WE ARE GETTING MARRIED!

I've been meaning to do this post now for over a week, if you follow me on social media namely Instagram you may have seen that Simon asked me to marry him.. and I said YES!



So last Wednesday was a typical Wednesday, we had planned our day the night before between us, I wasn't suspicious or expecting anything out of the ordinary (little did I know). We woke up in the morning and it was a wonderfully bright and sunny spring day, we had two plans, to grab some brunch together and to head for a walk on the promenade. The promenade where we usually let off balloons and lanterns on the anniversary of Snowflakes due date. The anniversary of miscarrying Snowflake was approaching on the Sunday, aswell as valentines day and Simons birthday. It made sense to go for a walk on the prom, it is a place we both feel close to our baby. 

We went for some brunch at our local pub, sat in our usual spot, spoke to the usual people and my Father in Law popped in too for a quick pint and a natter. After popping Simons Dad to the shops and home we headed off to St Annes beach for our walk. 

I was having a really lovely day, enjoying Simons company on his day off, I was also getting a rare good day from my Depression and Anxiety. We wandered over a cobbled bridge and slowly walked towards the beach. THIS is when Simon started to act a smidge out of character, nothing anybody who didn't know him would notice, but I certainly did. He wanted to walk on the sand and we never usually do this, unless it's summer or we are sending things off for Snowflake. With the anniversary looming I just shrugged it off and assumed he wanted to be close to our bambino. We mooched along a short strip of beach, I was particularly captivated by all the shells which had been left behind when the tide went out. Picking one shell up after another, and telling Simon how pretty they were. A really cute dog wearing a coat came over and made a fuss of me, rolling around on the floor around my feet, after he and his owners walked away there wasn't anyone but us on the stretch of beach. 





The view out to sea was spectacular, and Simon suggested we take a seat on the sea wall to take it all in. He asked me, as he had many times that day If I was having a lovely day, and said to me that this place is a special place to us isn't it, I said yes. Simon begun fumbling in his pocked and I wondered could this be it. He got onto one knee, pulled out a rather large box, with a beautiful, beautiful ring inside it and asked me if I would marry him. I SAID YES! 

I had a feeling Simon was going to propose some time soon, he had made a couple of hints here and there. I thought perhaps Valentines day or whilst we are away on a trip at the end of the month. I am so happy he chose to propose when he did, although if I am honest i'd have been happy whenever he did it! I love that in his proposal he included Snowflake, who has an incredibly special place in our hearts.

It's a little bit late, but HAPPY NEW YEAR!

I've got to admit, I feel sorry for January, if January was a person I think he would be extremely misunderstood. A lot of people love to hate January, but I love to love it! Everyone may be short on money and carrying a few extra pounds... but they are hopeful and positive about the upcoming year, and I for one find that infectious! Which leads me to this post, my hopes and goals for 2016. Now I am fully aware this post is coming quite a way into the New Year, January is practically up (how on earth did that happen by the way? wasn't it Christmas just last week?!) I wanted to test out my new years resolutions collectively before I commit to them... Is that cheating? probably. So here goes, my hopes and goals for this year!

1. Fit exercise into our weekly routine.

As much as I'd love to be a spontaneous, free spirit - it just isn't me! I love routine and organisation so to be consistent with working out, it has to become a part of my routine. Myself and Simon have decided to do this one together, we have decided that we will have a work out evening once a week, on a Tuesday evening using the equipment we already have in our home (saving gym costs).

2. Give up Coca Cola
Good old Coca Cola was my weakness for so long, and I say was because thus far I have gone a whole two weeks Cola free. I was drinking at least three cans a day, so this is a mahoosive achievement, and one I intend to stick to.

3. Save money

Last year our car practically fell apart within the space of a week, everything possible went wrong which meant we had to buy a new car! This had a massive knock on effect with our finances which meant we had to cancel our holiday we had booked to Tenerife in February. We have decided to do a savings challenge this year to get us saving. The idea of the challenge is that you put away 1 pence on the first day, 2 pence on the second day and so on until on the last day of the year you put away £3.66. The idea behind it is that you don't feel the loss as it isn't a large sum, just change. 

4. Move house

Our lease on our house ends in April and the landlord is in the process of selling up, so we have decided that we will be moving. This will be a really big step for us, we have lived here since we first left our family homes 4 years ago and have created lots of memories here!

5. Journal 

Writing in a diary or journalling is a brilliant way of being mindful and reflecting on your day. For the last couple of years I have journalled December, primarily to help me remember what we did each day to help me write my Snippets Of Christmas series each week. I discovered that not only did I really enjoy it, but it was really therapeutic to get into bed each night and have some time to wind down and reflect. This year I plan to journal each evening.

6. Moisturise

I got some lovely hand cream for Christmas, I'm especially fond of Soap and Glorys hand food! But like I said before If something isn't a part of my routine it just doesn't get done, and in this case just doesn't get used! My hands get extremely dry, so as a part of my evening routine I am going to use hand cream before bed each night. I've been keeping it on my side table to remind me. 

7. Try new reciepes

Together we want to try some different recipes and eat at home more often. We tend to cook the same old meals over and over again, so I've been looking for and pinning some new ideas on Pinterest.

8. Start a family

This is more of a hope rather than a resolution, as it is out of our hands. We hope that we will be finally blessed with our rainbow baby, after two consecutive miscarriages and trying for a grand total of two years, we are more than ready to become a family.

9. Be happy

All in all this year we just want to be happy, healthy and feel good about life and ourselves.

Snippets Of Christmas 2015 - Week Four

Hello! And Happy Almost New Year.

Christmas has been and gone, and I am happy to report my jeans aren't feeling tooo tight (there's no hair bobble trick in sight!) I'm pretty sure that will change though, the pile of snacks in the kitchen aren't going to eat themselves after all ;) I'm currently nibbling bingeing on a bag of Roses golden barrels that were put out as visitor goodies - yuuuumm. 

This past week has been really, really lovely! The presents were all bought, wrapped and delivered so there was nothing more to do other than be merry with our friends and family. I even managed to sneak in some Christmas crafting. Myself and Simon made and painted some adorable salt dough paw prints as part of a handmade gift for my parents. And of course Miss Pookie, our little shadow had to be in on the action.

Nothing says Christmas like the smell of new Pyjamas! These are from Primark, aren't they gorgeous? The bottoms are a brushed cotton material and they are oh so cosy.

Christmas Eve

Since myself and Simon begun dating many many moons ago, we always had our own little Christmas on Christmas eve! So in the spirit of tradition, we got up bright but not so early to open our stockings in bed before heading downstairs to open presents around the tree.

The rest of Christmas eve was equally as lovely! We headed to our local pub for lunch with the in-laws where we stayed for hours, as we always do on Christmas eve, before Me and Simon headed out for some scrummy Italian food.   

That evening we (apparently like the whole of Instagram :P) put together and decorated a gingerbread house! I think we are going to make this a yearly tradition as it was so much fun and I for one love anything creative, and if it involves tasty treats, then all the better!

Christmas Day!

Christmas day begun with both of us at our parents houses eating bacon barms and opening presents before Simon joined me at my parents where we stayed for the rest of the day, eating good food and laughing. 

The table all set at my Parents for Christmas dinner!

And Boxing day was spent at the in-laws, building farms and houses out of wooden bricks with my nieces, and Lacey (our youngest niece) took her first steps, an utterly magical way to end Christmas!

So, that's it for my Snippets Of Christmas series for another year, I cant quite believe it's over. 

I hope you had the most wonderful of Christmases, and I wish the Happiest of New Years to you :)

Snippets Of Christmas 2015 - Week Three

Our advent candle is looking rather stubby and our calendar doors are mostly open... which means that Christmas is oh so very close (3 sleeps away to be precise)!

Since it's week three and I STILL haven't shared our lounge decor, I thought that is where I'd start this week! I LOVE how our living room looks at Christmas time, it feels super, super cosy especially on an evening when we have all of the candles lit. 

Can you believe sales have already begun? We picked up this beautiful bell jar from Tesco for a irresistible £1.75, we love it so much we went back to grab another! We plan to use them on the Christmas day dinner table, but for now one looks adorable on my bedside table.

In recent weeks I haven't quite felt so Christmassy, but this week the festive spirit came much easier, probably down to looking forward to Simon finishing for Christmas! I brought out the glittery nail polish to celebrate, if you can't wear glitter at Christmas... when can you?!

Like many others, I really feel Christmassy when the shopping comes to an end and I am spending quality time with family and friends! This week we have had much more time for things like dining out with our family, getting together with those we haven't seen in a while, baking and other relaxing things. It hasn't been a plain sailing week, but we have been better able to cope with things thrown at us!

By Snippets of Christmas Week Four, the big man will have been and my jeans wont be buttoning the same! 

So, Merry Christmas :) 

Snippets Of Christmas 2015 - Week Two

Hello, and Happy Tuesday!

Here I am once again with a chocolate chip muffin to hand and 24 hours in A&E playing in the background (my current favourite) whilst I sift through photo snippets of our week.

Personally honesty is key here on my little blog and as much as I'd love to say this week has been rainbows and butterflies... it hasn't quite been that way. Our week didn't start off too great, we were both feeling rather crap and rather Grinchy.  But once we got our tree put up we were in much better spirits, there's just something about fairy lights that makes my heart fuzzy and warm. 

Home Alone Quote Banner purchased from Darwin And Gray on Etsy

Our mood was only made better by my parents popping by to visit, bearing gifts!

Whilst kind of, sort of-ish on the topic of home decor, we had to buy some replacement Christmas bedding as ours was turning everything it touched pink! Socks, throws... you name it, they turned PINK. We replaced it with this super fun and colourful one from George. We are obsessed with it!

Whilst Simon has been working away like the little worker bee he is, I have been knee deep in wrapping paper, ribbons and bows! AKA in my element wrapping lots and lots of prezzies. Things are feeling much more organised in the Gardner/Berry residence!

My favourite moment this week has to be having my adorable nephew come and stay with us. He may be thirteen years old, but my oh my he still melts my heart! We went to see 'The Good Dinosaur' at the Odeon, and oh my - it's a good 'un. We all loved it!

Oh, and I couldn't not include our new buddy Oscar! This cutie patootie is a regular visitor to our local pub, we often find him sat underneath the seats of our usual table. Infact we are due to see him again tomorrow, when we pop out for lunch with my father in law! 

Well, thats Christmas week two over and done with! When we wake tommorow, Christmas will be single digits away.

Sweet Dreams :)

Snippets of Christmas 2015 - Week One

HAPPY DECEMBER!

That feels super strange to type, and super strange to say aloud! But it is true, December is upon us and Christmas day is merely weeks away. Last year I created and begun a Christmas series called 'Snippets Of Christmas' and I really enjoyed it! I found myself digging out my camera much more and preserving the smaller, finer details of Christmas often forgotten. 

Our house is gradually, and I mean reeeaaaaal gradually becoming festive. We have lots of candles, plaques and accessories dotted around but we are yet to put up the tree (or green scratch post in our ever so cheeky fur-babies eyes). After we finished the decorating we treated ourselves to a scrumdiddlyumtious hot chocolate, and chocolate muffin from McDonalds! 

One of the candles we are burning is the scent 'Candy Cane Lane' by Yankee Candle, it is a subtle fragrance, so it takes a while to kick in, but oh my - after a while you feel as though you are in a, well... Candy Cane Lane. 

Although i'm giving it a good old shot, admittedly I am not really feeling Christmas this year, not quite yet anyway! This past week I have been unwell pretty much everyday, I have had stomache pains that have had me doubled over, a outbreak out of no-where in hives - all over my hands and arms (still there *shudder*) a cold, and I even managed to dye myself and the bath smurf blue with a craft fair bath bomb. Its safe to say im not having the best of luck this month! 

Ailments aside, we've got lots done this week! Theres been plenty of Christmas shopping done, a smidge of wrapping and a whole lot of card writing. All in-between putting up decorations with my Nanna at the care home and helping my father-in-law set up his Christmas villages.

Here's to week two of Christmas! 

And perhaps to not turning myself smurf blue again.

Snowflakes 1st birthday

I think it goes without saying, this year has gone extremely quickly, and I'm yet to meet someone who thinks otherwise. It is somehow already September, Autumn is most certainly in the air and I've begun getting more than excited for the chilly weather festivities to come. But before we can dig out our winter coats, wellies and throws, a certain day arrives on our calendar. And that date is the 5th of September, the day our darling Snowflake was due to enter the world, meaning that this year he or she would have been turning one years old.

It's completely and utterly surreal for myself and Simon to imagine ourselves with a one year old now, it feels like we have been mourning the loss of Snowflake for an eternity. We would do anything to have Snowflake here with us, but there is something special and a certain depth that comes with loss, it gives life so much more meaning and you no longer have the energy for any sort of negative relationships.

The 5th fell on a Saturday and we had a really slow morning at home, we was in no rush to get out of the door! We headed out for the first time around lunch time to a restaurant for some scrummy food, before going for a long, long, sunny walk in the park. We spotted out dragon flies, even saw a white feather, it was a beautiful afternoon. The whole day we both felt really content, and since we were expecting the worst, it came as a pleasant surprise. 

This year we wanted to let off sky lanterns (last year we let off balloons, you can read all about that here) but unfortunately I couldn't get any in time, but very luckily for us a girl I went to high school with had some, and very kindly gave us them.

 We headed to the same spot as last year, but unfortunately it was just too windy and the lanterns fell apart at every attempt we made. Already quite sensitive with the day in mind, we found this utterly heart breaking. I felt like I once again had failed as a mother, our baby had no gift to say we was thinking of her.

Not ones to give up, and big believers in 'better late than never' we purchased some balloons a few days later and headed back to our favourite spot, where we had the perfect evening we wished for.