home
/I'm posting again today with the lovely Aly, this month on the oh-so-important topic of home. I've been thinking a lot about home recently. I really like it there. Deep down I'm really quite the introvert. I recently confessed to my husband that I still feel totally out of place and uncomfortable in bars, especially the ones frequented by the trendy folk in town. I've never felt like I wear the right thing or have a cool enough hair do. Plus I'm really small and that just never helps in social situations in my experience! So when he asked me where I felt like I did fit in, the answer that fell out without so much as a thought was home.
Which in turn led me to think about what I like so much about home and why I feel so good there. It didn't take me long to work out that my home is the one place that truly reflects all of who I am. There is so much of me in the way our home is organised and decorated and I love pretty much all of it. Nothing makes me happier than poring over home design books and magazines and then taking the best of what I've seen and using it to fit our family's needs and tastes. Our house is to me the equivalent of the coolest outfit a girl can throw together (I can't throw an outfit together for love nor money and am incredibly envious of my friends who can!) So I thought I'd share a little of what I love about home with you today.
wedding photo, cricket balls, war plane models and candle holders - I LOVE this combination!
football books and annuals with a permanent audience of minifigures...and a pirate sticker for good measure
this would be my shelf! interior design and craft books and just a smidgin of scrapbook for good measure
I love this view of our lounge with its colours and textures - it's the view that lets me relax and know I'm home when I come in from work.
I'd be pretty surprised to find a fossil in a rock alongside a lantern and a Lego Titanic on anyone else's fireplace - do tell me if I'm wrong!
I bought this for Michael at Christmas - it's his favourite movie and I love that I was clever enough to find something on Pinterest and then buy it! From Canada!
This is obviously just one room in our house, but it's probably the one that we spend the most time in together. It's where I blog, mark homeworks, watch TV, play games with the boys, read magazines and generally just live. It's me, in a nutshell. Cosy, comfortable and mostly organised. On this last note let me assure you that these photos belie the state of disarray in which one would often find this room. Even during a carefully planned photo shoot! The next two photos were taken immediately after all the ones above. They may not be my favourite pictures of the room, but they illustrate perfectly what I love about it most. Our life. Complete with Hot Wheels, empty cups, remote controls, glue and decks of cards!
I'd love to know what you love about your home. I've so enjoyed sharing this little corner of our home that I might share more of the rest of it in the future. I'm off now to read what Aly has written about home - it's a blog hop I would highly recommend!
I'm pretty pleased with how this turned out, especially my fancy dancy tag I invented all by my lonesome, and those pretty butterflies! And scooting around a few scrapbook blogs has really inspired me this past week - I have ideas brewing left, right and centre. Maybe I'll share a bit more of my creating over the next few days. So what's inspiring you right now? Do share - it'd be rude not to!!
See, I told you he's adorable!!
I love the quote by Ernest Hemingway that the journey is more important than the destination. I can't help but think that this philosophy could make such a difference in people's lives if we all tried to enjoy where we are at just a little bit more and stopped trying to rush to the next part of life. I wonder what your journey looks like. Have you stopped to enjoy the view of right now recently? If you haven't, why not grab a cup of tea and a comfy seat and just take it in. In the words of the great Ferris Bueller, "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it."
more than enough Lego!
plenty of magazine fodder
more t-shirts and football kits than you could shake a stick at!
we are good for wii games
the Amazon wishlist shall remain just that!
window shopping only for new scrap supplies!
I don't really do well with choice. My sister will testify to this after countless shopping expeditions during which she produces many fabulous outfits, tops or accessories to be greeted with a lot of hmmming and haaaing on my part and ultimately no purchases at the end of the day. Choice complicates things, it doesn't make things simple at all.
So in a world full of choices and where life is lived in full view of everyone via Facebook, Twitter or Instagram, how is a girl meant to get back to simple? The weekend we spent at Bushmills over half term helped me to clarify this somewhat. To keep it simple you just strip away all the stuff that clutters life up and put what is left outside in the elements, give it a stick and a hat and then join in the fun.
It turns out that I like the simple stuff best. Some time away with all my boys where we can just be ourselves, be free from obligations, be out there enjoying this amazing creation. It helps if there is no wifi or 3G to distract or complicate matters. And a glass of wine doesn't hurt! Slippers are optional.
This post is part of an exciting little collaboration with my fabulous and super-inspiring friend. 
My stash of supplies and tools welcomed me as a long lost friend. Patterned paper crawled out from its place of hibernation and began to bid for my attention. Such a warm welcome was it that I couldn't help myself - I grabbed a few photos (actually carefully chosen, edited and printed to size earlier that day - not so much of the spontaneous in me as I would have you believe), reached for the glue and started sticking photos and pretty paper together. It was cathartic, I tell you. And an actual barrel load of fun to boot!
I don't know why I do this to myself, this self-inflicted absence from creating. It is so clearly a part of me that I should be tearing myself away from it to make the tea or clean the bathrooms instead of the other way around. In a bid to assist with this I am taking part in an online class to help me document my One Little Word this year. Don't let me mislead you into thinking that I am anything other than behind even at this early stage in the year, but at least it's a goal, and I am creeping slowly towards it.
I'm not sure how much of it, if any, I'll post here, but I do have a couple of other little goodies up my sleeve for later this week. Exciting little ventures to get this blog going again and help me connect with my lovely readers, even if it is just the same people I chat with on instagram or facebook or my actual phone.
Aside from other little projects, I also have a heap of photos from our weekend at the north coast over half term. A weekend of relaxing and spending time with my boys, away from work, boring jobs, shopping and even the internet - painful but necessary! The weather was shocking as it always seems to be when we go there, but after 4 years of staying in the same place we are well versed in how to dodge impending storms and appreciate the wonders of creation as much as humanly possible in 3 days! I will try to get some photos up in a few days, but as I was uploading them to the computer earlier this one caught my eye and had to be edited immediately.
On this day of love I thought I'd share just a few of the things that have been making me happy of late. Apologies to any of you who have already seen these on Instagram, but it really is my latest love - I am quite obsessed! Making me happy ..:: birthday tophats:: my boys chilling together:: choppy seas:: new iphone cover - it's like having a whole new phone!:: amazing strawberry cheesecake cupcakes (from Sainsbury's coffee shop should you need one yourself!):: copious cups of tea:: some stunning sunsets:: Sherlock series one accompanied by wine and a roaring fire - actual bliss!Wishing you all much love and loveliness for what remains of this day of love xx
My absence, however, has not been merely one of just sitting around reading books and drinking tea. Well, maybe it has, just a little. It has also given me some time to mull over big questions I wasn't quite ready to mull over yet. Priorities have been shifted in a good way. Stock has been taken of the important things. Considerable amounts of wine and chocolate have been consumed for both physical and emotional benefits! Shed loads of 
If I've learned one thing in the midst of all that has happened, it is that people are what matter in this short space of time we have to share. Family and friends, their health and wellbeing - they matter more than all the mortgage worries, weight concerns and job securities put together. And realising this made me want to do more to spend time with those people, to really connect with them. Which in turn helped me decide that my 
I'm hoping to connect a bit more with my creativity too over the coming weeks and months. I have become so terribly lazy in that part of my life and I think I suffer as a result. No creativity = not being at my best. So I've taken the plunge and signed up for the One Little Word course with the amazing 
Apart from all the drama of the past couple of months, the only other thing happening around here is Lego. I know, shocker, right?! I really don't know what to say about the sheer volume of the stuff that has made its way into our house in the last few weeks. I'm sure there are worse things to be accumulating and I am thankful that I'm not having to deal with Barbie and Bratz dolls, but really, at some point this is going to have to stop! The crux of the problem is a small person's obsession and too-close-to-Christmas birthday. And obviously the very clever marketing skills of the people Lego employ. It really is out of my control (this is clearly denial but I'm going to run with it otherwise my parenting skills will be called into serious question by all and sundry.)We have actually added more than 10 new sets of Lego since Christmas, and some of these are huge! On top of that we have doubles from the birthday party that are sitting ominously in the living room, waiting to be taken back to the toy shop and changed for another gigantic set. And then there's the birthday money - how can I make it not morph into more Lego without a 6 year old meltdown? If anyone has any advice I would be glad to hear it! I wonder if you can guess what kind of birthday party we had last weekend? I'll give you a clue...it wasn't Mario and it rhymes with Mego! I was in no small way surprised when I went through my photos for January that they would make an excellent advertising campaign for the aforementioned construction toy company! So I give you January through my lens.
Ok, I'll hold my hands up and admit that I secretly rather like the stuff and it's fun to take pictures of. And it stands the test of time and makes my small person beyond happy. Which is the main thing, I guess. Today I spent a blind fortune at Ikea on storage for it all, and rather sadly dismantled the electric train set that Santa brought him only 2 years ago because it has been overshadowed by tiny ninjas and their frightening skeleton and snake-like enemies. If there is to be happiness in this house in the next few months I must embrace it and say "yes" to all proposals of ninja fights! Because those small people matter most of all, and if I don't connect with them now I will surely be sorry tomorrow.I hope you forgive my absence and my rambling. I am so very glad to have the opportunity to connect with anyone who stops by here to read my blog and it would be completely lovely if you felt like sharing how your start to 2012 has been. Or if you could just console me re the Lego!!
letters to Santa are safely on their way with great conviction that their 'excellent' behaviour will get them all the Lego and football gear they desire!
the definite nip in the air has arrived and necessitated the annual clearing out of hats and gloves. I've been particularly loving overhearing irate conversations about the state of the weather and absence of gritters as folk tell their tales of slipping all over the place on their way to work. Perhaps they failed to notice the last 2 winters and are unaware that the weather will be baltic until April!
Michael and I enjoyed a spot of Christmas shopping in Belfast this week. I love the new arcs and banners on Royal Avenue celebrating some of the greatest ships ever to come out of this city. I also love Starbucks gingerbread lattes and cranberry and orange muffins! Look at the little muffin alien face!
Thursday was officially Christmas tree day. That it was a tad late only made it all the more fun choosing and decorating it. One of my favourite parts of the season is the unearthing of all the decorations that come out each year to adorn the tree - those that we've had for years and those we bought half price last year in the garden centre sale. It's tradition, it reeks of memories of past Christmases, it's joyful and magical and just so much fun!
this is what I'm referring to as the 'self-portrait experience' series of shots. I hate self-portraits but it occurred to me that I'm in shockingly few of the December photos so far so I had no choice but to take matters into my own hands. These were done with the timer - can you tell?! I am particularly proud of the top one of just my weird looking hand creeping into the top left of the frame!
You've got to love the through the tree shots!
I wanted to document a bit of the festive decorating aside from the tree. There is barely a surface left untouched, between candles, advent calendars and books. The bottom of these pictures really just about sums up my life - Jesus, Twilight and Agatha Christie! I'm not even bothered about the picture I am painting of myself because, you know, there's not one of those parts of me that I don't feel passionately about and will gladly talk about in an animated fashion!
Ah, Gisela Graham Christmas accessories, how I love you all!