Starting a new life together when you are in your forties is umm… a challenge.
In fact Ste and I are challenged daily by what it takes to meld worlds already so firmly established, together. There are kids to consider. And parents. Work. A business. Entanglements with ex-partners. Family. Bills. House moves. Personal routines and rituals it takes times to fathom. Weird quirks about food. Arguments about TV schedules. And football (damn football). All the flotsam and jetsam of everyday life but without the certainty of a shared history.
We knew it wouldn’t be easy. Last Summer we looked at the months ahead of us and said if we can get through them we can get through everything. And we have. Much of the bickering has stopped (with the exception of the absolute HISSY FIT I had yesterday morning over dishes still left in the sink from the night before: a hormonal response to a petty crisis if ever there was one!) as we have come to understand each other better. To know each other’s children and to present a united front to their respective parents as we seek to establish a family of our own.
But now we are facing new challenges: working out what we want from next week. From next year. From the rest of our lives together. And more than that: finding the time to work these things out that isn’t compromised by my PMT and Ste’s unrelenting dedication to Liverpool F.C.
We know we need to be more mindful of both our personal and our shared goals and that we need to be deeply aware of how much those goals need to shape our days. That we need to be on the same page, as I frequently remind Ste in a manner that I am sure is driving him completely up the wall. And that time has to carved out before eleven in the evening, when we currently seem to have our most deep and meaningful conversations, so that we can bring fresh thought to our goals and dilemmas instead of exhausted, hackneyed responses to the same old conversations.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KYNSmRWbr6I]
Introducing Make Over Your Year…
Which is why for us, Crystal Paine’s new course Make Over Your Year is so very timely. Set over four weeks with four hour-long videos filmed with her own husband Jesse, Make Over Your Year encourages us to work with our partners to establish personal priorities and shared goals and to encourage us to use what we learn from each other during the process to stop the muddle that so can often be daily life.
I’m kinda excited. Luckily Ste loves shared projects like this and I know he will enjoy it. And I simply love Crystal Paine. She is one of only two women whose work I frequently share here at
You see though I buy and work my way through lots and lots of online courses in my relentless search for inspiration, please know how cautious I am about those I recommend you spend your own money on because I want each resource I do suggest to provide the up most value for you as you too forge a path to Brocante betterment..
So if you and your partner are ships that pass in the night, or are no longer singing from the same choir sheet, then Make Over Your Year might just be the kick- start you need to re-align the shared values that have long been the backbone of your relationship.
Over the 4-week period, you’ll learn:
- Why & how to decide your most important priorities in life
- How to narrow your priorities down to specific focus areas
- The 4 keys to creating goals that you’ll actually follow through with
- How to give yourself grace – without falling off the bandwagon
- And more…
What could be more important?
To us very little else at the moment. So tonight I am planning to fill the coffee table with delicious, nibbly food – little squares of cold Spanish omelette, pink olives stuffed with garlic and some beetroot hummus – pour two glasses of good red wine, present Ste with the folder in which I have bound our copy of the Make Over Your Year workbook, and pop the first of the four videos on to the television…
This then is the weekend we really start our lives together. Won’t you make it the weekend you pick up the strings of your relationship too?
P.S: Click the banner below and you will get a lovely little introductory discount off Make Over Your Year too…
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Other Things To Do At BrocanteHome
Browse the Bookstore
Discover a curated list of books to enhance and support life the BrocanteHome way
Life Love & Vintage Housekeeping the by BrocantePrintables on Etsy
Create your own Brocante Life Book, plan Christmas, set up routines and rituals or live life the BrocanteHome way with my guided workbooks and planners.
Take a Course
Discover mindful, meaningful days with self-led, habit-coaching courses from BrocanteHome.
Goal Setting for Homemakers 
The Brocante Round-Up! 
The Brocante Round-Up! 
The Autumn House
It’s a little strange ( in a good way) to see Crystal on here. I have been following here blog for years because she is a homeschool mom like myself. I just recently found out she is good friends with a dear friend of mine from high school. And now she is here on a blog I also have been following for years. Maybe God is trying to tell me something. ?
It’s a little strange ( in a good way) to see Crystal on here. I have been following here blog for years because she is a homeschool mom like myself. I just recently found out she is good friends with a dear friend of mine from high school. And now she is here on a blog I also have been following for years. Maybe God is trying to tell me something. ?