One Little Word(s) - February

Blimey a whole month has passed. Which means it's time for my monthly review of my two words for 2014: Adventure & Clean.

Adventure

Not a bad start to the year. Most of the big  adventures were more in the planning and booking stage this month rather than the doing. Then again, part of the adventure is in knowing it's going to happen and having the exciting anticipation and build up.

I've initiated two holiday ideas which are now in our diaries and booked. One is something new for us and happening soon. The other is in the Summer.  I've also booked a surprise adventure for Nick & I. More will be revealed later in the year. I said Yes to something Nick wants to organise where I would have normally said No. All because of my One Word(s).

There have been quite a few new recipes I've been trying out - and anything new has gone into my Book of Firsts. I've included two of my favourites in this list, the homemade beetroot soup with cream of Horseradish and a new technique for poaching eggs, popping them in clingfilm.

I've joined two new classes. Fitness and health, to reduce my waistline and a French Class, to brush up on my rusty pronunciation.

If you read my blog this month you'll know I was a guest designer for CAS(e) This Sketch. I also took a detour into new territory on a walk around New Mills.

Finally, there's the Murder Mystery Dinner we attended. A comedy James Bond thriller. An adventure but not as I had planned. It was DIRE! I turned to Nick after act one and asked if he wanted to go. He nodded and that was all the incentive I needed. We snuck out just as the dinners were being served. Standing up in front of everyone and grabbing our coats, certainly had the heart racing. I didn't wish to offend but really it was a toe-curlingly bad show.

Clean

Again, I was conscious of the word throughout the month and applying it to different areas of my life. Some were linked together. For instance, cleaning up my diet. I've cut out eating sugar, except for a couple of chunks of dark chocolate each day. I've also cut out all other carbs like bread and pasta. Along with Nick, I have also helped correct the portion of food we eat by buying a whole new set of plates and bowls which are smaller. To store the whole new dining service, I had to empty out the plate cupboard, declutter it and wash it down, before carefully filling it up again with all new china.

Whilst in kitchen mode, I also spent some time cleaning out and decluttering the cutlery drawer and the three below it.

Finally, regards diet, I cleaned up and improved the filing of healthy recipes on my Evernote software. I scanned in recipes from books and copied ideas from websites (Pinterest helped). Then I tagged them with labels for easy retrieval, including a "2B Made Next" which is always a useful shortcut.

In my craft stash, I spent time cleaning and filing. My ribbons were all over the place, hidden away in boxes. I sorted them out by colour and hung them up behind my craft room door. The 12x12 papers were sifted through, reduced and then what I kept, filed by colour. I made a start on my rubber stamp collection, buying a new storage system. Newest stamps have gone in first and slowly but surely the rest will go in too.

Finally, I started playing around with the design of my blog's header. The quick ten minute play soon turned into a whole evening.

And there I have it. I've made small inroads into both words. I've begun to clear the way and organise more adventure as well as pick away at the areas in my life which need a good clean, especially in my health, diet and craft room.

I'll report back again come March.