March.

I'm sure I say this every month but March has gone by so quickly. It's been a really happy and positive month for me in the most part although I don't feel like I've got half the things done I wanted to. As I write this it's already April the 8th which really is quite ridiculous that it's my first post of the month 8 days in, but I've been feeling a little off colour these past few weeks. I've had horrendous wisdom teeth pain, I'm having two pulled out next week which I'm actually looking forward to because they're giving me so much grief.

This month I have been dreaming of visiting my family in the UK as I've really been missing them a lot. My great grandma passed away in March and it's hit me a lot harder than I thought it would. She was 94 years old and for the past 4 years at least her health had deteriorated rapidly, and my grandparents ended up doing a lot of the caring for her. I have a very close relationship to my grandparents and thinking about them in their 70s looking after my great grandma filled me with worry and in a lot of ways I feel relieved now she's passed away. It's the childhood memories of her which I cherish the most and make me feel most sad now she's gone, and I will be thinking of her all day on the 14th because I won't be able to attend her funeral in the UK. Although I've been missing my family a lot, I've tried not to let it get me down, instead I've just been getting even more excited about our wedding and showing all my family Manly.

In March Robbie and I have become pretty obsessed with the TV show The Fall (I'm pretty sure we're late to the party with this). We have become addicted to this BBC crime drama set in Northern Ireland this month, and it's the first show in a while that we have really gotten into. It's pretty dark, following a serial killer in Belfast, with Gillian Anderson playing a senior police officer who has been called in from the Metropolitan police to try to catch him. It's quite graphic and grizzly but it really shows you the mind of the serial killer, played by Jamie Dornan, who really makes quite a handsome murderer. There are lots of mind games and plot twists, just probably isn't best to watch it before you go to sleep because it's quite creepy.

I've heard the words Palm oil knocking around both online and on television but it hasn't been until recently that I've really given it a lot of thought and done some research. I've been trying to make the steps towards living more ethically and sustainably and when you read up about Palm Oil it really is so unnecessary and just purely based on greed. This article describes the issues surrounding Palm Oil better than I can, so please give it a read. It's really important to make sure any products you use only contain sustainably sourced Palm Oil, you can easily research list so of products which contain unsustainably sourced Palm Oil - you'll be shocked about how many companies use it. This Guardian article was also a real eye opener for me. I think it's really important to just step back a little bit sometimes and think about how small actions by us can make a huge impact.

In March I finally launched my documentary photography facebook page, By Katie-Jane. This has been a long time coming and it really has taken me far too long. Please like the page if you're interested in seeing the portraits I will be shooting over the coming weeks and have any interest in documentary photography as I would love to connect to more people through my work. I've been lucky enough to have already worked with a few families this month and I hope to work with lots more next month and see where it takes me.

We booked flights to Brisbane for mid-May a couple of weeks ago, it's great having a long weekend to look forward to and it's always so lovely to spend time with Robbie's family. I've booked a bridal appointment at Babushka Ballerina for whilst I'm there, so I can try on dresses with Robbie's mum, sister's and niece. I've never tried on wedding dresses before so I'm really excited but also nervous because I never, ever wear dresses. I've been browsing the site though and I am in love with three Rue De Seine gowns which I'm really looking forward to seeing in real life. I also booked us tickets to see Fleetwood Mac in November and a cute airbnb weekend stay in the Hunter Valley since the concert is at Hope Estate. Since we can't go overseas whilst I'm waiting on my visa, it's nice to have other trips to look forward to, Melbourne is the next city break I would like to get booked in.

This article from The Guardian made me laugh, I've never bought a copy of Kinfolk magazine but I could really relate to article (who doesn't love a terrarium?!)