Autumn Style

Autumn Style by gemma-m-barry 

So, with the last few weeks of AWFUL weather, I’ve been planning (in my head) what I’d ideally

love to be wearing this Autumn/Winter. Typically though, the weather seems to have made a bit of a change and it is actually Sunny today. Yay!

(We are just getting ready to race on down to the beach before it disappears.)

I love this equestrian/preppy look.  I think you can’t go wrong – it’s smart but comfortable.  It’s also so easy to mix and match.   The Clarks boots featured, I had last year and they were beautiful, they were too tight on my chunky calves though, so I had to take them back.  This year I am determined to have them and be able to wear them.

Come to think of it, my diet was meant to start MONTHS ago….still hasn’t happened.  Where the hell is my will-power?

Was the Union Jack always so cool?

This year, with the massive occasion of the Queen’s Jubilee and now the upcoming Olympics we are inundated with images of the British flag.  They are EVERYWHERE, right?  Weather you’re doing a bit of shopping, are in a restaurant or walking down your street, there is bunting, flags or Brit memorabilia of some sort somewhere in your eye line.  It’s not just accepted it’s expected.  It’s patriotic.

This wasn’t always the case though.

My partner (Rob) works in an independent designer menswear shop where they sell top British brand Barbour.  Barbour brought out a jacket lined with the british flag.  This jacket made a statement – how the brand is proud to be British, and after being around since 1894, Barbour’s classic wax jackets are still manufactured by hand in South Shields.

Rob got to designing a window display, with the jacket being the centrepiece, behind it he had the union jack flag.  It was merely days, before somebody came into the shop questioning why there was a British flag displayed so prominently, it was deemed this could be offensive to other people in the city who were not British.  Another few days later, there were accusations that the shops staff were ‘nationalist’ and another person asked if staff members were part of the BNP!

The window display was taken down.  It seems two years ago it was apparently ‘offensive’ to display a Union Jack, now if your not brandishing your red, white and blues at every opportunity you’re not being supportive to your country.

Let’s be honest, you just can’t win. Can you?

Free As a Bird

Yesterday, around lunch time, we had a very excitable phone call from the other half saying that he’d found a baby bird (we thought a sparrow, but our bird knowledge extended to ‘it’s not a pigeon or a seagull, so it must be a sparrow’) outside his work.  Now, he works in the middle of town, which is no safe for a baby bird that can’t fly very well.

So, after watching it hop about on the busy pavement , Rob being the absolute animal lover he is, picked it up and put it in a little box.  He then went to the nearest pet shop where he got some advice on what to do next, and some meal worm for the birdy.  So, for the rest of his day in work he was bird-sitting.

On the advice of the pet shop, and a bit of Googling from me, we decided the best thing to do was bring it home and take it up to our near-by woodland and leave it in some bushes or shrubs.  As it was fully feathered, it was ready to go off on its own and learn to fly.

Luckily, after a whole day of thunderous rain, it finally cleared up around tea-time. We all got our welly’s on and waited for Daddy to come home.  The children were so excited to see a baby bird.

The rain had caused a stream of muddy water to come pouring down from the hill.  The girls were convinced someone had spilt their cup of tea on to the road.

Off we headed up to the woods to find a safe place to set the bird free.

And, off it went….It jumped straight out of the box and hopped off into the undergrowth.

So that was our first foray into animal rescue.

Update: With the help of the very knowledgeable Knitty Mummy, I now know that this little bird was actually a baby Goldfinch.

Gorgeous Baby Gifts

For those of you who have read my blog, you may know that my partner and I used to run our very own baby boutique.  We set up at the time I was expecting our third baby, and I chose our stockists based purely on how adorable my newborn would look in their clothes. If I loved the clothes (I am very fussy), I was positive others would as well.   Who wouldn’t fall in love with these……

Gorgeous, aren’t they?

We tried to stock mainly British brands, and how lucky we were to have such an amazing choice.

For the striped outfits, we have Bonnie Baby. A luxury babywear fashion label, selling beautiful British designed clothes for babies and children. These outfits are absolutely wonderful, and of outstanding quality. They have a range for boys and girls, and then the neutral range in grey.  Frankie wore his cashmere- mix outfit constantly for months until, sadly, he finally grew out of it.  It is now put away for baby number 4 (hopefully, one day) in as good a condition as the day we bought it.

The leather shoes are by Inch Blue.  This is a family run business based in South Wales (whoop!), with all their shoes designed and hand crafted (yes, hand crafted!) in Wales.  They have an enormous collection of over 100 styles, all at affordable prices.  Before you check them out though, make sure you have an hour to spare, as it will take you that long to decide on a design – they are all irresistable!

The bandana style dribble bibs are by Skibz.  My eldest dribbled until she was a toddler, not helped by the fact she loved her dummy,  and normal bibs looked silly on her the older she got.  I wish I had found these back then, as not only are they completely practical and comfortable – they also look so cute! They come in loads of different colours and patterns, you’ll be spoilt for choice.

Squeakaboo’s are really cute toys suitable from birth onwards. They squeak, jingle and crinkle and, trust me, babies love them!  And for under £5, you can’t go wrong!

Finally, we have Sophie the Giraffe.  I know this is not British, but it’s such a classic baby toy – it hasn’t altered in design for over 50 years!  All three of my children had their very own Sophie and it got us through our fair share of teething periods.  Every child should have one.

So, there’s my round up of some of the best baby and children’s brands/items around.  I have bought and used everything I’ve mentioned, and can recommend them 100%.  If you are lucky enough to have a baby to shop for, I hope this will be of some help or inspiration to you.

Just for you, here’s my very own Bonnie Baby on his first day in the world:

Happy Shopping!