Sundaze 286: A solo date, the big chill and my heart with LA
Happy Sundaze, my loves!
It’s a thankfully quiet and uneventful weekend here, so I thought I’d take a break from writing my novel to write a Sundaze update. Variety is the spice of life and all. While I enjoy a relaxed Saturday evening at home, surrounded by my cherished possessions and books, it’s been an anxiety-fraught week watching wildfire burn through neighbourhoods in LA. My heart is with you, LA. It’s made me feel even more eager to reach out to the local authority where I live and volunteer with their upcoming rewilding and environmental sustainability projects, since I know I can do a little more as an individual. There’s an upcoming tree-planting drive that I’ve been interested in!



15 years of Daisybutter!
On Wednesday, we officially celebrated 15 years of this blog and community! I honestly can’t believe I’ve been spilling thoughts and creating online content here for nearly half of my life. It’s really made me properly think about my life thus far. But I’m also really proud of my blog and what we’ve created here together, since I wouldn’t have secured half of my incredible partnerships and opportunities without the support of you lovely lot. Here’s to another year!
A solo Sunday date
Last Sunday, I treated myself to a snowy, solo date day. I’m a big advocate for taking yourself out for a date, and it occurred to me that I hadn’t scheduled one in for a good few months. Now that it’s 2025, I can finally buy books again! So, I drove to a nearby town armed with a list, some snow-proof boots and my hopes and dreams, and enjoyed a leisurely amble amongst the stacks.
To be honest, I was surprised about how I felt when I stepped in. The glorious scent of a bookstore, the quiet shuffle of book lovers poring over new titles; it’s all magic. But I found it hard to decide what to buy, especially when I had survived 14 months without picking up new books. It felt like parting £8.99 for a paperback meant it’d have to be a darned good paperback. I came away with a good little stack of books from my backlist and currently-interested-in list, regardless.



Milestones at work
It’s been a busy return to work normalcy for me. I worked last week, too, but this week we returned to the office, then had to handle year-end review notes, and I even gave a presentation to my wider team. All rather challenging for this shy girl, but I feel so accomplished having ticked all of these off my January list.
The big chill in England
Oooft, hasn’t it been incredibly chilly week in the UK?!
My cosy, insulated winter puffer coat was unfortunately pinched at my Pilates class last week, right on the night the mercury dropped to -3°C, and it’s been a real struggle to be outdoors on dog walks or the office commute without it! Nevertheless, I’ve loved the gorgeous pale winter sunrises and sunsets, and glimpsing frost dusting every which layer. Stay warm, fellow England-dwellers!




Life in long-form
Since logging out of my Instagram on New Year’s Day, my brain has felt undeniably lighter again. You might remember that I took a similar break after my 33rd birthday last year – this one felt even better. In fact, I’ve realised that I no longer enjoy that general, personal account and prefer using social media for more focused interests, like my bookstagram. I’ll be making my account private soon, to focus on long-form platforms. And, what I mean by that is, I’ll be creating on Substack, checking in on this blog, reading books, and watching YouTube. I quite enjoy Threads, but I’m just a long-form sort of person, and this break has really highlighted that to me.
Links I’ve Loved
- I finally treated myself to this corset top, made from organic cotton.
- And this gorgeous standing desk, for our new place!
- Reading about Michelle’s bookish goals for 2025 was really inspiring.
- Jess’ thoughts on being an author completionist really made me start considering my own list.
- I really admired this piece about a mother and son picking up their lives post-LA wildfires.
- Our Lunar New Year collection is live at & Chai!!