The Best Things in Life... in December

We're nearly at the end of 2013 and our blog has been 'open' for six months now which has flown by! Over our 'Best Things in Life' posts every month we've talked about many of our favourite things from Pilates to The Sunday Times, Sophie Dahl to Alpro Soya Milk and here's December's...

Katie

Best Things in Life...

Bradgate Park & Swithland Wood Country Park in Leicestershire is my favourite haven to visit in the winter, and this weekend I’ll be visiting the Christmas Fair. I love walking around and seeing the deer and peacocks and exploring the ruins of Bradgate House during December, and it looks even more gorgeous in the snow too!

A weekend with friends in Great Malvern - December is a great time of the year for me because although my friends live all over the UK (mainly in London, but as far as Spain too) as we embark on the festive season lots of plans are made to make sure we spend as much time together as possible. We even extend it into January too as a helpful pick-me-up after the come down from Christmas. I have just returned from a weekend with my friends in Great Malvern where we walked the hills, stoked the open fires and even herded some sheep! Stay tuned for a blog post all about it soon.

Advent calendars - I’ve been very spoilt already this year with not one but two advent calendars! My Hotel Chocolat Advent Calendar is such a luxury to look forward to each day, it’s the first time I’ve tried it and each milk chocolate is delicious! Of course, my mum never fails to make sure we have an advent calendar even though we are adults now, this year I was given a Disney Princess one… I think I’ll have to increase my spinning classes this month!

My favourite Christmas ritual is...

On Christmas morning every year for as long as I can remember we have visited my Nan to share Christmas gifts and watch as one by one our aunties, uncles and cousins arrive to see her. My nan turned 90 last month and on her birthday, as two generations of sisters sat together watching Coronation Street and indulging in Birthday Cake, I asked her if she could give me one piece of advice from her 90 years of life experience and she looked me straight in the eye and said ‘be honest’. I’ll carry that with me for the rest of my life.  It was also a funny moment too as we’d all been lying to her for months about her surprise birthday party and with a glint in her eye I wasn’t sure if she was trying to catch me out!

My happiest 'Katie & Jane' moment of 2014 was...

Featuring on Virgin Unite - I remember reading Screw it, Let’s Do It and Screw Business As Usual by Richard Branson last year as we were at the crucial tipping point of taking a leap out of the ordinary and into the rollercoaster world of working for ourselves.  Little did I know when reading it back then that only 12 months later Katie & Jane would be selected as one of Virgin Unite’s featured entrepreneurs. You can see us on the Virgin Unite website here.  

Jane

Best Things in Life...

My morning runs with my friend Lucy who has sort of turned into my personal running coach! It's amazing how she motivates me to get up at 7.30am on cold mornings to run 3 miles (I'm not a morning person!) and it's great how we talk (or at least try to!) the whole way round to make it fun. If you want to start running I encourage you to find a Lucy!

Not on the High Street - There is no hiding I'm a big fan of Not on the High Street (read my earlier post here) - not only for its unique, personalised products but also its inspiring founders. This Christmas I have purchased nearly all of my presents online from my favourite shop and they're starting to arrive from each individual seller from all over the country... exciting!

Mary McCartney's cookbook 'Food' - Mary's cookbook is all about vegetarian home cooking using recipes from her late mother and some delicious editions of her own. Meat-eaters and veggies alike will love it, my current favourite recipe is Chocolate Brownies which I add macadamia nuts to. Mary is a photographer so the book is packed with gorgeous, inspirational images too.

My favourite Christmas ritual is...

Putting up the tree is probably my favourite time at Christmas... I love putting on my Christmas songs, drinking eggnog and roping everyone in to help. I cook a big meal from Nigella Christmas to say thanks and we all watch a Christmassy film (Elf!) amongst the new twinkling lights. Read my blog post here for my 'Seven Steps to Creating the Perfect Christmas Tree'.

My happiest 'Katie & Jane' moment of 2014 was...

Seeing our first app Countdown Keeper for the first time! After so many months of waiting for our app to be developed, having it on my phone to test was the best feeling ever. We have invested so much time and effort into Countdown Keeper from the design to the wireframes that it's so good to see our vision actually on our phones! Now, we can't wait to share it with the rest of the world!