A Little Mother's Day Gift Guide

It's Mother's Day this weekend of course and I for one am looking forward to breakfast in bed, preferably with tea, pain au chocolat, a magazine, and if I'm very lucky hopefully a couple of homemade cards from the kids! I'm always torn on Mother's Day between wanting to spend the day as a family, enjoying quality time together and feeling thankful for being a mum to two lovely little kiddos (assuming that is that everyone is on their best behaviour of course, no nail varnish is being painted on the newly painted walls - yes that happened this week - and we're not arguing about how it's not nice to call mummy a meanie every 2 minutes when things don't go their way!) and wanting a whole day off, all to myself, without the kids, which might sound a little harsh but would be oh so lovely!

At 5 and almost 3, my two are still a bit young to co-ordinate any sort of present buying themselves, so it kind of falls on my husband's shoulders to arrange a gift for me, if that's what's happening this year... As a I said, breakfast in bed, flowers and cards (homemade or otherwise) are always a delight on Mother's Day but sometimes a treat in the form of a present is nice too of course!

So here's my sort of gift guide to Mother's Day this year...

1. A classic stripe tee is perfect for day to day wear with the kids, and this tee from Chinti & Parker has a fun twist which I love.
2. A bit budget-busting, but if you're on the look out for something extra special, this gold necklace from MayaBrenner.com is perfect. I'd have T and S obviously for Tabitha and Sam, but it would also be nice with just your own initial too.
3. I've been eyeing up these triangle earrings by Tom Pigeon for ages now, and would be great for adding a little extra something to an everyday outfit of jumper and jeans. They come in lots of colours, but these pale grey ones are just so pretty.
4. You can't go wrong with a leather pouch, for cards and small change, or for carrying around make up bits, etc, and this Mog Leather Zip Pouch from Donna Wilson is just the right side of quirky!
5. I don't know about you but I generally seem to carry around about 4 different lip balms at any one time, and yet I still think I could find room in my life for this one - Mojito Lip Balm from Malin + Goetz sounds too good to pass up!
6. I recently bought myself this little cat enamel brooch on a bit of an impulse but as soon as I saw it I couldn't resist. It's cute right?! (And no this post is not sponsored by Donna Wilson, ha ha!)

I hope you all have a lovely Mother's Day, whether with your kids, your own mum, or whatever you do... Enjoy!

x

Ceramic Dishes From J Crew

How delightful are these small, ceramic dishes from J Crew! They had a similar design dish in around Christmas time which I was considering buying for my sister-in-law as a christmas present, but dithered too long and they sold out. But I'm glad to see they're back, and I'm definitely going to get one this time - useful and pretty, sometimes there's just no reason not to. It'll be the perfect place to keep rings, earrings, etc which I currently leave lying around loose in the bathroom, bedroom, etc. I just need to decide on which design - I think either the blue chevron or the mint stripe are my favs!

Ceramic Dish, J Crew, £19.50

Craft Book

The seasons are definitely turning, there's a chill in the air this morning that I've not really noticed yet. Autumn's been flying by this year, and there was definitely christmas music playing when I was in M&S on the weekend! Yikes! Mind you, I do love the festive season so once all the birthdays are been and gone in our house (November's a busy time!) I'm happy to look ahead to December and start thinking about christmas shopping.  I try to take time to think about what to buy for people - make a list and then go looking online & out and about for what I want to buy, rather than hot foot it to the shops in a buying frenzy. And, as always, I think I'd like to get crafty this year but it doesn't always happen. For my birthday I got this fab crafty DIY book so I'd love to be able to give some homemade presents this year, fingers crossed I manage it this year!

It's a lovely book by Ana Alicia, who runs her own jewellery & accessories business. I can't wait to give these projects a go, I particularly like the cork pin boards, which would also make good coasters if made with smaller cork mats. I'd definitely recommend this book for your christmas list! x

Heart Ring

I've had my heart set on a beautiful little ring from Brooklyn-based shop Catbird for ages and today was my lucky day! My folks have just returned from a two-week trip to NYC to see my brother and his wife, and my very cute little niece Marni, and were kind enough to bring me back this pretty little gold Heart ring. It's so delicate and sweet... a perfect accessory to any summer outfit! I wish I'd been able to actually visit the shop with them, they said it was full of lots of little treasures and lovely things.. Oh well, one day perhaps. In the meantime, thanks M&D! xx