The hen party

Last Saturday was my best friends hen party. It was a pretty wonderful day. Hannah was surrounded by her best friends and her family at her mothers house. We took a walk through the village to a little wild flower park and we all picked a bunch of wild flowers to take back to the house. When we got back to the house, we decorated jars to put the flowers in, followed by a vintage tea party with lots of laughter and lots of story telling. I wanted to make sure that i got pictures for Hannah of her hen do as i don't have a single picture of my hen party. We went to a theme park and it poured with rain and then half the people wanted to leave half way through the day because they were wet. I was pretty devastated with my hen party to be honest and i wanted to make sure that Hannah had these wonderful memories to look back on.

Hannah gets married in September and i cannot wait to see her walking down the aisle. I have written a little story to read during the ceremony and i am blessed to be a part of her day! She has been my best friend for 14 years and i just know she will be my best friend for the rest of my life!

Wall art

Using my walls to express myself is something i love to do. My walls are full of flower fairy prints, woodland creature drawings, old polaroids and botanical book pages. I love changing the art around on the walls, depending on the season and how i am feeling. My bedroom seems to be the room that i love to use the most to hang up work. My husband is truly wonderful and let's me decorate how ever i want. He sleeps next to birdcages, book page bunting, polaroids of our first wedding anniversary and kilner jars full of wild flowers picking on the adventures i have with the girls. He really doesn't mind (i secretly think he likes it!). It is wonderful to have this reign of creativeness. Currently, i am a stay at home mother and a freelance photographer so my home is where i am mostly and is basically my "job" so i want it to look lovely and to inspire me everyday.

I am always pinning art work on pinterest that i love and i actually have two draws in my room full of further art work that i will add to the walls and swap around with her work. I just cannot find a place for all the art work that i have! Every wall in the house has some kind of feature, and that is just the way i like it. It makes me smile when my friends come around and end up taking pictures of my walls. I have a very long list of work that i would love to purchase.

(Laundry day by The little fox on Etsy/Mae portrati by Holli on Etsy/ Graham and Brown birds wall art via Homebase/ Rabbit by Kari Herer on Etsy/ The pale carousel by The black apple on Etsy /Bunny king photo by KristyBee on Etsy)

This post is in collaboration with homebase

Let's have an adventure XI

(Music: Bring me a boat by Kate Rusby)

Plum picking is something we do every year, as well as blackberries, apples and strawberries. We love foraging for fruit and i love letting the girls experience these adventures and just be children. I give them a basket and let them be, occasionally helping them reach "big juicy juicy" ones that are out of their reach. I step back and snap away and let them create these memories together. I always make sure that i put my camera away near the end and take part with them, so they have those memories of mummy doing it with them.

We visited the plum orchard that is in the country park in my mothers village. It is only a few minutes from our house and the orchard is hidden from the main path, so is hardly seen by other people. It is a wonderful and enchanting and i always feel so at peace right there. Plum trees on one side and blackberries bushes on the other side. It is very much a happy place for us. We are already looking forward to the black berries ripening in a few weeks time.

I did a little video of the girls. Some of the footage is quite blurry as i completely forgot that i had to manually focus my prime lens until half way through. Last year, i took videos of most of our adventures and i just have completey forgotten to do any this year. This summer, i will make sure i do much more and i will remember to manually focus properly next time. I still love the footage though and it just makes me smile watching it.

"let's have an adventure" is a link up where you can share your latest adventures with everyone.The link up goes live on the 26th of each month. We would love to have you join us and help us create this wonderful community of fellow adventurer's!!!!

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An InLinkz Link-up

A growing love

Wednesday was Elle's last day at school. I knew that i would be feeling a little lost and down and so i asked my brother the week before if he would come over wednesday evening and sit with the girls whilst Gilles and i went out together. I didn't want to go out on a dinner date, i just wanted to go for a nice walk in the sun. Just us (and the dog!).

For years and years, i struggled with intense guilt of leaving the girls with people. I loved the idea initially, but when it came to it, i felt so anxious and would work myself up about it. Looking after them was MY job, so why was i being selfish and leaving them with other people. It took me a long time, and a good talking to by my doctor, to realise that i need time for myself. I need to ask for help more so i don't burn myself out and become even more exhausted. Spending time alone is ok but getting to spend time with one of my most favourite people in the whole world wide is even better! Sunday, we left the girls with Gilles's parents and went on a trip to ikea. I looked forward to it for days and days and couldn't stop telling him how excited i was. I danced our little hearts out in the car and rolled the windows down to catch the breeze without little people saying they were cold, or needed a wee or wanted a drink.Sometimes, i just want to be carefree and be in that moment with my husband without having to think or answer to anything or anyone else.

Wednesday was one of those perfect evenings. We drove to one of my favourite villages and walked along the canal into the next village. We saw rabbits and damsel flies and stood for about 10 minutes infront of a heron statue, trying to work out if it was real or not to figure out it wasn't and the people in their boats must have been having a right laugh at us! I photographed baby ducklings, starlings, the sun light on the water and found wonderful new fields to go for adventures in with the girls. There was the most sweetest canal boat that was selling potted and hanging plants from the side of it and on the path. We are going to go back and buy some very soon.

We have been married for 7 years now and i still get flutters when he kisses me. It is those surprise kisses when you are busy doing something and they grab you and pull you close. I love Gilles more now than i did when we got married. The love keeps growing with every adventure and experience we have together. I love talking with him about growing old. I just know we will be one of those old couples that still holds hands where ever we go!