If You Need It…..

Southsea Food Festival

Last year we made the trip to Southsea Food Festival and had a great time, it wasn’t too busy and there was lots of stalls to choose from. So when we saw it advertised again this year on Facebook Matt & I knew we were going to attend and made sure our friends Hayley & Lee were free to come along with us!

Here is our trip for you in some lovely photo’s!

Our Day Off

My godparents are over from Indiana visiting family and friends at the moment and usually they go to my parents and have dinner and drinks with us as a family. However, as we recently bought our own place it was decided that everyone was to come to us instead so we could show off our home! The date was decided to be mid week, so Matt and I took some time off for the rest of the week so we could just hang out together before getting ready for my parents big annual party at the weekend (more on that later)!

It wasn’t until we headed up to bed that I realised I hadn’t taken any pictures that night, which I was upset about BUT I realised that also meant I didn’t have my phone on me. I was just happy being and enjoying everyone’s company – it was actually quite refreshing! Seen as I don’t have a recent picture, here is an oldie of my borther & I with our godparents a few years ago.

Matt had told me he had planned a day out on the Thursday and that we would be out the door at 7am, so when I stirred from my sleep and turned over to have him staring at me, I was a bit confused. He said it was nearly 9am and that he hadn’t wanted to wake me so we would find something else to do. We took our time getting ready and decided to go out for breakfast and then go from there.

We headed to The Tenth Hole and made some decisions on breakfast, I went for Breakfast Bruschetta. 2 lovely poached eggs on bread that was smothered in pesto and avocado with a side of roasted vine tomato’s. It was wonderful! Matt had a full English which, had I have got the order right would have been with a side of Black Pudding – I was rubbish and forgot when ordering haha!!

Whilst we were sat eating our food we were discussing what we wanted to do for the day amongst many other things. We ended up deciding that we would go and see the final installment of Planet Of The Apes. We headed down to Gunwarf Quays and brought our tickets before going round the shops for a bit. I was on the hunt for a dress for Goodwood Races, we are going with Matt’s brother and partner beginning of August. Unfortunately I didn’t see anything I liked, so we headed back to the cinema picked up some popcorn, nachos and an ice blast for me before heading to our screening. There was just 5 of us in the massive screen, so we were a bit naughty and chose to sit in the VIP seats rather than our standard seats – sssssh! Don’t tell!

The film was really good – we have enjoyed the 2 before this one – there was a bit of action as well as some comedy chucked in for good measure with the Bad Ape! Watching the trailers beforehand, we both decided that we might try and see Dunkirk as it looked a lot better than what we thought it was going to and I think some of it was filmed locally as well.

It’s been really nice to just spend time together with no time limits on when we need to be home by or that we need to be doing something. Sometimes I think it is really easy for couples to get a bit lost when you are so busy doing other things, but just spending a little bit of time together can bring you right back to where you need to be. Heck, we have been together 8 years next month, we must be doing something right somewhere!

Keep Smiling

Emma xx

 

A Secret Room

Most homeowners have a secret room, although its often called a loft/attic/basement etc. When we first started looking at houses this time last year, one came on the market that had boarded out their loft and it was turned into a walk in closet and the pictures looked great (you could only access it from the master bedroom). We joked and said we would change that to a cinema room & unfortunately it kind of stuck…..so when we really started to look last September we always had it in the back of our mind that we wanted a loft that we could change into a room.

Now, we are no where near being able to afford to fund a loft conversion and although we would love a cinema/TV room, we have both said about making it into a large master bedroom with en suite too. But, there is no harm in dreaming right?

 

So I have been doing some research on what we could do with our loft space and there are some fantastic idea’s out there….here are just a few…

How lovely would that be! Although there is a bit of work to do before then which is fine and we will figure it out although in the mean time I think it would be great to look at some practical ways to use our storage space up there. There are some great idea’s out there as to what you can do with your loft to improve and have practical storage space. It all depends what you are looking for and what you store in your loft as to what is right for you, but here are some ideas that I think we will adapt to our needs…

Well that was another small insight into our DIY adventures and our hopes for the loft!

Keep Smiling!

Emma xx

The Weekend

How is the weekend almost over?! I don’t even know where it went or what I did! However what I do know is that its been bloody HOT!!! I am not good with hot unless I can be in and out of a pool with cocktails handed to me hourly and snacks available 24/7. Although a nice pink & white ice-cream today on our 6 mile walk went down nicely – sod the diet haha!

 

Don’t get me wrong, the lighter evenings, bbq with friends and after walk sea front walks are lovely BUT I am internally looking forward to some cooler weather OR someone buying me a paddling pool!

So whats the plan for this week?! 2 1/2 day week for me – wahooo! Matt & I have booked some leave together and I cannot wait to spend some proper time together as we have a busy weekend next week! Our weekend starts Wednesday when my godparents visit for dinner (they are over from the states), Thursday & Friday we will see what happens, but then Saturday is my parents annual party with all the family and Sunday is the Food Festival which we are so excited for! So its going to be a busy long weekend for us, but I CANNOT wait!

Here is my thought for this week – I hope you have a great one!

 

Our Shade Of Grey!

We always knew that our Front Room was going to be one of the first to be decorated as we found the brilliant white to be so clinical and unwelcoming. However, deciding on how we wanted it to look was proving to be something of a nightmare!

We brought a gorgeous black leather sofa from DFS back in November (my dad kindly modeling for us below) and it was delivered mid January, so its pretty much a big statement piece itself. We needed something that wouldn’t be too over powering with our sofa and also compliment it well.

After possibly 20 different paint samples, we narrowed our choices down to wanting Grey…..I kid you not, there are about 50 different shades of grey to choose from! We (me mainly as he was often at football) picked out 5 that we thought would go well in the room and not turn the room too dark. The 2 favourites were Chic Shadow and Goose Down by Dulux. We both felt that Chic Shadow was a bit too dark against the sofa, so decided Goose Down was our choice of colour. So with that in mind, we then just had to decide what to do with the Chimney Breast, do we have a painted feature wall or mirror what we have done in our bedroom and wallpaper? Here are some pictures we pinned on Pinterest for ideas….

It took us a while and when I say a while, I mean about 15 different wallpaper samples to finally find the one we liked. I am not sure what drew us to it or why we both liked it (ok for me it was that it had a touch of sparkle), but we both saw it at Homebase and said Yes, that’s the one. I don’t even think we brought it home to “hang” and see if we liked it, we just brought it there and then.

Once we had everything, we wasted no time and set to work one early Saturday morning. With a couple of issues with the wallpaper, we had everything done and finished and the front room put back together by the Monday evening! However, we soon realised that we needed to upgrade my TV Stand that I had brought with me as the style didn’t really go with the room and it didn’t match our nest of tables we had brought earlier in the year. Matt did some bargain hunting online and managed to get a new TV Stand half price at Debenhams! I am guessing you want to see the finished product?!

Well it’s semi finished, a bit like our bedroom! We want to get a nice big mirror for the chimney breast, a new lamp for behind the corner of the sofa as well as some pictures up on the wall. We are fussy and like to take our time over things to make sure we get the right stuff. However, I have been thinking recently about black and white photo’s in black frames will look quite nice behind the sofa.

Just like the bedroom, as soon as its 100% finished I will defiantly show it off to you all!

Keep Smiling!

Emma xxx

Pay Day Wishlist

This post was originally meant to be about the Seafood Festival at Gunwharf Quays in Portsmouth that Matt & I attended last Saturday. Unfortunately it wasn’t that good and 100% not blog worthy! However, whilst looking round the shops I really wished it was payday and I had some spare cash to spend…..

With just £15 to my name and just enough fuel to get me to and from work for the next 5 days when I wrote this, I decided I was going to do some dreaming about what to spend my money on next month!

So, everyone has bills to pay each month and savings (mine is for Canada next year) but after that most of us have a bit of money to play with. For me the amount of play money I have depends on how much I am saving that month and that all depends on how much I have dipped into my savings the month before hand haha!

But this payday, I have some plans and things I want to buy!

• A new dress for Goodwood Races in August. The theme this year is navy and white – I am thinking a white dress, joined with a navy bag and shoes. Perhaps something like this one from New Look.

•  Chrome Nail Polish by Sensationail. I really want the silver and cobalt blue one – I love how they look! A bargain for £6.99!

                        

• Birthday Goodies for my best friend. Its her birthday towards the end of July and I always try to get something that she wants and a little something extra.

 

• Plants for the garden. I love our garden BUT its crying out for some greenery and colour! I got some terracotta pots a month or so ago, so I just need to get something to go in in!

So only a few little treats, but sometimes that’s all you need to make you feel happy a few little splurges here and there dont hurt anyone! That reminds me, I think I will need to pick up some smellies too and maybe take Matt out for dinner or drinks one sunny evening too!

So what do you like to spend your fun money on? Is it spent on take outs and drinks out of an evening or perhaps a new wardrobe each month! Why not sound off in the comments below so we can all have a natter together!

Keep Smiling!

Emma

xxx