Christmas Eve in Paris

The 23rd December is mine and Hubby's Wedding Anniversary (that's last Tuesday if you're anything like me and forget what day of the week it is at this time of year!) and Hubby took me out to Dinner........in Paris. If you'll just allow me a minute or two to be slushy, I'd just like to brag a bit about how wonderfully romantic my man is - He always likes to treat me for our anniversary, last year we spent a lovely couple of days in London, another year it was New York, but this year he chose Paris as we visited there on our honeymoon and loved it. He always tells me how ridiculous it was to get married so close to christmas and do I have any idea how difficult it is booking something at this time of year? (no is the answer!) But secretly we both loved our Winter Wedding and it makes the whole christmas and new Year festivities even more special. In fact we like christmas in our house - if you read my last post you will see that it was our Nathaniel's birthday on the 28th December, mine is one New Years Day and Hubby's is the Day after mine, the 2nd January so we are pretty busy anyway at this time of year.

I wasn't planning on doing much shopping in Paris (not with the current state of the Euro) in fact on arriving at St Pancras International it seemed that everyone was going in the opposite direction to us - that is, the French were all heading to Oxford Street to do their christmas shopping, seeing as they were getting much more for their money. I wanted my 24 hours is Paris to be more about soaking up the atmosphere, wandering up and down the Champs Elysees and having some nice food and wine

I had intended to go up the Eiffel Tower, having run out of time to visit there on our Honeymoon, but when we arrived the queues were so long, I decided that my time in this beautiful City was too precious to be spending it in a queue. You will have to make do with a photo looking up at it instead!

I didn't intend to do any shopping, but there was one shop on my list which I had to visit - the huge Sephora Store on the Champs Elysees. As a self confessed make up junkie, this store is my idea of heaven, I don't know why we don't have them in the UK, as a trip to their website shows that just about every other country going has a chain of Sephoras. I didn't take a photo this time, but here is a photo taken of me looking very happy with my purchases way back on our honeymoon

Although we weren't in Paris for too long, the trip didn't end when we arrived at the Gare du Nord, travelling back to York first class was a truly relaxing experience which I spent planning my next trip to Paris, and snoozing, and sipping my lovely red wine.
Thank you Tim for our lovely trip - You are a wonderful Husband who never fails to surprise me - love you lots x x x x
So one week later, and what has everyone else been up to? - After recovering from our trip, and visiting family, we now have a few lovely relaxing days at home - at the moment one son is starting a Simpsons puzzleball, the other is playing on his DS Lite, my little girl is tired out from her bike ride (don't you know how tiring it is being pushed whilst peddling backwards?!) and I am going to spend my afternoon finishing off my new Maeve Binchy Novel and catching up with all your news.
If I don't see you again before Thursday then I would like to wish you all a VERY HAPPY 2009 thank you all for your friendship, your kind comments and your generosity throughout 2008 - Natalie x

I love school holidays!

I have always been one of those mums who love having the kids around, sometimes, when I see other mums during the school holidays and they say the kids are driving them mad and they'll be glad when they're back at school, I have never been able to agree with them. Of course, my kids DO drive me mad sometimes, but I love being at home, and I love being at home with them.

Having the shop means a bit of a juggling act though, since I usually work in the shop 6 days a week, and Tim is usually out measuring for or fitting the curtains and blinds that we sell, school holidays can pose a bit of a problem, but we have found a way round it - the boys will go to the Holiday club run by our local Surestart centre from 10am-3pm on Mondays and Fridays, Wednesdays they have to come to the shop for the day, and Tuesdays and Thursdays I get to be at home with them while Tim mans the shop, and that is fine by me.

Here is a picture taken this morning of our kitchen table (if you can see the table underneath all the glue, stickers, sequins etc) They were busy making some cards for a special nana who is going into hospital soon (close your eyes mum). Georgia's card has so many stickers on it, it will be a wonder if it stands up, but it is her first experience of crafting, and she seemed to really enjoy it.
After all that crafting, it was time for lunch, and what else could we have but toasted sandwiches? - I love my Breville with a passion, I know its a bit 70's but I think they are great. Callum had ham and cheese, Georgia and Nathaniel had plain old cheese, and me being the sophisticated gal that I am had cherry tomato and goats cheese. (I had thought about finely slicing some red onion in there too, but knew that Tim wouldn't thank me if I greeted him at 4.30pm with onion breath!)
The next photo was the cause of much giggling by the boys at the fact that I was taking a photo of their dinner (you could see they were thinking 'wierdo') - 'Hey, get used to it' I said.

In his book 'Jamie's Dinners' Jamie Oliver devotes a whole 2 pages to the breville and some of his suggestions sound lovely, I particularly like the sound of mozarella, tomato and pesto - I think I will definitely have to give that one a try.

Finally, I can show you the items I made for the 'cupcake and tea' swap organised by Rachael Rabbit - I was told that my partners favourite colour was lime green, so I made this sign to hang in her kitchen - a little stuffed heart (cupcake fabric on one side and lime green on the other), a knitted cupcake and some cupcases - I hope she likes them - Being from Yorkshire, the only tea I could send was of course some 'Yorkshire Tea!' - These are all now parcelled up and on their way to Australia.

Hope you are all enjoying your time today, whether it is at home, or at work - Natalie x

Happy Holidays!

Well we are back from our week in the Algarve relaxed, rested and raring to go! - The weather was a little cloudy on some mornings, but it soon cleared, although there was a cool breeze blowing in off the Atlantic quite a lot of the time. It was our first trip to Portugal and we really liked it, our Apartment was fantastic with really modern furnishings and 2 gorgeous bathrooms, although it was about a 15 minute walk to the Restaurants etc. The children all had a great time and were sorry to be coming home. Still - that's why its called a holiday, so today it was back to work with 6 loads of washing and ironing to look forward to!


Before our holiday, I was tagged by about 6 different people, so sorry if this turns into a long post but here goes:-

What was I doing 10 years ago?
Callum was just 8 weeks old, so I guess I was pretty busy! and I was living in a small cottage with my first husband where we kept chickens, I was 24 years old.

What are 5 things on my to do list tomorrow?
1. Ironing (As much as I hate it, it needs to be done)
2. Order some prints of our holiday photos
3. Get the knitting out again (for anyone who is interested, I never got that jacket finished in time, but thats a whole different story)
4. Try and list some things on Ebay - I have a corner in my home I nickname 'Ebay corner' and anything that I put there, gets listed - I am going to try and save all the money in my paypal account for something special
5. Take ten minutes out to relax with a cup of tea and a magazine

Snacks I enjoy
yoghurt coated raisins, dry roasted peanuts, chocolate, strawberry yoghurt

Things I would do if I were a millionaire/billionaire
Give to friends/family, support my favourite charities, buy a house with a garden and then get a hot tub/gazebo with outside bar, by loads of books on amazon, buy lots of handmade things from all my clever online friends, shop till I dropped!

Places I've lived
1. Chesterfield (until the age of 10)
2. Sheffield (from 10 until 30)
3. Doncaster (only for 3 years, but going back there feels like going 'home')
4. Filey (since Dec 2006)

Hope you are still all awake after that lot! - I hope no one minds, but I'm not going to pass it on to anyone as I think most of the blogs I read have already done this one! - I was also tagged by Josie a couple of weeks ago, but I'll save that for my next post.

Finally, just a book recommendation - I read the 'Friday Night Knitting Club' while I was away which can be found here Whether you like knitting or whether you don't, its a great read, with an ending I really wasn't expecting - without giving the game away, all I can say is I am glad I had my sunglasses on when I was reading it by the pool, or else people would have wondered who the crazy lady sobbing on the sunbed was!

Hope you are all well, and thank you for all the comments on my last post, its going to take me some time to catch up with everyone, but I am looking forward to it - Natalie x