Cartoon: A Famous Person Has Died

Recognisable to anyone who, like me, can't help watching BBC News 24. Very apt, very funny!

http://laughingsquid.com/a-famous-person-has-died-by-john-campbell/

Stuff and whatnot

Photo from here, also see Etsy shop here.

Isn't the weather just divine? I wish I was having this picnic, and I wish we were beside the sea rather than stuck here in the 'burbs. The Monkey is crashed out in her cot after spending a couple of hours in Nanny and Grandad's garden while I was at work. She's great at the moment, getting more confident on her feet, sleeping amazingly well, I feel very fortunate to have her around. She's the best. Her daddy was away for a couple of days last week in Cannes, so it's good to have him back too. I'm still trying to be mindful of what I am eating, although I'm finding that my resolve slips as we approach the end of the week and I get a bit tired of cooking from scratch and start fantasising about takeaways. The hot weather helps as it decreases my appetite anyway. I've been losing about 2lbs a week so far, which feels healthy and sustainable and hopefully will ease my passage into the funky new dress I've bought for some upcoming summery parties!

On Saturday I attended a professional workshop on CBT for Depression. It's the first professional development workshop I've done since I had the baby and it really reinforced to me that I need regular events like this both to update my skills but also to network with other therapists. Working in private practice can be quite isolating and it can rapidly become quite stultifying, just this one workshop has sparked ideas and plans and re-ignited my interest in my work. I've decided that once a month I am going to set aside a whole day for CPD and ask one of the grandparents to have the baby. I'll do a workshop as frequently as possible and if not, I'll go into London and spend the day reading or researching. When I was doing my MA dissertation I loved spending the entire day in Borders coffee shop, I'd gather a pile of books on my way up and just work my way through them. I've wholeheartedly enjoyed my first year of motherhood but until now work has felt like an intrusion into my time rather than a welcome additional facet to my life. I didn't realise until Saturday that my professional confidence has really taken a nosedive and I need to do something about that. Work is quiet at the moment, the flow of referrals is more a trickle, so it's the perfect time to do something constructive, particularly as we are still in the limbo of being on-the-way-to-moving-house.

And on a completely random note, can anyone tell me how to 'strike through' text on Blogger?

Compare and Contrast

Tilly 2008

Mama 1974

Tilly 2008

Mama 1974

Mama 1975

Tilly 2009

Mama & Nanna 1975

Tilly & Mama 2009

Emmetts Garden

We all woke up late this morning- at 9.03am to be exact! After a quick snuggle/feed we got up an wondered how to spend the day. After spending most of the week at home with the Monkey I really wanted to go out for a few hours, Dave on the other hand had had a busy week at work and was looking forward to relaxing at home. I can completely understand, he has quite a glamorous job, gets wined and dined and his days are very social. Because he is the best husband in the world ever, he found a promotional code for the National Trust, joined us up and found a garden 30 minutes drive away. It was called Emmetts Garden, near Westerham in Kent. We wandered around the gardens, saw some amazing trees and a wonderful view across the countryside to Hever, Ashdown Forest and Bough Beech reservoir. We had a lovely bowl of vegetable soup with seeded bread, sitting outside on some picnic benches. And then we came back home. We were only out for a couple of hours but it was a perfect way to get some fresh air and a change of scenery.

Natural History Newsflash: Monkey evolves to walk on two feet

Yay! 3lbs lost

I've been blogging a bit about food and diet on my new blog, WholeHearted. It's been a week now of eating sensibly and primarily whole/ organic foods, and I've lost 3lbs! It's not a Diet with a capital 'D', and as such I am hoping to demonstrate that eating Good Food can be as slimming as eating Less Food. The shopping, preparation and cooking is time-consuming but worthwhile, it's always good to discover new recipes, the ones you'll make again and the ones that get consigned to the dustbin (not that there have been any of those!). To celebrate my success I have got banana, caramel and chocolate chip muffins in the oven, ha ha! 

Rainbow Bookshelf

I love this rainbow bookshelf (photo from here) and I've probably got enough books to recreate it but... how would you ever find the book you needed?!