Welcome to my first Monthly Spotlight blog post! It’s a post where you can find and discover what I’ve been loving and enjoying throughout the month. It might include blogs, books, music, websites, content I’ve been enjoying, food, restaurants, concerts, shows and much more. It’s also where I’ll be featuring my monthly advertisers, more about which you can find below, and also how you can advertise with me next month. I also feel that this post is a way of getting back to my blogging roots: the things which first started me off blogging. Just simply writing about my monthly favourites, my ramblings and just a good old chatty blog post! It’s one of the main reasons why I named my blog Clem Loves. It’s just me sitting behind my laptop, sharing with you a few of the things that I’ve been enjoying. 

I feel this month has been one of the busiest months this year so far. This month has brought me a month’s contract of freelance work for an amazing music membership organisation and charity. It’s enabled me to use the existing skills that I have gained, along with gaining many new skills and experiences, both of which I’m very thankful for. Towards the end of last year, I made the decision to go freelance. So far it has been challenging, I will admit, but it’s also been very eye-opening and rewarding. If you are looking for a Blogger, Writer or Content Creator, I would love to hear from you, and you can find what I offer along with how we can work together over on my Work With Me page.

Say “Hello” to my May Monthly Advertiser

Firstly, I want to give a huge shoutout to my May monthly advertiser, Sophie, from This Brilliant Day. She runs a wonderful Lifestyle and Personal Development blog which also includes posts on mental health, physical health, reading, sustainable living and lots more. I’ve found Sophie’s blog to be very helpful in the different areas of my own life, especially when it comes to mental health and physical health. These are two areas of my life that I have struggled with over the years, focusing purely on my anxiety and OCD, along with living with a chronic illness. Sophie’s post’s are brilliantly written and also very thought-provoking, helping me to really think about certain lifestyle changes that I feel I can improve on. 

A couple of posts that I highly recommend checking out and reading are How to Quickly Feel More Awake in the Morning and 10 Quick and Easy Things You Can Do Right Now To Reduce Procrastination. I’m not really a morning person! When I was a lot younger, I usually got up very early in the mornings, but as I’ve gotten older, I do tend to find it quite difficult sometimes to get up and get moving, and to start the day feeling refreshed! Especially having a chronic illness, some mornings I just feel even more tired than when I went to bed. I do love having a lie-in, but this makes it quite difficult on the days where I do need to be up early. In this post by Sophie, How To Quickly Feel More Awake in the Morning, there are some really great tips on how to do just that. I love that these quick and easy tips are simple to follow, but have some great benefits in helping me to feel much more awake and ready to start to start the day.

Procrastination is something that I regularly find myself doing, even when I don’t realise I’m doing it, if that’s even possible! I often find myself in the middle of writing or working, and the next thing I know, I’ve picked up my phone and I’m scrolling through social media, or I’ve opened up a new tab on the internet browser, or I start watching a YouTube video or start doing something completely different to what I am meant to be doing. The thing is, it’s such an easy thing to do, just as I have found. But the reason why I really enjoyed this post over on Sophie’s blog, is that there are lots of great tips to implement in your day, to stop that all-too-easy procrastination, and they really are quick and easy steps that you can follow to stop the distractions around you. Whether it’s turning off your notifications, deleting apps that you find yourself drawn to, especially when you are working, or decluttering your workspace, Sophie has listed some great tips that are simple to implement and stop that pesky procrastination taking over. 

Lastly, there is one more post which I very much recommend checking out, 5 Tactile Activities To Help You Focus When Listening To Audio Content. I found this post to be very interesting because to be honest, it’s something that I haven’t really thought much about before, but in actual fact, I do sometimes get a little fidgety and restless when listening to long audio content, which is probably hard to believe as I’m an Audio Production graduate! But it’s something that happens very easily. In this post, Sophie lists relaxing and calming activities to do whilst listening to audio content such as audio books, podcasts and audio-based videos. These activities include sewing, knitting, colouring, jigsaw puzzles and more. Sometimes I love listening to audio in the background, and I feel these activities are such great ideas to do, especially as they are quite calming. I feel they would really help keep my focus on the audio that is being played. 

A huge thank you again to Sophie for advertising with me throughout May, and definitely a great blog to check out and read. You can also follow Sophie on Twitter and Instagram. 

If you would like to advertise me throughout June or throughout any of the upcoming months for just £10 for the whole month, you can find my Advertise With Me page here.

Ego Mediterranean

Although it was a while back when we visited Ego in Lichfield for afternoon tea, it’s very much still on my mind! If like me, you love afternoon tea, then I very much recommend giving Ego a visit in Lichfield, especially if you are looking to celebrate this coming half-term with an afternoon tea. It  included very scrumptious sandwiches, savoury treats and cakes. Filled full of exciting, delicious and mouthwatering fillings, this is one afternoon tea I am very much looking forward to going back and having! 

Want to know the great news? You can find out all about this afternoon tea and more over on my blog post here. It’s just too good not to share and mention. With a friendly welcome, quick service, a bustling environment, plus not forgetting the main bit, the fantastic food, Ego is a wonderful restaurant to go to if you are looking for a light lunch, an afternoon tea, an evening out for tea with friends or family, or if you are looking for that perfect place for a date night. Head on over to my post to find some mouthwatering pictures of our delicious afternoon tea. 

The Chosen

If you are looking for a new show to watch, then I have just the one for you, The Chosen. This awesome show is actually one that I watched previously, but as my husband David hadn’t watched it, we’ve been watching it again. Honestly, it just gets even better the second time round! The Chosen is a seven-series show (I believe Season 3 will soon be out) about the life of Jesus, and through the eyes of His disciples and those who followed him. This show is truly engaging, encouraging, inspiring and really helps to visualise more of Jesus’s journey, his travels, His early life and through His ministry. The creators of The Chosen have visualised and portrayed what those who came to Jesus, those who met Jesus and those who followed Him, may have experienced in more detail, what they may have gone through, and with a main focus on His disciples. 

I highly recommend having your Bibles open as you watch and follow along, as although this is such a great show, it’s good to remember that we need to still read our Bible for the true Word of God, to read Jesus’s words in full. But this show really does help to enable us to visualise more of what we read in our Bibles, which I think is really great. I must admit that watching the show the first time around, there were many tears, especially happy tears! I feel the show has truly helped me to fully understand more of the emotions of what the people in the Bible experienced, to see and witness that. Plus, it made me think of just how much Jesus has helped me throughout my own life. It’s very thought-provoking and made me reflect throughout. You can watch The Chosen for free online and on the app that is available to download on the Apple Store or on Android. I’ll pop the trailer for The Chosen below. 

Refreshed by John Hindley

If, like me, you love a good daily devotional to start your day with, to read during your quiet times with God and to help you in your journey of faith, Refreshed by John Hindley, is a devotional that I have truly been enjoying. But what sets this devotional apart is that it’s specifically for your time away and when you are on holiday. Although, as I have been reading this book just at home, it’s honestly such an fantastic devotional to read any time and wherever you are, even if it’s just at home like me.

There is lots written in this book that you can take away and apply to your day-to-day life, along with helping me to reflect on God’s goodness, His character and getting into the Word of God, for in whichever season I may currently be in. Each devotion ends with question, a challenge, a reflection and an activity, both for individual use and family time to include each family member whilst you read this devotional. An awesome way to get the whole family engaged with the Word of God, especially on your time away. 

You can find my review for this book here.

Lighthouse Church, Spalding.

If you are looking for a Church service to watch online, then I can’t recommend the Lighthouse Church enough. An exciting, energetic, lively, welcoming and God-centred Church, this is a friendly family Church I just know you are going to love. Grab your Bible, a pen and notebook and get ready to worship God with live music and hear an encouraging, much needed message each Sunday. Another great thing is that you can catch up on past services over on their YouTube channel. 

This is a Church that I have been to many times and I’m very thankful that I got to be back there again this last Sunday. You can find the service here. Pastor Josh was giving the sermon, and his message truly spoke to me and really encouraged me. If you are looking for a sermon that is packed full of God’s truth, His Word and an encouraging message, I definitely recommend watching. 

He Is by Crowder 

I thought what better way to end this post than with a worship song. This is one that is on my Spotify playlist, and what really drew me to this song is the lyrics. It’s only through Jesus that we can experience all of these things. He is our peace, our strength and our comfort during difficult times. Through Him we have healing, we have rest and He is all that we need.

“If you’re troubled
Heavy hearted
Come to Jesus and find your peace

If you’re run down
Empty handed
Come to Jesus and find your strength

He is Hope for the hopeless
Rest for the weary
Help for the hurting
He is, He is”

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