How To Update Your Home For Spring and Summer*

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I never really need much of an excuse to change up the decor in my home but when a new season starts, I always find that's the perfect time for it. I go from wanting darker tones and all the cosy blankets in Autumn and Winter to wanting things like fresh flowers and brighter colours in our home as soon as Spring starts. As we're fully in the midst of Spring now, though we may not be able to go out and enjoy it, I thought this would be a good time to share a few of my tips on how to brighten up your home for the warmer months, leading us into Summer.

Photo by Sidekix Media on Unsplash

De-Clutter Each Room & Spring Clean

First of all a de-clutter of each room always helps, especially the one you spend the most time in. For us that's the living room so once Winter is out of the way I like to have a real sort through of everything ready for a fresh start for Spring. Just a few weeks ago we cleared out loads of DVD's and books that were taking up space on the shelves and now they look so much neater. I've also switched out a lot of my Autumn candles that I'd got through for some more seasonal appropriate scents and I just generally gave everything a really good clean. Whilst cleaning may not be fun, it can do so much good, not just to how your home looks but to how your mind feels afterwards too. I genuinely feel far calmer if our home is clean and tidy so that's something I always try to keep on top of.

New Windows

Changing the windows in your home is of course a very big job so not one to take on lightly but if it's something you've wanted to change anyway, now is the perfect time to get planning. With the help of Tuffx Glass, Infinity fixed roof lights can help with natural light which is ideal for this time of year when we want to let in as much light as possible for as long as we can. Tuffx Glass have over 25 years manufacturing experience, supplying places we all know and love such as M&S and Next but even places like Edinburgh Zoo! They have everything you could possibly need so definitely one to consider if you're keen on changing the windows on your home or adding in something new and unique.

Bring In Lighter Colours

A pop of colour can totally change a room and during Spring and Summer you can do so much to brighten up the space. Just re-painting the walls can make a huge difference but you can also switch the covers on your cushions to something a little lighter, take away any fluffy blankets from Autumn which we're sure not to need in the warmer months and maybe add in things that are pastel coloured for something a little different. I personally love the grey and light pink theme at the moment but yellow is of course a go to colour for Spring too.

Add In New Accessories

Aswell as adding in some colour from items like cushions and blankets, you can also add in a few new accessories to change up each room. As I've already mentioned I switched out my Autumnal scents for more fruity and floral candles instead and they just fill our whole home with a fresh and Spring-like feel. A personal favourite of mine at the moment is the Sweet Apple candle from M&S and it's a total bargain. I've also recently added in things like a gold mirrored tray to the coffee table which is ideal for candles and I'm so happy with it. You don't have to spend loads though. Just a fresh bunch of flowers makes such a difference to a room!

I hope this has given you a few ideas if you want to change up your home for the next few months of Spring and Summer. Do you like to change your decor with the seasons too?

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My Cheesy Veggie Filled Conchiglioni Recipe

With having to spend far more time at home than usual over the last couple of weeks, I've been cooking a lot. By the amount of recipes I've shared on my blog since the very beginning you can probably tell I enjoy cooking but I definitely have times where I fall out of love with it. Up until recently it had become far too easy to grab a takeaway or when I did cook to just repeat the same old meals and whilst there's nothing wrong with that, I missed getting creative and trying something new. With us all having to stay at home now it's forced me to get back into cooking and I've actually quite enjoyed having to come up with meals based on the basics we have in because of those that chose to stockpile pretty much everything! Luckily things seem to be getting back to some normality in that department but it's really made me re-think some of the habits I'd slipped into and I'm determined now not to let anything go to waste.

Today's recipe is for a cheesy veggie filled conchiglioni and it's certainly something fancier than what I'm used to making. Conchiglioni is a shell shaped pasta and ideally you want the larger shells for this recipe which I managed to find in Morrisons. I got the inspiration for this from the lovely Manon Lagreve on Instagram. You might remember her from The Great British Bake Off a few years ago if you're a fan. I actually met her at Borough Market when we were in London for my birthday in January and she was incredibly sweet. She shares a few different recipes each week usually so she's definitely someone to follow if you're after new meal ideas or baking recipes. The thing with this recipe is that it does take time and it does require some effort but the results are so worth it. It does have quite a few ingredients and they're not all the cheapest things in the world so it's not one I'll be making every week but for special occasions or when you want to try something new, it's a top choice. What can beat a hearty bowl of pasta?

Ingredients: Tomato sauce

2 gloves of garlic
1 onion, finely diced
2 tins of chopped tomatoes
Mixed herbs
Salt & pepper

Ingredients: Spinach filling
Large pasta shells
2 gloves of garlic
250g fresh spinach
250g of mascarpone
100g of grated Parmesan
Juice of half a lemon
Salt & pepper
1 ball of mozzarella

Method:
1. First of all you'll need to start with your tomato sauce. For this just start by frying off your diced onion with 2 crushed garlic cloves
2. When the onion has softened, add in your tins of chopped tomatoes and simmer for about half an hour on a medium heat. Season with salt, pepper and mixed herbs
3. While your tomato sauce is simmering, you can make your spinach filling. First of all in a separate frying fan, add your crushed garlic and fry in a little olive oil or Frylight
4. Then add in your fresh spinach and cook until it's all started to wilt. It will look like loads at first but it reduces to such a small amount. Remove any excess water
5. Tip onto a chopping board and chop thinly before putting it into a large bowl
6. Add your mascarpone, grated Parmesan, salt & pepper and the juice of half a lemon to the bowl of spinach
7. Fill a large piping bag with your mixture and fill your large pasta shells (these do not need to be cooked beforehand) and set aside
8. After your sauce has simmered for half an hour, pour into a large dish and add the filled pasta on top
9. Cover your pasta with sliced mozzarella and any extra grated Parmesan you may have left then cover with tin foil
10. Cook in a 180 degree pre-heated oven for 40 minutes then remove the foil and return to the oven for 20 minutes

As I said, there are quite a few ingredients and quite a few steps you need to follow but if you've got the spare time, stick a film on in the background or some music and just have fun with it. The tomato sauce is beautiful, the cheesy spinach filling is gooey and the pasta with the mozzarella on top goes a little crisp so it's just the most amazing combination of flavours and textures. This recipe is enough for two people but we did have leftovers for lunch the next day so it can stretch to more.

Please let me know if you give this recipe a try, I'd love to see the result! 

Recipes - Sticky Soy Chicken with Egg Fried Rice // Hasselback Fajita Chicken

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My April To-Do List

Well April certainly isn't set to be the month that I thought it would be. George and I should be heading to London in a few weeks to see Dear Evan Hansen and & Juliet, something I had looked forward to for so long, we should have booked an anniversary trip we'd been planning but travel is off the cards and we also had a few other plans closer to home that we wanted to do with Bear which are now obviously not possible. It's fine, everything can be re-arranged but it's still disappointing. Generally I've been dealing with things far better than I thought I would though. I definitely have days where the seriousness of what's going on in the world hits me but I'm just trying to stay positive and hoping that if everyone PLEASE just does the right thing for now that we can all get back to normality in the not too distant future. Despite spending pretty much all my time at home now, there are still things I want to get sorted this month so here's April to-do list!

Continue Cooking New Meals

One of the positives of the situation we're in at the moment is that I've been cooking far more than usual. I cook most nights of the week anyway but recently it's been far too easy to grab a takeaway or just chuck something in the oven and whilst that's perfectly okay, I'd lost creativity when it came to cooking and over the last few weeks, that's been coming back. I've been trying out new ideas and I've sort of been forced to make something of what we've got in due to the lack of basics in the supermarkets. I feel like my cooking skills are improving and I'm loving perfecting certain dishes now so I just want to keep that up.

Try and Get Back To A Blogging Schedule

I said in one of my recent posts - how I'm keeping sane whilst social distancing, that I'd not had the motivation for blogging recently which I think is understandable but it feels like it's coming back. I'm getting that urge again to just sit and type and I want to get back to sharing regularly, it's what's made me happy for so long so it feels good to feel like that again. I don't think I'll necessarily go back to posting every Monday, Wednesday and Friday but maybe twice a week would be a good start.

Take Blog Photos

I'm in desperate need of some photos for my blog and my Instagram! I tend to take loads in bulk so that they're just ready to go whenever but I've got through most from the last time I did that so I need to just shut myself away in the office for an hour! I find taking photos the most stressful part of blogging just because I don't find I'm that creative and never really know how to switch it up but I'm gonna give it a go this month.

Daily Walks

I had a bit of a wobble last week and got really paranoid about going out for a walk each day with Bear so I really want to get back to doing that this month. I'd been watching the news A LOT and I think I'd let everything just build up and I'd scared myself that if I went out to the park and touched something by accident that I was going to get ill. I mean, I'll still be careful and make sure I'm keeping safe but I do need that bit of fresh air back. 

Read 2 Books

I've really slowed down again with my reading challenge over the last few weeks so this month I'm determined to read two books. It took me ages to get through my latest read, The Chocolate Lovers Club by Carole Matthews, for no reason other than I just didn't feel that urge to pick up a book and I'd got too sucked into DisneyPlus! I'm currently reading The Longest Holiday by Paige Toon and then I have a few thrillers lined up which I'm excited to get stuck into.

So whilst this isn't the April to-do list I was hoping to share and my content will be a little different than I'd planned, I'm just going to stay positive and hope for the best. That's all we can do really isn't it? It's definitely strange spending so much time at home but in a way I do think one day I'll look back on this time and be grateful that I got this extra time with my family. I know I'll appreciate so much more afterwards aswell. 

Anyway, how are you hoping to spend this month? How are you finding things at the moment?

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5 TV Shows I've Binge-Watched Recently That You Might Like Too

I speak a lot about TV on my blog but I watch a lot of it so I apologise if it gets a little repetitive sometimes! To be fair we are all spending A LOT of time indoors now so I imagine we're all getting through a boxset or two at the moment. I've recently shared my latest Netflix recommendations but today I'm talking about a few shows that I've binge-watched over the last few months and I think you might like them too! I've written a post like this before but it was quite a while ago so I thought a few new suggestions might be useful. There's a real mix from comedy to drama and everything else in between. Let me know if you've watched any of these too!

The Split

I was absolutely thrilled when the BBC revealed that The Split was coming back for a second series. The Split first aired in 2018 - I actually remember catching a random episode of it when we were in Paris and then when we got home, binge watching it all in one day! They didn't announce they were doing more episodes until a few weeks before the second series so up until that point I thought it was done. If you've not seen The Split before, it has a brilliant cast including Nicola Walker, Stephen Mangan, Annabel Scholey and Barry Atsma just to name a few and it follows the lives of the Defoe family, who the majority of all work for the family firm in divorce law. Whilst each family member has their own story, a lot of it is focused on Hannah played by the amazing Nicola Walker. Married to Nathan and with a family of her own, she looks like she has it all but when an old flame, Christie come back on the scene, she's left with some big decisions to make. Both series 1 and 2 are brilliant and I really hope they do a third.

Safe

After being obsessed with The Stranger on Netflix a few months ago, we watched Safe recently which is by the same crime author, Harlan Coben and it was incredible. I already can't wait to see what Harlan Coben and Netflix do next as both of these have been so impressive! Starring Michael C.Hall (who you might recognise from Dexter) it's about Englishman Tom Delaney who is recently widowed and struggling to connect with his daughters after their loss. One day his teenage daughter goes missing and on his search to find her, he uncovers a web of secrets about the people around him. Whilst I think I did prefer The Stranger to this, there is no denying Safe is a fantastic drama. It's so tense and leaves you guessing right up until the last episode. Michael C.Hall does an amazing British accent too, who knew?!

Last Tango In Halifax

Ahh this show just makes me so happy. The first series actually aired in 2012 so I'm definitely late to the party with this one but it's meant I've had loads to catch up on over the last few months! Anne Reid and Derek Jacobi play Celia and Alan, both in their seventies and widowed who after being persuaded to join Facebook by their respective grandchildren, reconnect with one another. Whilst they liked each other when they were younger, they never got together so after meeting up all those years later, they find they still feel the same as they did before. Whilst thrilled to have found one another again, it's not all plain sailing. Both have grown up daughters, Gillian played by Nicola Walker and Caroline played by Sarah Lancashire and they are complete opposites. I suppose it's quite a realistic portrayal of family life and it's easy to love each of the characters despite their flaws. There's just something really comforting about it. Series 5 has just finished on BBC so there's plenty to catch up on if you want something to fill your time.

Intelligence

IT'S ROSS. Ross was always my fave in Friends and I've loved David Schwimmer in everything I've seen him in since so it's no surprise I thoroughly enjoyed Intelligence. New to Sky, Intelligence also stars Nick Mohammed and it's a workplace comedy set in the UK's Government Communications Headquarters which is a weirder and geekier version of MI5 where they tackle international and domestic Cyber Crime. David plays a pompous NSA agent from the US who joins the team in the UK and basically causes mayhem. I personally found this absolutely hilarious. It's full of dry humour and it's so nice to have David Schwimmer back on our screens. There's only 6 episodes and they're half an hour long each so a really easy series to binge-watch. I can't wait for series 2.

Save Me 

If you're after a gritty drama to get stuck into then Save Me is a show you need to watch! It's from the makers of Line Of Duty so it was always going to be good and it stars Lennie James as Nelly Rowe, a man that has to go on the hunt for his missing daughter Jody. With no clue where to find her, Nelly finds he will go to any length to get her back and in doing that he uncovers many secrets of the people around him, including closest friends. There was really no way of knowing what was going to happen in this, I feel like it just stepped up another level in each episode and the series overall was just everything you want from a drama. It's incredibly tense and the cast are just brilliant, Suranne Jones especially. We've just watched the first series on NowTV ready for series 2 this week which I can't wait for!

So I hope that has given you a few ideas if you're in need of something new to watch. I'm definitely getting through far too much on Netflix and Disney+ at the moment so if you also have any suggestions, please let me know!

Have you seen any of these TV shows?

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