Loving lately #2.

I enjoyed writing about what I was loving the other week so here's part two. There have been a few things dragging me down recently so I'm keen to pull myself out of this funk and focus on the positives, of which there are many.

Be sure to tell me what you're "loving lately" in the comments box below or feel free to pinch my ideas!

Writing a diary. I am not usually very good at remembering to write diaries on such a regular basis but I have been writing in my One Line A Day diary for about 3 weeks now and so far, so good! There are only a few lines for each day which I think is nice, as it keeps each entry short and sweet. Also it's kind of perfect for those days where you don't really do an awful lot.

Making pizza. Oh my, Jonathan and I made pizzas at the weekend and they were incredible. We cheated and bought the bases along with some ready made "pizza topping" sauce which was SO much better than passata which we would usually use. I topped mine with red onion, mushrooms, pepper, green chillis, mozzarella and cheddar cheese (oh, and a crumbling of Danish Blue for luck) and it was incredible. Since then I have decided to cut down on my wheat intake but I found some wheat free pizza bases yesterday which I shall be road testing soon!

Getting out of the house. Sounds so simple but I have been spending a lot of time indoors lately and it's nice to have a change of scene from time to time. This also coincides with something else I have been loving lately and that's eating out. Last week we had a little date night to a local Italian restaurant, on Sunday we went to our favourite pub for a roast dinner (veggie option for me) and crumble and custard, and this week we are heading to Sheffield for tapas.

Pampering. I think we often forget to look after ourselves, even if it's just taking half an hour to have a bath or read a magazine without interruptions. I am prone to feeling anxious and stressed out, especially when I try to take on too much at once, and have vowed to take more time out from everything and lock myself away in a bubble bath from time to time. Zoe ("Zoella") did a great video about her pampering routine recently which is worth a watch!

Wildfox clothing. Yes their jumpers and tees are MEGA expensive, to the point where I'm not sure I could cope with venturing out of the house/eating food/going near the general public whilst wearing their clothes, but they sure are pretty. I've got my eye on this and this. And I'd quite like to look like her, thank you please.

Daft cross stitch patterns and finishing old projects. I am currently loving this, this and this. I also recently fished out a half-finished Ghostbusters project from last year and, in a blaze of concentration, focus and copious cups of tea, managed to finish it in one afternoon. It just needs to be ironed and framed, so stay tuned for some better pics very soon!

Charity shop book buying. A couple of minutes away from our house you will find four pretty good charity shops, one of which is always crammed full of books. I have picked up quite a few recently, including Before I Go To Sleep which I just finished and The Lost Art of Keeping Secrets which I just started. Expect some book reviews very soon!

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Loving lately.

As it's Valentine's Day I thought that instead of declaring my love for my boyfriend (I'm sure by now you all know I think Jonathan is pretty wonderful) and cooing over photos of Lily and Lola, who I also love dearly, I'd tell you what else I'm loving at the moment.

♥ The Sorry Girls on You Tube. Before I found The Sorry Girls I would often watch You Tube videos but would find it hard to find channels with enough of a mixture of the things I like. Well, it seems that amazing DIY videos, home interiors, a cute hedgehog named Harley and two lovely Canadian girls are my cup of tea!

♥ Blogging and blogs. I really love writing a blog and the times I have thought about stopping in the 3 1/2 years I have been writing Lily loves Lola have been few and far between. I'm lucky in that I receive such positive, kind comments and it makes it even more worthwhile knowing that my blog posts can be helpful or even inspirational to others.

In terms of reading blogs I am trying to make more time to comment and find new blogs. I particularly like lifestyle blogs with a mixture of beauty, clothes and day-to-day life stuff but I also like craft blogs and fitness blogs too. A handful of my current favourites are A Rosie Outlook, Love Audrey, junkaholique, The Pampered Sparrow, Trinket Box, the glue gun girl and the tea drinking english rose which was one of the first blogs I ever found and followed many moons ago.

Other things I'm currently loving: my new Primark hoodie / my meerkat / reading / drinking tea out of cute mugs / treating myself to beauty purchases

♥ Making good progress with my resolutions for 2013. One of my goals was to see more of my parents. Since the new year I have seen my parents several times whether it was just popping round for a cup of tea, going out for dinner or sleeping over for a night or two. There's something about staying overnight and having my meals made for me which makes me feel 15 again, and I quite like it.

Another item on my list, and quite a huge task, was getting photos printed. It makes me sad at solely storing photos on the computer or on my phone, and I'd hate to be a Grandma and not have albums of photos to share with my family.

I have spent hours upon hours sifting through photos, deciding which ones to get printed, uploading them to Photo Box, seeking out special offers and discount codes to make it that little bit cheaper, and buying scrapbooks, pens and photo corners ready for some major sticking and note-writing once the photos arrive.

It has been a huge task so far but once it's done it will be worthwhile and something I can continue to do going forward.

♥ Music. I am currently loving the Fun album (especially this), The Lumineers (particularly this song), The Vaccines (all of their stuff but this is my favourite), good old She & Him (this song/video combo will always be the one I adore the most. I don't know how much JGL has to do with that), as well as Doppio Music who I listen to on Sound Cloud.

♥ Reading. My love for reading is still going strong, aided by my Kindle Fire HD but also by the great finds in my local charity shops. I just finished Don't Tell The Groom by Anna Bell as well as a book sent to me for review, which will be published on here shortly.

As it's Valentine's Day and I'm a sucker for anything cute I wanted to share this video and I strongly urge you to watch it. It could melt even the stoniest of hearts!

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