an amazing year

2010 - it's hard to believe it's over already. I find the start of a new year both exciting and a little sad. Exciting for the fresh start and all the possibilities a new year brings. A little sad as the passing of another year is marked and I find time running away from me so much faster than I am ready for it to go. But above all I feel blessed that our year has been so full of family, friends old and new, and downright fun!I've spent much of the day trawling through the past year's photographs and have put together a little slideshow of some of my favourites which represent our year perfectly. I hope you enjoy them, whether you've seen them before or not :)So welcome 2011! I hope you will be filled with as many wonderful memories as this past year. And to my lovely readers, I wish the same for you and your families.Janine xEdited: in response to several complaints the slideshow has been updated to include the photos from my sister's wedding that I couldn't find on my new computer yesterday! With any luck, all familial relationships are restored!

It's the most wonderful time of the year

Right now...

:: it's the night before Christmas

:: the stockings are hung by the chimney with care

:: the children are nestled all snug in their beds

:: the appropriate snacks have been set out for Santa and the reindeer (along with a note asking if he has any girl reindeer!)

:: the Christmas morning muffins are ready and waiting

:: the fire is lit

:: the tin of sweets has been opened

:: everyone is eagerly awaiting tomorrow for all the joy and excitement it brings!

All that is left for me to do is to wish you the merriest of Christmases and a peaceful new year!

 

Janine xx

Christmassy corners of our home

With all the snow outside, and 2 little boys who have discovered not only the fun of the snow, but the pain of being out in the cold too long, I've had quite some time in the house the past few days. And if I do say so myself, it is looking particularly lovely. So much so that it seemed rather a shame not to share it with the world. And if you're anything like me, there are few things I enjoy more than a peek inside the homes of the online friends whose blogs I read daily! I believe it's a nosiness gene and that there is nothing I can do about it or need feel guilty about. So come on, have a nosey around.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I love all the decorations we pull out each year, the thought of where to put each one so that it is shown at its best. The candles and the subdued lights of the tree and the garland. All the little wooden trees we have scattered around. The new little reindeer residing beside the twiggy tree in our hall makes me smile every time I pass it.

And already I'm thinking about how I might try a few different things next Christmas (I know, it's a tad early but I just can't help it!). Perhaps a few more handmade items. I have high hopes for a little wall hanging I'd like to make tomorrow but that will very much depend on how the small people are behaving and whether the noise of a sewing machine can be tolerated above the already crazy noise and excitement! But for now I am very content with home as it is. As Ikea have so rightly proclaimed, it's the most important place in the world.

If you're feeling like you'd like to continue nosying around some other homes online, let me suggest this one and this one, both of which make me feel all tingly and warm when I look at them.

oh, the weather outside is frightful...

But we are totally loving it! Finally our snow has arrived. And more of it than we really know what to do with! It seems that all the hoping and wishing and praying I did almost a year ago has finally paid off.

 

I wonder what it is about snow that has some of us smitten. Is it just that everywhere takes on a magical feel as the blanket of white covers even the likes of the shambles that is our 'meant-to-be-redesigned-before-Christmas' driveway (see the house with no wall, 2 piles of bricks and some warning tape flapping in the breeze in the photo above!) ?

 

Could it be that there are photo opportunities abounding everywhere you look? Never before have I thought a rusty gate on our street looked so pretty. It's like it was just waiting for the final flourish of snow before the world realised it had been beautiful all this time but no one had ever really noticed!

 

Maybe it's the newness of all that surrounds us and the almost other-worldliness of the things we never usually take time to look at but which are suddenly impossible not to notice. The little river in the photo above is at the bottom of our road and it's only ever Conor who likes to look, but yesterday it could have been a scene from Lord of the Rings and we were all entranced by it.

 

Perhaps it's the light that changes how we feel. Everything is so bright, there's light bouncing off every available surface, and tiny bits of colour that manage to poke out of their snowy blanket seem so much more vivid than on a dull December day.

 

Maybe it's that we just get to act like big kids, throwing snowballs, building snowmen, slipping and sliding and laughing so much more than usual. That the rules have gone out the window because nothing is normal, and especially not our clothing! I refused to take a photo of myself in my snow attire yesterday, but will gladly share Patrick's crazy combination from Friday.

 

Whatever it is, it has our little family completely smitten. We're getting to wear proper winter clothes, our wellies and outdoor boots, race around like crazy people and break the no throwing rule (within reason), drink copious amounts of hot chocolate and generally make up for 25 years of practically no snow! There's another few inches being deposited as I type and school is closed for the boys tomorrow, so the fun will continue. Along with the photos, the wonderment and the joy!

 

time marches on

So it would seem! I have fallen prey to the steady march of hours, days and weeks passing me right by over this past month, and along with the time seems to have gone my creative mojo. But it's getting decidedly Christmassy round our place, and there's just no way I can say no to a photo of a pretty tree brimming over with red and silver sparkly decorations! So I declare the festive season officially open! We're doing it a bit at a time with the decorations, so there may be more over the next week to share with you here. For now it's just a few of 2 of the most excited boys in the world right now!

 

 

 

 

 

So how are the holidays shaping up for you? Do tell!

And the winner is...

Just a quick post to announce the winner of the prints from my etsy shop. The winner is...

Laurie:  Life is made by lots and lots of little dreams. Delighting my eyes and heart with beautiful pictures is one of them.

Thank you so much for all your lovely comments here and on facebook - they are all truly appreciated and I feel very encouraged by you all :) For those of you who didn't win, you might be interested to know that I'm offering 15% off all orders for one week, until Friday 26th November. The perfect opportunity to snap up a pressie or two for a friend, or even yourself!

Laurie, if you email me your details and the names of the 2 prints you would like, I can get them to you very soon!

I'm off to get ready for a day away in Glasgow at the Country Living Christmas Craft Fair with a friend where I hope to find lots of inspiration, a few Christmas presents and maybe just one or two lovely things for me! Whatever you're up to this weekend, I hope it's lovely :)

A little something to share

Oh but I've been busy over the past few weeks with lots of little (and not so little) projects on the go. Lots of late nights and sneaking hours on the computer while the boys are at school. Lots of photographs, processing and editing. All so that I can finally open up my own little Etsy shop. It's not big, but it's definitely pretty! And it's really all thanks to you and your lovely comments about my photographs!

 

As a special thank you, just for you who so faithfully follow my little blog, I'm giving away 2 of my 5x7 prints - your choice of images.  All you have to do to be entered is leave a comment below, and I will post the winner on Friday. So go on, leave a comment (even if you've never left one before - it's really easy!)

So if you have a moment, please pop on over to my little shop and have a nosey. Bring a friend. Bring two! I hope to be adding more items over the next couple of weeks and I shall keep you posted as I do. Seriously though, thank you for all your support for my photography - I truly appreciate it and it has brought to life a small little dream I've had ever since I first discovered Etsy. Blog readers rock!!

A little autumn goodness

I love Hallowe'en half term. Not for Hallowe'en itself but because for me it heralds the beginning of the coziest time of year. Now I'm not saying I love the rain and the often grey skies, but I do so love darker afternoons with a few candles flickering, a hot cup of tea and maybe a new magazine or a board game on the go. I've been very much enjoying a few of these afternoons the last few days, and I can only anticipate more in the next week!

 

 

As a holiday, I've said before that Hallowe'en isn't really a big thing for us as a family. Not that I'm in any way against it, but we try to keep it low key and with just a hint of our 70's childhoods showing! I do slightly resent the fact that I can't nip into Tesco without feeling like a bad mother for not coming out with a trolley full of plastic bats, spiders, costumes and other Hallowe'en paraphernalia, as if in some way I'm denying the boys their right to a purple-and-orange-fest. But this year I kept my focus and headed straight to the pumpkins because, really, little pumpkin faces glowing with candlelight are actually essential, are they not?

 

 

 
(I do also love that orange glow you get looking inside the house just at that twilightish time of the evening.)

Another thing I love about this half term is that it gives Patrick the opportunity to slip back into his childhood love of dressing up. Oh, how I miss the days when we never knew if Spiderman or Optimus Prime would be joining us for dinner! These days the dressing up is all about sports kits - a diferrent one each time he plays a different game. So I love that he gets to let his imagination run wild and get the face paints out one more time. The role of choice for his friend's party was a zombie, the same as last year. I don't know how we always seem to have a pair of jeans with the knee out at this time of year! He seemed pretty pleased with my makeup job this year, which in the current climate, I take as a great achievement!

 

Conor, true to his nature, would have none of that dressing up nonsense! Instead he opted for the shirt off craft extravaganza, helped along by the Charlie and Lola comic I had bought for him! He was sticking and colouring with gusto, but for me the highlight was when he announced, "I've done all the glittering so can you come and do the glue now?" Cue the aura of calm and much sweeping and funnelling of glitter back into the tiniest tube known to man!

 

Our seasonal fun was rounded off with an evening of fun with some good friends. There was a little bit of craft, a lot of pizza, some popcorn I'd made (most of it was thrown out because the toffee sauce, whilst delicious, could have disolved the enamel off the kids' teeth as we watched!) and lots of sparklers. It was a really simple night, but one that brought together some of the things I love best about this time of year.

 

 

 

 

So now that October is well and truly behind us, I am settling into the rhythm of shorter, darker days, whittling down my supply of tealights at an alarming rate, and looking forward to just a hint of you know what! And how about you - are you slipping into the cozy season along with me or fighting it off with dogged determination? 

just the best day!

It's taken me a while to muster up the will to write this post because, if truth be told, I'm in a bit of a post-wedding slump.  All those months of planning, preparation and final touches really did make for the best day, but boy was it over in a nano-second! It also came as somewhat of a surprise to me that my camera didn't really feature much during the day either, as my poor selection of photos shows rather clearly! Thank goodness my good friend Johnny was there in a much more professional capacity to capture the day perfectly for us all. I suspect that if you check in at his blog in a while you might get to see some top notch photos. 

So for now, I'm just going to post a snapshot of photos that will hopefully give you a feel for the day and the huge amount of joy that was abounding throughout!

The pretty stunning bride-to-be.  That smile did not leave her face all day!

 

The stunning breathtakingly beautiful bridesmaids! Photo taken by a friend of my mum - not sure why the dresses are looking so pink. They were much more of a subdued damson colour. Very autumnal indeed.

 

The happiest couple in the world! They both looked like they'd won the lottery the whole day!

 

 

While my lovely new brother-in-law looked, indeed, rather handsome, I'm pretty sure it was these two who stole the show. When I arrived at the church I could not believe how grown up Patrick looked in his little tails - almost reduced me to a blubbering mess at the outset! And Conor was nothing short of adorable in his little posh jeans and shirt. In my head I can already see the steady flow of heartbroken girls that will be loitering outside our house in years to come!

 

The very proud mother of the bride with her other fabulous daughter! See what I mean about the dresses? You can just about see the much softer shade they were in this picture.

 

Now, if you remember the posts about the hen weekend, you'll remember that we learnt a dance that we were to reproduce at the evening disco. Alas, it is not for me to post those pics (I bet that other blog I mentioned earlier will post them at some point!) but dance we did! Feeling sick to our stomachs and practically inhaling wine in the few seconds before we took to the floor! So I give you, the girls!! Photo courtesy of the lovely Cathryn :)

 

I know I didn't take many pictures but you just can't leave a wedding without the cutting the cake shot, can you? And check out the gleam on that new wedding ring!

 

The best man was Scott's brother and he was the star of the speeches! Seriously hilarious. I love how much their mum laughed!

 

Thankfully Scott also appeared to find it hilarious!

 

And of course, the first dance. They really are the cutest couple around (obviously apart from myself and Michael!!)

 

Oh, looking at these photos has cheered me up somewhat! I can't wait to see the professional ones in a week or two, and as soon as there are some online for you to see I will link you straight over.

Now, I'm off to convince son #2 that given the pouring rain he really must put his t-shirt back on before going to nanny's and then add some more holes and fake blood to son #1's zombie outfit! I'm not a big one for Hallowe'en, but I hope you enjoy whatever fun you're up to this weekend!

busy busy busy....

 

I'm more and more aware that there are just some periods of your life when other things take over and the things you would like to do have to take a back seat for a while. I've been a good little matron of honour helping my sister get ready for her wedding tomorrow, which has meant very little time on the computer, very little photo taking and very, very little scrapbooking.  But that's ok, because this wedding is super exciting in our household! The boys are delighted to be getting an uncle out of it, mainly I think because he says yes to all the stuff and requests that we say no to (he'll learn eventually!) And Michael is excited to be gaining another male into the family to boost numbers at future gatherings. And I'm past excited that my sister is finally getting to marry exactly the right person!! So while I'm rather sorry that this little blog has been sadly neglected, I'm excited about the posts I can share over the next few weeks.

 

I'm hoping to have some exciting ventures to share with you when I get back into the swing of things here - some changes and some new avenues I'm going to be exploring. And now that I've brought it to your attention I will be encouraged to make sure I get everything ready for the big reveal!

 

Ok, reading back over that last paragraph I'm a bit worried that my big reveal may not live up to your expectations, but I shall try my best! While I've been busy helping out with wedding preparations I've been thinking a lot about big things. Things like jobs and creative ventures, work and family, dreams and reality. Now, when my mother reads this she'll most likely go into protective overdrive telling me to slow down and not get worked up about things! But that's not really the kind of thinking I've been doing, it's more of a long, slow consideration of the different aspects of my life and how the balance doesn't always feel right. I wonder do you ever feel that way? I suppose when it comes down to it I'm wondering right now if I'm living the life I'm meant to be living. Wondering if gifts and talents could be better used? Could I change one or two things to shift the balance for the good of us all? Lots of questions that need a good pondering. I wonder if any of my new ventures will be the start of something good?!

 

Anyway, it's surely time for me to go and finish my cup of tea and Fry's Chocolate Cream (a combination worth trying, I assure you) before wedding craziness kicks in. I will most definitely be back at the start of the week with some wedding photos - I hope you'll pop over for a nosey at what we expect will be the wedding of the year!!

Have a great weekend x