After this weeks bombshell posts about having a facelift and giving up sugar, I'm pleased to say that today's is a little more gentle, actually, it's a lot more gentle and 100% lovely because it's February and we all know that for the main, February is about love.  Not only is it about love, it's also my birthday and so I've combined these two things for my monthly roundup, ways to make February more lovely.

Now you don't have to be in a relationship to have a more lovely month or even to celebrate Valentines day because love isn't just for couples, it's about loving you more, appreciating your friendships, it can be about falling in love all over again with a hobby, an aspect of your life or even a person.  Love creates infinite possibilities, it is the human condition to seek it out and when we don't feel loved, we feel desolate and empty so let's take a look around and see what love we can find around us, let's plan to make February the loveliest month of the year.

9 great things to make February the loveliest month of the year

1. Have you ever tried any of the Great British Biscotti range?  If you haven't then there's never been a more perfect month to indulge as they've just brought out a chocolate orange version, once my family had waited (im)patiently for me to photograph them it took them about 0.36 seconds to eat them so I reckon, if you can't say it with flowers, say it with chocolate orange biscotti.

2. If you love meat like I love meat then you will be delighted to know that Meat Stack, Newcastle's best burger joint (in my opinion) is now not just resident at No 28, it's also got it's own outlet in the Grainger Market which is open for breakfast from 7.30am until 5.30pm, so potentially you could do market meat stack followed by No28 meat stack for a day full of the amazing burgers, I can honestly say that as a family we never eat burgers from anywhere else anymore, and yes, I'm deadly serious when I say that.  I also never eat burgers with meat in them anymore because the southern fried paneer burger literally rocks my world.

3. What now follows is a very chocolate heavy post so if you have just given up sugar for February you may want to go buy these, lock them up and enjoy them in March, I cannot tell you the pain of having boxes of chocolates currently sitting on my desk staring at me lovingly.  This one though has already gone to a great home as a thank you for trimming a spiky Berberis.  Jenny Wren chocolates not only taste gorgeous but look at that box, it's like a delightful piece of art and the best thing is that you can purchase this expensive glossy looking box for only £6.49 at the moment at your local Sainsbury's

4. I'm going to own up right now and say that these chocolate truffles from Booja Booja didn't even make it to February, they're vegan, they're dairy free and they taste like small dreams when inserted into the mouth gently, what's more the box from the artists collection has been hand painted by artists in Kashmir, India, they're perfect for those who love chocolate and beautiful things and I think the thing I love about them most is the fact that I now have the prettiest wooden box I can treasure.

5.  Blog favourites Guylain have done it again for Valentines day with this beautiful heart shaped box which you can give to your honey or if you're single you can give them to yourself or even your best friend, the first person to run to my desk and hug me gets them!!

6.  Now I think that we'd all agree that there's nothing quite as lovely as a good nights sleep and to help I can tell you that this Nutri Expert Pillow spray not only smells divine it's also an essential oils pillow spray which can help aid you to have a wonderful and restful nights sleep, it's the perfect present to yourself.

7.  While we are on the subject of relaxation, another blog favourite company Amphora Aromatics have released their own range of essential oils, the relax calming oil is perfect for busy mums, teens just about to sit their GCSE's and can be burnt, or mixed with a carrier oil for that perfect massage, maybe that's a great idea for Valentine's evening after dinner with your love?

8. cold hands, warm heart or so the saying goes, well I know one thing, cold head leads to hypothermia and that is never attractive so if you have a friend like me and it's their birthday during mid-winter why not pick them up a buff hat, buffs are available for men, women, children and pets, I've been a long time fan so I was pretty thrilled when they offered to send me this one which goes perfectly with my face, it's a great gift if your soulmate likes to embrace the outdoors.

9. Finally for this month, well you know, being single is something I am a particular expert in although it's always made me a little sad and don't even get me started on the tricky and often ridiculous world of dating, luckily I have Jennifer Boon's book Survive and Thrive by my side to guide me through the tricky waters, will it work better than an evening spent on Tinder, well you just never know but there's only one way to find out.

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas...

The festive period has well and truly landed at Charlton towers, yesterday we festooned the house with as many Christmas lights as we could find and Looby, the little gem that she is did the entire tree apart from fluffing up the branches and putting the lights on, she's a little Christmas wonder that one, she even said as we were having our 10 minute bedtime chat that she knows that Christmas isn't about presents, it's about spending time together as a family, I told her she should never change and she told me her teacher had said that to her last week too!

Apologies for the slightly dodgy quality of the Instagrams but it was pretty dark by the time I was able to photograph it and still no photographs of downstairs, I might do that after the cleaner has been as it's abysmal!

There was a certain sadness yesterday as putting the Christmas decorations up was always such a family occasion, I would do all of the decorating, the kids would put the decorations on the tree and Paul would sit in the corner getting drunk on egg nog, it's not that I miss that part so much but I've always so strongly firmed in being a family that it's sad the way that things ended up.  Poor Abigail is really poorly and stuck at her dads, too ill to come home apparently so Abigail if you are reading this, get well soon and come home to see that Christmas has arrived!

Tonight I am going to a Christmas party, my first foray into the world and being social, I've already tried to get out of it several times but I am taking Stacey to thank her for working so hard for me this year and also because there was less chance that I would actually chicken out of going.  I did say to all of the children that I could stay home if they needed me more but Looby said this morning that she wanted me to go out.  This is the first of 3 festive events I have invitations to but this one is the only evening event out in the big wide world, I'm slightly terrified but at least it's at The Stand in Newcastle so 1, it's in the dark and 2, it's comedy so I don't actually have to talk to people.  I don't actually have anything to wear at this point and there's a bottle of hair dye on top of the fridge which stands between grey haired old lady me and slightly younger red headed me.  I'm running to the retail park once lovely Daria stops cleaning around me and I've seen the black dress I'm going to buy so it's just a quick run into the M&S outlet store and a grab at the nearest rail!

Back tomorrow, if I survive...