The Gallery: Outside my front door...

Oh I do like to live beside the seaside... well, not quite. I used to live right on the seafront, but the Mr & I moved a little out of town before the Little Dude was born, so now the seaside is actually a 15 minute walk away, but it's still pretty lovely.

For The Gallery this week, Tara wants to see where we live.
(Is she planning a bloggy-world tour? Who knows.)

Anyway, here's where we live:

Officialy, we live in the West End of town, see:

Like i said, not quite the seaside, we're all about the funky old town houses and lots of trees round these parts. I like it. It's quiet, but close enough to town to not feel isolated.

Take a stroll down this road though, and...

Voila. Le Seaside :)

Sadly, we got no sand. Just pebbles, and a whole lot of these:

but I do love it. The Little Dude & The Dog & I have racked up many miles walking up & down the front in all weathers, and it's very therapeutic to just sit on the pebbles and watch the waves crash.

Don't head down there too early if you're looking for peaceful meditation though, the fishermen will have beaten you to it:

From my days of living right on the front, I know all too well that they are early birds, and speaking of feathered friends - they don't half excite the seagulls. A hundred seagulls shouting their beaks off at 5.30am is NOT a fun way to wake up! (good practice for having a baby though I suppose)

That said, the fishermen do leave some interesting stuff lying around from a photo taking point of view:

Other than that, it's not the most exciting stretch of 'beach' ever - though it does have one claim to fame. Remember that story a couple of years ago, about loads of wood mysteriously washing up on the South coast? Well, that was us, see:

and yep, you bet I was one of the geeks down there taking photos of it!

Of course if you walk further along the promenade, there's The Pier, and The Pavillion & The shops, but I think I'll call it a day for now & maybe show you those another time.

So there you are. That's where I live.

Don't forget to go check out the rest of The Gallery too - it's getting bigger & bigger every week, loads of good stuff to look at.

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The Gallery: Me!

Have I mentioned that I love, love, LOVE The Gallery?
I do, I really do.

This week, Tara's prompt is... 'Me.'
originally, I thought about taking new pictures of things that are important to me, and make me who I am (my sketchbook, my iPod, the Little Dude & The Mr & The Dog...) but, as is normal, time got away from me, so instead, I went through my old photos, picked some favourites, and you get this:

From left to right, Me =  a fiancee, a mummy, a friend to many, a lover of fashion (that's me lusting over Karen Millen pretties in Bournemouth), an arty crafty chick (not really evident in this pic, but it's the one I use on my columnist bio at ArtFire, so sort of makes sense), a girlie girl (feeling the hello kitty love in Leicester Square), a boozy floozy (though also a complete light weight since making a baby), a music lover (that's me at Hyde Park waiting for Blur to rock the bejeesus out of the place.), and a domestic goddess. Well, trying to be.

So there you are, that's me.

Who are you?

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The Gallery: Colour

Week three of The Gallery already? Is it just me, or is each week evaporating faster than the last lately?

Anyway, this week's title, is 'Colour'.
I thought about showing you a photo of my favourite colour (purple), or maybe my most favourite dress (blue), my eyes? (green, in case you were wondering), the little dude's eyes? (biggest blues you ever did see, gets 'em from his daddy)... but in the end, I thought why not show you ALL the colours? Or quite a lot of them at least.

So, voila:

Prettyful, no?!
This is a scene from a game The Little Dude & I have invented, whereby we line up all his stacking cups & fill them up with smaller toys of the same colour.

Mummy over enthusiastically names all the colours, Little Dude plops the GREEN marracca in the green cup, mummy gets all over excited and convinces herself she's raising a child genius.
(Yes, yes, I know, it's highly likely to be more luck than judgement when he gets it right, I'm not completely deluded ...honest.)

Anyway, it's an easy way to keep the little man amused. He loves it. And it holds his attention a lot longer than just sorting the shapes into the sorter.

And it's certainly colourful.
Don't forget to visit Tara's blog for the links to lots more pretty pictures too - there have been some amazing photos to look at the last couple of weeks, I'm sure this week will be the same.

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Under (Self Inflicted) Pressure & The Gallery: Three

As the song goes, Three, is a magic number. I heartily agree.
This week's photo for The Gallery, features the three biggest loves of my life. The baby boy, watching The Daddy & The Puppy* having a run around in the park. 
It's not the best photo in the world, but I love it because it captures one of those perfect moments in a perfect day where I really understand the word family.  And it makes me happy.

I'm going to multi-task here, and mention Josie's writing workshop, where one of the prompts this week is 'What is making you feel under pressure right now'.  The answer to that, is me. 
I am my own worst critic, always have been. 
I'm also a neurotic loony with a tendency to overthink things and get all caught up in my own head.
I have a compulsive need to be super duper organised, always ready, always prepared, always ahead of the game.  Turns out, all that stuff is not so easy to accomplish with a little person who needs all of your attention all of the time on the scene. 

In turn, I beat myself up because the to do list never gets any shorter. 
I exhaust myself trying to squeeze as much productivity as possible into every single day. 
I want to get on with the hundred bits of decorating that need doing, I want to focus on & make a real go of my own business, I want to be the best mummy ever and take LD to allsorts of wonderful baby activities, I want to make lots of new mummy friends so that he has lots of little play mates, I want to de-clutter my wardrobe, I want to be a perfect little housewife & put a delicious feast on the table every night, I want to get rid of the last little bit of wobbly mummy tummy, I want to start painting again - I want to be able to chill out & relax while the little man naps without mentally listing the million and one things I still need to do.  
I have a boat load of dreams and ambitions and goals, and the trouble is, I want it all now, if not sooner.  I never was very good at patience.

But I'm learning. Being a mummy is definitely making me stop, or at least pause, and re-assess what's really important.
Yes, it does my head in that we're living in an un-finished mess of a house, but the little dude doesn't care. He has somewhere warm to sleep, food in his belly, and a mummy and daddy who love him to pieces. (And a stupid amount of toys.)  He's happy.

And I am too.  Because I am incredibly lucky.  I just need to remind myself now and again.  And I need to spend less time putting pressure on myself & fretting about what needs to be done, and more time at the park with my THREE favourites - my Man, my Baby, and my Dog.  My family.

(*The Puppy, is actually 4, but she's little, and bouncy, so we still call her The Puppy.)

Don't forget to go check out the rest of The Gallery at Tara's blog, and the rest of the Writing Workshop at Josie's.

Oooh, and while we're talking about family, a quick shout out to Bec over at Beetroot & Gherkins, whose gorgeous family is going to be getting bigger in the very near future - wishing you lots of love & luck miss - and sending *superfastandeasylabour* thoughts a go-go :) xxx

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