Hello Helsinki

As some of you may already know we jetting off from Heathrow on Easter Monday, taking off in a storm (that was interesting) and made our way across Denmark and Sweden to the northern Finnish capital of Helsinki , a place I have dreamed of going to for a very longtime. We have been invited to live as locals for a week and get to know the real Helsinki and discover it's secrets. On the first day our flight was delayed meaning after we had navigated the fast train from the airport to the city centre and finding our apartment the sun was already starting to set, luckily the wonderful people at Heleates had left us a hamper of local foods including some much needed Good Life Coffee - did you know Fin's drink more coffee than anywhere else in the world! Chilling on the balcony of our apartment We spent the first evening taking in the view from the balcony of our apartment and making plans for the rest of the week. My eldest is super excited at the thought of being in th......

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4 Interior Inspired IG accounts you need to follow

Like most of those who spend time online I find instagram a place of daily inspiration and I find personally I often tend to follower smaller lesser know IG accounts than the big ones and thought I would share a few of my favourite interior and lifestyle inspired IG accounts that have beautiful feeds  to get your creative juices flowing. 1. Roostblog - a collaborative interiors and chic family lifestyle IG account which has only recently launch but already I am loving their daily curated feed which offers up stylish living on a plate. 2. Wild and Grizzly  - Lori is one cool mama with a real eye for design. Her feed is full of colour, Scandi love and coffee 3. Don't Cramp My Style - Anna is an interior and lifestyle blogger from Manchester and her love for soft pastel shades of pink and purple show through in her lovely feed. 4. Little Wood Life - Emma lives in a stunning home in Northern Ireland with her equally beautiful children and impeccable taste for interi......

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Bosinver Farm Cottages, Cornwall Part 1

Earlier this month we were invited to a short stay at the beautiful Bosinver Farm cottages near St Austell in Cornwall and from what I had heard about this place through other reviews I had read it was going to be a great little getaway. I actually studied half of my degree in Falmouth and have a real soft spot for the South of England and couldn't wait to head back down with the kids. Bosinver is made up of 20 luxurious self catering cottages, spread across beautiful and peaceful Cornish farm ready for big and little ones to explore. With so much on offer at Bosinver there was no way I could fit it all into one post so in this post I am going to focus on the accommodation and outdoor activities. We managed to drive the whole way down without stopping as the baby fell asleep an hour into the trip meaning we made up some time as we left a little later than expected. Once we arrived we found the keys in the door of Wells Close cottage, the heating had been put on so it was ......

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Hello Spring, Easter and Biscuiteers

I cannot put into words how happy we are that it is officially spring - I think we can safely say in our household we are not huge fans of winter in the UK, especially for myself being a Southern Hemisphere expat. Perhaps if it always snowed and we could go snowboarding every season like our European continent counterparts I would feel differently but alas that is not the case in wet and windy Wales, so the sunshine and warmer days are a very welcomed sight. What I love about when the seasons change is being able to bring back to life some long lost clothes such as this Levi's shirt which has been hibernating for a while. I have paired it up with some black jeans from TopShop,  Supergra trainers, F&F sunglasses and a beautiful box of Biscuiteers Peter Rabbit handmade Easter Biscuits - this box is so beautiful if I could somehow make it into a clutch I would. Spring of course also means another fun celebration that is Easter and every year we indu......

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Family, Finance and the Home

Having a family has changed my view on money I can still remember the moment I found out I was pregnant with my eldest, up until that point I only had to think about myself, what I earned I would either save to go travelling or spend on things like clothes and eating out but as soon as I saw those two blue lines a switch went on inside of me and I knew straight away I would have to save every penny and that the way I viewed money needed to change. I think I have always been fairly sensible and have never got in over my head when it comes to money although I did have some student debt and minor spending on credit cards but nothing too unmanageable. If debt had become too much, I would have sought help from professionals ( click here ), to reclaim control of my finances. At the time of my first pregnancy, neither John nor I were earning very much so I wanted to make a point of really getting on top of things, clearing debt, and saving for essentials. I became very frugal and......

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#MyDisneyLife

Meeting Mickey Mouse at Disney World in Florida I have always been a dreamer and a believer in fantastical things, amazing adventures through magical lands on horseback encountering trolls and dragons and good always defeating evil in the end. I was one of those kids who easily got lost in the world of make believe, my imagination often ran wild and I would happily re-enact these adventures in my bedroom for hours on end. As you can imagine growing up I was a huge fan of Disney films and books as they had everything I could want in a story and seeing them come to life in such a vivid away on screen instantly captured my attention. Growing up in South Africa we had limited access to the most recent collections and anything that came out in the cinema in places like the UK and US would only make it to our screens around a year later so when we came to visit family in Wales we would stock up on a few classics and then I would spend the next two years watching them ove......

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Easter interior inspiration

How cute is this wooden bunny ears egg cup from Not On The HighStreet   Easter is one of our favourite times of the year, not just because of the chocolate but because it marks the end of winter and the begining of spring and new adventures. It's also a great time to bring a pop of colour to your breakfast table and your home, enjoy a spot of crafting and baking. Even if your not a chocolate lover there are plenty of ways of celebrating Easter in the home and I have put together a little interior inspired wishlist for the home this Spring. 1. John Lewis  Copper Kettle  £40 2.  Ben De Lisi Egg Fried  Egg Cup  £6 3. Freya Été Good Egg  Mug  £10 4. Ashley Thomas Stoneware Bunny Salt and Pepper  Shakers  £12 5. Lila and Lola  Rabbit Print  £5.17 6. Peter Rabbit Biscuit Card from  Biscuiteers  £10.95 Another little traction we do around Easter time is have a few bunches and bouquet of fresh flower......

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5 Fantastic Theatres in South Wales

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at The Sherman Theatre, Cardiff When visiting Wales for the first time or the hundredth time, the one thing you will most assuredly want to do is have a night out at the theatre. If there is one thing the UK is famous for around the globe is the amazing theatres that offer everything from Broadway musicals to family theatre to opera. Whether staying in Cardiff or any of the outlying cities and towns, you will find some of the best entertainment there is to be found while getting a taste of culture, Welsh style of course! Here is a sampling of some of the favourite theatres Wales has to offer. 1. Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff The Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff opened back in November of 2004 and over the past decade has been host to a great number of theatre events including such things as ballet, opera, musicals and comedy events. The centre itself is an arts centre that is located on a total land area of 4.7 acres and the......

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Beatrix Potter Easter Blog Tour & Giveaway

This year marks 150 years since the birth of the beloved children's Author, businesswoman and conservationist Beatrix Potter and I have been asked to share my favourite memories and what her stories mean to us in this lovely Easter Blog Tour alongside some amazing bloggers and if you enjoy my post do make sure to stop over at  The Gingerbread House  tomorrow for more chances to win some Peter Rabbit Goodies. Even though my childhood was spent in South Africa, Peter Rabbit was a well know and well loved story in our household, along with Jemima Puddle-Duck, Squirrel Nutkin and Mrs Tittlemouse. My mother being an Expat made sure we had a good dose of British culture in our lives and I am so glad that Beatrix Potter was one of them. Her stories always captivated me from a young age, I have naturally been a lover of the outdoors, nature and the magic of woodland setting with all it's animals and wild adventures to be had. My favourite Beatrix Potter memory to date has t......

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Visualising your dreams

We all have dreams and goals we want to achieve, some are far more realistic than others but if you don't actually put down the ground work you are never going to make any of them become a reality. Over the past few years I have narrowed things down to what I really want to get out of life and I having a real clear direction on where you want to go and visualising and what you need to do to get there is absolutely essential if its something you really want to do. Wether it be time spent travelling, a big purchase or a career change have a focus and try and not deter from that. Three things I would like to achieve within the next 10 years are 1. Purchase a small rental property or Holiday bolt hole 2. Learn how to Sail 3. Buy a Camper Van I have over the past two years been actively saving for the camper van - I had a one berth van before kids, I bought it in Glasgow and drove down through the Dales into Wales, past Snowdonia down to St Ives and Lands E......

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More from The George Home

As you may already know we were invited to view the new George By Asda homeware and furniture collection a few weeks back, it was a fun filled day with activities for the kids, a scrummy lunch and some chit chat with four other lovely bloggers while taking in the beautiful styled home in North London. I have written about the day here but felt as there was so many beautiful details that I wanted to share a little bit more with you as well as the Vlog I have put together about the experience.  As I have said before this collection really stands on it's own and both John and I were very pleasantly surprised with the quality and design of all the products with may on trend pieces at reasonable prices. There was a real Scandi feel in the living spaces and when we move into our new home, hopefully later this year, we are planning to purchase one of their stylish sofas. What also caught our eye was their lamps and light fittings, especially the copper effect t......

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