Friday 1 November 2013

Life Lately & A little weekend scrunch-up!


Hey lovelies - Happy Friday!
And Happy All Saints Day! 
(or as Mr Peach now calls it 1st of Movember)

Are you all ready for the weekend? We are that's for sure!

So I thought a quick catch up was in order, since I've not been around here much this week.

Life has gone a bit nuts recently. First, last Wednesday, my gorgeous Mr Peach got a brilliant new job in Manchester, starting in January. This means moving back to the city which, if you've read much here on A-L-P you may gather I am incredibly excited about! It's not a great distance to move, but you'd think it was with all the hassle of moving! But being within 20 minutes of so much that's there to keep me entertained in the city centre will make such a difference. So, Monday was spent house hunting. We're looking in an area around where one of my best friends, her hubby and her adorable little baby boy live, so that's even more exciting for me! Then last Wednesday I was offered a contract job for a big company locally running up to Christmas. So, we could end up in a situation where all our worldly goods are over in Manchester, whilst we bunk up in a friend's spare room for a month, finishing our work over here before the end of the year. But, that's fine by me - it just makes life all the more interesting!

So, there's not as much this week....but here's a little linky scrunch up....
take a look at some fun stuff from this week...

  • 2 words that should NEVER be seen together....wine & shortage...start stockpiling people!
  • 14 practical tips for keeping your house warm this Winter....it's all about the sausage dogs.
  • Impressive photo-shop fails
  • Banksy has been busy in New York!

What has this weekend got in store for you?

Mr Peach and I are off to Bristol to visit my little sister and her partner, to do some partying for his 30th birthday.
 I absolutely love Bristol so expect to hear all about it next week!

Have a lovely weekend peeps!



Monday 28 October 2013

A Lucky 7 Years ago Today!! .....(&my Weeky Wishes)


Happy new week everyone!

Today is very special for me as it's exactly 7 amazing years since I met my gorgeous Mr Peach!

Some part of me still can't believe that day ever happened - 
So I hope you can all forgive me as I wallow self-indulgently in thinking how much that day changed my life, like a great big massive sledgehammer that I never saw coming! 

Did you ever have a day like that?

28th October 2006 started as an unspectacular rainy Saturday and I was living in Manchester. 
I had pretty few, very unspectacular plans for the evening. 

I'd been invited to my friend's Halloween party, back near my parent's home, 
but as it's around an hour away I'd decided not to go. 
At the very, very last minute I changed my mind, cobbled together a 'witchy' fancy dress outfit (a black dress & some fishnet tights on my hands), hopped on a train & called up a friend to join me. (Incidentally, I wasn't all that close to that friend, but that night was also the start of our true friendship & I gained a best friend that night too!)

The party, in my friend's flat, was going really great, until her landlord knocked on the door to say we were getting too loud. No problem, being the inventive type she just suggested we move on to the local club...'the only club in town'...the kind of place you go to because there's no other option, trust me! So, classy girls as we are, we grabbed a couple of cans of lager, which we drank on a bench en route,
 to take the 'edge' off!

In the club I was happily strutting my stuff, when across the dance floor appeared 
a tall, handsome guy in a very odd farmer style checked shirt
I'm not sure what I spotted first, him or his incredibly enthusiastic and *cough* unique dance moves
....but either way I noticed him & thankfully he noticed me too. 
(Actually he had seen me first, thanks to my witchy regalia and had been 'dancing' over to me). 
Shouting over the questionable quality dance music he asked me if I wanted a drink. 
Tall, dark hair, baby faced good looks....100% my type so how could I resist! 
My only doubt was exactly those baby faced looks
The dodgy local club is notorious for underage drinkers and I was absolutely convinced he was underage and shouldn't have been in there, let alone buying 24 year old me drinks! 
Anyway....eventually he convinced me he was actually a year older than me and got me that drink.
 At the end of the night we tried to swap numbers, but he didn't have his phone on him and didn't know his number, 
so gave me his email address and made me promise to contact him the following week.

Monday morning came around, bored at work and not being one for 'playing games' in terms of dating
I decided I had nothing to lose by sending him an email. 
Never expecting to get one back, within minutes I had a sweet, but cheeky reply. 
A few flirty emails later and we arranged a date that Saturday.
Saturday came, we had our date and from that moment we were just it....a perfect fit!

Within a month we were officially an 'item'.
A year and a bit later we moved in together.
Three years later (ish) that dodgy shirted, baby-faced boy asked me to marry him.
And here we are seven years from that night, married and about to start our next adventure together!

Love you Mr Peach!

If you're still with me after that lengthy, self indulgent story then well done! I have to say it's not all been plain sailing for Mr Peach and I. We've never had any wobbles in our relationship, but we've been through some bad stuff together and I always think of that day when things seem really bad. 

I'm such a believer in things happening for a reason and nothing proves to me more than that day - there were so many things that might not have been, but somehow they all came together and fate found a way for us to meet. So, if things just don't seem to be happening just remember you never know if something really special is right around the corner waiting for you!

I'm also a huge believer in the power of saying 'Yes!'
You make your own opportunities in life and they usually start by saying Yes to things.

So, now I've bored you all to tears with our tale, 
it's time for you to get your revenge 

I'm an old romantic who just loves 
collecting stories of how people met their other half.

So, please share your stories with me too below!


~

Weekly Wishes

This week's 'Selfie' theme couldn't be more perfect for our anniversary today!
Mr Peach and I could track our relationship in selfies!
Amongst our friends we are notorious for what we always called 'arm photos' 
(I know, we're so uncool that only recently did we realise the 'selfie' word) 
- in fact we were pretty sure that we'd invented them (ha!)

I tried to find the very first Selfie we ever took together....and of course I couldn't, but that one is close.

We took that photo in Maspalomas, Gran Canaria - on our first holiday together, when we started the tradition of 'holiday selfies' that our friends now tease us about!
We are stood atop the highest sand-dunes in Europe, completely oblivious to the fact we are getting burn to a frazzle, but 100% happy as you can see from our cheesy grins!



Anyway, so I have to confess I've pretty much wholly failed in my wishes from last week, mainly because last Wednesday also turned out to be one of those kind of life-changing days too 
(future posts on that to come).

So, I'm not deserting them all together but have decided to carry over last week's wishes to this week .....with hopefully more chance of fulfilling them!

You can read them in full here, but here's a brief reminder:
  • Get some posts queued up for the next two weeks.
  • Make at least one of those a DIY post.
  • Make time for at least 40 minutes reading, each day, with no distractions.

Join in and share your own wishes this week....
to the lovely Melyssa's 'The Nectar Collective' to join us!



Good luck in everything you wished for this week!




Wednesday 23 October 2013

Cosy Up TIme! - My Autumn Lounge Essentials

Cosy Fall Lounge


Brrrr.....It's getting a little chilly around here!


This year's bake-off is over, we're already 3 weeks in to Strictly & our Sunday evening favourites Downton & Homeland are back.
Pretty soon it'll be 'I'm a Celebrity' time & we'll be planning our trip to the Christmas Markets.


Time to cosy up. And here are all my cosying essentials for the lounge.....


Candles 
We have candles all year, but as the days get shorter I love that cosy feeling of having lots of candles lit in all around us (not to forget the extra warmth)
In Autumn we love creamy Vanilla scents and spicy Cinnamon when the days get Festive.

~
Fairy Lights
Just like candles, as the evenings get darker, I love the pretty twinkle of fairy-lights. 

 ~
Blankets
On a cold day I love to snuggle up on the couch, watching a film, 
enjoying my favourite TV programmes, or reading a good book.

~
Slippers
If you ask Mr Peach he'll tell you I have cold fingers and toes all year. 
I have terrible circulation, my fingers turn white and my feet go blue, so slippers are an absolute essential! Since Father Christmas isn't rich enough for those sheepskin beauties this year, 
these fair-isle knit ones would be a perfect alternative!

~
Hot Water Bottles
The un-sung hero of Winter warmth!
I love a snuggle with a toastie hot water bottle on a cold night. 
I have a mini-one for going on the train or bus to work.
At home I've even been known to have one for my tummy & one for my toes!
Being a seaside girl, I adore the little boat knit.
But, I've fallen in LOVE with this Deer Knit hottie bottie cover...how cute is it?!

~
Irish Coffee
A hot drink is an essential to cosy up a chilly evening.
Sometimes I like to indulge myself with a warm Irish Coffee with a dash of Whisky & Cream
or pimp up my Hot Chocolate with a generous splash of Baileys.
Warmth from inside....yum!



So, what do you think?

What are your perfect Cosy Autumn Essentials?