Stockholm

We got back from Stockholm the weekend before last but, as Lizzie doesn't have a nursery place yet and Christmas orders are revving up, I haven't had time to post about it until now. Stockholm is a thoroughly beautiful city and autumn was the perfect time to visit - not too cold and bursting with colour. Fleetwood Mac were amazing, legendary, wow. It was an emotional gig and I'm so glad I got to see them, that's one ticked off my bucket list*. The rest of the holiday was spent eating extremely rich and expensive food, cycling round parks, drinking beer and visiting the odd museum. We stayed at hotel skeppsholmen on Skeppsholmen (nicknamed the museum island as it houses the museum of modern art and the architecture museum). I could not recommend it more; the island itself is tiny and very picturesque, the hotel chic, well designed and quintessentially Swedish. Here are some photos:

Mid-afternoon pick me up

The Nordic Museum

An exhibition devoted to stripes

Our preferred mode of transport

Tourists

Söder viewed from the ferry

Pretty tree on Djurgården

Outfit details

The fort at the end of Skeppsholmen looking particularly autumnal

Looking up on Gamla Stan 

Museum nerd selfie

The streets of Gamla Stan

My best Stevie shot

Lindsey Buckingham: legend.

*I don't actually have a bucket list

Hello!

We've been back in England and in our new house for about a fortnight now...high time to get back to work... yup, my etsy and folksy shops are open and I am busily preparing for Christmas (i know). But before plunging head first into the festive season, some holiday photos! Crete was just lovely. I would highly recommend it esp. for a family holiday - the Greeks LOVE babies, which sure does make things easier. If you venture off the beaten track a little the rewards are plentiful. We stayed up in the mountains on an olive grove with spectacular views. We walked in the mountains, marveled at frescos and swam in the clear blue sea. I think Elizabeth enjoyed her first holiday although she struggled with the heat and didn't know what to make of the sea. Highlights for her: the pool, playing with other children, affectionate Greeks and the many many stray cats. Highlights for me: reading Hadley Freeman's Be Awesome, eating pastry with every meal (not even joking), drinking beer at lunch-time and playing with E in the pool.

See you next year!

On holiday

Guatemala - our honeymoon and last holiday. This view is going to take some beating.

We are on holiday. Or rather we're moving house and then on holiday. The last few months have been a roller coaster; we found the house of our dreams, lost the house of our dreams and ultimately decided we needed a change. We're leaving the town we've called home for the last year for bigger (and hopefully better) things...Bristol! I am excited to be living a city again, and not just any city, the city I went to university in, the city which is still home to some of my best friends. But before that, a well over-due holiday. We're flying to Crete early next week to stay in a peaceful mountain retreat. Can. Not. Wait.

My shops will be offline from Friday 20th until Friday 4th October - today is the last day I will be taking orders. Repeat: get your orders in today or wait 2 weeks! *Shameless self promotion over*

14/52 better late than never

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Elizabeth and I in Hyde Park last Tuesday (The day with all the sunshine). We met my sister, cruised the park, took in some weird shit at the Serpentine Gallery and stopped for lunch at the Lido cafe. It was the perfect way to spend a rare sunny day.

So it's been a bit quiet round here. I took an impromptu break from blogging. Partly because I needed to focus my energies on making what I'll call 'the return to work decision' (I'm still no closer to reaching a conclusion btw. It seems to be a case of damned if you do and damned if you don't. More on that another time), and partly to see what life would be like not blogging, not making jewellery, just being a mum and a housewife homemaker. It's been quite nice actually. My house has never been cleaner. I've finished a couple of books and nearly caught up with Girls. Matt's birthday presents were wrapped with a Martha Stewart level of fineness. I finally got round to opening an ISA (before April 5th - RESULT!). But I have missed it. I've missed writing (which, even though I am terrible at it, is therapeutic and the closest I've ever come to keeping a diary), I've missed taking and editing photos (especially the 52 project), I've missed chatting to other bloggers and having a little bit of creativity beyond artful gift wrapping. So I guess I'm not retiring my blog just yet.

Helen, in answer to your question: the blue coat is actually a quilted boys snow suit from Jasper Conran at Debenhams because why the hell not?

DIY Oskia lymphatic boost massage

Elizabeth has finally started sleeping through the night. Hurrah! However 7 months of sleep deprivation have left me with some pretty hefty eye bags. Step up Oskia's lymphatic boost massage. This is a little life saver. It only takes a few minutes and leaves me feeling refreshed which is almost unheard of these days. It's free, quick and more effective than the touche eclat. Win.

YOUR DIY MAGIC MASSAGE ROUTINE (Match the acupressure points in the diagram to the steps below)
1. Imagine you are typing quickly on a keyboard. Use this tapping movement around the eyes, temples and on the forehead for 10 seconds.
2. Place your ring finger on the first pressure point.
3. Move to arch of the eyebrow, apply pressure to the second point.
4. From here move in between the eye brows to the 3rd point.
5. With very light pressure, circle the eye area 3 times from inner to outer eyebrow, underneath the eye and up the bridge of the nose, with your fingers meeting again in between the eyebrows . Do not drag the skin.
6. On the last circle, apply pressure at point 4, pushing upwards towards the ceiling.
7. For point 5, apply the pressure inwards, towards to nose.
8. Applying a little more pressure, lift and slide towards the temples, lifting the eyebrow, gently circle under the eyes three times.
9. On the last circle of the eye socket, stop at the outer corner of the eye and apply pressure to pressure point 7.
10. Now, using your index and middle finger, use static circular movements to the temples three times.
11. Swap back to your ring finger applying pressure point

image and instructions: Oskia 

8/52 (and a few more)

"A portrait of my child, once a week, every week, in 2013."

Elizabeth and I enjoying some alfresco cuddles. This was taken on Friday when we all headed into London for a day out. London seems to be our default location for days out at the moment. I miss it... We did a lot of walking about, a bit of shopping, a bit of coffee drinking and lunch with Auntie Katie before heading back to Waterloo and our train home. Here are some more photos:

Reminiscing

 The other day I spent a couple of hours looking through some photos from last summer. I came across these from a day we spent doing tourist things in London, knowing that we would be leaving soon. Matt was on holidays, the sun was shining, E was super portable and we were pretty sure we had a handle on this parenting malarkey.

What a day! Summer please will you hurry the fuck up?!

The Bravest Man in the Universe

I always dread it when a conversation turns to music. Don't get me wrong, I love music - new bands, old favourites, a lot of electronic stuff - I'm just no good at talking about it and have a terrible memory for song titles, lyrics and bands. Never try to persuade me to join a pub quiz. We will loose. So writing about music is WAY out of my comfort zone. But I'm going to try because I want to share my most listened to album of the last few months. The Bravest Man in the Universe by Bobby Womack. Matt bought it on a whim and almost immediately regretted it, so the album sat in its cellophane on our dining room table waiting to be returned for a month before we decided to give it a listen on a long car journey. It's been on repeat ever since. It is a stunning album; soulful, melancholic, uplifting. Perfect to drive to. Produced by Damon Albarn and Richard Russell it reminds me of Gil Scott-Heron and Jamie XX's We're New Here (another favourite of mine). Womack's weathered voice sits beautifully upon Albarn and Russell's minimal electronic beats, a skillful mix of old and new. The album is full of remorse, an apology for a life lived to the fullest, a gravelly out-pouring set against a very modern sound scape. One track features the faux-60s ethereal voice of Lana Del Ray, another Fatoumata Diawara (whoever she is). I'm not sure what else to say, as I mentioned, I am way out my comfort zone, but it is everything I like. If you listened to Massive attack and Portishead as a teen, went to see Primal Scream's recent Screamadelica tour or own any XX then you should listen too.

PS Sorry for the lack of posts this week. We're trying to wean Elizabeth off her night feeds. It's not going well. 

Better skin: step 2 (the hard part)

I've been putting off writing this post, mainly because I don't want to actually do it. But to do these fancy products justice I really need to improve my diet. My problem: Sugar. I am addicted to the stuff. From my morning coffee to the ketchup on the side of my dinner, my life is full of sugar and I bloody love it. But it causes inflammation...or something. I don't really know, but I keep reading how bad it is and as I don't smoke, rarely drink and almost never go out in the sun (I live in England for f'sake!) my sugar intake seems to be the only 'lifestyle' factor I can blame my bad skin on. Apparently it's an easy addiction to kick. We'll see. Here's my strategy:

1. Stop adding sugar to coffee. I have (a generous) 2 teaspoons per cup. Over a day that's 4-6. I don't even taste the coffee anymore.
2. Stop drinking squash. I drink about 2 pints of squash a day and always congratulate myself on my ample water consumption. But adding sugary cordial is cancelling out any good. Will replace with herbal tea, the nice flavours like peppermint and peach ginger snaps. 
3. Throw away the ketchup. I'm an adult, I can do this. 
4. Have no more than 2 pieces of fruit a day. Will make up vitamins in veggies. Easy.
5. Say no to cake and biscuits. I got through pregnancy on cake and chocolate digestives and have grown very fond of both. This is going to be the hardest. 

So there we go. Now I've written it down I have to do it. Supposedly it won't take long for my palette to 're-set' and soon I'll be finding all sorts of formally bland tasting foods sweet. I like the sound of that. Other benefits might include shifting that last stone of baby weight. Bonus. Will check back in a month or so with results.

Do you have any tips for better skin? 

Photos from our holiday

Traveling with a baby is hard work. I'm glad we went but it was anything other than relaxing. Here are a few of the things I was thinking about instead of unwinding: When is she going to nap next? (in the car, always) When will we get the chance to feed her? Will she be too distracted to actually eat? (yes) Will she sleep tonight? (no) Will her whole routine, which we spent countless hours, days, weeks working on, be ruined when we get home? (er, yes.) Life really is different these days. We did manage to do lots of the other things I enjoy doing on holiday though ie drink coffee in snug cafes, eat nice food, walk about, catch up with friends. I took lots of photos too. Here are my favourites:

















1) Cream tea in the only place open in Padstow
2) Spending the morning in Stu's cafe
3) Stu
3) Delicious coffee
4) Two beards and a baby
5) The view from a coastal walk we took in Falmouth
6) Stu and Emily silhouettes
7) Hotel baby
8) Sunday lunch with Stu and Emily
9) Apple and quince crumble
10) Elizabeth and I walking to lands end
11) And again
12) Being tourists
13) Lands end
14) Snowy drive back through the Mendips