Vintage Pleasure

Pussy Cat, Pussy Cat Where Have you Been?

 

We've been to London to visit the queen...

This beautiful firstborn of mine was 19 last week. I know how on earth did that happen? So we popped to London for a few days.

We managed to grab a bite to eat and a cocktail at Jamie's Pop-up Diner. Lily was in her element with it's modern dinosaur theme. There is plenty of Jay Jay Burridge artwork throughout and we came away coveting a poster or two. The diner has had mixed reviews but we found it great overall. Slightly pricey but only in a centre of London kind of way. We had starters, mains and a cocktail each and it came to just uner £60 so not tooo bad I'd say for a one off treat. I can heartily recommend the Cajun Blackened Monkfish but we are still undecided about the avocado fries! The Pit Waffles were a little stodgy too but the pulled pork was very moist and tasty.

Obviously we visited LIberty's and Anthropolgie and Camden along with various art galleries. We maily walked and talked and stopped for a drink and a snack here and there. Perfect.

 

Lots of memories to fill up my tank for old age. LIfe is good.

Imperfection

When you are handed your baby there is no instruction booklet given at the same time. Your mind is full of your ideas of the perfect mother and your heart is full of longing to be that perfection. Life however isn't like that. Life isn't perfect. Love is the only thing that makes things right. That makes life worth living.

As soon as I saw this image on the screen all those years ago I was filled with pure love. My life took on a new meaning. It became full of fear and hope in equal measures.

The moment my girl was born I felt I had arrived somewhere. Somewhere comforting, exciting and scary. Somewhere that I needed to explore. I knew that the journey ahead would be full of ups and downs but that love would be our guide. 

Along the years I have made many mistakes and we have each had our hearts torn by our harsh words and selfish actions yet through it all we have always had a deep seated love for each other. A mutual love that gives us a base to come back to. That offers forgiveness and acceptance. So somehow despite my imperfectness my first born girl has grown into a beautiful young lady. A young lady I would happily chose as my friend.

 

For her 18th birthday a few weeks ago she chose to have a very grown up cocktail party at home. It was a perfect mix of her friends and our family. They say you can tell a lot about a person by their choice of friends and Lily's are a great bunch of people to know. Just like her. I'm proud to be able to say she is my daughter and humbled to be the person she turns to.

We are off on a very grown up adventure this weekend. 5 days in New York City just the two of us and I cannot wait.

Love you Lily Roisin and I always will. x

My Baby Was 10

People say to enjoy your children when they are young as time goes by so quickly. It is so true! My 'baby' was 10 last week. Ten! How on earth can that be possible? It seems only five minutes ago that we were bringing her home from hospital.

She is growing up in to a senstive and amazing young lady. She often drives me to distraction but life with her is never dull. Her mind is whirring hive of information and she is rarely short of an answer. If she is she soon finds one. She researches and plans like no other person I know and her powers of persuasion are second to none. Her current quest involves her dad, jobs and a new puppy next year.

Her sense of style is begining to take shape and I'm loving seeing her put her outfits together. I can see a glimspe of the lovely young lady I know she will become.

She has a few personal battles to deal with at the minute and I'm so proud of the way she is dealing with them. 

Jo-jo, I love you more. Too possible! x

Kitty's Story aka Our Little Miracle

 Sorry if I shocked anyone before.I messed around with the post so much I deleted the wrong one!

So as I begin to write this I am counting the hours until Kitty comes home from a 3 day adventure holiday with school. Amazing considering this time 9 weeks ago Paddy and I were sat at Kitty's bedside, in ICU,as she recovered from her second major surgery in 24hrs. Doctors and nurses were busy trying to stabilise her.She was ventilated and sedated, hooked up to who knows how many lines and machines. But we knew she was more than likely going to make it. We knew the last few days of not knowing were almost over.

 

 

On Sunday 10th April she'd gone from happy, healthy 10 yr old girl enjoying a summer day to fighting for her life in The Royal Manchester Children's Hospital. Kitty suffered the first of many major life threatening GI bleeds whilst we were at her Grandma's house about 7.30pm. Admitted to the local hospital it soon became apparent that she was critically ill and needed specialist help fast. 4 nurses and 2 doctors took the decision to stand against hospital policy and transferred her by ambulance under blood tranfusion. A decision that saved her life. From the beginning we could feel we were being looked after.There were familiar faces every step of the way. Nurses and staff we knew as friends. People around we knew cared for us and her. The right specialists were in the right place at the right time. We had constant support in prayer from as far as Australia and Afganistan to Brecon and Bradford. Our own church were amazing and supported in practical ways as well as spiritual ways. Our twitter and facebook friends were a constant support. Our family was amazing. We were loved with a strength I've never known before.

I had wanted to do one full post about Kitty's story but am finding it too difficult to articulate. I think over the next week I will try and post a little at a time.

 

 

 

Vintage Love

I'm going to let you into a little secret but not everyone in the Vintage Pleasure household actually loves vintage. Oh yes they all tolerate it but actual love well lets just say a few of them often pull 'those' faces when they see my latest thrifty finds. Just recently though number 2 daughter has come around to my way of thinking and is actually embracing the whole vintage vibe (most probably due to current fashion but hey I'll take the love whichever way it comes)

Thrifted, customised ,vintage, denim jacket and one of my vintage scarves = one, very proud, vintage loving mum.

Thrifting Serendipity

Don't you just love it when the perfect thrifting score comes just at the right time and in the right place?

I made an cheeky impulse bid on a beautiful Victorian nursing chair on ebay. Never expecting to be the highest bidder.

It was local pick up and after the initial shock, and wondering where to put it, we soon realised it was the perfect height for Josie to practice guitar. She just started lessons and is totally loving it.

An added bonus is that it actually looks pretty good in the playroom. After a few years of not being happy with the way that room looked I am actually starting to enjoy spending time in there again.Which is just as well as that is where my sewing stuff is kept.

I'm looking forward to cosy, winter evenings creating in there. The fire on and listening to the beautiful sound of a guitar playing.With maybe Kitty playing on the piano too. Lovely Christmas carols and festive ditties.  Well I can dream can't I ? Will probably be more like squabbles about who's turn it is over the noise of the TV but lets not go there.

 

My Girls

My beautiful, silly girls.

Cockfield's Farm

We don't normally go in for the whole arranged 'out of house' birthday party thing. Usually our celebrations involves the more traditional tea-party idea with maybe a trip to the cinema or a meal out as a family. This year though Josie and Kitty were very taken with the idea of a party at the local farm with their school friends. Because the minimum guests there is 20 we decided this would only be possible if they had a joint party. So Josie waited all the way from April to Kitty's 10th birthday at the end of July. Quite a feat when you are only 8 years old!

Cockfield's Farm is a local gem. They are an aquatics centre so have tanks full of pretty fish to admire.

Some exotic animals to pet and learn about.

Plenty of cute farmyard friends to feed.

 
They also sell pork and beef products, from their own outdoor reared pigs and cattle, alongside other locally sourced produce too. The party food made a refreshing change from the usual fair at these kind of parties. Plates full of fruit and vegetables and dips etc. Homemade pizzas and the farms own sausages in place of hot-dogs. I'm not sure we can afford to do it every year but it made for a pleasant change.

If you are ever in the area and fancy a visit Cockfield's Farm is well worth it. I have it on great authority that the hot chocolates in the cafe are very good too.

My Florence

Lily fancied a change and was going to have some navy blue in her hair.So I was a little surprised to open the door to a redhead when she returned from the hair dressers!

 

Of course I love it. She's like my very own little Florence

Maisie had her dyed bright pink last week and I was hoping to upload a photo to show you but can't find one I like! You can get the gist here though.

Shame they'll probably both have to dye it back again in 6 weeks for school but fun while it lasts.

The Girl Can Cook

Maisie is a dab hand in the kitchen but has recently been finding other teenage things more alluring. Last week I decided to rectify the situation and have her cook our evening meal.

I told her she could make anything she wanted. I just bought what she told me to and left her to it.

 

Mascarpone chicken with roasted vine tomatoes on a bed of red pesto potatoes.

Like I said the girl can cook!

Her presentation is pretty good too.

Of course she'll be cooking more often. It was delicious!