Lazy Summer Days

It's really really hot here at the moment. The countryside is so dry and burned out, in desperate need of rain. Our days are slow and lazy. We spend the hottest part of the day indoors. Alba spends her time creating either drawing and cutting out paper dinosaurs, painting or making clothes for her teddies. 

In the late afternoon when it's cooler we finally escape outdoors to the pool............

 for a leisurely stroll.................

or to find a shady spot in the park.......

How are you spending your summer days?

Love

Sarah Elizabeth

x 

Kitchen: before, during and after

I finally managed to get a couple of photos of our finished kitchen to share with you. It's not often in a tidy enough state to photograph! First of all, here is a photo of how the kitchen looked in February 2010 before we started any work on the house. It's such a huge transformation you can hardly believe it's the same house! 

The beautiful arch was bricked up.

Work begins finally in the summer of 2012........

The beautiful arch is finally exposed. This picture is from Spring 2013.

The kitchen goes in in July 2014....

The kitchen as it is today, July 2015.........

This is my absolute favourite room of the house. It's turned out even better than I could have imagined and was definitely worth the wait. I'm planning to do another post showing more details of the kitchen when it's next tidy enough to photograph! 

Lots of love from my lovely kitchen!

Sarah Elizabeth x x 

The Artist's Way

For some time, perhaps forever, I've been feeling something was missing from my life. I couldn't understand what was the matter with me. I have a wonderful husband, two amazing girls, a beautiful home and the luxury of being able to stay at home and raise my family. I thought I had everything I wanted and yet I couldn't shake the feeling of somehow wanting more. I was becoming fed up and increasingly irritable. At first I put it down to being tired from waking for night feeds but even more sleep didn't help. And then one day, for whatever reason, inspiration struck and for the first time in ages I got out my notebooks and started to write. Immediately the cloud lifted and I felt truly happy. Afterwards I was able to enjoy even more my time with my girls, I was able to be more patient and present. The key it seemed was to spend time doing something that I love, and for me that is writing. 

After talking this over with a friend she suggested that I try a book called The Artist's Way by Julia Cameron. I'd already heard of the book as both my mum and sister have read it and I had it on my list of things to do some time in the future when I have more time. Not wanting to loose my new found enthusiasm however, I immediately ordered a second-hand copy of the book online. And so came to the end my two years long writer's block. 

So what is The Artist's Way? It's a 12 week course in 'discovering and recovering your creative self.' Each week there are tasks to complete aimed at helping you to unblock your creativity. It helps you to silence your inner 'censor' and work through any issues from your past which are stopping you from following your dreams. In addition to these tasks you are encouraged to write 'morning pages', three pages every morning of whatever comes into your mind, and also to go on a weekly 'artist's date'. 

I'm two weeks into the course and already I've noticed a big shift in my mindset. I've struggled for a long time with the feeling of 'I'm not good enough.' Now I'm starting to realise that being 'good enough' is not what's important. What's important is simply to spend time doing the things you love. The biggest difference is that I'm finally writing again. I'm filling pages upon pages in my notebooks which have been sitting empty and gathering dust on my shelf for the past few years. The other incredible thing is that it's having an impact on other areas of my life. I'm able to be more patient and present with my children, I'm enjoying more than ever my weekly dance classes and I'm more organised and efficient in taking care of my daily chores.

I'm so looking forward to seeing where this course will take me. If the difference after only two weeks is so great then after twelve who knows what I'll manage to achieve. I'd love to be able to connect with anyone else who has followed this course so please leave a comment with any thoughts or ideas you'd like to share.

Happy creating everyone.

love Sarah Elizabeth
xox

Welcome Mirryn Hope

On 16th March we welcomed into the world another beautiful daughter, Mirryn Hope. We are delighted with our precious bundle and Alba May adores her new little sister. 

Spring is coming

It's been so long since I've blogged here and I have so much to share. We finally finished our home renovation and moved in before Christmas. I'm more than happy with how it has turned out and can't wait to share some photos here. We are also expecting our second child any day now so it's a very exciting time for us. I'm hoping I'll manage to find some time soon to write about our new home x x x 

The kitchen is in!

Hello All,

I'm not sure if there is anyone still reading here but just in case anyone was looking for house updates I thought I'd post with the latest photos of our kitchen. We had it made by Le Cucine dei Mastri but with the sink and worktop from Ikea. It was fitted the day that we left to come to Scotland for the Summer so I haven't actually seen it yet! 

And here are a few pictures of our beautiful girl enjoying her Summer holidays in Scotland........

Happy days.......................x x x 

Update

I've had a few messages recently from followers asking for an update so here I am. I've totally abandoned my little corner of blogland for the past year. I am always full of intentions to get back into blogging but never quite get there. Anyway, I'm still here, still working away at the house which seems will never be finished, still enjoying being a mummy to our little girl who is growing up so fast.

Here are the most recent pictures of the house. The windows went in last week which has made a huge difference. It now feels more like a house and less like a building site. The past year has been very slow going. When I look back at pictures of the house this time last year it really doesn't seem like much progress has been made at all. Now that the windows are in though hopefully with a big push we'll be able to move in this summer.

Muffin Making with my Little Muffin

We seem to have skipped Spring here and gone straight to Summer. Already it's 25°C even though just a week ago we were still wearing wooly hats and scarves! While it was a bit hot to play outside in the middle of the day Alba and I took the chance to do a bit of baking. It's the first time I've baked with her and I was expecting chaos. I obviously underestimated her though as she stood on her chair as quiet as a mouse, delicately stirring and adding raisins one by one. At the finish she even asked for a cloth to clear up the bits she'd spilled. I'm looking forward to doing some more baking or crafty projects with her. If anyone has ideas of fun, creative things to do with toddlers please share them in the comments. 

Have a great week everyone x x