Embracing Spotify, Falling in Love with Little Women and a 50th Birthday | Little Loves January 2020

Well hello there my lovelies. I took a break from sharing my Little Loves for a couple of months but I’m back! The truth is, I haven’t felt like sharing anything much recently because the non-lovely bits of life seemed to take over for a while. What with that and my blogging mojo being non-existent, it just wasn’t happening.

I contemplated not continuing with this Little Loves tradition in 2020 but I really do think it’s a good exercise. You’ll know that my word last year was ‘Gratitude’ and thinking about all of the things I’m grateful for is such a good antidote to negativity.

So here are my Little Loves for the month of January…

Heard in January

So much more now that I’ve joined the Spotify party! Yes, we’ve finally got a family membership to Spotify and I’m liking it so far. Obviously there’s no more content available than on Apple Music but I like the way it works with suggested playlists etc.

My favourite song for this month has been anything by Selena Gomez. I know that I’m probably not in her target market but she never fails to get me singing along in the car.

I’ve been all over the podcasts this month too with my favourite being Oprah Winfrey’s Super Soul Conversations. She’s interviewed Lady Gaga twice recently but during her first one she talks openly about her daily struggles with mental illness and how she’s learning to overcome it.

Watched in January

ITV’s Deadwater Fell was exactly the kind of thrilling drama that I love to get my teeth stuck and David Tennant was perfect for the main role. However, I was disappointed by the ending – where were the twists?! It’s worth a watch though if you haven’t already.

If you haven’t been to the cinema to indulge in the two hours of loveliness that is Little Women, you absolutely MUST. We recently saw the arrival of an Everyman cinema in Wokingham and I’ve been three times in the last month! Little Women was by far my favourite of all the films – the writing, the cinematography, the casting, the costumes. Initially I was a bit confused by the switching of timelines but it’s a story that I know so well that it wasn’t a problem for me. All in all, beautifully done.

My love to hate addition for this month, is Love Island. You may remember that a few years ago my girls wanted to watch it and I decided that I should watch it with them. Nowadays, my presence is not required in the same way but my youngest daughter still likes to make sure that we both sit down together at 9pm to roll our eyes and discuss the latest love triangle. It’s become a bit of a tradition that I love to hate. Once they hit the upper teenage years, you’ve got to grab all of the potential bonding moments with both hands.

Read in January

As per usual, I’ve had a couple of things on the go this month. My first completed book of 2020 is Glorious Weakness by Alia Joy.

It’s a deeply personal story of finding God in the toughest of circumstances. Alia opens up her heart and soul in this book. It’s beautifully written and I could relate to so much of it.

I was kindly gifted The Incredible Teenage Brain by Bettina Hohnen, Jane Gilmour and Tara Murphy for review and I know that it will be invaluable to me as a parent to three teenagers. According to the authors, the teenage years start when puberty hits and finish when your ‘child’ becomes independent (not usually 19 these days!). So if your child falls somewhere within this age range, then I would say that this book is for you.

When my children were little, I had a whole library of self-help books. I’ve not read many since they became teenagers probably because I now understand how different children are and that one size does not fit all! I also sometimes find that reading books can put too much pressure on being the perfect parent. This one however, is more about educating the reader on how the teenage brain works and how to help your teenager get the very best out of these years and beyond.

Wore in January

Did you purchase anything in the January sales? I’m not one for darkening the doors of the high street just days after we’ve put the tinsel away but I’m not averse to a little online shopping.

And Other Stories is a shop that I’ve admired for sometime but not actually bought anything from. They had a fantastic sale on (and still do actually) which led me to buying two much-loved items that I’ve been living in ever since…

First up is this cobalt blue mock neck sweater which is such a gorgeous colour and was less than half price. It’s slightly cropped so if you’re a shorty like me then it’s the perfect length to go with those high waisted jeans.

I also bought some amazing ankle boots that I shared over on Instagram earlier in the week. And what can I say about this teddy bear coat from New Look? I’ve barely had it off my back since purchasing! All of these were really good buys that I’ve already had so much wear out of.

Made in January

As always, I’m a bit stumped with this one because I *made* very little in the true sense of the word. However, I did make some decisions at the beginning of the year and put some thought into my word for 2020, which is ‘Pause’. You can read more about it here.

And lastly…

We celebrated my sister’s 50th birthday at the beginning of January – a family dinner at our house with some games and all the trimmings. Here’s a little throwback to the 70s (the more astute amongst you will see that my 50th isn’t too far around the corner).

And that just about wraps up January. I’m deliberately choosing to steer away from the not-so-lovely bits of the month because that’s not what this post is all about. Why not spend some time pondering today on your Little Loves in January?