Monday 14 September 2015

Weekend Happiness #3

UK Lifestyle Blog The Claire Diaries. Weekend Happiness


This weekend was supposed to be another chilled one, it didn't really work out that way.
There were a few things planned for Saturday which meant that inevitably Saturday became a whirlwind of taxiing one child or the other from one activity to another.
As a result I seemed to manage to not take one single photo the whole day! This doesn't normally happen!

Anyway things making me happy this weekend:

PT - I'm not going to lie I totally forgot about booking my PT session and went into a total meltdown when I realised that I'd scheduled it for 5pm on Saturday afternoon after running around all day.
I did sit there for half an hour swearing blind I wasn't going, only to have a change of heart and run upstairs to get changed. Anyway I'm glad I went - Need to get my ass back in gear. It can't only be me struggling after the summer?

Family Camping - My kids go to a really small village school. Its pretty perfect as far as schools go and has a real "family atmosphere". Every year the School Friends committee arranges a family camping event on the school field.
This year the highlight of the evening was snuggling up with Madam in the school woods under a blanket watching Paddington on the big screen. It was so lovely!

Magazine & Cake - After a really hectic Saturday I really needed to chill out and relax for an hour so I picked up a magazine and a box of my fave cakes and chilled! It was fab!!!

Photo Fun - I have a lot of photo frames in my lounge. Most of them don't contain photos yet. So on Sunday afternoon we headed to the common to play with the horses and take some photos. We had a great time and got some beautiful photos - I love making memories with the kiddos.

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Tuesday 8 September 2015

Autumn Fashion Wishlist

I love Autumn so much! Long walks looking for conkers and crunching through the leaves, but more than that I love the fact that Autumn means more clothes!
There are so many options when it comes to fashion in the Autumn and this year I'm making it my resolution to wear my fedora hat without feeling like a total idiot!

Anyway I've been having a look and here are my favourite Autumn finds so far!

Autumn Fashion by UK Lifestyle Blog The Claire Diary
1. Boho Blouse M&S

2. Tan Tote Handbag

3.Chunky Ankle Boots

4. Oversized Woven Checked Shirt

5. Imitation Suede Coat

6. Tassel Trim Cardigan

7. Faux Fur Gilet

8. Camel Trench Coat

9. Knitted Gilet

Shame pay day is such a long way away!

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Monday 7 September 2015

Weekend Happiness #2

Sticking with it!!

Things that made me happy this weekend by UK Lifestyle Blog


This weekend was a really quiet one. It was always meant to be really.
The kids went back to school last week so it was decided that we would have a relaxed weekend in order to avoid them becoming over tired.
I'm so glad we did. Both were tired enough without us adding anything else into the mix.

So to the things that made me happy..........

Autumn Boots....I know, I know I'm a walking contradiction! Last week I was so happy with my new purchase of summer shoes and this week I am so glad to have gotten my boots back out of the cupboard.
Truth be told I have been totally freezing this week. In fact my heating has made an appearance a couple of times. So when we did venture out this weekend I was thrilled to dig out my comfy boots!

Sunday Breakfast. This week the kids and I got snug and cosy and had a lazy sunday morning watching kids TV eating hot buttered toasted tea cakes and drinking lots of tea (well me...)
I am so ready for Autumn now and can't wait to do this most weeks!

Horse Riding Saturdays. I've mentioned this before but every Saturday the little Miss goes riding. She hasn't been going long but this week they put her on a really big pony. I was fairly certain this would be make or break. I was convinced she would freak out at how high up she was and refuse to do the lesson....I'm happy to say I was wrong! Turned out to be one of her best lessons yet.

Show jumping. Even though we decided to have a quiet weekend I took Little Miss to watch the show jumping at the show ground. We are so lucky to live in the country side and be able to watch these events.
It certainly cemented the little miss' love of horses and made her want her own......OH DEAR!

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Friday 4 September 2015

Den Building an Adventure in The Woods

Uk lifestyle blog The Claire Diaries

Confession time now.....My kids have never had a proper summer holiday let alone one abroad. We've never really been able to afford it. So to make up for this fact we've always spent a lot of time having days out and being in the outdoors.
I know they can't miss what they've not had but in all honesty I think they would much prefer being outdoors and playing to sunbathing on a beach all day. They are just not that kind of kid.
One of the days out we took part in this year was Den Building at Clumber Park.

UK Lifestyle Blog The Claire Diaries

UK Lifestyle Blog The Claire Diaries

Clumber Park is a National Trust property not too far from us on the outskirts of Nottinghamshire. Earlier in the year I signed up as a member of the national trust so the day out cost me a grand total of £5.00 for a few bottles of pop!
Over the course of the holidays as part of their 50 things to do before 11 3/4 campaign Clumber Park held a series of events for children to attend a knock a few activities off their list.

Uk Lifestyle Blog The Claire Diaries

When we arrived we were guided into the woodland area, where we were greeted by a burning campfire and assured we could toast marshmallows later on.....cue to very excited kids.
All around the wooded area there were piles of stick, leaves etc that the rangers had collected and placed for us to use.
We were told we could build any structure we wanted, the only stipulation was we had to use all natural materials and anyone who helped build the den had to be able to fit in!

It was great, the kids loved working together to build then den. We had a few tears when one of our neighbouring den builders stole one of our seating logs but that was settled pretty quickly with the promise of toasting marshmallows on the fire.

UK lifestyle blog The claire diaries

UK Lifestyle Blog The Claire Diaries

UK Lifestyle Blog The Claire Diaries

Based on our experience I would thoroughly recommend it to anyone with young children. My eldest is now 12 and really loved the day. The rangers were really lovely and helpful.
Pretty great day had by all really!

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Tuesday 1 September 2015

Weekend Happiness #1

Little Things Making me Happy UK Lifestyle Blog


For the past couple of weeks I've been doing a weekend round up post. Over this weekend I've spent a lot of time thinking about what makes me happy and therefore decided to combine the two in a new blog series each week and call it "Weekend Happiness".
Basically it's all about the things I've done at the weekend and all the little things that make me happy!

This weekend was bank holiday and therefore naturally flew past! It was the last weekend of the summer holidays and whilst I'm seriously going to miss the little ones I can't help but crave some more routine and structure for our lives. I'm not going to lie I'm not really looking forward to the early mornings and lack of duvet days but it does mean that Autumn is well on it's way and I do love autumn (eek).......

New Shoes! Yes technically they are summer shoes but I'm guessing we will have a few days of sunshine left before I need to dig the winter boots out of the wardrobe. These little beauties were in the sale at Primark (£3.00) and are so comfy. Perfect for walking around seaside towns!

Breakfast out with the kids. I've been meaning to try this new cafe in town for a long time - well all summer really and we finally made it! The waffles were lovely and it was so nice just to sit and have a relaxed lazy breakfast without any washing up.

Walking in the Yorkshire Dales. This weekend was Mummy Son weekend. We went to Malham Cove in the dales and went hunting waterfalls. I am going to do a post on this but I don't think I have ever enjoyed a weekend so much.

Steampunk. This isn't something I actually understand if I'm honest but the steampunk festival was in Lincoln this weekend and it really is an amazing sight to see!

Whitby Sunsets. For me this really marked the end of the Summer. After our waterfall hunting trip we headed to the seaside for fish and chips and met this gorgeous sunset. It was so beautiful and really made me appreciate just how much I've enjoyed being at home with the kids this holiday.....arguments and all!

Right time to crack on with the uniform naming and ironing. Wish me Luck!!

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