One of my aspirations for this year is to be more active. I wouldn’t class myself as a couch potato, and I often have days where I’m so busy I don’t get a chance to sit down until ten in the evening, but I’m not really big on exercise. I have rare occasions where I feel like going for a run or something equally as crazy, but generally there are other things that I would be rather doing than pounding the pavement and feeling like I’m going to die. I drive to most places purely down to saving time and convenience, but I really love going for long walks. So I think that this may be the key to keeping active. 

We recently signed up to become members of the National Trust and they have some lovely sites all across the country. They are always beautifully maintained and their manor homes are so opulent. I feel like making a commitment to become a member of the National Trust has encouraged me to search out new places to go for a mooch around and I intend to visit many National Trust sites this year. Since we became members, we have visited both Waddesdon Manor and the Ashridge Estate twice. The great thing is that many of their sites are dog friendly, so we can bundle Holly in the car and take her with us.

  
The other brilliant thing about it is that we spend quality time together, making memories and having a chat. It’s really lovely to soak up the precious moments where we aren’t in a hurry to go anywhere and can just be together. Life is both unpredictable and short, so we need to make the most of it.

Some of the National Trust places are free too, like the Ashridge Estate, so it makes for a very cheap day out even if you aren’t a member.

  
We quite like to venture out into the countryside a bit, leaving the big lights of London behind us with its cluttered streets and polluted air. I’m sure that it is a case of ‘the grass is always greener’ (literally), but there’s something magical about escaping to the country and we always dream about living in one of the quaint villages that we drive through on our way to our destination with its cosy pubs and community feel.

   
 
The four of us spent a couple of hours enveloped in nature, feeling the squelch of mud beneath our boots and looking at tree formations (I know this sounds ridiculously boring, but nature is a wonderful thing, honest!). We laughed as we struggled to catch our breath climbing up steep hills, our wellies losing their grip in the muddy terrain. The air was fresh and it was blissfully peaceful.

   
 
It was so refreshing to leave ordinary life behind and just embrace not just time together, but time itself with our only worry being that we would get lost and forget our way back to the car (which thankfully didn’t happen).

I can’t wait to get out and about exploring this year, especially when the weather brightens up!

  

Are there any places that you like to visit?

L X

  
I’ve written before about how I think it is so important to squeeze in time for ourselves. Sometimes we get so caught up in life, prioritising others and their needs, leaving our own at the bottom of the list and I think that it is of upmost importance that we try and squeeze in some time for ourselves.

I’ve developed a guilty pleasure in going to the cinema. I love picking out which movie I want to watch and meeting up with my friend Debbie. We have a little chat before and after the film (usually over food) and treat ourselves to a sweet treat for in the cinema (I usually have popcorn, chocolate and pick n mix!). We’ve seen all of the greats together and we love it. It’s always nice to catch up, but the reason we adore going to the cinema is simply to just be. To just exist for a couple of hours in this manic world, the fast paced streets of London outside a far cry from the fictional world that we have been swept up in. Yes, I may sometimes be on the edge of my seat wondering if the lead character will survive, but ultimately I’m switched off from the world. Phone on silent, darkened room… Blissful. I feel like it’s such a self indulgent thing, but I always feel so relaxed after a cheeky trip to the cinema, like I’ve had a mini break from life and it’s just brilliant. 

I love seeing the movies too, of course. This week we saw The Revenant. I was really excited because there was so much love emanating from people who had seen it and there are worse things to do than watch Leonardo DiCaprio for a couple of hours (he had my heart at Titanic). It was all in all a great film, beautifully shot and edited. The storyline is a little predictable at times and I did start to find it amusing that nothing would kill off Leo’s character (it’s as though the One Direction song ‘Drag Me Down’ was written for him). There are also some gruesome scenes of him in a few scenarios that Bear Grylls would be right at home in. Anyway, all in all it is a great movie and I would definitely watch it again.

Have you seen any good movies recently?

L X

  
I’ve always used this little blog to express myself, to talk about things that I’ve become excited about or to simply ramble about life. It’s starting to really grow and part of that means that I need to evaluate where I want to go with it and how I want to manage it. This has meant that I’ve set up a Facebook page and have started to roll with it as my little audience increases. I’ve also had a good old think about when I will post so that we all know where we stand and I’ve decided to pop up a new post every Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday. Three posts a week. I think that this is manageable although there may be an odd week where it isn’t possible and you never know there may even be a week where I post more than that. I’m really enjoying my blog and love moulding it into what I stand for and who I am. I’m not big on edited pictures (although I love beautiful photography, it’s just not me) and I want to maintain honesty. I’m quite transparent and I don’t want to be playing make believe in my blog. So there you have it, three posts a week and all from the heart.

L x

  
As part of my Reading Challenge this year, I am attempting to read one book a week in order to hit my target of fifty-two books this year. This weeks’ book was The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins, which was a birthday gift from the hubby! There is so much love bouncing around the universe regarding this book, which can either be a really good thing, or a really bad thing. Thankfully, this book is absolutely marvellous and definitely lives up to the hype. From the moment I picked it up I was hooked. It’s incredibly well written and my interest only escalated as the story evolved. Paula takes you on a journey where you will cringe, worry, ponder and become completely committed to the characters (although by the end the only one I liked was Evie!). The way that they are developed is brilliant and there is a part of me that won’t accept that they are fictional. I pretty much read anything from romantic novels to biographies and this thriller had me talking myself into reading ‘one more page’ every time I picked it up.

Read it if:

• You love a thriller
• You enjoy drama
• You like to be taken on a journey 

Best bits:

• The development of the characters
• The twisting storyline
• The flow

Worst bits:

• I did find Rachel a bit annoying at times (although it’s all part of her character)

I’ve heard on the grapevine that there will be a film based on this book that is out later this year. I can’t wait to see it!

Have you read anything that’s excited you recently?

L X

  
It’s taken me a while, but I’ve finally succumbed to the world of Instagram.

At first I didn’t want to embrace it because I feel like life is cluttered enough with Facebook, YouTube and Twitter and I wasn’t sure if I had room to commit to another social networking platform. Then I remembered that I can post to both Facebook and Twitter with ease through Instagram. I then dug up my account (which had one photograph from when I signed up years ago!) and now I’m hooked.

Hit me up if you are on Instagram too – louisehargestkemp

L x

  
As some of you may already know, last week it was my birthday. I normally love having a birthday, not for the fuss, attention or gifts, but just because it brightens up January for me, which, let’s be honest is a bit of a pants month for most people. This year was a little different. I woke up feeling terribly sad and couldn’t shift it for the whole day. I’m normally such a positive person and it really surprised me. My Grandad’s birthday is two days’ before mine and we have always had some sort of celebration together. It also happened to be exactly one month since he passed away and whilst I thought that I would be okay about it, I clearly wasn’t. I literally felt like I could burst into tears at any given second and it was a bit rubbish to be honest. I think that it was just another reminder that he’s now missing from my life and that life is continuing without him. This is all obviously fine, but I just wasn’t vibing it that day. Phil had taken the day off of work to spend it with me and I had reservations at The Ivy (my most favourite restaurant) for breakfast and was thinking of mooching about in central London for most of the day. Given my mood (which wasn’t helped by the heaviest rain I’ve seen in a while), I decided that I didn’t fancy it and traded breakfast at The Ivy for breakfast at McDonalds (a sentence I never thought I would write!). We then went and saw The Hateful Eight at the local cinema, which was both brilliant and incredibly long (it had an interval people, an interval!!). We had a nice time together and I tried my hardest to mask my gloomy mood. In the evening my family came over and we had Chinese take out and played games. Phil also played guitar and I sang along, which I love, so all in all it was a good day.

Seeing as my birthday fell on a Monday this year (I know, right?!), I decided to celebrate with my friends on the following Saturday and thankfully, I was back to feeling like my usual bouncy self.

  
 
I was a bit stuck as to what to do, but at very short notice decided to have a private dining dinner with an Alice in Wonderland theme as I wanted it to be fun and different. Plus, after all of the wedding planning, I am so used to detailing everything that I don’t think a traditional dinner would have sufficed!

  
My friend is an amazing baker and she baked the perfect cake for my birthday. I think that right next to the word ‘cake’ in the Oxford dictionary, should be a picture of my cake because it was just that blimmin’ magnificent. It had a gorgeous pink ribbon and rose with KitKats around the edge. The sponge had three layers, two chocolate with a red velvet layer in the middle. The top was covered in revels, with some cascading from the packet and sprinkled with glitter sprinkles. The piece de resistance was the smarties centre. Yes, when I cut into this masterpiece that had been crafted to perfection, I was greeted with a plethora of rainbow coloured, chocolate goodness. I really do think that my friend Rachel is the Adele of the cake world. It was awesome and I’m very lucky!

  
As it was such short notice, I scrambled around finding anything that could resemble Alice in Wonderland. I scoured the Internet, choosing next day delivery and scuttled around the shops perusing party supplies. Luckily, I managed to find props for everyone and quite a few decorations for the table – hurrah! 

I had already bought a Jack Wills play suit that I had fallen in love with and thankfully it was blue and white – Alice colours! Sadly, I have packed most of my shoes, so had to rely on my trusty Chelsea boots for footwear!

  
My end of the table was a tea party and the other end was dedicated to the Queen of Hearts. We covered one end in little pots saying ‘drink me’, tea cups, bunting, pretty napkins, cute straws and quotes from the book. The other end had huge playing cards, actual playing cards and a sparkly centre piece. I was really pleased with how it turned out, not too subtle and not too cluttered. 

We all had such a lovely evening in each other’s company, stuffing our faces and catching up. I also got completely spoilt too by our wonderful friends.

Now to think of a theme for next year!

L x