Thank You Notes #6 - That floral top edition

I actually feel extra motivated with this month's Thank You notes as I've been reading Meik Wiking's new book The Little Book of Lykke* and one of the recommendations is to write down things that have made you happy or grateful to help you remember the little everyday things that make your life good.

So this month has been a pretty strange one. We haven't been overly productive, nor done a great deal, but we also haven't had much in the way of bad days. Just days muddling along. And I'm really okay with days like that.

Autumn has Sprung: A fashion shoot in the woods

It's hardly a surprise to any of my regular readers that I'm a big fan of autumn, and aside from the whole Hygge factor, and the extra cosiness, tea and warm tones, the other thing I adore about autumn is the fashion!!

I'm all about knits, scarves, hats, boots and oversized everything! Plus I'm really a dark tone kind of person, with a little white thrown in (pastels just don't work on me) so autumn colours really make me happy. Give me black, brown, blue, red, tan, and yellow clothes any day of the week and I'm a happy bunny!

I've recently found a great new love in the form of WearAll* who are bringing the best of the autumn fashion trends to life, and I couldn't say to a little fashion shoot with all of the autumnal vibes!

22 things to love about autumn

I love a little light-hearted band wagon, and I don't really know if you can call yourself a blogger if you don't do one of these entirely pointless, but nonetheless really fun lists!

Bloggers love autumn, even though the evenings get darker faster which means photography gets infinitely harder, and lazy, unproductive days in bed seem far more appropriate than spending a day working on blog content, but we still love autumn.

Personally I've always been a big fan of autumn, even before my blogging days, but that might have more to do with presents than anything else.
So what's to love about autumn?

Henry you're 15 months old!!

I didn't think I was going to do any of these types of posts really, but I actually sort of miss my little monthly updates on how Henry is progressing and developing.
I love that I can look back and see how and when Henry did different things (albeit not the exact date because I am super forgetful), and I kind of find these posts useful from other parents. It's good to get an idea of what to expect next. I know every child is different and will hit their milestones at their own rate, but I find it really useful to know what things can be achieved as it gives you something to aim for, or helps you create ideas for new games or activities that can help develop them further.

So I'm sharing a little 15 month, or a quarterly up date on Henry in his first year. A little for others, and a lot for me!

Plus, I couldn't not share these adorable photos from a few weekend's ago. We were chilling after breakfast and put Henry's wellies on (from Next) and let him run around the house. We've also just finished sorting our conservatory into our little adult den area and needed to sort out all Dann's TKD belts (they all now live in a vase stacked in rank order) and decided to test one out on him. Even I have to admit he looks so so cute here!

Why I blog and share our life on social media

Often when I'm having a bit of writer's block, or a lack of inspiration for new content, or just generally feeling uninspired, I like to sit back and think about why I blog.

What's the reason for wanting to write about my life, share our stories, for the whole (well maybe not the whole) internet to see. Why do I spend a good percentage of my free time working on new content, taking photos, scheduling social media?

I do it all because I want to keep a little diary of our lives. 

My favourite posts to write and put together are always our family adventure posts. Posts, where the photographs come easily, and tell a story all on their own, and the words just flow into a tale of our latest discovery. A new place that we love, or a revisit with a new pair of eyes.

How to get the best self-timer family photos

One of the biggest first world problems we face, especially as a blogging family, is getting family photos.
Admittedly this is not helped by the fact I'm actually really particular about photos, especially of myself.
But my favourite photos are definitely the ones of the three of us together, and I'm a little gutted that I've only just learnt the great success of utilising that self-timer on my Canon 200D, as we don't have too many photos of the three of us together from when Henry was little, bar the odd selfie, and two photo shoots we had done.

However, now that I've learnt a few little tips and tricks, and had a few rather lovely comments on my Instagram on some of my successful photos, I thought I would do a little blog post.

6 things I've learnt from Baby Led Weaning

I'm not really 100% sure when a child officially comes to the end of their weaning journey. I feel like it's around the age of one, but we're still learning new things when it comes to the dinner table, even today at 14 months.

If you've followed Henry's journey on this blog, you'll know we went for the Baby Led Weaning route for introducing food, and it has worked well for us.

Of course every single child is different, and as parents, we can only do what we feel is best for each individual child. I also have no qualms with flavour led/traditional weaning methods and truly do believe that there is no "right" or "wrong" way to wean your child. I'm just sharing what we've learnt thorough our journey.

So what have we learnt from Baby Led Weaning?

Pizza, Pasta and Wine at Supermarine, Woolston

Italian food always brings up so many happy memories. 

From our time back-packing around Italy, taking in all the top cities, from Florence and Venice, down to Rome, Pompei and Sorrento. 

And one of the best things about Italy is it's food. Yes the architecture and history is what draws you in, but I truly fell in love over the food. 

So finding authentic Italian cuisine is always a huge hit with me. 

We're lucky in Southampton that we have a few pretty great Italian restaurants, but I think I've found a new favourite, that really feels like Italy, right on my doorstop... Supermarine* in Woolston, Southampton. 

Talking all about my tattoos + VIDEO!

I'm often asked all about my tattoos. How many do I have? Most painful one? What ones do I actually have? Where are they all? 

I've covered a little bit about them on my "about me" page, but I figured as I've started a Youtube channel, it was the perfect time to go the Tattoo Tag and really talk about all my tattoos and some of my favourite tattooists.

At the end of this post you'll find my video, but I thought I'd also include some photos and links here too so you can have a good look!

The final summer farm adventure

We can already feel the seasons changing, and the cooler, crisp autumn days are really on their way, and I'm not going to lie, I'm a-okay with that. I really love autumn, and although this summer has been pretty great, I'm looking forward to the next few months too! 

Over the Bank Holiday weekend (our last one til Christmas which is kind of insane to think about!!) we decided to pay a final summer visit to Manor Farm - don't we'll be back in October I'm sure as they have their own pumpkin patch which I'm very happy about. 

This time, we decided to focus on video over images, though of course I got lots of photos too! But I wanted to capture a little bit of the life within the farm, and also keep a record of those early fun steps with Henry. 

Kingdom of You

I swear we have the biggest collection of soft toys ever in our house, and Henry loves them all. I feel like part of his love for animals stems from his stuffed animal collection. And his growing love of books (yay!!) from his rapidly growing library!

I think reading stories with your teddies is an absolute must for little ones, so we're starting early with little help from Wonderbly and the Kingdom of You book*. And I caught him red-handed at story time with his fluffy friends.