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I can’t really speak with much authority on this as we are heading into summer so let me hand your right on over to a guest blogger!! We actually do a lot of these… our gratitude list is a jar, we write things up and put them in and read them when we need them. So nice.

As the days become shorter and the nights get colder, even the most upbeat amongst us can feel a little down. Mild winter blues or known medically as Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD), affects about 29% of the population, while 40% suffer from general fatigue in winter. It can manifest itself though abnormal sleeping patterns, excessive or sparse eating habits, or an overall sense of sadness. While those who suffer from more sever forms of the condition should seek professional help, those who fall into the 29% of the population who get slightly downhearted can take some simple steps to combat the hindrance.

Shake up your Routine

For those who get down in the winter, the length of the season can be enough to evoke a sense of hopelessness. The same routine, day after day, week after week, month after month, can be overwhelming. While its temping to go home and lock up for the evening, make plans for after work, keep active, take a yoga class or even just go to the cinema. There an old saying that states: “There is no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing”. Just because its winter it does not mean you shouldn’t engage in outdoor activities. Wrap the kids up and go on an adventure.

Adhere to a Rigid Sleeping Pattern

Even if you wake up sleepy, force yourself to go to bed at the same time every night and get out of bed at the same time in the mornings. It’s essential to have an orderly sleeping pattern, even if it takes a few days to fall into it. Make sure you have a comfortable  mattress that works for you, as it’s worth investing in to being well rested. Good sleep is an essential element to sound mental health.

Connect – Internally and Externally

Internally and externally, what on earth does that mean? Well, it means making connections with not only those around us but with ourselves. The feeling of isolation is one most commonly referenced by those who suffer from SAD. It’s also important to document your feelings, typically through keeping a diary. Make a ‘gratitude diary’ where you list five things every day that happened that you are grateful for or a ‘have done list’- the perfect antidote to those demanding “to do lists”. Lastly, make sure you’re getting a lot of antioxidants in your diet, found in items such as tea and blueberries. These will help ward of sickness, which can only make things worse in the winter.

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post.

I am a huge, huge, huge fan of walls that are covered in art prints, poems and homemade art work. Jam them in, cram them up. Bare walls are not for me!

Now, of course, if you are a fine art guru this could get expensive. If, on the other hand, you simply like pretty things and inspiring things and want to gaze on things that are lovely rather than collectable, I have a few ideas.

I frame anything, for starters. Buttons, wrapping paper and tea towels have all been stuck behind glass in my home. I think things in frames is one of the best and cheapest ways to decorate a house.

Next up you can get virtually anything printed.

We have a London bus sign, which was a leaving present when we left London and it sits proudly in our yurt in New Zealand! If I had more space I’d go for something this dramatic from here.

Consider printing out a fine art print that means something to you. This Gustav Klimt painting is one of my favourites as it evokes our families love of breastfeeding and cosleeping!

I’m also a sucker for words. I write big long sentences on wood and hang it up. I have a version of this in my home too: 

Finally using Posterlounge – my new faves – you can find super cheap prints for any room. Such a cracker. I love, love, love the ABC ones in the sale. Three quid? Bag it. 

How do you decorate? Would love to hear what art prints you have on your walls!

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post!

When I married my husband Tim, his folks sat us down and explained that they would like to lend us some money to buy our first home.

I cried. Not with happiness or overwhelm.  I was blown away. But instead of being utterly elated I was gutted! Suddenly I’d be launched into a new class of society – and I wasn’t prepared for it. I didn’t want to move up from my working class roots!

We have never owned houses in my family. My mum and dad, my aunties and uncles, both sets of grandparents, all the sets of great-grandparents – not a single one has ever been a home owner.

Through my teenage years and early adulthood I actually formed a huge framework in my head for why I didn’t even believe in homeownership. Upon this structure I hung the fact that there was no money in my family and no way I’d ever have a job outside of the charity sector that could ever get me a mortgage. I draped over it historical evidence that suggests the dividing up of land was the initial push towards great inequality and that land ownership has since been a massive source of injustice, separating the haves and have nots. I lugged this great anti-capitalist clothes horse around with me proudly.

And then I sat on the sofa as my father-in-law offered to get us started with our first house.

And I wept.

(Later, not in front of him.)

We tucked this incredibly generous offer into the pocket of a fusty winter coat (hanging on my clothes line, probably) and tried to forget about it.

Years later, a good office job for both of us, living in London, and very much pregnant we tugged it out and dusted it off. Hmmm. This could change our lives.

Within a week we had viewed a house (er, yeah, just the one. It was love at first sight… don’t do that though… I read about how you shouldn’t do that in the bank’s Guide To Buying A House while we were settling) and had -a bit frightenedly- used Experian CreditExpert credit check and discovered things were all good in the hood. And then had made an offer and had it accepted. Within a WEEK.

We ripped up the nasty pink carpet that made us cry on our first night, planted tomatoes in the garden, planned where the birth pool would go. And we were so, so happy. It was our nest for our growing little family.

Now, in 2015, our lives look different again! We managed to sell that home that we’d done up with bits and bobs from the side of the road for enough profit to buy a parcel of land in New Zealand with some friends. And we spent the leftovers on a big yurt.

So now we are not only homeowners but the land owning gentry!

I still carry that busy old framework about with me though. But instead of making me cry about owning land it inspires me to make our land a collective place of hope for the community. We will grow food and share it. We will run retreats and camps for families that need support. We will run forest education stuff and perhaps even forster some children. We will do our hardest to make our home a Zero Waste one. We will create our interior using repurposed materials. 

I’ve slowly come round to the idea that homeowners and landowners can be a real catalyst of change- not just the tools of a consumerist, elitist empire!

I just hope my Nana would agree….

Disclosure: this is a sponsored post

We have lived in New Zealand for five days. It took us three days to get here- we had the perfect trip, the girls were amazing on this longest of long haul flights. We welcomed in 2014 whilst standing in the queue for Immigration. (They let us in, phew!)

We have landed in the sultriest part of summer. It is stickily, drippingly hot. It is eyepoppingly, heart-rushingly beautiful.

It is very different to England. It is also very familiar.

We are sort of on holiday, finding our feet and catching up with family and friends. But we also need to think about getting jobs. And somewhere to live. Somewhere in New Zealand.

We’ve had lots of these kinds of conversations “So where abouts are you going to live?” “Well. In New Zealand somewhere.” “And what are you going to do, job wise?” “We will probably work, doing something.”

We aren’t being stally- we just don’t know the answers to these things yet.

(I’m currently pulling the “Don’t worry, Mum, it’s cool” kind of face I perfected during my high-risk teenage years.)

Our first step is probably to buy a House Bus. These are A Thing here- big coaches turned into tiny homes on wheels. We think this will help us feel settled and take the pressure off needing to find a house. You’d think having two major breakdowns in 6 months would put us off the idea of nomadic living, but it really hasn’t. The benefits (outdoorsy, simple life) tug on us too much.

And, well. That’s it. The main point of this post was really to show you this little dog I found in an op shop yesterday. (I know what’s important.) An Opportunity Shop is the absolutely brilliant name for Charity Shops here. We went with the whole family; 14 of us hit up these jumbly old shops. Which was a funny activity, because me and my family in England used to spend our weekends doing this together. *smiles bravely*

And then we all spotted him- and it turns out we all had a little Snoopy, exactly like this, when we were kids.

He’s a lot smaller than I remember him being- but it might have more to do with my own size.

He is a bit bashed up but his tail is the perfect size for Juno to pop in her mouth, and Ramona will love pulling him about once we find a rope for him.

So. No jobs yet. No house. But we have a dog, which means it’s serious.

PS- Linking up for the first time with Op Shop Show Off 🙂
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