Creating, reading and nail polish

I promised Claudia that I'd write something and link up to her "what's working for you" link party.

The reason behind it (which I love) is that we're all too aware of things that are not working that it's nice to take a moment and write down what is working well for you at this time.

I told her in my comment that I feel like so very little is working right for me but I'll try and scrounge up something :)

Create

This is why I love doing the word of the year because it's a gentle pull toward what you said matters to you.

I'm making time to do a little bit of something every week, and I'm taking the time to create memories with the kids, not just with physical stuff but also just reading and laughing together. Although the three of us made coasters yesterday morning - yes we did. Pics to follow sometime :)

Reading time 

I wrote on my other blog how I never seemed to get to all my non-fiction because I'm naturally drawn to read only fiction. Until I had a brainwave and I now read fiction at night and non-fiction either in the mornings or a bit while having a cup of tea on the weekends. This way I get through the non-fiction (and I really do want to read the books, it's just I can't read very much of a book where I have to think about the subject matter and digest it).

This is working out amazingly well. So much so that I've read about 6 non-fiction for the year already :)

My goal is to plough through my bookcase and declutter at least one shelf this year.

Staying connected to friendships 

I'll tell you one thing which is working for me - being intentional about seeing people every month and getting it in the diary.

If you're observant, you'll notice every month my goals that get done are the socials :) Okay, this month won't be exactly the same but there are good reasons.

I can't wait for our cold months because then I start cooking again (!) and it's the type of things that I like to cook when we have people over - pastas, casseroles, hot food, yum!

And one last frivolous thing that's REALLY working for me - nail polish. 

I've been good about not buying nonsense for a LONG time and then I broke loose the other day. I hate just waiting in a queue so when I saw the pharmacist was busy, I had a look at the nail polishes and bought two called "crushed grape" and "blackforest". LOVELY but a bit too dark for summer.

I went back again the other day, had another little browse and they had lovely small bottles of nail polish so I went a bit wild.

Two shades of blue, two shades of pink, brown and a bright red. I asked the salesperson if they (a new brand) were any good and she said, "yes, if you put a top coat on" so I added that to my stash too.

And oh my word, the top coat makes the world of difference - one application (two coats of nail polish plus the top coat) lasts forever. Well, longer than 4 days which is how long manicures usually last for me. I like to change the colour regularly so I change it on a weekly basis anyway.

I feel like such a girl but hey, you've got to have some fun, right?

What's working in your life and... do you use a top coat? 

PS I loved this post in Claudia's linky - oooh, so good. And you've got to love someone who calls herself hot flawed mama LOL