Things I Love: April

I really loved my very brief, Friday Favourite posts that I started to write last year, sadly weekly isn’t realistic for me to keep up with them but I thought monthly was much more doable. At the end of each month, I’ll do a little round-up of things I’ve enjoyed over the past four weeks or so. 

Heatless Hair Curling 

You could have put a bet on this being number one! I love a viral trend, I’ve seen heatless hair curling doing the round on TikTok and thought I would give it go. I never know how to style my hair, it’s wavy, possibly even curly, there’s always a halo of frizz following me around and I really don’t have the time/patience to curl my hair with a wand every hair wash. I basically want my cake and to eat it, nicely styled hair with as little effort as possible. 

I bought a contraption from Etsy, and it gave me lovely loose curls, next hair wash I tried the dressing gown tie technique. And it gave me much tighter curls, which I wasn’t necessarily looking for but it was such a pleasant surprise. I am on day 3 of wearing them and I love it. Over the next few hair washes I am going to try doing the same technique looser, tighter, higher up, and experiment. But for me, this is such a time-saving method, as I wash my hair, I spend ten or so minutes wrapping my hair like in this video, go to sleep and it’s done all the hard work for me. I’ve made a highlight on Instagram here if you’d like to see more. Have you tried it yet?

Hackney Gelato 

Another thing I’ve been experimenting with is ice cream, there are so many different ice creams for sale these days. Not to sound like someone who is turning 35 in a month, but back in my day, it was a choc ice, polar ice or on a good day at my Nanna’s house, a Mars ice cream. No one is happier than me and my household about the increase of ice creams at the shop, and my new found favourite is Hackney Gelato. It’s so soft and smooth, doesn’t take a pickaxe to get into it. If you’re looking for flavour recommendations, can I suggest the Dark Chocolate Sorbetto, my goodness what an ice cream. It’s like a frozen, non-aerated chocolate mousse, it’s the silkiest ice cream I’ve ever had outside of Italy. We’ve also tried the Butterscotch, and the limited edition Hot Cross Bun flavours, all excellent. I’ll slowly be working my way through the rest if I can ever stop eating that chocolate sorbetto…

I Am App

This app was recommended to me through a friend, who’s therapist had recommended it, and it’s been such a dose of positivity sprinkled throughout my day. According to research conducted by the National Science Foundation around 80% of our thoughts are negative. And we have around 12,000 - 50,000 thoughts daily….WHEW! This app is designed to combat the negative cycles we can get in, and share positive affirmations straight to your phone. I don’t have any notifications on my phone apart from this one, and whilst it’s not a replacement for doing any work with a therapist, it does remind me to reset throughout the day. I even have one of them set to my home screen, you can edit the frequency, colours, and type of affirmations you receive, and you can also provide feedback and ‘heart’ the ones that resonate with you. Both my husband and I have downloaded it and really enjoy it. Available for the iPhone here, and android here. 

Spring Blooms

I am nothing, if not predictable. The return of flowers in the house is welcomed with open arms. From the 99p bunches of daffodils to the daisies outside in the grass to bold and colourful bunches of tulips. Few things make me happier than a bunch of flowers, of any type in a vase. Whilst I might need to pace my floral purchases it’s a very welcome return after what feels like a long and drab winter. I’m patiently awaiting Peony season, what blooms are you enjoying at the moment?!

Crafting with my Daughter 

I don’t share my daughter online anymore, I’ll be honest I was a bit naive when I was pregnant and when she born. I wasn’t really visible online before then, and didn’t think about the implications of sharing her online, like any proud parent you want to share your child with the world and shout ‘look how wonderful they are’. As she’s gotten older, I’ve decided not to share much of her as her privacy is hers, and not for me to decide what she does and doesn't want to share. However a big highlight of the past weeks has been crafting with her, and I couldn’t not share. I love a theme, so with Valentine’s Day, Mother’s Day and Easter all coming one after another, we’ve had so many excuses to get the paints, glue, and craft boxes out. My inner child loves it, and it’s much more enjoyable now she’s not going to eat the paints, with or without children I would recommend getting some paints and having fun regardless, it really is a soul nourisher. 

I would love to know what you’ve been enjoying this month in the comments!