Wail wail wail!!

I can't believe it's over. Half term. All gone. We have only 2 precious days of Boy left and they'll be taken up by Husband being at home and SELFISHLY wanting to spend time with my children. What a pig!! God help him if he grumps once!

We have had a wonderful two weeks though. Bar the epic meltdown on Wednesday and the slight hoo-har in Telford town centre on Thursday morning, it has been all giggles and snuggles, splashing in puddles and just generally enjoying some downtime with each other. Baby has loved having his sidekick back...think he'll be a little lost next week :-(

We have tromped over Cannock Chase in our waterproofs... 

We have snuggled together on Mama's beloved Eames chair to watch Bing bunny. God, Baby loves that bunny!

We have explored all new areas of forest within 5 minutes drive of our house that we kinda knew existed but didn't really knew existed, if you know what I mean. Excellent fun! Here's Boy getting well and truly left behind by our tiny runner!

Here's another classic from Cannock Chase, I mean really, it's like I said 'Darling, I need an anonymous photo for my blog to show something fun we did this week...' I honestly didn't! 

 And we finally made it to the wonderful Woodland Beasties at Heart of the Country near Lichfield. Such a shame we can't make it to this activity on a weekly basis (Baby swims and Boy is...sob...at school now) because Hannah, Val and Sarah really know their shit. It's hard to find people who are truly, genuinely passionate about forest education but these guys really are. Val even let her baby eat mud as PROOF! Ha ha! Here's Boy making a witch's broom from forest materials.

We have also visited the amazing Ice Cream Farm near Chester, enjoyed a super long playdate at BFF's house (magical times), run 1001 errands in town, visited Nana twice, done a lot of swimming, eaten crepes at the incredible Pear Tree Creperie (google it, don't eat for 24hrs before you visit so you have enough space to do it justice!), surprised Eco-Mum's Boy from school... it has been so. much. fun!

Tomorrow we're off to the pumpkin patch to choose our very own pumpkins for carving, then spending our early evening at Posh Mama's house for some supper, some Halloween crafts and some good ole fashioned Trick or Treating. Shall post photos of the boys in their costumes. We usually hold a party here but for various reasons I have sacked it off this time round, it feels quite nice not to have the responsibility?!

Other jobs on my list are as follows:
Buy a shed load of fruit for the many, many snacks I have to prepare every day next week.
Buy 2 more pairs of long school trousers as I may or may not have forgotten that it's only shorts until half term...and we only own one pair of trousers. Gah!
Post a love parcel to Big Sis oop north that I may or may not have been carrying around in my car boot for 4 days. Durrh!
Iron 5 long-sleeved shirts.
Ooh and possibly get to Matalan to buy these...

I just feel like they should be mine!!

Have a wicked Halloween, everyone. Back on Sunday with the big monthly round-up and some pictures of my little ghost-hunters xx

Urgh fuck

Am currently downing a second glass of wine and googling 'how to deal with disrespectful behaviour'. Yes, it's been THAT day of the half term holidays.

I am gutted. We have been having such a fun time, such a cosy, magical, memory-building, wonderful fortnight and I am so sad that an afternoon of it has been spent in tears, with yelling, with headaches and heart wrenching sobs and Boy being hoiked away from a playdate under my arm (note: none of these tactics are included in the above, handy read!)

He just succumbed to the fatigue. A bouncy castle party followed by a long swim lesson and a surprise tea with a gang of excited friends meant that he just couldn't cope and the sight of cabbage tipped him over the edge. I've not seen anything like it in 3/4 months.

Tomorrow I will be calmer. I will diffuse the situation and 'do the teaching later'. I will foresee meltdowns, offer snacks to raise blood sugars and negotiate better. I will claim back the magic before my precious little one gets sucked back into the day-to-day monotony that is endless time away from his Mama. I will achieve my 'ridiculously high standards' of childhood bliss (thanks Nana!) and I will tuck my Boy into his bed with a smile on his face.

If nothing else, we've prevented an accidental pregnancy somewhere in rural Shropshire...

London Calling!

So, here's how things work at our house. Husband is, for many reasons, not a big planner. I think this is due to the fact that he has so much stuff to plan, decide, act upon etc...at work during the week and therefore has no interest in making big decisions or planning activities to fill his free time. I also think it's because he's a little bit lazy and would happily stay in his 'loungewear' from Friday night until Monday morning! He categorically disagrees and says he never plans anything because anything he HAS planned in the past has been pooh-pooh'ed by yours truly.

Believe who you will!

So, I'm the planner of the family, be it trips away, Christmas trips to see the big man, annual holidays, playdates, meals out, what everyone is going to wear on any given day...you name it, I organise it. I guess at our house it comes under the remit of SAHM?! I also enjoy celebrating birthdays more than Husband and I LOVE LOVE LOVE big cities. Essentially what this results in is trips away (which Husband could take or leave), to big cities (which Husband hates) for his birthday each year (which he resents celebrating). He's so lucky to have me!

This year he turns 36 and we are heading to London!!

We've done London before many times, as a couple and with Boy but it'll be Baby's first trip down south and OUR first trip with two tiddlers. Eeshk! Normally we love the tube...we shall see how we feel about it after this trip ;-)

Today's naptime was spent activity planning, this is what we definitely want to squeeze into our 48 hours...

Have never been, boys both adore animals, is near our hotel, winner!

Princess Diana Memorial Playground has rave reviews online and the boys love being outdoors running free so we thought we'd give it a go after spending the Saturday here:

 (Natural History Museum)

 and here (Science Museum next door!)

 Normally, we try to avoid 'chain' restaurants and branch out when we're away. The boys are pretty good eaters and we really don't see the point in eating Nando's when we could do that at home, as it were! Spaghetti House is a happy medium, we love it, the boys love it, there are a few around London but none at home so it passes the criteria!! Nom!!

 Touristy part, they all love cereal and this is new and popular, we shall go and report back.

 Our normal idea of hell, but hey, we're travelling with kids!!

And here's the short list of things Mama will try her damnedest to get to, but can't much see it happening unless Husband suddenly feels the urge to be Super-Dad and let me run off kid-free for an hour... 

 The beauty that is Liberty, I can waste hours in here and not buy a thing. I always DO buy something, obvs, but still...

 I sat in this yummy cafe the year we'd gone down for one of Husband's business meetings. I was pregnant with Boy, read my book, ate yummy granola, was all glowing and chubby and blissful with no idea of how life was going to change in a few short months. It was peaceful, that's all I'll say about THAT memory! Ha!

And I will be upset if I don't make it to a Petit Bateau store. I can buy these items in Shrewsbury or online, but I always go to the store when I'm in London and treat the boys to one item (full price!) It's a bit of a tradition so I will try hard to make it this trip. Must Buy Navy Stripes!!

So that's my project for the next 2 weeks before we go, I have to work out a plan for the two days which means we don't zig-zag back and forth too much, adds in anything else I've forgotten, googles all the best places to eat...all while Husband sits on the sofa and grumps about my need to 'go places' and 'do shit'!! He's a card!!

Let me know if I've missed anywhere amazing for children under 5...??

Happy Holidays!

So, day 1 of the hols was a bit busy so I'm sitting down to write this on day 2! As you know, Boy has successfully completed his first half term of Kindergarten and is now on his half term holiday. I'd forgotten how nice it was to eat breakfast without staring at the clock!! Yesterday at 8.25am, when we are normally all jumping out of the car at the canal and starting our short walk to the school gate, Baby was the only one dressed and we were all lying on the playroom floor with the cars. Pure. Bliss!
While I know it's important to embrace the downtime and let him recharge his batteries before he goes back (I know from personal teaching experience that the next half term is the hardest, it seems to drag on fooooooorever??) I am also eager to capitalise on the time we have with him since we miss him so much when he's not at home. So, we spent some time on Sunday 'holiday planning'.
I used this image as inspiration...

...and created our own. Granted, some of the days had already been allocated by his OCD plan-loving Mama over here, but he did come up with some fun ideas all of his own which we made sure to include. Our holiday plan so far includes:

A trip to Birmingham on the train to see Aliens Love Underpants on stage. Random, but true. He loves the book so I'm hoping this adaptation makes him smile. Nana is treating us to this so we'll buy lunch ;-)

A return trip to the Ice Cream Farm in Cheshire. We recently discovered this place, it's just had a massive revamp, and it is AMAZING! It looks like Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, the icecream is delicious, the playbarns and ride-on diggers aren't a fortune and there are lots of little animals to enjoy (Mental reminder: take anti-histamines if you're allergic so you don't wind up looking like an idiot a la Mama!) Only downside? The cafe is the only section that hasn't been redone and as such looks totally dated and grungy. They operate a no-picnic policy too which I think is a bit cheeky when the menu on offer is so pants (sandwiches and chocolate bars?) so pack yourselves a car picnic and go wild ;-)

Lots of swimming. Boy swims on a Wednesday afternoon and Baby swims on a Friday morning. So we're swimming a lot!

We've also signed up to www.mathletics.co.uk and downloaded the app onto Boy's iPad - I figure that increased screen time during the hols should at least be productive!

We're visiting Eco-Mama and the wild child this afternoon (this photo is because both our big boys have mentalist blond hair??) He's still at school so we're going to surprise him at the gates at 3.10pm and then go back to theirs for tea and bathtime before heading home in the dark. I shall pack pjs, wish us luck transferring the snoozy boys from the car into their beds...eeshk!

We're zooming off to Lichfield next Friday for a session at Woodland Beasties which we're very excited about. Boy used to attend a smaller forest school towards Tamworth with his Nana when I was pregnant with Baby and we were gutted when it closed. This is a relatively new venture which is proving quite popular so we're excited about going along to support them. My boys love getting their wellies dirty! More info can be found here if you fancy it: 

http://heartofthecountryvillage.com/woodland-beasties-at-hotc/

Niece is coming to visit!!

We're also dog-sitting for BFF this morning, seeing a classmate for a playdate (I failed miserably at inviting someone over for tea last half term, must try harder from now on!), meeting Husband for dinner at Pizza Express, holding a ball planning meeting, babysitting for Leeds Dad and his wife so they can go out for an anniversary meal (2 weeks late, life with kids!) and squeezing in a trip to the Creperie for pancakes, nom.

I know it's a cliche, but it's so true. I love having my Boy home so hard. I have found the last 5 weeks quite tough I think and am determined to soak up as much of him as I can for the next 14 days. 14 days of magical, cosy, lovely memories that will fill up his love tank for the long half term ahead. That said, he is currently lying on the sofa watching 'Tinkerbell' and when I suggested getting dressed he shrieked at me. Magical, magical times ;-)

Have you got anything wonderful planned? A holiday in the sun, or just 2 weeks lying around in pjs celebrating the fact we don't have to do the school run?!

Silent Sunday

7.06am. Boy went for a wee. I went in to their room. Here's Baby. Not his bed!!

Parents' Evening from the wrong side of the table!

Golly, that was odd. I've done many a parents' evening but I was always the one with the sheets of notes, the pages of prepared comments and the realms of blasted data. This was my first experience being the Mama. It was nerve-wracking.
I know it's terribly unhealthy to go through life wanting people to like you, but for this first half term my main goal (apart from him being happy to attend) was really that Boys' teachers liked him. Well, not liked him so much as...you know, loved him so hard they wanted to squeeze him 'til his eyeballs bulged!! I guess it's because I love him that hard (and rightfully so, in my humble opinion, the kid is a legend) and during this initial meeting I just wanted to hear that his Teacher sees it, gets his love-ability and cares for him? I've taught 32 kids and I'm sorry but if one of them winds you up the wrong way it doesn't make for the most peaceful or successful year ahead. Does that make any sense? Mama ramblings!
So anyway, off we went. The boys stayed at home with Yummy Mummy's second eldest. They had been fed, bathed and pj'd and were eager to play cars with her so we snuck out and headed to the school hall where we promptly found out that Teacher was running almost 45mins behind and we were probably not going to be home in time for bed. This came, as I'm sure you can guess, as a bit of a shock to control-freak Mama over here and I spent a fair few minutes deliberating about heading home and leaving Husband to take the meeting alone! I braved it out though, and I'm glad I did.
We only had 10 minutes but in that short amount of time Teacher totally put my mind at ease. I wish I'd taped the conversation really! I was listening for certain buzz words whilst also trying hard not to 'nit-pick' or analyse every single little thing she said from a professional's point of view but what I heard what exactly what I needed to hear. Kind, helpful, eager, friendly, attentive, imaginative, active, polite... she threw in some baseline assessment figures which Husband was interested in but really, the kid is 4 years old, he's almost the youngest in his class, he's my first-born, as long as I heard the word 'settled' I was happy.
And I did. So I am!
Teacher seems to genuinely 'get' him, she knows what makes him tick and what frustrates him. They've had no stand-offs or issues with obedience, she says he is well liked by all staff and children and is a great team-player. So when I say it's important to me that she likes him, I suppose it's more that I think it's important that they get on, as then he will be more receptive to learning under her wing. After Christmas I shall start gently focusing on his academic progress and I know that with the right teacher children can fly. It is looking good on that front.
We're just so incredibly proud!!
And to top off my joyful couple of days, this afternoon he broke up for half term holidays and is now mine, all mine, for a whole 16 days. Am delirious!

Lots of lovely activities planned, as well as some well-earned down-time with friends and family. I can't wait. Husband is out this evening so we enjoyed an extra long snuggle time on the master bed before tucking them in. Here's to 16 days of Mama and her two boys, reunited!

Coffee and concussion!

Wow, I am shattered.
Yesterday was our annual coffee morning for Cancer Research and we welcomed an impressive 83 people through the doors of a local country home and (final figures pending) raised close to £2500! It was such a fun morning, although the build-up anticipation is exhausting (I'm in charge of getting all the floats right, eeshk!) not to mention the actual on-the-day problem solving (Excuse me, but my table isn't big enough...) and the clearing up afterwards. I also then had to count every last penny and hoik it all to the bank. That's the crappy part!
Here was my stall for the morning, the delicious Bring and Buy stand...

Nana came along with me to help out and Auntie and Niece were scheduled to be there but instead spent their morning on the M6 motorway stuck in traffic. Boo! Massive thanks to Posh Mama, French Mama and Leeds Dad's wife who came along to support a cause so close to my heart. Baby spent his morning at BFF's house where he had an amazing time by all accounts, he didn't want to come home (this is nothing new, my children never want to leave BFF's house, I've learned to accept it!)
After counting half the takings from the coffee morning and running to NatWest, we collected Boy from school, took him to his swimming lesson and went back to Posh Mama's for tea...where I promptly ran into a door and gave myself concussion. Excellent! Thank goodness Nana was with us to drive us home or we'd still be there. How embarrassing!

So yeah, not only have I lost sleep this week fretting about buying enough biscuits but last night I was woken every 90 mins with a crackerjack headache and nausea. Gak! Mama is pooped! I think a nap may in order when Baby goes down later?!
Today we are going to take the last of the cash to the bank on the High Street then put away the mountain of laundry that seems to appear in my utility room the second I turn my back? We were meant to be on toast-duty at playgroup but I sent my apologies at 7.01am after my crappy night, I'm not sure a room full of shrieking toddlers would have been a great idea this morning!
Parents' Evening tonight at 6.10pm. Feeling anxious every time I think about that, too. Roll on tomorrow and the end of half term!!

Monday Monday Monday

I quite like Mondays. Back to routine, back to normality, back to life as I know it!! No more Husband-Boy power clashes, no more endless hours stretched out ahead of us with no plans, no more impromptu trips to the in-laws 😖 Don't get me wrong, I love my family but 48 hours of them altogether in a confined space just doesn't work for us!! So Monday mornings are like clockwork round here. Up, breakfast, dressed, all out the door by 8.15am, school run, Waitrose, Diddidance class and back home to potter by 10.30am. Perfect. 

I love pottering. We lead quite a tidy life in general but, golly, is there a lot to do after a weekend of us all at home! Mondays are for tidying and sorting and moving and re-filling (mainly the snack tin as it gets raided over weekends and is usually empty when I look!)

By the time Baby goes down for his sleep at 12.30pm everything looks tidy again, the cupboards are replenished and I'm feeling organised and in control! Ha! It never lasts long, let me assure you. 

Naptime is my time. Sometimes I prepare dinner (but now that the boys are a bit older and can play unsupervised I sometimes leave this until 4.30pm?) Today I made some phone calls (ball venue, window cleaner, chimney sweep, Barclays), researched ball gowns online, found a jumpsuit for the Christmas party, added 6 pairs of shoes to my online Next shopping basket before quickly closing the window, chatted to the cleaner about random town gossip, wrote two emails to the accountants and sorted out the linen cupboard for the charity bag. A productive 2 hours indeed!

Then we just had time to take some shopping round to BFF's (she asked for meatballs when I whizzed to ikea at the weekend!) before we needed to pick up Boy from school, nip to Next to search for some shoes for Goddaughter (not in stock anywhere, boo!) and meet Husband in Telford for dinner. 90mph but that's when I'm at my best 😉

I still have jobs to do tonight so must crack on. It's the big coffee morning for our local Cancer Research committee on Wednesday  and I need a detailed breakdown of which coins I need in which floats for my trip to the bank tomorrow, fun! And I may well spend some more time lusting over the biker boots on seven boot lane's website. Avril has scored a discount code (SGS15) so be sure to check it out if you get 10mins. 

Oh god. Sleeping news. 

It isn't that exciting...I'll tell you tomorrow 😉

(almost) Silent Sunday

Apologies for the radio silence, have been drowing in ball phonecalls, banking mishaps (curse you, Barclays!), family crises, low iron levels (yawn!) and rejigging sleeping arrangements (more on that later this week!)

My Silent Sunday image is thus:

...and may I say, it was quite blissful! Not too busy, good coffee, excellent biscuits and Husband followed Baby round for a whole 55mins while I sat on my bum and read HuffPost articles. It was quite fun, as soft plays go!

Back tomorrow with some general updates and some exciting sleeping news (disclaimer: it's not at all exciting for anyone other than me!!) Also, I have a code for Seven Boot Lane, woo!! See you tomorrow :-)

AAARRRGHHHH!

Last night was the first PLA committee meeting of the new academic year. It went a bit like this:

That aside, am now organising the school Christmas Fair and next summer's Ball. The disease flared up big time, tried sitting on my hands and wound up volunteering for almost everything going! My hope is that it keeps me busy while Baby naps each day; am finding it harder and harder to settle into this new routine of school runs and Boy being so absent from our lives between 8.30-3.30pm and when Baby isn't awake to cheer me up I need some admin to tackle!

When I came home and informed Husband he just rolled his eyes and uttered 'why am I not surprised?'!!

Am off to research ball venues...

Still raining then...

I did, however, brave the drizzle this morning and wear my planned outfit from yesterday (disclaimer: on the school run I added loafers!)

Then when Baby was napping I sat my ass down to watch The Mentalist with the dog 😉

Roll on half term, I think we'll stay in for 14 days straight!!

Previous Post Addendum

Ha, with all this outfit planning I forgot I live in England.
Wound up in navy skinnies and boots like normal.
BUT I am wearing the plaid and, as yet, noone has asked me to help them with their logging. So that's nice.
Try again tomorrow ;-)

Look who's been busy!!

Now please, before you read any further you need to know the following things:

I am as creative as a blind dung beetle with limited poo resources. 

I am running out of cyan ink in the printer. 

And the items in my wardrobe are, on the whole, terribly boring!

Lo, gaze upon the wonder that is my outfit board:

Ta daaaaaa!!

Now. The reason I did this was purely to inspire me into making the tiniest possible smidgen of effort in the 6 mins I have to get ready each morning. It's not really a 'things I need in my Autumn wardrobe' board (I have an ongoing list of those items!!) but, after spending considerable time and effort sorting/supplementing this year and yet still feeling a bit 'meh' I really wanted to focus on what I already own. I have the ingredients, I just need a daily reminder of the combos that look best as it were??

So, I started by typing each of my main items of clothing into Pinterest and simply pinned some outfits that I a) knew I had the ingredients for and b) looked cute or c) could easily be achieved with one tiny purchase (I'm only human after all!!) Soon enough I had pins which featured 'boyfriend jeans', 'khaki trousers', 'denim dress' and so on and so forth...

Then, being the random soul I am, despite having them all laid out infront of my eyes on my Pinterest board, I pasted them into Publisher, printed them off and laid them all out on the dining room table. It was at this point that Husband walked through, paused to look, almost asked a question then thought better of it and carried on!! Ha!!

Some outfits didn't make it. I pinned a great combo of plaid and khaki then chickened out!, some wound up to be very subtle duplicates, some I went off the longer I looked at them...but I did make a cute little pile of ideas that will need specific purchases in order to achieve (denim shirt anyone?!)

And then I just sorted them out into days of the week (I spent a long, long, almost too long, time on this bit of the process, I shan't bore you with the details, needless to say in the end I went with 'this looks good here'!!)

Monday is khaki jacket, stripes and either light blue ripped jeans or my dotty chinos (am interested to see if I can pull this off, in my head these chinos are frumpy and destined for the charity bin??)

Tuesday is either boyfriend jeans, stripes and a gilet or navy skinnies, white top and a blazer with a big scarf. 

Wednesday its the new indigo jeans tucked into boots with either plaid (eeshk!) and a gilet or a White tshirt under a waterfall cardigan. 

Thursday we're hauling out the leggings and dress/skirt combo. 

And Friday is grey trousers with a denim shirt or khaki trousers/stripes/denim jacket. 

I didn't print anything off for the weekend since I'm not a total loser and I CAN dress myself without prompting when I have enough time to think straight but also (and mainly) because at the weekend I'm dressed in these:

Thank you White Company!!

I think I'm going to find that, whilst I have all these items and do indeed sometimes wear these exact combinations, it's going to serve as a timely reminder/daily inspiration when I'm standing there blankly staring with my 4.5 remaining minutes quickly ticking by. I also think I'm going to find that accessories are where it's at. I need to up my accessories game!!

Ooh wee am actually excited to get up and get dressed tomorrow. Who wants to bet that my skinny jeans are in the wash?!

Attempting something new...

OK. So here's my idea. This year I have spent an awful long time sorting through every item in my wardrobe, sending tonnes to the charity shop, making a list of what I felt was missing, reorganising the layout...and ultimately it feels like I am filling my wardrobe with cute new things, but then still struggling to 'create' an outfit each morning that looks any different to how it did before?? It's infuriating. I don't think I can really blame it on the school run, I was struggling with this before Boy started school, but having only 6 mins to do clothes/hair/makeup/teeth each day is definitely making the morning process a bit more stressful!

So I have hit the Pinterest. The plan is to use these outfit ideas as inspiration each morning. Have searched for main items that I know I already own and love (we're not starting from scratch here!)

The next stage is to crop all the images and create an outfit board to hang on my dressing room wall, a la Jen from iHeart organizing. 

The Husband will hate it, but I'm just a visual person and if it's not there in front of me it ain't gonna happen. Have had to write a post-it saying '100' to remind me of my October goal, it's stuck to my bedside lamp (memory like a sieve!) 

So that is my Saturday project for this weekend, am about to fire up the printer and start cropping while the boys are happily destroying the playroom. Then we've got coffee in Waitrose with an elderly gentleman Boy has befriended (don't ask?) and a BBQ at BFFs (that bit I am excited about!)

Hope you've all got nice plans this weekend. Embrace the bobble hats ;-)

October is here!!

Happy October, everyone!

A busy month ahead, here's a quick peek at what the Boys and I have planned:

That's on top of all the random, ongoing house jobs such as 'finish painting the shed' and 'fit the new pane of glass in the conservatory window which has been broken now for, ooh, 6 weeks' and 'fix the wardrobe door that has been leaning up against the wall for, ooh, 8 weeks'!! We're going to be very busy people!!

As for October goals, I have a few.
1. Embrace the slow cooker. I did get it out of the cupboard this weekend and made the world's most epic chilli con carne but now need to 'up' my game and get dinner in it most mornings. 20mins effort means such a relaxed evening and the meals are delicious. What's not to love about that?!
2. Complete a pilates 100 every night before bed. My main issue whenever I start goals like this is that I forget. I think I managed to moisturise my flaky skin 4 times last time I made it my month goal. Shameful. Am going to write a reminder on a post-it and stick it to my bedside lamp! Wish me luck!
3. Get a start on the Christmas shopping. BFF announced this morning that she's finished hers already. FINISHED it. Mentalist. So yeah, my goal is distinctly smaller than hers but still, a start would be nice for no other reason than it will spread the cost and stop Husband from grumping quite so loudly come Xmas eve when I've still got 7 people to buy for and wind up throwing money at the problem (which is an annual occurrence!)
4. Decorate the house for Autumn. No explanation needed.
5. Finalise plans for the school Christmas fair. This is almost in hand but since BFF's Husband took up the role of Vice on the PLA committee I suddenly feel a need to get it all nailed down before he asks me about it ;-)
6. Invite one school friend round for tea on a Friday (think the extreme fatigue is starting to fade? You watch, as soon as someone comes to play everyone will dissolve into tears and have to be carried to their room, hey ho...)

And I think that's enough to be going on with.

In wardrobe news I finally went with this denim dress:

which I'm wearing today with black tights and brown knee high boots. Love!

And I've been a busy little bee booking the Christmas party for Husband's company, which is very exciting, but I suppose we should add 'find a dress' to the October goals so that I don't spend November and the start of December roaming around the shops wailing. Like last year!

So there you have it. Crack out the scarves and gloves, Autumn has officially started and it's going to be nippy. Has anyone got any goals for the month ahead? Or any suggestions for party wear? I see a girly shopping trip in my future...