A Wonderful, Busy Few Months!

These last couple of months have been very busy! Between work, coursework and housework we have had lots of guests and have done lots of visiting people. Dene and I savour our brief time on the sofa together relaxing as it has been rare of late. We are looking forward to our completely free weekend in a couple of weeks, we plan to do nothing but potter around the house together! But we're not complaining, we do love to be busy really and we LOVE spending time with our friends and family. We have had so much fun with so many people through July and the beginning of August. 

So, all of this, is what we have been up to through the last month!

On Saturday we had a lovely day out with Dene's parents, grandparents and brothers and sisters in Cambridge. We went around lots of lovely shops and had a picnic near the river, it was hot and sunny and very very busy! We had a wonderful day.

Yesterday we went to Houghton Mill with our friends from over the road, it was lovely!

We went rowing on the river.

This is the spot where we sat for our little BBQ picnic! It was so beautiful and silent. We watched the boats go by and waved.

Before we left for the river we had a special Sunday breakfast! Pancakes with home made berry compote and natural yoghurt.

This weekend I also spent hours learning how to make a granny square and I finally did it! I'm addicted now, I can't stop making them... I'm thinking I might make a cushion case or blanket out of them.

This is my spot where I sit and crochet, it's lovely because I have a nice view of the trees blowing in the wind out of our front window.

In July we also had a trip out to Suffolk. We explored all of the national trust places in the area. This was at the Guildhall in Lavenham. We would love to live in a village like Lavenham. It was beautiful and so traditional. 

We also visited Beatrix Potter's cousin's home. I stood and looked at all of her original drawings for ages. The detailing is so perfect.

We visited Ickworth also. This was the Butler's sitting room. So lovely.

One day we would love a kitchen with all of this is the corner!

The view of Ickworth from the front. It was rainy but we still enjoyed exploring our beautiful country and it's history.

I was also blessed in July with these lovely flowers from one of the Parents from the Nursery School where I work. They were as a thank you for looking after her little girl. It felt so lovely to be thanked and thought of.

We also went for a Picnic at Wimpole in the Sun. We always love a trip to Wimpole, it's just down the road from us so we are often there on a sunny day.

Dene has been busy making some Sweetcorn Relish. We love it, it goes very quickly in this house.

My parent's and one of my sisters came to visit us

...And we went for lots of dog walks!

I also bought myself some lovely books from our local second hand bookshop.

We found a cow having a dip in the water on a hot day!

We celebrated the re-opening of 'The Folley' at Wimpole with a picnic.

And, we travelled to Dorset to visit my Sister and her lovely little family. This is one of my nieces Neava. (I wanted to take her home with us!)

Through July we also had lots of relaxed weekend lunches in our garden. We love to do this on a sunny day. Dene creates beautiful home made food for us.

After that very long post, I think that is almost everything! (Well, all of the interesting bits). We have had a lovely summer so far. Now that it's nearly over we're doing all that we can to make the most of it. We have had a lovely time visiting family and having guests - and lots more to come!! 

Thank you for reading!

Best Wishes,

Eleanor

x

Looking After My Lovely Nieces

Hello,

Today is rainy and dark but I'm feeling blessed. I have spent the day taking care of my beautiful nieces. One is 6 and one is nearly 2 and they are so sweet. The 6 year old doesn't like having her photo taken so I didn't even try, but the younger one LOVES to see pictures of her self bless her. She giggles when I show her them one my phone and stares at them for ages, scanning the screen with her eyes. She even tries to say her own name when she sees them, it makes me melt! I have had a terrible case of baby fever for a while now and a combination of working in the baby room of a nursery and having lots of young nieces and nephews makes it even stronger! I just love having them in the apartment and taking care of them. We have made collages, done some drawing, eaten lots of toast and watched Cinderella, just perfect for a rainy day!

The younger one napping on me while we watched Cinderella.

Enjoying her cheese savouries while she watches TV!

My toy basket (full of my old childhood toys, ready for when the little ones come round!)

Playing with my Russian Dolls!

Summer is Here

Hello,

As usual we've been ridiculously busy recently, but it's nice to take a break and look back at what we've been up to over the last few weeks. The sun is shining again here and the garden has sprung back into life. We've been doing some moving around in the apartment and redecorating (as much as we can in a rental). We're half way through chalk painting the majority of our mismatched old furniture to make the place look a bit more coordinated and bright. I will be sure to upload pictures when it's all finished.

Our half-finished rocking chair!

A lovely bottle of lemonade that we found at our local farm shop on a summery Saturday.

Sunny days spent doing laundry and housework.

Our green bushy herbs.

Pretty flowers foraged from our garden.

Our herbs, tomato and strawberry plants are growing nicely.

My Birthday Celebrations

Hi!

I'm sorry it has been so long since my last post. Along with birthday celebrations and going on holiday I have been SO busy with my coursework for my childcare apprenticeship qualification and with work itself! But finally I have found a spare pocket of time to sit on the sofa with my laptop and put together all of the lovely things I have been up to over the last few weeks.

Firstly I want to thank everyone for all of the beautiful cards and presents that I received. I feel very lucky to have been treated by so many people and I am very grateful.

On the weekend of my 21st birthday (the 18th and 19th of April) we travelled to Lincolnshire to visit our family. On the Saturday we visited my side and on the Sunday both of our families got together at Dene's family's home. We had a little party with a lovely lunch and we had a great day! Dene even surprised me with a fancy birthday cake, it was beautiful. I felt so lucky.

The lovely lunch prepared by Dene's mum, Michelle.

Dene, his little sister Mary and the beautiful cake he bought me made at the local bakery.

Me ready to blow out the candles with the twins eagerly waiting!

I was given this pretty Cath Kidston letter writing paper that doubles up as it's own envelope. I used these to write my thank you notes to my friends and family.

Dene's family gave me these absolutely beautiful pearl earrings. They are now my favourites!

My mum gave me this sweet little frame full of mini vintage items. I love it and it is pride of place on the window sill.

Along with many other things Dene bought me this ever so pretty opal ring. I have always wanted one so I am very pleased with it.

I was given so many beautiful presents from friends and family along with money for me to choose some things for myself. I always find it so hard to spend money on myself and feel guilty for doing so, but eventually I was convinced to let go and just buy whatever I liked which was alien to me but a lovely extravagant feeling. I went into London for a shopping trip with my best friend Sophie that I have been friends with since we were 5! I mainly bought things that were on sale or massively reduced as I still couldn't force myself to not be scrimping but I got some lovely lovely things for amazing prices.

I got these pretty little hair clips for about £3.

 These beautiful earrings as part of a 3 items for 2 deal. I can't help myself!

A lovely new handbag to replace my current one that is falling apart! (£15 off this one!)

 My first ever watch, can you believe it. I have always wanted one but I am very picky and I have never seen one that I liked, until now! I love the faded floral pattern in the background. So pretty for only £12.

 As part of my birthday present Dene also took me to the Lake District for the week. It was absolutely beautiful and I didn't want to leave! Here are some of our holiday photographs.

We had an amazing time and as you can see we did lots of exploring. We must have visited every National trust property too! 

After a long time away from home I was still happy to be home after an amazing week. This weekend  have been doing some rearranging and I'm feeling very happy with our little home.

Our living room.

Our little study/garden room.

Pretty little bluebells coming through in the garden - this made me very happy!

And finally I had my craft fair last weekend. The fair was very quiet and I didn't sell as many cards as I had hoped but I still enjoyed myself. I met some lovely people, I learnt a lot for next time and I at least covered my basic costs so I didn't loose anything!

Thank you for reading my humongous post!

Lots of love

Eleanor x