Friday I'm in love... with pink. Again.

Now, I'm aware this isn't the first time I've devoted a post to the colour pink, but recently I found myself with a little selection of some newly acquired things, that all happened to be pink and very photograph-able, so I couldn't help but photograph them, as you do:

• The Aspinal pocket mirror was a gift from the bride at her wedding last week - each of us bridesmaids got one. It's a bit too pretty to use, so for now at least its main function is just to be looked at, and stroked from time to time. It's the perfect colour pink.
• I also found these beaut stickers on eBay (after this shopping trip, I've been on the hunt for more Meri Meri goodies), which are already being put to good scrapbooking use.
• And in other exciting stationery news, I finally got my mitts on a Ban.do agenda this month and I'm in love with it. I do love a good diary, but this is something super special. It covers 17 months for a start, so lasts longer than your average diary, plus it's filled with the sweetest stickers, secret messages and beautiful illustrations. I am yet to actually write anything in it yet, because it's just to perfect brand new (anyone else have that about stationery? Too pretty to use) but am looking forward to start doodling all over it from August onwards. 

Making new traditions

I love it when something unexpected becomes a bit of a tradition. Three years in a row we've gone with my sister to watch her other half play cricket on the village green of the sleepy little village we grew up in. The first year, Arlo was a tiny new-born that we all took turns holding and staring at, the second year, my sister had a new-born of her own, and Arlo practised taking wobbly steps, and then this time round we had two little toddlers running around and causing havoc. This year we: fed ducks, played in the park, ate animal biscuits and tried to join in with clapping the right players at the right time. I hope this is one that we do year after year - who knows what next few visits could bring?

Learning to let it go

So here's the thing about me: I think I'm a bit of a control freak.

Let's try that again: I am a control freak. Anyone reading this that knows me is probably rolling their eyes and going "well obvs" but to be honest, this is a fairly recent revelation for me. I've always liked to be in control, know exactly what's going on, have things in order, be organised and prepared... in work, in life, in everything.

But lately life’s been a bit unruly. I’ve felt a bit out of control and life’s been carrying on anyway in the meantime. It’s quite new and weird and I’ve found it hard. I’ve tried to get back in control but I’ve done it all wrong - at home in particular I think I’ve tried to get back in control by treating daily life like a work project. And by being a bit bossy. Bossy me isn’t the best side of me.

I’ve been feeling a general air of anxiety over the past few weeks and it’s felt so weird - it’s not something I feel very often at all and what makes it harder is that I can’t link it to any one thing. There is no one thing I can ‘fix’ to make it go away and get things back to normal. Life’s happening and I feel out of control and it’s making me anxious.

So what can I do - going 'bossy me' isn’t helping anyone so I might just have to… let go.

Relinquish a bit of that control.

Let go of a few things.

Accept that I’m not wonder woman, and I’m doing my best, and that’s good enough.

Something might go wrong. Oh well. The next thing probably won’t.

Because I thought - what do I say to Arlo a million times a day? Oh well. Never mind. We can build that tower again. We can put the choo choo back on the track. I can pick up the sandwich you dropped, brush it off (6-second rule, right?) and you can have another bite.

And I know he’d say that to me too if he could, (if his mouth wasn't full of his second bite of dusted-off sandwich that is). So I've decided to take a bit of my own advice and let it go. And no that isn't a Frozen reference by the way, luckily we're still a little way off that phase. But I do have that song stuck in my head now *sigh*.

Friday I'm in love... with weddings

Don't worry, I haven't done a complete 360 since I wrote this about why I have no intention of getting married any time soon. I still don't, but it doesn't stop me bloody loving weddings. One of my favourite, oldest and most brilliant friends got married at the weekend, with me in tow as one of her bridesmaids, and it was the loveliest day. The photos of the day are hers to share, but I managed to capture a few little snapshots along the way, in between all the madness - the beautiful bridesmaids' bouquets, a close-up of the lace of my bridesmaid dress, some of the table dressings as we got them ready the day before, and the venue itself, quiet before anyone arrived to make the best party ever. We laughed, we cried, we toasted and danced - all the best things. It's given me the warm and fuzzies, that's for sure.

Building tracks and blowing bubbles

Things have been pretty busy round here this month - of the last four weekends, only one has been spent at home, and that was without Alex because he was away. We're longing for a family weekend where we're all together with nothing much to do. Anyway, right in the middle of a very busy month, I found myself with a quiet afternoon. Arlo and I had nowhere we needed to be so we decided we didn't want to go anywhere. Anywhere except the garden, that is - it was a sunny afternoon so we headed out to make the most of it, with a train set and banana milkshake for Arlo, and the weekend papers and iced coffee for me. Heaven.

Our patio is very nearly almost finished now (you can see it in stages of being done here - thank god we're now past the rubble stage!) and even though there's a little corner that still needs doing, it's very much useable. We've even got a little bed running along the side with flowers planted in it now, very home-y indeed. We've been enjoying it so much, especially Arlo, as these pictures show - we whiled away a very happy hour making train tracks in different configurations, and then I taught him something I now wish I hadn't - how to blow bubbles in your drink with a straw. But he was going to figure that out for himself soon anyway, right?

Scrapbooking in June - finding a theme

Firstly, I'm aware it's July already (already? How the F did that happen? I don't think I'm ready thanks) and I fully intended to do a little update on June scrapbooking while it still actually WAS June, but things have been a bit blimmin' busy round here. But I wanted to do one anyway, because it's nice to look back over it from time to time.

So this month I've been finding that I'm going a bit more 'matchy matchy' with my scrapbooking pages. When I started out I didn't really worry too much about themes or colours or matching anything, I just wanted to get started and try out lots of things, and I loved what I've done so far, but I've been finding this month that where I have fairly 'clean' page layouts with four big photos from the same time or event, and a strip of empty 6x4 spaces down the centre, I've been sticking to a theme for them all, just like the examples above. It's lead to some of my most favourite scrapbooking pages ever, and is super satisfying because it means you get a whole page done really quickly.

The above were made mostly using supplies from my Messy Box subscription, which I am loving every single month, plus a smattering of stickers that I picked up during this shopping trip.

My favourite corners #5: Arlo's chest of drawers

Tucked away in a corner of Arlo's little bedroom, just behind the door, is this ramshackle chest of drawers. It's special. It was in my mum's room when she was a little girl, then I used it as my bedside table for many years when I lived at home, and it now sits in Arlo's bedroom, housing all his clothes and lots of little keepsakes. The shelves were built by my grandad - my mum's dad - who sadly I never got a chance to meet, but it feels so so nice to have something he made in the house, being put to very good use for his great grandson.

As it's been handed down from generation to generation, it's had a few knocks and scrapes along the way, and is a bit on the rickety side, but that's all part of the charm for me. Alex and I made a start of freshening it up for Arlo's room a while back, mixing up the perfect shade of turquoise and painting the shelves white. To be honest, we fully intended to paint the rest of the bottom white as well (I suppose it's the 'chest' part of a chest of drawers?) but we've never got round to it and now I kind of like it this way. Let's just say we've got used to it because who knows when we may actually get round to painting the rest of it? (Clue: quite likely never).

The shelves contain all kinds of bits and pieces that I want to keep. Most of these I know I'll want to keep forever actually - like the sample that Alex's mum stitched for Arlo when he was born, knitted gifts made by loved ones just for him, Mrs Ted, my favourite teddy when I was little, handprints that already look smaller than I can ever imagine Arlo being, favourite birthday cards he loves to look at over and over, the little box that has Arlo's dried out little belly button stump in it (interesting/ gross-out fact: My friend gave it a sniff and said it smells like Ribena)... all kinds of special things. A rotating list of interesting things that I expect will change from year to year as this little boy grows up and a different toy or book becomes flavour of the month. But while the contents of these shelves may well change, I have a feeling the shelves themselves will remain a constant. I plan on having these for a very long time and hope hope hope that someone else will carry on looking after them beyond that too.



Ps. You can see some of the other favourite corners from the series here and here, if you fancy a little look-see x