Right I know it has taken me a little while to get this down, but here is all the things we got up to in a day when we went to Belfast. There are loads more things you can do, and next time we would definitely go for a lot longer, but for now here’s how we did Belfast in a day.
We arrived on the Friday night and stayed at the Premier Inn. We tend to stay with them so our son settles as they are pretty much the same wherever you go and they’re always pretty reasonable too.
I was super excited to get my June Birchbox, as it was a special edition for their 5th birthday. They had shared on Instagram the cutest keepsake tin and featured an additional 6th item. These little boxes of treats arrive once a month through the letter box and I love them. As I have mentioned before they are my little self-care aid, and for £10 plus postage they cost less than one lunch date. Want to know what I got? Keep on reading to see.
A couple of months ago I decided to treat myself to a little something. Nothing too big, just a little pick me up to land through the letter box that I could play with and maybe find some new products that I like. Because let’s face it I don’t have the time or loads of pennies to spend on tons of new product. So I decided to subscribe to Birchbox and have so far recieved a couple of boxes. I enjoyed this months Birchbox May collection so much I thought I would share it with you.
I grew up travelling the world as we followed my Dad’s civil engineering work. This meant multiple flights a year making us pretty well seasoned travellers. My own children on the other hand had never been abroad, well apart from Wales, but according to Ells that doesn’t count because we didn’t have to get on a plane. Phil and I thought about how we could manage a weekend trip involving a plane so we could see them through their first flights.
I am a huge believer in teaching our kids life skills, they are paramount to their growth and future contributions to society. I also believe there is only so much we can teach them as parents before we need to let them go and gain a few skills for themselves without our influence. Having grown up abroad I had the privilege of experiencing many diverse cultures first hand, and this is partly why I am so pleased to have been asked to share my thoughts on the NCS programme. It really will give our young people skills for life not just for summer.
My own daughter is 15 this year and is very keen to join next year’s programme. And to be honest so am I. Sure I can teach her how to iron, clean, cook and be a nice human but the proof as they say is in the pudding! How will the skills I have taught her fair when she is out there in the real world? How will she cope with cultural differences? I hope she embraces them as I have taught her, but until she is given the opportunity we won’t know for sure.
The NCS programme offers an opportunity for young people for diverse backgrounds the unique opportunity to share in a single experience. Helping them to become better individuals within their collective social groups and ultimately better citizens within wider society. And lets face it with the current state of media,
The past few months have been intense. Like really intense. I wrote a ‘could do’ list a few months back and to be honest is kind of got lost a little in the chaos of the ‘to do’ list fulfilling. I did manage to check a couple of things of both lists mind, but nowhere near as many as I wanted to do. Still the point of the ‘could do’ list is not how many you check off but more that you make the time to do any at all. Or at least that’s what I have been telling myself anyway!
The next week is another busy one, with the end of term, Good Friday, a trip to Brixham and of course Easter Sunday! So meal planning has had to be as simple as possible this coming week. I have been scouring the t’internet for easy peasy recipes that are one pot or only take minimal effort. We have planned in a takeway for next Saturday so I don’t have to cook after we get back from Brixham, but I found a recipe I want to give a go at some point, so have linked that below in the interim.
Quite often I get so lost in the list of things unticked but still to do instead of taking stock of what I have actually achieved. It is a downward spiral that leads to anxiety, self-doubt and the deterioration of self-care. I lose sight of the ‘all done’ list that is a mile long, filled with amazing accomplishments that could purpose to encourage me to keep going. I give up on tooting my own trumpet, I won’t buy flowers or treats in favour of bashing myself over the head with a couple of things I didn’t get done amidst the chaos that is this life.
Hi, my name is Sophie, welcome to my blog. We are a happily blended family of 7 living the beautiful Worcestershire countryside. Here I will share blog posts about daily life, recipes and other various adventures we have. I hope you join us for the journey.
