7 years young

Why hello there lovelies! Just a few short days ago my Mr. and I shared our 7th Anniversary (not wedding anniversary, no no that's still to come) but the day we decided that he was for me and I for him. From that day to this, I have spent almost every day, with my best friend, getting to know and love him to bits!

We decided to mark the occasion by first going out to dinner at a local place called Priory Farm, it's set in a ruined Priory and is incredibly quaint. To add even more to it's charm, they have llamas out front! I adore llamas so it was an extra treat for me! 

After dinner and feeling more than full we went home to create cocktails! We bought in all kinds of liquers, mixers and fruit and just had some fun! The idea was to invent some signature cocktails that we can serve at our wedding. It was so so much fun and lots of taste tasting was done! I'm not sure we decided on definite favourites but there were some super tasty concoctions! The best bit is we have lots of bottles left to do it again sometime soon!

Cheers!

Love Danielle 

xxx

Wedding Inspiration: Glass Bottles

I don't know about you but recently I am obsessed with all things glass, and vintage bottles and jars are no exception. As you probably already know, Pinterest is a vast source of beauty and inspiration (you can also easily lose a couple hours too!) and I came across this amazing arrangement, and it got me thinking about how I can incorporate my love of glass into our wedding.

found here

How simple and elegant! I defiantly want to feature jars in my centrepieces and also took inspiration from the flowers that were used. I have never been sure of what flowers I love, but recently I've discovered Gerba's 

which are truly breathtaking and I also love the idea of using wildflowers like in this pretty arrangement!

found here

It's just beautiful and has got me totally in the mood for planning a spring time wedding!

Maybe, just maybe

Love Danielle 

xxx

Pretty perfect day

Hi all, you know sometimes you just have an unplanned, off the cuff perfect days, suddenly the weather is gorgeous and the whole day just comes together. I love those kinda days.

It started off by watching my two boys out in the back having a waterfight. It was great they were laughing so much as I got the rest of the washing up and cleaning done, so we could have a day out!

Then while the Mr did a little last minute bit of work I took Haydn and his Grandad over to the park next door. We originally went to play skittles but after we took the next shot, Haydn ran off and all the skittles blew down. 

We just ran round for a bit, played hide and seek, ran through some rose gardens. Haydn got incredibly muddy legs and kept taking off his shoes.

Can you believe that I climbed a tree??I know, right. A year ago I wouldn't have even considered it, I would have been way too self conscious but I just got right on up there!

(and just a little note here, Haydn wasn't hanging off my foot, he was actually stood on the ground!)

So we pretty much played the morning away and then drove into the City to meet up with a lovely friend of ours for some lunch. I've been trying to get the boys to venture out of their foodie comfort zones and try to do some different things and I'm proud to say they have been really brave. I took them for Sushi a few weeks back and this lovely day we tried out Wagamama. I could see from the look on Sharrys and his Dad's face that it was way way past the line of comfort for them but they did really well and oh my gosh was it yummy! I ended up with chilli squid, sticky white rice and some steamed edamame. Such good food!

I think the expression says it all! So after lunch, we decided we still weren't done for the day and went to see my mum and dad for the evening and ended up going for dinner (again) and I managed to stay on plan both times. Hurray me!

It really was such a sweet and lovely day. No tantrums either which is always a bonus. Don't you just love days like this! 

Love Danielle

xxx

The best start to the day

How good do these look? And you had better believe they taste as good as they look! For anyone that doesn't know I became a Slimming World consultant almost a year ago after discovering the plan for myself several months earlier. I know it's already the number one plan in the UK and I am so so pleased that it has recently made the transition abroad to the USA. If you haven't discovered it yet then please go check it out. I can't even begin to say how much it's changed my life, but that's not what this post is about. You want a healthy but oh so easy breakfast like this? Then read on for the recipe and how to:

You will need:

30g porridge oats 

1 Vanilla Mullerlight (175g fat free yogurt)

3 eggs

What you need to do:

Add the yogurt and oats together in a bowl. Add 3 beaten eggs and whisk well. Get a frying pan really hot and spray well with fry light (any 1 cal spray) and pour 1/4 of your batter into the pan. You need to make sure its really well cooked on the bottom before you flip it (or you may have a scrambled egg situation) once its cooked well flip it and brown the other side. Repeat with the rest of your batter and stack em up. Top with loads of fat free greek yogurt and tons of fresh berries!

I love this breakfast and so do my boys. Let me know what you think.

Love Danielle 

xxx

On finding the time

Hi there,

I trawl the world of blogs quite a lot in my spare moments, to smile, to be inspired and to learn new things, and recently I have been having a funny feeling recently though and it took a while to realise what it was, but last week it dawned on me that it was a feeling that I was missing something. The thing that I was missing was my own blog, I haven't posted regularly for a long time and at first, it was ok. I had just taken on a new business and things were hectic.

We moved house and I had a family to look after and after weighing up my options, the blog was the thing that had to give...only for a little while I said. The business grew and turned to a second franchise and most recently a third and boy did that mean putting in a lot of hours. I've been very lucky in the fact that I have a very supportive fiancé and family around me to tell me I'm doing ok and keep me motivated to always work harder. Work is still busy and as long as I work hard I hope it will get busier still but I have come to realise that in order for me to keep my passion as huge as it is now I also need to make time for other things. My two boys will tell you that I can often be found in the morning still on the sofa, fully dressed next to my laptop, sleeping or going off to make that next coffee at almost midnight. This has made me think about how to create and maintain a really good balance, with time for family, work, housework (ack) and also me time. It took almost 3 years for me to accept that it was ok to say 'I need some time for me' without feeling like the worst mama in the world! And guess what, life got a lot happier when I did!

I want, so much to return to blogging but I feel like I need to focus it in a different direction. I LOVE handmade with all my heart and it will very much still be a core theme but I don't feel like I have the time enough to do as much crafting as I used to and so I want to blog about things that are important to me right now, so there will still be some handmade but also in the mix will be my family life, food and health and some home stuff too. I'm really excited to get back to regular posting and I hope all you guys that read like here too.

Here's to blogging,
Love Danielle
xxx

Weekend Frolics: Bristol

We decided it was high time we took a little trip across the country to see some amazing friends of ours and also to get a little family fun time too! So after a 5 hour drive (Well done to my Mr, who drove all the way) we arrived at our hotel and all clambered straight into bed and woke up ready for a fun filled day in the city! Considering this, we ended up at a farm!

It was truly lovely to find such an organic, peaceful spot right in the middle of the city! Haydn loved spotting all the different vegetables that were growing, I think that may be a future project for us, to get some growing going on at home!

We saw lots of animals and decided that as a family, we NEED a pigmy goat, before which we may need a garden.

Haydn took charge and led us round, he was so brave and stroked lots of animals.

I got the chance to road test my pretty new shoes and about 5 minutes after this picture was taken, they got covered in mud as Haydn, literally ran across my feet...oops.

The next day we got to go and meet with 2 of the loveliest ladies I have ever met and I was so excited! I'm pretty sure they have both been mentioned numerous times on here before but they are just both such amazing people and I am well and truly in a happy place around them! Say hi to Brooke and Genna!

Aren't they cute? we had a lovely brunch/lunch at an American themed diner and then took a walk down a street full of shops with vintage and pretties galore. I excerised a lot of restraint today in not purchasing all of the lovely things I saw!

We found another (oh yes) cafe and dipped in to sample their cakes and homemade lemonade, and boy were they yummy! My boys were being so silly, behaviour which can be attributed to the copious amounts of sugar that were ingested! To burn off some of which we walked to a park area and found some water to play in.

I think it was decided today that under no circumstances are we to leave it so long again! I simply adore these girls and even though there are 260 miles between us, we need a regular meet up!

We have one more day in Bristol and I get to see the other lovely lady that lives here, but more about that tomorrow!

Good Night All,
Love Danielle
xxx

Haydn is 4!

Oh my gosh, I can't believe how fast these past 4 years have gone! I know everyone says that by seriously, I blinked and they happened!

I think this birthday was the first real one that he actually knew what was going on! We had a really sweet build up and he got super excited and kept asking for all these things he saw on the T.V (thanks Nickelodeon) and, eventually the day came round.

We had a birthday tea the night before and he got spoiled by family and that just geared him up even more!

I'm so grateful for digital photography that let's us cherish memories like these so much!

Look at this smile! Pure excitement...I wish I could bottle this!

On the actual day of his birthday we hoped and prayed for a sunny day in amongst all the rain and, dare I say it, hail we have been having! I couldn't really believe it when we woke to beaming sunshine and a huge smile from our boy because we could go on a day trip to Bewilderwood, an absolutely enchanting outdoor adventure park full of whimsical creatures and tree houses to climb!

He was such a brave boy, climbing trees, swinging on ropes (which I absolutely could not do...no upper body strength at all) and going on huge slides!

It was absolutely gorgeous, and so geared up for kids of all ages, even us big ones!

All in all it was such a fantastic day and I for one won't forget it!

Love 

Danielle 

xxx

I got Ink!

Holy wow, I got a tattoo! I honestly never ever thought I would actually get one done. It's been on my list of goals for two years now and finally on year number 3 I've done it! I thought long and hard about what to choose and where to have it and finally (with the help of my sister) decided on 3 buttons for my wrist. 

Laura had the same tattoo in the same place too. It's crazy but also amazing that we are the only two people in the world that have this particular tattoo. 

I was so nervous sitting in the chair with the stencil on my wrist waiting for that little needle to start buzzing, I very nearly didn't go through with it because I was so scared of the pain, but when he started I have to say, it was fab, I enjoyed every second and it didn't hurt really at all! In fact, I found the sensation pretty relaxing and calming. 

see, I'm smiling!

I'm so so pleased that I had it done, and its a goal I can cross of my list pretty early on in the year!

I'm off to bed now after such a day of excitement, I'll try to get a better picture of my buttons in the daylight. Oh and I have some more fun stuff to share tomorrow.

Love Danielle

xxx

Photos and the like....

I'm trying my absolute hardest this year to take more pictures! I want tons and tons of memories of all the wonderful things I see and do so I've kitted myself out with what I think will help me! 

First off I have the Instagram app on my iPhone. By far the most used app I own (except Facebook...eep)

I use this quite a lot and am getting better at remembering to get it out and shoot. I've also just discovered webstagram which is a web viewer for all your instagram pics! Love it! What other camera apps do you guys use? 

I have a digital camera, which I really want to use more...I think I need to make or invest in a camera bag to keep it with me at all times! 

source

Then my most recent addition to the photographing family is this super cute little instax mini! This gives that 'instant picture you can hold' feeling. I really wish I printed out my digital pictures more as I love leafing through them. I'm also on the lookout for unique ways to display pictures, rather than just an album or frame, that way I might be more inclined to print them out.

Any suggestions? 

Love Danielle

xxx

Another year older...another year wiser

Well, it's gone past midnight so I guess that means I'm 27 now! So much has changed in the last year and I'm so happy to say it's all for the better. I sort of feel like some crazy cosmic event has made all the planets line up in the exact way to make my life better with everyday. To be honest I'm the happiest I've ever been and that's in every aspect of my life....er can we say dream come true?

source

I was having a look through the blog archives earlier and found my 26 before 27 list from a year ago. There were some I'm excited to say I completed like going to London, finishing my secret project, which was a patchwork quilt for my best friends wedding. Some, which I have to say will be on my list again...such as sticking to a skin routine (I suck with routines and get super lazy...hence the non clear skin yet) Then there are some which I didn't complete and after looking over them I've noticed that they are all 'my fun things' now don't get me wrong, I had a lot of fun being 26 but I also ploughed a lot of energy into setting up a business and being a mum/fiance and moving house etc so for this year my goals and my 27 before 28, will be separate! My goals are my goals and my 27 are going to fun projects that I WILL make time for this year! 

How do you decide your goals for the year? After all Goals in writting are dreams with deadlines.

Love Danielle 

xxx 

A year to remember starts right here!

Wow, when google try to shake things up they really really shake it up! So much so that I couldn't log onto my blog! Nightmare! But today I finally managed to sort it and I'm ready to blog into the New Year. 

Today we took a little trip out to get some fresh air and basically clown around like kids for a bit...well, why not!! 

My boys played on this amazing swing...all 4 of us were on it at one point! FUN! 

My sister got a little stuck!

Such a lovely way to spend day one of this lovely new year.

I knew 2011 was going to be an amazing year and it truly was, I had that same giddy, night before Christmas feeling about this one too. In the run up to midnight on New Years Eve my sister and I both worked on our goals for 2012. Here are mine...

I'm excited that some of my goals are professional and others are personal so already I feel like there is a good mix! 

Have you made resolutions or set goal this year? What are yours?

Love Danielle

xxx

I Love December!

I can't believe we are already 2 days into my favourite month!! We have been busy making our house festive already and I have decided to make decorations throughout December to have in our home this year! I finished my first one today and I'm hoping to share it tomorrow! 

I did just want to share this dress with you all that I am just dying over....

Is it not just the MOST beautiful dress ever? It's from the Orla Keily range. Oh I just love it!

How are your Christmas preparations coming along? Do you have any traditions? I'm hoping to start one this year, I need a really sweet one! 

Love Danielle

xxx

Today was for....

Eating and looking at pretty things mostly!! I got to spend the morning with my little guy and dad in law and went for breakfast! Then I went to the sweetest town with my mum and looked in some of the prettiest shops I ever did see! I came out completely inspired for Christmas, my home and gifts to make! I'm going back tomorrow to take lots of snaps of these pretty places! Tomorrow when I go back though I will be taking my sketchbook, camera and the newest issue of Mollie Makes! 

This magazine magazine makes my month... the excitement of getting it through the post is just too much! If you haven't heard of it, then you need a subscription...now! It's choc full of crafty ideas, CUTE homes and amazing places to visit! Such a good read, I wish it came out weekly I really do! My project list just from this magazine is getting immense...oh to find some spare time! 

So, we also had a walk to the beach, I do love living so close to the sea, its pretty tranquil although a tad windy today!

Then just to round off a pretty blissful day I lost another pound at my Slimming World group tonight and then went out to dinner with my man, his dad and my boy! 

So how was your day? I know many of you guys waaaaaay over there in the US are celebrating thanksgiving! So Happy Thanksgiving to you all! 

Love Danielle

xxx