My winter picks

The other day, I showed you my winter choices for Charlie. Today, I have put together my own winter picks for myself. I always like to get a new jumper or two for winter and there are so many gorgeous ones to choose this year - it's going to be hard choosing!

Anyway, here are my favourite items for this season.

1. Next fair isle pattern jumper £22 2. Next grey cable knitted snood £18 3. Marks and Spencers owl pyjamas £16 4. Next fleece fox socks £5 5. Marks and Spencer Space Dye Sweater skater dress £35 6. Joe Browns Amazing Applique sweat top £34.99 7. Target Dry Parka  £74.99 8. Next Berry cardigan £35 9. Joy Louche jumper £45 

Everyone needs a Christmas jumper and I love the Joe Browns one as it's a sweatshirt style. I *may* already have this in my wardrobe. 

Every year I go in search of the perfect winter coat. And never find one. So many people have raved about this coat, particularly Avril from School Gate Style, so I'm tempted to get this for the winter season. 

New Christmas Pj's are a must in our house every year, I love these owl ones from marksies, and of course fluffy socks are a necessity! 

The berry fluffy cardi would look good dressed up for party nights and maybe to smarten up black jeans over Christmas and i love the space dye dress - I think I might get this for Boxing day. 

And finally, this gorgeous deer jumper! Hubby bought me the same jumper for my birthday lat year. It was blue with love birds on and it's so pretty, everyone always complements me when i wear it. 

Please do link up your picks for this season! I love to see what everyone else is wearing. 

My winter picks for boys

When I found out I was having a boy, I worried that I wouldn't be able to find any clothes that I liked for a boy. I always thought they were boring, or too old. But, once I started looking around, I found that, actually, there are hundreds of gorgeous items for boys, not just girls.

I love choosing clothing for Charlie. Since he was born, I have had a box of clothes in the next size up, all washed and ready for when he needs them. But I always choose him a few bits that are current and I thought I would share with you my favourite items for the winter season.

1. Next Fox Jumper £12  2. Zara navy snood £7.99 3. F&F Snowman Jumper £8 4. Clarks Hehe hi top £38 5.Zara hat £9.99 6. Next Santa Pjyamas £8  7. George at Asda Sport Jacket £12 8. Next navy cords £13 9. Zara checked shirt £11.99

This just proves that boys clothes can be fun and good looking - everyone needs a Christmas jumper after all! I am going to get Charlie the shoes this weekend; my Granny gave me some money to put towards his shoes as she couldn't believe how much the last pair were! Baby's shoes are so expensive - I've been told it's because there is more work involved in these styles. 

My Mum bought Charlie the green coat for winter; it's really warm as it's fleeced lined and padded. He was toasty warm in it when we went to the fireworks and it's water proof. I love the cute little hat, although Charlie isn't a big fan of leaving his hat on! And he really needs a little scarf like this, as his neck gets so cold and he is prone to colds and coughs (which may be down to being snowed in without any heating when he was 15 days old ha!). 

I don't like to spend too much on Charlie's clothing, as kids aren't in it very long, but I always find good staples at Florence and Fred at Tesco and George at Asda - vests, socks, basic tops etc. and then I like to get him a few key pieces for the season from Next or M&S. I haven't really bought clothes for kids from Zara, but everyone raves about them on Instagram and their blogs, so I thought I would add the checked shirt to our list. Living on the Isle of Man with it's limited shops, means that everyone tends to be wearing the same. Hopefully he will look unique in this shirt as there is no Zara on the island! 

Please link up your winter style for your little ones - I'd love to see what everyone is wearing! 

Check back later in the week, when I'll be showing you my own winter picks for myself! 

Love The Little Things, Week 45

Sorry, I've missed a few weeks of #littleloves but I am back once again with what I've been loving, this time, over the past few weeks!

Read

I went to the library in the hols and picked up a Christmas book! Yes, I know that, at the time, it was a bit early, but I'm writing about it in November, so it counts now. It's called 'It Must Have Been The Mistletoe' by Judy Astley. I love a good old Christmas book to read in the weeks leading up to Christmas, it always makes it feel a bit more real. The book is about Thea, whose parents host a Christmas party in a house by the sea, even though they are about to split up. I haven't read much, but it's definitely an engaging storyline. 

Watched 

THIS!! So excited for the John Lewis advert and was excited when I saw But Why Mummy Why? Had also featured it on her watched list this week! The advert has become a bit of a cult thing at Christmas now. I loved last year's advert and couldn't wait to see this year's. I think I prefer this year's advert, it's so sweet and I was so pleased when the penguin got it's mate! 

Heard 

Not a lot this week. Although, I have changed my radio station from Radio 1 to Radio 2. I only listen on the commute to work and back I but really cannot stand Grimmy anymore and I have always liked Chris Evans; I think his breakfast show is really quite entertaining and funny. Does this now make me old though??

Wore 

Winter boots finally! I bought two pairs back in Summer and have been dying to wear them ever since! I love winter; being able to wear fluffy jumpers and gorgeous boots. I've also ditched the summery nail colours and am firmly back on OPI Black Cherry Chutney. I've also bought a plain black nail varnish, but I'm not too sure about it yet - not sure if it makes me look like a goth! (not that there's anything wrong with that, but I am quite clearly not one!) I also bought this jumper for the Christmas season from Next:

Made

Let down again by this category! I haven't made anything of note, besides a gin and tonic haha. Although we have been enjoying warming dinners instead of salads etc, such as chilli, roasts and casseroles. I'm so pleased to be able to make yummy comforting dishes again. 

And lastly, this week has been firework night! I love November 5th and this year, Charlie is just old enough, not to understand what they are, but to appreciate them. He loved them when we went on Wednesday night and we are going to an even bigger and better one tonight. It's also our weekend to have the step-daughter, so we are taking the kids out tomorrow to a animal place where they can see lots of little animals and get to touch them! 

As ever, I am linking up with Butwhymummywhy, so be sure to join in with the linky!

How house proud are you?

I am a bit of a control freak when it comes to my house. I like everything in its place and clean and tidy. Ask my husband, it drives him insane. I have a weekly schedule of tasks I do - change the bedding, hoover from top to bottom, dust and clean the bathroom. But I also quickly wipe around the bathroom most days and I always tidy Charlie's clutter up as soon as he is in bed each evening.

I like things just so. Again, it drives my husband mad that I can get really stressed that something hasn't been put away or it's not in its right place. He can't understand it. He can't see why I am seething when he leaves teabags lying around the kitchen or his underwear NEXT to the washing bag, rather than in it. He can't see why I get so fed up with shoes in an untidy pile behind the door or the coasters not on the coffee table but underneath it (that one is Charlie, by the way!). But my Mum was exceptionally clean and tidy and I suppose I adopted her ways. But I like things to be clean, I like to know where my stuff is and I like to be able to sit down at the end of the day surrounded by a tidy living room and be able to relax.

So I was interested to take the Carpet Right House Proud Survey, to find out really how house proud I am. Interestingly, but unsurprisingly, I got Perfectionist! It says I spend countless hours ensuring my house is clean and tidy. I suppose I do. But I don't see it as a chore, I really do enjoy keeping my house clean!

You can take the survey here if you like and join in. But do let me know what result you get! You could also win a £250 Virgin Experience.

Love The Little Things, Week 41

I'm back again, with #littleloves and as usual, linking up with butwhymummywhy.

Read

I am currently reading Mothers Ruined on my kindle, written by the very talented Aimee, from Pass The Gin. It is very sharp and witty and I am loving it. Aimee has a very unique writing style and I loved her first novel, The Survival of The Ginnest.

Heard

The X Factor final 12! Sorry this is a cheesy one, but not managed to listen to much this week. I really like Stevie's song, even though he's not the best singer, he's a great entertainer and I loved Chloe Jasmine's song too.

Watched

Again, not done much TV watching either, but I did managed to watch Grease with the step-daughter this weekend!

Wore 

My new jeans! I love these grey skinnies from Next. So comfy and just the right length in their petite version and a bargain at £20!

Made 

A good old G&T! This week has been hectic and needed the weekend to recharge and chill out and this was just the way to do it.

Short and sweet this week folks! Busy, busy making a roast and watching the F1! And drinking some wine of course...

Enjoy the rest of your weekends!

Memories

I love photographs. If you took a look around our house you would see that, I'm sure. Photographs are everywhere: we have a small photo wall in our living room and there are frames jotted around the house, on bookshelves, window sills, on the dresser and all over. I have in excess of four thousand photos on my iTunes and lately, I've started panicking that if my mac ever dies then I will have lost all my special photos. I really need to create a backup somewhere.

Anyway, I like to keep memories out, so that there's a reminder of events, special times, or people that are no longer with us all around us.

My Aunty bought Charlie a personalised my first year frame for his first birthday and it's really beautiful. But, since he got it, it's been sat under my bed waiting to be filled with photographs - one for each month of his first year. The reason it's been sat there so long is because the size of each frame is tiny - 4x4cm to be exact! And I couldn't think of the best way to get photos printed to that size.

So on Sunday, fed up of having the frame and not being able to enjoy it, I googled 4x4cm prints on the off chance of finding something. And find something I did! I came across Odd Prints. A fabulous website where you can upload your photograph and input the exact size you want your photograph to be and they will magically transform it to your required size - you can either download it or you can get them printed direct and sent out in the post. At first I chose download, but you can only download so many before it asks you to put the items in your basket - understandable of course, they are a business after all and they aren't expensive anyway - 50p per print, which, considering they are a bespoke size, I don't think are too expensive.  So I had the rest sent out in the post and wondered what they would be like when they arrived.

To say I was thrilled was an understatement. They arrived on Tuesday which, considering I only ordered them on Sunday and we live in the Isle of Man, I thought was pretty good service! They are the perfect size and come ready to cut on 6x4 photo paper. The only thing I didn't realise at the time is that they are Matt finish, rather than gloss, but I'm not that fussed. I don't know if you can choose gloss at the checkout or not, but I have some more to print in a different size so I will be checking for gloss.

I am really pleased with how the frame has now turned out, I think it's beautiful and a bit different to the average 'My first year' frames you often get.

I would definitely recommend Odd Prints if you have funny sized frames you need to fill. And I should say Odd Prints have not asked me to write this, I just wanted to share my wonderful find!

Love The Little Things Week 40

Gosh, it's a very long time since I joined in with this! So here is this week's #littleloves. As usual, I am linking up with butwhymummywhy.

Read 

The Light Between Oceans. M.L.Steadman

Oh my word. I have just finished the most amazing book, and I urge you all to read it. My mum bought it for me from Amazon and had it sent to me back in about May and I have been trying to read it since then. I won't ruin the story, but basically a light keeper and his wife live on a remote island, where they are the only inhabitants. One day, a boat is washed up containing a dead man and a crying baby. They have to decide what to do with the baby. The story had me in tears at the end and was one of those books that stayed with you for days after. It's beautifully written but so very, very sad.

When I googled this book, I came a across a site that says it has been turned into a movie - I absolutely cannot wait for that to come out!

Watched

As it's getting darker and cooler now in the evenings, I have noticed we are definitely watching a lot more TV in the evenings. This week, we've been catching up on The Dome on Channel 5. It's series 2 and based on Stephen King's novel. Whilst I'm still enjoying it, I feel like it needs to be brought to some sort of conclusion.

Heard

Oohh lots on my play list this week:

Calvin Harris - Blame

Sam Smith - I'm not the only one

George Ezra - Blame It On Me

The Script - Superheroes

Wore

Not wore this yet, but I will be on Saturday to nip into town. Again, my mum bought me this! She text me on Friday to say buy myself something nice and she will give me the money. She's so sweet.

Made

This. Yum. Oh I love roast dinners. It was our first proper roast of Autumn and I treated us to pigs in blankets so it felt a bit like Christmas as we only ever really eat them at that time of year! Best roast in ages.

And finally, I am looking forward to this weekend: it's Spanish Saturday in our house, which means my favourite meal - paella and spanish wine yum! And the odd G&T thrown in.

Enjoy your weekend.