Absentee Blogging

In the craziness of two little boys, and freelance history-ing, and weekly 5ks, and the occasional pause for a deep breath, a chapter of a book, and a mocha coconut frappucino, this poor little blog has become neglected. Blog Protection Services should be making weekly visits to my laptop to ensure it doesn't suffer from benign neglect. Of course, they'd probably be the same sort of organization that took away your terrarium and potted succulents if you were talented enough to kill the things in them. Put you on crafting probation if your dip-dyed curtains were a hot mess. Freeze your accounts after another Etsy rampage.

But none of that for me! I've been Tweeting (the refuge of the blogger too busy to blog, but too convinced of their own wit not to share their quips with the internet) in between all the work and cleaning and running and baby-keeping-alive. I'll share those and frightening photographic evidence of just how much my sons have grown since last I kept a regular schedule of blog posts. Seriously, though: how has it been so long!?

Top row: Tristan
Second row: Ethan
Third row: Ethan, boys sharing pound cake, boys at National Trust site, Tristan
Fourth row: Brand new brothers, slightly less new brothers, sunglasses, and finger chewing

Sometimes the best part of the work day is when the commute lasts long enough to catch David Sedaris on Radio4. #workingmum
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) August 19, 2014

Curly hair is back after doing #MNDIceBucketChallenge earlier! pic.twitter.com/W2KKllsZyO
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) August 20, 2014

Mildly disturbed that the other day at work I un-ironically did the @jimmyfallon @jtimberlake hashtag hand-sign when teaching about Twitter.
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) August 21, 2014

Golly. Every day leaving work so far! @SoVeryBritish RT: The horror: "Goodbye... Oh, you're also leaving in this direction..."
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) August 25, 2014

Motherhood win-failing: went to get the 8-mo-old up from his nap to find he'd been sleeping under dirty dishes from breakfast. #dontask
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) August 27, 2014

Today's latest weird phobia? [As I take cinnamon bun dough from the bread-maker] Toddler: I think I don't want to be scared, Mummy. #mumlife
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) September 1, 2014

"Hello, best friend. We should do hugging and be happy." I love that this is how my 3-yr-old greets random kids at the library. #mumlife
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) September 3, 2014

Not sure which has me more stressed this morning: waiting on late work emails for tomorrow or trying to whip egg whites into stiff peaks.
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) September 16, 2014

Sign you've watched too much kids' TV with your sons? Yelling at the TV when the presenter consistently mispronounces the word "penguin".
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) September 18, 2014

Pretty sure that lady on the Tube yesterday thought I was insane when weeping w/laughter over an episode of Meet David Sedaris...
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) September 18, 2014

We're working on our smiley faces for pictures. I've got another cheese ball on my hands. http://t.co/9SyCn4vPUD
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) September 19, 2014

My sister is now sending me work haikus... Organize receipts For paper gods in Accounts Oh shit--one's missing
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) September 19, 2014

Work has been brilliant. Who knew you could do the whole historian gig as a freelancer? Well, as a stroke of luck would have it: you can! So I've spent a few weeks going to east London to teach workshops on archives, genealogical research, and WWI. I fully admit to feeling all grown up (thus negating any true semblance of adulthood) when all the little tweens called me "Miss" the other day as they excitedly shouted over each other in a desperate bid to show me the results of their research. You have not enjoyed teaching until you honestly hear a 12-year-old give a disappointed sigh at the end of class only to announce, "Now I'll have to look up Hitler at home..."

Also, I've read some lovely books lately, which I must gush over in more detail. Consider the Fork is the all-around winner, though The Little Coffee Shop of Kabul was fun, if chic-lit-like, and The Girl Who Saved the King of Sweden was hilariously sympathetic.

Some day, I will manage to do all of these things with greater balance. I will schedule longer runs, I'll bake with Ethan, and get Tristan to sit through more than one book at bedtime. Perhaps more freelance projects will come along, and maybe - just maybe - I'll even get to have a date night with the Husband! Hey: a girl can dream...

Our Favourite Reads: Seventh Edition

Back again after a long absence is the latest in a series of posts about all of my favourite children's books that come through the house. With weekly trips to the library, I suppose you'd expect more of these, but then, I've tried to save these posts for the absolute best of the best. So it gives a real thumbs up to this edition's authors that their books have brought back my once regular efforts.

The Emily Brown books are brilliant. My hat is off to Cressida Cowell and Neal Layton. The illustrations are cute, and the formulaic writing is brilliant. There's a great repetition of sounds and sentence structures that's perfect for toddlers, no made-up or intentionally misspoken words (my one gripe about the Charlie & Lola books), and a great picture of a child's imaginary worlds (Emily and her rabbit Stanley go into outer space, search for the source of the Nile, and scooba dive off the Great Barrier Reef).

In Elephant Emergency Emily Brown and Stanley go on adventures with their friend Matilda, but Matilda's Mummy keeps calling their emergency telephone. Only problem? She's not calling about emergencies. Emily Brown is at the end of her tether when she is the one with an emergency and Matilda's Mummy is unavailable!

That Rabbit Belongs to Emily Brown involves a spoiled queen who insists on having Emily's stuffed rabbit Stanley all for herself. Emily Brown rebuffs offers from the queen's Footman, Army, Navy, and Air Force, but the queen is insistent. In the end, it's up to Emily Brown to teach her an important lesson about toys.

I've loved these books from the minute they came back with us. Ethan can already tell me how Emily Brown puts the emergency telephone back on its cradle, and knows to recite the rat-a-tat-tat on the garden door when the queen's henchmen come to call. These are the sort of books that know their target audience well & will stretch them to learn new words & phrases with ease. I'm already resolved that the boys will have their own copies of these before the year is out.

Life On Our Own

We are Husband-less this week.  My charming partner in crime is flying out to the States - again - on business - again - and won't rejoin us until the morning of E's birthday. So I have been making plans and lists and frozen pizza in an attempt to puzzle out just how I, err... we will cope.

Learning to fly.

Last night involved lots of staying up late for all three of us (though E most definitely was not up until 1am, like Yours Truly, or until 3am, like Husband), and many a foot ride before bedtime stories. E would not be satiated in his desire to keep being boosted into the air. 'Fwy! Fwy! Fwyyyyyyyy!' (Or, 'fly, fly!' for those of you who have mastered pronunciation of the letter L.) He yelled this gleefully for half an hour, begging to be put back on Daddy's feet so he could wobble, flap his arms like wings, and talk about aeroplanes and penguins...the Oliver Jeffers kind who fly when propelled from circus cannon.

Just relaxing, playing with some trains.

Today involved strategic viewing of Thomas the Tank Engine, a bit of shopping, and play group. Really, play group meant 'getting a snack and keeping the other kids away from his train track', but it was a good time. On weeks like this, I'm all about what gets us out of the house. I get to see other mums, E can interact with other kids, and we even got to play with a busted pumpkin today. Yes, it was on purpose for one of those toddler sensory experiences that no official play group is complete without.

Makes you think about the Batmobile in a whole new light...

The evening was taken up with a bath, a repeat viewing of Cars 2 over pizza and hash browns, play time, stories, and bed. I keep it classy here, people. Though honestly: I'm 7 months pregnant and watching a 2-year-old by myself for a week...I'm not doing anything I don't have to do. Cooking, much as I love it, is at the top of that list. Especially since I'll be prepping for E's birthday party on Saturday afternoon. Oh yeah. Look forward to seeing how that unfolds. (Seriously, scope my Twitter...I'm sure I'll be sending updates from the cake-baking trenches.)

Once E was in bed, though, I did enjoy some quiet time to myself. A few podcasts while tidying the kitchen, some blog reading in the living room. I contemplated a game of Portal, but the updates took too long to load. What caught my weary eye?

Late night breath of calm=a bit of reading in @feedly. This captures a lovely sentiment: http://t.co/B7Ejb5y5Iw #GoodMama
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) October 22, 2013

I wish I could do this with food... http://t.co/gw7g2Sv62T
— Bryony Dick (@beginningbryony) October 22, 2013

via, Dig Haushizzle

This gorgeous antique dough bowl from Dig Haushizzle looks pretty snazzy. I have nowhere to put it, but I'd cuddle it like a newborn if I could.

via, Spoonflower

Also, I've had my free sample of this fabric from Candyjoyce on Spoonflower for ages. I want to hang it in my bathroom, but first I'd like a fun 5x7 or 8x10 print to go with it. Any thoughts?

For the rest of the week? Getting together with friends, some local sightseeing, scoping out a new baby shop, and birthday party prep! Stay tuned here, on Instagram, and on Twitter...you know, in case you're interested in that sort of thing.

1, 2, 3, 4, 5...

One moment. High five. Daddy comes home at six. There are quite a few numbers at work in our lives, and lately E has taken an interest in them. I didn't really notice it until one day at our GP's office when he started shouting, 'Five!' and pointing at a plaque with the number 5 on it; indicating someone's place in the queue to be seen.

 After talking it over with the Husband, we've both been trying to keep an eye out for good, simple, colourful books with big numerals to help E learn his numbers. Sure, he's only 2, but that's old enough to rote memorize numbers 1 through 10. In any event, we haven't yet found a book that fits the bill, and so I decided to take matters into my own hands this morning when E seemed in the mood for cooperating with my initiative.

A simple PowerPoint presentation was the order of the day. I decided on a few different ways to show the numbers...E seemed to like the clock best. Plus, with 4 different runs of 1 through 10, we can get a decent amount of practise in each play-through of the slide show.

Want to see how it goes? Good, because I haven't gotten round to posting some unbearably cute video of my son in a while!

Psst! I'm on Twitter now! For more beginnings, musings, and entertaining snark, give me a follow @beginningbryony!

Our Favourite Reads: Fifth Edition

In an effort to avoid too many editorial faux pas, I did go back and check my numbering on these posts. Apparently, I'd managed to skip a number somewhere, so this is honestly my fifth post about children's books.

This week's best picks

It's always a source of annoyance to me that so many children's books are so bland and boring and just plain rubbish. Maybe I'm just too picky, but if it's not going to have a decent story line, it ought to at least profess to teach you something like colours or numbers or the names of objects around your house. And please: if you're going to write a children's book in verse, don't be lazy. If you have to force a rhyme, just give up and think of another sentence to fit in that you can rhyme more easily. If I need to adopt a certain regional accent to make the rhyme work, or if you're switching up forms of address for one character like a schizophrenic letter writer...you're doing it wrong.

We just took these books back to the library the other day, and we've had a blast with them. Both of them come quite highly recommended both from me and from E. So shall we dive in with our synopses?

Again! by Emily Gravett is an absolute gem. Seriously: I may just buy every book this woman writes. She has a hilariously enjoyable sense of humour: the sort of thing that children and their parents reading the books will be able to appreciate. In this story, a rowdy little dragon is settling down for a bedtime story with his mum. There's just one problem: he'd happily drag out storytime forever and never go to sleep! I love how Gravett handles the little dragon's eventual frustration when his cries of, 'Again! Again!' cease to be heeded. A brilliant story for any parent whose tolerance for repetition has been worn out during storytime.

Freight Train by Donald Crews is very minimalist; not just in terms of the illustrations, but the number of words, as well. This is definitely a great book to start for younger toddlers: even 12 months doesn't seem too soon. But the illustrations, while simple, are lovely, and they're a great help for older kids who are either A) learning their colours, B) in the midst of a train obsession, or C) both. Any guesses which of those describes my little monster? Ethan has loved this book: everything from shouting 'Train!' to get me to read it for him, to pointing out the different cars, and shouting, 'Gone!' when the train disappears off the page at the end.

Another recommendation I'm throwing in is for The Dark by Lemony Snicket and Jon Klassen (respectively of A Series of Unfortunate Events and That's Not My Hat fame). This book taught Ethan the concept of what the dark is. He now gleefully points it out every time the bathroom light is off, or we drive through a well-shaded country lane, or go into our windowless front hallway. And the best part is, he's so busy being chuffed that he can identify and name the dark that it's never occurred to him yet to be frightened of it. Jon Klassen's illustrations are adorable, simple, and effective, and Lemony Snicket's personification of the dark makes it a brilliant character in its own right as it interacts with little Laszlo: a boy who is, at first, afraid of the dark in his big, creeky house.

Laszlo confronts the Dark.
via, TheTimes.co.uk

So that's what we've been reading at bedtimes lately. I know that The Dark, at least, will be making it into Ethan's birthday/Christmas present list (just bought it on Amazon this morning!). Anyone else reading any fun children's books lately? What about grown-up books? Fiction or non-fiction, I'd love to hear suggestions. After finishing John Humphrys' In God We Doubt the other week, I've moved on to a few magazines and a re-read of Bill Bryson's At Home. I can only spend so long in the adult's section of the library before the protests from my son get too loud...

Living on the Down Low

As I slowly recover from weeks of debilitating laziness, I've decided to start embracing the wider world again. I'm clearing through the back-catalogue of un-read articles in my Feedly, I'm doing little projects, prepping for bigger ones, and dreaming of all sorts of things I can do with my time, and I'm enforcing much stricter and shorter TV hours for myself and E during the day. We need to do less watching and more doing.

So what have I been getting up to as I maintained lethargic radio silence here on the blog?

via, Books Direct tumblr

-Reading in the bathtub. This is an activity I highly recommend. (So do many others, incidentally) One night earlier in the week, E had a particularly trying day. So, the Husband came home early, took E out for a romp around the playground, and I soaked in a bubble bath, lit by candles, reading Hitch 22, and having an overly-filling dinner of curry and naan. Luxury at its finest.

-Watching this video. Having looked at some of Epipheo's other offerings, they're occasionally a bit dubious, but this one on the need to take time out to relax, concentrate, and get away from the internet was a good one.

via, Epicurious.com

-Dreaming about Mexican food. I love tacos, burritos, chili, nachos, fajitas, empenadas, salsa, guacamole, and pretty much anything else you can think of that would be served at a good Mexican restaurant (or a Taco Bell). These recipes on Epicurious have made me want to feast on giant burritos all week. Especially since our nearest Mission Burrito is in Reading...

-Going out to lunch. E and I had a fun trip to Nando's the other day. I was just in the mood for a meal out - no lunch in front of the TV. Plus, that chicken and grilled corn-on-the-cob are to die for.

-Making play-dough. I just finished this and I have two tubs of homemade play-dough sitting on our desk waiting for E to wake up. I checked out this recipe online, but you can make this stuff without cooking it. The key is just that you need a bit more salt and flour to keep it from sticking to everything it touches.

via, Domestic Adventure

-Mustering the energy to get to this project. I ordered my fabric of choice from Spoonflower ages ago. Now it's just been sitting on my dining table waiting for me to go get some batting and a staple gun and just make the stupid cornice box for the kitchen window already!

via, Etsy

-Making shadow puppets. Well, I didn't make the puppets themselves, but after playing with this lovely set that we were given by a friend (cheers, Natalie!), my mind has been going warp speed considering how best to make E a shadow puppet theatre to stage some fun bedtime stories.

So what about you? What has everyone else been up to while I've been away?

Lazy Day

For a plethora of reasons, today is a lazy day for me. It's one of those days where I really had to cast about for some motivation to get dressed. Luckily, E has been happy to roll with my lazy attitude today. We watched some Sarah & Duck in bed, let him run around the house and play with his toys, made some more granola bars, and read books in bed until nap time. Now I'm back in bed and catching up on my blogs in Feedly. If I didn't feel guilty depriving him of the company of other children, I'd stay home from playgroup today and continue to veg out with some pizza and a movie.

So, in lieu of anything interesting going on with me, I thought I'd share some interesting things I've found from other people. Enjoy!

Swoop bags. If you had any idea how much Lego there is in our house, you would understand why this appealed to me straight away. I knew what I was getting into, though. This is what comes of marrying a man whose Wikipedia mention centres around his Lego gun building skills. (Also, how proud am I that my husband is on Wikipedia!?)


A cheesy joke is always fun. A drunken cheesy joke can be even better. And finally, a drunken cheesy joke, animated lovingly by your spouse has got to be the ultimate winner of the cheesy joke competition. This made me giggle.

Kim over at Day with KT is brilliant...I know I've said this before. How much do I appreciate her corn salad recipe? Tonnes. Let's just say that there will need to be stake burritos going on in this house very soon to give me an excuse to make some of this stuff.

Teal's post on getting your act together and making what you pin on Pinterest has me inspired. Those taquitos look awesome, plus, I always love being able to do the projects that inspire me. (Hopefully, once I'm over my bout of laziness, I'll have a Pinterest project to share with you soon!)

Thank you, Design*Sponge, for mentioning the company Chasing Paper. This is a wallpaper-loving renter's dream. Of course, so are the removable wallpaper tiles from Hygge & West, but with our tight budget, I'm not holding my breath.


People: I. Love. Steven. Pinker. I highly recommend listening to his TED talk above, though you should know that it does the topic no justice. To really get the feel of it, I strongly suggest getting the book that this TED talk was based off of: The Better Angels of Our Nature. The Husband and I are each working our slow way through it now, but it makes an amazing case for the fact that far from needing to be nostalgic for the 'good old days' when the world was so much better, we're actually living in the most peaceful period of human existence that time has yet seen. Even just the first chapter of his book will blow your tiny mind...it certainly did mine.

Have fun!

Our Favourite Reads: Fourth Edition

There's always something fun about discovering new and interesting baby books, and over the next few weeks I have some gems to share.

I want to start with two books we picked up, courtesy of my mom, when we all went to London for a day to do some museum-hopping, Oxford Street-shopping, and sight-seeing. While we popped into the Tate Modern we had a great time. Mom and I giggled and whispered inappropriately through a movie we were convinced was meant to make you feel like you were on acid. We also came to the conclusion that when you need artifact text of more than a few sentences to explain what your modern art sculpture is about, you've done it wrong. If I can't get some idea of what you're on about just by looking at the sculpture itself, then you're just bad at communicating in this medium and you ought to consider something easier.

But some of our greatest fun was in hunting out souvenirs in the gift shop (cue angelic choirs. Museum of Everything reference, anyone?). We had a great time looking at all the prints, frames, postcards, books, mugs, aprons, and other odds and ends. But the children's books selection had some of the best offerings.

A Bit Lost by Chris Haughton is an adorable story about a baby owl who falls out of his nest and needs help to find his mummy again. Not to mention that the illustrations are bright, fun, and adorable. There's a lot of visual interest in this book, which makes even the simplest story fun to read to your kid over and over. Plus, I felt vindicated when I saw this book featured on Design Mom just a few weeks after we brought it home! (Only for whatever reason it has a different title in its US release! Cut it out, people!)

We all know that Oliver Jeffers is a big deal in this house, so it should come as no surprise that his The Heart and the Bottle was my other choice for something to bring home. It's a sweet story about learning to keep enjoying life, even after losing someone special. Jeffers writes and draws to a superb quality, so this book is fun to read even if you aren't trying to find a way to help your kid learn to grieve.

We've had some brilliant finds over the past few weeks at the library as well, so I'll definitely be getting around to posting those during the rest of the month. Happy reading!

A Place to Begin

Another Friday, another chance to recap the week in interesting pictures, videos, and articles. In between enjoying the year's first real sunshine here in England, I've been spending some time having fun on the Interwebs. Here are the highlights of what I've seen this week:

Dove Real Beauty Sketches. Whatever you want to say about Dove using this to sell a product they tell you will make you look/feel better about yourself, I think this does bring up a good point. We are generally our own worst critics. I wonder how negatively I would have described myself? That said, this critique of the ad raises a very fair point as well: our outer beauty shouldn't be so narrowly defined or make up a disproportionate amount of our self-worth. (Thanks to my cousin, Jen, for that second link!)

Wallpaper Wednesday at Love Chic Living. Looking for a fun new wallpaper for that room you've been meaning to redecorate? Or just want some more Pinterest fodder for that dream house you'll one day DIY to death? I high recommend taking a look at Love Chic Living's Wallpaper Wednesday column: she manages to hunt down some amazing finds. From the gorgeous and classic to the artsy or absolutely out-there, I haven't seen anything run-of-the-mill yet!

YHL's Ten Tips for Smoother Travel
I love John and Sherry at Young House Love for lots of things, but as someone who's seen her fair share of planes, I have to agree with their tips for airline travel. It's all practical stuff to think about if you're travelling a lot. Also, it makes me think of my sister's post on airports she's known. I think I could easily write a companion post to that.

via, Waterstones

Marillenbaum's review of Life After Life
Speaking of my sister, go read her review of this book...like, now. And then, go read the book, too, because it sounds awesome. Also, I'd suggest that you cry because you'll never write about another person's book as well as she did. I substituted the crying for some expletive-filled praise, and I think it worked just as well.

via, Swiss-Miss

The Mountain Range pillow. From Three Bad Seeds, on Etsy, for those cute outdoor spaces, populated with Adirondack chairs and plaid flannel blankets that are just asking for that little something extra. (I now not only want this pillow, but to fulfill my dream of a plaid-blanketed Adirondack chair!)

A Gift Stash. The lovely blog You Are My Fave has such cute ideas: and this one is practical to boot. Though I don't know that I wouldn't snag Fantastic Mr. Fox and that game of Bananagrams for myself...

This ASOS midi skirt with pockets looks so stupidly fun to wear. I even have the 3/4-sleeve striped shirt to pair with it. I'm a sucker for dresses and skirts with pockets. It means I don't have to carry a purse just to keep my mobile phone and Burt's Bees on me! (Seriously; aside from the occasion bits of change, tissue, or E's binky, that's all I ever have in my pockets.)

Boyish, manly, well-drawn, hilarious, and occasionally wildly inappropriate. That's what I love about the prints in Sharp Writer's Epic Art Store on Etsy. My personal favourite? Bill Clinton The Lady Killer. It's all about the details...Ronald McDonald with a rocket launcher!? A crocodile with a bomb strapped to it!? Bill's fly is undone and everything...he even worked in the saxophone! I believe this deserves the hashtag #sowrongitsright.

Our Favourite Reads: Third Edition

There are a few other books I've been meaning to get to in this series, but I had to make sure that I got to these before they go back to the library tomorrow.

La Petite Princesse Nulle is a great find. This poor little princess is told that she's rubbish at everything, so when her parents try to find her a husband, all the suitors run off as fast as their legs will carry them. But in the end, it doesn't matter how different or 'rubbish' she seems: someone is happy with her just the way she is. Such a good lesson for kids.

I Want My Hat Back by Jon Klassen took a bit of time to grow on me. At first I remember saying, 'Seriously? This thing won awards? It's so weird.' But on a second (and third and fourth and sixty-fifth) reading, I can see its charm. The bear has lost his hat and is sure he'll never find it again. But with a little help, he realizes he does know what's happened to his hat and sets off to get it back. The book's deadpan humor and simple, artsy illustrations make it fun to read. And for a kid who's just a year-and-a-half old, it strikes that fine line of being not too short, but not too long. You've won me over, Mr. Klassen.

Next installment? Another offering from our favourite author and a fun new find from the Tate Modern that was vindicated on one of my favourite blogs.

Time for a Change of Title

Looks like I'm no longer The Girl Who Never Wins Anything. Thanks to random.com and the lovely Diana over at exPress-O, I won a $50 gift certificate for Shopbop.com

Of course now is the hear part: choosing what to walk away with! Here are a few things that have caught my eye...

Diane von Furstenburg...not even with the gift card...

The Madewell Lucky Charm Kerchief is awesomely cute.

Feel the Piece icon top...this screams 'me!'

The Splendid Shirting top. Maybe in red; maybe with a pencil skirt.

I may have too many slouchy tees now, but
I love the Nation LTD boulder Henley.

And, The Selby: because who doesn't want a  fun book with good pictures?

So the real question now is: what do I buy!? The top two choices make their way into my lovely pile of stuff. Decisions, decisions...

A Place to Begin

Looking for a few more interesting things to have a look at on the internet? No worries, here are a few bits and bobs that have sparked my interest over the week:


I'm intrigued by all the arrangements by Studio Choo flowers. Sort of makes me wish that all those hours arranging the fake flowers in craft stores as a kid had translated to a career... (via Design*Sponge)

Farrahsit porcelin hanging planters- (via Design*Sponge) The whole shape and aesthetic of these is gorgeous. I just love how simple and clean they feel.

Mika's French-language single Elle Me Dit. I found this one via a post over at Design Mom. It's just fun. (And don't you just know I already have this song in my running playlist?)

This Craftyblossom quilt has given me serious ideas about my next DIY project for the house...

Just because it cracked me up: a Neil deGrasse Tyson paper doll. When you're this much of a boss, why shouldn't you be a paper doll?

The gold-on-near-white wallpaper, Petal Pusher, by Joy D. Cho of Oh Joy! is possibly my favourite pattern available from Hygge & West. Though this one by Julia Rothman comes a very close second.

via, Design Mom 'Living With Kids'

So this Bee's Wrap stuff looks like it could be fun and useful. And it could save the cling wrap I use keeping E's half apples and half bananas fresh in the fridge. Come to that, it could keep my sandwiches fresh after the Husband makes them in the morning.

After helping my mother-in-law sort through her closet, I had to take a look at Toast, where she got a particularly cute sweater dress. This Judy shirt dress caught my eye.

I love the idea of making some of this candy bark (A Beautiful Mess). Or maybe Emma and Elsie's recipe for strawberry angel food ice cream. So many tasty foods, so little time.

These Esme Winter cards are actually a lovely find from real life. When picking up my mother's early Mothers' Day prezzies at Cashmere Goose in Hartley Wintney, I stumbled on these gorgeous patterned cards. I snagged the salmon-coloured one for my mother-in-law, but now I want to go back and get them all. (And possibly not give them to anyone, but frame them and hang them in my room!)