Why so loooooong?

Why do I always leave it so long between posts? I'll tell you why. It's mainly because I remember to write at 1am in the morning when I should be asleep. 

We are currently in the last week of the Summer holidays. It has seriously flown by. Little G goes back to nursery on Monday. I think she's definitely ready now. We've been playing 'schools' most days & she's made me sing the register on more than one occasion!

So, what have I been up to? On 17th August 2 of my very good friends got married in Northampton. We decided against staying the night before & drove down on the morning of the wedding. The wedding was held at Hunsbury Hill Centre. It was stunning. A gorgeous 18th century farm now converted into a stunning venue. The groomsmen all looked very smart & the bridal party....just wow. The bride wore a beautiful gown with sparkling gem details & the 5 bridesmaids each wore a different pastel shade dress. I love weddings & seeing each couples personal take on their amazing day. 

Here's a peek of some of the day. I loved the ice cream stall. I chose Vanilla with a 24ct gold leaf, Fererro Roche. It was yum. 

I loved that they were served in little buckets. The children literally could not get enough of the ice cream. Little G kept coming to tell us 'there's ice cream.....and it's free. You don't have to pay!'. So funny! 

As the night drew closer the hog roast came out & so did a delightful, wicker basket full of the softest, fleece blankets. Again, another great touch & a great idea to keep us toasty warm on the not so warm summer night!!

So the week after the wedding it was time to take Georgie to her 1st ever football match. My best friend & I decided to take our girls to see Notts County Ladies v Man City Ladies. The girls were so excited. It cost us £18 for 5 of us!! How nuts is that compared to going to see a men's game?! We got fantastic seats right on the front row. The girls had a fantastic view & I had a worrying thought!! What if the ball came flying at us? I would surely panic & save myself leaving 3 year old G to fend for herself! Luckily the ball didn't quite get into our personal space!! 

We chose to see this match as Notts & Man City have lots of the England ladies players that our girls had seen in the World Cup this year. After the match we waited patiently for them to do their warm down & our patience paid off. One by one they came over to the waiting fans to chat & sign autographs. The girls were thrilled. The players were so nice & really showed an interest in our small people. 

So that takes me onto this weekend & our final wedding (we've only had 2) of the year. One of my oldest friends was finally marrying her significant other. The theme for the wedding was monopoly. The church was beautiful. After the ceremony, while they took photos, there was an ice cream bike where you could get a tub or a cone of gorgeous ice cream. I chose rum & raisin. Once the ice creams were finished we went on to the reception venue. The decorations stuck to the monopoly theme & it looked fantastic. We were treated to a 3 course meal which was gorgeous. Vegetable soup, roasted chicken breast with mash & veg & then my fave.....chocolate fudge cake. Amazing. Their first dance started off slowly then all of a sudden they broke out into an amazing routine. It was fantastic. A few hours later we were treated to a gorgeous BBQ. So much food to choose from. Steak, kebabs, burgers, hotdogs, mushy peas & then a whole host of salad & sauces. After making our tired children wait for me to eat (they did stop being mardy to have a hotdog) we finally called it a night. The small people fell asleep 5 minutes from home!! 

What an August we've had!!!!!

So much happening!!

As the title suggest I've got a lot going on at the moment. All good though so that's a positive.

I'm still trying very hard with the healthy eating. It's going ok. I lost 4 lbs the first week & 1.5 lbs the 2nd week. This week, the 3rd week, I think I put some back on!!! I went on a hen night & had a fantastic burger. 

Beef burger, goats cheese, portobello mushroom, red pepper & tomato. I think that was it! Served with 'slaw' (apparently not the same as coleslaw!) & twice fried, skin on, rustic chips. It was delish. I'm not normally a burger person but this was good. 

Apart from not sticking to my eating plan I'm also trying to be a 'work at home mum' & trying to survive the Summer holidays with a 2 & a 3 year old. My little boy (2) has recently decided that naps are for losers so that's been fun!! He now comes with us to my workroom & touches EVERYTHING!! I think the only way to get my work done will be to strap him into his pushchair!!! My little girl is the total opposite & just wants to help. Or to sit & practice writing her name. I do wonder how they're so very different. 

So the other small thing on the back burner is our 2016 trip to America. It's all so very exciting. We will be there for 2 weeks & we're travelling to New York, San Francisco, Monterey, Big Sur, Santa Barbara, Los Angeles & San Diego. We're flying from NYC to San Francisco & then Mr H will be driving us down the Pacific Coast highway to San Diego. I cannot wait. We did a similar itinerary for our honeymoon so it'll be brill to go back with our small people. 

Ok so after that quite long babble from me is better go to bed! 

I'll be back soon!!

Oh Cornwall how we love you.

Well as the post suggests we fell in love. The original plan for this year (my 30th don't forget) was to go to Ibiza in September. We've already been to Rhodes in April but how could we not visit our fave place when it was my special birthday year. 

After lots of looking & pricing we agreed we'd book a last minute thingy. 

Soon after, we decided that next year we'd return to America. Ibiza plans cancelled!! Anyone who knows me knows I'm mad about my holidays. I still needed another. So that's when I started looking in the UK. 

When I take my small people away I want them to have a fantastic time with fantastic experiences. I turned into a snob & decided lots of places just weren't special enough. 

The picture in my last post made my mind up. 

We were not disappointed. I want to go back now. 

We stayed in a chalet. It was basic but spacious. It was located in Hayle. 6 miles from St Ives. We arrived on Saturday evening & headed straight to the beach. After 60 quite steep steps we were greeted by quite a beautiful sight. The small people ran, looked for shells & laughed. Just perfect. 

Lots & lots

Do you ever feel like you've just got lots & lots happening? I am a work at home mum. Is that a thing? Knowing me I've got the term wrong. I do that a lot. I work around my 2 small people. Easier said than done most days. I'm very lucky that my eldest will come into my workroom with me & draw or watch a film on the tablet. She's 3 & wants to know about everything. I do the bulk of my work in the afternoons when my little boy has his nap. At 2 I know I'm very lucky that he still naps. 

This week is busier than usual. I'm selling lots of teacher gifts so my workload has increased. I obviously don't mind this at all as it means I'm paid more!! 

At the end of the week we're off t St Ives for a whole week. This is the picture that convinced me we needed to go. 

St Ives bay. How stunning does that look. It makes me just want to jump right in. I'm hoping we're going to get good weather. We're staying in a chalet at http://www.stivesbay.co.uk I really cannot wait. 

My best friend is going to be in Cornwall at the same time with her 2 girls & I cannot wait.  Days on the beach, ice creams & making amazing memories. 

Bring on the cream tea!!!! 

Hmmmmpphhhh

The title says it all. That's how I feel. Mr H has pretty much been away for the past 2 weeks. Greece for work last week & Scotland this week. It's so, so hard not having him here. I can deal with the household jobs, I can deal with my work & looking after the small people but they miss him so much. It's making me sad that they're asking for him but I can't give them the answer they want. 

I feel very, very lucky to have such an amazing husband. I'm so grateful that working away isn't a constant feature. I eat too much chocolate when he's not here. 

This weekend will hopefully be a lovely family one. We have a christening to go to & then Fathers Day to celebrate on Sunday. Mr H is soooo unmaterialistic (is that a word). I'm off shopping for Daddy presents tomorrow (today now) but in all honesty I know he'd rather get a picture or card that the small people had made for him. 

On that note I'm going to sign off. Off to kiss the little people goodnight while they sleep 😍

I've been sneaking around with gym again

Is anyone ever 100% happy with what they look like? That's a question I think about a lot. I've been to the gym this evening for the first time in weeks. My main motivation is to be fit & healthier for my small people but to be fair I think (if I'm totally honest) I'm just fed up of being a chunk now. 

I'm the worst person for emotional eating. If my little angels are in a particularly challenging mood I definitely go for the naughty foods to make me feel better. And I'm very guilty of making bad choices when I think I'm short on time. I need to change my outlook on food. Maybe being a bit more like Mr H. He mainly eats so he doesn't die. He'd quite happily have pasta & a fried egg (he eats everything separately) as a meal. Me on the other hand, I want everything to be amazing. And taste amazing. But this mainly means naughty.

The past few weeks I've been trying a little harder to be good. I love following the Slimming World plan but we make tweaks. I love the idea of cooking everything fresh & it really isn't that time consuming if you're in a rush. 

After I got back from the gym I felt amazing. I only ran 4km but I really do feel good. I think mainly a strange sense 

of pride that I've overcome my fears & put myself out of my comfort zone. 

A few weeks...

So, it's been a few weeks since my last post. You'll be pleased to know I no longer have 'face ache'. My pesky tooth came out on 7th April. When I read that last sentence back it makes me sound like I'm 7!!

So what have I been up to? We enjoyed a very delightful holiday to Rhodes in the Easter holidays. A little chilly at night but nice in the day & a gorgeous hotel. We stayed at the Atlantica Aegean Blue in Kolymbia, Rhodes. It was a Thomson family property so fantastic for my little people. 

It was so nice to sit back & relax. The pool was a little cold but that didn't stop G & J having a paddle. The loved it & spent the week playing with a Sainsbury's tea set we took!!

We also got to use the hotels water park. Again a little chilly in the water but the kids loved it. 

So, after we got home from Rhodes we spent 3 nights at home & then whizzed off down the M1 (and a few other roads) to Brighton. My mum had booked 2 nights for us as part of my 30th birthday present. Part of the deal was that we were to visit my very favourite Choccywoccydoodah. And oh my did we! 

 The beautiful pier. 

The stunning carousel. I took G on here. She chose 'Philip' the horse!! 

 A few from the magical shop. 

This is our small pile of chocolate we bought!!

Scary dentist people

Is anyone else scared of the dentist? I am. Don't really know why. No particularly bad experiences. I think I just decided to be as a teenager. So because of this 'fear' when part of my tooth broke off on Boxing Day I decided to ignore it. It didn't hurt so I left it. Oh deary me. Well now I wish I'd had it seen to then. I'm currently sat with a fat, painful face. Great stuff. The tooth in question shall be removed on Tuesday. More great stuff. I think as I'm now 30 & a 'proper' grown up I need to get rid of my stupid fear. Do you think I'll get a sticker on Tuesday if I'm good? 

And relax...

Yesterday was a fantastic day! My brother in law & his wife bought me (& the husb) a twilight spa for my birthday. We went to Center Parcs in Sherwood Forest (just up the road) & had an amazing evening. In this day & age with all the modern technologies it really is nice to have a few hours away from it all & just talk. I talk far too much anyway but it was nice to listen to what Mr H had to say. 

The spa there is so nice I think I could go every week & not get bored. 

Today we picked our small people up from mum's & decided we'd go holiday clothes shopping in Lincoln. Just about to get to the car park & the car decided to break. Great stuff. 45 mins & £148 later the lovely R.A.C man had us on our way. 

I think I need another spa day tomorrow!

Gym.....who's gym?

So last week, before the dreaded birthday, I decided I needed to get my life into order & I joined the gym. Off I went for my induction. I think I needed an ambulance after I'd finished. I don't think it was the most sensible idea to wear 3 layers including a big hoodie!! 

So, just my luck the day after my induction I was struck down by a silly cold/virus & struggled to move all week. I managed to get back to the gym 2 days ago & actually really enjoyed it. My best friend & gym buddy picked me up (mainly to make sure I went!!). I stayed on the cross trainer & managed to do 6k in 30 minutes. Not bad for my first 'real' gym session. I think it was my music choices that got me through it. I struggled not to dance to Taylor Swift at one point. It's a good job it wasn't busy in there!! 

This generally sums up my feelings towards the gym! 

It's here...

So after all the weeks of silly worries & panic, my 30th birthday arrived on 13th March. For some reason (a silly one no doubt) I've been building up to my birthday in a negative way. I really did not want to be '30' & have been telling everyone for weeks that it was going to be my 24th. I think some people may have believed me!! 

I spent the night before my birthday reminiscing, listening to favourite 'old' songs & generally getting myself into a state. How stupid am I? Don't answer!! Being 30 so far doesn't seem so bad. Granted I've only been it for 3 days but it seems to be, dare I say it, better somehow. Maybe subconsciously my outlook on life has changed. Maybe I'm being more positive & focused. Who knows? But what I do know is that I like it. I really didn't want to but I do. Maybe when the cake runs out I'll go back to normal me. For now I'll stick to being 30 year old Katie. I'll let you know how it goes.