…Could there be a nicer time to visit? Cherry blossom, sunshine and plenty of pancakes and ice cream.

We’ve just got back from spending a week in the Big Apple. Ever since I first tried AirBnB, I’ve become hooked – so much nicer to have a whole apartment to yourself than just a hotel room, right? – and I spent ages trying to find somewhere to stay. We weren’t disappointed.

Seeing as we’d both been to Manhattan before, we opted to stay in Brooklyn. Because we’re cool like that (honestly, I didn’t know that would turn into an actual emoticon, but I’m leaving it in). Our apartment was in Williamsburg, a short walk from Bedford Avenue, home of the ironic hipsters. The flat was all vintage-styled, and had everything we needed (cable tv! New Girl!  The Mindy Project!)

We did a little sight-seeing, a little catching up with friends, a lot of walking everywhere and an even more lot of eating (awesome big pizza at Fornino; veggie lunches at Bliss and proper pancake stacks at any one of those time-warped diners). A few lazy nights, we stayed home and I cooked – there’s a little Italian pasta place called Savino’s where you can buy freshly-made-on-the-day stuffed ravioli that sells out fast. I had to go all foodie and photograph it:

Surprisingly, shopping took a bit of a back seat. We were really there to chill. But there were a few places that caught my eye for their homey-stuff; Milly & Earl, A&G Merch, Canvas in Chelsea. But mostly, it was lounging about in Central Park under the cherry trees:

Now I’m back home, back to work and waiting for house move number two. With the whole baby-on-the-way thing, I’m not sure there’ll be another holiday anytime soon, or at least not for a while. So with that: New York, we love you!

This year, we were meant to move into our new place in Crouch End. But the house-buying process being such meant that it fell through at the final stage (grrr) and despite us signing our contracts, our sellers wouldn’t budge. So we decided to throw caution slightly to the wind and rent in the meantime in the lovely area and keep our eye out for anything new that might take our fancy. Anyway, in the whirlwind that has been the last few months, we’ve found somewhere else to buy (yadda, yadda, long story etc) but in the meantime, it’s not like I could live among packing boxes now, is it?

And so, I’ve been trying to make our temporary home feel more than just a pit-stop. Whatcha think?

The lounge is a little tight and the bookcase is a bit overstuffed, but the room just about fits the new sofa bed from Sofa Workshop, the snuggler and my desk tucked behind the door (oh to finally have a proper desk and a proper chair – now I just need to get around to doing some work on it… ). It’s been a little challenging getting everything into a room smaller than we had before, and I reckon the sofa could do with being brightened up with more colourful cushions, but with pictures on the wall and a few little additions here and there, it kinda works overall. Or at least I think it does?

I picked up the little Lucie Kaas eggcup on the right in Copenhagen, and found the cute Donna Wilson beaker in Indish, a neat little Scandi-style shop on Crouch End Broadway. It reminded me of these gorgeous Meyer-Lavigne ceramics I also spotted in Copenhagen but were too pricey to buy at the time!

Behind the door is my desk – after much scouring, I settled on this trestle-style oak one from John Lewis, with the lamp from Garden Trading. I love finally having a bit more of a proper work space, and a proper chair – made comfy with Nikki McWilliam’s Nice cushion which she sent me as a thank you gift (no, no, thank you!), and a bargainous crochet throw picked up for £5 at a charity shop. (What you can’t see are the piles of notepads and magazines on the floor underneath).

The hallway is home to a mishmash of plates and prints, and one of the bevelled mirrors…

And the other mirror is on top of the dresser in the bedroom, which is a pretty simple/plain but peaceful room all in all at the moment. Oh and I had to snap the darling Isak pots I got as a Christmas present – I am in love with Isak; so colourful, so happy. Exclamation marks all round!!

The kitchen and bathroom were redone by the landlord before we moved in, all contemporary and glossy, which is nice but also means there’s not much to add to.

If it wasn’t a rental I’d love to splash some colour on the walls, but I’ll just have to wait until we get into our own place next and then I swear, the OK wallpaper is coming back. I swear. I don’t care if she’s in Uniqlo and everywhere you look – I still love it. Colour, colour!

Anyway, like I said, I know I’ve been offline for a while (morning sickness sucks), so it’s my own fault if no one is coming back to visit Her Little Place. But if you are, please say hello, it would make my day. Looking forward to hearing from you!

In the aftermath of that article, I have been alerted to a whole world of wonderful people doing wonderful things across London (and indeed beyond) and thought it might be nice to celebrate some of them here.

Cheryl blogs at MakeMeJoyful and she is determined to make Londoners smile. Somedays she hands out daffodils at the tube station; other days she surreptitiously hides book vouchers and cinema tickets in tantalising little envelopes labelled “Open Me” for someone to find. Cheryl left a nice comment below-the-line on my piece, and I was going to email to say thank you, and then I changed my mind and posted a card to her snail mail (one of her mantras is that happiness is handwritten). I quite like the idea of a potential pen pal in town!

The Phantom Florist is a curiously wonderful idea. This anonymous florist leaves little handtied posies of flowers in mundane places – on the tube, in the station, lying on street benches or atop letter boxes – to bring a raindrop of pleasure to the everyday routine.

Image from ThePhantomFlorist.Tumblr.Com          

And finally, there’s the mysterious baker behind the, er, curiously monikered Wake Up To Muff, who bakes a batch of muffins and then bikes them, for free and for fun, to spread joy and sweet baked stuff, to Londoners on Sunday mornings. Just because.

Maybe I’m just in a good mood lately but I love all this stuff. Cynics mightn’t get it, think it all pointless, vacuous and meaningless but on the contrary; I think it’s just great, to show you care.

And with that, I wish you all an excellently golden weekend.

So very relevant, on so many levels. From here.

I never really used to bother with things like New Year’s resolutions. They seemed pointless, inevitably made  to break or forget about. For the most part, they are. There is proof of that too.

But then last year, I worked my first year of full-time freelancing. And it was tough. But it was also good. I learnt a lot, about work and writing and ideas and editors and stuff, but also, crucially, about myself. Things I didn’t know about me before. And it made me want to try harder and be better and not worry so much. So yesterday, I made New Year’s resolutions for the first time ever.

On the first day of 2013, I sat down and made my resolutions to the soundtrack of Jessie Ware, armed with a bit of self-help (cringing slightly at typing that) on how to set goals and stick to them. I’ve made a list of three things to work on for the year. They are promises to myself mostly related to work and also beyond. Be kinder to myself; be a brilliant writer; make the most of those days when it feels like I’m not getting anywhere.

I’ve written my resolutions down in an Orla Kiely notebook that would otherwise not get used and now sits prettily on my desk. In the notebook, there is other stuff – like how to get over that feeling like you are faking it that we might all sometimes feel but don’t ever talk about (thanks, Psychologies). I have set myself yearly goals and monthly ones too. Hell, maybe I’ll do little daily ones as I go along just for the extra ride and the thrill of crossing it off my list! (I’m actually serious).

I draw the line at a vision board, even though my best friend does one every year. I’ll admit I may have scoffed at her, albeit adoringly, for doing this in the past (sorry, K). But that was before I tried this whole-resolution thing for myself and I completely get that idea of how sitting down and thinking about what you want to do and how you’re going to get there makes you feel better, hopeful. It just does.

Apparently if you declare your resolutions in some way you are more likely to stick to them. So my declaration has been made. I won’t beat myself up if things don’t work out the way I’d hoped. I will wake up early. I won’t force myself to sit in front of my computer screen when it’s totally futile because the words or the ideas just aren’t there. I won’t worry so much. Don’t sweat the small stuff, and so on.

I may sound naive, and by all means, check in with me this time next year, but I think my resolutions will stick. Or at least I hope they will. It’s exciting stuff, this New Year business. I hope your year is, and stays, brilliant.