I wish it would warm up!  Anyone else fed up with feeling cold, I am desperate to get my lighter clothes and dresses out now!  I know it is still early and last year was an exceptional spring but with all the having to eat outside thing, I'd really like some improvement!  Have you been out yet?  We managed to get lunch out a couple of weeks ago, booked well in advance though!

My big achievement this month was raising £265 for my friend's daughter - you can read all about why on my blog post Jessica's story and her fight for a life | and homemade fudge thank you so much to everyone who ordered fudge or donated to my fundraising efforts.  I hope it arrived and you enjoyed!  My daughter was in charge of packaging and post office and her housemate Kiera made the fudge as part of her Fudge4Charity initiative.

A message from Kiera ...

‘I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone single one of you who bought fudge, and to those who didn’t buy fudge but still donated to Jessica’s fund. I started my venture, Fudge4Charity, to give something back to the community and without you guys it wouldn’t be possible so thank you again very much’.' Love Kiera xx

Kiera and my daughter Emily are both students at Norland College in Bath.

It's the Easter weekend this coming week and I am excited that lockdown restrictions are disappearing.  Okay no mass getaway for the first holiday of the year, no late ski trips or a long weekend in Devon.  We used to love our first trip away in our touring caravan when the children were younger, and when I was growing up with my parents too, Easter was always the start of the years holidays.  
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I often use the long Easter weekend to do a wardrobe declutter and if the weather is looking promising I swap my clothes over from winter to early summer.  I also love to refresh my style and buy a few new outfits especially dresses.

There is hope and optimism and Monday, 29th March 2021 - sees the next step in 'lockdown easing' and we can finally meet others outdoors (maximum six, or two households).  Outdoor sports facilities will be opening and we can travel outside our immediate area!  I am really looking forward to tidying our garden, lighting the fire pit, getting a blanket or two out, opening the wine and getting on with some garden entertaining!

With January being the longest on record, ever, it was a relief that February was a short month and that Boris. finally shared his roadmap out of this seemingly never-ending lockdown!  I now have a my sugar waxing, manicure, pedicure, eyebrow tint and shape, back massage and facial, hair cut and colour booked!  I've also got a week in Cornwall in July, a few days in Devon to finally see our new great-niece, a couple of nights in a beach hut in Sussex and a reservation at The Ivy Marlow Garden!  That's just for starters ....!!

I am now wondering what I have been doing all year!?  I am determined to come out of lockdown more organised and clutter free than when I went in but still haven't quite got that right.  I guess it'll be a mad rush to get sorted, nothing like a deadline to focus the mind.

So what have I been doing to be fifty and fab this February?  Well the 'no spend February' wasn't exactly no spend!  It was 'less spend' until I attended a new season trends workshop with Stylist, Anita Feron Clark on Thursday, then I had a little online shopping spree.  I personally think February was too depressing not to have a few treats.  Nothing has arrived yet, quite a lot might be going back if it doesn't fit or suit.

So a little round up of what I have been doing lately ...

Just how long is January!!?  I decided to start writing this five days before the actual end of January as I was bored waiting.  I am sure January 2021 has been double the length it should be.   I've been checking the diary every day to see if it is the 31st yet ... bit like checking the. news every day to see if Boris has announced the pandemic is over and we can resume normal life.  I'm still waiting, obviously.  I gave up on dry January at about week three as after three weeks I thought I had done long enough!  Not that I have succumbed to alcoholism again (only joking) but the odd glass of wine in the bath is essential!

How are you all?  Bored too?  The spring and summer lockdown seemed so much easier, we could pretend we were on holiday, sit in the garden, play dress up in pretty summer outfits, take insta-worthy photos and share them on the grid.  Now I am pretty sure no one wants to see another jeans n jumper shot.  I also loved my daily 'mud free' walks and early evening 'rosé in the garden' but in the middle of winter, my dogs are permanently filthy and I get too hot and flustered hosing them down.

But I dare not complain, I fully appreciate I am luckier than so many, I have a house in the woods, a beautiful garden, space around me, I am not home schooling .... we have not (yet and I hope won't) lost anyone close to this awful virus.  

So what have I been doing ... here is a little round-up of 'being fifty and fab' in the lockdown weeks since Christmas!