Footprints In The Sand

Picture heavy post coming up I'm afraid.  After such a brilliant weekend away work has been a bummer this week.  One thing after another keeps going wrong and somehow it all ends up being my responsibility! But enough about work.....I've been going through the pics of my weekend away and struggled to pick a few of the three hundred  I took to show you.

I love being at home with my family but its nice to get away occasionally to just be me.  Sometimes being a mum you feel like you lose yourself a bit and it was nice to spend some time rediscovering who I am. Two good nights sleep also helped a lot lol.  I hope you like the pics...

The sea and sky were so blue and the beach was so peaceful.  I'm looking forward to spending plenty more time on the beach this summer.

Stamp of Approval?

Notice anything different lol....  I've had an itch to do something more unique with my blog layout but with limited computer skills I could never have done it on my own.  Vicki has been lovely enough to take a couple of hours and totally re-design my blog for me.  What do you think?

I'll leave you with a pic of us in Portballintrae last weekend.  A big THANK YOU Vicki for your help x

We're Only Happy When We're Shopping

I have recently become addicted to ASOS and just had to have this dress when I saw it.  I was lucky enough that my lovely husband treated me to it:) I would usually go for greys and blacks as you will see from my photos so I wanted to get something colourful for a change.  I haven't worn it yet, I'm saving it for my bff Vicki's birthday, and I was wondering if anyone had suggestions of how I could style it? 

 I also got this gorgeous satchel, which I'm ashamed to say Vicki has on her birthday wish list but I fell in love with it too!  I have promised if no one buys it for her she can borrow it whenever she likes.

Vicki also bought me the Barry M crackle effect nail varnish everyone has been going mad for and its brilliant. 

We are just back from a girly weekend up at the coast filled with sun, sand, photos, food and plenty of wine.  Look out for lots of scenic shots and a few more attempts at posing for outfit shots lol

Hope everyone else had a great weekend.

To Felt or Not To Felt

I mentioned in my last post I was at a feltmaking class on Saturday and I have a few pictures to share with you.  This was only my second class and I'm definitely becoming addicted!  Its amazing how you can start with a few balls of wool and make almost anything from flowers to vessels, scarfs to slippers and even clothes (when you have way more experience than I do).  We made flowers this time and here's how it turned out.

The cookie and a cuppa tea were of course essential to a good session of feltmaking:) The wool you use is very fine and basically you pull out thin strands and lay them in any pattern you like depending on what you're making.  As we were making flowers I laid mine out in the shape of a lilly.

Once the strands of wool are laid out you soak them in soapy water and then fold bubblewrap over it and rub it.  This helps bind the fibres together and felt them.  You then spend an aching 5 minutes rolling your felt to shrink it to size and fully bind it. Its a great work out for your arms lol.

And here is the finished product............

I also made this pink flower too

I can't wait to see what we make next month and I'd recommend trying felting to anyone.  I'd love to hear what everyone else's hobbies are.  How do you like to spend your free time?

The Weekends are the Best

This post was supposed to go up yesterday but I fell asleep with Aimee putting her to bed....at 8 o'clock! It was the best night's sleep we've had in weeks and we slept in till 9 this morn, a record for us. 

Our weekend has been lovely so far.  The three of us went to my sister's on fri night for a big meet up with all our friends.  It was a lovely relaxed night with a few drinks and plenty of craic.  The great thing about being at Debbie's house is being able to bring Aimee and put her to bed when she's tired.  I'm the first in my group to have a child and they all dote on her. She has the most fun on these kind of nights and gets all the attention and I think my friends enjoy seeing her more than me lol 

Yesterday morning was spent at a feltmaking class with Vicki who was lovely enough to take some outfit shots for me.  I really need to learn how to use my camera properly. I'll show everyone some photos of what I made in my next post but for now here are a few shots from down beside the river lagan.  We actually had some sun yesterday so I went for a lovely spring/summer dress I bought last year and teamed it with leggings and my dependable brogues.

Dress:Mado, Cardigan:Mado, Leggings:Dunnes, Brogues:River Island, Coat:Next

The rest of the day was spent in the park and in the garden and then back to my sister's for dinner (thanks debbie).  Sunday has been a lovely lazy day in so far.  Hope everyone else has had a good weekend.

Bookworm

Things have been quiet this week as Aimee still hasn't recovered from the chickenpox.  I've had about eight houre sleep in the past two nights and I've been glad of a day in the house with my feet up.  I love to read and after Aimee was born it was one thing I just never seemed to have time for anymore.  I'm glad to say now she is three there is plenty of time to indulge in a good book.

I have a bit of a thing for vampire stories (the Jaz Parks series and the House of Night series are the best).  It's amazing how each book I read portrays vampires in such different ways.  I am also slightly in love with New York.  I haven't been yet but I've read and dreamed about it for years.  I am hoping to go for my 30th on a serious girls holiday:)  I tend to buy a book just because the story is based in New York and so far the best is I Heart New York.  Its about a woman who moves to New York and ends up starting a blog.  You should give it a read.

While I love my collection of books I was converted to the kindle at Christmas.  Up to 3500 books at the tips of my fingers if I wanted!  Its so easy to download books and in most cases cheaper.  The kindle is small enough to fit easily into my bag and when you go on holiday it saves a load of space in the suitcase.  For anyone considering it I would recommend this model. You can literally be lying on a beach in spain and download a book in 60 seconds.

The plant was an early mothers day pressie from Aimee.

I'm Dreaming of a White Easter?

It snowed last nite....in March!  So much for looking forward to spring.  I decided to ignore the fact it was cold and wear a dress and tights out shopping anyway.  I always feel prettier in a dress, more feminine. It turned out to be a very successful day. Along with a Purple dress from Dorothy Perkins (which I got for only £15 in the sale) I also bought a gorgeous pair of grey court shoes in Primark.  They were price marked at £12 but scanned at £6:)  Those sorts of surprise bargins are the best.  I also managed to get a long, black cardigan which I have been looking for for ages. My sister has convinced me to go shopping with her again tomorrow, just incase I missed something lol

Aimee wanted to get her picture taken too, do you think we look alike?

Dress:Next, Cardigan:Primark, Belt:Primark, Boots:gift from my brother,Necklace:belonged to my Great Grandmother

Tuesday Nights

I look forward to a tuesday night every week.  I go round to my best friend vicki's house and we spend the night watching vampire diaries/glee/america's next top model and munching on goodies.  We usually end up having a sneaky peak on ASOS and looking through a few of our favourite blogs as well.

Vicki was the one who encouraged me to start my blog and last night she was kind enough to take a few outfit shots for me.  I'll have to try and make more time to do this at the weekends but it will be great when it starts brightening up at night and I can get some shots outside.

                                            

I have to say I felt a bit silly and awkward posing for these photos but practice makes perfect I guess.



 Dress:gift from a friend down under, Cardigan:Bellisimo, Brogues:River Island

A Perfect Day In

Aimee sprouted chickenpox this week so we have been forced to stay in the house.  She has suffered from eczema from birth so add chickenpox to the mix and you have one very itchy and unhappy girl. We decided to spend the afternoon baking fairy cakes and attempting to make our own easter egg to take our minds off things.  Here's how it went...

Aimee decided we had to have pink bun cases although she did add three blue ones in for daddy so he wouldn't feel left out.

When I say we made buns I pretty much just took the photos and Aimee did the rest.  She is nearly four now and its scary how much she can do on her own.  Where has my baby gone?!  Of course she had to test the mix a few dozen times just to make sure it was right so we didn't end up with the 16 buns we were supposed to.

I have to say, and of course I'm not being biased, my daughter is gifted in the kitchen.  The buns were delicious and we had a ball decorating them (I got to help with this bit).  Our easter egg is still in the mould at the moment so we'll have to wait and see how it turns out.

On a side note for other mums out there I was recommended a great cream that works for both chickenpox and eczema to relieve itching, Eurax.  It really helped and you can get it in most chemists.

A Day in the Park

Surprisingly enough we had some sunshine this weekend so we made the most of it by going to Lurgan Park.  Its not far away from me and its so beautiful and peaceful to walk round.

My dog Pepper decided she wanted to be in this picture.  She loves being out but she is 9 this year so she gets tired a lot faster than she used to.  I was building up to taking some photos of myself (something I usually avoid) but just after I took this the heavens opened and we got soaked!  Needless to say I looked like I'd been dragged through a hedge backwards by the time the rain stopped but I did get this nice picture after I managed to dry my camera off

I love getting out walking and even jogging when I actually get round to it, but my daughter Aimee thought the play park was the best bit of the day.  She would have stayed all day if I'd let her:)