Weekend Wanderings ~ Happy Easter Holiday!

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Morning lovelies, we're taking a day off at Love My Dress today, because everyone deserves a break every once in a while, and it is Easter chaps, and chapesses – and a bank holiday you know – and that means it's a great excuse to kick back, relax and do what makes you happy for a day before we all slip back in to our usual week day routines.

In addition to this, the next two weeks is going to be back to back busy as I prepare for the launch of Style Me Vintage: Weddings in London on 10th April – something I'm feeling an intoxicating mix of excitement and nerves about right now.  So instead of anything 'weddingy', I thought I'd share some images taken
this weekend after some precious family time spent with my girls.

All photographs taken by me

whicker heart decorated with flowers primroses

I
found the pretty wicker heart pictured above (a left over decoration from our
wedding
) on the fence at home on Friday.  On Saturday when venturing
out with my girls, it was looking rather prettier – my husband had
decorated it with primroses from our garden!

As regular readers will probably already know, I live in Whitby, a beautiful part of the world that is great to get out and explore. On Saturday, I took my girls to the beautiful Pannett Park, where they were holding an Easter Egg hunting competition – you had to find wooden eggs dangling in various trees, each of which had a letter painted on it. Discover all the letters and you made a word (daffodil) and won a chocolate Easter egg.  Though I think the organisers had rather underestimated just exactly how many families might venture out on a beautiful Spring day so must have ran out of chocolate quite quickly, as we qualified for two small bags of jelly sweets instead.

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The views from the park are just beautiful, you can see across the bay to the other wide of Whitby, where the Abbey lies.  I love how being here means my girls can run wild and enjoy themselves whilst I take a slow walk, and a little contemplation…

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The park is on the same site as Whitby Museum, an amazing place that you absolutely must visit if ever you are in the area. We took all but a few fleeting yet tantalising steps in to the foyer area on this occasion (to collect said jelly sweets from a giant basket that was being guarded over by a lovely little old lady).  The Museum is full of the most amazing antiques and artefacts, but sadly it wasn't the right time for me to take the girls around on this occasion, they were too hyped up about being outside in the sun, though I did manage to stay long enough to take this image of the most captivating Elizabeth Taylor oil on canvass portrait which I found just mesmerising…

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I mean to return to the museum sometime this week with the girls and my husband.  When was the last time you visited a Museum?

After a play about in the park we went for something to eat at one of my favourite cafes/eateries in Whitby, Sherlocks (located at 10 Flowergate, click here for a Google map), a beautiful old building bursting with charm and old-fashioned character – including a set of narrow rickety stairs that leads you up to a small room on the second floor, which upon entering, provides a wonderful sense of nostalgia and feeling you're walking in to someone's tiny living room area. 

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She had two extra toppings (well it is Easter); millions and mallows…

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There is a lovely place just 2-3 minutes walk (depending on how obstinate your push chair dweller is being) away from Sherlocks called Doddlepots (located at 5b Skinner Street – click here for a Google map) where you can pick your favorite clay design then paint it. 

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We went for an Angel and a dinky piggy bank, which started out in
promising pastel shades but seemed to get greyer with every new layer of
paint – but who cares about that? She was having fun and it was all her
own work…

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The lady who owned Doddlepots was most helpful and showed us how to apply names to the girls finished works of art, that we collect, once kiln dried and glazed on Thursday this week.

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It was at precisely 2 minutes and 30 seconds after I took this photograph that the little one proceeded to have an epic two year old tantrum of colossal proportions;  me pushing, her pulling. A complete battle of wills.   Cue me clutching tightly on to my wriggling, writhing, screaming little fighter whilst attemping to edge myself out of the shop step by step, backwards, and straining and apologetic smile to every set of parents of good little boys and girls who were sat quietely painting their own clay pieces.  I was aiming (by now almost lunging) for the waiting pushchair outside, only for said pushchair to topple over at the very precise moment that I'd got myself in to the perfect position to place and strap Tantrumette in to her seat.

FAIL and FAIL again.

Thank God for the lovely chap who came out of Doddlepots to assist us.  About 90 seconds later, my beautiful, worn out little love was wrapped warmly in a blanket and flat out asleep in her push-chair. Clearly tiredness had gotten the better of her, and tiredness was about to get the better of me too, so we headed off home to put our feet up for an hour or so before attempting to craft some Easter bonnets.

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It's the first time we've made a mess with some PVA glue and a pritt stick in a bit of a while, and it was so much fun!  I picked up all the craft materials for peanuts from a Yorkshire Trading store in Whitby – tissue paper, pipe cleaners, mini Easter chicks, feathers and some fake flowers.  

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The girls loved it and were very proud of their finished bonnets.   Though by this point even Mummy was all crafted out. I also think it was around that time that a rather lovely bottle of wine might have  slipped, surreptitiously, into the fridge…


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…when the girls have chocolate for breakfast. And lunch….

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….and dinner.  But it is Easter, after all.

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It's done me a great deal of good to unwind and spend time with my girls and husband this past couple of days. I really believe that no matter how passionate you are about your work, a proper break helps to re-energise and refocus you – resulting in better quality work output in the end.

Other things I've enjoyed over the Easter break are reading, finally, The Great Gatsby, which I enjoyed immensely, and also watching the original 1974 movie featuring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow. God, wasn't Redford gorgeous in his hay day?  I love watching movies to relax and also enjoyed 360 last night, a movie that 'focuses on the stories of a group of people from different social backgrounds through their intertwining relationships'. It made me consider how our lives are built based upon layers and layers of choice and decisions that could end up leading us anywhere.  I'd recommend it if you're in one of those thoughtful 'fork in the road' kind of moods 🙂

What have you been up to this Easter weekend?  Whatever it is, I hope you've all had a lovely time and chance to relax yourselves. We'll be back to the usual schedule from tomorrow morning on Love My Dress.  See you then 🙂

Annabel

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Annabel

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Founder of Love My Dress. Passionate Podcaster and Editor. Annabel lives in rural North Yorkshire with her husband and business partner Philip, their two daughters and menagerie of furry hounds. She loves photography, meditation, walking, being outdoors and star gazing. She is fierce when it comes to championing talent within the wedding industry and when she's not working on Love My Dress, she supports her husband Philip in the running of the family's sustainable flower farm and floral design business, Moonwind Flowers. In 2013, she became a published author.

2 thoughts on “Weekend Wanderings ~ Happy Easter Holiday!

  1. Easter is such a lovely time to spend with the family and friends – warmer (hopefully!) and less stressful than Christmas. Throw in the chocolate, and tons of craft things to do with the children and it’s a winner! Looks like you sucked up every second of it! Fab. Gorgeous pics, btw. We had an Easter egg hunt, and made sticky Easter chick pictures. Today we watched the Ugly Ducking ballet on CBeebies while wearing our ballet shoes! Very sweet x

  2. You’re so right, it’s a time for family and work can wait a little while 🙂 We’re having a slow morning pottering about doing this and that and off out soon for some fresh air and lunch.
    Sounds like you had a lovely time Caroline – thank you for your lovely comment 🙂 XXXX

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