P.S. This April, I Loved...

The real-life favourites that genuinely earned a place in my April - The monthly bonus article 🧁

Hey friend,

Happy May!! Hope that you’re okay.

I’m really sorry but it took a little bit longer than I had hoped to get this month’s edition out….

I think I was overthinking it if I’m being honest (imposter syndrome maybe…👀) as much as I love writing this piece every month, but we’re here now and if you’re reading this post it means I’ve pushed the button!! Woohoo!!

Spring took a hold of me in April and I surrendered to it as much as possible and went with the flow.

From embracing the flowers in my every day walk to and from school, to opening the windows and letting the spring air into my home.

And not only the spring air, but also the creatures that inhabit it as well. From bees accidentally losing their way, which was no bother as they immediately wanted to go back out again, to pesky wasps on a mission to cause havoc, darting here there and everywhere!

There’s been a few changes and projects taking shape quite nicely - all of which we’ll get into.

So before I babble on any more, let’s do this, here we go…

P.S. This April I Loved….

Family Time

Our calendar wasn’t as rammed as it had been the previous few months, which was really nice for a change.

We had the Easter holidays during April which was great as it meant my eldest was off school for two weeks, which I LOVED - He’s such a cool kid to hang out with.

It also meant no getting up early and making pack lunches, which I loathe, but it did mean I didn’t always get my morning walk in…I digress…

We had a few things planned but we mostly just did things around our home as my son was just quite excited that he had some time off to play with his toys and just be.

One of the weekends in April my son was given the class teddy bear called Fraser to look after which was the cutest. We showed Fraser around our home and took him on a walk or two which was a novelty. And then come Monday morning, I don’t think any of us were ready for Fraser to return back to school…

Spring Walks

Part of family time and with the weather being on the much nicer side, has meant lots of local walks, which is one of my favourite things to do. It’s great for my mental health and I just like being in nature.

With the daffodils long gone, the wisteria is in full force growing beautifully on the sides of people properties (manifesting this to be on my home at some point ✨) this season is in full swing and I adore it.

We have walked quite a few times over to our local woodland area near our home, to see the magnificent bluebells that are magically taking over the forest floor. You can smell the aromatic fragrance of blue underneath the tall trees from the moment you enter the forest, as the birds sing so beautifully high above.

Spring and autumn are my favourite seasons to explore, what about you?

Procreate

This has been a goal of mine for quite some time and I have finally done it. I have finally purchased procreate and have begun learning how to use it on my IPad- patting myself on the back big time!!

I’ve watch a few videos on YouTube to pick up tips here and there, and have also been trying to find anyone on Substack that might be sharing their wisdom.

The only problems is, is that I end up going down a rabbit hole each and everytime. Before I know it, I’m buying new skincare products and leaving messages on peoples notes about stationary…

So if you have any recommendations please feel free to share away and I’ll share some of my drawings in the next edition. ☺️

Food

Since giving birth last October, I don’t know what’s happened but I have a real sweet tooth.

I don’t know if it’s my hormones settling back in, but I’m just craving cakes, donuts and all the things that contain sugar.

Im usually a savoury girl, but I just can’t leave the sweet stuff alone…🧁 Even this emoji makes me want sugar!

So in April I started looking at healthier meals and trying to drink more water because I thought maybe I’m lacking something.

And then I came across these Greek style meal bowls on Pinterest which I just needed in my life…

(Pinterest)

(Pinterest)

They are super easy to make, especially when it’s crazy in the evenings and I’m just swapping and changing out the protein and the veggies to get different versions.

Also if you’re like me and get bored of the same dinners, with a little bit of reinvention here and there you have a different style each time - perfect!

The other little treasure I added in April was creating a nut jar after listening to a recent podcast by Dr Faye Bate - love her podcast, highly recommend, one of my fav 2026 discoveries.

I basically just buy whatever nuts are on offer, as Dr Faye Bate suggested, and then top the jar up.

I eat one handful a day, they make a great snack and are a good healthy fat, win, win!

Plus, I did some research after my first pregnancy when I got diagnosed with hypothyroidism, and discovered that Brazil nuts contain selenium. So I try to make sure I consume three Brazil nuts a day as this amount is perfect for helping an under active thyroid.

Etsy Project

I finally split my Etsy shop in two. My digital templates and printables are in one shop and PNG’s in another, which make sooo much sense.

This especially works for the Etsy algorithm which I think had a mini melt down after I mixed my whole shop up.

More on my shops very soon as I will be sharing an article (finally!!) in the next few weeks.

Notebooks

Love me a note book and some stationary ♥️ They are for sure my happy place.

I purchased four in April and I would describe them as springlicious.

All my notebooks have a purpose and these beauts will be used to write ideas that just spontaneously pop into my mind and I’m also absolutely desperate to write morning pages or do some form of journaling, both have been recommended to me several times.

I also found quite a few substackers who to my utter joy, write solely about note books (Amazing) and all the wonderful and inspiring ways they use them - I must of consumed their content for HOURS, literally.

It got to a point where I ended up creating a basket on a website, entirely full of notes books, to only wake up the next morning and delete the entire dream basket….please tell me I’m not the only one who does this kind of thing??

Articles I shared in April

Here’s what I wrote and shared about:

Substackers I’m crushing on

Drum roll please…..this is the section I know that you’ve all been waiting for (a couple of you have mentioned it 💁🏼‍♀️)

Here are the April substackers that kept me going, I learned from and was utterly inspired by:

Brittany Viklund

Grace McClure

Productivity With Care

Meera

Please find them. Read their work and be very prepared to instantly follow or subscribe to their account.

I pinky promise you, you won’t regret it.

That’s all for this edition…another one done and dusted.

Can you believe the next one will come out in June!!!

My goodness, where is this year going??!!

Any how, I’ll be back with another monthly bonus article next month and in the meantime, wishing you the best May ever!!

Jo, Your Precious Seconds ✨

(None of the items/people mentioned in the article were endorsements and all physical items were purchased by me.)

(The banners have been created using Canva and the photos are either my own or from Pinterest (labelled). Thank you so much to Canva and Pinterest and all of the photographers, artists and team who allow me to share my words along side their stunning work.)

If you know of anyone that may be interested in this post, please feel free to share away. And just so you know, I really appreciate you 🫶🏻