in my garden

the past few days here have been wet... wet, soggy, downright depressing actually.. i cant believe its actually summer to be honest, if i was a betting woman i would bet that it was actually October in disguise!!..

so i thought to cheer myself up i would post some piccies of my little tiny yard, some i took a few days ago when the sun made a cameo appearance for the season!!..

i have totally disregarded the house over the past few weeks. and its all been about the garden!.. now when i say garden that is me using a touch of poetic license as its a very small l'shaped yard ..buts its my little space and its somewhere that i find myself wandering up and down drinking the first cup of coffee in the morning ..checking on each floral progress and dodging the slugs to!!

these pretty bedding plants always remind me of ladies faces with little bonnets on!!

a little bit of bunting that i made from cath kidston samples Ive had for ages.. don't look to closely though the sewing is shocking.. i blame my machine though not me!!!

a little sun trap for me

some home made candle holders using empty coffee jars and various stickers!.. still waiting for a balmy evening to light them though!!

a nice bit of chick lit to pass the afternoon.. this one "meet me at the cupcake cafe" immediately made me want to abandon my diet ( which i did!) due to the gorgeous cake recipes found within the pages .. and also open up my own little shabby chic shop ( which i haven't because I'm poor!!)

a sweet pea .. that i bought for about 10p in the woopsie section of homebase!

some old and some new hydrangea's

my lupins before the slugs had a feast on them!

some impatiens ( are these busy lizzies?? ) .. in my vintage enamel bowl..

my little corridor of happiness.. that i stand in my french doors like a loon and just stare out at.. the people at the back of me must think I'm some sort of crazy stalker just staring into space but i do get a bit of joy just looking!! ( At the flowers not the neighbours right!)

troughs of lobelia ..

Sweet Williams and trailing geraniums

the red corner !!

more hydrangeas ..

love my little blue planter from B&M's..really emphasises the pink of the geraniums i think

a mish mash of bedding plants and stuff that should come back next year .. ( here's hoping the snow doesn't have its own agenda!)

lovely blue delphiniums.. again bought in the bargain bit of homebase.. i gave it a good home and its seemed to have flourished..!!

so there you have it .. a mini tour around a mini garden, I'm no Percy Thrower but i do get enjoyment from choosing plants that have colour.I'm going to try and incorporate a few climbers this year so that i can benefit more next year.. what ever the case Ive enjoyed so far. will have to think about my autumn garden now!!

And I know its going to be .... a lovely day

woke up this morning with a bit of a face on if I can be honest.. combination of tiredness.. children's diggy little elbows in my my back ( i know I'll miss them getting in my bed when they get to old or cool enough..!) . and just the thought of getting up, making the breakfasts, doing the pack lunch, shouting like a fishwife all before 8am and that's before even doing the school run.. its the same every day and probably the same for most (if they are being honest!) mums all around the world!!

but on my return from said school run.. I've had a cuppa and a piece of toast,

brown bread buttered hot toast is always a winner ..proper comfort food for me!

put a wash on ( which always makes me feel better.. weird i know but i do love the sound of the washing machine on in the background.. think i feel like I'm getting things done!)

and then received this little beauty in the post.. i was a winner of fee-bees from the lovely http://feebee-loveofvintage.blogspot.com/ mini blog give away..

I'm now the proud owner of this little needle case from Cath Kidston.. its far to sweet to be put away in my sewing box though so think I'll keep it out for now for everyone to admire!!!

thanks fee-bee for running your giveaway and even better for me winning it!!!...

looking out the front window i just loved how the sun was shining on the wall opposite and the pavement.. it just seems to be giving off a lovely hazy and dare i say it... spring like sunshine!!.. so had to take a picture of it ..

the sun just makes everything feel better for a start... ( apart from highlighting the fact my windows are filthy!!! )

and then just before i noticed that my chives that have been outside in their little pot since last summer and i thought would have been killed off in all that snow.. are back!!.. they seem to be growing again.


.which fills me with joy.. i love it when things start growing in the garden again..

so i think what I'm trying to say is.. I started the day with a heavy heart.. but now i feel like maybe its going to be a good day ... and if its not.. then I'll make it into one!!!

What time is it??

Its ten past snow!!



i know the snow can be a real pain but i do love how pretty it makes everything look!!

So were was I !?

hellooooo is there anybody there!!!!! ...

well that was a very long absence.. longer than i thought i must say.. today has been the first day that we've had the Internet for about 3 months!..

i feel sooo out of touch.. Ive not read any ones blogs for ages so i cant wait to catch up with every ones news !!

i have to say the first few weeks of not having the Internet were a bit strange... the nights were very long but i found solace in my books !!.. no actually it did me a favour us not having the Internet.. i have read a whole lot more and Ive been not so reliant on the world wide web like i was before.. ( and it helped that Big Brother has been on..!)

anyways what have i been up to over the summer.. well here goes, my last post was on the freecycle bench id just got well i did makeover on my garden bench with a little bit of red gloss . and i cant remember a time that i didn't have that little bench now!.. it sits so pretty in my little yard... here are some pics showing the back garden at its blooming best!!...
now when i say garden i know that's over exaggerating somewhat..its a little L shaped backyard..but this year it has given up tons of courgettes .. a whole heap of herbs and a few cucumbers and peppers to so we've not done to badly!!

oh i took voluntary redundancy as well...remember i said there were possibilities of redundancies well it was really taken out of my control and the jobs that were offered i just couldn't take so for the past month Ive been a lady of leisure.. ( well with two children . hardly leisure.. in fact i realise now how good it was to having a working week as well !) .. it still feels like I'm on hols or maternity leave at the minute.. Ive never not been in some sort of employment since Ive left school so this is a new experience for me! its been a bit sad for me as well..Ive worked in this job since i was 19.. Ive been a bit of a wild child, Ive got married and Ive had two children all in the space of working here.. it has felt like Ive grown up here so the prospect of starting all over again when i haven't got the confidence of youth behind me ( now i know that makes me sound ancient doesn't it and not just 30!..but that's how i feel!!) is a tad bit scary!



anyways back to the summer well we went on hols to criccieth which is in wales... fantastic house..right next to the beach.. absolutely amazing.. only trouble was it rained from the minute we got there to the day we left.. oh we were gutted.. the man whose house it was had asked us if we could swap the original date to the date that we eventually went on.. the original date turned out to to be the hottest weekend of the year i think and we went on the wettest!!.

here is the view from the gorgeous old sash windows.. pity it felt like we were in the middle of November haha.. ( actually if it had been the middle of November i would have loved it and would have stoked up the fire and pictured myself in a Rosamund Pilcher novel with the fire roaring .. but it was to blimmin warm for fires!)


the house itself was gorgeous and i think if we had been in a caravan or a tent we would have come home but this had a massive kitchen with an aga.. we just couldn't leave!!..

so the hubby just cooked amazing meals for us each night on the gorgeous old aga and i opened another bottle of rose!!



this was the pretty little courtyard on a very rare dry occasion.


well that's all for now.. just thought id pop on and say hello and say I'm back ( not that you're all going to be jumping around for joy but you know what i mean.!!..) .. hopefully have lots of piccies to show you of all forth coming events that will be taking place in the pretty vintage household..
( i.e. now that im not working 3 days a week the house will drive me crazy and all the half done jobs will be done and new jobs will be created!!)

Garden Party

nipped to Tescos the other day and happened to find myself buying a paper tablecloth as it looked rather pretty and it said it was wipe able which is an added bonus when you have a very messy toddler and  a baby trying to feed himself at meal times!!!

thought it would be a little square really not much to it....

but no.. its quite big and its sooooo pretty... and its called Garden Party, which conjures up loveliness in my mind!!! I'm not sure how long it will actually last before its ripped etc but it only cost 75p so I'm sure i can afford to go and get a couple more!!!

i think i might make some bunting for the garden with it as well... 

now i was sent an email from decorative country living today and there was this picture on the email..how gorgeous is this.. 

doesn't this just make you yearn for a warm balmy summer evening... this is defo the look I'm going to go for in my little yard in the evenings.. once it starts warming up at least!!..

do you think we'll get a nice summer this year.. i do hope so ..my body is calling out for some vitamin c!! 

Ive been collecting a few little bits for my little yard ( shall we call it my courtyard terrace instead!!) now all i need to do is get a few more plants ( even though hubby has said noway we have enough.. is he daft or summit!) so if the carboot is going to be on on bank holiday i might get some from there

so Ive picked up  these tiles from a few different charity shops over the past few months that i think will look lovely up on the wall 

and then these different style lanterns are sure to look gorgeous with flickering candles in

and last but not least a tray to hold my drinky and perhaps a nice jug of flowers 

oh take a look at this .. it is a weed but i think its so pretty ..its got lovely little purple flowers and i love the way its growing around the trellis and over my plant holder.. would you cut it back as it is a weed or keep it because its pretty... ???

arnt weeds just friends you haven't met!!!!???