42. Happy Friday Links

Every week I like to share wonderful reads and resources to inspire simplicity, mindfulness and living well on less.

• On getting intentional with Instagram by Fran at The Simplicity Journey. Yes, Instagram niggles me, as I'm not sure I want to share my daily life, and Instagram does require fairly frequent posting which is not always easy when you're working.
• Oh the joys of Dickensian on the BBC. Bless Inspector Bucket! Here's something to dream of, Win a complete set of Charles Dickens published by Vintage Classics. I've entered this competition by Foyles (twice).
• Do you power nap? How to get a good night's sleep by Tamsin Kelly via Prima.
• The beauty of Barbie diversified, Barbie launches three new body types, by Victoria Kingdon via Harper's Bazaar. 
• 'Minds change' says Matt Haig, author of Reasons to Stay Alive and this article in The Guardian, As therapy shows, words can be medicine. Read Matt's book if you haven't yet done so. It'll change your mind and help you change others' too. 
• Have we fallen out of love with jeans? By Chemmie Squier at The Debrief.
• Fairy lights and flowers: Susannah & Tod's Renovated Portland Flower Cart via Apartment Therapy. Pretty perfect. 

It's been a while, I know, so thank you for still reading here. I'm hoping to post these links every Friday or at least once a fortnight. I shall be working (almost) full-time until the end of May so I'm being very mindful to not overdo things in other areas of my life. Reading (see the sidebar list), cooking, exercise and just being are taking priority over blogging at the moment. I hope you understand and thank you for your kind wishes. Having said that, I might pop up with an occasional catch-up post, so please don't strike me off your reading list just yet! 

Happy weekending! Claire xo

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41. Happy Friday Links

Every week I like to share wonderful reads and resources to inspire simplicity, mindfulness and living well on less

• I dropped a size on the anti-ageing diet, via The Telegraph, sounds like a sensible way to shed a few excess pounds (scroll down to the bottom of the article for the check list).
• This book looks interesting. I think it could bring a lot of pleasure year after year. A buy to last book, I guess.
• Lonely? 5 habits to Consider to Combat Loneliness. Good advice for anyone, from Gretchen Rubin.
• I love this film and Alan Rickman will be missed: Alan Rickman plays the cello in Truly, Madly, Deeply via The Strad.
• I've made notes on this one, 12 Things Confident Women Do, from Well Made Lives (not gender specific advice, in my opinion).
• I love Wildacre blog and the hellebores in this post. Snowdrops and hellebores brighten January, which has to be the longest month.
• Less is more and small is beautiful I still believe. This home, via My Scandinavian Home, oozes charm and calm.

I hope you enjoy this week's compilation. I'm juggling blogging with teaching almost full time at the moment and the planning and marking are winning - just so you know where I am if I miss a post. Have a lovely weekend, friends xo

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40. Happy Friday Links

Every week I like to share wonderful reads and resources to inspire simplicity, mindfulness and living well on less.

• How to Make the Most of Staying In This January and February. Some positive and indulgent ideas for hunkering down (and beautiful images too) from Houzz.
• This beautiful letter from mum who died will make you laugh (and cry) via Good Housekeeping.
• I like the idea of progress rather than perfection - How to get More Energy: 8 New Secrets Backed by Research from Barking Up The Wrong Tree. 
• A no-plastics pledge from Anna Hart via The Telegraph, Why Dry January should be about giving up bottled water.
• A delicious vegetarian feast on a plate, Harissa Carrots with Fennel and Lentils, by Sarah at My New Roots. 
• Marie Kondo Shares Her Happy Life Secrets via Red Magazine. I might have to add tidying my sock drawer to my staying in list! 
• "An amazing life. An amazing career." Elton John remembers David Bowie via The Huffington Post. 

Image source unknown. I offer it in gratitude to a musical and creative hero. 

Have a great weekend.

Claire xo

39. Happy Friday Links

Every week I like to share wonderful reads and resources to inspire simplicity, mindfulness and living well on less.

• Did you have a traditional Christmas? Ever fancied a change? What I Learnt Spending Christmas in a Country That Doesn't Celebrate Christmas by Becca Caddy via Life Hacker.
• Bikini bodies are so 2015. Some life-changing magic, Drowning in commitments? It's time to stop giving a damn by Sarah Knight via The Guardian.
• This home is cheery, from Wealden Times. 
• "Give your body some love." 10 running resolutions for the New Year from Realbuzz.
• 230 Great Books for Children in 2016. We're enjoying Charlotte's Web in the class I'm covering at the moment.
• Sam Baker via The Pool: Books to look forward to in 2016.
• New Year tips for a healthy 2016 via British Heart Foundation with a bonus 15 great links from 2015.
• Freeze food flat. Now, that makes sense. New year, new kitchen - get your cupboards in order! by Naomi Devlin via River Cottage.
• A minimalist nest with shoe storage via Remodelista.
• Traditional Seville Orange Marmalade from Delia. I'm in the mood for marmalade making... is this the best recipe?

Take care this new year

Claire xo

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Minimalist and Simplicity Plans for 2016

So what are my minimalist and simple living plans for 2016? I've been mulling this over and here are my very loose ideas thus far:

• To enjoy life. Every day to seek and acknowledge the beauty, simplicity and power of life. 
• To work steadily on my goals and develop motivation to meet them. The time to start is now but reviewing goals regularly is important too. This year I am not settling on one word to guide me - I feel the need to explore and be multifaceted. 
• To look forward. I'm looking forward to great new food to eat, to planting more flowers and crops in our garden and to a few short breaks away from it all.
• To continue A year of Less Spending with as many no spend days as possible. Yay to list writing, sticking to a budget, stock taking, occasional stockpiling and eating down the contents of the freezer and food cupboard. Red cabbage anyone (we have plenty). I am happy with my wardrobe and look forward to wearing every piece throughout the year. I hope to buy very few new items this year.
• To be more anti-consumerist and to not follow trends blindly. 
• Keep my head in a book. In 2015 I read more than I have for many years and I believe reading helped me to both recover from and acknowledge the reality of losing my dad last January. H is for Hawk by Helen Macdonald was a great help for this and my favourite read of 2015. I've started a sidebar of my reads in 2016 and may write about some of my reading.
• To read authentic blogs. My taste in blogs has changed and so I've updated my blogroll to reflect my current taste in blogs: authentic, inspiring and no hard sell (especially of simplicity - pleeease). I did fear in 2015 that the heydey of blogging was over but I'm quietly confident that 2016 will be a great year for blogging. 
• To take a balanced approach to health. I must be mindful to not beat myself up if I forget to meditate or miss a run. Any exercise is good. I love walking. Running is less enticing but I have vowed to run a marathon this year (to raise money for Parkinson's in honour of my dad). Wish me luck. It will be my first and (probably) last marathon.
• To continue to declutter. There's still a need to declutter here and there but I can afford to take a relaxed attitude now that the major purging is over. 
• To work hard but appreciate my time off and not feel guilty if it's not productive.
• To continue writing here. There'll be very few changes but hopefully lots of enthusiasm. Happy Friday links will resume on the 8th.

Have a great first week of 2016 xo

In the Kitchen: December

Hello. Are you tinsel free yet? Or poised with a party popper about to welcome in the new year? Our kitchen has been oh so busy this month. Somehow we managed to entertain three times before Christmas. This wasn't good planning really but it did give us the chance to try out lots of ideas before the big day. We've catered for vegetarian friends, a gluten free family member and managed to stick to a fairly tight budget.

I thought I'd show you some of the highlights from our kitchen this month.

We made Delia's roasted red onion, rocket and Parmesan salad as a starter. Twice. This worked really well as it was easy, gluten free and inexpensive. This is a 1993 recipe from Sainsbury's magazine. The only thing I changed was a liberal sprinkling of pomegranate seeds to bring it up to date (this is what happens when you watch Simply Nigella back to back). It almost looks like a Christmas wreath sparkling on its plate.

Another starter we enjoyed was a simple platter. The beetroot dip (shop bought) was a great new find and my sourdough bread made it more robust.

On Christmas Day we had a simple starter of salmon fishcakes. I had only one fishcake to suit my small appetite but the boys had three. These were cooked ahead and frozen to keep things simple on the day. The artistic smears are lemon mayonnaise and Marie Rose sauce

Two new stuffings were tried this year. Gingerbread stuffing and chestnut and cranberry stuffing. Both were good but we found the gingerbread stuffing a little sweet so we didn't bother with this on Christmas Day. 

Parsnips and carrots were coated in honey and wholegrain mustard. 

For our vegetarian friends we made mushroom and chestnut Wellington. This was gorgeous although it took a lot of prepping. I would happily have eaten this on Christmas Day. 

There was braised red cabbage aplenty. We use a recipe from an old Good Housekeeping cookbook. We made this ahead and there's still some in the freezer.

Pears in red wine were an alternative festive dessert and again gluten free. Jack Monroe's recipe is so easy and of course budget friendly. The syrupy sauce is quite addictive.

Suitably wintry and decadent was Donna Hay's whisky, marmalade and mustard glazed ham. This was great for feeding a table of seven. We served it with roast potatoes. Who doesn't like roast potatoes. 

Jamie saved the day again with his stress-free gravy recipe. I have to watch this video at Christmas (to ooh and ahh over the gravy and baby Petal). Using homemade chicken stock from the freezer (not in the original recipe) adds another dimension. 

Here's the mince pies I made early Christmas Eve morning and Tim made Mary Berry's Yule log. He lovingly makes this every year as the boys prefer this to Christmas pudding. 

So that was a little round-up of life in our kitchen this month. We didn't make everything from scratch (I've yet to make a Christmas pudding or cake myself). I've put in lots of links to help me next year and I thought you might be interested too. Cooking in our kitchen is very much a team effort, I must stress. I couldn't do this on my own! This beautiful free little cookbook was a great inspiration this year but all the recipes are on the Waitrose site too (this is not a sponsored post just in case you were wondering). 

HAPPY NEW YEAR!

xoxo

Wishing you a very

A huge thank you for reading, following and commenting on my little blog as I sign off for a while to enjoy the festivities.

I must admit I was very tempted to compile some links for you but after reading this (good advice for anyone, not just teachers in my opinion) I decided that might not be the best way to approach the start of Christmas. You see there had to be at least one link...

Excitement is bubbling and I'm looking forward to some gatherings we have planned with family and friends. Some merriment will be good for all of us (and I will do my best to steer conversation away from work). Merriment will build good memories and I've learnt the importance of those this year. I shall be taking plenty of photos too especially of people. It'll make a change from chasing perfect images. People are far more fascinating and precious.

Right now I crave calm and peace for myself. Yesterday, I had one of those days where everything felt overwhelming and although today I'm feeling gung-ho about the lead up to Christmas I know I need to take time to renew.

So, I've signed up for some meditation, dropped my caffeine intake and decided a mini-digital-break is going to be my Christmas present to myself. 'Tis the season to go analogue. Sometimes minimalists are the worst offenders for creating information overload.

So my lack of links is my Christmas gift to you too. There's a wealth of information out there but it can wait. We'll read those brilliant posts in 2016 and we'll be amazing. But I think we'll be even more brilliant if we just follow our hearts, our curiosity and our values this holiday. 'Go with the flow' as a wise friend of ours says when life gets a bit stressy.

This Christmas I'm going to read those books, go for those walks and be grateful for the great things in my life and the basic things that I too often take for granted.

Enjoy Christmas my friends, have fun and make time to renew and be.

Claire xo

38. Happy Friday Links

Every week I like to share wonderful reads and resources to inspire simplicity, mindfulness and living well on less. 

• 12 days of Christmas super food by Laura Matthews at Jamie Oliver. More sprouts please...
• Now this is small (far too small for my family) but the taps and floor are perfect: Most stylish, small home tour you've ever seen from Passion Shake.
• A gift of a short story delightfully illustrated, Harper Lee: My Christmas in New York via The Guardian. 
• This is a beautiful post (and site) from Belinda at Wild Acre, hedgerows in winter. 
• 'Choose your influencers carefully... Planning a simple life is like writing a love letter to yourself.' Wise words from Rhonda at Down to Earth in her post, Grace and Splendid Simplicity. The poem is worth a read alone.
• 'What will I be glad to have done?' When You want to Live Without Regrets by Melissa Camara Wilkins.

With these enjoy your weekend.

Claire xo

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