Happy Friday everyone! I hope that you’ve all had a good and productive week, which means that you’re probably feeling as ready for the weekend as I am!

So, here’s what’s made me smile this week:

1. Number one, obviously, has to be having B home for the weekend, which was lovely. We were home by quarter past six, so had a great family Friday night, eating Chinese and watching “Death in Paradise” together – a brilliant start to the weekend.

2. We had a nice family walk on Saturday to Barton Marina. We used to walk there very regularly when we lived closer by but it had been a while since we had last visited, so we all enjoyed a good walk, and G and B were very happy with the bubblegum ice cream they bought at the end of it!

3. I had a quick trip to Primark later on Saturday which proved very fruitful – as always! I managed to find a lovely blue and white striped shirt which I’d seen online and liked the look of, plus some new sportswear and equipment, including an exercise ball, which I’ve been enjoying using this week.

4. We ate out on Saturday evening, as we often do when B is home, at Ask Italian in Derby. We enjoyed a lovely meal, made extra special by all being together.

5. G and I put our new sportswear and equipment to good use on Sunday, when we did a workout together, focussing on yoga and experimenting with the exercise ball, which was great fun.

6. Although we haven’t yet had much of a winter, there are suddenly lots of signs of spring popping up, from the delicate blossom we spotted on one of our walks, to huge swathes of daffodils on the grass verges near to the hospice, to all the bulbs which I planted a few months ago beginning to shoot up, which is good to see.

7. After seeing it mentioned around and about for the past couple of years, I eventually got around to downloading and making a start on the “Couch to 5k” running programme. I have so far completed two of the three days which I need to do this week (third one will happen later today!). I can’t say that I’m enjoying it – I think that I really am the world’s worst runner – but it does bizarrely leave me feeling very energised afterwards – and, therefore, productive, which is a good side effect!

8. I had a lovely evening on Tuesday this week at Quad in Derby with a friend, enjoying a cinesupper – a meal and catch up, followed by watching “Room”, which is a great film. Not the easiest to watch, but the performances in it, especially by the young Jacob Tremblay, are amazing, and it is incredibly well-made, so I loved both it and the chatting time beforehand.

9. The other thing which I have finally done this week is read Marie Kondo’s “The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying”. Again, I have heard and read about this for quite a while now, but thought I’d give it a go this week. I haven’t quite finished reading it, but it inspired me to make a start on the first task, clothes, anyway – the result of which is seven bags of clothes, shoes and bags to give away, and beautifully organised drawers and wardrobes, which definitely make me smile! There is lots more of the house to tackle, but I feel that I’ve made a good start.

10. The final one for this week involved me and D taking advantage of G being out all evening on a school theatre trip to have a “date”, which consisted of D cooking a delicious meal – steak from our favourite butcher, roasted potatoes and asparagus, followed by gooey chocolate puddings – accompanied by a little Prosecco, of course. Fabulous!

I have a lovely weekend in Norfolk ahead. I am going with my sister and, although we own the house there together, the two of us have never stayed there without anyone else, so I’m really looking forward to it. A good walk and then a meal out on Saturday night are as far as we have got with our planning, which is perfect!