They say variety is the spice of life - and the current lack of variety in day to day life has definitely left some of us feeling… well - bored!

Over the last year, I feel like routine has been really important - particularly for those of us who aren’t working or are self-employed or working sporadically. Having a bit of a routine and structure to the day/week has helped me to feel in control of the things that I’m able to control, but I’m personally really missing having variety within that routine.

We all have slightly different situations - but Beardie and I have pretty much been in lockdown since last March. As much as I love his face… I’m really missing everyone elses faces! We really enjoyed some garden meet-ups last summer and I can’t wait to tentatively get back to that.

Our day to day variety is likely to be limited for a while - so I thought I’d share some little things that have been keeping life interesting for me.

I’ve really enjoyed some macrame, papercraft and I recently had a play with some air-dry clay… the results weren’t brilliant, but it was nice to just do something for the fun of it!

We very much have a routine with our meals and that suits us. It makes meal planning and shopping really simple and it also helps Beardie to manage his diabetes. But in the before-times we had a bit of variety dotted into that routine because we would go out for food once or twice a week. So we’ve been filling that gap with takeaways!

Our favourite by far is afternoon tea from the Pudding Pantry, and we’ve also discovered some great local indies that we’ve never been to (Doughnotts!).

Some of our friends have been getting meal subscription boxes - a great idea if you want to add some variety to your meals.

We’ve been staying close to home and doing the same walks every week for a year now, but even within a small area, it’s so good to see the changes in peoples gardens and the blossom appearing on the trees.

I love seeing gardens change with the seasons and the fantastic James Wong Guide to Indoor Gardening has really opened my eyes to the possibilities of indoor gardening.

You don’t need to have lots of space and light… just the right plants (and possibly some grow lights). Nurturing and watching gardens grow - whether its outdoors or a miniature indoor garden - is so satisfying and definitely adds some variety to life. James Wong offers lots of indoor gardening tips over on Instagram if you’re looking for inspiration.

I hope you’re finding some variety to keep life interesting? Have you tried your hand at anything new recently?