Easter brings chocolate and picnics...

Easter has always been a traditional family time for us and i was so excited to not only have a few days off, but manage to blag a whole week with the help of a royal wedding and clustered bank holidays (the only thing i will ever be grateful to the royal family for i suspect...)

So this year was even better! On Easter Monday the whole clan went to a place called Peatlands Park in Dungannon. It's a relatively unknown little spot but is brilliant for family times because it has so much greenery, forest walks, picnic tables, a pond with ducks to feed and more importantly a little train that takes you on a tour around the park. Not one of those trains designed into tricking kids they're off on an adventure, this is a proper little train that goes for a good long while and has lots of interesting facts and beautiful scenery to travel through!

We started off with our picnic which i was probably a little too eager for, mainly because it gave me the chance to show off my very cute picnic basket. I bought it a good few years ago, but my Dad is chief food provider on family outings and never normally asks us to bring anything, so i never got a chance to use it before. However husband and I are both vegetarians and can sometimes be left with not much choice in the food he brings so we thought we would bring our own, which also included the excessive amount of fruit we both eat on a daily basis!

This is my hamper in all its pink glory! it originally came with plastic cups, plates etc, but i replaced them with vintage style blue melamine ones and bought hot pink plastic cutlery that were designed with a retro feel.

This is my famous couscous salad! Nothing hugely special about it, but the combination of flavours makes it really tasty and the addition of a little balsamic vinegar and side serving of  homous with pre-toasted wholemeal pitta bread makes it a firm favourite at every dining occasion!

After our food we got an ice-cream, (naturally) and headed to the train station! My 2 nephews were with us, Ethan (4) and Caleb (2 months). We really have been spoiled with 2 such well behaved little dudes and I'm sure when we get round to popping out some babies they will be a nightmare in comparison. Plus my sister takes pride in pointing out that she makes very cute children, and by jove shes right, they are gorgeous (no bias honest!). 

The train is so much fun and Ethan is obsessed with all things locomotive so he had a blast. He says his Uncle Mark is his best friend, so they were stuck together like glue all day. I enjoy nothing more than watching the 2 of them play together, or Mark trying to teach Ethan all about transformers, or the best way to combine lego. It does make me broody, if I'm honest...and then i remember my sisters tales of child birth and the moment passes...quickly!

 This is my favourite picture from the day. Just us and our favourite little man!

Ethan didn't want to get off the train as you can see from the picture up there! But we had cricket to play and ducks to feed so we had to go! It was such a sunny day i had to take the opportunity to take some pictures of the blossom on the tree. Pink is my favourite colour so to have beautiful apple blossom trees every you go this time if year makes me a very happy girl indeed. 

We headed to a little farm near by for some more animal feeding and then with an exhausted 4 year old we headed home. I LOVE spending time with my family, especially when i feel like I'm not cramming in time to spend with them, like i do every Saturday, which is the only time i ever get to see them really. There are a few more bank holidays coming up in July (in Northern Ireland) so hopefully we can fit in a trip to the seaside to show little Caleb the sandy shores of Portrush!

or to me and Mark thanks!

Lovely, lovely times were had.

Garden Fever...

Ever since the sun started to rear its head a few weeks ago, we've been talking about what to do with our garden this year! We moved into our house 2 Octobers ago and were probably a little late with getting around to gardening last summer. We've never had our own garden before so this year we plan to research, plant and maintain throughout the summer months (fingers crossed we get some months that qualify for "summer").


The girl who owned our house before us had a keen interest in gardening based on the sheer amount of bulbs we pulled out of the front and back garden last year. Thinking about it now we weren't sure why we dug up all the bulbs, but at the time it made sense. I suppose it has a lot to do with wanting to put your own stamp on your new home, marking your territory in a weird way!


She had lots of basic plants like daffodils and a few rose bushes, but the one thing she left behind which she didnt intend to was our beautiful Willow tree. I remember the last time i came to see the house before we were due to move in she had said she would be taking it with her if she could, but on moving day we were greeted by it in all its pastel green goodness!


Husband isn't so keen because our garden is on a bit of an upwards slope and the tree has started to impose on the shed that was plonked at the top of the garden. This too was left behind and isnt in a great state, but its handy enough for storing our garden furniture in the Winter. I love how unusual the Willow tree is and how delicate and almost feminine it is. I love nothing more than looking our our bedroom window on a sunny morning and seeing Betsey resting in the shadow of the Willow.


This year we're going to get stuck into the garden early Spring, rectifying all the mistakes we made last year and planning what we want to plant and where. When we started looking for our house the only 2 prerequisites were that we needed 3 bedrooms (for the copious amounts of "stuff" we have, i married a fellow hoarder) and the house must have a garden. Having your own little patch of green in a very grey city makes our miserable Summers that little bit more bearable. Being able to have a spontaneous barbeque or even just a nice glass of Pimms on the decking is such a breezy way to de-stress from the work day you've just had.


Our house is a mish mash of styles, but I'm pretty clear on how i want my garden to be. We're lucky to have a little decking area for our table and chairs and somewhere to have the barbeque itself! Towards the end of the summer i bought a fire pit because although it may be sunny it is never warm enough to sit out all night without freezing to death! We didn't get to try it out last year so fingers crossed for this year! At some point i want to have all the family over for a lovely summer garden party. i love being the hostess, making cocktails, finger food and desserts. New years has now become a tradition at our house, but a summer addition to the party rota is definitely needed!


I've been looking for some inspiration on the garden style front and found some cute themes and ideas. We already have some floral plant pots and wooden furniture. i desperately wanted some vintage style white metal furniture but everywhere seemed to be so expensive we settled for a dark wood, which i reckon with some  nagging negotiating, i could convince husband to paint it white! Judging from the rest of our home i have developed a strange obsession with white furniture as my latest purchase was a beautiful white trunk for the living room.


The dream is for French style white furniture, bunting, floral plant pots, old barrels and metal basins, lavender, heather and sweet-pea, beautiful cottage pinks (they smell like sweet cinnamon, yum!), pitchers of iced tea or Pimms and lemonade, freshly baked scones with no raisins in sight, candles in little lanterns, toasting marshmallows over the fire pit and good times with friends and family...all we need now is the sun!