Honeymooning

When trying to decide on what to put on our wedding list, we hit upon the not-so-new idea of actually just asking for donations for our honeymoon rather than presents for the house (after all, who really needs three toasters and a bread maker?). Our wonderful guests gave generously, and we went from having no honeymoon at all, to two nights in Brighton. Hurrah!


We picked our little b&b from a list on the internet, purely on the basis of it's name - Snooze - since I am pretty renowned for curling up like a cat at any available opportunity for a little nap. When we clicked through to the gallery, we knew instantly it was exactly our sort of place - retro furnishings combined with a laid back attitude. We booked it immediately and jumped in the car the next morning, stopping only to shower The Boy with kisses and deposit him with his wonderful Nanny and Gampy.

We whiled away our two days shopping in the endless flea markets and around the lanes, eating in the best cafes and restaurants, wandering along the beach and generally having a lovely relaxing time. Points to note were finding the most amazing fabrics and buttons, having possibly the best meal of my life (excluding the ones my Mum cooks, obviously) at Jamies Italian (yes, THE Jamie, of Oliver fame) and eating the most amazing cooked breakfast in the retro-designed dining room at our b&b. Nom, nom, nom.

Coming Next: My amazing haul of flea market finds, fabric buys, things-for-the-walls and homewares galore.

Married

We had the beautiful weather, we had the wonderful guests, we had the retro suit and the vintage-style dress. The day passed in a blur of friends, family, laughter and happy tears, and it was everything we could have hoped for. Next stop.... honeymoon in Brighton!

Craft Space

Although we moved into our little flat over six months ago, we've still got plenty of decorating and sprucing and organizing and beautifying to do. When we first arrived, my crafty area was a designated corner of the lounge, but when The Boy went from wobbling across the lounge to scaling chairs and sofas, I decided that it might be time for a little change.


And so, the Nearly-Husband kindly put up some shelves in our extra-large hallway, and I turned this into my little creative space. For a while, things were shoved in boxes, and slowly, piles of stuff began to appear on my desk (which will hopefully be replaced with some sort of retro table very soon!) Earlier this week, I decided that the piles of stuff were simply out of control, and something had to be done.

The floral bag on the chair (a Cath Kidston freebie, courtesy of Easy Living magazine!) was actually full of wool, which is why the pink basket looks much fuller in the 'after' picture. A place for everything, and everything in it's place!

It was a fairly quick project, as most of the pictures had been put up, the notice board had been made (that's another post entirely!), and the storage boxes were simply waiting to be filled. It was just a case of putting things in their final homes. And so, without further ado, I present.... my Creative Space. In an ideal world, it's an entire spare room, and the shelves run the length of the walls. But for now, it's a corner in an oversize hall - they do say the best things come in small packages...

Little Sketches

I've been finding my thoughts turning to all of the activities I'd like to be doing during this glorious weather (bicycle rides, park visits, picnics and suchlike), rather than the activities I actually have to do (work, food shopping, wedding details and household chores, bah), and I've been doodling some more in my lovely little Waitrose notebook.


Obviously, just being sketches, these are rather unimpressive, also not helped by the fact that they have been done on lined paper. I'm thinking they might make lovely little postcards... all coloured in with acrylic paint and framed with little retro-design borders. Minus the lines, naturally!

In other news, I found what can only be the best cushion for our house...

We are a real tea-drinking-cuppa-loving household, and even The Boy, aged twenty-months, loves a good old brew (although I have it so strong it looks like tar, while he has it almost all milk with no extra sugar...). The cushion looks marvelously at home on my sofa, which I've decided from looking at this photo, needs a ruddy good straightening up!

Life on the Balcony....and the Windowsill

The balcony is looking ever so lovely these days, and dare I say, rather, well, promising. The runner beans have grown to absolute epic proportions (well, they probably haven't, but in comparison to the size of the balcony, they're pretty big), and the tomatoes have started to flower as well. There are roots and shoots and flowers and blooms, and the whole space is looking just how I pictured it. It's not quite Alys Fowler's Victorian terrace, but I like to think it's the balcony equivalent! I absolutely can't wait for the fruits to start arriving, tomatoes and courgettes, spinach and lettuces, and of course many many runner beans....

Meanwhile, the kitchen windowsill is a hive of activity as well - the basil, oregano and thyme and positively thriving, and I like nothing better than the delicious herb-y smells wafting in on the breeze while I'm making dinner or washing up. Home made pesto, here we come!

The First Crop

This is something of a delayed post, I actually took the photographs (and did the eating, yum!) a few weeks ago, but due to wedding plans galore I haven't found the time to write anything yet!

My experiments in growing have been going surprisingly well, particularly as I've only got a small balcony and a couple of wide window sills - and a few weeks ago there was an especially happy moment. My first crop!

The salad leaves were looking pretty tasty, and I decided that due to space, I would pick them all and then replant lettuces instead of sowing simple leaves. Although it looked a rather small amount while in the pot, there was an absolute abundance once picked, and they were very tasty in a sandwich with some extra mature cheese! Yum!

Wedding Bells

I haven't posted about this yet, as I didn't want to jinx anything (we've already had to postpone twice due to lack of funds...), but on the 3rd of July I will be happily going from a Miss to a Missus! Yes folks, in just five weeks and three days, we will be spending the morning at Portsmouth Registry Office, and the afternoon at a lovely country pub having a very relaxed afternoon tea.

The whole affair is being done very much on a (quite tiny) budget, but I've learned along the way that low cost doesn't necessarily mean low class - we've gone for a mismatched, vintage style, hippy-ish type wedding, with a wedding dress from eBay, a blue cord suit from Paul Smith, silk flowers and a vintage beetle as the wedding car. Instead of a veil, I'm having a wreath of flowers and two vintage style pearl hair clips which were a gift from my Mum, and instead of a sit down dinner (no table plan, yippeeee!) we're having an afternoon tea style buffet with finger sandwiches, scones, china and cake stands. I'm utterly determined that the whole day is going to be relaxed, fun and a pleasure, instead of one of those weddings you see on the television where the bride needs a valium before she has even finished the invitations.

I was looking through all the goodies I've gathered so far, from eBay and little local shops, and decided to take a few pictures just to show you the progress. I really, really love everything I've managed to find - I'd love to hear what you all think!

The invitations were little notelets with teacups and saucers printed on them, with the wording printed from the computer slipped inside - I decided not to glue them down so people could reuse them as they pleased, very eco-friendly!
There will be bunting and floral garlands decorating the interior of the reception venue, and the centre-pieces will be made from the tea lanterns, jam jars filled with silk flowers and tea lights. I also snapped up some napkins from Paperchase, which have the word 'love' printed on them in a vintage style typeface, and some Cath Kidston lovelies are on their way.

The bridesmaids dresses were from Debenhams, and were on sale for £28 - I almost couldn't believe it, they were the right colour, the right length and even had a beautiful crochet panel around the neckline. All the flowers, from those to go on the tables to my bouquet, are from the Boarhunt Silk Flower Mill, which specialises in the most realistic looking silk flowers I have ever, ever seen. So much better for the environment, and cost effective as well - what more can you ask for? My dress (not shown, for obvious reasons!) was £200 from eBay, from a lovely girl who had never worn it (she found a better one and ended up with two dresses!), and is just perfect - to accompany it are a gorgeous pair of delicate lace pumps from New Look, no less, which cost a grand total of..... £6. They were £12 originally, but due to a mark on them (which I can't even really see), I got them for half price! I'm so, so pleased with everything we've managed to get so far - I only hope we manage to get the same kind of fabulous deals for our honeymoon, wherever that may be!