My Instagram Week: Double Edition!

Hello friends! We just got back from our holidays today and I thought you might like to see some pictures of what we've been up to. This is a special double edition since I got so many pictures I love when we were at the seaside I wanted to share lots of them with you. The weather wasn't great but we made the most of a sunny day on Tuesday to take baby Joe to the seaside for the first time. All the pictures above are from our afternoon at Lulworth Cove, which is a beautiful little seaside village with a fantastic sheltered beach. As you can probably tell, the pictures above also gave me a chance to try lots of iPhone photo apps for different filters and effects. I am always amazed at the great photos you can take on a phone these days, and since we lost the battery charger for our camera, my phone became our only source for holiday pictures.

1. Lulworth Cove beach
2. Locally caught crabs on sale at the beachside fish shop. We bought freshly caught local plaice and had them for our dinner that night.
3. The fish shop blackboard
4. Me almost getting my feet wet in the sea.
5. You can't go to the seaside without getting an ice-cream cone. I hadn't had mint choc chip for years!
6. The amazing cliffs at Lulworth, which is part of Dorset's Jurassic Coast. The scenery is incredible and there are lots of places to go fossil hunting - I think Joe will love this when he's a bit bigger.
7. The Lulworth Bucket Tree. I have no idea of the story behind this tree but I love it! They have a collection box there to raise money for charity as well.
8. A scallop shell found for me by my two boys.
9. Those same two boys having a paddle in the sea. What a handsome pair!

1. The picturesque village of Corfe Castle. I put this through a miniaturise filter but even in real life it looks like a model village.
2. Corfe Castle, an amazing ruined castle you can visit. We come here every time we are in Dorset, it is so brilliant and atmospheric.
3. Dan and Joe exploring Corfe Castle.
4. It was a rainy day on Wednesday so we took Joe to a soft play centre in Dorchester. He is only little but he loves to climb!
5. Swallows Cottage in Bere Regis, where we were staying.
6. Joe in the ball pool at soft play. It was nice to do something just for him, so we all got to do our favourite things on holiday.
7. On Thursday night we banned TV and laptops, so we listened to Adam and Joe Show podcasts from their old BBC 6 Music show, which never fail to make us cry with laughter, and did this Kings and Queens jigsaw puzzle! It turned into a really funny night and reminded me that it is good to force yourself to have some screen-free quality time together.
8. Joe has started really walking properly in the last few days. This is him in the pub with Dan's Mum, having so much fun walking like a big boy. We left Dorset on Friday and had a few days with Dan's parents, who live in the neighbouring county of Somerset. The pub up the road from them is the Five Dials in Horton. It is really great and family friendly, Joe had lots of fun meeting all the regulars and trying the local cider! They also do great food, including probably the best triple cooked chips I've ever had, I would definitely recommend a visit if you're ever in the area.
9. Milk and Alcohol! (Do you know the Dr Feelgood song?)

We had a wonderful time on our holidays but we were all glad to get home today and back to normal. I have been brainstorming lots of ideas for this blog over the coming months, and am in the process of a move from Blogger to Wordpress. I'm still working on getting to know WP, but I'll let you know once we're ready to make the big transfer. Have you made the move from Blogger to self-hosted WP? I love to hear any tips you might have!

My Week in Instagrams

It's Saturday, no school today, here's what we're gonna do... Look at my Instagrams from this week!

1. Last weekend we had our first night without baby Joe. He stayed at my parents' house and we had Whisky Sours - and a lie in!
2. Croissants for breakfast the morning after, though the most priceless part of this was not having to feed a baby at the same time.
3. With cocktails, you need nibbles for a real party.
4. Last Sunday it was Dan's Grandad's 90th birthday so we drove down to south east London on Sunday. This is the view as you go into the Blackwall Tunnel, which takes you under the River Thames and into South London, where both Dan and my families originally came from.
5. The view from bed on a sunny day.
6. Dan and I managed to get a coffee date just the two of us this week as well, so lucky!
7. All the blossom's on the cherry trees this week, so pretty.
8. Dan is an amazing baker - I might try and get him to do some guest posts on his bread some time - and this is the type of bread he makes for our family just for every day. I don't know how I managed to get so lucky with my wonderful man, he's the best!
9. I saw these pretty forget-me-nots on a walk yesterday, I love that sweet blue shade.

So there we go, a visual guide to the last week as I saw it. I hope yours was wonderful and that you have a great weekend planned. Rain, rain, go away!

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,

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!)

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!

The Found Alphabet: A

I love having little iPhone photography projects, I feel like they make me keep my eyes open and look more closely at the beautiful small things in every day life. My latest project - I only started it today! - is called The Found Alphabet. I am challenging myself to find every letter of the alphabet from A to Z in my travels. I will also post these letters on Instagram and Twitter with the hashtag #foundalphabet if you would like to join in!

Here is the first letter of my alphabet, A, which is also the first letter of my name, hooray! I found it on a metal label on a telegraph pole on the way to playgroup with baby Joe this morning. I loved the functional look of punched and embossed metal labels.

I hope this post inspires you to keep an eye out for the little details that make life interesting this week.

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,