Life Update

We've been lucky enough to share quite a few dinners with friends and family recently. Some of them are people we see almost every week at church and yet never really catch up with, and we've really been appreciating the time to spend together. Today we had friends over and even managed to get out after lunch for a walk in the sunshine and a long chat which was lovely.

We've been making plans for the future as well. Looking at various houses, thinking about buying our own place. It's such an exciting idea, and something we'd both love to do. Our current place has been perfect, but we would love to get started on decorating and furnishing our own place - somewhere with a garden and room for our little family to grow. It's a daunting prospect - whichever house we decide to commit to won't be perfect and there will be things that we can't change about it. Equally, it's such an exciting adventure to be starting out on.

I've been offered a place on a masters course next year, which I'm really excited about. It's great to have a plan. The only possible hitch is that it is quite a small course so I'm just praying they will have enough people signed up to run it.

I'm loving my childminding job - I've been looking after three children for a family from church. They are wonderful kids and so much fun. I've had some lovely conversations with them, especially when reading with the littlest one. And the older two make fantastic hot chocolates.


I have so many dreams in my mind at the moment - houses and decorating, craft and painting, dates and trips, studying and business. I also have a lot to look forward to and be excited about.

Life is good and it is exciting to think about what is coming. I feel like we're rounding a corner and bits and pieces of the future are coming into view. It might all change, and that's fine but sometimes the glimpses are reassuring and tantalising.

Friday Flowers

I've been neglecting things around here lately. For many reasons. And we're visiting family this weekend so I'm leaving you with some pretty flowers. T bought me a bouquet two weekends ago out of the blue and on Monday I decided that as some of them were fading a little I'd split them up around the house. So here they are!


Have a good weekend however you're spending it!

Something Old, Something Blue

When we moved into our current house, it came unfurnished, and coming from student houses we didn't have much to fill it with. Which meant that when kind relatives offered us bits and pieces of furniture we weren't too picky. One of the items we ended up with was a very compact old set of drawers that had for years been in the Chemistry department where T's mum works. They were battered and worn, but functional and for about a year have been a good home to craft bits, stationery and table mats. But then I decided they needed a bit of attention so last weekend we spent some time in our garage, sanding, washing and painting our oldest piece of furniture. We were really pleased with the result so I thought I'd share the fruits of our labour with you!


{I forgot to take "before" photos so these are post sanding ones}

{Work in progress}

{The finished product!}
And the best bit? We now have the perfect place for that beautiful blue bowl to stand. I'm a happy lady today.

Colour Splash

Don't you just love how flowers make a place feel homely? I picked up these tulips while out doing jobs the other day and every time I see them they make me feel cosy and happy.

What do you do to make your home beautiful and welcoming?

Hi

I'm back. Today I have...

1. Spent two hours unpacking.

2. Read about 45 posts on my google reader. Only 157 to go.

3. Appreciated the comments you people left me.

More tidying, reading, cleaning to be done. We go on holiday again in four and a half days. The sun is shining. It's good to be home. Photos from Anglesey are on their way.

Part-time Perks

Much as I enjoy Besom and playgroup, some days I would love to have a normal 9 to 5 job. Other days I appreciate the extra time I get to be home - at the moment I don't work on Wednesdays or on Friday afternoons, which allows me time to do the housework, laundry and shopping. I like being a part-time housewife and it makes our lives easier in many ways. T and I don't have to squeeze the chores into our evenings and weekends. We don't have to iron work clothes late on Sunday night - or spend Saturday morning trundling round Tescos. One of my favourite "perks" of part-time work is the time to cook - the house filling with the smell of warm bread, cookies or cakes is one of the things that makes it feel like home.

This week I tried a new recipe - Cinnamon, Apple and Pecan Cake, and here are the results. I'd recommend this recipe - it was really easy and is great with a cup of tea while you're reading some blogs.

Nesting

Since getting married I've discovered a new type of shopping. In my student, house-sharing days I couldn't care less about crockery, bed linen or cushions, but now we have a place of our own I'm loving that I get to buy stuff for it and make it ours.

The wedding presents filled the house with lots of beautiful stuff as well - we have paintings, matching crockery, pretty vases and pots. Arranging all our things, deciding what would belong where was one of my favourite post-wedding jobs (which was lucky as T hates that kind of thing).

Christmas gifts have also been added. T gave me a digital photo frame which is so cool - I love taking photos and its perfect if you have a small place like we do. We were given homemade cushions by T's aunt which are beautiful - they look so professional and they go so well on our new sofa. Another aunt and uncle gave us gifts in a basket - the basket is now a "by-the-sofa" holder for on-the-go books, bookmarks, puzzle books and pens.

I love that we have a spare room and can have friends and family to stay - one of the most exciting things I bought recently was a new duvet cover and pillow set for our guest bed - its all pretty and flowery. We're having more girls staying at the moment than boys so I decided we needed some girly bedding. Today I bought a Basil plant. It was cheap at Tescos so it might not live very long but I love the idea of being able to get fresh herbs from the windowsill to go in our dinner.

I went clothes shopping a while ago and had to force myself to look at clothes rather than bedding and china. Having got a place of our own to play with, it suddenly seems very important (and fun) to make it Ours. This new blog has had a similar impact on me - I spent an hour tonight playing with the backdrop and colours before I actually wrote anything.

At least blogging is free...