9 minutes: the standard mini Groundhog repeating nightmare otherwise known as the time period of an iPhone snooze. There was a time when I was a good with mornings, heck I even managed them when Boo was a baby but in recent months it’s as if I’ve lost all appetite for pre 7am consciousness – and I think my snooze button is to blame.

This week while I was scrolling through my phone during one of the last snoozes before I got up (yes the irony of this is not lost on me) I saw a tweet by Healthy Magazine; now I don’t know about you but when I’m on my deathbed in years to come I don’t want to think of all the hours – all 4152 of them I wasted being reluctant to get up and seize the day. Failing that, 4152 hours of sleep would probably mean I’d at least start my day in a better, more rested state if not a little later.

Wakey, wakey: 'snoozing' an alarm wastes on average 85 hours a year or 173 days of your life #mondaymotivation pic.twitter.com/feFZnqYt8d

— Healthy magazine (@healthymag) February 1, 2016

What does snoozing achieve anyway? In 9 minutes I am able to just about reach that lovely delicious state of drifting off and then… Wham I’m dragged back to the land of morning and so the cycle continues. I’m fairly certain this isn’t the best way to start the day, in fact it sounds more like an underhand form of sleep deprivation torture – dangling the carrot of ‘more sleep’.

Before this snooze button dependency, me and early mornings had a good thing going on: I would set my alarm for 5am and by 5.30 I’d be sat with tea, working for a couple of hours before Boo woke up. There’s something about the calm of early mornings before the e-mails ping and the phone rings that allows me to get ahead not only for the day but in my mind before I’m crowded with everything that adds to me being me.

So from Monday I’m banishing the snooze button, I’ll set my alarm for 7am for the first few days and after that start working my way back earlier and earlier until I rejoin the 5am club. With all the chaos and change that will inevitably come with moving house – I need to recoup the calm of the day. I shall be replacing the snooze button with large amounts of Earl Grey and Twitter, and owning those 4152 hours… although I may need reminding of this when I reach the pre 6am point!

It’s the beginning of February which means like it or loath it, Valentine’s Day is fast approaching. I’m not a major hearts and flowers type of girl but one thing I love about Valentines is it’s the perfect excuse to watch my favourite romantic blockbusters.

I’m a big fan of movie nights and with moving house I’m hoping it’s the perfect excuse to upgrade my TV to a Panasonic Viera 4K TV; there’s something about settling down to a movie on a big screen at home while snacking on popcorn with a bottle glass of good wine.

Here are my top three modern films for Valentine’s Day although I’m happy to watch these any time of the year:

The Notebook
This has to be one of THE films of my generation, I’ve watched it countless times and it never gets old; Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams have so much on screen chemistry that I can’t help but get involved with the film, every single time I watch it. Plus I do a mean “I wrote you!” impression (Prosecco not necessarily required!).

10 Things I Hate About You
A 90’s update of Shakespeare’s Taming of the Shrew – Health Ledger and Julia Stiles connect so well to create such a believable story, and with snippets of Shakespearean dialogue it’s way more than just another romcom from my teenage years. For me it’s also Heath Ledger at his best, young and raw.

Romeo and Juliet
This is everything for me, from the perfect pairing of Leonardo DiCaprio and Clare Danes to the music (I’m sat listening to the soundtrack as I write this) Baz Luhrmann is at his finest in this marriage of Shakespeare and pop culture. I think my long standing love for this film is that I was studying Romeo and Juliet at the time I first watched the film and instantly fell in love with how the words had such prominence in the film. Nearly twenty years later (yikes!) it’s stood the test of time and features in my top ten overall favourite films.

What’s your favourite Valentine’s Day film?

This is a collaborative post.

After months of keeping it under wraps I’m super excited to finally be able to say that we’ll soon be moving and it’s going to be one of our biggest adventures to date!

I’ve made no secret of wanting to eventually emigrate so it may surprise you that instead of thousands of miles our upcoming move will be less than 300 metres yet it’s worlds away from how we live now. You see it’s not your average house move; we currently live in a lovely 1950’s purpose built maisonette which has been perfect for us. However when the opportunity came up I knew it was more than just a house move, it’s an amazing life experience and opportunity for Boo and me. In the next 8-12 weeks we’ll be moving into an early 19th century grade 2 listed gate house cottage overlooking our village ponds.

I’ve known about the upcoming move for nearly three months but it was only on Saturday that I took Boo for a walk and talked about how great it would be to have stairs and a bigger garden with room for a trampoline… and just as Boo came up with the eureka moment that maybe moving would be a good idea we arrived outside what is to be our new home (wham, I’ll be giving myself 10/10 for major mama timing!). I was expecting Boo to be a little hesitant, she thrives on familiarity and routine so I wasn’t too sure how she’d handle such a big change, but from the minute we walked through the gothic shaped front door Boo was in love, as was I when I first viewed it.

By the time we left, Boo had already decided that we NEED to paint her bedroom pink (we’ll see about that one) and we’ll need a bigger mirror in the bathroom – can’t think where she gets that one from!!

Our big move and new home will be an amazing opportunity and adventure, and will see a complete change in the way we live. Say goodbye to wide curved windows and one level living and hello to solid wonky walls and period fireplaces. I’m a city girl at heart so this will undoubtedly be a steep learning curve in cottage living, but I’m eager to throw myself in on what is set to be our big project of 2016.

So it looks like I’m about to become an interiors blogger and both me and Boo are excited to share this amazing adventure with you. For now it’s time to transform our house into cardboard city and get packing!