ITS THE MOST WONDERFUL TIME OF THE YEAR!

It's Christmas!! 

To be fair the Christmas excitement has been filling our household since early November, perhaps even October for some of us. We had watched some Christmas movies and Michael Bublé was already playing. But as soon as thanksgiving was over we went straight to hunt for our tree and yes it is another huge one.

We managed to get another 9 foot tree, although I suspect its a little bit taller than that. Andrew is very pleased with himself as it was one of the biggest trees there. We did look at another tree but when the guy held it up it was just too large. It would have filled our living room.

Putting the tree up in our house is always fun. Poor old Macintosh always gets a bit scared and worried. He doesn't like this giant green thing that's invading his space. The size of the tree means I always end up standing on something trying to help balance it and keep it straight whilst Andrew's fixing it into the base. Eventually its done and then suddenly Macintosh remembers he likes giant green trees. They provide him with an additional water bowl and he can also crawl around underneath it whilst it strokes his back. Silly dog!

So anyway, we kept the cardboard houses Andrew made last year and just added some new pieces that we bought. I tried to keep the natural look going with lots of natural textures and red and white as accent colours. Its not quite Pinterest worthy but I love it.

Coming in through the front door, the first thing you'll see is our wreath. Its the same twig wreath that I just keep adapting to fit the occasion. So far its been completely worth its money! 

There is our giant tree. Complete with crooked top section and Macintosh asleep on "his" sofa. The tree rather dominates the room but it makes the place feel Christmassy quite easily!

The stockings are pinned up on the sideboard in the absence of a fireplace. (Macintosh has his by his bed!) The advent candle is on the sideboard too so we remember to burn it. We also got this amazing red and white patterned candle on sale last year and I've been waiting excitedly to burn it ever since. The logs were scrounged from the desert around us and hauled back by Macintosh and Andrew after their long walks. 

The other sides and surfaces have little touches of Christmas, from garlands to cardboard houses or other bits. It helps spread the Christmas feeling around the room. Our open plan living space can feel quite large so with a giant tree and lots of Christmas bits scattered around it makes it feel cosier. 

But the dinning table is my favourite part by far. On one of Andrew's walks he found a long log that he adapted into this amazing centrepiece for the dining table. 

That bit might actually be Pinterest worthy as I stole the idea from there in the first place. Andrew drilled some holes in the logs for the candles and voila a centrepiece. Can't wait to start eating meals at the big table. 

So there you have it, our Christmas decor for 2015. As many of you won't get to see us over the holiday season I hope you can picture us having Christmas over here a bit more now. 
H

BIRTHDAY TIME

Whilst we were back home and staying with my family it was my birthday. It was actually a pretty significant one, I turned 29. I was pretty excited about it for a couple of reasons. Firstly because I got to spend it with all my family and secondly because its actually the last one I can get excited about. Turning 30 will not be fun, especially after all the grief I've given to Andrew!

Anyway, my birthday was a pretty chilled out affair with pancakes and presents in the morning whilst we all chilled out at home. It was lovely to have a relaxed morning and just enjoy the company of family. There aren't many photos that are suitable to be put on a blog but here's one or two. 

There was a very obvious bear theme running through my birthday cards and presents. I loved it! Those slippers are the most comfortable ones ever. Elisha happened to like the ears of them and would occasionally play with them, which obviously makes me love them even more!

Lunchtime we took a stroll to Mum and Dad's "local" for lunch. It was really nice. We took up a fair amount of space but it was lovely just chilling out and eating. The food was delicious and we ate so much it hurt! We didn't manage to get the greatest photo of us all (Andrew's skills are going downhill!) but I had to share the one we did get because my brother-in-law's pose his hilarious! 

We did get one amazing photo of myself with my sister and Mum. It's such a beautiful photo and its been such a long time since we took one of the three of us. I love it!

The afternoon contained lots of naps from those of us who were full and play time for the others with Elisha. We played in the garden, did some water play and even attempted painting! It wasn't the most successful attempt at getting things on paper but it was funny. 

The evening consisted of food, games and fun! The girls thrashed the boys at Cranium and we introduced everyone to Irish snap probably to their detriment as its a painful game, especially when played with my brother! Finally we devoured this amazing white chocolate cake complete with polar bear that Andrew had spent most of the day preparing. It was pretty delicious. 

So there we go, my 29th birthday and the last one I'll ever look forward to again!
H

DUNSTABLE PART I

Most of you will already be aware that we took a two week trip back to England at the beginning of the month. It was a blissful time filled with lots of food, fun, family and friends. We took a fair amount of photos and have so many things we need to blog about, but I'm aware that I can bore the life out of people if I'm not careful. So I'm going to try and be a bit more succinct about this trip recap. Hopefully it'll mean there isn't too much waffle to read!

We spent the first week back home staying with my parents in their new house. I was rather excited to see it and couldn't wait to stay in it, especially as my sister, brother-in-law and 1 year old nephew were staying too. It was going to be a full house but I was so excited about it. Throughout the week we had days where we did lots of things but also days that were more chilled out and low key. It was definitely the introduction back into English life that we needed. 

There was a little park just round the corner from Mum and Dad's that we visited which was great fun, for both Elisha and all the adults!

One of our days out involved going to the nearby town of St Albans. Its a lovely place and has some great shops too. We combined a visit to their park with a small shopping trip. Ben, my brother, also introduced us to the nicest waffle place ever. We unfortunately didn't get any photos of the waffles at all, I think it was because we were too pre-occupied eating. Andrew certainly wolfed his down!

On some of the chilled out days there was just lots of time to play with Elisha and hang out. Obviously there aren't a billion photos to accompany this but here are a few.

Lastly, for those of you who have social media you will have seen that one more important thing happened whilst we were in Dunstable; haircuts! Elisha had his first one and then all the females got our haircut by our wonderful childhood hairdresser Sarah. It was so nice to see her and catch up. I think we all looked pretty good afterwards too!

So there we go, thats the first instalment of the first week. More to come soon!
H

LATELY...

I was intending to write an autumnal themed lately post as lots of people are beginning to fall prey to the autumn vibes. However southern California hasn't got the autumn idea yet. The weather has continued to be ridiculously hot. Now I'm not complaining about that. I like wearing shorts in September. I don't maybe like days that are 100+ degrees, but I'll roll with the hot weather a little longer. But it doesn't give me much inspiration for writing about autumn. 

Then this morning I had a brain wave! I'll write about England! You see in less than two weeks we'll be touching down on British soil for a well needed break seeing the family. It has been almost a year since we were home and that is far too long. So in honour of the fact we're going home here are some of the things I think/dream about when we consider going back to England! 

The first thing I think about when I consider going home is my home town, Dunstable. Now for you Americans that's right it does say that Dunstable has been around since 1109. We've got history! But to those of you that know me well enough you know I'm not a huge fan of our town. Its not the best. Andrew would disagree, he loves it. I however, love it merely because its where the family is (most of them). 

A lot of my dreaming is surrounding this as on Friday the Rugby World Cup kicks off in England. Obviously I'd love us to do well enough to win it but to be honest I'm just fairly excited that I get to watch it all and enjoy! 

Then there's this stuff....Yorkshire Tea! Whilst I do have a large supply over here there's something different about it when you are drinking it in England. Perhaps its the cold weather!

This little man! He's grown HUGE since we last saw him at a month old so I literally can't wait to get home and just play with him, all day every day! He'll be so sick of me by the time I leave! 

Whilst it will probably be freezing in England for us when we get back I have been dreaming about the autumn leaves and the coldness. I'm not excited at the prospect of being cold, I hate being cold. I'm always cold (except in California!) However I am highly thrilled about wearing scarves! They are my weakness and I will wear one ALL the time when I'm home. I will fill my suitcase with different ones and then probably buy some more when I'm there! 

And finally....the Sunday Roast. My mum text me the other day to check whether we wanted a roast on the Sunday we land. Andrew looked at me as if to say, why is she even asking! Out here we rarely cook a roast because it seems too hot to bother. And lets be honest, my mum's roast dinner....the best EVER!

H

LATELY...

This lately post has no theme whatsoever. It's simply a collection of the things I have been pinning on Pinterest. It will probably show my sporadic and varied interests! Feel free to ignore my ramblings, or to laugh at my weirdness. I won't be offended by either!

I am still obsessing over the great outdoors and the idea of grand adventures. We still haven't managed to camp over here yet but I'm completely in awe of images that show insanely beautiful campsites. This one is incredible but I have to confess that I'm not sure I could sleep here for long. Prolonged rushing water noises....not good. 

Andrew and I recently acquired an ice cream maker for our Kitchen Aid. It is simply amazing. We have only made one lot of ice cream so far, it was cookies and cream. We went simple in case the ice cream went wrong. I didn't want to waste precious chocolate in case it was a mistake! But I am now constantly pinning ice cream recipes and dreaming of all the flavours I could make. I will come back from the USA a few stone heavier at this rate!

My flower obsession is still going strong. I pin far too many flowers on Pinterest but they are so beautiful. I don't buy cut flowers too much over here. They are extremely expensive compared to the UK (I think) and they don't last too well unless you have your air conditioning on all the time. So instead I buy fake ones when I really need a display of them and the rest of the time I just spend crazy amounts of time staring at them on Pinterest. I love the way these flowers are all curled inside themselves. I have no idea what they are called. Anyone know?

I've had my eye on this rug for a little while. It's from West Elm which is an amazing home shop. I could spend a small fortune in there, if we had one to spend! I love the subdued colours and the pattern. Its understated and yet draws the eye. Its also the perfect colours for our lounge, but with carpet already on the living room floor Andrew doesn't think we need a rug. Probably wasn't a fan of the price either!

Finally a polar bear for the win! Just. So. Stinking. Cute!
H