An Attitude of Gratitude

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I have been thinking a lot recently about how lucky I am. I know it sounds a little cheesy but I often find myself thinking about this recently. I feel like at the moment my life is so lovely I can't quite believe it, and sometimes find myself thinking "surely no-one gets to be this lucky, something must go wrong some time soon".

I know this is a crazy way to think and it is mad to find something to worry about even when things are so good, but in the mean time I think it never hurts to appreciate what you have: I am young(ish!!), strong and healthy, I have a wonderful husband who I love very much, a beautiful little baby who was concieved without any trouble or stress, a nice house to live in in an area we came to live in quite by chance but absolutely love. I have a fantastic family who mostly live relatively nearby and parents who help us so much with baby Joe, babysitting and looking after him so Dan and I can get some time to ourselves. Because Dan works from home, it means we get to spend tonnes of time together as a family, and I don't have to deal with the loneliness and isolation that lots of stay-at-home mums do. Dan helps me so much with Joe, which is great for me and great for their relationship. A few years ago I could never have believed that I would be where I am now. Somehow I have managed to get everything I ever wanted. Now if that's not a very lovely and fortunate life, I don't know what is.

Lots of people don't have half as much as we do, and plenty of people who are richer in financial terms wish they had the time and happy family situation that we have. Sometimes when we visit friends with larger houses and fancier holidays than we have it is easy to wish we were wealthier and had more, but we are so amazingly rich in time instead, and most of the people I know with more money than us have paid for it in the time they have. I don't mean to sound pollyanna-ish about things, I am very aware that these are tough times for many many people, but there is so much to be grateful for, and it is all too easy to lose sight of the good things we have.

I hope this doesn't come across as horribly smug, I really don't mean it to. One of the things I was always sure about from the outset of starting this blog is that I really want it to be positive, optimistic, creative and inspiring. This doesn't mean that in real life I am always positive or optimistic - anyone who knows me will tell you I can be as cynical and pessimistic as the next person, but that isn't something I want to put my time and energy into sharing or developing, and it isn't something I imagine many people would rush to read.

I think that cynicism and negativity are often falsely perceived as cleverer and more intellectual ways to see the world, with the idea that the optimist is simply naive and doesn't perceive the problems an pessimist can see. I don't mean to blow my own trumpet, but I am an intelligent person with a degree from one of the UKs top universities and I really strongly disagree with this idea: I find it is much more challenging to work on being positive and constructive than picking holes in things and moaning. These are often just the lazy alternative to trying to really do something, or risking failure or ridicule (which, as Adam Ant taught us, is nothing to be scared of!). In writing this blog, I am trying to work on living the most interesting life I can and being more positive, more inspired and more creative. If I can help other people do the same by sharing what I know and do then that is a wonderful thought.

This is a different kind of post to the ones I usually post, though don't worry, there will still be pretty pictures and cheerful chat again soon! I hope that maybe this post will inspire you to look at the little (and big) things you have in your life to be grateful for. And if you are currently feeling that you don't have much to be thankful for at the moment, then I hope things turn around for you soon.

My Week In Instagrams

1. Last weekend we took baby Joe to the farm shop near us, he loved seeing the chickens and rabbits they have there. It is such a great place to shop since you drive through the fields where most of their fruit and veg is grown to get to the shop. This pretty pink rhubarb caught my eye, it's one of my favourites.
2. We bought a bargain bag of carrots so I made these delicious carrot cup cakes -anything tastes great when you put cream cheese icing on top of it! The recipe is from Nigella Lawson's How To Be A Domestic Goddess if you'd like to try making them yourself.
3. I drank some of our sloe gin from last autumn with tonic and a slice of lime, delicious! I posted about how to make sole gin a while ago, read up now and get prepared for this autumn's sloe harvest.
4. Easter weekend was last weekend. This is all that remains of my chocolate bunny...
5. I love this sweet sewing box I got from an Oxfam shop in St Albans this week.
6. I met my sister for soup, sandwiches, and exciting chat about working together on some projects for this blog.
7. I was inspired by Emma who writes at Food Coma and A Beautiful Mess and posted recently about her green smoothie challenge. I tried one out myself, made with fresh spinach, frozen banana and pineapple. 
8. On Friday we took a trip to the museum in Tring. It is part of the Natural History Museum (whose main museum is in London) and its full of stuffed animals. It is an amazing place to take children: here is Joe meeting a tiger.
9. I love the pretty pastels that are so fashionable this spring. I thought I would try updating my look (!!!) with these sweet nail varnishes - a flash of fresh colour is always welcome!

So that's what my week looked like this week - very pink and green! I hope you had a great and colourful week too. Have a wonderful weekend,

I Am Currently...

Obsessing over: Ways to tweak and improve this blog! I am so enjoying working on my blog and trying to make it the best it can be, but it seems like painting the Forth Bridge sometimes. I will have little phases of concentrating on a certain area - building Twitter followers, working on design, photography, post ideas, or building links with other bloggers - and inevitably it means that at the same time some other area of blogging is getting neglected. But on the other hand this blog's only a little baby really, I've only been working on it a couple of months so of course it will take a while to work out the best ways of doing things!

Working on: Trying to find a balance between being a good mummy and having enough time for myself (think this may be an ongoing problem...!). Everyone warns you about the guilt you feel as a mum, and its true, it can be hard to look after a baby all day, but when you get time off it can be almost as hard trying not to feel like you shouldn't be having time off. It is very strange to go from having worked in a job full time ever since graduating to being a full time mum. Looking after a baby is hard and tiring in a while different way, and it is a job you can't leave at the end of the day. I know that actually having a bit of time to myself helps me be a good mum, and gives other members of my family a chance to build their own relationships with baby Joe, but it is a challenge to leave the guilt behind sometimes.

Thinking about: How to manage my time to get everything done and give enough time to all the people I love. It is definitely a challenge, but I think I need to be stricter about the times I spend with friends and family, the time I give to working on this blog and the time I keep for myself (if there's any left!). I think giving myself clear blocks of time to work on the blog might help to stop me spending too much of my family time on the laptop. And I want enough time away from the computer to work on creative projects so I have interesting stuff to blog about! I am thinking I will have a couple of sessions a week where I take my laptop to a local coffee shop with free WiFi and work really hard on this site without any distractions, and then make sure I have some dedicated time where I put away my laptop and smart phone and have quality time with my boys too.

Anticipating: Our family holiday to Dorset at the end of this month. We are going down to the family cottage (where we spent our honeymoon). We can't wait, last time we went was nearly a year ago and Joe was only a couple of months old, this time we'll be able to have so much fun with him, playing i the garden and going to the seaside. We might even take him to Monkey World (have you been there? Its THE BEST!)


Listening to: I've been trying to keep my energy levels up and get lots of housework done by playing some 80s funk and soul, I was loving a bit of Chaka Khan recently!

Eating: The last of my Easter chocolate - its too hard to leave it alone! Think this week will be a bit of a mini detox - I felt really inspired by Emma's post on A Beautiful Mess yesterday about her 5 Day Green Smoothie Challenge, think I might get back into making breakfast smoothies, so fresh and healthy for first thing!

Wishing: I hadn't just eaten that chocolate! And that we get some sunny weather again this week, I was just getting used to the sunshine when it turned grey again. Rain, rain, go away...

A little insight into my current state of mind - clearly a few themes come through there! What are you currently up to?

PS: A confession: this is not an original post idea! I have been inspired by Dani's Currently post on her great blog Sometimes Sweet. She mentioned in her post that she was happy for other people to do their own Currently posts and I felt really inspired by her post to do just that! Please do head over and check out Sometimes Sweet, it's a lovely read.

My Week In Instagrams

1. Baby Joe and I were out early last Sunday, the supermarket car park was a ghost town, we felt like the only ones up and out!
2. How pretty are these pins I found at my Mum's?
3. We've all had a horrible cold all this week so we've been trying to self medicate with a hot toddy every evening!
4. Easter nest cakes go with Easter week like love and marriage, or a horse and carriage. Yum.
5. The main thing.
6. I went on a lovely trip to London this week, without baby Joe! Look at this totally dreamy window display at Laduree.
7. The main purpose of the trip was to see the David Hockney exhibition at the Royal Academy, which closes this week. I'm not sure if you're really allowed to take photos in there but I sneaked this one!
8. Lovely cotton prints at Liberty. If you've never been to Liberty before, I absolutely recommend it. It is the most beautiful shop in the world and sells so many pretty things, it is a London must see.
9. We took a trip to see our friends for Sunday lunch. I love how the combination of sunny weather and those clever Instagram filters can make a drive on the M1 look like a California road trip!

That's how my week looked this week. How was yours? I hope it was fantastic and that you have a wonderful Easter weekend (or Passover. Or just Bank Holiday!)

Old Friends Are Gold

Happy Friday, we survived another week! I hope it was a good one for you. As you may already know, I like to post a quotation on a Friday to give you (and me!) a little weekend inspiration. I thought this week as well as giving you a little quotation about friendship I would also dedicate this post to my dear friend Rosie. Rosie and I have been friends since school, which means we have known each other for coming close to (whisper it!) 20 years. That's a lot of tears, laughter, embarrassing stories, breakups, weddings, birthdays and babies.

She has two boys under the age of three (and a husband, and a dog!). Her youngest boy is almost exactly the same age as baby Joe - it was so fun being pregnant together last year, and has been invaluable to share the experience of our babies' first year since then, and now we are not only fellow mummies but blogging partners in crime too!

 Rosie is one of those people who really doesn't realise how amazing they are. She got a FIRST (wowza!) in business at university, then trained and worked as a professional florist, then a youth worker and now she is running an Etsy business as Rosie and The Boys selling her her paper cut artwork. As you can see from these photos, her designs are so beautiful and intricate, I really love them and am in awe of her talent and determination in developing her business and her blog.

One of the advantages of having a florist for one of your best friends is that when you get married they offer to do the flowers for you! At least, if they are Rosie they do... I absolutely loved my wedding bouquet and we had so much fun going to the flower markets early in the morning and buying all the flowers. Rosie went the extra mile gathering cow parsley from the hedgerows and honeysuckle from her own garden for the bouquets. The end result was totally dreamy and exactly what I had hoped for.

Rosie works harder than I think I would be capable of, while also raising her two adorable sons. She gives so much to her friends and family, is involved in her local community, and is one of the most moral and honourable people I have ever met. No-one deserves success in business (and life) more than her. I love the fact that I can use this blog to share Rosie's work with you, and hopefully get her wider recognition. If you would like to find out more, then hop straight on over to her blog, her Etsy shop, her Twitter account or her Facebook page. I also think it is always worth taking a moment to remember the value of true friendship, it really is rare, and precious when you find it, and something to treasure.

Have a great weekend!


PS. Not sure who originally came up with the Silver and Gold quotation, do you know?

Four Things: Songs That Remind Me Of My Sweetheart

This week's Four Things is another musical one - I didn't particularly conceive it as a music feature but hey, when the mood takes you you might as well go with it! These are four songs that remind me of my darling husband Dan. We are just coming up for our second wedding anniversary, and will have been together five years altogether this August. When I put it like that it doesn't sound long enough to have done everything that has happened - move house, get married, have a baby - but time is a funny old thing...  I am trying out a new experiment here to add playlists to my blog, hopefully this will allow you to actually hear the songs I'm talking about, and maybe even discover a new favourite of your own! Please leave a comment if this doesn't work for you, its all new to me!

1. P.P. Arnold, "The First Cut Is The Deepest": One of our first dates was when Dan took me to see P.P. Arnold at the Jazz Cafe in London. He is a big mod fan and P.P.'s association with the Small Faces makes her a mod legend. This was a great night, and PP Arnold always reminds me of the early, exciting days of our relationship.

2. Fleetwood Mac, "Need our Love So Bad": Our first dance at our wedding. I think Dan had had this picked out in his head for ages, he was always very sure that he wanted this song for our first dance. My Dad is also a huge fan of Peter Green's Fleetwood Mac so this song reminds me of lots of people I love and lots of happy times. I posted a while ago about the frames we got so that we could display the 7" single of this song on the wall.

3. McAlmont and Butler, "Yes": A real nineties classic here. This song isn't related to a particular occasion, it is just one of Dan's favourite songs, which makes him happy every time it comes on the radio. I can't hear the introduction to "Yes" without also hearing Dan saying "I LOVE this song!" and picturing his smiling face.

4. Flight of the Conchords "If You're Into It": Flight of the Conchords also played an integral part in our early relationship. It was one of the series' that we both loved and I can remember watching this video on YouTube while talking on the phone to Dan (he lived in Somerset, I lived in Hertfordshire at the time so we spent a lot of time on the phone). You can get the full experience by watching the video here. Dan had been in a mission to get tickets whenever FOTC played in London, and he always seemed to be hearing rumours on the internet about it. We did finally get to see them two weeks before our wedding and they were fantastic and so so funny, it was an amazing night (AND we saw Jonathan Ross and his family sitting not far from us, eeek!)

There are lots of others I could add that remind me of Dan - I have told him I might let him do a guest post and pick his own favourites some time. What songs remind you of your sweetheart?

My Week In Instagrams

1. The weather has been so great this week, it feels like spring has really arrived. The sunshine is so good for your mood and its been lovely to spend so much time outdoors.
2. We planted a load of seeds for our vegetable patch this week, I'll keep you updated about how they get on.
3. My lovely husband bought a big bag of onions for £1 and made them into tasty onion marmalade.
4. I saw these abandoned shoes on the street. They are so intriguing!
5. Friday night is always home made pizza night in our house. I'll post more about how we make our pizzas next week.
6. Yellow is my favourite colour, and I love the contrast of these blossoms against the clear blue sky.
7. We made pesto from the wild garlic we picked in the woods. It is great with pasta or on pizzas. I'll post about this recipe soon too!
8. Its been sunglasses weather all week, hooray!
9. How pretty are these anemones? I went for dinner at my friend's house on Wednesday and she had them in vase, the are one of my favourite flowers.

That's how the last week looked for me. How was your week? Good I hope. I hear the weather's going to get colder again next week, but I'll try not to let it let me down. Have a great weekend!

My Week In Instagrams

1. I made chocolate chip banana bread. I'll have to share the recipe for this some time, it's so delicious.

2. The primroses came out outside our front door. It feels like spring is really here now.

3. We bought some apple juice made from apples from the orchards at Shenley Park. We had this on the tables at our wedding reception.

4. I listened to some tapes from the 90s!

5. I saw this lovely mosaic in a garden wall near where my parents live.

6. All the flowers are blooming in the sunshine this week, we've had great weather.

7. This is one of my favourite views in the world, the view from the landing window at my parents' house.

8. On Sunday we went back to Shenley Park, where we had our wedding reception. The walled garden there is so beautiful, we were really lucky to find it.

9. My Mum knitted this beautiful blanket.

That's what my week looked like this week. I hope you had a good one too! Have a great weekend,

A Walk In The Woods

Yesterday we went for a walk in the woods near our house. I love the spring time when everything is green and budding. We went hunting for wild garlic, or ramsons, which are just in season now. They grow all over the woods, whole carpets of them along with the bluebells which will be coming out soon. They are easy to find because or their strong smell! We picked lots of ramsons, and had a lovely walk as well, with lots of chances for photography practice. Baby Joe had so much fun in the baby carrier, he loves being up high with the grown ups!

I'll share our ramson recipes with you soon, just as soon as we have made them!

Our Dorset Honeymoon

I thought it would be nice to share some photos from our lovely honeymoon with you. We went to Dorset for our honeymoon mainly because my grandma owns a cottage there where we could stay for free. Since we were doing our wedding on quite a tight budget, we didn't have much money to spend on going somewhere exotic, and we have always loved staying at the cottage. I have been going on holiday there since I was a few weeks old so it has a very special place in my heart.

Although our honeymoon location was based on necessity as much as choice, we had the most wonderful two weeks and if we could do it all again with more money, I wouldn't change a thing. Partly this is because holidays in the UK always remind you what a beautiful, amazing country we live in and how much there is to discover practically on your doorstep. But another thing I hadn't considered was that we were exhausted by the time our wedding was over, and it was the best thing to be going on a honeymoon we could drive to. We could travel whenever we liked, in our own car, we didn't have to worry about being anywhere on time, we were there door to door in 3 hours or so, and we didn't have to think about vaccinations, time differences and airport transfers. And the advantage of going somewhere you've been before is that you can really relax because you don't feel you have to rush around seeing every sight there is to see just in case its the only time you're there.

We had the most relaxing time ever just pottering around, making nice dinners, reading our books in the garden and sleeping about 12 hours a night, total bliss! As with so much to do with getting married, it is easy to get sucked into feeling like you have to make your honeymoon a spectacular trip of a lifetime, but after our wedding, what we both needed was a rest and time to recover from all the stress and hard work that we'd put into the day. Keeping our honeymoon domestic gave us so much more flexibility and less stress, and the fact that it was cheap seemed almost incidental. If you are currently planning your wedding I would definitely recommend you consider making your honeymoon a little more local - there are plenty of chances to go on big trips, but straight after the busiest day of your life might not actually be the time you most want to head off half way around the world.

Incidentally, the cottage in Bere Regis is available to rent if you would like to stay there, maybe even for your own honeymoon. You can see more pictures and book online on holidaylettings.co.uk

Where did you go on honeymoon? Was it near or far, familiar or new? I hope you had a wonderful time wherever you went.



PS. Want to download this sweet font for free? It's The Only Exception from Dafont

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My Week in Instagrams

What I did this week:

1. Saw some beautiful blossoms illuminated in the street light.

2. Baby Joe got his first party bag.

3. I celebrated my second Mother's Day and got this fabulous Rob Ryan book.

4. My Mum gave me a new T shirt from Gap sale. I love the print.

5. It was my Dad's 60th birthday.

6. I wore a nice cardigan (!). I loved this pattern clash between the retro floral T shirt (a charity shop bargain bought this week for £2.25!) and my Sarah Lund style snowflake cardi. I'm resolving to get braver about outfit posts - and self-portraits!

7. The adapter arrived for the macro/wide angle lens I bought and I had fun testing them out with Joe in the garden. I'm sure these will be featuring in future blog photos!

8. We ate muffins for breakfast.

9. My lovely husband made a pork pie birthday cake for my Dad. Doesn't it look great with the candle!

I hope you had a great week whatever you got up to, and are enjoying a relaxing Mother's Day today.

Collect Champagne Corks

I thought it would be fun to share with you some of my little collections over the next few weeks. I love collecting things, and have all sorts of little collections on the go. It gives me some focus when I am shopping at charity shops and car boot sales, and collections can make great displays for your home.

I thought I would start with my collection of corks. I know this sounds completely tedious, but they are not just any old corks! I like to keep champagne corks from any time we have a special occasion - a wedding, a birthday, New Year's Eve, a new baby. I write on the cork to remind me when it was from and keep them in this great vintage tin. Looking through reminds me of so many special times gone by. It may be unusual but I love my cork collection!

What do you keep? How do you store and display your collections?

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A 60th Birthday Surprise

Hello! We made it, another weekend has come round, phew! I hope you've had a great week this week, and you've been busy with interesting things.

This week I have been working really hard on a special project my sisters and I have been working on for our Dad's 60th birthday next week. We are making him a photo book based around music, which has always been one of his greatest loves in life. As long as I can remember my Dad made compilation tapes, for each year's family holiday, for weddings, for birthdays, for each of us girls whenever we went away by ourselves. We asked his friends and family to send us photos of them and dad, and to pick a song that reminds them of him. They also sent us a message to include.

My youngest sister, Rosie, has been responsible for dealing with all the correspondence, and then this last week I have been laying out the book pages, adding extra images and song lyrics. Its been a great project to work on, reading all the wonderful messages for my lovely Dad and seeing all the old photos. As always I should really have started work on it earlier, and I wanted to get it ordered by Friday so it would get here in time (hopefully) so the last few days have been a bit stressful trying to get it done while not neglecting my baby too much! 

I'm so pleased with how it looks and I know it will all be worth it to see his reaction to the book this time next weekend - its so exciting! We are also making a compilation CD of all the tracks that people have chosen and that will be added to the book too. I thought I would also add a CD with all the digital photos that we've used in the book, since there are some that Dad doesn't have. On the last page I added these lyrics from "The End" by The Beatles, his favourite band. I thought this was a great sentiment to sum up the spirit of the whole book, which is just bursting with a lifetime of love and friendship. I hope in another 30 years I will be as well loved and highly regarded as my Dad.

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PS. I got most of the extra images I used on this project from Fuzzimo, an absolute treasure trove of free digital resources.

This Time Last Year

Happy weekend friends!

This is a big weekend for us because baby Joe turns one tomorrow. It is so strange thinking back to what was happening a year ago this weekend, it was the strangest day ever for me and Mr Cardigan. Everyone warns you that having a baby turns your life upside down but you can't know until it happens - by which time it is too late! We have had some of the hardest times I've ever known in the last year but also some of the happiest and most amazing times, and I wouldn't change it for the world. I love my little family!

What are you up to this weekend? Have a wonderful time whatever you're doing.

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On not saving things for best

Let me introduce you to my brogues. Aren't they lovely? I bought them around my birthday in September last year, but I am ashamed to say that yesterday was the first time I have worn them out. This is no reflection of how much I love them. They make me feel like I am skipping between The Great Gatsby and Jeeves and Wooster.

The thing was, I never felt I had the right outfit to put them with. They were too good for every day, and really I probably needed to buy some new clothes to go with them. So they have lived in the cupboard until now. And then, getting dressed to go to a play group yesterday, I just thought "I want to put together and outfit and feel like myself again". Since having a baby I have paid very little attention to my appearance. Before I used to enjoy putting together outfits and colours, and I loved the confidence boost of feeling you're looking good. But with a baby comes a lack of sleep, lack of energy, the post baby body, the mess and lack of time, and before you know it you're in stretchy trousers every day and going out in your slippers.

It made a huge difference to put these brogues on yesterday, just with my normal jeans, and style up my cardigan with a wide elastic belt on top. I felt like my old, pre-baby self was waking up again for the spring. And I thought "If I wait for the perfect occasion to wear these shoes, I'll never wear them". Sometimes you have to take the plunge and realise that if you save things for special, you'll never use them, and if you wear special things on ordinary days they can make normal life feel that little bit brighter.

So, this weekend, why not get out something from the back of your wardrobe and let it play in the sunshine: Life is too short not to wear your good shoes!



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What's In My... Bathroom Cabinet?

Hello!

I hope you are having a good week, and if you aren't then at least you can be pleased that we've made it half way through the week now! The idea of this post came out of me wanting to post about beauty products I love. This isn't a sponsored post, no one is paying me to recommend or review anything, I just thought that you might find it useful to know which products I love. I have put many years of research into finding the products that work for me, read lots of websites, tried lots of products, and these are the ones I use most and love best. I hope you find it useful, or at least interesting to have a nose around my bathroom cabinet!

1. Gaviscon. This is left over from when I was pregnant! I suffered a lot with heartburn, which I found really miserable and uncomfortable. Gaviscon was definitely the best thing I found for it, and by the end I was swigging it straight from the bottle! I didn't realise until quite late on that if you ask your midwife you can get Gaviscon free on prescription while you are pregnant so I am always trying to spread the word to other pregnant ladies - know your rights and use them!

2. Vintage china flower basket and earthenware jar.
I was really pleased that these two charity shop finds found such convenient uses. I bought the flower basket because I loved the colour and shape, and that semi-matte glaze that ceramics from this period have. It makes such a pretty container for cotton wool pads. The little earthenware jar is really small and was part of a collection of bits and pieces someone had dug up and donated to a charity shop apparently uncleaned! I was looking for somewhere to keep my cotton buds and suddenly it occurred to me that this sweet little pot was the perfect size. I can also hook my tweezers over the side and stick my nail clippers in there. Although I can't tell you where to get your own, you can keep an eye out for unusual vintage containers to house mundane daily objects, and make your daily life a little more beautiful!


3. My perfumes.
I spent years trying out what must have been thousands of perfumes in department stores and duty free airport shops. Fragrance is such a personal, individual thing and I found it SO hard to find perfumes I really loved (and so easy to spray myself with 15 at a time that I hated!). I am not a fan of anything too flowery, too sweet, fruity or overpowering. I like perfumes that are quite fresh, with no hint of vanilla, fruit, chocolate or any of those sweet smells that seem to be used in lots of fragrances. The three I have here are all ones I love and never tire of. I know it is sort of pointless to try and describe smell in words, but if you haven't tried any of these, look out for them and give them a try the next time you're in a perfume department.

For classic ladylike occasions, I go for Chanel No. 5. This is of course a very famous and well known fragrance, and I think at first I was attracted by the Marilyn Monroe association it has, but I really do love it. It is obviously a classic for a reason. Incidentally, I always use the eau de toilette rather than the eau de parfum version since it is cheaper, but I have heard that they also smell subtly different so its worth checking. While this is a perfume that has been around for a long time, I don't find it old-ladyish at all, but modern and sophisticated. Wearing it makes me feel like a grown up woman.

For smart daytime use, I wear Hermes Eau de Merveilles eau de toilette. This is such a beautiful, unusual fragrance which I have had many complements about. I have read about it described as having a smell of salt and the sea, and it is as bracing and fresh as a sea breeze. I really can't think of another fragrance I tried that was anything like it, and can't recommend it highly enough.

For every day, I have recently started wearing The Sanctuary. I was given a really generous gift set by someone who knows how much I love the smell of their bath and body products (try their salt scrub, it is my absolute fave!). I wouldn't have thought to buy their Classic EDT fragrance but since trying it, I would definitely get it again. I find it smells fresh and clean, even on days where due to a demanding baby I haven't got a shower! It is also cheaper than the other two, hence why I think of it as an every day perfume.

4. Epson salts.
Have you ever tried adding Epson salts to your bath? They are meant to relax tired muscles, soften and detoxify your skin, and beat bloating. I am not making any medical claims for them here, but when I am tired and aching, or wanting to rid myself of water retention, I add a couple of handfuls of Epson Salts to my bath. They are easy to find in any pharmacy, and cheap too.


5. Liz Earle Skin Repair moisturiser.
Like with the perfumes, I have tried out so many moisturisers in the past, from all points on the price spectrum and this is the one I come back to. It is natural, gentle, non-greasy and effective at moisturising my erratic combination skin without leaving me greasy and shiny. My only wish is that it had an SPF, but that aside, it is my perfect day cream, and at least no SPF means you can use it at night too. I haven't yet found a Liz Earle product I don't like, and they always score highly in magazine polls. Do try them out - the Cleanse and Polish cleanser is legendary!

6. Spiezia Organics Organic Facial Cleanser
I am by no means strict about using organic beauty products, but this with this cleanser is is almost just an added bonus. It is one of those Eve Lom type oil-based cleansing balms that you remove with a muslin cloth. I find it a really effective cleanser and the oily consistency doesn't make my skin greasy, but means it doesn't have that tight stripped feeling some rinse off cleansers can give you. The main thing I love about this product though is the amazing fragrance. It is based on olive oil and scented essential oils and I couldn't tell you which of them makes me love this smell, but it is fresh and green smelling, with no hint of the lingering hippy shop smell that some essential oil based products can have.

7. Clarins Beauty Flash Balm and Dermalogica Total Eye Care
My secret weapons! Beauty Flash balm is such a cult classic product that it hardly needs any introduction, but I wanted to mention it her because one of my best friends gave me this tube as a new baby gift, along with some lovely bubble bath. This seemed like such a perfect gift for that time, when you are getting lots of presents for the baby, and not looking your best. It is a perfect product for freshening up your face when you have only had a couple of hours sleep but still have to face the world. The Dermalogica eye cream is less well known, but just as good. I am surprised there aren't more similar eye creams on the market since it is a great multi-tasker. What I like is that not only does it have a brightening peachy tint and caring ingredients, but also a gentle SPF to protect the eye area as well. To me it is like a combination of a normal eye cream and a brightening/concealing product, and another must have for baggy-eyed mornings.

What's in your bathroom cabinet? What are your hero products, favourite fragrances and everyday classics? Have a fragrant Wednesday!


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My Wedding: The Rings

Hi friend!

One thing I wanted to share with you over the coming weeks was some details from my wedding. It was back in 2010 - our two year anniversary is coming up in May! When I was planning our wedding I had a very small budget and a short time frame (engaged at Christmas, married in May) so I was always looking for help and tips! I loved reading wedding blogs and sites to get inspiration, and I thought some of you might find it useful to know what I did and what I learned.

The first step after we got engaged was to buy an engagement ring. I knew I wanted a vintage ring, and while Dan insisted he wanted to pay fir it himself, I didn't want him to spend more than he could afford.  So, we went to one of my favourite local shops, the Ampthill Antiques Emporium. This place is a real treasure trove. I tried on a few rings, which was SO exciting, since we'd only got engages the night before! We picked out this ring together. It is a diamond with gold and platinum setting, and it fit me perfectly without any adjustments. I think sometimes you have to pay attention to these signs! I don't think it is super old, but I love the sparkle of the diamond, and the old fashioned style. It was priced at £95, I don't mind telling you, and the shop knocked off £5 for cash! I love my ring and remembering that special Christmas Eve when we bought it, and I love that it wasn't new or expensive. My top tip to you would be to look out for a second hand engagement ring in junk shops, antique shops and charity shops. For me, it was really important that the ring felt like us, and it is not our style to spend lots of money we don't have on fancy bling.

My wedding ring is a family ring that belonged to my Dad's grandma, and was passed down from his mum. Again, this one fit me exactly with no adjustment, and I love the fact that it is an antique and a family heirloom. I hope I will be able to pass both these rings on down my family tree one day, and love to imagine the life they must have had before me - and after! It is always worth asking in your family if there are any rings that you could use, it is surprising how often older relatives have family jewellery they have inherited tucked away in boxes and drawers, and they are usually really pleased to think these things can have a new life and mark a new marriage.

What is the story of your wedding rings? What do you think of buying them second hand?

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Quotation of the week: Episode 2

Happy Friday dear Cardiganeers!

So, the second in our weekly series, "Quotation of the Week", giving you a little brain food to take into the coming weekend. Did you have a good week? Did you drag yourself through it, always keeping the weekend in sight? Well if you had a bad week the good news is, its almost over! Keep on trucking, it'll be 6 o clock before you know it and you can have a little sit down and maybe a cocktail. I hope you have a wonderful weekend planned. I can't think of exactly what mine has in store at the moment, except that it better contain the drop scones I shared with you last weekend, or else Mr Cardigan will be recieving a strongly worded letter of complaint...


I love this quotation because I am someone who struggles to make decisions and agonises over the multitude of choices we have in modern life these days. So, my message of the week is, stop dithering and pick something! Mostly this is a message from me to me, but I hope it might help you if you are stuck in the mud of decision-making hell. Remember, it is better to go with one option that to waste all your time trying to choose.


Have a fabulous and decisive weekend!




PS. I designed and laid this quotation out myself but I originally found it on Pinterest here. I love discovering new fonts and am always on the lookout for handsome free fonts to download. The one I use here is called Rosecube, I found it on The Homemade Home and you can get it on Dafont.

Cardigan of the week: Valentines Special

Hello!

Did you have a fabulous Valentine's Day yesterday? I hope you were feeling the love, whether you are married, dating or single.

Since it was Valentine's Day yesterday I've found you a romantic cardigan of the week which could also be an easy customisation project for a cardigan you already have. Changing the buttons and adding shaped pockets can give any cardigan a handmade feel and is easy to achieve in an evening. If you don't want to do it yourself, you can buy this supercute cardi from ASOS instead. The thing I like about this cardigan is that the heart button detail is subtle enough to add a little romance to every day.

Have a great day!

Amy Xxx

Putting the Sun in Sunday

Morning lovelies,

I thought I would just quickly share with you one of our Sunday traditions here in the Cardigan household - or sometimes a Saturday tradition as well! Since having a baby nearly a year ago, I have found I am always looking to start family traditions that my little boy will grow up with, both for special occasion days but also for ordinary days too. For a few years now, Friday has been homemade pizza night in our house, and I can't wait till little Joe is old enough to pick out his favourite toppings for his own pizza. It is really nice to build in these little treats and markers each week, giving us things to look forward to and a shape to our family life.

Drop Scones on a Sunday Morning

For the last few months our weekend breakfast has been the wholemeal dropscones featured in the River Cottage Everyday book. This is a great book that we use all the time, since, as the name suggests, it has lots of everyday recipes (as opposed to those equally lovely recipe books with lots of dinner party type recipes that are great to use but don't tend to be the ones that end up with wrinkled pages and food splatters from repeated use). Don't be put off by the thought of wholemeal flour, they are so delicious and not at all worthy.

We add sultanas to ours as they cook and serve them with a little bit of salted butter - I think this pretty much negates the health benefits of the wholemeal flour! We usually listen to Cerys Matthews on BBC 6 Music while we are eating them. Here is a picture of the last of our pancakes this morning, along with Mr Cardigan's espresso in the background from my NEW COFFEE MACHINE! My love for the coffee machine is probably the subject of a whole other blog post...

If you would like to make these drop scones you can find the recipe on the River Cottage website or in the original book which you can find on Amazon (and all over the place in shops as well). I have to say, I also have a great affection for this book since my husband bought me an autographed copy for my birthday!

What are your favourite and most used cookery books? And do you have your own family weekend traditions?

Enjoy your Sunday,

Love

Amy Xxx

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