Preparing for Autumn: Teapots & Jumpers

Hello my dears,
This morning I awoke to the sound of heavy rain on my window and a dull grey light filtering into my bedroom. The air was cool and crisp and the embroidered blanket around me was warm, soft and comforting. Autumn treads ever nearer on dainty feet and I am ready to meet her. 
Last night I was playing on Polyvore, hunting for teapots and jumpers. Perfect for Autumn, I thought I would share what I found.

Teapots by genkimania featuring studded sneakers

Tea for One sets are my absolute favourite, I have something of a collection growing! I like to call them double decker teapots though. Aren't they sweet? They're the perfect size too and they cool down quicker than bigger mugs do which is great if you're like me and forget about your drink if you can't drink it within about 10 minutes of making it. 
The shoes showed up when searching for tea pots, I'm not sure why but who am I to argue? Pink buckled shoes and studded sneakers would be perfect for Autumn too. 

Teapots by genkimania on Polyvore.com

The pumpkin, the harlequin, the mushroom, the little frog, the glass one, the elephant... which is the best? I have no idea. I seem to have a particular calling to cute teapots, all of the ones I already have are of the sweet variety. 

Jumpers by genkimania featuring v neck shirts

Jumpers, jumpers, jumpers. I wish I had an entire wardrobe I could dedicate to them! I love delicate whispy ones, crochet, knitted, stripey, plain and particularly what we refer to in this house as 'dad jumpers', jumpers that you know could be totally ugly but somehow just end up being amazing. I'm so looking forward to curling up in huge jumpers and leggings, tea in one hand and book in the other. 

Autumn Musings

Good Evening my sweetlings,

I'm excited to be getting back into a more regular posting schedule, as the month draws to a close (can you believe it?) it seems my life is calming down a little bit. At the very least it's offering me some respite and I'm clasping it firmly and thankfully.

Autumn is really starting to creep over the land now and although the quickly darkening nights make me a little sad I have to say the prospect of cozy nights spent wrapped in blankets, cookies fresh from the oven and the most delicious food that only the later months of the year seem to bring are making it easier to bear. I have fond memories of autumn, it seems to give itself readily to nostalgia don't you think? When I think of autumn I think of dewy September mornings at 5 years old, walking to school. I think of the turning of leaves from rich green to beautiful russet, orange, ruby. I think of my mum crunching through them, always. I think of the smell of Cinnamon, the collecting of conkers and acorns, of warm tea steaming. I think of the madness of Halloween, seeing everybody getting excited about their costumes, the friendliness that seems to pour out unimpeded, I think of Thriller and Ghost Busters and dancing to them madly. 

I think this change towards Autumn has begun to sneak into my life little by little, I thought I would share the things I bought on Saturday whilst Steven was at work and now, looking at the pictures, it seems very autumnal to me indeed.

Top row: Sweets from the old sweet shop, Priestess of the White by Trudi Canavan (a gift for Steven), A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings by George R.R Martin for both of us, Thornyhold by Mary Stewart which I found for 99p!

Middle row: Roman Cammomile Essential Oil, Tiger Balm, tiny little china elephants with candles in them, a beautiful gradient yarn I can't remember the name of (I must find out!) and a gorgeous Louisa Harding Grace Hand Dyed skien. Both of these have been worked into my huge Fire/Autumn blanket and it now only needs a little more work until I think I can call it finished.

Bottom row: Feather hair grips, a gorgeous Saltstone tealight holder which I've had my eye on forever and which Steven gifted me with, a set of rainbow incenses.

 Another skien of Louisa Harding yarn that I bought for myself online, I can see a little bit of an obsession forming...

and this, well, this is just a little bit of unexplainable madness that happens when you give me MS Paint and basically anything else. I've made my friend into a Bear (thrusting upon him the nickname of WanBear which he can now never be rid of), I've drawn a flag for the Isle of Wight which looked nothing like an island and everything like a tooth which earned it the name of The Sea Tooth, and now, thanks to a conversation with lovely Leroy , this happened. To paraphrase from the latest Harry Potter film "if you know you'll never need to ask and if you need to ask you'll never know."

Teen Tonks

Hello my dears, 
My graduation ceremony is coming up so I've been wracking my brain for what to wear. I know graduations are usually the land of the smart suit and pretty dress but that's not much fun! I wanted to do something playful with my outfit, I was known for being a bit of an oddbod at Uni anyway and I think turning up in something a little different will be fun for everyone.
I told my dad I wanted to go as a Harry Potter character but at that point I wasn't sure who. Fast forward a few weeks and I decided to dye my hair using a mixture of the leftover Stargazer dyes I had accumulated and came out with this vivid purple. I put blue on the ends just to see if it would take. 
Then it hit me, why not go as Tonks? Tonks is fun, a little bit silly and not afraid to have a laugh. What's more she is a Hufflepuff and I've always been sorted into Hufflepuff wherever I go, she's a little bit punky, a little gothy and her hair changes like the wind. Perfect for me! My mum is knitting me a Hufflepuff scarf to wear and when I emailed my dad to tell him I was going to channel Tonks his reply was "good choice.", my parents are the best ever ♥

I thought I would give it a practice run and see how it came out, I'm really happy with these pictures. I can picture Tonks dressing like this as a teenager, in the school holidays of her 4th or 5th year of Hogwarts. 

I just learnt how to do Levitation pictures, this is my first attempt!

I can just imagine the picture in the background moving, in real life it has a sort of 3D effect that sometimes makes it look as though it really is.

2 Years

Good Afternoon my dears,
Today marks a very special day for me, a day when literally everything changed for me. 2 years ago today I stepped into this house, his house, and right then it became my house, our house, together. 
In two years I have changed so significantly that to some it might seem like the old me has completely vanished but I know that's not true. The old me is still there, it's just that she looks so different standing tall and proud and happy, comfortable that it seems as though she has completely changed. That old me is still here, it's just that she's me. 
2 years ago I went out on a date with the most lovely, wonderful guy I had ever met. We drank hot chocolate and talked and I was so flustered and shy that I couldn't look at him, my eyes burnt holes into the table. Sometimes I snook a glimpse at him when I thought he wasn't looking, he told me later that he saw me! I was totally enamoured, he was gorgeous, beautiful blue eyes, long raven dark hair and a wonderful rumbling voice. It wasn't just that though, he was truly and honestly the sweetest, most caring person I'd ever had the chance to befriend. He was a joy just to be around, I loved the way he told stories, the way he laughed, how he listened to me, how he just seemed to understand me and I understood him. 
He took care of me, not just that day when I broke down in tears from everything that had been happening to me, but every day before that. The first time I ever met him we went to a club and he kept checking on me to see if I was alright because it was so loud, putting his hand on my shoulder to comfort me. 
If I was scared I could talk to him, if I was worried, if I was sad. He took it all. He also stopped me from beating myself up, something I used to do a lot. He made me see the best in myself when I wanted to focus on the very worst and he has always done that, every day since. If I put my boxing gloves on he wraps them in cotton wool you could say, or just plain takes them off.

2 years... it feels like so much more. 10, 20, 100? It feels as though we've been together forever, known eachother forever. I love how we can always just be ourselves around eachother, the total weirdness that comes along with that! I love having somebody who just gets me, who can look at me across a room and without saying a word we can both be in fits of laughter. Without saying a word we understand eachother, what they're thinking, feeling.

I love having somebody who loves me so much and who shows me every day how much he loves me. It's one thing to know you're loved but sometimes, if you're not told or shown, you can start to doubt it. There hasn't been a single day that we've been together that I haven't known for sure how much I am loved, whether its by being told I'm beautiful, kind, funny, caring, sweet, perfect or just by being held, kissed, soothed. Steven is never short of kindness and love for me and he is never shy about showing it, I love how unabashed he is, how unashamed, how honest and truthful and good he is. 

I couldn't possibly ask for anybody better than him, I feel so unendingly grateful and happy that I found someone so perfect for me. I really, truly believe that he is a wish come true, an answer to my prayers, and he is is the biggest thing that makes me believe that wishes can come true, that even in the middle of utter darkness there is still the chance for light. Steven is the ultimate proof to me never to give up, never to let go. Keep fighting, no matter what faces you, because you will get through it and when you do it's going to be so amazing.

So thank you Steven, thank you from the bottom of my heart. I love you more than I can ever express.

Some snippets of my week

Good evening everybody,
How are you all doing? I've spent the past few days pulling up lots of vegetables, getting stung by nettles and discovering lots and lots of mushrooms. I love finding wild mushrooms, a few weeks ago I was thinking to myself how much I'd like to find some different specimens and my wish came true! I'm pretty easy to please, mushrooms and really soft animals reduce me to a pile of giggly goo. 
There's lots of fluffy, cute animal love in the blogosphere so I thought I'd introduce a little bit of rough and lizardy love. I took some pictures of my mum's Bearded Dragon Rikku, who has this look in his eye as though he knows everything about you and could use it against you at any given moment. Unless you pick him up and cuddle him, he is super tame!

Fluffy love is acceptable too though. Tom doesn't pop up here very often but we go way back, he's my one and only Old Man and I've had him since I was 5 years old.

Perpetually confused but always hunting for fusses, his favourite things include meowing at you in the kitchen, trying to knock you out with his terrible breath and sunbathing on my parents bed.

Cuddles are always acceptable. Also I cut my hair rather drastically, I got really sick of how unmanageable and tangled it gets and ended up hacking it off one night. My auntie tidied it up a bit for me, I kind of miss my long hair and I'm not sure super short hair suits me best but it is really refreshing to not have a nest on my head all the time.

More fluff? Okay then! Witness my truly strange rats as they cram themselves into a Pink UFO. They love this thing despite the fact that, to get both of them inside, at least one butt has to hang over the edge. 

I pout in my sleep, this is my perpetual sleeping expression. I know this because Steven is now armed with his camera once more... armed and extremely dangerous. 

I approached a hole...

and promptly rolled straight into it by accident.

Sometimes my parents dog doubles as a cloud.

Don't ever say I'm not willing to show you some truly hideous pictures of my face! I say if you're going to show outtakes, show the real ones. 

The look on my face here is a little bit 'I can and will find ways to kill you with this carrot'... slightly disturbing!

Pretty frilly toadstool! My mum was finding all sorts left right and centre, I collected some and then left them in the back of the car :(

Somehow this seems to have turned into an optical illusion upon becoming smaller... are there two people? three?