Hooray For The Weekend + Simple Summer Dresses

Man, have I got that friday feeling this afternoon! 7.30pm and a glass of wine beckons! It's been a long week... Half term kind of crept up on me and I wasn't really prepared with a schedule of action packed activities like some other, more organised mums. So it's been a week of ad-hoc outings to soft-play (mental!), the big park (Sam fell in the lake!), and the farm today (which was actually ok, until the overtired meltdown at the end!) in a bid to keep everyone occupied and happy. This photo from today reminds me that it's (almost) all worth it though - Tabby and Sam loved the carousel today, going on it 3 times back to back, and were busy blowing kisses to everyone. It was very cute, Sam thought it was hilarious. Kids eh!

The week might have been somewhat more enjoyable if the weather had played it's part and been a bit sunnier. It's been mild, granted, but the constant threat of rain has rather put a dampener on things. It can't be long now til the summer sun arrives for a good, surely!?

Just in case it does anytime soon, I've been indulging in some summer wardrobe shopping and bought a couple of little summer dresses. I'm not one to wear anything skimpy and generally the word sundress fills me with dread. However, I refuse to spend another summer limited to trousers and maxi skirts just because I don't have amazing (or even half decent!) legs - I'm hoping with a hint of fake tan perhaps and some effort put in to help tone that I can too enjoy that effortless feeling of slipping on a summer dress and some sandals and being all set for fun in the sun.   

Topshop, Contrast Denim Tee Dress, £38

This Topshop denim dress, above, will look great with some chunkier heeled sandals (which also should help balance out my pins) and a statement necklace. And this uber-summery dress, below,  from Mango is a definitely one for that super hot day when only strappy sandals and a pair of sunnies are required.

Mango, Ethnic Embroidery Dress, £44.99

Have you got your eye on anything for your summer wardrobe? I'm also on the look out for a denim jacket and summer hat (H&M looking promising for both), and a new swimsuit - I like this one, in Tropical Orange, from Boden but can't really justify the £59 price tag!

Have a good weekend - we've got our annual street party on Sunday, I hope the sun at least makes an appearance! 

Wedding Anniversary Getaway!

It's taken me a few days to get around to posting about this but I just wanted to share a few photos of our wedding anniversary getaway on the weekend! It was soooo nice to snatch a bit of time back for ourselves (God knows I love my children, I really do, but some time away was long overdue!) and just remember what it was like to do stuff together without all the 'baggage' that goes along with going anywhere or doing anything with small kids.

We ventured to the New Forest, and to The Pig, near Brockenhurst specifically for our getaway, and I couldn't have asked for a nicer, more peaceful backdrop to our celebration. The hotel is basically a lovely, posh country pad with a fabulous restaurant which prides itself on fresh, seasonal and very locally sourced (mostly onsite, or if not certainly within a 25 mile radius) produce for it's ever-changing menu; as well as a handful of lovely, shabby chic bedrooms with heavenly monsoon showers (and if you get a really fancy room with a roll-top bath in your room - note we didn't but hey, maybe next time!).

We were so lucky with the weather - brilliant sunshine both days - and so on arrival we decided to take a stroll around the grounds. I wanted to see the Kitchen Garden where the chef and his team grow and pick all their own veg, etc, and just generally take in all the peace and quiet!

The front of the hotel

The side, including the restaurant conservatory and terrace

Overlooking the Kitchen Garden

The Kitchen Garden (and a view of the "potting shed" where one could get pampering treatments and massages if one desired it!)

How not to pose for a photo!

Who's that cool dude?!

Hello Chickens!

Mec ventured down to see the Pigs but apparently they were quite smelly and totally disinterested in visitors!

This is an awful photo of me, but at least you can see I made an effort for dinner, dressing in my new pretty pink blouse (and you can see my anniversary present, my Bee necklace). And more importantly, you can kind of catch a glimpse of the beautiful garden conservatory which is the restaurant. As the sun went down and it grew dark, it was lovely dining by candle light).

A big swing in the garden - and yes, Mec is flexing his biceps in the photo below (boys eh!)

***

The next morning after a lazy and very delicious breakfast (I'd read that the breakfast was good, it didn't disappoint!), we headed into the New Forest and took a few walks and spotted some ponies just going about their business. We saw a beautiful foal and it's mama too, but they were just too far away to photograph and I certainly didn't want to disturb them. 

A leisurely drink at a local pub, enjoying the view before it was time to head home and rescue my parents who were on childcare duty. 

The lovely Alex Monroe Baby Bee necklace Mec got for as an anniversary - I know I dropped a large hint about it on here so no surprises really, but I definitely wasn't certain and so I was very chuffed to receive such a lovely present. I bought Mec a Bellroy leather wallet which I'd seen on his Pinterest board and which he loved also so smiles all round.

All in all it was a wonderful break and I would definitely recommend The Pig for a indulgent little get away! I only hope next time we don't wait another 7 years before we treat ourselves again! :)

Happy Easter!

Well I don't know about you, but I'm am beyond tired this evening. As we draw close to the end of the Easter Holidays I feel quite impressed at how much we managed to squeeze in. What began as a slow start to the spring break, ended up turning into an action packed week where we celebrated Sam's 2nd birthday, travelled up to the Midlands to visit Thomas Land, visited Grandma Seaside at, well, the seaside, met friends at the nearby Butterfly World, and made numerous trips to the park for ice cream! With Mec being off all week it's been fun to hang out altogether as a family and spend some quality time with the kids. Now it's time to collapse on the sofa with a glass of wine and a much needed easter egg! I hope you've had a lovely Easter too :)

A few photos from the past week - I'm the laziest iPhone photographer around so apologies for the poor quality pics but hey, that's life!

Sam on his birthday, opening his much loved train set and battery operated train!

A quick pit stop in Costa for refuelling!

Exploring Tamworth where we stayed the day before visiting Thomas Land

Exploring the local park land... Kids seem to have a natural ability to hunt down the nearest playground, even if it's somewhere we've never been to before!

Dinnertime!

Tabby got camera shy whilst meeting Mike the Knight!

I'm not sure who had the most fun at Thomas Land, us or the kiddos!

Ice cream, ice cream and more ice cream - the local park did well out of us this week!

A lovely day spent with a friend at nearby Butterfly World

An outing to the local garden centre on the hunt for sunflower seeds, and the planting of this year's sunflowers. Tabby was really good at growing them last year and it's lovely to see her out in the garden with her little watering can!

Totally bad photo but I had to include it as if you're going to eat an easter egg, Sam knows how it's done!

Happy Easter one and all! x

Happy Mother's Day

Happy Mother's Day to all you lovely mums out there! I've been enjoying tea & pastries in bed this morning and reading magazines (one of my fav me things to do, uninterrupted reading time!). I hope you've been chilling out doing your favourite thing too x

ps - homemade cards are the best, you can't beat a bit of glitter and sparkly paper! :)

pps - happy first mother's day to my best friend Amy, who had her gorgeous baby, Max, in January! 

Picnic Time!

Wow, what amazing weather we had on the weekend, and for March too, not bad! As life has been getting sunnier, I've started hitting the park with the kids for impromptu picnics and it feels so good - since having kids just hanging out in the park with them in the sunshine is one of my favourite things to do. It's easy, free and the kids are always happy and exhausted after enjoying the freedom of having a good run around. On friday we grabbed a little lunchbox each from our local supermarket and went to the playground across from Tabby's nursery for a little spring picnic... these couple of shots of Sam kill me, he insisted on carrying his own lunch all the way from the shop to the park, but it was a bit heavy so he kept having to stop and regroup everything! It was too cute! (I know, the dummy ain't good, we're trying to cut back but some days he's just too tired and grumpy to give it up!)

(This is just another photo from the weekend which I'm so glad I managed to capture! It doesn't happen often, but there's definitely love between these two!)

I hope you had a good weekend too :)

The Industrial Look

How great is this industrial looking Paolo 6 ceiling light! It would look amazing in an entrance hall or kitchen, and I bet you'll never guess where it's from? BHS of all places, and whilst I'm not saying its cheap, I think it looks much more expensive that it's £150 price tag! 

And there's more... these industrial style Juno Diner pendent lights from BHS also are fab and would be perfect for a kitchen/dining area. I love the monochrome flex cable too, it's a nice touch. Again, at £45 each, I'd say they're good value. Nice work BHS!

And whilst it wasn't a bold new light fitting, we got ourselves a bit of industrial kitchen design on the weekend (something I've wanted for a while.. I know, there are bigger things in life, but hey, I like toast!) which was a Dualit toaster. We had a bit of an accident with our old toaster when a certain small person in our lives had hidden a Thomas the Tank Engine DVD in the toaster and I didn't notice until it was too late! So now we have this beauty on our worktop and let's just say now if anyone puts a dvd in this one I'll not be happy!!

Anyone for tea & toast?! :)