your arms for the first time - and in my opinion, having a baby is a lot nicer than growing one ; )

I have some freedom today

Every few months I head out to the city to see my GP. We like to touch base to monitor my insomnia and also check how I'm going overall, since my sleep issues have led to general coping problems in the past (of course they have), which is why I make sure to see her every few months.

Anyhoo. Basically these necessary trips to see her in the CBD are also an excuse for me have a look in Sephora and Mecca Maxima and play with new makeup, and buy myself something good for lunch. 

I'm unable to do these things often with young kids, and the brilliant news is, today I'm going solo! Up until now I've left my mum with my daughter only, but today she's happy to watch both. 

FREEDOM

Thrones and Unforgotten

So I've talked about my excitement of the impending Game of Thrones series in previous positives posts, and finally it's here. YAY. 

I know I'm not the only one who's been hanging out for it as much as they have the ABH Subculture palette ; )

And to make things even more exciting, we've just started watching the UK TV series Unforgotten, which 'had me at hello' as soon as we pressed play and I saw that it stars Ruth from Spooks.

I once heard someone say that 'heard music is sweet, but unheard music is even sweeter' and that's totally the case here (I gather that's derived from an ode by John Keats). 

Yes I'm pumped for dragons again, but I'm over-mooned about having found a new show.

In sum

That's all from me! I hope you enjoyed this little post, and that you have plenty of positives of your own for July.

Here's to candles and good TV xx

* All photos courtesy of unsplash.com; links/credits to the artists embedded in each above shot