Is It A Coincidence?

Spooky, I've not blogged in ages and then today I think, yes I'm feeling it, let's blog.. Only to find that my last post was about dungarees and today I bought some! Not exactly a message from the gods I realise, but some sort of coincidence all the same. Am I coming out of winter hibernation perhaps?!

I'm not sure if I'm keeping the dungarees yet, I think a little hallway catwalk show is needed so the husband can tell me if they look cool or in fact like I'm a children's entertainer (not the look I'm going for!), but it's always fun to give these trends ago if they take your fancy.  After a tip off from The Frugality blog about these black ones in H&M, I couldn't resist popping to town today and trying them for myself.

 


Plus it was so sunny and mild out this morning the change in weather has certainly made leaving the house a more attractive proposition than usual. I am definitely a warm weather creature I think, this cold spell of late was just really beginning to get me down so today's burst of sunshine couldn't have come soon enough. Is it too soon to say Spring might be in the air - probably, but who cares, I'm saying it to myself anyway! (Above photo is of the snow drops coming out in my garden - my new garden I might add, we moved earlier this month but that's a whole other post!)

I hope the sun is shining where you are today and I hope to be dropping by here some more now :)

Navel Gazing

Well once again I ended up taking a massive blogging hiatus without really meaning too, but for some reason I just lost my blogging nerve. I felt self conscious about what I wrote, how I wrote, and couldn't help feeling anxious over was my blog actually any good. This always crops up with me... Am I good enough? Is this good enough? If I take up a new interest or hobby I immediately want to give up if whatever I'm doing doesn't turn out good straight away. Sounds childish right? And as a parent I always tell my kids, hey practice makes perfect, or it's about the fun of doing something not the outcome, etc.. But these things are always harder to listen to when it's you talking. So I'm back, not because I'm suddenly over my wobble but because I simply realised I enjoy blogging and life's too short to give myself such a hard time! 

I've not been up to much whilst I've not been blogging, just enjoying the awesome autumn we've been having, oh and watching The Great British Interior Design Challenge. We're still trying to move house (is there a record for the longest, drawn out house move ever? We might be up for it!), the kids are settling in well to school and playgroup, and I've also gone and got myself a part time job. I've not started yet, but I'm looking forward to earning a bit of money again and getting a change of scene from the house and housework! I'm going to be working at a new local independent cinema that's opening up in St Albans. There's already a fab cinema in a nearby town of Berkhampstead, which is owned and run by the same chap - and he was brave enough to buy our old Odeon cinema here and restore it back to it's former art deco glory so as a whole town we're excited for it to open! I'm fairly happy working with the public, I love the cinema and films, so all in all it should be a good way to return to work. Did I mention I'm looking forward to it?!

What have you been up to recently? Do you ever have "wobbles"?

Image via MyScandinavianHome

Do or Don't: Capsule Wardrobes?

So what do you think? Do you believe in the concept of the capsule wardrobe? Do you think it works as a way to define your style, or does restricting your look like this take all the fun out of shopping and playing with fashion?

I've been getting quite into the concept of the capsule wardrobe recently, and have started following some pretty cool blogs dedicated to style and the creation of the capsule wardrobe. As you'll know by now I like shopping and I like my clothes, and try where possible to buy better and buy less in a bid to avoid cheap fashion and quantity over quality trap. So maybe in some ways my wardrobe is already edited, but believing more and more in the philosophy that less is more these days, I think there's still work to be done. 

The first blog I've been reading for a while now is Into Mind, which can seem like a bit of an unusual blog at first with it's ultra utilitarian style and minimalist approach, but has some really interesting features and tools for helping you explore style and what works for you.  

The second is Un-Fancy, a blog I'm really loving at the moment which is very down to earth and has a great free wardrobe planner to download, in case you fancy re-evaluating your current wardrobe. 

Another blog which can be good for outfit inspiration, even if it's not as polished a blog as the other two is Good Life For Less. Whilst not always completely my style, I do enjoy the 'This Season's Must Haves' and the 'How To Style' series.

So, in the run up to Autumn I've been trying stop and think about what clothes I wear the most, what suits my current lifestyle and where is best to spend my money and invest in my style. The first thing I've done is have a big clear out of my wardrobe - everything came out, and was either put in a yes, no or maybe pile. The maybe pile was then tried on and for each item I asked myself why I was considering keeping it - was it an old favourite? Did I just like the print or pattern even if the style didn't suit me? Was I hoping to slim down to fit back into it, etc. After being totally honest with myself I found I was able to let go of a lot of things that I perhaps had been letting clutter up my wardrobe (and therefore my head!) for way too long, and can at last see clearly what I own and actually like! More to the point, and this is the fun part, I can also see now what I don't have but could perhaps look to buy that would be useful and worthwhile buying. For someone who can be easily distracted at the shops, I think this will help me keep focused and not waste money on something I a) already own in some form or another, or b) don't really need.

I have downloaded the Unfancy wardrobe planner so I'm going to get stuck in and see if it can help me define my style for the new season ahead. Fun! 

Blog Hop! (A Day Late!)

So it's been a bit of a crazy, hard week (well, I know it's only wed, I'm kind of referring to last week too) as my little man, Sam, had an operation last monday to have his tonsils and adenoids out, and grommets put in (ouch!). He has been so brave and it all went really well, so now we're just dealing with the recovery phase which it turns out involves a lot of sleepless nights, the film Cars pretty much on repeat, and many hard negotiating tactics to get him to take his calpol every 4 hours! We're getting there slowly though. The photo of Sam above bears no relation to what I'm saying, but it's a cute one of Sam from our street party a few weeks back and well, he's bouncing (or hopping, get it!) so I thought it would vaguely tie in with my blog hop post.

So that's kind of why I'm late with this post and why it'll probably make no sense on reading, as it's been written on not much sleep. I was offered the chance to join in with this blog hop by Jen from Little Birdie, whose blog I love and is a constant source of inspiration. She has a great eye for interiors and design, finds the best things on Etsy and takes simply beautiful shots of her home, family and the stunning countryside around where she lives. If you don't follow her blog already, then what are you waiting for!?  

So here's my Q&A:

1. Why do I write?

I started neatlittlethings back in Feb 2012 really as something fun to do for myself. I was a full-time, stay at home mum, having given up my job as an Assistant Buyer of baby girls fashion for Mothercare after having my daughter Tabitha in 2009, and was by then pregnant with baby number two. Although I was enjoying being at home full-time and doing mummy things, I was really beginning to crave some sort of outlet where I could be a bit more creative. I'd started regularly following a couple of blogs (mostly american blogs for some reason - A Cup Of Jo, Oh Happy Day, Oh Joy, etc) which I enjoyed reading as a bit of an escape at the end of a busy day, and after a while it seemed like starting my own blog might give me the side project I was looking for. A place to get back in touch with the old me, outside of all things baby (although I do of course like to write about my family too) where I can write about anything and everything I want! 

2. How does it differ from others of its genre?

I don’t think that my blog does particularly differ from lot of the other blogs out there, and I certainly haven’t found my USP! I wouldn’t really know what genre to put my blog into - I’m a mum but don’t really aim to be a mummy-blog or focus on my family too much (part of the reason I write my blog is to capture a bit of ‘me-time’ and keep in touch with who I am outside of being a mum) but I do write a lot about fashion and shopping, and also about design and interiors so maybe that’s it genre somewhere/somehow?… At the moment I just write about things I like and enjoy and perhaps my blog’s theme or style will just develop naturally over time as I become more comfortable in my writing. When I first started I got very nervous about putting my thoughts or views ‘out there’ in case people were unkind but I’ve learnt (or should I say I’m learning!) that worrying about what other people think is pointless and will only make blogging stressful not enjoyable, so now I push myself to just write about whatever I want and not worry. 

I am often amazed and in awe of all the different blogs out there, of all these fantastic creative spaces. But I try not to compare myself to many other blogs as otherwise I’d start to worry about not being good enough, and really I’m just happy to be joining in with this wonderful blogging world! 

3. What am I working on?

As I mentioned before, most of my of my posts at the moment revolve around either interiors, fashion or my family. I’ve been spending a lot of time window shopping for our new house (we’re in the process of moving house but it’s officially becoming one of the world’s slowest house moves I think having been going on since January!) so I’m enjoying finding inspiring interiors, researching cool children’s beds and furniture, or looking for G Plan dressers on Ebay. Otherwise I’m generally working on posts about fashion - recent things I've bought, things I want to buy for the upcoming season, or just people with inspirational style! I throw in the odd post about my kids or family trips we’ve taken every now and then too, just because that’s what my life revolves around and I try to keep my blog real to me and my life.

Something I’d really like to work on is my images - I got into photography a bit after I left uni and took a few courses but really just decided I wasn’t that good at it and so now I don’t really try, despite my husband owning a decent digital SLR that I could be using. Instead I take either really bad shots on my iPhone, or I’ll use images from the web of clothes, etc that I’m linking to. It’s lazy and I think that working on this is something that could improve my blog a lot. Also I keeping thinking I should get to grips with photoshop or something which would also help improve the look of my blog too, but I’m a bit of a technophobe and again probably too lazy after a busy day to sit down and learn the basics. Ah well, maybe one day! 

4. How does my writing process work?

I try to blog about 3 times a week - I started out trying to blog every weekday, but soon found out after my initial rush of ideas that I just couldn’t keep up, what with children and a house and life in general going on all around me too. So now I aim for 3 times a week, and as and when I have time I’ll go on my blog and start drafting posts about anything that’s on my mind at that time.  To be honest I’ve not been blogging as much I’d like to this year as I’ve found being at home with a 2 yr old and a 4 yr old a bit full on and so have stopped giving myself a hard time trying to fit it all in. But I’m hoping as Tabitha starts school soon and Sam is at preschool a few mornings a week I might have more time to do the things I enjoy. That is, before I have to go back to some kind of full time job! 

Sometimes if I’m out and about and I think of something I’d like to blog about then I’ll note in down in my notebook to come back to later  

as it’s more than likely that I’ll have forgotten my train of thought by the time I get a chance to sit down with my laptop that evening. If I can’t think of things to blog about I know it’s because generally I’m over thinking things and trying to maybe be something I’m not, and if I just focus in on what’s going on in my world right now then I actually have lots I want to blog about. I guess that’s my main goal - trying to just be myself on my blog, and not be something I’m not, or not copy what others are doing (so well!) out there. I obviously take inspiration from other people’s blogs as I think we all do, but I really want neatlittlethings to be a space that, whilst it may not be unique, it is true to me.

***

I hope this has been somewhat interesting, I've enjoyed doing it and I'm looking forward to discovering more blogs out there as the blog hop continues! I was supposed to be passing on the baton to another couple of bloggers for next week but I've really just run out of time this week and so instead of getting in a spin about it, I thought I'd just throw it out there to anyone who wants to give this a go on their blog - just drop me a comment below if you're going to do it, as I'd love to stop by your blog and read your blog hop post.

The more the merrier right! :)

Hello Pippit!

So today I've mostly been exploring and experimenting with the new app, Pippit. This is a new social media app, created by two of my favourite stateside bloggers, Joy Cho from Oh Joy, and Naomi Davies (alongside her husband Josh) from Love Taza. If you get a chance to check it out I think you'll like it!

So far it seems simple enough to use and I'm a complete technophobe so that's saying something, but there are still some features that I've not got the hang of (i.e the search facility, am I missing something?!). It's got similarities to Pinterest so it works in the way you might expect, although that's not to say that it's just the same as Pinterest, it's got a lot of different things going for it which you'll soon see.

I'd be interested to know if you like it too? Follow me at @aneatlittleshop!

Amazing House Tour!

I've been missing blogging recently but I've just not been making time for it. I still make time for reading blogs, breakfast wouldn't be the same without checking in on my favourites. And so today I came across this amazing house tour on A Cup of Jo. To just link to it on here is a pretty lazy form of posting, granted, but I wanted to pass it on. It's such a fun, beautiful and well-curated home, I would move in tomorrow.. today even! Lots of inspiration for the new house! :) 

Love for Chinti and Parker

Be still my beating heart, at £85 I'm not sure it's a goer, but oh, how much do I love this new top from Chinti and Parker?! Simple, totally wearable (to death probably!) and so cute with that beautiful heart...

I'm new to this label, having only discovered it last week when I spied this fabulous top over on WIT blog, but I'm loving it already. Lots of stripes, cute prints and great tailoring, it's a bit like a more out-going version of Cos. I've looked at this top everyday for a week now, fingers crossed it might go on sale one day if it doesn't sell out?!

See more of Chinti and Parker's range online here.

91 Magazine

This morning I am very happy! It's a lovely sunny morning and the sky is blue (for now anyway!) and whilst sitting down to my usual breakfast of tea and toast (with a side of laptop, it's a bad habit I know but I like a little morning peruse of the internet while I eat breakfast - it's the modern day version of reading the back of the cereal packet, right?!) I've discovered 91 Magazine. So far I've flicked through 2 back issues and I can already feel my morning schedule slipping. Who wants to go to Sainsburys and do the food shopping anyway!

I can't believe I haven't stumbled across this beautiful online mag before, what with all the design blogs I read, but better late than never and I can't wait to get stuck into the other copies. I love that it's british too - so many of the blogs I read are based in the US, it's nice to see what's going on a little closer to home.

And this is just the kind of inspiration I need right now - our house search continues and I think we're about to buy a bit of an ugly duckling house but that could have lovely potential with a bit of creativity and vision. I find myself changing my mind constantly about whether to just go for it or not (we love our current house so much it's hard to leave) but I'm getting excited thinking about all the new opportunities this house could bring for changing things up a little!

A peek inside some of the back issues, it makes me want to get crafty!

New Blog: Into Mind - Top Wardrobe Tips

I always love stumbling across a new blog which really captures my interest, and so I wanted to share my recent discovery Into Mind. It might not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you're into personal styling, etc and often wish you knew how best to execute a good wardrobe clear out or how to create your perfect capsule wardrobe, then this is the blog for you. I found the recent post on 'how to build the perfect wardrobe' really great. As I get older I'm beginning to realise the value of knowing what my own style is, what trends work for me and which don't, and knowing how to shop more wisely on a limited budget (buying clothes for a family of 4 is a different ball game to when back in my single days clothes shopping used to be more of a weekend hobby and I could afford to buy into passing trends and fast fashion). Now I want to be clever with my buys and create looks that I'll wear again and again, which also work together to reflect my own personal style, whatever that might be!

The site has a lovely minimal feel too, which I love. 

I hope you like it x

ps - If you like Into Mind, you might enjoy Danse de Lune (I think I've mentioned it on here before), which is a bit like an ever-growing mood board of beautiful and inspiring images. Take a look :)

Smitten Studio Home Tour

I've been following Sarah Sherman Samuel's blog Smitten Studio for a while now, and I'm a big fan of her style.  She's shown snippets of her home on her blog before, but I was really pleased to see this full tour of her LA home here.  She definitely has a real eye for mixing new, vintage and DIY pieces, as well as bringing different textures together such as wood, leather, wools and furs, to create a really natural, bright, open living space. I'd happily live here!  

I love this wall of artwork, prints, and photographs. I have a similar wall of framed prints and photos in my living room but it's still a work in progress!

The white and wood work so well together, and I'm a big fan of sunburst mirrors

Another fabulous sunburst mirror, and I love the deep blue wall colour

A lovely little home office area, again loving the textures - white, wood, metal and glass

You should check out Sarah's new product range A Sunny Afternoon also, amazing tea towels and napkins, amongst other things!

Have a good weekend x

Bobbyrabbit

I don't mention my shop often, I'm pretty rubbish at self promotion and like to think if people are looking for the sort of stuff I stock they'll find me somehow! But I was excited today to be featured on a fabulous kids design blog, Bobbyrabbit. Founded by ex-Habitat buyer, Nicky King, the blog features daily posts about all things cool for kids, from toys, furniture and interior design. I hope you'll check it out, it's a lovely site.  And of course, do stop by my shop, I sell a neat card or two!

Slow Decorating Movement

I was reading a nice little blog the other day, two+two, that I've just discovered (and Jen is from St Albans, isn't it a small world!) and there was this funny post on there about starting a slow decorating movement... When I read it I thought, yes, that's so true... As much as I love pouring over the internet finding inspirational images of amazing homes that were gutted and resdeigned from scratch, for most of us turning our houses into our dream homes is an slow, ongoing project, but so worth it if we can stick with it! I've been meaning to post for ages that we finally finished our kitchen recently, after waiting for over 6 years to get around to it, and then it actually taking about 4 months to do when we finally did get around to it (thanks to my lovely husband who worked very hard doing the whole project himself).  I'm so pleased with how it turned out... there's still a few things to do like putting plates and prints up on the wall and working out where things might live permanently (I love my bread maker but slap bang in the middle of my worktop, I'm not so sure!).  

The next project is fixing up the lovely 1960s Ercol dining chairs I bought from Ebay which I promised my husband would look fab once brought back to life a bit... all in good time! So here's to the slow decorating movement, because good things come to those who wait!

*washing up left out to dry on the draining board optional in your dream kitchen, that's just the way we roll round here! :)

So True!

I saw this today on Abby Goes Design Scouting, via Cup of Jo, and it made me smile.  I don't know about you but I'm terrible for expecting results immediately, and then wanting to quit as soon as I realise I'm actually no good at something.  I guess the sayings "good things come to those who wait" or "if at first you don't succeed, try, try, try again" are popular sayings for a reason!

(Drawing Demetri Martin)

Ho Hum

I've discovered some new blogs this week which has been nice... Little Birdie, Hello Olive, My Scandinavian Home and Morten and Me. It's been fun reading through some of their recent posts and finding inspiration and a fresh perspective from what these gals are in to and choose to write about. And in some ways these blogs kind of popped up at the right time too, when I was beginning to feel a bit fed up and, I don't know, a bit blah about all things bloggy.  

Therefore this morning's post from Morten and Me really rang true with me today... (read it here) Sometimes there's just nothing going on.  Well nothing interesting anyway. You know, life is just normal, mundane perhaps. Don't get me wrong, I love my design blogs as much as the next person (what do you think I aspire to here!) and read my favourite blogs daily. But just sometimes I don't have my morning cup of tea in a beautiful, handleless scandinavian-inspired designer mug, and maybe this morning I ate just boring old toast for breakfast off my daughter's plastic animal plate because all the grown up plates were still in the dishwasher. It was just nice to hear that for everyone sometimes life is just life. And we all have dull photos... (but actually the best thing about those pics of our boring old life is that, to us, if we're lucky, they're not dull photos at all!) :)

Here's a few dull photos of our trip to the park today... I love this time of year, Autumn is so pretty.

Out and about scootin'

Sam recently discovered the swings!

A dab hand at the swings!

Looking cool in Daddy's sunglasses!

Winter Blues

It's getting cold out, and wet too :( Winter's coming and although I love dressing for the cold season (new boots, knitwear, scarves, etc!), I do start to feel a little down in the mouth... the grey days, the dark evenings, it can all get a bit gloomy.  So when I saw this house tour on one of my favourite blogs Seventy Tree, I just had to bookmark it for days when I need a little lift and a bit of inspiration.  It's such a gorgeous home, and I mean a really gorgeous! Take a peek for yourself.

Image from Seventy Tree (from Freunde von Freunden)

The Day My Laptop Died :(

Monday morning, got tea, got toast, got 5 mins to spare when Tabby is engrossed in CBeebies and so went to check my emails only to find that without warning or a fuss my laptop has gone and died on me.  D'oh. It was working the night before, I even shut it down properly before heading to bed instead of just flipping it into sleep mode like normal.  But nothing, nada.. It won't boot up. Hence no blogging for me just now.  I've had my In-house IT guy (aka Mec) working on recovering my data for me and there's hope that a new drive (I may sound like I have a clue what I'm talking about here but I really don't!) will bring my laptop back to life so for now I'm crossing my fingers.  (For this post I've snuck onto Mec's laptop whilst he's busy on the iPad but he'll want it back soon!)

I'm also typing this very slowly, with one hand, as I have a baby tucked up asleep in my other arm, so I guess what I'm saying is once I've sorted out my laptop problem and am not stuck under a small but increasingly heavy (albeit very cute) object I'll get back to blogging soon!

Native Shoes

This is a blatant repost from a couple of blogs that I follow (Cup of Jo, NYC Taught Me), but if like me you have small kids you might find these cool...

It's hard to find hip looking, durable and comfortable outdoor playshoes for the little ones that won't get scuffed or wrecked after one afternoon's play yet these seem to fit the bill!  Native shoes have the awesome look of trainers but the practicality of say, Crocs (which let be honest aren't going to do much for your child's street cred - although yes, Tabby does indeed have a pair in red).

I might be the last to know but you can get these in John Lewis, amongst other places, and for around £30 they seem like a good buy for a decent summer's worth of play.  I'm loving the green pair!

John Lewis, £25 - £30

Images via John Lewis website

Cool Interiors

Just a quickie - wanted to repost this home tour from blog SFGirlByBay as I think the interior decor is amazing.  Can't stop looking at the photos - love the super dark walls against the white, and the wooden floors are gorgeous.  My finger is currently hovering over the Add to Cart button on Fine Little Day for these ace black and white print cushions as seen in the lounge shots! I want to do more than steal their style though, I want to move in!

I Heart This Jumper

Whilst reading one of my favourite blogs, Oh Joy! this fab Heart Jumper caught my eye... I want it! I'd probably wear it with skinny dark jeans and red ballet flats (as I usually put everything with jeans!) but I really admire Joy's summery look with the jumper over a maxi dress.

Images via Oh Joy!

New Routines

So it turns out I've not fallen off the edge of the earth but in fact just discovered how crazy it is to have two kids! I'm sure it'll get easier as Sam is only 6 weeks so still tiny but at the moment it seems impossible to have any control over my time and what I can get done during the day.  I read this yesterday on Merry Mishap and which made me smile as I thought yes, my thoughts exactly!  I think I'm driving Mec mad with my constant nagging about the state of the house but keeping it clean and tidy just seems so overwhelming at the moment and being at home all day means it's all I can see and think about! I feel like ordering a large skip and chucking all our stuff out (except for the essentials - if I could work out what those are!)

Now that I'm trying to adjust to a new routine it's become really interesting to me to know how other mothers manage their time, and whether I could be doing things better/differently to carve out some time for myself.  There was this great series called My Balance a while back on Cup Of Jo which interviewed several mums about their day to day routines - it's an interesting read if you want to check it out.  Admittedly they're all working mums and have to balance family life with work life, which I do not, but it's still interesting to take a sneak peak into other people's lives, and one day I'll have to return to work in some way or another!

It would be great to see some interviews like this of local mothers who juggle parenting with work or other interests.  How do you fit it all in? Do you wish you could find a better way of managing your time?