Still waiting........

.......for my little bean to make his / her entrance.

In the mean time here is a 'before' picture taken by a friend who is a great new photographer. I hope it won't be too much longer until I have an 'after' picture to share with you.

Thank you all for your well wishes x x 

Snowy Scotland

We've made it back to snowy Scotland in time for Christmas. Everything is beautifully wintery and festive and I'm looking forward to spending a lovely cosy Christmas.

Yesterday the Rock My Wedding website featured our engagement shoot from last Christmas when we got some really beautiful shots in the snow. I can't believe a whole year has passed since then.

I want to thank everyone for being such sweet followers of my blog over the past year. Your comments and support make me smile every day. I wish you all a wonderful, magical holiday.

Sarah Elizabeth x x

Friday Photo

My husband is away in South Africa this week for work and has taken our camera with him so today I'm posting a photo from our wedding taken by the awesome Craig of McBeth photography. It's a picture of my place setting with a handmade origami crane and handmade name tag. I was so inspired by our photographer and hope to be able to take pictures even half as good as this one day.

It's my birthday tomorrow so I have a few fun things planned this weekend with some friends and family. I wish I was in South Africa with my hubby though! Have a great weekend everyone x x

Friday Photo

Thank you so much for your comments on my first Friday Photo last week. Your kind words and suggestions encourage me and help me to improve.

Once again, any thoughts or suggestions on this weeks photo are very welcome.

This weekend we have a birthday party, a trip to Rome and a visit to the cinema to see the new Harry Potter film! Have a happy weekend everyone x x

Friday Photo

Since starting my blog a year ago I've been working on becoming a better photographer. I have a fairly good camera but so far have only scratched the surface of what it's able to do. So, I've decided to start a new weekly post where I can show a photo I've taken during the week. This will hopefully challenge me to take more photographs and to work on improving my technique. Any constructive criticism will be gratefully accepted!

Persimmon

Have a good weekend x x

Star light star bright..........

I have been a bad blogger recently and not been posting as regularly as I'd like. Either I haven't been doing anything interesting to post about or I haven't managed to take photos of what I've been doing. So today, I'm cheating a little and posting some photos taken by my Darling Husband.

When we first met I was really attracted to my husband's love of the stars. He'd point out different stars in the sky, telling me their names and the legends behind them. It was very romantic! He loves taking pictures of the night sky and this weekend was very clear and he managed to get some pretty good shots.

In this picture, just between the trees, you can see clearly the constellation of the Corona Borealis (northern crown). The main stars form a semi-circular arc and in Greek mythology represent the crown belonging to Ariadne, daughter of King Minos of Crete.

The cluster of stars you can see in this shot is the Pleiades or 'Seven Sisters.' In Greek mythology the seven sisters were the seven daughters of Atlas.

A view of Perugia by night from behind our house.

Have a good week x x

Things that Make me Happy Part Five

5. Beautiful Photography

I have always loved beautiful photographs but it's only since I started blogging that I have begun to take a more serious interest and try to learn how to use a camera myself. Today we went to an exhibition of the work of Steve McCurry at the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria. His photography is so breathtaking, not just because the photographs themselves were beautiful but because of the incredible stories that they tell. I felt extremely moved by the whole exhibition and I now feel even more inspired and determined to continue with my newest passion.

'Afghan Girl' by Steve McCurry

Spring has sprung!

After a cold, snowy week here in Perugia finally today the temperatures rose and it felt like Spring had finally arrived. Matteo and I went for a walk and I had my first photography 'lesson'. Since starting my blog I've been so inspired by all of the amazing photography I've seen and I was ashamed of my own poor photography skills. So, I decided that it's about time I learned how to take half decent photographs myself. Matteo is really good at understanding the technical side of photography so today he showed me the basics, just enough to get me started. I was quite pleased with the results although I definately need a lot more practise. Here's a few of the pictures from today.

Engagement Shoot

During the holidays our wedding photographer came to do our engagement shoot. I was really nervous about being in front of the camera but Craig, the photographer made me feel really relaxed and after a while I started to enjoy myself. We got some really great pictures, one of which we're going to use on our invitations. Now we just have to decide which one. At the moment the first one is my favourite. Many thanks to Craig from McBeth photography