Autumn recipes, Make it happen and a Charity Ball #littleloves

Last updated on May 5th, 2024 at 02:36 pm

Happy weekend ahead! Can’t believe how slow this week has gone for me. Normally, I am complaining how fast it has gone and how is the weekend already here but I feel the opposite this week. I have been busy but we have also packed a lot in as I have felt better more days than not this week. BONUS! I am having more days feeling like me again which has been great to fit work, school activities and even a night out at a Charity Ball with hubby. I was risking it with disco lights and dancing but it was for such a good cause for REACH children born without limbs. It was a great night, we even raffled for a week in Portugal and got it! Hooray! We also been loving our adult micro scooters which have been brilliant to get the whole family to scoot for milk after dinner or just around our village at night.

Our weekends have changed a little bit since MM started school. B now has soccer on Saturdays mornings and MM now has gymnastics Sunday mornings. So even while both weekend mornings are still busy we have been making lists to make the most of our weekends when they finish their activities. We want to do more National Trust areas as we always find them so beautiful and so much fun. We spend a lot more time outdoors than ever before with the garden finished too. This week we will be buying MM her first real bike with no stablizers too. She has been riding her brothers while we were teaching him and just picked it up straight away. I can’t wait for weekend family bike rides ahead.

THIS WEEK I AM LOVING…

I have finished Lie With Me, to be honest, I didn’t like the ending. I am loyal to the books I read even if I start one and don’t like it I have to finish it. This was one of those books for me. Others loved it so don’t write it off for yourself, it was just a little slow and uneventful for me. But I quickly fell in love with The Kicking the Bucket List b y Cathy Hopkins. I haven’t had a lot of time this week to read like I normally do but I am a quarter of the way into it and it’s a page turner. I love the idea of the story being a list of things three daughters must do together from their mother before they get their inheritance after her death. It’s intriguing and the three daughter’s characters are so different. Definitely will be finishing it this weekend I think, somehow. Next up…is The Keeper of Lost Things which I have seen circling the #littleloves groups.

Have you heard? We finally finished our garden renovations. It was a long spring renovation followed by our summer absence in America, but we are home and we are loving our new outdoors space. It has abled us to have the kid’s friends around more often to play outside rather than ram sacking my home. We have had dinners outside more and the kids generally go outside after school a lot more than they ever did before. It’s great to get that fresh air before bed for all of us. Before we never really used the big space. It was a swamp as you can see in the before on the video and I was tired of cleaning up muddy children coming in and out so it’s been so much easier walking in and out in our slippers and socks now that we have fake grass. Never thought I would love fake grass so much. Please do check out our short renovation video and pop in a comment there too if you have any questions about cushions, heaters, furniture or lanterns we used to decorate at the end.

We are back watching our shows. There is always a long summer gap with shows we watch and who wants to watch tv when it’s hot out in the summer evenings. No way!  We go through phases where we rather read in the evenings, or in my case when MM wasn’t in school we would often be working side by side with our laptops. It’s been amazing to get my evenings back after almost five years of working nights. I feel like it has really helped our relationship in our marriage too. We spend a lot of it now in the garden with all the lights on and heater blasting instead of in front of the tv too. But we do love a good series, having just finished Game of Thrones at record speed, we are in Season 4 of Homeland. It’s changed this season so we aren’t sure if we will make it to Season 5. I hate when they take major characters out and change the whole point to the show. I have been catching up with Nashville. I was so far behind and omg….it didn’t disappoint. I was in a flood of tears half way through this season. Eeek! I won’t give any spoil alerts. What have you been watching?

I have long been a fan of Essential One clothes for little MM. Sadly, B is now too big for even the new toddler range they do. Why do kid’s have to grow up? For Autumn, it seems burgundy is everywhere too. I am loving this little mouse themed sweater and skirt combination from Essential One. The detail is beautifully embroidered. MM likes to choose her own outfits now. She pairs this outfit with her new Bobux shoes. Another firm favorite brands in our house. These sandals are great because the are durable and perfect as much in summer as they are with socks or tights in Autumn. We are still getting our wear out of them. MM is definitely drawn to sweater and skirts rather than dresses these days. I love that she has better style than me already at age four. We were sent all these items for her to strut her stuff in and they match her personality so well.

This past weekend, we got dressed up for a charity ball. I was searching for the perfect ball gown. I didn’t want one that went to the floor, I am way too short for that. I tend to trip over them if they reach the ground. I also didn’t want one above the knee as I feel like it’s not as formal for a ball that way. I searched the internet high and low and came across this navy lace dress from Asos. It was only £72 too! I have a few events it was perfect for including a 40th birthday party coming up and Mr P Christmas party, I thought it was festive enough for too. I love when I find a bargain and I can wear it for a few events, getting every penny worth out of it. I paired it with navy feathered earring, a navy clutch and, of course, my favorite gold sequins heels. It felt good to get dressed up and Mr P cleans up nicely too. It was a great adult night out. I was good to get out of the house. There is a down side to being ill and working from home, you never leave the place. 

It’s Autumn, as you might have saw on my instagram, I have finally accepted it too. Took me a lot longer to get over the holiday blues this year, I will admit. Never easy saying goodbye to my parents especially when my Dad is still very ill. But moving onto cold climates means I can get my Tefal Cook4Me out and here comes endless nights of stews, soups, risottos, and chillis. I can’t wait! There are some of my favorite dishes ever! I have been making some new chillis and stews that are meatless coming up on the blog like this delicious six bean and sweet potato chillli and rice here. YUM!

If you caught my IG stories earlier this week you also would have caught me raving about my dark chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting, salted caramel middle, and topped with honeycomb chocolate bar pieces. I am so mad at myself for not saving the photo. 🙁 But I can say they were delicious too. I made them for the charity coffee morning at our kid’s school.

Sine I embraced Autumn, well, it looks like my hashtag community #lifecloseup has too. I have been pouring over all the amazing Autumnal captures you all have been sharing with me this week. They have really helped get me in the mood for Fall. I need to pull the decorations out and get the house ready for the season ahead too. I love changing around my home to match the different seasons? Do you do this too? Come check out and join in sharing your zoomed in captures of everyday life with us. You could be featured here and on my instagram gallery too. Don’t forget to give these amazing feeds so love, click photo below.

Linking up with Coffee Work Sleep Repeat for #littleloves linky