Birthday Parties, On The Radio, A Giveaway Gift and On Writing – #LittleLoves

March has been a very busy month chez wellies, and with both my boys’ birthdays in the space of the last couple of weeks (bad planning, eh?) I’ve found myself using the expression ‘run ragged’ more than once or twice of late. At the weekend we had two birthday parties, one for my son’s friends and one for family. All great fun, but what a lot of cooking, baking and preparing –  I am now so ready for the Easter holidays to start 🙂 .

Last week also held a bit of personal excitement, with my first appearance on radio, and a lovely giveaway gift I received on a day of very happy mail – more on all that soon. For now, let me update you on the rest of the week’s goings-ons in books, films, and the rest of the rundown – you know the drill by now. All those bits of positivity that make up a week of Little Loves 🙂 .

READ

This week I’ve been reading On Writing by Stephen King. It’s a book I’ve been meaning to read for ages as it’s the one that always comes up in interviews when writers are asked about books on the craft of well, writing books. As the cover says, it’s part (very interesting) memoir and part instruction manual for the budding writer. I’m really enjoying it and the advice is very practical – less of the grand, vague statements about writing and more of the back-to-basics stuff.

WATCHED

At the weekend we took a group of nine-year-olds to the cinema to watch Peter Rabbit. If you haven’t seen it it’s a great one to line up for the Easter hols. Lots of adventure, a hint of romance, and the main human character getting repeatedly bopped with garden implements. Plus of course that famous bunny voiced brilliantly by James Corden. I have a feeling we will be doing this one all over again come DVD release.

HEARD

Nothing like listening to the sound of your own voice, eh? I have to confess that’s exactly what I did last week after appearing on BBC Radio Scotland to talk about Easter holiday planning for families on their Out for the Weekend show. A researcher from their studio contacted me last Wednesday after coming across my blog and asked if I’d be interested in participating. It was quite a nerve-wracking experience but also a very interesting one. I’m on at about 1 hour 39 minutes (well, for the next 28 days or so 😉 ) if you’d like to listen in.

MADE

One of the things I was talking about on the interview was our Easter and Spring bucket list, our seasonal tradition of making an activity list of all the things we’d like to do. My youngest is very excited about gold-starring the activities as we complete them, and I also wrote a whole post about ideas for a Scottish travel bucket list here on the blog if you need some inspiration too. Looks like learning to dab is on my horizons for the holiday season, oh wonderful 😉 . I actually thought I could do a dab but apparently Mummy’s technique is missing that elusive je ne sais quoi 😉 .

This week also meant making lots and lots of party food. We had a DIY pizza party on Saturday night, followed by a cake and nibbles party for about 15 on Sunday afternoon. I managed to squeeze in some gluten and dairy free stuff for myself (those brownies are made with avocado and my kids love them, ha!) Thankfully the sun was shining and the kids managed to get plenty of time running about in the garden.  Despite my moans of exhaustion, I think I can safely say a good time was had by all 🙂 .

AND LASTLY

In between parties and preparations we did manage to hit a couple of things on our Easter bucket list with a trip to a local harbour and a close encounter with some happy basking seals. We’ve also had some Spring-like weather and the first signs of some daffodils opening. Spring might be hiding some days, but one way or another, it can’t be far away!

And finally, I got a lovely surprise last week when I won an Instagram competition and received this lovely edition of Sense and Sensibility and a quote card from Curl up with a Book, a subscription service who deliver ‘literary care packages’ straight to your door. I’m really looking forward to curling up with this over the holidays and taking a little break from everything. I’ll be back with more Little Loves after the schools go back. Until then, hope your Easter is filled with many chocolate bunnies and a lot of things to love! 🙂

Gx

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