Our Theme for 2020 - Green

I don’t make New Year resolutions - instead, I pick a theme for the year ahead. I know some folk argue that January is just like any other month, so what’s the point in setting intentions or making plans at this time of year rather than any other. However, I’m a very seasonal person, and January feels very much like a month of change and awakening - the winter solstice has passed and the nights are gradually getting shorter, the early bulbs are starting to feel their way out of the cold soil, while inside the paperwhites are in flower with their promise of spring. The first of February is known as ‘Imbolc’ in the Celtic seasonal calendar, falling half way between the winter solstice and the spring equinox, and derived from the word ‘imbolg’ meaning ‘in the belly’ - namely the promise of new life, renewal, and the earth’s awakening. It’s the ideal time to let go of the past and look to the future, clearing out the old, and making both outer and inner space for new beginnings. So for me, this time of year is perfect for reflection and planning.

This is now the fifth year that I’ve set an intention, or theme for the year: previously I chose Expand, then Organise, then Relax, and finally Nurture last year. So we expanded our family and our home with the addition of our third daughter, our third Jack Russell, and our long-awaited house extension. Then we organised our newly expanded space, including installing our lovely Ikea kitchen, and finally we relaxed in it :-)

Last year’s theme of ‘nurture’ had a number of facets. Using (or nurturing) what we have, instead of buying new. We took on a number of projects using reclaimed bricks, including our herringbone brick patio. I had always planned to use new sandstone for the patio, but in the interests of reducing, reusing and recycling, we decided to use the bricks left over from our house extension instead.

Nurturing ourselves - practising self-care. Through my professional role, I have the luck to work with an amazing psychologist coach who has really helped me and loads of my colleagues to understand what each of us needs to get into a good place (and stay there). Nurturing others, and helping them to reach their potential - last year I was able to recruit and establish a fabulous team of folks from different backgrounds with different experiences, and they’re all so great to work with that I genuinely enjoy going into work every day (apart from the first day after a holiday, obvs no one enjoys that!). Nurturing the garden - finishing our raised beds, and growing cut flowers and vegetables. My goal was to eat a carrot that I had grown myself from seed, which is exactly what I did.

I also had a wild idea to rescue a small flock of chickens, but realistically this one may have to wait for a few years until the kids are older and I have a bit more spare time.

When setting intentions, there were a few key themes that I kept coming back to. The first being a natural extension of the nurture theme, in terms of continuing to make efforts to reduce my family’s carbon footprint by reducing, reusing and recycling. The second is to continue spending as much time out of doors as possible, whether this is through gardening, throwing al fresco parties, walking on the moors, or camping. And the third is having an open mind to whatever opportunities come my way - I would never have thought that I’d be in Ibiza clubbing aged 40, but I did, and it was amazing. So I want to do more of that in 2020, as it feels great.

Roof terrace of the Hotel Mim es Vive in Ibiza Town.

After reflecting upon it, I decided that the word uniting all these themes is ‘green’.

Green (eco) living, green spaces outdoors, and giving the green light to new experiences - saying yes instead of no (red) or maybe (amber).

With this in mind, these are my intentions for 2020.

In addition to our continued drive to reduce our carbon footprint by cutting back on single-use plastic consumption, shopping for food locally (or getting a vegetable box delivered), buying less from companies like Amazon, and taking the bus to work every day, I also want to really focus on sustainable DIY. I don’t typically change the decor of our house every year because firstly I think it’s wasteful, and secondly I don’t have the time! but when undertaking a renovation project, I would generally buy new supplies rather than using what we have already. So in order to be more green, I want to use what we have already, instead of choosing new. We’re currently working on the fireplace in our playroom, and instead of selecting new tiles, I’m simply going to use whatever we already have leftover from other projects. It’s cheaper, greener, and it’s nice to match things to other parts of the house, in order to create a visual flow.

I want to do a load more upcycling projects, after recently completing the chest of drawers in our smallest girl’s room, and remembering how much fun it is. I have a particular project in mind - creating our own apothecary dresser for the dining room. Watch this space…

This wall is crying out for a big piece of furniture. Also I now probably wouldn't buy balloons as they're not sustainable - this picture is from a couple of years ago before I started to consider this kind of thing.

I also intend to buy clothing in a gently used condition. I hardly buy any clothes anyway, preferring to wear things until they fall apart, but I recently bought on eBay a pair of second-hand Reiss trousers for work (my first pair of work trousers in over five years) and a TopShop cable-knit jumper for a fraction of their retail value, and the quality is great. Good for my wallet, good for the planet.

Moving on to spending time outdoors. We want to camp lots and lots, of course. North Wales, a family-friendly festival, Lulworth Cove and the Lakes are all on my list for this year.

Low Wray in the Lakes.

Camping on a clifftop on the Isle of Wight.

Best seat in the house at Bluedot festival.

We also want to continue tackling a number of projects in the garden. I’ve always wanted an outdoor pizza oven, so why not get on and do it. In fact we plan to install an entire kitchen outside on our patio, including the pizza oven, a big sink, a worktop, and shelving. We had a gazebo over the patio for a couple of months this year after we put it up for my birthday party and enjoyed it so much that we didn’t take it down until a crazy wind made the decision for us… so we’re considering installing a South-African style lapa (an outdoor structure with a thatched roof) so that we can use the patio and outdoor kitchen all year round. We love love love throwing parties, so investing in this kind of project is totally worthwhile for us.

Raised beds and gazebo.

Along these lines, I’ve always intended to build scaffold board bench seating on our deck, along with a big dining table, so would love to add this project to the list.

Oh, and we also plan to completely re-do our front driveway, as I’m tired of living in the ugliest house on the street… it’s been nearly eight years, sorry M20 neighbours!

Finally, in terms of giving new experiences the green light - really the point of this is that you don’t plan things, but instead respond positively to whatever comes your way. I’m certainly hoping to do a lot of late night dancing with my husband and various friends. And I’ve always wanted to sing in a choir. Let’s see what happens…