A Hidden Gem

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

Last week I was looking through our backup drive searching for some blog photos that I have lost. 

Whilst I was searching through I found the sweetest photo that Matt took when Darcy was less than a week old and couldn't not share it.

Life goes so quickly. It seems like a second and an eternity since she was this small. I feel like I have been a mother forever and can't imagine a life without my sweet baby girl. Saying that, it still feels like just yesterday that I was graduating university or that we were buying our house. Time is confusing and hard to put your finger on.

I love this picture because it's un set-up, un complicated and full of love. I wish I had a picture like this of me and my Mother. 

More and more I find myself wanting another little human in our lives.

What is your favourite memory with your Mother or with you babies?

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Toodlepip!

xx

A Slice of Us

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

I use this blog partly to share and partly to document my life. Life wise, I spend a great deal of time talking about Darcy and not a lot about Matt. This is never going to be a marriage or relationship blog, but today I want to share a slice of us with you. 

Ten Things About Us

One of our favourite things to do with a free evening (very rare because I tend to film/write/edit when Darcy sleeps) is to watch a cheapy American romcom DVD with the lights off. Every time I go to the supermarket I have a look in the £3 section and if there are any light hearted romantic comedies in there, I grab them. We tidy the lounge of toys and mess, turn the lights off and just sit and watch a whole film. To us, it's bliss. 

We have our own special language called 'Tang'. It was born out of a weird little private joke we had in Marseilles, France. Does this make our special language a French citizen?? 

No matter what bed we're sleeping in, Matt will take the side nearest the door. This is in case of monsters because apparently, they'll use the door. 

Our house is a mixture of pastels (me) and spiderman junk memorabilia (him). It doesn't go but we're making it work. If only Spidey would rock a bit of sky blue instead. 

We have not one single photograph of our wedding on display. I felt so under confident at the time and due to a lot of rubbish (rude ex step mother, morning sickness, financial stress) in my life I look back and think I looked vile in them all. In an ideal world, we'll renew our vows and I'll love it. I'd have Zoe as my photographer. Writing this has made me think that perhaps I could book a photography session with Matt and recreate some pictures?

Matt's signature dish is chicken and chorizo paella. My signature dish is dominos pizza. Both brilliant.

Despite doing very different jobs now, Matt and I did actually work together for six months in an office in Liverpool. I really enjoyed it because I liked walking home with him and seeing him about but he says he missed having space. Little bugger.

To date we have only been abroad together twice (France and Gran Caneria). We still haven't had our honeymoon but this October we are going on a family holiday to Orlando and are both crazy excited for it!!

We used to have a mixed tape style CD that had the theme tune to Home And Away on it. If he was in the mood, we would sing that song in a perfect duet and we know all the versus. I'm so tempted to reintroduce that CD to the car. 

Even when out for drinks with friends on a night off from parenthood, we find ourselves talking about Darcy. This weekend we went out and on the club dancefloor played a game of 'Dance like the baby does'. Honestly, dancing like a 2 year old, whilst wearing a Ted Baker dress and having more than a couple of cocktails inside you is side splittingly funny. Try it!

And that's ten. I'd quite like to do another post like this (with another equally slushy photograph) so if you have any questions or things you'd like to know, leave them in the comments and I'll use them for ideas!

Toodlepip!

xx

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Family Day Date

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

Sometimes the very best dates are the ones you have no idea are going to happen. Obviously, as a girly girl I love the primp and process of preparing for a romantic date with a man type, but nowadays, I find myself on more and more fun family dates, and that's cool with me.

The other day, after running round completing the dullest errands of all time (fancy shlepping round homebase for a new shower anyone??), Matt and I decided to treat ourselves to a really nice late lunch/early dinner. 

Fortunately, I had my camera on me (I'm making such an effort to take it more places with us) and took a few snaps. They're not professional and they're not all totally focused but I like them. They're full of life and memories and happy. I like happy. 

Darcy refused to sit in her high chair the entire time so she shared mine and Matthew's lap. It's nice to be so wanted. 

My Mr CocaCola addict. 

Why so disgustingly handsome?!?!

I love the way Darcy looks at her Daddy. Total adoration.

Since enjoying all the foods in America, the land of enormous portions, I tried to be a bit good. 

Thirsty Barbie baby. Don't worry, it was a virgin cocktail. Mummy's always have a few toys in their handbags for times like this. I bought these Barbie babies (I think? Or maybe Barbie sister's??) at Walmart in Florida. Oh man I like Walmart. My little pony's were under $3!!

Oooohh I do love a good lifestyle post. I'm so pleased that this is a beauty AND lifestyle blog so that I have the freedom to document moments of my life like this and share them with you. It brings me so much happiness.

I think I would like to make more of a concerted effort to a) go to nice places with my family and b) take my big camera and snap away. 

Do you do spontaneous little things like this? Would you ever consider photographing them even if they weren't that 'special'?

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Toodlepip!

xx

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Strength

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

I've really been enjoying the last two weeks of blogging every day and being a bit more focused on the things that mean the very most to me in life.

Quite obviously, the thing that tops that life list is Baby Glitter. 

"I love you not only for what you are but for who I am when I'm with you".

I often talk about how much I love her (like HERE in my Darcy Day Date or HERE in my Change post) and which amazing things she's done to make me grit my teeth with joy and adoration but I rarely touch on me in those scenarios. 

It's true that Motherhood changes your life. You loose touch with people, you function on less sleep, you adapt to a safety proofed house and learn to navigate a stair gate in the dark. You find yourself spilling over with love at the smallest things which to anyone else would be trivial (I nearly cried the other day when Darcy put her own wellies on) and you marvel at the tiniest of things.

But it is also true that it will change you as an individual. I feel, and please don't think me arrogant, that it has changed me for the better. I feel as though I have a new found strength and confidence and not only can I carry a baby, a buggy and my car keys all in one hand, but I can see the wood for the trees that little bit more. The insignificant worries are less of an issue and I feel a deep sense of determination to achieve my goals and dreams. After all, I'm not just achieving them for me now, I am achieving them so that when Darcy is older she can talk about me with pride. 

I want to be very clear in that I don't think determination, strength and confidence exclusive only to mothers, I have plenty of non-parent friends who totally astound me with there steely grit and gung-ho for the world. I am saying that for me, motherhood was the catalyst for these qualities and I couldn't be more grateful.

If you are a 'mother' (to anybody- you might be a carer, animal owner or relative to a child), what qualities do you think this experience of responsibility has instilled in you? Am I the only one who feels this way?

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Toodlepip!

xx

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Sunday Summary

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

I like Sundays. The air feels fresher and the atmosphere somehow stiller.

I don't do chores, I don't dash about, I don't stress. I just be. It really is marvellous.

This week has been lovely.

I finally, finally organised the huge shelving unit in my office, which brings me one step closer to making a tour video of the room. 

Darcy made some big steps, including putting her wellington boots on by herself, singing Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star, putting things back when asked to and learning all about snow. 

I went to London and had a great meeting re YouTube and attended a really super beauty event (more of this soon).

I spent quality time with friends I haven't seen in a few weeks.

I saw all three of my gorgeously caring Aunties.

And to top it all, yesterday Darcy was with relatives whilst Matt and I lived out the romantic dream wandering round a gorgeous little village, lunching in a quaint tea shop, choosing ye olde sweets and popping into a local craft fair. How lovely it is to spend Husband and Wife time together when we're not 'Mummy and Daddy' every now and again. 

Tell me how your week has been. I hope it's been as beautiful as mine.

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Toodlepip!

xx

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Happy 2013

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

Another year, another fresh start, another clean slate. I'm excited. 

I hope that 2012 has been all that you hoped it to be this time last year and that 2013 will be even better.

If you read THIS post, you will see I have a lot of things I want to do and achieve this year and I'm really looking forward to sharing a lot of them with you.

I'm so glad I have you lovely lot in my life. I really am.

Happy New Year to each and every one of you.

xx

A New Year, A New Me?

Aloha Sprinklerinos,

As 2012 draws to a close, I find myself thinking about 2013. What I want to achieve, what changes I want to make and what I want to amend.

If you follow me on twitter, you may have heard, but this week has been pretty poopsicles. I've been suffering with a severe kidney infection which involved a hospital visit, days of bed rest and a LOT of drinking water! Yikes! Slowly but surely I'm feeling on the mend again so I thought I might take this opportunity to talk about New Years Resolutions.

I make them every single year. I feel excited for them every single year. I break them every single year. And yet, for some reason, here I am excitedly making more.

 (Image :: weheartit.com)

In 2013 I Will ::

Stress Less. As 2012 ticked by, I found myself becoming increasingly anxious about things I didn't need to be worrying over. Little things like having absolutely perfect lighting for videos or replying to as many facebook comments as possible were really weighing on me. When I first realised I could making blogging/vlogging my 'job', I thought it was perfect for 2 reasons. The first being that I could spend 100% of my time with Baby Glitter and the second being the freedom it allowed me. By stressing about every tiny thing, I realise I was removing any of that freedom and making it a really unpleasant experience for myself. In 2013, I'm not going to allow that to happen. If I don't manage to do things, so be it. If my lighting, editing, spelling etc is a little off, then oh well. I never began this journey being perfect and I certainly won't end it that way so I may as well enjoy the happy medium of things. It's going to be a little more old school from now on and I for one can't wait!

Write more beauty reviews on my lovely little blog. I went off writing them last year because I think I had a bit of a crisis of confidence, but 2013 will be the year I spring back with beauty posts galore, just like the golden olden days.

Drink more water. Given the fact that I was hospitalised this week with a water related issue, I think that indicated I need to hydrate myself a LOT more! As well as fending off kidney infections, drinking plenty of water makes you skin, nails and hair happy too.

Make quality Mummy-Darcy time. With life getting as busy as it is, I feel like I don't ever just down tools and play. In 2013 I want to spend proper one on one time with Baby Glitter every single day. Her tiny childhood years won't last forever and I want to cherish every moment of them. 

Loose a stone. It's a classic. No NYR is complete without the old 'loose some weight' one. If I do, hurrah! If I don't, meh. 

Edit Less. Since I learnt how to edit this summer, I've got a bit cut and snip happy! I used to quite enjoy rambling on to the camera for ages about nothing in particular but after a while I thought people might find that quite boring and maybe I should be a bit more like other girls and make shorter more to the point videos. I've decided to find a happy medium. I'm going to do some concise, swishly edited videos and some like ye olden days. That way, you're happy, I'm happy, everyone's happy! Good plan?

Travel. As you may have seen from my three years of blogging, we don't really go on holidays. This year, in October, Matt, Darcy and I plan on going on the holiday of a lifetime to Florida!!! I can't even tell you how much this THRILLS me!! Matt and Darcy have never been to any of the theme parks out there so half the fun for me will be seeing them enjoy it all. We'll hopefully be going with my Dad, his Partner (who is a woman- I said 'partner' in a video recently and had 'good on him for being gay' comments! haha), her 2 children and my sister, so it will be a big family affair and should be amazing!! I'm also hoping to go away with Zoe at some point this year too (maybe Vidcon woop woop) so I best start saving my pennies!!

Decorate. You know when you have six hundred and fifty three frames and ornaments and clocks and things to hang up but you just never do? Well I'm going to!! 

Thrift. I'm taking a leaf out of Mrs Thrifty's book and I'm going to hit the charity shops, car boot sales and jumbles to see what treasures I can find. I'm on the hunt for decorative mirrors (that I promise myself I will hang up immediately), coloured glassware, good condition toys & clothes, books and jewels. Keep your eyes peeled for charity shop hauls!

Well, that's quite a lot to do there, but all positives and all achievable. 

Do you have any resolutions? Have you ever stuck to them for the entire year? If you have, well done!!!

Let me know in the comments and we can jolly each other along a bit!

Toodlepip!

xx