Caution: Severe Slush Ahead

No, no, we haven’t had another dollop of snow, I’m talking slush as in mushy gushy ♥ lurrrve ♥

You see, I am doing a little multi-tasking & getting all romantic, because a. Claire, over at The Good, The Bad & The Ugly, is holding a Valentines Carnival (because she might act tough, but she’s a big sappy girl really 😉 ), and b. I haven’t made time to play over at Josie’s Writing workshop in ages, but this week, option 3 is: Write a post on the theme of ’soul mates’. Do you believe in them? Have you found or lost yours? Or are you still looking? 

So, without further ado, may I present a bit fat chunk of sun shining, birds tweeting, song in your heart, lovey dovey goodness. (Don’t panic, normal service will resume soon!)

♥………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….♥

Do I believe in Soul Mates?  Oh yes.  I met mine nearly 13 years ago, and have never looked back.

Was it love at first sight? Actually, yes, I think it was.

We met, completely by chance, at a night club.  I had no idea he even existed before that night, and now I can’t imagine life without him.

That first night, we just clicked. We spent four hours sitting outside under a big full moon, just talking, and freaking each other out with the amount of spooky coincidences and similarities there were between us.

In the previous year, we’d been at 3 of the same parties, 2 of the same gigs and both been to see the same play, on the same night, yet never even bumped into each other.  It was almost like fate had been trying to throw us together, but had a bit of a rubbish aim… until then.

I had never felt so instantly comfortable with anyone before, ever. Believe it or not, I’m generally pretty shy around new people. Not with him though. It was like catching up with an old friend I hadn’t seen in years. It was just a perfect fit from the start.

We moved in together after two weeks. How mental is that?
Our friends & families thought we were loopy, but we didn’t care. It felt right.

And it was. It still is 🙂

We have been through so much in the last 12 and a bit years.
Good stuff, not so good stuff, and some frankly amazing stuff.
We’ve travelled, we’ve explored, we’ve had adventures.
We’ve strolled along the beach together at sunset, and we’ve toddled along it at sunrise, after many an epic night out. (Tenerife, 2002, in particular, was a bit special!)
We’ve been wild & reckless, rocked out at more gigs & shows and bars & clubs than I can count and got up to allsorts of mischief.
We’ve done scary grown up stuff neither of us had contemplated before – like mortgages & joint bank accounts!
We’ve supported one another through anything and everything.
We’ve laughed, we’ve cried, and shared everything in between.

He makes me laugh a lot, and he knows exactly how to make me smile when I’m down.
He gets me.
He’s the only person who really knows everything there is to know about me.
He is my rock, my voice of reason, my partner in crime, and my best friend.
He’s also pretty easy on the eye, but don’t tell him I said that 😉

And of course now, he’s my baby’s Daddy!
The Little Dude is by far our biggest adventure yet, and I can’t imagine a better person to be enjoying it with.  We are loving every second.

Sure, there have been hard bits, and I have no doubt there will be more in the future, but so long as we take it on together, I know it’ll be fine.

Because I do believe in soul mates, and I feel incredibly lucky to have found mine.

Shiny Happy People

I’ve been a little bit down in the dumps the last few days.

Nothing awful, just a bit fed up, lots of little bits conspiring & ganging up & getting me down. I hate that. I am, as a rule, a chirpy, upbeat, cheerful sort of chick, and I annoy myself when I get in a funk. I’ve also completely lost my blogging mojo of late – lots of posts I want to do, but no time and/or motivation to make them happen.  I think it may be a case of too much going on + lack of focus + ongoing run down-ness = big chunk of Bleh. But I’m on it, I am.

So, thank goodness for the Shiny Happy People meme that’s doing the rounds. It was started by the lovely Rosie Scribble, and I’m sure I’ve been tagged, but can’t entirely remember who by, so I’ll just get on with it…

The rules go:  Name a song that makes you happy – a song you would listen to if you needed a sudden injection of happiness. Post an image that makes you smile, it can be anything – a silly photo, an image taken from the internet, anything at all that puts a smile on your face (and isn’t too rude!)

So, first up, the song.  Oh this was hard.  Music is one of the big loves of my life, and I have A LOT of go-to songs for when I need cheering up. After much deliberation, I opted for this little beauty:

That’s right, the eternally-awesome work of The Electric Light Orchestra.  I challenge anyone to listen to this GEM and not smile or tap a toe. If you don’t, I fear you might be made at least partially of STONE!  ELO are  a favourite of the Little Dude too – I had a bit of a revival during my pregnancy, and now whenever he hears them, his eyes light up 🙂 (same goes for the Guillemotts, The Arctic Monkeys, MGMT & Elbow – who would ALL get a place if I was allowed to pick my top TEN happy tunes.)  (Actually, I might add that to the list of posts I want to do.)

And a happy picture? Of course I could choose a photo of the little dude, or the daddy – those all make me smile, but instead, I’m opting for a favourite Loldog. (People are often surprised that icanhascheezburger is firmly in my favourites – presumably because I am a grammar snob and HATE txt spk {urg, felt dirty typing that :P}, but throw it together with insanely cute dogs & cats, and I freaking LOVE it.  Call it a guilty pleasure.)

So, Tah Da!:

How could anyone not catch the happy from this little mutt?!

Okay sure, it helps that I’m gaga for dogs in general, but really, the sheer joy in those eyes – the cheesey grin, the big wet nose – isn’t he brilliant?!

This one was a close contender too:

I have a weakness for the shaggy cuteness of a little gremlin-like shih-tzu, being that it is my own mutt of choice.  She makes me smile too… most of the time.  She’s actually in the proverbial dog house after contributing to the not so very fun parts of the last few days, but that’s another story.  For the most part, I love my little hair ball, and she is mostly happy-enducing.  (And she is ever so good with the little dude, can’t fault her for that.)

Highly reccomend a cheezburger visit to anyone feeling a bit blue – and if you’re not a four-legged fan, there are funny people pictures too 🙂

As for the tagging – I think most people have done this already, but if you haven’t, do!

Forget your troubles, get happy. You’ll feel loads better for it. I do 🙂

T’was the De-clutter before Christmas…

…and all through the house, not a single space lay empty, no space for a mouse.

Okay, so I’m no poet, but there’s no search for the hidden meaning here, in short: my house is FULL.  Full of stuff and things and bits and pieces that have accumulated over the years.  And, the stuff:space ratio is at an all time level of crammed since the arrival of a certain Little Dude and his many, many toys and books and clothes and other essential chunks of baby paraphernalia.

It wasn’t until this morning, while reading this post over at the lovely Violet Posy blog, it really dawned on me that this Christmas (The Little Dude’s first – EXCITING!) is going to bring a whole lot more stuff into the house. Forget the presents WE buy the little monkey, his grandparents are bound to go loopy overboard, plus aunties, uncles, godparents, friends… you get the idea.  LOTS of lovely presents that will need somewhere to live long after the turkey is eaten.

So, I have decided I need to take action. A pre-emptive strike if you will. Borrow a leaf from Liz’s book, and embark on: Mission De-clutter.

William Morris once said “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be beautiful.” I think that’s a great rule of thumb, and I’d love to say I live by it, but I’d be telling great big junk-filled pork pies.  You see, I have a confession.  I am a hoarder.  Complete Clutterbug.  I’m a sentimental old fool & I hate to throw things away. I have a passion for fashion & HATE getting rid of clothes.  I am arty-crafty by nature and stockpile supplies. (plus bits of stuff that *could* be supplies.)  My baby is SEVEN months old and I haven’t parted with a single item of outgrown clothing yet.  I am a SUCKER for pretty things and fanciful bits and pieces – my home is choc-full of things I believe to be beautiful, yet am fully aware are utterly pointless.

So you see,Mission De-clutter is no easy task.

But, it DOES need to be done.  So, I’m going to be focused, and ruthless.  My target, is to be fully de-cluttered by December 12th, that being the day the Christmas tree goes up (the daddy is a traditionalist – I’d have it up on December 1st if it were up to me, but I have to let him win now and then ;D)  I hope to be motivated by having publicly shamed myself on my blog, and I’ll keep you updated on my progress.

Hey, maybe I’ll even giveaway some of my clutter on here? That could be fun. Stay tuned!

Sunday Night Catch Up…

Dinner made by me & eaten? Check.

Dessert made by the Mr & eaten? Calorie-filled Check.

X-Factor watched & laughed at? Check. (Whitney, have never been a fan, but really, you should have quit while you were ahead.)

Baby fed & sleeping? Cutieboy Check.

Dog curled up on my toes keeping them lovely and warm? Oh yes. (Every home should have a furry hot water bottle).

Time to catch up with all those memes like I said I would? Checkity Check.

Which actually, isn’t as big a job as I thought, because everyone had given me the same award!! And I’m very pleased and flattered to say, it was the one up there in the top right – uh-huh, apparently I’m a great read 🙂 – *blush!* So thank you muchly Sandy, MrsOMGPregnant (who is now an OMGMummy to a completely gorgous little girl!), and the 2 other people who my fuzzy little brain can’t remember – SORRY!! (if it was you, shout & I shall link!!).

Anyway, rules of the award are that I’m now supposed to share 10 people/memories/places/things that make me happy, so here we go…

1-3: My Man, My Boy & My dog. Between the three of them, they make me smile more than anything else in the world, every single day, and are also responsible for 99% of my best memories. I love them all crazy-lots and am so thankful for them. I’m very blessed.

4: The day I found out I was pregnant. Also known as the start of our biggest ever (ongoing) adventure. Still smile when I think about it.

5: The first time the Mr took me to Tenerife. Two weeks of sheer unedited fun. We had an absolute ball & saw the sun rise more or less every morning we were there. We’ve been 6 times since, and can’t wait till the Little Dude’s a bit older so we can go back with him.

6: Blur @Hyde Park, this summer. I had waited almost a decade to see them live, and it was worth every minute. Such an amazing day.

7: My photo albums. I’ve always been a bit of a shutterbug, and as a result have pretty much my whole life documented in photo-form. One of my favourite rainy day pastimes is flicking through years & years worth of memories, smiling & giggling. (And occasionally dying of embarrassment!)

8: Doctor Who. But only David Tennant ones. If ever I’m in a funk, had a bad day, or otherwise feeling sorry for myself, curling up with The Doctor & a big mug of hot chocolate will help. Actually, same goes for Will Ferrell movies. Especially Zoolander.

9. Animals! Random? A little maybe. But I have so many happy animal memories, I thought it best to lump them into one. I’ve seen dolphins in the wild, hand fed squirrel monkeys, held an almighty giant tortoise, had numerous parrots perched on me, kissed a baby crocodile, and lots of other fun bits and pieces (without going into all the pets I’ve loved & lost over the years), the memorie of which all make me smile. I adore animals, always have, and hope to pass that passion on to the little dude. (He already loves dogs :D)

10. The first time I sold a piece of jewellery. The feeling that someone I didn’t know was choosing to wear something I had made was fantastic. And it doesn’t get old – everytime someone buys something I’ve made I get the same exciteable little buzz 🙂

have to say, I thoroughly enjoyed doing that, it’s nice to reminice about good stuff – I could easily come up with another 10, but I’ll stop, and pass the love on to all the great reads on my blog list. I’m going to be rubbish though & not name anyone specifically, because having taken so long to do it myself, I’ll only end up tagging people who’ve already done it.
So if you haven’t, do!
Because you’re all great reads – that’s why I read you!!

Oh, and speaking of great reads, Kelly over at A Place of My Own is running a great competition to win a copy of her friend’s new book, which sounds brilliant – go check it out.
(even though I’m hoping to win, obviously!)

And now, night feed, then bed. Sleep’s a thing that makes me happy too.

We’ll be weaning in style now…

In case you missed me jumping round in excitement last week, The Little Dude & I got a little lucky… we won a shiney new Stokke Tripp Trappin the competition over at Yummy Mummy Tips– hooray!

And today as the nice delivery man dropped it off, I got all over excited again!

I ripped open the packaging and laid all the gorgeous chunky pieces out on the carpet – like a beautiful Scandinavian jigsaw. With screws.
I had a brief ‘boo hiss, going to have to wait for the Mr to get home to put it together – super pout’ moment, before finding my determination & convincing myself it couldn’t be that hard.

I was right.
Do not let flat pack connotations of doom put you off getting a Tripp Trapp. Yes, it does come as a box of bits, but this is not your ordinary flat pack where you end up with too many ‘e’ screws and not enough ‘g’, and the pre-drilled holes never match up, and there’s always a chipped piece, and the instructions make as much sense as your favourite drunk uncle at a family wedding… oh no.

This is as simple as it is chic. Ten screws, (complete with magical alun key so no need to stress about tracking down the right kind of screwdriver) and nine pieces, which clunk together beautifully and effortlessly.

About 25 minutes later, I was looking lovingly at my little man’s super chic new dining experience.
(Having only sworn once, which was my own fault for tightening all the screws before sliding in the flat pieces – silly mummy. Don’t do that.)

So it looked great, but would it pass The Little Dude quality control test?

Yes. With flying colours 🙂
He was a little bemused at first – sort of looked at me like ‘hmm, I’m at the table, but you’re not holding me… interesting.’ then he spotted ‘Where’s that monkey?’ (favourite book of the moment) and his happy safari cube and grabbed at both. He looked at me with a great big gummy grin of delight, then returned his attention to his book.
Safe to say, he approves.

And I certainly do, because I have a chic new (almost matching) chair at the table rather than a big plastic affair that doesn’t match anything – everybody’s happy!

Muchos gracias again to Yummy Mummy Tips, and to Stokke.

Now I just need to win an Explory… ;D

Oh it’s a good week!

It may have started out all snuffly (and to be honest, our noses are still not entirely fixed, but we’re better than we were), but it’s hard to care with all the goodies that are out-weighing the sneezes!

Yesterday, we had a lovely sunshiney day – LD & I pottered round town, strolled along the seafront, and spent the afternoon in our Local Pub Beer Garden with his godfather – thoroughly pleasant 🙂

Plus, I’m all over the place on the internets 🙂

* Cafe Bebe has a yummy new look, (if you’ve never visited before – now’s the time – it’s a great site!) and if you check out the mumpreneur page – there be a link to kooky boutique – that’s me that is!

* the very lovely Carol over at new mummy (another great blog that you should all be reading!), kindly let me loose on her first guest post– go read & comment – maybe she’ll have me back one day!

* bumpy blogger extrordinaire Mrs OMG is hosting the BMB carnival (which Life with a Little Dude is in – woo, our first one!) – *and* just to show off & prove there are no end to her talents, she has a new project in the pipeline too (follow @BumpWearProject to stay updated), and I’m featured in it as a best dressed bump 🙂 *blush*

* my twittery procrastination habit has paid off – I made #50 in the list of 99 british mummy bloggers, and am in very good company there – go check ’em out – and if you don’t already, come follow me! (I mostly talk rubbish, but it’s fun rubbish :D)

and and AND!!
… I WON A STOKKE TRIPP TRAPP!! 😀
Big big thank you to Yummy Mummy Tips (yes, another great blog – go read it, you’ll see.) for the chance to win such a brilliant prize – I can’t wait – and it’s perfect timing for The Little Dude to start weaning in style 🙂

So yes, not a bad week really – and it’s only Thursday!
Maybe I’ll go buy a lottery ticket… 😀

Come on Squigler!!

Dancinfairy – this one’s for you!

Your update just popped up on my googlereader, and I figured that as you can access *your* google reader, I would send you some love & luck wishes via the gift of blogger… what an age we live in, huh?!

And, thought you might like to know,you’re practically a trending topic on twitter – everyone is checking up on your Mr’s tweets to see if there’s any news! (poor bloke – but at least you’re working on giving him the best birthday present ever! :D)

So, hope you’re doing okay – not too uncomfortable, and not going too loopy through boredom!!

Hope everything goes quickly & smoothly & that you’ll be gazing in wonder at your little squigler before you know it 😀

Sending you bunches of good thoughts and hugs – and good luck!! xxx