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Rufus, Mark & I would like to wish you lovely people a very merry Christmas! I'm posting this on Christmas Eve because Christmas day is sure to be crazy in the Brown household! I hope everyone gets what they wished for, and I hope you all have a wonderful day surrounded by the people you love. See you in a few days! x x x
Rules
Answer all ten questions below, make sure to add The Christmas Cracker Tag logo (above) somewhere in your post, tag as many bloggers as you like to do the tag, comment on the blogs you have tagged to let them know!
One: What’s on your Christmas list?
I don't really have a Christmas wishlist, with my birthday being December 1st I usually ask for anything I want then :) I'm excited to see what I get though!
Two: What’s on your Christmas Day agenda?
For the first time in a few years we're all staying at home, my brother Zach and my brother Josh and his family are coming round for presents and dinner so I'm really excited to have a more relaxing version of Christmas this year!
Three: How much Christmas shopping have you done?
I shop throughout the year because I have so many people to buy for, I always aim to be finished by December because there are so many birthdays in my family at this time of year too.
Four: What’s been your biggest ever surprise gift?
I have an awful memory but last year Mark got me tickets to the Harry Potter studio (I promise to post the photos in the New Year finally!!) and I was so surprised and excited! Even the letter I got saying I was going to the tour was so exciting to me haha, I'm such a Harry Potter geek and I've made Mark one too now.
Five: When do you usually put up your Christmas tree?
It's tradition in my house for it to go up on my birthday, December 1st! Though I think it went up on the 2nd this year because on the 1st we were at the Harry Potter studios :)
Six: Do you have a special outfit planned for Christmas Day?
I'm not entirely sure this year! Half of the day is inevitably spent in pjs because it takes so long for all of us to open our presents!
Seven: Do you have any plans for Boxing Day?
Usually each year for Christmas us and all of our family friends have dinner together in our hired out village hall. We eat, sing Christmas carols and have a lovely time together. We're doing it on boxing day this year instead!
Eight: When did you stop believing in Father Christmas?
I have no idea!! But I'm still managing to keep my little sister Indigo convinced that he's real, she's 5 in January :)
Nine: What’s your favourite Christmas scent? (Candle/Perfume)
I love the smell of cinnamon but find it a bit strong in a candle!
Ten: What do you love most about Christmas?
I have three whole weeks off work and I'm spending time with my family and friends, and soon Mark too. I love Christmas because I get to see everyone and eat delicious food and even drink a Baileys or too (chocolate flavour this year!).
I'd like to tag anyone who'd like to do this, I know I'm a bit late with it though!!! Enjoy your day lovelies :)
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Last month, Mark & I ticked off another of my 25 by 25s and went back to the Lakes. This is Arnside, the quaint little village where Mark & I spent a lot of time together when he was working at the Youth Hostel in the last photos above. We'd spend our days wandering around the little village, eating cakes from the bakery, buying ice creams from the shop on the front and sending postcards to my family. When Mark was working I would sit painting, feeling inspired by how beautiful it is in Arnside (Arnside is where I first painted bears).
It was so wonderful to visit again, we loved spending time digging through the treasure in Past & Present, though sadly now it seems to have upped it's prices and become more of an actual antiques shop. It's still worth a visit, there are many curiosities to be seen. The binoculars had me at first sight, when I imagined myself as Suzy Bishop with them hanging round my neck. I resisted, just about!
The village itself is very picturesque, with the gorgeous houses and window fronted shops right on the front by the sea and the beach. We spent many hot (and very cold) days walking down on the beach, walking along the water's edge when the tide is out. One of our favourite things to do in Arnside was to go for midnight walks and sit on the end of the pier (windy as it was!), there's just something about being out at night in such a peaceful place (unless it's kicking out time at one of the two pubs!).
There's a lot of nature, and a lot of walking to be done if you're into that kind of thing. As our time was limited, we didn't venture out of the village but instead headed up to the Youth Hostel to relive the days we spent watching Coach Trip on a computer screen sitting on the single bed. Sadly, the Youth Hostel is up for sale and it may not be a Youth Hostel for too much longer. It's a beautiful building, with all the ivy growing over it and the old brickwork. It's certainly old fashioned inside too!
More photos & stories to come in part 2 :)
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1. A rose from the flowers Mark bought me 2. Drinking hot chocolate from Rubens & playing Crash Team Racing on the Xbox 3. Vanilla coke & vanilla wafers - yum! 4. Chasing the supermoon & watching sunrise (post here) 5. Gingerbread cupcakes that Joanne bought Mark for his birthday 6. A cheeky lunchtime selfie at work 7. Wearing Summery accessories! 8 & 9. A very nautical themed OOTD (post here) 10. The sign for Wirral Country Park 11. Pink houses along Parkgate 12. Nicholls ice-cream shop - so delicious! 13. My birthday present for December!!! 14. A pretty floral pink playsuit from George at Asda (sadly my long body made this too short for me, boo!) 15. Foxy slippers 16. A questions & answers post
17 & 18. Ticking off one of my 25 by 25s - flying a kite! 19. Phoebe, Phoenix, Indigo & the bears on the bouncy castle 20. Our makeshift bedroom in mum's conservatory - so cosy! 21. Waking up to the sunshine (except today!!!) 22 & 23. Mark & I took Phoebe, Phoenix & Indigo to see Despicable Me 2 24, 25 & 26. Remembering my dad on the four year anniversary of his passing away (post here & more posts to come on what we did on the day) 27. Dad's blue and white china 28. Mark & I bought Fluffy the house rabbit a new bed... today it is a collapsed heap (I don't know if he likes it!) 29. Fluffy hiding behind the curtains 30. Indigo wearing my sunnies on the bouncy castle 31. Thinking up ideas a lot lately, but lacking the motivation to carry them out at the moment 32. A vintage black & white photobooth strip of my mum & dad, one of the treasures we found when clearing out the loft.
Hello lovelies, sorry I've not been around as much this week! Thank you for all your sweet comments & thoughts on my last post. Mark & I are on our 'holiday' at my mum's house, we've been here since Tuesday and will be here until Friday. I will catch up with all of you better when we are home, but for now here are some of the things I've been upto lately. Today we are off to Cadbury World, can't wait! Has anyone else been having the massive thunder storms all through the night and today? A little bit glad for a bit of rain :)
You can find me on Instagram here.
HAPPY EASTER! from myself & all the bears (and owly!), Hotel Chocolat gifts from Sandra, cute bunny tissues, getting back to the Wirral at 10pm on Friday night to find our new galaxy bedding on our bed (thank you so much Sandra!), then opening my bag to find mumma bear had put in these delicious treats, getting to work Saturday morning to find these treats from Hester, Mark bringing me a hot chocolate in the afternoon, a late night hunt for Easter eggs last night after work (none! not one!), a fishtail braid for Easter, receiving a kite from Mark for my Easter gift - the best gift!!, card-making at home with my younger siblings Phoebe, Phoenix and Indigo, Indigo doing the 'indigo' part of a rainbow, and getting it on her forehead!, colouring inside the lines, cloud stickers from Paperchase, Phoenix carefully drawing his part on the cards, two bags of candyfloss shared between everyone, Phoebe outlining some of her drawings in black felt tip pen (definitely needs a fineliner!), two Easter cards for Sandra and Mary as a thank you for sending yummy treats for the children, you make it sunny, Mark holding the cards, Indigo feeding Fluffy some apple treats Mark & I got him.
I hope you've all had a fab Easter, we have here! Sandra cooked us all (me, Mark, Craig and nana) a delicious roast dinner followed by not one, but two chocolate desserts. I know mum & everyone back home have had a nice day, with mum cooking a roast for my family too :)
P.S. The discount on my website for custom illustrations was due to end today, but I've extended it until midnight 1st April :)
So much snow!, embarking on a mission to build a snow bear with Indigo and Mark on Wednesday afternoon, putting all our Winter woolies on to keep warm, Indigo not wanting to wear her hat, snow boots, gathering up the snow into a pile and beginning to build the bear, having lots of fun, getting extremely cold fingers and hands!, having trouble building our bear's arm as the right one kept falling off, being very proud when our bear was built, searching for something to be our bear's eyes and nose, using two chocolate iced gems for the eyes and a piece of strawberry jelly for his nose, Indigo wanting to eat his nose but reluctantly not doing so, mumma bear coming out to have a photo with us, and take a photo of us, Rennie and Munch joining our bear outside, making a sign 'welcome home baby bears!' for Phoebe and Phoenix to come home from school to, eagerly awaiting their return but realising they'd stopped off at their friend's house on the way home, it starting to snow again, tiny lovely little snowflakes, Indigo catching snowflakes, Phoebe and Phoenix finally arriving home to us and our snow bear and being very impressed, before we all went inside to warm ourselves up, printing off some of these photos for Indigo to take in to playgroup. All in all, the most wonderful afternoon spent in the snow :)
