Happy weekend...

Happy Friday!!

The week's highlights.

1. Holidays. With Tom's job we can only go away at certain times of the year, and that time is approaching! We don't want to pay out for a big holiday seeing as we're in super saving mode, but we're planning a few weekends away so we don't go mad. I'm currently looking at a few days in le Paris, flights from Luton are the cheapest option for us and I've recently found airbnb, where you can hire apartments and they all look amazing and are cheaper than actual hotels! We're then going to Barcelona in September, Tom is going for work and I'm going to meet him after and we'll stay on for a few days. I love Europe, love the short flights, the weather, the culture and all the food.

2. I got my hair done. I got a bit obsessed with KMidd's hair after the royal baby was born and decided that after 3 years on a hair dye ban that now was the time to inject a bit of life back into it. My appointment was yesterday morning, after my consultation and patch test last weekend. Safe to say I did not look like Kate when I left. More Rogue from x-men. I don't really understand how the stylist thought it was good, but I gushed over how much I loved it and literally ran out because with all the faffing and blow-drying I was now late for work. I plucked up the courage to ring up last night and explain the highlights were just too bright and went in this morning to have them toned down. They're better now and I have some brunette shampoo and conditioner to even it all out a bit as well. But the lesson I have learnt is...you won't ever look like Kate Middleton. Ever.

3. Fitness and life crisis. Last night I watch Run Fatboy Run followed by the finale of the girls The Island on Channel 4. Safe to say I now feel that I am wasting my life and should make the most of being 25 while I can. One day I'll be complaining of a bad back with a child hanging off each arm and I'll wish I'd been more active when I could. So I googled tough mudder obstacle courses and how to apply for The Island next series whilst finishing off my chocolate. But it was dark chocolate. Even Kate eats chocolate yeah?

We're heading back to Rutland tonight for a couple of wedding meetings tomorrow, then back to the Midlands in the evening to lounge around together all day on Sunday. All with Harvey in tow obviously.

Gemma

xXx

Saving for something big - 7 top tips.

I always think it's very unfair how your mid-twenties are normally the time you need to buy your 'biggest' things. Getting married and buying your first home require big savings and unless you have money tucked away somewhere, this means saving for a long time. Not just saving here and there, big HEAVY saving.

Tom and I have been putting money aside each month properly for about a year now, but it's only when we got engaged it all became very real and we fully realised how much money we needed. I have set us a pretty small budget for our wedding. Humongous when you think how much is going on one day, but pitiful in the wedding world. If we already had our own house then I imagine it would be different and obviously we still want to have an amazing day and not look back with regret, but we feel uncomfortable throwing all our savings on one day, then heading back to our rented house and starting from scratch on a deposit. It would be so easy to spend £20-30k though and still not even have gone that mad.

But saving IS hard, when you're already paying so much on rent and bills it hurts to put all the rest into your savings account. I'm 24, I want to go on holiday to Bali and buy a Mulberry handbag from Selfridges and buy ALL the Jo Malone candles. But I want a house more, because those things in this house would be wasted. The feeling of knowing we're renting our house drives me mad, I can't cope with how temporary it feels. I want to get stuck in and make my own home and that is impossible when it's someone else's house. It's just uncomfortable all the time.

What on earth could be more luxurious than a sofa, a book, and a cup of coffee?

I grew up with my nose in book. Every year when we were packing for our summer holidays my mum would take my brother and I down to the tiny village library and pick out which books we wanted to take with us. We were only allowed to take out 6 at a time (library laws) so we examined the shelves long and carefully before choosing, and had read them all by the time the plane left sunny Spain two weeks later. Thinking back now they must have had a huge baggage allowance in the old days because we did not choose small paperbacks (and I can barely fit my toothbrush in my bag now without doing the shuffle of shame in the airport, trying to wear all my clothes so I don't have to pay extra for my overweight bag). We must have read every book in that library, then we advanced to the one in our nearest town which was very exciting because THAT'S WHERE DAD GOT HIS BOOKS FROM! (This was it, I'd made it).

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't a recluse. I still spent the majority of my day playing outside with my friends. Growing up in the countryside we would spend ages down at the park, wading through the river trying to catch crayfish, be-friending people who had trampolines in their gardens and waste hours and hours up a tree trying to make a tree-house (we only managed to tie sticks to the branches to sit on). But every night I would be tucked up with my book and when mum told me to turn my lights out I'd sneakily carry on reading, fumbling for the light and jamming the book under my pillow whenever I heard either of my parents walking past my room. Books are so important to a child's development and mine will be drowned in them. The language, punctuation and grammar is obvious, but also filling a child's head with so many different stories, character and ways of life must help them in the long run.

It's Monday, but it's okay!

Happy Monday! 

I had a lovely weekend of not doing much in particular, which is just what I needed. Carbonara, dog walks, mini eggs and Gardeners World are what weekends at home were made for really.

I spent last week totally stressing about wedding planning and have had nightmares every night about something going wrong. I forgot to buy a dress, I forgot to tell Tom the date of the wedding and he didn't show up, the BBQ dramatically blew up and we had no food etc etc. It's been very easy to get overwhelmed by it all, especially as I've made the super clever decision that I want to do everything myself because a wedding venue wouldn't do it right (good one). I spent a whole 2 days frantically trying to source gold cutlery. I think I must have contacted at least 10 suppliers, which are surprisingly difficult to find. About 20 types of silver cutlery, but no gold. I mean, who WOULDN'T want gold cutlery at their event? Apparently everyone. Tom's asked if this is a necessity and if I need to be obsessing about it this much seeing as we still have 16 months until the wedding and we haven't even decided which venue we're going to book yet. But I was adamant, there would be no wedding without them, tears were shed - WITHOUT GOLD KNIVES AND FORKS THE DAY WILL BE RUINED. I've calmed down now (only because I've found and booked some) but I've also realised that maybe I can slow down a bit and there will still be a wedding at the end of it.

My wedding spreadsheet is now obscenely extensive, there's currently 7 sheets on it and counting. But I've done a to-do list and even though it's scarily long (and I've only ticked one thing off on it, and I only put that on it so I could tick it off) it feels much better and manageable to see exactly what needs to be done.

Crazy control-freak that I am, with my spreadsheet in hand (literally in hand - I have it on my phone so I can check it whenever the mood strikes) I am ready and ON IT. But also, I just drank a huge mug of coffee so maybe that's helped as well.

What helps you feel in control and Beyonce-ish? Or am I alone in my madness?

Happy Monday all! (Lies, I hate Mondays).

Gemma

xXx

Happy Weekend!

Happy weekend!

I have been counting down to Friday this week.

It’s not even been a particularly bad week, the last few days have just seemed such a struggle. Thank god it's here now! We’re driving back to Lincolnshire tonight for the weekend to see both families, so it should be a busy but nice few days.

I’ve got a mixture of posts ready for the next couple of weeks; some food recipes, top tips for hardcore savings, the truths of living with a boy and our week in Kefalonia last year.

Hope you all have a lovely weekend and make sure you hug your Mum.

I have armfuls of tulips for mine!

Gemma

xXx

9 ways to Spring Clean your Life.

I've said this before, but I REALLY love Spring.

After months of feeling so cold you can't even imagine wearing less than 7 layers and just curling up into a ball on the sofa all the time, it feels amazing to walk the dog without a coat and with only one scarf on (in the depths of winter I wear three, with gloves, and 2 pairs of socks, and earmuffs, and sometimes I wear jogging bottoms over jeans. I hate the cold).

It’s good to finally stretch out in the weak spring sunshine and come out of hibernation. But then you have a look around and see that actually you’ve not done a lot over winter and everything needs a bit of sprucing up. And there is nothing I like better than a good spring detox.

3 smiley things for this week.

Happy Monday everyone!

What a lovely sunny Saturday we had! I spend the day walking the dog, visiting the Garden Centre and tidying up our little garden. We were meant to be going to the Cotswolds on Sunday for a day trip, but as it rained most of the day we drove into the city centre and looked around the shops instead. I accidentally bought a new skirt, and a cake, and pointed out all the things in Selfridges I 'would like' for my birthday. Seeing as they came to the grand total of £89 million+ I think I may have got carried away. Tom says I'm 'over-reaching'.

A few things to keep me feeling perky this week:

Happy Weekend!

I’m so glad it’s the weekend. You know sometimes just everything seems to go wrong at once? 

Well it’s been a very un-fun week.

I have a pretty heavy schedule tonight to welcome the weekend in though; hunters chicken dinner then Crufts and Gardeners World on the telly. LIVING.THE.DREAM

Tomorrow I am having a deep Spring clean (physically, mentally and house-workly), and I’m very excited. I have Epsom bath salts, a new book and kitchen bleach!

Sunday is a rare day when Tom has a weekend day off so we’re going to make the most of it and head off somewhere. Probably the Cotswolds for a long dog walk and stopping off at a dog-friendly pub on the way home. We were at the Peak District exactly a year ago and I wanted to go there again but it's maybe a bit too far for just the day.

I’m just realising how elderly this is making me sound. But I like my geriatric life. Who knows, maybe I’ll jazz it up and sow some plant seeds as well and clean my car. Oh god, I just remembered I applied for an allotment last night as well. Is this it? Have I peaked too soon?

Happy Friday everyone, hope you don’t go as mad as me!

Gemma

xXx

March Goals

HOW is it March already? This year is whizzing past so quickly.

I like March. I start to remember what warmth feels like and that maybe there are other outfits to wear other than my slinky 3 jumpers and 2 pairs of socks combo.

It's a good month for slowly coming out of hibernation and planning for the rest of the year. 

The first Monday of Spring.

'Nothing is as beautiful as Spring'

I love Spring, it is the most exciting season of the year.

After the long and grey winter where you don't really want to move too much, the slight warmth of the Spring sunshine gives me enough energy to go outside and plant those sweet pea seeds I bought last year, open all the windows in the house wide and maybe even clean the car that I've been putting off all winter (hmm it'll just get muddy again - but maybe I could at least bin all the chocolate wrappers and hoover the hair that I've shed over the past 3 months EW). 

Happy Weekend!

 

Fri-YAY!

Friday afternoons are definitely a magical time! 

Only a couple more hours until a full 48 hours of freedom.

I haven't done much this week other than going to a baby shower at work last night. PINK!

And this morning me and Harvey had a little lie in then a long walk in the sunshine. It felt seriously Spring-like!

It'll all be alright in the end.

I'm not feeling particularly dreamy today.

Everything seems to be on hold at the moment. The new build house we're waiting for, work contracts, elderly cars and being in full-on saving mode.

The house is the worst part. I can never really relax and feel at home in a rented house, it's temporary and it feels it. We've still actually got things in boxes from the last move. There's only so much planning and forward-thinking you can do until you have to just stop and wait.

But sometimes you just have to suck it up and really think about the good things you have in your life.
We're getting married, we've got the dog, we both have jobs and we have savings ready to be spent.
It'll be alright in the end!

Waiting is rubbish, so I guess I'll have to keep myself busy in the meanwhile!

Gemma
xXx

Boys. Yak!

I'm going to talk about a boy. Ewie.

Being brave.

I seem to spend a lot of my life worrying and over analysing absolutely everything until I squash myself into a tiny corner of my brain and do absolutely nothing.

 There are lots of things I am interested in and want to pursue, and last year I was regularly beating myself up trying to work out what it was I wanted to do. So I ended up not doing any of them and cried most evenings to Tom asking "Is this it? Is this actually it now?" Really cool Gemma.

But then I realised, why am I only be allowed to pick one thing to do forever? Try as much as possible before you talk yourself out of it, how do you know it won’t work out until you’ve tried it?