We have a beautiful purple Lupin plant in our garden and I noticed last year that after the petals flower, they turn into pods and, over time turn black, so this year I decided to research what this process was and realised that each pod houses seeds – what an amazing cycle!
Charlie, my eldest, noticed this too so we collected all the black pods and put them in a pot and sat down at a table to open them. He was amazed that there were seeds inside. It was such a nice calming activity to do together and once all the pods had been opened and the seeds collected we put them in little envelopes which we used rubber stamps to label.
The plan is to then sow these seeds next Spring and hopefully we’ll have a few more Lupin plants for the garden. I hope they work, as we’ve got so many we’ve decided to give them as little gifts to family and friends too, so if nothing happens that will be a bit of a disappointment/letdown!
Hello! Wow it has been quite some time since I’ve been on here, it’s safe to say this blog has been a little neglected this year, I think multiple lockdowns, working, looking after two little ones and a new puppy meant that something had to give and it was this. I regret not being able to make more time for this blog though as the whole reason I started it was to have a creative outlet for myself to mentally escape to all of my favourite things and at times I really needed it, instead of wasting time endlessly scrolling my Instagram feed for some escapism – writing and researching my own loves would have been just the medicine.
As I’m sure has been the case for many of you, 2021 has been just as crazy as 2020, but hopefully, now nearly at the end of July we’re starting to see a fall in Covid cases and hopefully life will start to get back to some sort of ‘normal.’ Another summer has come around with no holiday abroad, if i’d have known two years ago when we were in Menorca that we wouldn’t return until 2022 (fingers crossed) I would have definitely stocked up on my Avarcas! We’re very lucky though as my in-laws live in Pembrokeshire so we’re escaping to the Welsh coast for a couple of weeks in August, which is more than some people are able to do so I’m very grateful.
September is going to be busy with my eldest starting in reception and my littlest starting at pre-school so I will be navigating their settling in sessions and hope that it goes smoothly so the rest of August will be spent preparing uniforms and school bags. I’m excited for their new adventures but sad that they’re growing up and I won’t get to spend so much time with them.
I’ve been making notes of all the posts I want to write – everything from my journey with growing flowers from seed, to my current wardrobe wishlist, so I hope to update this space once, if not twice weekly with ideas that you’ll hopefully be interested in too. For now though I’ll leave you with a picture of our Puppy, Poppy, who is now 8 months (this is when she was 9 weeks old) and a big reason for my lack of posts, good job she’s cute! See you soon. x
It’s been a couple of busy months here hence my radio silence on this blog…so i’m making it my mission now we’re in Lockdown 2.0 to begin regularly posting again and updating the content here.
So where have I been? Nowhere really (like everyone!) but I’ve been busy helping Charlie settle back into pre-school from September having not been for 6 months. Jack also started at nursery which was a bit of an adjustment for him having not been looked after by anyone else for so long so we had a few extra settle sessions and (fingers crossed) we’ve turned a corner. I know it’s the right thing for him, especially being able to interact with other children his age.
I also started back at work having been away for 18 months. My boss has had a baby so I have gone back to help cover her maternity leave and it’s been nice working with flowers again and having some ‘me’ time to have adult conversations and be out of the house. But as luck would have it I had only been back a month before we had to close the shop under the new Covid restrictions. As much as flowers bring so much joy, they’re not essential, so for now I’m not working for a month again. I have to say i’m already appreciating having my Saturdays back and savour them so much more now I have the boys.
So while we’re in lockdown i’m going to take the time to address some interior jobs at home like re-painting the bathroom ceiling and sorting the shelves in our bedroom. I’m also tidying the garden getting it ready for winter, planting some Spring bulbs and planning what seeds to sow come the new year.
Oh, and we’ve also put a deposit down on a puppy! I’m so excited, but also a bit tentative, having never even had a goldfish as a pet before it’s going to be quite a change for me, but one that I think will be great for our family, so stay tuned for puppy news!
I hope you’re all staying safe and well.
(Images below taken while enjoying the Autumn sunshine this weekend!)
I always worked with freshly cut flowers while at Scarlet & Violet, selling a few succulents in pots at certain times of the year, so it wasn’t until I started working at Bunched in Leigh-on-Sea after I had a baby that I started to learn about house plants as we sold them alongside the cut flowers.
Plants have so many advantages for the home – they add an instant hit of green to brighten a space, they add oxygen to the air which helps to purify it, they need relatively little care which makes them great for busy lives and putting them in stylish pots can really finish off a room.
Below I’ve listed the 5 most popular house plants with a few key benefits to each as well as some tips for keeping them alive. I’ve had a Rubber Plant for 3 years now, and even though I feel like I neglect it, it seems to always have new shoots, so I must be doing something right…
Rubber Plant: A Rubber Plant likes to be watered about once a week with a little water (about half to a full cup depending on its size) If you keep the leaves clean with a damp cloth it helps them to absorb more sunlight. Leaving it to completely drain with water before putting it back in place will also help keep the roots healthy. This is a great plant for steadily growing in your space and choosing one with three separate shoots will help make more of an impact.
Image via Pinterest
Fiddle Leaf Fig: This is the plant you see all over Instagram interiors accounts, as much as a lush Fiddle Fig can look amazing in a room, a lot of people struggle to keep them alive. They like a lot of light, so ensure you rotate it every couple of months so the plant grows equally. When the top inch of the soil feels dry, give the plant a little lukewarm water. They also like nutrient rich soil, so pop in some pant food every now and again.
Image via Pinterest
Boston Fern: This lush fern has a mass of bright green foliage that looks great on a kitchen worktop or hanging in a macrame pot. They need a bit more care from us, liking to be misted with water on a daily basis (a bathroom is a great place for these beauties to thrive) but what they take from us in care they give back. This plant helps to rid the home of harmful toxins and helps to purify the air, making them great for owners with dry skin or who suffer with dry throats.
Image via Pinterest
Sansevieria: This is also known as Mother-in-Law’s Tongue and is another great air purifier. It’s most well known for releasing oxygen at night helping to purify the air which makes them a perfect addition to a bedroom for a better nights sleep. A Sansevieria will also thrive on neglect and only needs a small amount of sunlight and the smallest amount of water, perfect for the forgetful among us!
Image from afloral.com via Pinterest
Cheese Plant: This is an easy to grow, large-leaved plant that has characteristic splits in the leaves. They’re perfect for filling a big space, they grow quite quickly, so will usually need to be repotted every couple of years. They have thick stemmed vines so sometimes need to have a bamboo stick attached to leaves to help them stay upright. Light and watering once a week will help keep this beauty healthy.
Image via Pinterest
Here are a couple of pointers to help keep houseplants alive:
Ensure the whole plant will be able to get natural light. If only part of it does, you’ll find that it starts growing towards the sunlight which could result in a wonky plant.
Most houseplants will only want a minimal amount of water once a week (apart from a Boston Fern) depending on their size. Try not to leave it longer and then compensate with a flood of water as this will result in yellow leaves and waterlogged soil.
If placing in a basket, keep the plant in it’s original pot and always remove from the basket before watering. Once watered, let it completely drain before returning to the basket.
If planting the plant into a pot, ensure that there is appropriate drainage at the bottom, such as broken pot pieces or hydrolica clay balls.
Give the leaves a dust or wipe every now and again to remove dust and ensure they’re lovely a shiny so they can absorb light properly.
Hello! Hope you’ve all had a great week. As i’ve been listening to the same podcasts as usual (just updated episodes) and haven’t had much time this week to watch anything new I thought I’d list the five recipes that we’ve been cooking during Lockdown instead…because my days definitely seem to be centred on mealtimes right now or baking activities with the boys. I hope these give you some inspiration too.
Banana Bread: A Corona cliche but I was a big fan of Banana bread before lockdown and even more afterwards. The perfect afternoon snack for the boys and for me. I usually make this recipe from Cookie & Kate but due to not having some of the ingredients I tried out this one from BBC Food today and it was delicious.
Soup: We’ve been having a vegetable box delivered weekly and to make sure that we don’t waste anything I usually cook a soup with what’s left at the end. I’ve found vegetable soup was a hit with everyone in my family as was the roasted tomato soup. I forgot to take any pics of these so here’s what I threw into a large saucepan with some chicken stock and then blended for both:
Tomato soup:
Roasted tomatoes (I put them on a baking tray in the oven with salt and olive oil for 15 minutes before adding to the saucepan) One carrot, one onion, a can of tinned tomatoes, chicken stock pot, oregano, boiling water.
Vegetable soup:
Half a cauliflour, one onion, four potatoes, one parsnip, one carrot and Herbs de Provence, Chicken stock pot, boiling water.
French Toast: Breakfast is my favourite meal of the day so to try and spice the weekends up a bit we’ve been making a bit more effort with weekend brekkies. This French Toast is a winner with fresh berries and maple syrup – who needs to go to their favourite spot for brunch post lockdown now? (I do!)
Chocolate Chip Cookies: I love a chocolate chip cookie. When I was at uni in Brighton my friend Lizzie and I would make a beeline for Ben’s Cookies and check when they were coming out of the oven. I’ve tried many recipes, and this one from @Theannaedit is amazing and for a tripe chocolate hazelnut hit I love these from Building Feasts. Putting the dough balls into the freezer is great for having freshly baked cookies as and when you need to pull an afternoon treat out the bag.
Scones: I’ve always thought in my head that scones were hard to make so put off baking them but with the bank holiday VE day celebrations and the street party (socially distanced) afternoon tea I thought I’d give them a shot. This recipe was so simple and easy to make that I’ve made them twice since as they’re a great snack option.
This is probably the first year since we moved into our house four years ago that I’ve seen a glimmer of the wild flower garden I hoped to create. When we relocated from London the garden was surrounded by conifers, which although were great for adding privacy to the garden, completely left it in shadow and left no room for any flowers.
After a bit of research we decided that the conifers had to go. It was an expensive and labour intensive job that left most of the flower beds with remnants of roots and our garden budget for the forseeable depleted.
Over the next year or so we started making a few trips to garden centres – being a florist I had an idea of the flowers I wanted to grow around the edge of the grass, in particular peonies, dahlias, poppies and roses. We invested in the plants on my wishlist – a David Austin rose, a magnolia, and forget-me-nots too and since then some have established and others we’ve lost (I’m looking at you Camelia) I also bought a wild flower seed box and scattered it on the right side of the garden hoping this would help my vision.
3 years on and the particular bed where I put the wild flower seeds has an abundance of foxgloves from cerise pink to coral and cream, poppies, forget me nots and I’ve planted Cosmos from seed and Zinnias too. There’s loads of foxgloves scattered around the garden so I think i’ll keep them condensed in one bed and remove the others and they’re poisonous, so as much as I love them, they’re not ideal with little boys playing in the garden.
I’m hoping to continue growing some flowers from seed over the next few years and maybe start a proper vegetable trough too. It’s hard as we want to eventually do some work to the back of the house and re-do the patio area so we’re not sure how damaged the garden will be afterwards, on the one hand you want it to look amazing to enjoy now, but on the other you don’t want to invest too much time and money if it is going to really suffer during the future works and we’ll end up having to effectively start from scratch again.
Right now is a great time as everything is budding and ready to burst into bloom. I’m hoping for an abundance of colour over the next few weeks. Here’s a few pics of flowers that are already showing off.
Late again! You’d think that with lockdown i’d have time to get organised on this but once again this week looking after two little boys, time has run away with me. Here’s what else has been keeping me occupied this week…
Podcast: Table Manners with Jessie Ware: I really love this podcast with singer Jessie and her mum Lenny. Usually they invite a guest over and cook them a meal while having a conversation where you get to learn so much about their guest and their eating habits. With lockdown they’ve created ‘special circumstances’ episodes where they chat to their guest via zoom. John Legend and Florence Pugh were favourite episodes this week. I love the rapport that Jessie and her mum have with each other too. Worth a subscribe.
Image via Stylist
Listening: Love & Hate by Michael Kiwanuka: Ever since I watched the first season of Big Little Lies I have loved Michael Kiwanuka. His song Cold Little Heart features on the opening titles and it got me straight away, his voice is incredible. I regularly put this album on Alexa while i’m cooking.
Reading: New Wild Garden by Ian Hodgson: This is a beautiful book that I bought when we moved to our house 4 years ago with the vision of creating a wild flower garden. It’s taken a few years to get to that point after removing all the conifers wiped out our gardening budget, but we’re getting there. Since Lockdown I have been using it as guide for the seeds I have been sowing with the boys. So clearly presented, practical and informative yet a feast for the eyes too.
Watching: This is Us on Netflix: This is one of the best things i’ve watched on TV (alongside Normal People!) its so cleverly filmed, the story about a couple who were expecting triplets, but end up with a family they weren’t expecting after losing one of the babies at birth and then adopting another baby who was left outside the hospital. It follows each characters life and is filmed with both older and younger characters as the family age or look back which helps to really get into the story. I recommend.
Image via NBC
Zoom! Okay not exactly something i’ve been reading, watching or listening to this week but Zoom has become a big part of our lives since lockdown…I don’t think i’ve done so many quiz’s since it started! So whether we’re taking part and usually losing a quiz, or catching up with friends in other countries or chatting to our family, we’re regularly using Zoom to remotely stay in touch so I thought it deserved a little mention.
When Charlie turned one back in 2017 I decided that I wanted to do a few special things to decorate the house to help celebrate, and I’ve since done the same things, albeit with an update, for every birthday since. So as Jack turned one last week, it was only right that these new traditions come out on his birthday too. I hope to continue these until they’re too embarassed by the fuss their mum makes of them on their birthday! (but it probably won’t sop me doing it, ha!)
A birthday banner: I had a birthday banner saying ‘Happy Birthday Charlie’ made by Other Letters, a lovely local company, for Charlie’s first birthday and I hang it every year, it even came to Menorca for last years celebrations! So for Jack I opted for a charcoal grey version, a great little personalised piece that shouts celebration yet still looks good in the house.
A year in photos: I go through my phone and select about 50 photos of the birthday boy from the year that I have printed to look like polaroids through the app La La Lab. I then have lengths of string that I’ve previously threaded with mini wooden pegs (the ones from Charlie’s first birthday are still going strong!) and then hang the photos on these and put them up in the dining room and on the fireplace, usually above where the presents are laid out for the morning.
A home baked cake: As much as I love the professional cakes I see on Instagram on Pinterest I think there’s something lovely about having a homemade birthday cake, especially while the boys are young. Charlie used to be allergic to eggs and dairy (we have taken a long time but have finally completed the egg and dairy ladder successfully) so this was the first birthday cake I could actually make with butter and eggs. Sure, it’s not quite so insta-perfect, but it tasted delicious.
A birthday letter: Every year I have hand written a letter to Charlie on his birthday, and I have done the same now for Jack. I intend to continue these every year to then hand them a big pile of letters on their 18 birthdays. I think it will be a nice thing for them to sit down and read all about their year from their mum’s perspective and give them an insight into all the fun we have had together. I also pop a few of the polaroid photos into the envelope. I get quite emotional when I write these but hope they are something sentimental they will cherish forever.
Sorry this is a couple of days late, it’s been a big week in our house as Jack turned one on wednesday! I’m going to do a blog post later this week on the birthday traditions I have started to implement for the boys, but for now here’s what i’ve been listening to and watching this week:
Watching: Normal People on iPlayer: I hadn’t read the book by Sally Rooney but had seen so many people recommend this series on Instagram that I thought i’d give it a go. Well by the end of episode one I was totally hooked and carried on watching another four that evening (I went to bed at 1am and Jack decided to wake up at 1.15am, big mistake on my part) anyway I spent the rest of the weekend thinking about it and watching the remaining 7 episodes (There are 12 halh hour episodes). It was amazing, perfectly capturing how your first love never leaves you, beautifully shot and the lead characters Marianne and Connell were portrayed beautifully by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal. I’m since obsessed with the story, Marianne’s wardrobe and the soundtrack. Perfect in every way.
Podcast: Second Life with Gucci Westman: I’ve been listening to this podcast for a while by Hillary Kerr, co-founder of Who, What, Wear, a website I’ve been reading since I was a fashion intern in my early twenties. Kerr interviews people that have been successful in their careers but then moved on to do something different later in life. As someone who is in a bit of an in-between stage of my career since having children, I’m finding it really useful listening to other women’s journeys. I particularly like this episode as I used to see Gucci work her make-up magic backstage when I did coverage at London Fashion Week.
Watching: Becoming with Michelle Obama on Netflix: I was a big fan of Michelle Obama’s memoir so was excited to see that Netflix were releasing a documentary style film about it. It follows Obama as she does book tours and stage shows where she’s interviewed about the book to stadium style crowds. It was fascinating to get more of an insight into the life of one of the most famous women in the world, whose husband we all wish was still in the White House.
Listening: Connell’s Playlist: I told you I was obsessed with the music from Normal Lives, and when I saw that BBC Sounds had released a ‘Marianne’s Playlist’ and a ‘Connell’s Playlist’ I was straight onto Spotify to download them. There’s some beautiful classics in there like ‘So Long, Marianne’ by Leonard Cohen and more folky tunes like ‘Fireworks’ by First Aid Kit. It’s certainly making doing household chores a bit easier.
Reading: BBC Good Food Magazine: I’ve had a subscription to Good Food for a few years now, but am finding while we’re all staying at home I’ve got even more into cooking and baking, probably because I have a bit more time. This months issue is packed with tips for recipes using store cupboard ingredients while everyone is trying to avoid going to the shops. I attempted a Sourdough starter from this issue but it did not succeed, so that’s something I’m determined to master by the end of lockdown.
This weekend I binged watched ‘Normal People,’ the TV adaptation of Sally Rooney’s acclaimed novel and I haven’t been able to stop thinking about it since. I loved everything about it, from the romance between Marianne and Connell (Played by Daisy Edgar-Jones and Paul Mescal) to the beautiful soundtrack, but also for Marianne’s wardrobe – effortlessly cool yet put together. Something I feel i’m constantly striving for with my wardrobe.
My favourite looks included the mom jeans, converse, oversized knit and messy bun in the scenes set back home in Sligo to the beautifully chic black sundress she wears on their Italian summer holiday and the leather mini skirt and burgundy blouse she wears for the New Years Eve party in the last episode (it helps that the characters finally openly show their affection towards each other in public in this episode too, something i’d been hoping for throughout.)
Costume designer Lorna Marie Mugan really captured Marianne’s character maturing through her wardrobe, and her confidence that comes when she finally finds her true friends at college, even though her character still battles her own anxieties throughout. Below are some images from looks I loved in the series.
I don’t think I have felt so emotionally invested in a series for a long time, I fell in love with Connell and Marianne instantly and was rooting for them to be together throughout. The pain and angst of first true love was brilliantly captured by the leads and I felt like I was living through it with them. So brilliant was the whole production and so true to the book, I just wish there could be a second season!
