The Sun is Shining

Necklace - Cos, Sunglasses - Cutler & Gross

What a glorious day! It feels more like summer than spring so noah and I spent the whole afternoon outside.

I pottered in the garden tidying the flowerbeds, made interesting tree decorations (see below), and caught up on some reading on my kindle, while he played with his toys in the pram.

Here's to more gorgeous sunny days like today.

Quinny Pram and Jaques the Peacock from Lamaze

My fav Cath Kidston Cowboy print mug and Kindle Case from Joules

Beautiful Tulips that need weeding!

Interesting twig tree decoration with Kirstie Allsopp ribbon from Hobbycraft

Lounging On The Farm

{1st August}

On Friday last week I finally made it to Lounge On The Farm for the first time.  LOTF is a local festival in Canterbury that was set up on a farm about 5 miles down the road from my parents house to showcase local bands, local food sellers, local comedians etc.  I have been thinking for years how I would like to go, but the dates never seemed to work out.

I went this year with Bean and we had such a brilliant day.  I bought my day ticket last minute on the Monday and it was £51 online, and was then waiting for me to collect at the gate.  The weekend ticket includes 3 days and camping and is only about £100 if you buy it early enough.  Definitely something I will be doing for next year.

Favourite things about LOTF were: Coco and the Butterfields - definitely check them out, The burrito stand for lunch - yummy, Free bright orange sunglasses with a pint of Oranjeboom, and spending the day sitting out on the grass chilling and chatting with bean.

I love the fact that when people are at festivals they wear the most bizarre outfits, but it's all part of the fun of it.  As it was such a hot day I brave shorts and wore my denim shorts WITH NO LEGGINGS!  I don't ever do this but in the morning I had a 'who cares what other people think' moment and donned my shorts and rocked up at LOTF with my legs out!

TOP TIP: prepare yourself for the day when heading out to a festival.

• take a bag that isn't too big so that it doesn't weigh you down - however this means you need to be economical about what you take.
• wear comfy shoes - think about the weather, if you do wear sandals be prepared for them to get ruined if it rains
• prepare for sun - take a small SPF lotion and a hat
• prepare for rain - take a wheelie bin liner that you can make into a poncho. You can then use this to sit on or put rubbish in at the end of the day
• take a scarf or pashmina - you can tie this to the strap of your bag so it doesn't take up any room. It will provide warmth for when it gets cold later or you can use it to sit on instead of a rug.
• Take a phone/camera.
• Take cash as machines will charge a bomb and a lot of stalls won't take cards.

Whitstable Wonders

Outside Sundae Sundae, Harbour Street

{31st July 2013}

This week Prince Charles and The Duchess of Cornwall visited Whitstable.  Why am I never about to see the royals visiting Kent! Grrr!  The Queen was in my home town of Canterbury a few months back and I missed her as well.

Charles and Camilla were in Whitstable celebrating the start of the Oyster Festival this week and it was fun to see Prince Charles in the Metro earlier holding up a tiny t-shirt for Prince George with 'Whitstable Oyster Festival' written on the front! How cute!

I popped over to Whitstable on Friday last week when I had a day of holiday and spend the day with Bean wandering around the shops, eating ice cream and sitting on the quay.

We had lovely ice cream from Sundae Sundae, tried on some cute dresses in the The Whiting Post, and spend some time looking in Flory & Black.

I know I live in Brighton and it is cool, but nothing every seems quite a quaint and pretty as Whitstable.  I love the beach, the fish market, the yacht club, the cute shops, and bumping into people you know.

Maybe one day we will be lucky enough to live back over in Kent with Whitstable as my local seaside town again.

Inside Sundae

Beautiful clothes in The Whiting Post, Harbour Street

Cute display in Flory & Black, Harbour Street

Spontaneous Sunday

{21st July 2013}

Did you all have lovely weekends?  

I hope you managed to get out an enjoy the sunshine as much as we did.  Since starting my new job I now work 9-5.30 Monday to Friday.  In my last job I works 9-5.30 and 11.00-7.30 the next, working every other Saturday.  It puts you in such a funny position working disjointed hours.  I never felt settled and rarely had time for going out and never wanted to see anyone because I never felt like I really had time to myself.  I now feel I can be a little more spontaneous and use up the time fully.

This weekend we had nothing planned, which is nice, but also a little disconcerting as you don't want it to get to Monday and look back and think you haven't done anything. 

Sunday morning we woke up with no plans and wanting to be spontaneous.  We drove over to East Preston to visit G's parents who were house sitting for a friend.  The house is right by the most secluded beach.  The beach runs at the back of a private estate, and as such has no parking for those not living on the estate, making it tricky to get to.  We were able to walk through the estate, down some private roads and paths and find this gorgeous pebbly beach.

There were other people about but you definitely wouldn't call it busy - nothing like Brighton Beach would have been today!  We set up our deck chairs, watched the tide go out, had some ice cream, and G's mum and I went for a swim (actually quite warm!!).

FACT: Magnum Caramel is super yummy!!!

We returned home about 5.30 just in time to order a chinese, have some wine, and watch some Hannibal (the Sky Living 2013 series).

Hope you all have a brilliant Monday.

{Hat - H&M, Glasses - Culter & Gross, Necklace - Dorothy Perkins}

What's making me smile...

Pink Lilies - A nice Friday surprise from my Hubby

{15th July}

It's always nice to look back on what has made me smile this last week.  Sometimes I feel a bit down, not for any reason, I just feel a bit sad.  I think I have realised it is when I get bored and don't have anything fun to do.

That can't be said for this weekend just gone! I didn't even have time to breath but it made for a really brilliant weekend.  

On Friday we had a spontaneous evening at my friend Gabs house, playing on the karaoke, drinking much wine, and a midnight swim in her pool!

On Saturday we had planned to travel back to my parents house in Canterbury to rendezvous with my cousins and my maid of honour.  We had a lovely BBQ, played some croquet, dipped our toes in the paddling pool, and then spent the evening watching our wedding video that had finally arrived in the post.

On Sunday morning we woke up early so that G and my cousin could go go-karting.  G has really got into it recently and I really enjoying going along to watch, especially as the track on Sunday was outside - so I was able to sit in the sun!

Sunday afternoon started at about 12 with a call from our friend asking if we wanted complimentary tickets to Goodwood Festival of Speed for the rest of the afternoon! Um...yes!!!!  It was so brilliant, we had such a good afternoon.  The weather was glorious and I think the two highlights of the day were 1. meeting Bruno Senna (such a major crush on him!) and 2. Watching the Red Arrows aerial display at the end of the day.

There is nothing worse than being tired on a Monday morning, but there is also nothing better than knowing you couldn't possible have crammed anything else into your weekend.

New Life - Baby Olivia Chloe was born 1 month ago
We are so pleased to welcome our new 2nd cousin into the family.

The boys were ready for action in all their kit!

Yes! It's weather for a 99.

O.M.G What a hottie!

Me and one of my greatest loves - A Caterham 7

Desperately wish this was clearer - the Red Arrows drawing a heart in the sky