I joined in with Lucy's Wonderful Winter and it has been pretty awesome. Christmas was great and so far the year has gotten off to a flying start. With our wedding only a few weeks away I wonder how I managed to find time to do anything other than plan it, which can be the only excuse I can offer for doing so badly at my Wonderful Winter list. That said, when I wrote the list I didn't know I'd be getting married.

1. Walk in the woods
Nope. I cant believe I haven't done this. I can see woodland from my house, it's within walking distance, why the hell haven't I been? #massivefail

2. Go to the beach
Nope (can't see the sea from my window but still it only a short drive away, so it's not good enough!).

3. Read three books
I managed two - Notes On A Scandal by Zoë Heller and Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett. Reviews to come soon on Alex's A Blogging good Read.

4. Have friends over for dinner
Yes! Last Friday four of my favourite people came for supper. I was pretty zonked from a busy week and Andy was too, so we were both a little subdued and not the best of company but it was lovely to see them all none the less.

I also had my Mum and Andy's Mum over for lunch one day. This was the first time they'd met. It went well, we chatted about the wedding for about 4 hours straight.

A few weeks later I had them over for lunch again, this time with both of Andy's Aunts and his cousin, and we talked about the wedding for about 4 hours straight.

5. Watch Frozen
This is how we spent the first evening of 2015. I loved it but Andy was less than enamored. I then watched parts of this on my brother's 3D TV, it looked like it was snowing in the room. Snowing - In. The. Room.

Yep, this was my first experience of 3D and I thought it was awesome.

6. Visit Hogwarts in the snow
This didn't happen. The time seemed to slip away and before I knew it, it was February and we'd missed the opportunity. Maybe next year...? Or sooner because who doesn't want to go and see the Hogwarts Express!??

7. Finish my patchwork quilt!!
At the beginning of the year I was concerned that with a wedding to plan (and hours lost to day dreaming and scrolling through page after page of wedding pins) this wouldn't get done. And it didn't. But I did make progress and continue to do so.

8. Make Jaffa Cakes and this boiled fruit cake. 
I looked at the recipe, does this count?

9. Weekly home improvements
I should have several examples of home improvements for you. I have a measly total of six.


Office print - I've been cooing over this print from How Kapow for ages and one day just thought 'sod it' and ordered it. A trip to The Range for a frame and a picture hook later and ta-dah! It only took me 24 hours to get it on the wall which is pretty good going for me.

Lamp shade in hall - not very exciting but better than a naked light fitting.

Lampshade on the landing - I had to replace the one we had as it was much longer and every time we opened the linen cupboard door it hit it and sent the shade swinging.


New TV - new to us anyway. When my brother got his swanky new 3D TV we inherited the old one. Apparently I'm still not too old for hand-me-downs (not complaining).


New arm chair - Loved this before Christmas when I first saw it in a local shop. When I went back in February it was reduced, when I asked about it I was offered a lower price with free delivery - result! Sadly, Socks the boy cat has had more opportunity to sit in it than I have but I love it, even though it is completely out of place with everything else in the room.


New sideboard for the spare room - I've been slowly improving the spare room and when a friend of mine posted this for sale on Facebook I snapped it up. It's exactly what I'd been looking for.

and finally...

10. Sort out my office.
So, here is my office on January 1st. Total. Disaster. Area.


And it' still a total disaster area, and if anything it's got worse. Much worse. I keep telling myself that I'll get it sorted once the wedding is over, but then I've said this about a lot of things. I'm going to be busy.

How was your Winter? I'm so glad Spring is here!