How I Like To Spend My Downtime
As a super introverted homebody, my favourite way to spend my downtime is usually tucked up with a good book or making my way through my 'to watch on Netflix' list. I do love catching up with friends over a good meal, and games night is my personal favourite, but on the whole if I only have a few hours to myself you'll usually find me spending it with Alex lost in our current reads or catching up with our favourite shows. To share a little more behind the scenes of my day to day life, today I thought I'd share with you my six of my favourite ways to unwind and relax throughout the week:
Reading
Nothing makes me happier than losing myself in a good book; making time to read a chapter or two a day is super important to me and I'm always jotting down new titles on my 'to read next' list. Currently I'm finishing Cheryl Strayed's Wild and I have Hemingway's The Old Man And The Sea lined up next. I'd love to know what you're reading at the moment?
Baking
Baking is one of my favourite ways to de-stress and unwind, it has a wonderful way of helping me to relax and refocus whenever things start to feel a little too much. A week rarely goes by where I don't whip up a batch of these brownies, though next on my list is to make my way through these awesome cookie recipes.
Podcasts
I'm seriously obsessed with podcasts at the moment - I shared five of my favourite shows with you last week here. They're my favourite way to stay informed and inspired and you'll usually find me listening to an episode or two over breakfast and later on in the day when I'm starting to unwind and relax. Two episodes I've really enjoyed recently are Allie Lehman's interview on Creating A Life You Love and The Lively Show's interview with Tina Roth Eisenberg.
Cinemas
My other half Alex is a serious film fanatic and trips to the cinema is one of our favourite ways to spend our days off. I shared Six Paper To Film Adaptations in 2015 that I'm looking forward to on ALO recently, and top of our list for films to watch this month are Foxcatcher, American Sniper, Wild, and Whiplash at Alex's request. If you're more of a fan of watching films from the comfort of your own home, we rounded up our favourite films of 2014 on ALO recently here.
Netflix
I honestly can't imagine life without Netflix now, for someone who doesn't own a television I still manage to fit in hours of my favourite episodes every week. Our favourite way to end our day is to tuck up in bed with our latest episodes to catch up on - we're currently binge watching The West Wing (we have just one season left to go and I couldn't recommend this series enough). If you're in need of some inspiration, I shared two round-ups of awesome shows to binge watch on Netflix here and here.
Exploring
As much as I'm a homebody at heart, Alex and I love spending our days off exploring Manchester together. I feel crazy lucky to live just outside such an awesome city centre and we're always checking out new exhibitions, gallery shows, or the latest coffee shop to pop up in the Northern Quarter. I'm a creature of habit and love visiting my favourite places, whereas Alex is always keeping up to date with new things going on which stops us from getting bored. I also love packing up my laptop and notebooks throughout the week and working from the corner of a coffee shop from time to time - I've hibernated a little recently due to the cold weather but I'm itching to get out more again as the same four walls every day can start to induce a little cabin fever.
How about you, I'd love to know your favourite ways to spend your downtime?
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