Meet Free Monday #27

7 July: A Day at HQ
Welcome to a new week! Although there is a lot to be excited for - I also secretly wish there was one more weekend day left (I'm sure you agree). Anyway, here we are so let's make it count! I had a great weekend with a good balance of both relaxing and getting out. On Friday night I went to the VIP Gateway July Fashion Show. It was work related, but I had an awesome time. The decor, food and company were spectacular. On Saturday I headed to lunch with a few of my closest friends and we had the most delish food at Greedy Buddha (highly recommend this place). I spent the afternoon catching up with my parents and in the evening Daniel and I headed to dinner at a friend's lovely home. She put together an insanely amazing spread of tacos and wraps, plus Pavlova for dessert. It was so good! Yesterday was 'chill at home day' and that I did! I caught up on a few episodes and Daniel and I made our traditional roast chicken lunch with all the trimmings. I really cherish Sundays at home as it's time spent with Daniel - just the two of us. How about you - what did you do?

To get inspired for today's planning I looked at a few of my favourite Filofax pics and this cheerful one caught my eye. It's so pretty! Take a look at the blog - Bits and Pieces to see more of Annabelle's lovely pages.


The Working Week in Review / Last Week:
Last week was a good working week despite the fact that I needed to take a little blogging break. I really tried to focus on getting stuff done. I think I always say that, but I do feel that I'm improving, but I still need to keep my productivity in check. I managed to complete several tasks that were important, including a basic website design for a client and the setting up a Hello Pretty shop to manage new workshop bookings. As always in hindsight it's easy to criticise on what wasn't done, but I'm happy with the progress. One of the really positive things was being able to spend a lot of time in the office and therefore I was able to spread out my workload. The second great thing is I seem to be managing my inbox better. It's early days, but so far so good (now to keep it that way).

The Working Week:
I was battling to fall asleep last night as my mind was composing lists instead of trying to sleep so I got up and decided to make the lists and empty my brain (annoying). I do find it helps to just clear out the clutter now and again. The week ahead is a busy one with two days out the office and a potential meeting today (I'm cheating on MFM - shhhhhh). Tomorrow I'm speaking at Fashion Camp on social media and blogging. I'm also lining up a visit to several of my clients to spend time in their spaces - for example two of them are coffee shops so I want pop in and work from there. I was meant to leave for Joburg this week to speak at the Networking Conference, but I'm no longer taking part (perhaps I will share more on this in another post). It's nothing bad though. Another great thing on the list this week is the launching of the Cape Town workshop dates (hooray) and a Durban date too!

Things I'm excited about this week:
Thursday is a day out the office as I'm heading to Pietermaritzburg to take care of a small job for a client. I've decided to also add in a visit to a few places while there. I'm looking forward to it! Secondly, I'm busy with a personal 30 days to 30 challenge for myself (will post about this slightly later today).

What will challenge me this week?
Cold and early mornings. Yes, I know Durban isn't that cold, but I'm a wimp when it comes to chilly weather. I find the dark mornings best for hiding under the duvet. There are also some very yucky admin things to take care of this week - trying to have a positive attitude (challenging).

Personal Thoughts:
Last week was a good week, but I did have a few hours here and there where I felt down. This seems natural to most so I know I'm not alone. It's not that anything is drastically wrong so it always passes. I also didn't exercise last week as I kept feeling on the brink of flu which I'm sure added to my slight case of the 'blues'. This week I want to focus on getting back to yoga, walking and a few short, but focused workouts. To change the subject - a lot of my free thinking time is currently being spent on pondering about my birthday which is a month away. I'm excited and currently my dreams are made of cake and confetti! On another completely different note - I'm trying to do a 'no spend' month. Obviously, I need to still buy food and the odd toiletry, but trying to not indulge in stationery or general shopping for goodies (noun to describe various beautiful things I think I need). It's challenging - I turned down a trip to the plastic shop and Makro yesterday (ha ha - where can I collect my medal?). I have so many lovely things to be grateful for - so I'm making sure I use and enjoy them. Have you done a no spend month before?