I finally caved

I've been a mama for seven years now, which means I've been doing nursery/school runs for just over four years. I've walked to school in heat waves, snow and rain and always worn heels. In fact, I was so well known for my heel wearing phenomena that when I turned up as a parent helper for a school trip to the beach (in wind and rain, as is typical of British summertime) wearing cons, Princess's teacher told me she had to double take as it surely couldn't be me at school without heels.

As a disclaimer I feel I should say that my kids have seen me in flats, cons, flip flops and other such flat footed outerwear but this was a novelty to said teacher. I don't believe in halting fun for fashion especially where my little loves are concerned.

Anyway, back to my stubborness to sack my stilettos. I moved to the farm around 18months ago, and whilst I purchased a quilted jacket (with hood!) I was a long way off from being one of those mums with a parka and wellies for the school run. I mourned the ruin of many a shoe and boot at their sad demise through stone scuffs or mud stains from the crazy shingled driveway, but still I stayed faithful to totter to take the bins out in my kitten heels.

Today, I am one step closer to being at one with the farming lifestyle, to embracing the countryside sludge and to not muttering about yet another pair of shoes the rain had ruined. Because, today ladies and gents, I became the owner of these beauties...

If I must relent to the rain and the mud, I will do so prettily. (I'm not even sure that's absolutely a word, but if Miley Cyrus can get away with 'twerk' then I am so getting away with prettily!)

I don't know whether wellies makes me a sensible grown up or reverts me back to childhood- I had awesome patent red wellies as a child, and LOVED them. I almost want to go suit up the girls and go puddle jumping, but I'm torn between wanting to test them out and keeping them pristine and mud-free...

Bleach burns

A few years ago (Okay, really it was less than a year ago)I walked into a salon and told the unsuspecting colorist to turn my golden locks red, like a lush deep browny red, in anticipation of autumn. She buttered me up telling me how great my skin tone would look as a redhead and got to work with FOUR different colours. FOUR. For the love. I (im)patiently waited for the tints to do their thing and recoiled when the colours were washed off and my super red hair stared back at me. Don't worry, she said, it'll lighten when it's dry, she said.

It didn't lighten. I could have stopped traffic with that pillarbox red tint, but I did what most other britains do at the salon; I smiled, told her I loved it, agreed to model for their website, paid an extortionate fee and went on my pretty little way.

 The red soon faded to a husky pink colour because my previously barbie bleached hair had no clue what was going on and decided not to absorb the colour pigments. The caramel lowlights turned khaki and I was just a walking hair faux pas. I then returned to the salan (three weeks later) with my tail between my legs that I was not destined to be a redhead and that I needed my bleach blonde locks back right now please, thank you, please. She of course obliged, for a price, and worked magic to make me feel like me again. Five hours, four bleach baths and multiple bleach burns later, I bounced out of that salon feeling like me again. I'm not sure whether blondes have more fun, but I do know that they have more colour options when deciding what to wear- turns out red clashed with a tonne of my clothes too! That day I vowed never to tint my hair red ever ever again.

 All that to say, I have shingles. And, a week in, I am still in a lot of discomfort, my head feels like it did the time I underwent four bleach baths in five hours. I can't even brush it without wincing at the pain. I'm on a lot of meds to try and suppress it, which I am so SO grateful for, but I am SO ready for it to be gone. It's the last week of summer break this week and I had plans of school shopping with my little loves and late night trips for ice cream and the such but at present I've been stuck at home in an incubation period until the blisters stop weeping. For the love, it won't just be the blisters weeping if this doesn't clear pretty quickly.

 In other news, I am super thankful that we live in lots of beautiful countryside with no neighbours, as it's meant I've been able to take a stroll with the kiddos to harvest some more blackberries, I'm hoping for enough to make some bramble jelly, but we will see, as a big punnet has already been used to make blackberry and apple pie- an absolute favourite of mine. I've not ventured into the orchard this year yet, so I've no idea how the damson tree or apples are looking. Perhaps that will be my next little outing.

Summer at the farm

I can't believe in a little more than two weeks school will resume and summer will be over. I think it's gone so much quicker this year because it's the first year I've had to work all summer. (Insert sad face here) I totally didn't appreciate how good I had it as a stay at home mammy. Now my head hurts at the thought of trying to juggle childcare, work, nursery placements and the such.

So, here's a quick summer roundup- photo style...

We got a new addition to the smith/jones family- cookie Moët joined us in July. He's such a darling dog who loves bigging more than sofa snuggles!

I got to take this little pumpkin for a staycation at the health club I belong to. She LOVED the one on one time with mama and she LOVED the water!

We visited the beach a couple of times and this little water babe was found looking at the ocean for pretty much the whole time we were there. 

My big girls got their ears pierced! They'd been asking for ages and the summer seemed the perfect time to get them done and allow plenty of healing time before school.

More beach times, making castles, digging and eating chips.

Fun play dates complete with breakfast and Cwtches!

Blackberry picking in the garden. We had two big tubs full of them and more have ripened this week. Blackberry and apple pie anyone?

I'm quite excited about this one. My parents kept the girls (and dog!) for an entire week so that I could get some R&R ...in SPAIN! It was a little slice of heaven. I actually cried one night because I was so grateful to be sat there watching it get dark, realising how blessed I have been by a gracious God.

That, right there was the gala dinner at the hotel. Which just so happened to fall on a new anniversary for me. That veal was ridiculously good, I just can't even begin to put into words what happened when it went in my mouth. But seriously, it was GOOD.

It's no secret I love to get dressed up, and what better reason than a wedding? This one was especially cute as it was a member of the team at church tying the knot. 

I tackled a few small projects in the garden. Including revamping this flower bed with a luck of masonry paint and some flowering lavender. I'm so pleased with the result!

My powder room finally got finished. I especially love the Audrey Hepburn paper and vintage dressing table mirror. 

When I moved to Court Farm, I was a self confessed city girl. I liked nothing better than the buzz of a busy mall, bright lights and the thrill that retail therapy gave me. I liked to be busy and I liked the thought of a city that never sleeps. I was accustomed to hearing traffic and sirens and even the odd drunk group walk annoyingly past our home on a Saturday night, and though I had dreams of bringing up my babies in a nice rural location where they could bird spot and bug hunt, really and truly I believed that kind of drastic change would never suit me, or even fully entice me. Then I visited what would be our new home. And I fell in love. And as I walked the spiral stairs to view the bedrooms, my heart dreamed up scenarios of the little girl I carried in my arms, walking down them in a prom dress and eventually, a wedding gown. And it hit me that I'd viewed houses before, but never a home. And I tried to reason with myself that even thinking that far ahead was crazy... and when that didn't work, I reminded myself that the size and frequency of spider squatters in a farmhouse are insane. Nothing overshadowed how awesome it would be to actually live there though. And last spring we moved in. It was amazing and cold and exciting and did I mention cold? After our cushty warm terraced house with gas central heating, moving to a thick stone walled farmhouse with lots of quirky cross drafts and oil fuelled heating was quite the shock to my system. I won't lie, there were times I missed that old house, because, let's put it this way: I'm not at my best when I'm cold! Then summer came, and as the weeks passed and the weather broke, I learnt new things about my home all of the time. Like the fact there are three different coloured rose bushes in the front garden, there are apple and damson trees in the orchard, and there is no joy quite like making a homemade apple and blackberry tart from home grown apples and blackberries. The girls didn't know themselves during summer break- they had fields to play in and ladybugs to collect and perfume to concoct from rose petals. I physically pinched myself a few times to check it was all real, and I realised that instead of shoe shopping on a Saturday, I found myself home making and sitting in the amazing garden, and appreciating everything about where I was. Don't get me wrong, I wasn't transformed instantly into some country buff, who subscribed to 'home and garden' and only wore dresses that matched her china. But, it started to become clear that maybe just maybe I wasn't as much of a city girl as I originally thought. Perhaps, I was more suited to the simpler and quieter way of life after all. Hear my heart, homegirl still loves a good blow out at the shops, and if some louboutins were to find their way into my hands, I don't think I'd return them. Ha. (However I definitely wouldn't wear them on my driveway- that bad boy has WRECKED my Choo's and so many more shoes besides!)

Moving Date

I have the contract before me, and I'm super excited to say that we move into the house that supersedes our dreams and expectations. We take over Court Farm on April 26th!