LIFE SNIPPET

We spent half term down in Crackington Haven, which is a beautiful little Cornish village situated on the North Coast. We've been visiting since Dexy was three, and Flo was two and we love going back every year if possible.

This year we holidayed with our friends and their three boys so we had a house full, which was fab (although we did drink quite a lot of margaritas.... hmmm, i wonder why!)

Here are some iPhone pics of our stay because yep, I went and left my SD card at home so didn't get my SLR out once. We had beautiful weather every day except one and there wwas rock pooling, sand castle building and fish & chip eating a plenty. Exactly how a Cornish holiday should be, right?

I'll be back tomorrow with a salad recipe for #getyoursaladon, a little blog fun I'm having with Lucy and talk about being very chuffed at being nominated again for this years MADs and general other chit chat about blog re-design ideas.

See you then!

PRE-SCHOOL?

I can not believe I just typed that title.

Pre-School? For who? Not India who was just born last week? Not my little baby - the last little person I will be filling my days playing / battling / shopping / picnicking / giggling with?

Yes, India.

India + Pre-school = NOT READY TO DEAL WITH THIS STUFF YET!

It has totally crept up on me, this Pre-school lark and to be honest, I know that I have been putting off thinking about it.  I know, I know - I felt exactly the same way with Dexter & Florence, but it still felt as if someone had punched me in the face when I came to realise that before long, it would happen. I was talking to some fellow mums in the playground yesterday, who have their similar aged kiddos attending already, and at first I actually felt all brave and confident having this very important conversation. But then, it kind of all went wrong and I just gave up.
It was a lot like this actually...

Them: Lia, have you decided on a pre-school yet?
Me: No

Them: Well, are you looking around?
Me: No

Them: When is India 3?
Me: April

Them: Errr, when are you going to get her name down?
Me: What's that over there? *points and runs*

I'm just NOT ready.
Yet.
Well, I don't think I am anyway?

Maybe it was a sign that I bumped into one of the teachers from Dex & Flo's pre-school this morning? She's invited us up for a 'play' on Monday morning to see if India likes it...

Not my baby, not yet...

07.09.13 | HELLO THERE!

image here : via here

Well, look how quickly 2 weeks turned into a whole month! I didn't mean to be away for quite so long, but actually it was what I needed. It was such a lovely summer wasn't it? The weather was amazing, and i'm glad we made the most of it. We didn't go away for any length of time, but we visited friends, we took day trips, we caught up with family and we basically chilled OUT.

The kids we're chuffed to almost complete their summer bucket list, and the pace of life slowed right down - such a harsh contrast to this week. Autumn is on it's way for sure and normally I am ready for it (I love it) but this year, I kind of want Summer to hang around a little longer. 

I've been spending less time in the kitchen as we've been BBQing lots and eating out a fair bit so i'm looking forward of getting back in there! I've a few ideas lined up for stuff i'd like to try and a few new recipe books on my wish list ;)

School's back and with it comes a new school run (four miles a day, two of them up very steep hills, ouch), new school clubs (Dex signed himself up for ukulele lessons, how very bleubird of him!) so we need to figure out a new routine for ourselves as at this rate after spellings, readings, walks home, tea-time is looking closer to midnight. We'll get there in the end, i'm just really tired after the first week back and am looking forward to relaxing this weekend with friends (another BBQ!) and having some well needed lie-ins.

Bye Bye Summer, you were most excellent! Dude.

P.S - I guest posted on Abi's You've Got The Love series this week, so if you want a good laugh go take a look at my wedding hair. It's a beaut.

24.07.13 | BALMY SUMMER NIGHTS

Ahhh man, I love summer. 

I love being able to have every window & door wide open. I love how the kids are always smelling of suncream or are sticky sweet from ice-creams. I love how almost every meal is either a BBQ or a picnic. I love taking long walks around our favourite park, after dinner when it's slightly cooler and everyone is chilled out. 

Yep, i flippin' love this summer - it was totally worth the wait!

22.07.13 | LATELY

Summer time & the living is easy - well slower anyway!

Parks, picnics, beaches and ice lollies are pretty much all we plan on doing whilst this heat is here, which is fine by us!

oh, and we finished a little DIY of our stair case - take a peek (grainy iphone pic) ...

10.07.13

I haven't treated myself to a new cookbook for what feels like forever and I seem to be spending lots of time on line looking at food websites pondering what to make - which is fine (I'm not about to get upset about the Internet as a blogger now am I!) but when it comes to food, i want a book book. Don't get me wrong, I'm not a total luddite when it comes to books; I've taken the digital leap from paperback to ebook for novels in my stride (albeit a very long time after the rest of the planet) but when it comes to my cookbooks I am still very old fashioned. I am a happy girl (girl? 33? debatable!) when I'm flipping back & fourth between pages a hundred times a second comparing ingredients. I don't mind if the pages are scraped or marked or torn. I enjoy seeing a recipe splattered with the ingredients and scribbled with my incoherent notes all over them. For those reasons, i want these books (right now) in all their paper page turning glory.

1. Alice's Cook Book - Alice Hart

2. Take One Pot - Georgina Fuggle

3. Pitt Cue Co. - The Cookbook

Oh & no, this isn't a sponsored post, but y'know if anyone wants to send me them feel free ;) (that's how that works, right?!)

04.07.13 | OUR BIG NIGHT IN (THE GARDEN)

As you may have gathered, i missed out on Glasto this year (really, like I haven't bleated on about that enough) so when i got an email from the peeps at Money Supermarket asking if I'd like to take part in this competition I jumped at the chance to have our own mini festival at home! I was given £50 to get creative and figure out the best way to have an awesome night without blowing the bank or leaving the house, so we did just that.

Flo & I started thinking firstly about ways to make the garden look pretty (naturally!) We stocked up on washi tape, tea lights and lanterns and got cracking. We decorated jam-jars to make cutlery holders (thanks for the idea Alexis!) and make pretty lanterns to hold candles. We decorated some old milk bottles to make vases which we filled with purple flowers before scattering them around the garden.

We invited some friends over to join us for some good food fresh off the BBQ and enjoy some summer drinks with us whilst we listened to Glasto on the radio. I painted the kids faces and we played games - all under a bright blue sky. When the sun started to set and the air turned cooler we got into our jammies and toasted muffins on the chimnea.

It was the perfect Sunday day and night in :)

Want to have a festival in your garden? Easy:

Decorations (washi tape, paper lanterns, tea lights, flowers) £15.00
Food and drink (chicken, veggie bangers, rolls, salad ingredients, slaw ingredients, stubby beers, strawberry cider, juices, sparking water, ice cream) £35.00

05.06.13 | A LITTLE TASTE OF SUMMER

Finally, right?! 

Yes, the sun did indeed shine. I've got to hand it to Mother Nature as this time around, her timing was fantastic. Before we knew it we were sat on a beach, ice-creams in hand watching the birds fly & the waves lap.

Lazy days were filled with sunny walks, we lazed around making daisy caterpillars, we cooked bangers in the garden & the children played croquet (of sorts) on the lawn - how very civilised! 

C and I even scheduled in a couple of evenings out and one night we ate at Efes which is a tiny Turkish family run restaurant in the middle of Worthing. If you are ever that way, you should make a visit because the food is seriously good. Efes is a real hidden gem and I can't wait to go back later in the summer (I'm now also desperate to try & re-create some Turkish recipes at home!) The following night we grabbed a take-away and went to watch the sun set on the beach - bliss.

It was a lovely couple of days away, isn't it amazing what a little sunshine can do?

23.05.13 | BATH FASHION MUSEUM

Thanks to being the proud owner of a National Art Pass I get to go to lots of lovely places, this week being no exception as I met up with the lovely Fritha and Bonnie to take a visit to The Fashion Museum here in Bath.

I was especially excited about getting to see the current Dress of The Year (which is amazing!) but really the whole collection is beautiful &  I found learning how costume has evolved over time very interesting, especially when you spot themes popping up time and time again.
Reading about how certain designs came about or what inspired a fashion trend was thought-provoking to say the least - it even forced us to question our '90's fashion choices which were, erm... 'interesting' (consider this: my main fashion influence until about 1995 was Blossom!)

Looking at the Victorian dresses I was a bit shocked by how small the corsets were (ouch!) and equally amazed by how heavy the dresses were. Yes, you read that right we dressed up like the adults we are but sadly (totally on purpose) I didn't get any pics of me doing that ;) I did however take a few snaps of some of my favourite pieces.

02.05.13 | THIS AMAZING AGE

India is at that amazing age where her little (read massive) personality is starting to blossom. Her fingers are ever pointing, her eyes ever inquisitive, her excitement and energy knows no bounds and she is just desperate to play, play, play. 

I'm lucky enough to be able to be at home with her full time and watch her potter about, her imagination taking her to wherever she decides to land. 

At the moment her big thing is playing mummies and homes. We brought her a little cooker set from Djeco for her 2nd birthday, filled it with lots of fabric play food and off she went making meals for anyone who sat down at her table (wonder where she gets that from?!). She is in her element playing 'being mummy' where she pushes around a baby in her pram sipping at her juice cup or an old take-out cup i've left lying around! She bumbles about the garden with my pegs pretending to hang out the washing and she sweeps the decking down with our gigantic sweeping brush. I wish our garden was big enough to accommodate one of these amazing wendy houses (the crooked cottage is super cute) because India would go bonkers for it.

29.01.13 | LATELY

We took a trip to @bristol. Awesome as always.