these are the days

Sometimes when I start stressing about how we're ever going to afford to give the children a decent education, if we're running late for Lila's swimming lesson or miss her Wednesday drama class because we're all still in our pajamas, I forget that the best gift we can probably give them is a simple and carefree childhood. These words found here, sum it up well.

"...Being the smartest or most accomplished kid in class has never had any bearing on being the happiest. We are so caught up in trying to give our children 'advantages' that we’re giving them lives as multi-tasked and stressful as ours."

Whilst it's clearly important that they do learn to swim and how ever much Lila loves racing around with a hoard of other little children pretending to be a lion at her drama class, the days when we have nothing scheduled and just hang out together are nothing to feel guilty about, they're probably the best days of all.

When I think back to my own childhood, the best memories and happiest times I can recall are of my sister and I building dens in the straw bales in the barn, trawling the fields and peering into tree stumps and alongside streams trying to find the mice of the Brambly Hedge books, building rafts to sail on the ponds (and almost drowning my Dad when we insisted he tested their floating capabilities out first, but that's another story). Not the relentless round of tennis, swimming, horse riding, music and ice-skating lessons. Whilst we did enjoy these, and indeed bugged our parents unceasingly until they broke down and agreed to let us do several of them, they can all too quickly become a bind and bore.

So whether Lila and Rose will find as much enjoyment as I did in whiling away Summer afternoons crushing up flower petals and leaves to make questionable 'perfume' remains to be seen, but I'll make sure they definitely have the freedom to find out.

Side note: My sister recently told me we had an ongoing game which went on for many months where we pretended we ran a mountain biking school and made ramps and jumps out of random pieces of wood and other things we found lying around and attempted to clear them on our little bikes. So funny (although slightly concerning that I have no memory of this. Surely it's a bit early for the onset of old-age memory loss??)

Picture above of Lila (and my) adventures with pavement chalk. Yes, I was loving it.

two years

Two roses to mark two years of marriage. Plus a copy of Vogue and a Galaxy chocolate bar (English chocolate is like gold dust over this end of the world). Oh yes, he knows me well. We went out for dinner, just the two of us, which pretty much never happens these days. Big thanks to our good friends for babysitting and allowing us a few hours of remembering what it's like to go to a restaurant without lugging along a changing bag and massive bag of toys, not to mention a boisterous toddler and a small baby. It was wonderful.

wish list

A few things I've been eyeing up lately...

This dress from Topshop: Colour blocking done to perfection.

This tote bag from fieldguided: Cute summer bag and great for the beach.

This book by Paula McLain: "A deeply evocative story of ambition and betrayal, The Paris Wife captures a remarkable period of time and a love affair between two unforgettable people: Ernest Hemingway and his wife Hadley."

These hi-tops by Ash: Ideal for throwing on with black skinny jeans and a casual shirt or tee.

one year on

It has been over a year now that we have been living in the land of the long white cloud. Though it's mostly been a brilliant, eye-opening time, it has by no means been a totally easy ride. We moved to a country literally at the other end of the Earth where we have no family and knew almost no-one. We had to find ourselves a place to live, buy a car and I had to get myself a job. We had over two months with no furniture and possessions except the clothes we bought over in our bags on the plane because the container we shipped was hugely delayed. I was lucky enough to land an amazing, dream job after just a couple of weeks and we found a sweet (albeit very compact) apartment to rent in a great location. I've missed my friends and family back home a crazy amount. There's been so many moments I wish I could have shared with them or just popped around to see them for a cup of tea and a chat, but I've also forged new friendships and met some awesome people along the way.

We live a short drive away from some of the most beautiful scenery on Earth and have stunning beaches on our doorstep. Some things we've found to be more affordable such as rent and childcare, and other things to be extortionately expensive in comparison to what we were used to in the UK- food and drink, both in the supermarket and also in restaurants and bars, furniture, clothes, books and basically everything bought from a shop is at a premium. This has meant we've had to learn to find our fun without much in the way of retail therapy or eating out- hello picnics on the beach, lots of home baking and barbecues with friends. Even more so now Rose has arrived and we are surviving on just Curt's salary.

We've experienced a warm Summer and also the more rainy but still mild months of Winter. There have been stressful times and joyful times. We've gained a child and there's been moments when we would have given anything to have our family close at hand to babysit for an evening, to be able to pick up the phone for an impromptu chat or to ask for some advice (the 11 hour time difference can be a bitch). One thing we will be forever grateful for is the existence of Skype, it makes being so far away seem feasible and our parents are still able to know their grandchildren and see them often.

Am I glad we made the move? Absolutely. In spite of some of the more challenging aspects I would do it all again in a heartbeat. Home for me will always be the green fields of England and I'm pretty sure we'll return there for good one day, but for now we're enjoying the adventure. I feel proud that we are giving our children a chance to see and experience something of the world.

just a minute in...august

It's almost the end of August already? How the heck did that happen. Well as the month was racing on by, this is what I've been up to, accompanied by some pics from the weekend.

Reading...The latest issue of my all time favourite Frankie magazine and also a random selection of magazines that the postman keeps delivering to us (someone else is getting their magazine subscriptions sent to our address by mistake. Winner!)

Watching...Being a highly squeamish person, I'm never usually one for medical dramas but I can't get enough of the new series of Grey's Anatomy. Forgot how much I love that show...and a certain doctor ;)

Listening ...On the journey to trying to educate Lila in good music, we've been rediscovering the joys of Jose Gonzalez . She still seems a lot more keen on The Lion King soundtrack however. Hmm, well at least it's an improvement on 'The Wheels on The Bus' CD. I also dug out a classical CD my mother bought for Lila when she was a tiny thing and it's been great at chilling both the girls when we all need a bit of quiet time.

Buying...a little too much in the way of clothing. But they were all such great bargains!

Enjoying...A gorgeously sunny weekend spent wandering around on the waterfront admiring all the yachts and eating ice creams, visiting friends and baking a particularly delicious chocolate cake. Spring seems to have arrived, yippee. Also grateful for some extra sleep as Rose is now only waking for one short feed in the night. Thank you my darling girl.

Wanting...Not really wanting for much at the moment- except for the usual, you know, winning the lottery, wishing all my friends and family would also move over to this side of the world! Right now, life is good :)

shop shop shopping

I got my shop on in a big way this past week, in the most stress free way possible when you have a newborn and a 3 year old to contend with- online and from the luxury of my own sofa. I decided it would be logical to take advantage of the end of Summer sales from all my favorite UK retailers and get myself and the little ones kitted out ready for our upcoming Summer in New Zealand. I've probably mentioned it before but nice clothing over here is ridiculously expensive and fairly limited in choice.

Obviously I stocked up as much as I can when I was back home a couple of months ago but there is only so much a person can fit into a bag with a paltry 20kg luggage allowance to contend with. Curt does his own thing when it comes to clothes shopping, he definitely enjoys it as much as any woman so naturally I wouldn't dream of taking that pleasure away from him :)

My first online stop was one of my all time favourite stores Zara, where I picked up some bits and pieces for myself and Rose and then onto Mini Boden for Lila. Next up was ASOS, where I made the extremely exciting discovery that they ship internationally...for free!! How I did not know this before I do not know (for all my other purchases I have to rely on the goodness of my long suffering, dear mother having everything delivered to her house in the UK and then posting it on to me). Here's a peek at some of the goodies that went in to my shopping cart.

The floppy straw hat and sleeveless button through dress pictured at the top were both absolute steals from ASOS. For the past few months I've been on the hunt for awesome button front dresses and tops as they make feeding Rose so much easier, especially when I'm out and about. For myself I also couldn't resist the gorgeous aquamarine shade of these shorts and the mint green hue of this cardigan- which will be perfect for throwing on when it gets a bit breezy at the beach.

Lila scored a cute polka dot retro style bikini and a beach kaftan, amongst other things, both from Mini Boden.

For Rose I chose this darling little checked romper and pretty embroidered dress, both from Zara Kids.

wow

I know the official photos taken by Mario Testino of the wedding of Kate Moss and Jamie Hince are all over the web at the moment but when I saw this one it stopped me in my tracks. Oh my word, it's amazing. So sexy. It almost seems of another era and I love the expression on her face and the way she's looking at him.