I love my hood.

My mister and I have spent a lot more time hanging out locally since I've been pregnant, as the prospect of central London is just so, well  tiring. And it seems I have timed this very well.

Firstly, there's our favourite local cafe, Browns of Brockley which has started opening late. Connoisseurs of artisan coffee, bakers of extraordinary cakes, creators of yummy home made food (including home made butter!) and also lovely friends of ours. At night the cafe is lit by candlelight; posh beers, cheeses and breads are sold as well as a very good soya hot chocolate for the likes of preggers me.

Then there's the new Brockley Market which has just opened  practically on our doorstep. The tantalising smell of  busy food stalls wafts over traders selling organic veg, bread, locally roasted coffee, Brockley honey and cheeses. Lovely but dangerous for ones wallet...

Of course there is always Deptford Market, my favourite local market which is always topped off by the train carriage for breakfast afterwards.

And the other night we went to the new Big Red Bus in Deptford, a Pizzeria and bar in a double decker bus (oh to own my own bus). You can either eat in the bus itself, or outside under a red sail wrapped in blankets. Tuck into the wood-fired pizza and sip a cocktail or a Meantime (local) beer. Or apple juice, if you're me. Sigh.

So all that is perfect really, for bumming around in our neighborhood and making very little effort to be able to do nice things 10 minutes walk away.

In other news, next weekend part two of my belated birthday celebrations are taking place, which has become a joint birthday bash with Ray and a celebration for bonfire night. So I have Pumpkins, soup, chestnuts, toffee apples, and hot spiced cider on the brain. Mmmm...

I hope you all had wonderful weekends.

Thoughts from early pregnancy

Tired, by one of my favourite artists, Joetta Maue.

The first 3 months of this pregnancy have been some of the toughest but most surreal and amazing of my life so far.

My thoughts ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous: From "Hurray, I don't feel like shit...oh wait- have I hurt the baby?"(oh that gnawing anxiety) and wondering what the the affects of eating three whole grapefruits in one go are (answer: pleasure, then pain) to wondering if hormones will make me grow a beard and a hairy belly (no comment).   I spent quite long periods of time pondering whether it would be acceptable to walk down the street with my arms outstretched in front of me, forming a protective barrier, and seeing how many padded bra's I could wear at once. I also genuinely weighed up the pro's and cons of wearing my yellow ear plugs in my nostrils: Pro's: I will no longer have to ensure the smell of smoke, bacon, drains, and all the other abhorrant smells that offend my nostrils on a daily basis. Cons: I'd have bright yellow earplugs up my nostrils. And nobody told me about the joys of pelvic girdle ache... 

But, as well as some of the predictable and the unexpected mishaps of early pregnancy, its been brilliant too. I really do feel like pregnancy has put me in some sort of subtly magic third dimension as I mentioned before. I am unbelievably excited, even when I feel crappy. And actually I've felt nowhere near as crappy as I thought I would. It seems that the pregnancy cliché of constant vomiting, uncontrollable weeping, insatiable junk food eating and losing all intelligent thought, is not a pre-determined certainty.  New symptoms come and go (urg, headaches), tiredness persists, but I am undoubtably feeling better, slowly but surely.

Whilst this pregnancy was not strictly planned, it would also be a lie to say it was an accident. 'A temporary loss of our senses' would be a more accurate description.  Although we are over-the-moon about the baby, the timing, in lots of ways, is not ideal and the ol pennies have been a source of troublesome thoughts. But things are really and truly working out in a way we never thought they would. Perhaps they always do. So, reagardless of the lingering physical bits and pieces, I'm feeling good. Great, in fact.


I'm not sure where I'm going with this post. Perhaps nowhere. Just rambling reflections of early pregnancy so far.


P.S These thoughts were originally written down a couple of months ago, and published after so many of you said that you did want to hear some of my pregnancy ramblings, so here you go...


P.P.S Back to the present; the big news this week is that my bump seems to have sort of popped out. I still dont look very pregnant initially but there is definitely a bump now. Its sort of facinating, I cant stop prodding and poking it, and everytime I walk past a mirror I cant resist a glance; 'look! A bump! Bumpy bump bump!' (ahem...)

New DIY cable-drum coffee table

We are still finishing the house after re-decorating a few months ago. Pictures are yet to be hung, decorative fiddly bits are yet to find a home, lampshades are yet to be fitted, and cupboards have yet to be sorted through. Before we finished the house, we embarked on the holy mother of all clear outs- to get rid of as much stuff as possible before the baby comes too, so the house just seems like one unending to-do list. 

One thing we have managed to finish however is our coffee table. My mister found this cable drum in a skip near his workshop back in February and proudly rolled it home to me. I greeted it initially with scepticism, as he has a habit of bringing home 'treasure' for me from the street, not all of it very hygienic or usable (old soggy suitcases, mouldy wallpaper, small ornaments, but the occasional gem too). But once he told me his plan to turn it into a coffee table, I warmed to it. We cleaned it, sanded all the rough edges back and then put about a trillion layers of varnish on it. Dave then attached 4 industrial size rubber wheels to the bottom. We love it, and it also serves as a book shelf which is doubly useful.

There is a similar project being pinned around Pinterest, from Design Sponge if you want further inspiration (I cant find the original post on Design Sponge though-grr Pinterest...) But I think I prefer ours. ( I would say that though, wouldn't I?!)

Anyway- Hurray for rescuing junk off the street! Anyone else found any gems on the street lately?

Autumn felt garland

London experienced its first few really chilly days this week. The cold crisp air and bright blue skies have been beautiful; my favourite weather in fact, and signal for me that we are well and truly into Autumn. I haven't had as much time as I'd like recently to make anything, as my evenings are now so much shorter (my new bed time is 9pm. RocknRoll). I've been steadily working on the baby blanket and I also found some time recently to make this little Autumn felt garland. It is inspired by Elsie's felt garland, but I altered the idea a bit by using my machine to stitch the leaves together and using free-machine embroidery to add the veins to the leaves...

I already had a stash of felt, so I simply used a template to cut out my leaves (nice to do in front of the telly) then ran a straight stitch through the centre on my machine to connect them all (make sure you leave enough thread at the start and end to hang it somewhere). I then went back over the straight stitch adding the veining. And voila. The beginnings of lots more seasonal crafty goodness, I hope. 

Birthday, double breakfasts, afternoon tea

I woke to the first of two breakfasts. Warm croissants and coffee, with Roses and a handmade card, brought to me on my favourite tray, in bed. After quickly sending off the final copy of my Grazia article we packed the camera and headed off in to town.  The Riding House Cafe in Fitzrovia was our first stop, somewhere I have wanted to visit for months. A full hearty fry up (him),  avocado piled on toast (me), coffee and a (sadly) non alcoholic cocktail called Ginger Passion, in honour of my hubs, of course. The recycled wooden panelled walls were adorned with taxidermy squirrel lights, there were long wooden tables, large expanses of glass, bright orange leather furniture. Perfection. 

A much needed haircut for the both of us followed, then a stroll to Liberty's to pick my favourite perfume and scented candle, spending hours sniffing the myriad of different scents.  In need of restoration, we then went for afternoon tea at the Dean Street Townhouse. It was warm and cosy inside, heavily draped and wallpapered, with deep armchairs around each table and a fire crackling in the fireplace. I fell in love, both with the interior but also with the atmosphere; it was quiet but not pretentious; relaxing but not scruffy. High tea was perfect. Served on a three tier stand, with finger sandwiches, warm glazed scones and a gorgeous selection of cakes.  I hope the fact that Timeout named it one of the best value afternoon teas in London doesn't alter the feel of it too much. 

The evening was rounded off with Toad in the Hole made for me by my mister. I fell asleep feeling very spoiled indeed.

Riding House Cafe 

Dean Street Townhouse

Grazia article: H&M's new Conscious Collection

My next piece for Grazia went up on their site today. Its about their new Conscious collection and their wider ethical claims.

You can see it, and a few of the best pieces over on the Grazia site here, and as always I'd appreciate your thoughts, dearies.

It felt really great to to do this because over the last few months pregnancy sickness has drained any energy for writing work completely away. I was also pleased to be asked to write a second eco fashion piece for Grazia as one can never be sure if these things are just a one off. But, anyway,  I am starting to feel better, and more motivated again so watch this space (Fingers crossed).

P.S I had part one of a lovely belated birthday today, but more on that later.

Birthday and Autumn/winter apparel lust list...

I turned 27 yesterday. Hurrah, etc. But unfortunately my birthday plans had to be postponed due to a rather violent tummy bug which hit rather suddenly at work on Friday. I vomited at the office a couple of times, which was somewhat embarrassing,  but what was worse was vomiting twice in a taxi home, at the feet of a-lot of London's commuters on Aldwych during rush hour, which is both hideous and with hindsight hilarious too.  So, my day was spent sitting on the sofa in my pyjamas, cancelling birthday plans, being pregnant, with food poisoning. ON MY BIRTHDAY (just in case you missed that bit). Woe was me. But the day was salvaged somewhat due to my husbands pampering, a perfectly made and perfectly timed Gammon Piccalilly sandwich and Downton Abbey on catch up, so all was not irrevocably lost.


I also had ample time to drool over new clothes and torture myself with thoughts about how if I was well I'd be birthday shopping.  Because I had nothing better to do. Unless you count vomiting. Which I don't. 


So, here is my winter neutrals lust list: (all ethical of course). Bejewelled blazers, retro Christmas woollies, large slouchy mid- sleeved tops (BFF's* of pregnant women everywhere), Victorian embellished  blouses, tailored winter shorts, Aztec patterned leggings, white lacy dresses and love heart mittens. Oh, go on then...

Ethical winter neutrals 

ReLuxe shiny dress, £59 FAIR true, £15 FAIR true printed legging, £35 Vivienne Westwood for Melissa flat heels, $121 Beaumont Organic cable hat, £30 Ladies | H&M US, $70 Reluxe Vintage Brown Cream Knit Sweater, £65 Burnout Slouch Top - Annie Greenabelle, £32 Orla Kiely - Orla Kiely Belted Cardigan, £160 Jonathan Aston Sweet Roses Lace Tights available from Tights Please, £15 Conscious Collection | H&M DE
H&M's Autumn 2011 Conscious collection


And secondly, my ethical winter brights lust list: More slouchy tops, clashing patterned dresses, mustard slinky tops, Jewell toned floral skirts, baby blue cords, a bright yellow trench, floral kimono tops (another friend of pregnant women), and cheery woolly socks. Yes please.

Ethical winter bright and bold 

Mary Katrantzou multi colored dress, £550 Komodo peacock dress, £50 Go Green M by M long top, £45 Skin and Threads long top, £59 Go Green M by m, £45 FAIR true, £55 FAIR true knee length pencil skirt, £49 Melissa ribbon shoes, £83 Reluxe Fair Trade Knitted Chunky Socks, £18 Monkee Genes Organic Skinny Baby Cords Jeans, £55 Conscious Collection | H&M GB, £35 Urban Outfitters - O&O Kimono Jacket, £45 Polka Slouch Top - Annie Greenabelle, £39 Orla Kiely - Orla Kiely Trench Coat, £150 Orla Kiely - Orla Kiely Teacup Skirt, £70


 Its highly unlikely that I will buy even a fraction from the attached clothes porn galleries, but I may treat myself to a little birthday something. Maybe.... 




*What does BFF even mean? Best best friend? Best buddies forever? Or butt buddies forever? My mister and I do not agree. 

Mini-break,Kent

A couple of weekends ago, we popped over to Kent to stay with soon-to-be-an-auntie-Ray and her hubs. It was lovely to revel in their new-home nesting, and it was also lovely to be away from the noise and smog of London, to wonder around cobbled lanes, to ogle jealously at old houses and to sleep peacefully at night. We visited very old pubs, rummaged through car boot sales and picked our way through antique fairs. It felt goood to get my rummage on. We bought our first baby clothes (eep), a lovely very old lined wicker picnic basket, some records and some plates, all for under £10. The excitement evidently proved too much for me though as I was in bed at 8.45pm on Saturday night, having beleived it was at least 9.30pm and fighting to keep my eyes open for the previous 30 mins. Ah pregnancy. Rock and roll eh?  We were joined by a group of friends and Scout the hyper-dog on Sunday and together we took a long country walk to a pub. This took us through farms, marsh land and slanting golden grasses, near creeks, and over fences and stiles. The more I visit Kent, the more I fall in love with it.

Faversham's tiny independent cinema.

Wonky old buildings

Ship yard

 

Scout the dog

 

Lovely pub

Walk

Lovely old buildings

 Boot fair. Hell yeah.

Roast. Mmmm

We have slightly over-done it on the travelling recently, having gotten a bit over-excited about the baby news and wanting to see everyone to squeal about it with them. Our weekend gallivanting has so far taken us to friends and family's sofa's, air-beds and spare room's in Bolton, Birmingham, Jersey, Liverpool and Faversham. We have loved each and every trip but man do we need some weekends at home. Thankfully we have some time at home ahead and I'll have some much-needed time to catch up with myself, my husband, the housework, my blog and all of you a bit.

Having just said that (!),  Dave and I are currently attempting to book a pre-baby break in November. But just for the two of us, for some time to talk and think and probably freak out a bit and squeal about all things baby. And probably about all things definitely not baby too. We are looking for a quirky cottage or posh tent (yes, even in winter!) in England preferably or possibly Wales (trying to keep travel time down). Also preferably not too expensive (ie under £300 for three nights). We already know Under the Thatch well, having been on some gorgeous holidays with them before and we have been browsing Canopy & Stars too, but  we'd be very grateful for any further suggestions. Thank you in advance lovelies!