Saying hello to 2016 – Little Loves

It’s my first Little Loves of the year! The last few months of 2015 were quite difficult for me so, let’s face it, this is also my first one for a few months. Oops.

After taking a nice long break from work & blogging over the Christmas break I have eased back into things, as dealing with various dramas at home (hello, exploding washing machine) hasn’t let me throw myself fully back into the swing of things until this week. But I am back and raring to go now! Little Loves is a fun weekly linky where I get to share what I’ve been up to, so I want to be good this year and join in as often as I can manage.

Since I didn’t get going soon enough to do once last week, I’ll be sharing things that I’ve enjoyed not only this week but my highlights from over the Christmas break as well. Sorry for the inevitable long length of this post!

Read

I’ve read a lot of books since Christmas, including several series of books. All complete comfort reads. Carole Matthews brilliantly finishes off her Chocolate Lovers series with The Chocolate Lovers’ Wedding, which ties up all of the friends storylines just wonderfully, but still being a great story in it’s own right – it’s not just a “wrapping up the story” book.

Watched

Going to the cinema as a parent when you don’t have many options for child care is hard, and it is definitely one of the things of our pre-baby life that I miss the most… but that does make the occasional chance for a date night (or afternoon) even more special. We did get to go watch the new Star Wars film over Christmas thanks to my MIL kindly taking the girls for an afternoon though, yay!

In the meantime, we find that Now TV* is the best way to watch new(ish) movies as soon as possible after they come out. They seem to get all the blockbusters earlier than the other subscription services and they added some great ones over Christmas. I’m looking forward to watching the latest Avengers, Big Hero 6, Chappie, and loads more. We watched Cinderella the other day and I absolutely loved it. I really like what Disney are doing with their live action fairytale films, and I can’t wait for Beauty and the Beast!

TV wise I’ve just binge watched the entirety of Forever which is on Now TV Entertainment* and is fantastic. Starring Ioan Gruffudd as the immortal Henry Morgan; doctor and medical examiner. It’s fascinating and I am so peeved that it got cancelled after the first season! Luckily the story is wrapped up fairly nicely so I don’t have to suffer through the awfulness that is an unresolved cliffhanger.

Supergirl is another of my favourites on Now TV at the moment – they have the new episodes almost as soon as they are being aired in America. It is really entertaining, definitely recommend this one.

Lastly, Death in Paradise is back on our screens! One of my favourite BBC shows, and it has survived a couple of major cast changes without losing it’s charm and sense of humour. It’s on Thursday nights on BBC One so make sure you check it out.

Wore

I bought a big cosy tunic jumper in the sales last week and I’ve been practically living in it since – it’s so cold at the moment so I just want to hibernate and this jumper is perfect for that. Soft, grey, and very cosy. I only wish the purple version was still in stock!

Heard

I love the Cinderella soundtrack so I’ve been listening to that while I read, blog and work. It mostly instrumental – with really beautiful pieces of music – but it also has two songs with vocals which are taken from the original Disney film & updated, including this fab rendition of Bibbidi-Bobbidi-Boo by Helena Bonham Carter.

When I’ve been walking or doing housework (and also when I’m trying to sleep) I have been listening to the Harry Potter audio books. They are available on Audible now and I have a one credit a month subscription which means each book costs me £7.99 as opposed to their full price which are a bit eye-popping… books 4, 5, 6 & 7 are all £32.99 each so it’s a great saving. They are unabridged so you get hours of listening time, all read very wonderfully by the one and only Stephen Fry.

So far I have listened to the Philosopher’s Stone, the Chamber of Secrets, and the Prisoner of Azkaban. I’ve been planning to re-read the series for a few months now but never got around to it (there are always so many books in my to-read list!) so the audiobooks is a great alternative as I can listen as I do stuff. I can’t listen to an audiobook as I work or blog though as I either lose track of the work or of the book! I’m now itching for my next credit to come through so I can buy the Goblet of Fire.

Made

I’ve almost finished my crochet Granny Square blanket so hopefully I will be sharing photos of that next week. I did enjoy doing a Christmas jigsaw over the Christmas break as well, I love doing jigsaws to relax and this one that my friend gave me in our secret santa was really lovely.

and lastly…

We’ve had our first snow of the year! We have woken up to snow two days in a row here now, and it is SO cold. The downside of the weather is my eczema hates it and my legs sting like mad whenever I venture outside. Brrrr, and OW.

Have a great weekend 🙂

*this post includes some affiliate links for your convenience.