Two weeks into January feels a little bit late to be wishing you happy new year, but my 2022 got off to a bit of a slower start than originally planned. After a lovely New Year’s eve out for food and drinks in Newcastle, followed by a couple of days at Middleton Lodge in North Yorkshire, we got the dreaded two lines on the LFT. So this is me, two weeks later finally kick starting my year.

Firstly we didn’t suffer too badly, but obviously worked from home and isolated away. By far the most lasting thing has been the tiredness, I could go to bed for a few hours every afternoon from about 3pm even now. It seems so many people have had it, and if I had to I’m just glad it was in January and out the way. 

I did get one blog post shared last week, on NE1 Restaurant week that is returning again next week. If you’ve not yet booked somewhere and you fancy it there are some places with availability left especially towards the start of the week. I’ve currently got three booked, including a catch up with some old colleagues, and trying Khai Khai for the first time with Kieran. 

A slower start to January has actually been quite nice once I’ve got myself back into it, and having to isolate just delayed that back to work feeling and took the edge off it a bit. It hasn’t dampened my motivation though, both at work or personally for what I want to achieve this year.

I know I’ve previously shared goals for the year on here, but I’m not bothering this year. I’m also not doing the 5.2 diet for the first January in about four years. I just think no pressure is actually quite nice, and god knows what’s around the corner anymore. Plus covid made me starving, all the time – thank god I didn’t lose my taste!

One thing I am making sure of is that I tick a few things off my list, both at home and away. I may have changed my insta to stephfoxblogs just because it covers everything, but the travel is still firmly rooted in everything I want to do. 

I’ll be making the most of my weekends with a mix of day trips, overnight breaks, and longer holidays throughout the year. There are some great bank holidays to take advantage of! I’ve got a North East bucket list as well as bigger plans but will see how I get on as more always crops up and I’m conscious of not over committing. 

Middleton Lodge was somewhere I’d been desperate to visit and I loved our stay there at New Year. I’ll be sharing more on it but it was one place to tick off my list and start the year well.

Organising my life and everything in it is as much of a challenge as ever, with my calendar filling up fast and more occasions to look forward to this year. One blog post I really wanted to reshare was the one I did last year on bullet journaling. 

Although Ive given up on all the fancy doodles (a furlough habit), Ive still kept up the principles of bullet journaling in all other aspects – work, blog organisation, finances, to do lists. If you’re trying to get your act together this year it’s really worth looking into it’s been a game changer for me. 

Frequent blogs are returning from this week, and there will be a mix of local to the North East and travel content. I’ve got so many travel related posts waiting in the wings from pre pandemic that just didn’t seem right to share previously.

Although travel is still not fully straightforward I’m just going to crack on now. I think we all know and accept its personal choice and just abide by the rules – again, unlike certain sportsmen I can think of. I’ve got an autumn trip to the Lakes booked, a city break hen do, a unique stay hotel and a few day trips planned for the year already. I’ll be starting work on a proper holiday plan for the summer soon. 

I loved the couple of glamping trips we went on last year and there’s a few places I want to try this year, as well as beautiful hotels at the other end of the scale.

I’m going to start resharing some past blogs on my instagram more often, as I get asked for recommendations all the time and a lot of them are easiest to reply to with blog posts, I’ll be including some gorgeous destinations I’d recommend to anyone – including Palma Mallorca, Sorrento and the Amalfi Coast, and Amsterdam, as well as some of my most popular North East ones.

I’m trying to be more consistent with my blog facebook page this year too, if you don’t already give it a follow here. And of course instagram where I post daily, it’s where I get most of my messages, requests and contact from people who read my blog so do join me there too.

I’m currently enjoying a relaxed break at the caravan, Kieran’s mum upgraded it just before Christmas and it’s absolutely beautiful. We’re having lots of fresh air and home made food to try and get back to normal again. The header photos were the beautiful sunrises we’ve been having up here. And we’re out for Sunday lunch today in Warkworth of course, with some friends. 

That’s all for now really, just wanted to share a bit of a catch up before I dive back in with the blogs again. 

Hope you’re having a good start to the year and enjoy restaurant week if you’re doing it!