Early Mornings

There's this annoying thing about having kids; even when they don't wake me at the crack of dawn, my body seems to have decided that it's happy waking up then. Is that why old people get up early? Will I never be able to enjoy a lie-in again? The fears that haunt me.

Most of the time when I wake up stupidly early for no reason I try to force myself to go back to sleep; but sometimes I give in and just get up. Like today. And then I get to see a hint of the sunrise; some compensation I suppose.



It's the last week of term before Coco is permanently in my care and demanding playdates (I can't believe quite how readily I've adopted that term) and other entertainment.

Just as school holidays in the past held all this hope of maximum achievement I am again, on the cusp of these holidays, convincing myself that we are going to do loads of activities, museum trips, Easter baking, Easter crafting, seed planting…. and multiple blog posts too of course. Years of experience should tell me that hardly any of the above will happen, I live in hope.

In a slightly pre-exam panic style I've been cramming; many things that in the 'normal' run of life would deserve a post of their own.
I had a Culture Baby outing yesterday; great trip to the Lucian Freud at the National Portrait Gallery. 30 Mums/Dads with their babies managed to be not nearly as hectic as it sounds - a review will be posted on the Culture Baby site as soon as I get around to it. We've had three little trees put in the garden, more new life to worry about. I've been doing some work for Bold & Noble - more to be shared about that soon. I've been working on my 'frame cluster' as I'm now even more determined than ever to be featured on Fuck Your Noguchi Coffee Table, I've spent some money on a new sofa; which I'll be fighting to 'style' (for want of a better word) so it doesn't look like it came from ikea (it came from ikea) when it arrives next week.

In the blogging world I had a lovely (real life) meeting with Monique from West London Mum - and I'm STILL planning on doing some writing for her, I  still need to finish my humpday holiday post for Madeline, and write my review of the Spitalfields Life book - the launch of which I went to with Polly. Anabelle and I have been hatching a plan that needs to become a reality and I have to email Katie after our lunch last week. And I want to tell everyone about Lou's print giveaway on her blog.
Phew.

The first ice cream of the season & garden progress

So we had a little taste of summer here this weekend; and without realising it I was for once in my life prepared with ice cream in the freezer and cones in the cupboard. We might need to invest in a proper ice cream scoop if this weather continues.



We had a flurry of activity in the garden over the weekend too; having been umming and urring in our normal fashion we finally just went for it and got some pro help in... not that we escaped having to do some hard labour ourselves - well actually for once it was me doing the hard labour; Hugh was on childcare duty with a sore shoulder due to {another} bike accident (stationary traffic, man getting out of car, ouch).



So now we are the guardians of lots of little specimens of life.



Hello future figs. Our bargain QVC magnolia tree is looking pretty perky too.



Nearly all the plants we've put in are tiny, some haven't even got any leaves yet; so it still looks like lots of bare earth.



Which meant we needed to protect the future flowers from those members of our family who don't know that they are not meant to just trample all over the flower beds and eat the soil. Lucky for us my sister was in town on Sunday and she bought us a car full of dogwood twigs so we made some makeshift mini-fences. Very rustic don't you think?

Click here for a look back at where we were last year.

The future looks ludicrous from here...

A few weeks ago I spent a jolly hour browsing in Selfridges' Wonder room. They were doing a word-y themed thing. I know there are many people out there like me who go slightly weak at the knees in a good stationery shop/department... Print, pattern, books, words, graphics... I can't help myself.
They had a kind of giant forturn generator which kindly told me that my future looks ludicurous. Probably true (if a little bit rude, I thought). Am wondering if this could be the new blog name I'm looking for?
Anyway...

Among the graphic/type prints available there was some work on display by two artists, both of whom I'm familiar with by some weird six-degrees of separation /small world co-incidence, and who both approach the whole type art thang from a slightly different angle.

Kiera Rathbone makes beautifully detailed images with vintage typewriters. She also shares a studio with my neighbour Gareth Gardner - a fantastic photographer who took some great shots of Kiera and her rather impressive collection of typewriters.



Sam Winston makes stories come to life with his type layouts, I bought his 'Dictionary Print' (above) for a friend as a present a few years ago, now I'm wishing I'd kept it for myself...
You can read some of the dictionary project here.
He has now moved on from the dictionary to illustrating Shakespeare and Darwin. Serious stuff with a lot of humour.

There was also a Tatty Devine pop up shop at Selfridges - where I spotted their new 'fine' collection, and I very subtly(!?) showed Hugh a lovely mustache necklace, which then magically arrived for me on Valentines day. Ahhh.

Henry and the Slide: A Bold Approach

Being a rather selfish creature I haven't wanted to hang out much at the playground over winter. This mild March however has seen some more regular visits to the swings.

Henry had his first proper slide experience on his birthday - a mere six weeks later he had developed this slide technique.



And his approach is only getting bolder.
I'm a very proud, and simultaneously slightly worried, mother (you might be able to tell from my slightly high pitched, trying not to be too shocked, voice).

Lack of posting explanation (if anyone is interested): The planets are obviously aligned in a very strange way as I went out five nights IN A ROW. That certainly hasn't happened for me since the last century, well, maybe not certainly, but it's a pretty rare occurrence. Has made me realise how much I rely on my evening computer time though. There'll be more posts now as my calendar is bare - back to my normal minimal social life.