Cup of Tea and a Bex

Creative inspiration for busy mamas

Five favourite ways to procrastinate

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Five favourite ways to procrastinate. Hint: it may involve endless of cups of tea.

If there was a prize for procrastinating I would surely win it. I have thought a lot about this blog over the last few months, but have I actually updated it? Of course not. That would involve the uncomfortable task of having to order my thoughts, decide what to write about and write it. That’s before I’ve even started battling with WordPress or finding a photo to go with the post. In my defence, I have been doing actual work work. But I have doubtless frittered away time when I could have been writing posts or, you know, a novel.

Here’s what I’ve mainly been doing instead: [Read more…]

Calm & Collected (three): Send a Handwritten Letter

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When was the last time you sent a letter? Not typed a text or dashed off an email but put a real pen to real paper? And Christmas cards don’t count…

Can you remember? I’m not sure either, but it was probably a birthday card, it certainly wasn’t a proper letter to a friend to just say hello. So for this week’s Calm & Collected project, I’m going to send a letter – just because. Would you like to join me?

The Beauty of Snail Mail

I have fond memories of life before text and e-mail, with boxes of teenage correspondence from my school and university days to prove it.

When I started studying at Cardiff University twenty years ago, I was assigned my first email address. But it was hardly an easy way to keep in touch: I only knew about three other people who used email and you had to go to the library to send an email.

No-one had a mobile phone and there was one solitary pay phone at the bottom of the stairs for the whole halls of residence. So I would keep in touch with friends via lots of cute postcards. The cards they sent back to me decorated the walls of my bedroom and the sight of their familiar handwriting always eased my homesickness and made me smile, in a way an email never could.

I’ve said before, that my Gran was a wonderful letter writer and could make the most mundane of weeks sound entertaining, with little snippets of news and musings written out with a blue Biro in

Calm & Collected (two): Make a Calm Place

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Calm & Collected Creative Challenge - Cup of Tea and a Bex

Hello, hello. How are you?  How did you get on with last week’s Calm & Collected challenge? Have you chosen a word? Pop back to last week’s post if you need more encouragement.

I’m trying to remember my word of the year (focus) and do my best not to get sucked down various online rabbit holes (Instagram, I’m looking at you). Whenever I’m dithering or procrastinating the other half thinks it’s very funny to tell me to ‘focus’. It’s mildly irritating but has helped curtail my tendency to procrastinate. Enough rambling, here’s this week challenge…

Calm & Collected; Cup of Tea and a Bex: Hydrangeas

WHAT?

This week I thought it would be good to think about creating a calm space at home. This is somewhere you can go when you need to switch off the chatter and the noise. Perhaps your whole house is already an oasis of calm and tranquility with muted tones and beautiful light. If so, can I please move in? However, if your house, like mine, tends more towards the chaotic, do you have somewhere that’s just for you, where you can escape, if only for a little while? It’s hard to find, especially in a family home, but even if it’s just a favourite chair – that’s a start.

HOW?

Think about what you need to make a comforting and calming spot, and where you could create it:

  • Does it have nice light?
  • Where will you sit? Is it comfortable?
  • Can you shut out distractions easily? If not, is there some other way you can signal to others that you are not to be disturbed? A big sign, perhaps (maybe not)?
  • Can you put some pretty things near your spot? Is there a nice view, or failing that somewhere to put your cup of tea?

WHY?

I’d been thinking about spaces to create this week, when I got talking to my mum about spaces to think – or more spaces to stop over-thinking.

She is learning to meditate and her meditation teacher has stressed the importance of having a calm and private space to practice meditation and it’s easy to see why. So perhaps before we think about places to create: we should make a space to be still.

You might not want to meditate exactly,  but we all know how restorative just a quiet ten minutes to ourselves can be. Now I need to decide where to create my own little spot of calm in our house, where pretty much every space is shared. It might have to be on the back deck. We have a little covered porch that would even work in the rain if I’m desperate to escape for some me time.

What do you think? Do you have anywhere you can retreat to at home? I’d love to see your little spots of calm. Tag me on Instagram @bexjenkins and use the hashtag #calm_collected. Or you can tweet me @bexjenkins or share on the Cup of Tea and a Bex Facebook page.

And thank you to everyone who joined in with #calm_collected gallery on Instagram this week. Such beautiful, soothing images. I shall pop in later to share some favourites, but do keep tagging. There are no rules, anything goes so get out there and collect some calm.

Bex x