RachelinFrance reporting for blogging!

 Hello internets!

I am not disappeared

We are in Arles, France. Just me and the big (5 & 7) kids. Travel toddler twins would be a lot.

Little Lily was very tired yesterday after staying up until 11pm the night before travel.

We survived a trip to a French grocery store. I forgot that “meil” means honey. I don’t actually know French, but we now have honey Cheerios. We also have pitted olives. And yogurt that “tastes different”

Ezra asked if they eat Shepards pie here. My non traveling British kids are in for an adventure.

More family arrive today. I am excited to be on adventure again! Even if my adventure started with a 8:30 bedtime. 

Busy week, Burn it down Energy, Major Ennui, and more shopping updates

This week was busy - I had another work trip to London & Leeds, which was good, but also this time some of my colleagues (who I like) came as well and so instead of eating dinner alone and sleeping early I went out to dinner and spent time with people and I am now feeling person-burned-out.  Which isn't great because generally I like people, and I rarely ever see these colleagues in person, but I am just... tired.

On my first night my colleague asked me if I wanted to meet for breakfast and I told her I was going out to a cafe to do some journaling and planning and I would see her in the office.  I think she gets it and wasn't offended.  I don't get a lot of me time, and this is my "me time"

I went to my favorite cafe in the world and had my favourite breakfast and coffee and played with my planner and it was nice.

Also on this work trip, I got to go to a building while it was being built in London and go up to the 37th floor on one of those goods lifts on a building site and it was super fun and also a bit scary and also mostly amazing.  I am an office person but I work for a company that works for companies that do building stuff and so they organized this trip as an all in day adventure.

Also I will share this blurry photo of my new work outfit. :

 I bought this pair of shoes from Hush Puppies and they are actually pretty comfortable

Am I the most stylish person to ever enter an office? No I am not.  But do I look office ready and have an office look now that I can replicate without stressing every time?  Yes I think I do.  I am pleased with office wardrobe refresh project.

Anyways, that was my Monday-Wednesday.  Today I was tired and I had a big bag of "burn it all down energy".  I spent part of the day complaining to my colleague that I was going to get fired (I'm not - but the problem is that I've entered the sort of "business efficiency" operational space, and my efficient mind believes that if I am not being efficient then the most business efficient thing to suggest is to not employ me), looking at other jobs, and then contemplating moving to the North of England.  I'm not sure where this general sense of unrest has come from, but it's super uncool since everything is actually pretty good.

This evening I spent an hour sorting the house.  I cleaned toilets (I know, I never clean toilets!) and then I updated the photo albums for January.  One great thing about having a generally hard month (January) is that I took barely any photos and so the albums were super easy.  Aubrey had 7 photos for the month.

It's February 12th and I have taken exactly 7 photos this month.  There's only so much "here we are in the house while it's raining" that one can photograph.  Also "here's a sick kid" doesn't make for good photo memories either.

Anyways, it's 9:30 and I am getting really into reading The Women and staying up too late because it's so compelling, which it obviously was going to be since everyone has been talking about how great it is for ages.  So... I'm off to do some reading.  And then some sleeping.  And then more kid things.  

Maybe I'll take more photos.  or move to the North of England.  Or quit my job.  Although quitting would really be a waste of my new work wardrobe.

Are you suffering from February Ennui?  Do you get major burn it down energy?

Weekend Update with RachelinWales (just chilling)

Hello!  Happy Monday!

Sometimes Andy and I practice answering the question "how was your weekend" on Sundays so that we can be prepared to not sound insane if we get asked in work.

"How was your weekend?" Andy will ask me.  "oh, it was good, did a bit of house stuff, went for a walk, and just had some quiet time at home" I'll practice saying.

How was the weekend?

On Saturday morning it was cold and rainy and I decided we were not doing tennis and instead doing some hanging out at home.  My mom took Ezra on a mini adventure, and Aubrey, Clara, and Lily hung out at home while we did some house projects.  For instance... photo mounting project:

Just 6 months after we moved the kids rooms around and 6 weeks after we bought peg boards at IKEA we finally mounted the first pegboard and some pictures I bought for Lily.  Her room is finally coming together and this wall is no longer austerity wall, it is unicorn rainbow mermaid wall!

Lily seemed a bit low energy, and wasn't really eating food, which are two big warning signs for impending doom.  She was supposed to go to a birthday party, but I decided she seemed not very well and texted apologies.  She was sad, but was very excited for a sleepover with grandma that evening so was OK resting and saving up her energy.

During twin nap Andy finished another house project - replacing the light in our bedroom that we haven't liked for years and also had burned out bulbs we weren't replacing because we didn't like the fixture (cutting noses despite faces?)

We like the new fixture much better.

Ezra came home from errands and kids did something(?) while I did a toy sort and tried to return kids toys to the right rooms, and got a pile of clothes and unused toys ready for donation

At 2:30 I decided Lily probably wasn't well enough to go to Grandma's for a sleepover, but she really wanted to at least watch a film, so I drove her, Aubrey & Ezra to Grandma's to drop off some things and so the big kids could watch a film.  Grandma's house is 0.3 miles from our house (I was driving because I had big things to drop off).

Exactly one minute into the two minute drive Lily proclaimed "I'm going to be sick!" and then vomited on the back seat of the car. Ezra started yelling "there's sick next to me!" and so I pulled over, got everyone out of the car, and called Grandma who walked down to pick up Ezra.  Andy was taking Clara for a walk, so he picked up Aubrey, and I drove Lily back to the house and stuck her in the bath and started cleaning the car.

I am lucky that this is the first time I have ever cleaned sick out of a car, but it is gross, and I also wish we hadn't sat Lily in the back seat with the fabric floor.  We have weatherproof mats in the middle seats.  Lesson learned.

Lily watched Moana while taking a bath.  I cleaned the car and started laundry.

Andy came home, Lily fell asleep on the sofa, everyone else had dinner, I had a shower and helped with twin bedtime and then I went to book club!

Being in a book club was one of my 100 dreams - I was so excited when a friend invited me to book club. This was our first book club. I brought 3/4 a bottle of wine, because as I told book club "I was going to bring a full bottle but I had a day and needed some wine".

We read and discussed The Housemaid,  which was a fun read

We mostly just chatted because it was the first time we all met and we all got on really well

Suddenly there was no more wine and it was midnight! I walked home, read, and went to sleep at 1am.  As expected, Lily came in our bed at 3:30am, and so I slept in Ezra's kids bed until 6:30am when twins got up. I realized Ezra needs a non-toddler mattress (especially if I am going to sleep there).  Added to list of things to do.

Ezra had swim lessons (Lily was still poorly) so I drove him and Grandma to the pool, then we picked up pastries from a local bakery.  We all hung out in the house and did some playing outside because it stopped raining for 2 hours.  Over naptime I watched Mary Poppins Returns with Lily, and in the afternoon I took Aubrey and Ezra swimming and met up with a new-ish friend.  

Grandma made dinner, we did baths and bedtimes,  Andy and I went out for a short walk, and then I packed my clothes for a two day work trip to Leeds, set my alarm for 5am, and said to Andy

"So, what did we do this weekend?"

"Just a bit of chilling around the house really" he said.

And before we went to bed we did one more load of laundry and took apart the car seat for washing and emptied the trash to make sure there was no sick-clean-up stuff left in our house.

You know, just chilling.

Coat Closet Confessional - 2026 Coat Organization Project.

My name is Rachel and I have a Coat Closet Confessional.

I own a lot of coats.

Entryway Stairs.  13 of these are mine. 2 are Andy's

Not just coats... Jacket.  Jumpers.  Fleece things, zip up hoodies.

The problem is that I have, or have had, a lot of hobbies requiring specific outdoor gear.

In the olden days, before outdoor hobbies, I owned a lot of jackets for the sake of fashion but they all served the same purpose really.  I still have some of these, but the jacket clutter has grown.

I think I have somewhere between 15 and 20 Coats/Jackets/Zipper Jumpers (ie, outerwear... not including sweaters or things I can wear to work).

I've looked at them a lot and thought "I should get rid of some".  But also... which some?  All of them have potential uses.

I decided to look at it the other way.  Now, one of my goals this year is to do a Coat Audit.

Rather than looking at everything I own and deciding what to keep, I'm going to think about everything I do and decide what outwear I need to do all these things, and *then* work backwards to figure out what I should keep or not keep or maybe I need a different jacket that does more than one thing?

Things that have avoided the cull for years are as follows:

Green fleece with a broken zipper:

It's my favourite colour.  It's at least 15 years old. I wore it to the Cardiff half because I figured I could use it to the start to keep warm and then throw it away enroute (they collect jackets for charity at these things, which is pretty cool).  But then it wasn't that cold so I decided to just leave it with my bag and take it home after.

Green jacket that is neither waterproof nor warm:

I got it from Macys in... 2005.  And it looked great when I wore it with skinny jeans and boots but also I don't wear either of those anymore, and I actually can't remember when I wore this one last.

I also don't wear it because I own this green jacket that is waterproof and warm and I use it a lot right now for being outside in terrible british weather:

There are so many more like this.  I've got a reflective yellow waterproof jacket, and I've got a reflective yellow non waterproof jacket that also zips off into a vest.  I've got a purple waterproof that probaby isn't actually waterproof.  I've got a softshell that doesn't really fit.  I've got a brown puffer jacket that is super warm and a black one I got for free that's less warm but good for getting smelly or dirty (ie open water swimming or campfire).  I've got a purple patagonia that's a bit small and not that warm.  I've got a windproof that's super light and packable and was great when I used to be a road rider.  I have a purple zip up fleece, a fuzzy zip up hoodie, and old zip up hoodie... My jacket situation is Arials Whoosits and whatsits Galore

Anyways, the point of Jaket project isn't to share my hoarder shame on the internet, but to actually figure out what I need and then work backwards from there.  

That's a project for another day, but this year is the year of coat project.

February Thoughts, Planning thoughts, Clothing Thoughts.

Lily loves drawing Unicorns.  
These unicorns are currently everywhere.

February Thoughts

I've decided to have a bit of a monthly focus for February, but I don't have a great word for it.  It's basically "do things to reduce stress".  Here's what I have so far:

• Sleep.  Get enough sleep. Try to get up early, but not if it means getting less than 7.5 hours of sleep.  Focus on bedtime over wake-time (wake time is pretty set by the kids)
• Move. Walking and stretching and low impact bike rides (not every ride needs to be a HIIT ride, even if they are super fun)
• Comfort. Don't be unnecessarily uncomfortable - make sure I am not cold or hungry.  Wear slippers. Change into soft trousers/pyjamas. Light a smelly candle or add a scent to the diffuser
• Environment.  Nightly house reset, for shared spaces.  I like waking up to a tidy downstairs.  I hate tidying up downstairs in the evening.  BUT... a tidy environment reduces my own stress so I will do a house sweep every night and put things away and try not to resent it.

While these things probably seem like good ideas for life I'm committing to them for February only because February is a short month and you can do anything for 28 days.

Planning Thoughts

On Sunday I sat down and wrote out a plan for the week.  It looked like a very exciting week - I had gym with my gym buddy, a live Peloton ride, our cleaner was coming... I was excited for the week ahead.

Maybe I often live in the future because it is exciting and fun in a way that now sometimes isn't.  Looking at my week ahead looked sparkly and full of possibility! Looking at the week behind included getting vomited on by a toddler.  Looking at the present on Sunday was... fine. Vomit-less.  But still, I fully expected my week plan to not happen.  

Rather than be sad about it, I tried to enjoy thinking about how much fun the week *could* be, while also realizing I would probably get vomited on and miss most of the things.

Monday morning I woke up and started reading Best Laid Plans and had coffee and did a stretch and looked at my planner and then the day went... well! I was able to think in work and had an overall very good day.  Unfortunately our cleaner cancelled (they have come once, and cancelled twice, which is why I'm not feeling  the "oh I have a cleaner it's great" vibes... but still at least our Bathrooms got cleaned once).

On Tuesday I was tired, did not do morning routine, but did get a Peloton shout out for my 200th ride from Bradley Rose! 

And I went to the gym with my gym buddy for a legs routine which was fun.  We do evening gym and so I didn't get to sleep until 10:30pm.

On Wednesday I woke up with the kids, rolled out of bed, downed coffee, got kids off to school, sat down at my desk and started responding to emails and doing other random unfocused work.  At 8:55 I had a pop-up notification on outlook for a blood test, which I forgot was booked that morning, so I ran to the car and drove really fast (and also slow because traffic) to the GP, where I arrived 2 minutes late (they cancel if you're 5 minutes late).  I had my blood draw, then went back home, then proceeded to be mostly unfocused until 3pm when I panic started to get work done and then didn't "finish" until 5:20 when I realized I was meant to get the kids and relieve the nanny by 5:30 so I ran to pick up and left everything an unfinished mess.

Anyways, my glorious "flow through live" organization system is still a work in progress. 

Clothing Thoughts

I know this should include real photos but clothing upgrade project is moving along!  The Burgundy Blazer from my last post is amazing and I love it.  The shoes were painful and returned.  I managed to find one dress from my new favourite store - Crew

I also found a pair of Chelsea boots from Clarks. Are they fancy? No.  Are they boots? yes.  As the British say - it does what it says on the tin

I used to love buying shoes and owned lots of shoes.  Now, work shoes are my final clothing upgrade issue.  I gave up and bought black work trousers from Boden, which fit great but are £75 which is why I resisted for a long time. 

Also they are not ankle grazing on me because I am not a tall model.

But what shoes go with work trousers?? I feel the internet will say "everything goes with black trousers".. but does it?! I am not wearing heels or pointy toe shoes.  I think my trouble buying shoes now is that I want between 99% and 100% comfort.  When I was younger my threshold was maybe 15% to 20%.  I remember once going out on a date with Andy where I told him I couldn't walk home because my shoes were too painful to walk.  

The brogues I ordered were both painful and ugly, so those have gone back.

I ordered these shoes, which I'm not sure are work appropriate, but I think they look cool.  Also £30 (down from £75) which might indicate they are actually not cool... but we will see.

I have a series of office days coming up and I am tired of looking dumpy or feeling dumpy or both.  Also, there are a LOT of things on sale now, so I've been able to try lots of things (the Blazer was £64 down from £129!).  I will calculate the cost of this office clothing refresh soon, but if you have any shoe advice in the interim please help!

5 on a friday - sickness, planning, shopping, and shopping

5 Quick things during twin nap:

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This week the vomiting bug moved from Aubrey to Clara, who suffered from Wednesday onwards.  Aubrey has been tired and off her food, Clara has been sick... it's a bit of a sickness house.  Thankfully our fabulous nanny has been watching them in the day, although I did decide she had gone above the call of duty when Clara threw up on her so finished work early to take over.  There are lots of nice things about having a nanny - I came downstairs to find Clara cuddling her on the sofa.  She didn't seem sad, or like she needed me.  Having additional emotionally available caregivers for kids is great.

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On Thursday I was supposed to be in London for a leadership meeting.  I left the house at 6am, got to the train station, and the car park was full.  This has never happened to me before.  I went to another train station but the next train was delayed and I realized at that point I wasn't going to make it to London in time for the meeting.  at 7:30am I got back to the house, to the surprise of everyone.  Andy was particularly happy because poor Clara had a nappy blowout in the night and required a bath and full clothing change.  I was sad to miss the London day, but next time I'll take a taxi or a bus or park at my local station.  It just means an even earlier start.

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When getting dressed for London I realized that nothing I own fits me right now.  I'm going through a... less trim phase.  Also, I'm 41 now.  Maybe the dresses that suited me 5 years ago just... don't.  I did some research on workwear and decided I needed a few new pieces to sort out my wardrobe.  Mostly - a blazer.  I have a black blazer but it's very "interview" and I do not work at "interview" job.  Everyone is pretty casual, but I like to dress a bit more business when I go into the office.  Fun fact - when I first met Kyria (on my way back from the office) she said "oh you look like a grown up" which I love because that is the aesthetic I am going for in work.  Someone who is a grown up.

I've ordered these to try:

I also need some new work shoes, because I'm not super into my ballet flats anymore.  I'm not sure if these will look grannie on me or smart professional, but I am hoping it's the latter

I also am excited to announce that I own some sweatpants (or Joggers, as is British) now! I am very happy to have added soft fuzzy trousers to my rotation.  For a person who spends as much time at home with toddlers as I do it seems insane that I did not own "soft trousers" (as Ezra calls them)

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Today was week 4 of 2.5 hours nursery for the twins on a friday and the potential for 2.5 hours of Rachel time!  Just to recap

Week 1 - did not make it to nursery due to very bad morning trying to get kids out the door

Week 2 - Twins went to Nursery while Andy and I did home stuff

Week 3 - Clara was ill (fever)

Week 4 - Clara was (recovering from vomitting bug)

I'm not having great luck with Rachel Days, but Clara did watch me try on clothes and sort laundry so that was nice.  

We also went to the big Sainsburys and bought wrapping paper and boxers and toilet bowl cleaner, so that feels like a big accomplishment.

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Today is Best Laid Plans book launch day in the UK! I know it's been out for like a month elsewhere, but I am excited and hoping it will be the kick I need to sort my planning system out so my brain stops being overfull all the time.  I actually did a "brain dump" today and there's just... a lot.  But also, what am I supposed to do with this brain dump? Keep working on things? Some of it is to do, some is thoughts, some is... just randomness.  

I generally don't use Amazon but I got a voucher for participating in an inclusive design study about mobility and access to public spaces with twins. I didn't realize I would get a voucher, I was just excited to participate. But then I used the voucher to pre-order Best Laid Plans so it was a win win win win.

8pm EDIT: Amazon drivers work late! So do Waitrose grocery delivery drivers.  Time to enjoy a super classy Friday night...

Organize 365 had an awesome podcast today about mental load and memory.  I am currently loving Lisa's podcasts.   

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And the twins are up!  This weekend is a funny one, it feels like there's not much scheduled but also not much me time.  Not sure where to go with that.  On Saturday we have Tennis in the morning (and I get a 30 minute Rachel coffee and walk!) then I am taking Lily to the pool with her best friend and then having the friend and parents over for pizza dinner.  On Sunday I have just Clara all day and no car, so I'm not sure what we will do.  We could take a bus! or a train? I don't really have a great idea for entertainment, but if all goes well I'll have a 2 hour nap of Rachel time to... do Peloton? blog? read? finish photo albums (currently 2 months behind)? Take a nap? Plan? read Best Laid Plans?  The world is my oyster... in a very time limited way.

What are you up to this weekend?  What would you do with a 2 hour twin nap on Sunday? Any workwear style advice for me??

Birthday Update - Cake, Shopping, Films, Fun, and some mild sickness.

My birthday sort of started Saturday night - Andy and I watched a film! We saw the new Naked Gun and it was funny and reminded me of the old Naked Gun films and how much I loved them as a kid.

We also opened a nice bottle of wine our friends brought us from the States when they visited in 2022.  It's from our favourite winery in Washington - AniChe - and it was delicious even if we could probably improve our wine storing situation.

Unfortunately on Saturday night Aubrey was sick in her crib, so at 1am we did a full bedding change and then went back to bed.

On my actual birthday (Sunday) and the big kids were very excited about the concept of breakfast in bed.  Lily (5) didn't want to sleep late so woke me up at 6:15 asking if it was the morning.  Andy brought me coffee in bed, which he used to do every day before we had kids and oh wow is coffee in bed a great way to start a day.  Then the kids brought me breakfast, which was porridge since Lily recently learned how to microwave porridge in school.  I had a lie in reading until nearly 7:45am.  I can't believe that sort of relaxation was daily before.

Big kids made some decorations to celebrate

I took the big kids to swim lessons, and then got home and had a cuddle with Aubrey definitely wasn't feeling great.  She proceeded to vomit on me, but luckily we had been given a washable fleece blanket and most of the vomit went on that and me rather than the sofa, which is great because washing our sofa is hard.  Aubrey and Clara lazed about on me, the kids made a pirate ship, Aubrey was sick some more, and the birthday proceeded roughtly as I thought it would

Twins went to sleep around 11am (early!) and the rest of us had lunch and then the kids watched a film while I did a Peloton ride.  I had planned some live rides for my birthday (forever chasing the shout outs, still never had one) but there was a big storm in the US and all live rides were cancelled.  Sad!  

After Peloton I took Clara, Ezra, and Lily to a friends house for a play date and dinner. She made Fajitas, which are my favourite, and my most favourite chocolate cake from Anna Jones.

I called my family and then was in bed reading by 9pm.  

On Monday I had the day off work (my work gives "Birthday Leave" which is awesome) and I had planned to go to town to try and buy some much needed clothes.  Aubrey was still not 100% but wasn't being ill anymore, so she had a quiet day with Nora and our Nanny and I took the train to Cardiff.  It turns out, buying clothes is really hard! Unlike the internet, stores don't always have all the sizes of things. Also, it's not like I can filter "Jeans" - I had to look in a lot of places.  Finally I went to the old standby of Marks and Spencers and found two styles that suit me and bought one of each, and then wrote down the size and style for future shopping.

I met up with a friend for lunch which was awesome, and finally went to a makeup store to buy some ilia foundation which I had run out of.  It was my lucky day because the foundation was on sale! So I also bought a Ilia multi stick.  The shop gave me birthday samples and they had a promotion where I could spin a wheel to win prizes, and I spun to the diamond prize which meant I got three prizes, and it all felt very "Birthday"

I went home to finish my shopping list and ordered some more jeans and some sweatpants and vitamins and a few things from Lush as the remainder of my birthday presents to myself.  Yes, 41 is the glamourous year of sweat pants and vitamin based gifts! 

Overall it was not a crappy birthday, which is a weird thing to say when I was actually vomited on, but mostly I'm happy that January is almost over and we are getting 3 minutes of extra daylight every day (if it stopped raining enough to see the sun) and within a month it will be light at 7am which is the right time for the sun to come up (not 8am like it did on my birthday).