Happy New Decade!

It’s hard to believe that at this time last week (Friday morning) I had just finished clearing up after breakfast for ten people… it felt like a cafe with all the eggs (poached and fried) and veggie rashers and tomatoes and toast!!! Thank goodness I had some extra frying pans… more on that later.

I must admit that although it was pretty tiring playing host to everyone, it was one of the nicest Christmases we’ve had and we were very fortunate to give and receive some lovely presents. I mentioned on-air that I was having a new iPhone. Mine was so old that they wouldn’t even give a discount on the new phone as it will just go for recycling. Am I weird for feeling a bit guilty as the sim card was removed from my old phone? It lay on the table for a couple of hours and I’m sure it was looking sad!! So that was my main present from Chris, but he always buys me a couple of quirky gifts too.

This drinks coaster was particularly amusing, I thought – now that I’m writing crime novels I do look up some very ‘dark’ stuff! It’s almost as good as the T-shirt he bought me a while back, ‘Don’t annoy the writer or she will put you in a book and kill you!’ I couldn’t possibly say who, but I have actually done that with a character!

He also got me (or should I say Wilfie the cat got me) some new diary pages for my Filofax… yes I’m so old school I still have a Filofax!!! When I change the pages, I also do a round up of the year in pictures for Instagram, which I thought I’d share on here in case you don’t follow me on there – if you did want to, my Instagram is juliagroberts.

It served as a reminder to appreciate all the good things that happened in our lives last year, including, of course, our wedding, so it was lovely to receive these framed black and white wedding photos from our children. They’re not on the wall yet, but they will be before the end of Christmas on twelfth night, although I might take the decorations down before that.

So, having had Christmas off from QVC, I was back in on the 30th and for all of this week apart from today. As many of you will know, Chris is a musician and always works New Years Eve, so the children decided to gather at ours so that I wouldn’t be on my own. They decided on fajitas for dinner, which my son made, I did contribute with some ‘patatas bravas’, followed by cheesecake made by his girlfriend. She also made me a delicious cocktail of Baileys with vodka and coffee – it was a very large glass, which I nursed for most of the evening as I’m not a big drinker, although we did crack open the champagne at midnight to welcome the new year!

It was lovely to see in the decade ahead with my family, including Wilfie as you can see from the photograph, and we stayed up playing Obama Lama and Heads Up until Chris got home at around 2.15 am. I finally climbed into bed after tidying up and loading the dishwasher at 3.45 a.m.!!!! I know!!!

Next morning, it was veggie rasher sandwiches all round, so my copper stone frying pans came in very handy again. They are the Big Deal on the main channel from Monday and I can highly recommend their non-stick properties. If one of your New Year Goals is to try and eat more healthily, these could be the perfect purchase for you – no oil needed, even for cooking eggs, and they look really good too.

And while on the subject of being healthier, we have the Aeropilates machine as the Today’s Special Value on Sunday (launching at 9 p.m. Saturday night). I am such an advocate of this method of exercising and have been for the past twenty years, since Marjolein Brugman first brought it to QVC UK.

It is a fantastic way to lengthen and strengthen muscles and in fact the physiotherapist I was recommended to by my ankle consultant is based in a Pilates studio. I haven’t been able to do much lately because we’ve been targeting specific small strengthening movements for my left ankle and calf, but it will play a huge part in my rehabilitation once I’m allowed to exercise after my operation. This particular Today’s Special Value offer is the Aeropilates machine with two regular cords, one red power cord and one half-strength yellow cord, along with the cardio-board, great for non weight-bearing aerobic exercise to aid with weight loss, and of course instructional DVDs. If you start your fitness regime now, imagine the shape you’ll be in come the summer!

That’s Sunday’s TSV, which I don’t need to order as I already have one, but I have ordered Saturday’s TSV. It’s not for me, it’s for my mum. While she was down over Christmas, she commented on how comfortable the bed was and said she needed a new mattress. Perfect timing, as we have the Sealy bed or mattress offer as our TSV tomorrow.

It’s already available to purchase on our website, which you might want to do as it’s an excellent price and on six Easy Pay interest-free instalments. It’s the star of the day in the Hibernate at Home event this weekend, which will also feature the Cozee Home heated plush washable throw and the Tempur Comfort Pillow.

Although Christmas is over for another year, the birthdays have started: it was my friend’s yesterday, my great-nephew Sam’s today, my sister’s on Sunday, one of my niece’s on Monday, my daughter Sophie’s on Wednesday (this photo of the two of us was taken AFTER the cocktail on New Years Eve!) and another niece on Thursday. AND it doesn’t stop there; Amber, Sophie’s partner Reece’s daughter, is on the 21st and Reece himself is on the 24th! At least the sales are on… which reminds me, our SALE15 code on clearance items comes to an end soon so take advantage of it while we have it.

I’m going to stop there as I’m not technically working today and I have book three in my Rachel Hart series to continue editing. I’m delighted to say that book two has been selected for a month-long reduced price promotion on Kindle, so if you had an e-reader device for Christmas (maybe one of our Amazon Fire tablets) start stocking up on your holiday reading now… Jackie Kabler’s is also on the same 99p promotion.

Wishing you a fabulous 2020 and a brilliant new decade. I don’t really do resolutions but I’ll leave you with this thought… ‘In a world where you can be anything, be kind’.

Much love,
Julia xx