New year, new opportunities!

Hi all,
Exciting news this week which I've been keeping to myself! I have been invited to be a blog contributor over at 'here comes the sun' blog. This is a WONDERFUL opportunity for me! I'll be blogging a couple of Fridays a year along with some other people chosen to be blog contributors also! You can see them all here.
I'll be sharing nail art tutorials which will be such fun for me. I don't get to paint my nails often because I'm not allowed to have them done for work but at least now I have an excuse to paint them even if it's just for one night!
I can't wait! Really thankful this has come my way at the beginning of the year. Watch this space!

Hopes & dreams 2013

- Create an editorial calendar & develop the blog, posting more frequently with DIYs, new adventures & photos.

- Travel more! Even if it's just around England, I want to see & do more!

- Prioritize date nights. Last year was so busy we found on a regular basis we had accidentally booked up every night of the week & weekends then had no time for cuddles & quality time! That's an important one for me who needs more snuggles than the average person!

- Read! Make the space to pick up the list of books I want to get through. 

- Bake! I LOVE cooking & baking and definitely need to get more adventurous in the kitchen. I'm ready to try new foods & new recipes! 

- Move! I find on my days off from work and I have time to work on my business I'm mostly at the computer or my craft desk sitting down. I'm going to make the effort just to go for short walks or discover new places in the middle of the day. 

I think that will do for now. I'm excited for this year! 

P.s. I already achieved one goal of this year. I PASSED MY DRIVING TEST! It's been a long time coming & definitely not something I've enjoyed doing but the feeling now it's all done & done is wonderful!

Hope you're all having a gorgeous day! Xx

No admittance, except on party buisiness

Hello!
So we're into the second week of the new year! The days are back to normal for me now. I was still off on annual leave until this week. It's been a glorious break with hardly any early mornings, no routine and lots of naughty treats. It's back to work, routine and eating well now but I'm ready to embrace it!

It was Sam's 23rd birthday on the fifth January. I gave him his presents days before though before we still had a week of holiday left and I thought he'll need the time to enjoy them and play! I got him Lego Lord of the Rings on xbox360 so we've had a blast on that. It's so much like the film it's pretty good, then expansion packs to this board game which I highly recommend. The only downside is you have to have 3 + players so Sam & I can't just play it whenever we feel like it. We've had many a game with friends over the Christmas break though so I've had my fill. Of course, more blu-rays & books and much Lord of the Rings merchandise. With the release of The Hobbit we're both very much back into a LOTR mood. 
We make the most out of all birthdays so no matter what age we are we'll make it an event! Sam had a LOTR blu-ray marathon party. (maybe I suggested it......)
There were 12 of us altogether so much furniture was moved around to get everyone in.
Here was our timetable for the day:

9am - HOBBIT BREAKFAST (sausage, bacon, hobbit hole toast, black pudding, merry's mushrooms, tomatoes & beans)
10am - THE FELLOWSHIP OF THE RINGS
11.30am - SECOND BREAKFAST (pippin's pancakes & frodo's fruit)
2pm - THE TWO TOWERS
3pm - LUNCH OF LORIEN (spiced soup & lembas bread)
6pm - THE RETURN OF THE KING
8pm - DWARVEN DINNER (mutton stew, po-tay-toes & farmers maggots cabbage)

We finished the evening about 11pm! It was a full on day, only for hardcore LOTR fans! The room was decorated with lights and leaves & I made him a 'one ring' cake!

Yup. I think you can call us GEEKS!

Happy Birthday Momma!

Happy Birthday Momma!

Since I've written you letters/notes/made scrapbooks/drawn pictures for you all my life it becomes harder to say all the things I want to say to you because I've said them over & over again. Then I came across this poem and I think for this moment it sums up what I want to say to you on this special day. 

I thank you for the tender care you give to me each day;

the times you rocked me in your arms, and sent bad dreams away.

I thank you for the times you picked me up from spills and falls,

for smiling with approval of my silly, childish scrawls.

I thank you for the times we spent vacationing through the years,

for always letting me collect my precious souvenirs.

I thank you for the stories, songs & prayers shared at night,

and even for the discipline to turn my wrongs to right.

I thank you for not giving up on me in adolescence,

for showing me throughout my life, it’s love that makes a difference.

I thank you for the memories of years that fleeted by,

too fast, it seems, for now I reminisce and heave a sigh.

And yet there’s more to thank you for; there really is no end.

For even now as I extend this special thanks to you,

I say without a single doubt, my greatest joy will be

to echo to my children all the love you’ve shown to me.

I love you always and forever! I'm glad God chose you to be mine xXx

Reflections on 2012

I love keeping a calender, firstly we need one but I love looking back on all the months at the end of the year and thinking "wow, I can't believe that was this year/did that really happen?/can't believe that was so long ago!" etc etc. You know how it goes!

- At the beginning of 2012 we had just settled into our first home and threw a house warming/Sam's 22nd birthday party. We had just come home from a three month long honeymoon, spent two months living with my parents and then found this place just before christmas! Such a blessing!

- We started a new tradition with some friends where once a month we would have balti pie & chips from the chip shop and either watch a film or play a board game. We've kept it up and had many a fun night together!

- I struggled through a few illnesses & work-related stress but then pulled through and have been doing really great in the last few months. Consequently, Sam & I got new jobs - spectacular new jobs! No work-related stresses there!

- I STARTED THIS BLOG!

- Our best man got engaged and will be getting married in May this year & one of my bridesmaids got married in July to a really wonderful guy so LOVE is all around!

- We went on a really amazing camping trip with our church community!

- We went on a spectacular holiday to Nerja, Spain with two wonderful friends and took part in the Spainish celebrations when they won the world cup!

- While in Spain we celebrated our FIRST YEAR ANNIVERSARY!

- We saw Mumford & Sons!

This year I've learnt so much about myself. The ways I cope with certain situations, the way I manage my time, especially now that I live in my own home and live with the man of my dreams. I've learnt about compromise, a lot about compromise! I've realised I'm not the only person in the world - ONLY JOKING - I really did know that but being married makes you let go of a lot of selfishness you never realised you had and do things you wouldn't normally do because you know your hubby would like it. I still haven't gotten used to sharing a bed, I still sleep like a starfish and steal the covers, but its fun to wake up and have someone to cuddle and chat to in bed every night & every morning.

We learnt how important putting time aside for 'date night' is. I mentioned in a previous post we have to schedule in time to spend just the two of us. Our diaries get so full up with work, church and hospitality - we LOVE it all but also love our quiet evenings in together.

Overall, this year has been a beautiful one and I have so many plans and dreams for 2013! I will share with you soon!

HAPPY NEW YEAR FRIENDS! Xx

Christmas 2012

Hello!

Hope you all had a wonderful christmas! We certainly did. I was working christmas eve but it was only half a day and we had such a laugh! We went to my parents house and I got to finally spend some time with my two sisters, my brother was with his wife at her parents. Christmas day was just Sam and I which we loved. It was our second christmas as husband and wife so we're still figuring out our traditions but christmas dinner is already getting better every year - nothing beats my mommas dinner though!

We got some really great gifts. My favourites were a cute collar clip necklace and a beautiful watch from Sam and he also got my an ice cream maker! Can't wait to start using that. :o)

Sam of course got the inevitable stack of new blu-rays, CDs and books and as always I got him a new jumper. (you can see in the photos from asos)

We then spent boxing day at Sam's parents with his sister and two nephews, 3 & 6, so a lot of noise and laughter going on! The 27th was back at my parents for 'christmas day' again. My mom was working christmas eve & boxing day so it was nice to have a big family dinner and be home for a while.



*sigh*. This year I haven't had too much of the christmas blues, I think because we started early and put the christmas tree up in November, so I feel I've had plenty of time to enjoy everything. It's been a wonderful christmas full of crafts, food, laughter & love!

Now looking forward to a new year!
Seeing my best friend and her husband for dinner tonight and then going to another friends new year's eve party later on in the evening - totally hardcore! - lots of people to see! I think it's going to be a late one!

Hope you all enjoy seeing in the new year! Can't to see what 2013 has in store!

Xx

Here comes Santa Claus!

Happy christmas eve-eve!
My computer has been out of action which is why I'm terribly behind on blog posts.
I can't believe christmas is in two days! December went ever so fast. What I learnt this month is getting the present shopping done early allows for more time to enjoy the run up to christmas, get more crafts done and enjoy the season. We were done at the beginning of the month so have had a lot of time to enjoy being with each other.
We had our 'orange and clove' date so the house is full of christmas smells and I also got the wonderful breakfast Sam promised me. 

(photos: some of the things I've made this year!)

Here are the rest of our 'dates'. (I have a lot to catch up on!)

Day 11. A breakfast date at Rowheath Pavillion. This place is walking distance from where we live and makes the yummiest bacon sandwiches!

Day 12. We had one more German Market date knowing that we would become too busy to make anymore trips. We brought a box of different flavoured marshmallows and are still enjoying them!

Day 13. Sam chose a take-away date. Many of his dates seem to include food. Good job I LOVE eating! We shared a chinese meal (one of the best I've had actually) and watched a movie together, which was really nice, especially to have an evening in doing 'nothing'.

Day 14. I promised Sam I would 'bake a treat of his choice'.

Day 15. Another date, most likely now in the new year unless we can sneak this in before is to go to the New Inn for a few cocktails. It's such a cosy pub and their cocktails are pretty good. Looking forward to that one!

Day 16.A cinema date. We used to go to the cinema about once, sometimes even twice a week but since we got married and starting living in our own place, paying bills and rent we can't usually afford to go so often. It has become a treat for us to go out to see a movie now which is actually quite nice. We do use LoveFilm but sometimes you HAVE to go see something. So we went to see The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. Uh-mazing! We did go with a crowd of people but that definitely added to the experience of seeing it at iSense/3D/48 frames a second! Seeing it again on new years day with the rest of my family!

Day 17. A walk around Winterbourne Gardens and cream tea date! How very English of us!

Day 18. I had the day off work and Sam surprised me by telling me the night before that he also got the day off! We worked out that it would be the only day/evening we would have to do our christmas food & drink shop so that's what we did.

Day 19. This evening we had a date night with our friends Josh & Natalia. Although Natalia wasn't feeling well so she stayed home. We still went out and had a great meal at Frankie & Bennys. That was great because we hadn't eaten there for a while and it was also great to catch up with Josh who was one of our best men at our wedding. He's is getting married in April so much excitement to come in the new year!

Day 20. We spent an evening making our annual food parcels for friends & family. Every christmas for the last five years we have made cute little edible presents for people. This year we did dark chocolate and pistachio fudge, cranberry flapjacks, fruit & seed chocolate slabs & cranberry & port sauce.

Day 21. Christmas movie night date. Of course we've had many of these this month already!

Day 22. This one might be cheating a little but I want to take Sam to Shogun Tepanyaki again. It's an amazing restaurant where they cook all your food in front of you on a huge hot plate. You get a lot of food and good entertainment as you eat! I think we will try and go for Sam's birthday at the beginning of January!

Day 23. Christmas present wrapping and stocking filling date! All done & done and I'M SOOO EXCITED!!!

Hope you all enjoy the next few days and if I don't blog again before have a really wonderful, restful, peaceful and joyful christmas!

Lots of LOVE! <3