Meet Free Monday #12

10th March: A Day at HQ

I could do with another day of the weekend - just one more! Well... Monday is well and truly upon us and there's no denying that the new week needs to get going. Our weekend was fairly restful and I was grateful for the break. We spent a lot of time at home, including Friday and Saturday night. I visited artSPACE gallery with a friend on Saturday afternoon and we stopped at one of my favourite restaurants - Market for lunch. Sunday was a relaxed day followed by a family dinner to celebrate my little sister's birthday I ate far too much of everything including the delicious bday cake! I didn't work much over the weekend and only spent an hour here and there checking in on a few things. I also spent some time going through my magazine collection and tossing some out for recycling. I always check mags before I let go of them and tear out pretty pictures and recipes which I keep in a scrapbook of sorts. How do you deal with mags and storage? There are several oldies I can't bear to throw out.

The Working Week in Review / Last Week:
Last week was so productive that I actually feel proud about it. It was a stressful one, but we made some real progress which included the challenging report I mentioned. The meeting and presentation went well (phew). I had some positive meetings and consultation sessions towards the end of the week. All in all a positive ten out of ten work week (quite rare).

The Working Week:
This week I aim to have a calm, focused week. I didn't manage to do all the blog posts I wanted to share with you last week. A few things just had to come first, so I would like to get round to those. Either than that I'm following my usual recipe of time in the office and then consults and meetings on Thursday and Friday. I have quite a nice start to Thursday with a client consult at Quarters Hotel which is a lovely space to work in. Task wise I'm going to do some work on my blog's editorial calendar today and work on replying to emails and a few smaller tasks.

Things I'm excited about this week:
I have quite a few dinners planned to catch up with friends which will be lovely. Katie Fforde's latest book comes out on Thursday and I have no shame in confessing that I love her style of writing and the mushy love stories that unfold! It makes for perfect bedtime reading and the endings are always happy - what more could a girl ask for?

What will challenge me this week?
I anticipate this week being less stressful and rushed which I hope won't mean I think I can procrastinate. I want to use this quieter week to take care of a few things rather than face an avalanche of work next week. I just need to keep a tab on myself. Do you have any challenges this week?

Personal Thoughts:
I'm proud that I decided to take things into my control this year instead of hiding behind the 'I'm too busy' excuse. Every day is still about learning and working smarter, but it feels good none the less. This week I want to try and stick to eating quite healthily as I just love sugary treats, in general I'm just trying to be more aware of sugar in all I eat. 
I turn 30 this year and I keep thinking about how I should celebrate - I'm quite unsure. My ultimate wish would be to go to Paris, but I don't see that happening by August... I'll keep dreaming. On a different subject - I can't quite explain the enjoyment of using my Typo planner - it's added a new dimension to my lists and thinking. If you love stationery it really does help using pretty things that are useful and it acts as a type of motivation.

Are you enjoying these Meet Free Monday posts? Let me know - I'm not sure if they are interesting and I'm hoping my weeks aren't sounding too repetitive / boring. Is there anything you would like me to share?

*See other Meet Free Monday posts here.

This week's photo features:
Polka-dot Notebook (bottom) & Floral Pencil: Cath Kidston (London)
Polka-dot Scheduler (top): Gift, but a friend found it at Oxford Street Topshop
Floral Tape: Cath Kidston - Marigold in Cape Town
Floral Peg: Gift from Michaels
Button Magnet & Birdie Stamp: Typo
Pink Hello Kitty Pencil: Sanrio Shop in San Francisco