this week’s highlights

here are some highlights of the past week. i have had tons of thoughts swirling around my head and have started about 5 post drafts this week but have not had a moment to finish them. i am sure some week soon, there will be a barrage of posts that all started this month. look out for them. they will be awesome.

in the meantime, check out the fun we have been having, and all my new loves!

brook fraser. check out this song, and this one, and this one. oh my. i’m buzzing.

my new kitchen decor

this baby mobile! hoping to make one for my future little love, hero peacock.

learning–no wait–demanding to eat on our own!

trying on hats for autumn! all with lots of brotherly hugs, of course.

we have also been learning a little italian this week! i have a good friend who is italian and all the sudden sam has started noticing that when she speaks to her son–his fun little buddy, jacob–its in a different language. and sam thinks it is hilarious. so, we started teaching him some words for fun. so far on the list, ciao, pizza, pasta and basta, which means ‘stop!’ and, incidentally, is a word my friend uses quite a lot with the boys, so we thought it was useful!

ciao ciao. sarah x o

dresses

cutting a long back story short–that i will hopefully get around to sharing with you all someday soon if the babies cooperate and give me more than 5 minutes on the computer–i am in love with dresses. for this girl with post-baby curves, i believe they are the beautifully feminine answer to feeling great at an un-ideal weight. i didn’t really mean to rhyme that…

i love this dress.

i just bought this dress.

and since this dress is only available in sizes 0-24 months, i am just going to have to live vicariously through rae.

what style of outfit or item of clothing makes you feel the most beautiful or confident?

love, sarah

i’m still here

and i’m still awake! i have just been super busy with life, kids, house, coffee shop designing (oooh it’s gonna be good!), guitar playing and general comings and goings. it’s been fun but alas no time has been made for writing.

here’s a photo log of my adventures. i’ll be back soon. i promise!

a very fun where’s wally? (waldo for the yanks) birthday party

turning this

into this (much more trouble than it was worth)

lots of swinging at the park

our first ‘big boy’ swing

a crazy swing together (note: long sleeves. its august…???)

and sam’s first game of rounders…yea it’s like a strange, english version of baseball. i can’t help but think our (american) version is superior, which i am sure surprises noone! but hey, he had fun playing it, and i had fun making fun of it, so win/win! wink wink, nudge nudge, sarcasm and all that.

what have y’all been doing with your summers’? i would love to hear about them. post a link to your blog or photos if you want! see you soon, love sarah

our all time favourite: the lives of others

randomly, richard and i were asked–twice–in the past week what our favourite film was. i honestly can’t remember the last time that question was popped, so it took us a while to remember, but when we did it was like one of those, ‘oh…yea!’ moments. we both exchanged a look and knew, on our next date night, it was gonna get rented.

then, this morning. richard says to me, ‘you are never going to guess what is on BBC iPlayer…the lives of others!’ our movie! truly random and truly exciting. i adore good films. and this one, is truly great.

i remember the first time we saw it. we were having one of our amazing, pre-kid dates that lasted all day long. we hit the picture house in cambridge, sat on some massive, red, oversized couches in their cafe and read books for a few hours in between cappuccinos, then headed upstairs to watch a film we had never heard of, but liked the look of. so glad we did.

right now, whilst getting ready to run out of the house with 2 little monkeys climbing on me, i cannot find the headspace to find the words to describe why we loved it so much…it would have been witty, it would have been inspiring. but you will just have to watch the movie your self to see what i mean.

it is available here for free, all weekend for those of you in the uk until about 1am, mon, 15 august. if you are outside the uk you can buy it off itunes.

i hope i haven’t bigged it up too much. enjoy!

 

i love a good idea

and this one, i thought was so fun. for national play week, bedford created a beach front feel right in the centre of town and called it, bedford by the sea. it was so fantastic!

with the sea of beach loungers, massive sand box (complete with shovels, pails and sand castle molds!), seaside games and chip shack, it was truly like going to the beach for the day.

 

rae was loving the sand in her toes (yes, they are painted lavendar. she asked for it, i swear!). she also loving eating the sand, which made for a very pleasant nappy change later in the day as i am sure you don’t want to image.

anyway, the event was very well pulled off i thought, and the sun even came out in support! i love it when random, exciting things happen in my week that i haven’t been expecting.

xo sarah

on being tired

‘i must repeat that i was tired. consciousness itself was becoming the supreme evil; sleep, the prime good. to lie down, to be out of the sounds of voices, to pretend and grimace and evade and slink no more, that was the object of all desire–if only there were not another morning ahead–if only sleep could last forever!’ -c.s. lewis, surprised by joy

i could not have described it better myself. i love this guy! you would think lewis had just spent a week at home with 2 toddlers. 🙂

xo sarah

the thing about photography…

…its not my thing.

i mean i want it to be. i really do. but i am a dreamer with a list a mile long and although i pretty much want to do everything on that list ‘so bad’ they do have some sort of priority order and sadly (seriously, i am sad about this) photography is too far down for me to look into right now. depending on how many dreams i fulfill and how many more i add, it might never reach the top. i used to feel like this was a failure on my part, but perspective comes with age (haha, i’m only 30, you may all giggle…) and kids and you realise that it’s not a failure, it’s a choice. for example, i chose to do a breastfeeding support course and help start a coffee shop instead of buy a camera and snap away. i chose to do these things with my limited free time, and i’m cool with it. but i do still long for amazing photos.

enter, instagr.am. if you don’t have an iPhone, get one, so you can get this app. if you do have an iPhone, get the app and follow me, @stayingawake. i love instagr.am. it loves me. and it has possibly, i hope, saved my blogging.

i’ll explain. i may be way off, but from where i’m sitting, being a blogger has become somewhat synonymous with being a photographer. not just a person who takes pics, but a proper photo-genius who takes way cool, artsy, awesome pics. i mean, i get it. people like posts with pictures more than posts without. even better, posts with way cool, artsy, awesome pics. i know i do. and since i have no idea when, if ever, i will be the one taking said photos, i am hoping you will all, for now, be cool with the awesomeness that instagr.am has to offer.

however, if in your travels you long for the real deal. please head over to great smitten where my lovely friend, faith dwight, is rocking the legit-photos-blogging thing. she is a great writer, successful blogger, and now a budding photo-genius. its true. she gets more awesome everytime she takes a snap. and, incidentally, will be doing a little photo shoot of our sweet fam in the very near future. holla!

i mean just look at what i am in for! those are her boys right there. have i mentioned i can’t wait? i’ll be sure to share the beauty with you when i get them.

happy monday!

xo sarah

my new (old thing)

i have been looking for a piano on eBay for months, six to be exact. but nothing was coming up that worked for us. this is probably because i was working with a budget of £25… hey, a girl can dream!!

and i did. and six months later, due to a superbly crap photo on the part of the seller, i got what i was hoping for. a sweet piano for-get this!-£12.50. holla!!!

bonus, because said picture was so bad, i thought i was going to have to paint it for it to be acceptable decor-wise. turns out it is not only fine, it perfectly matches my new (old) vintage sofa. score.

my saturday morning

i am alone. i am alone with good coffee and a great read. i can’t remember the last time this happened. i. am. loving it!

english love

when one is homesick, it is a good idea to go with the grieving for a while. glossing over some real feelings never does anyone any favours. then again, wallowing never does either. so, having grieved a few days, i will now celebrate some truly english loves.

my daughter, rae. no matter where we live, what accent she has or what culture she decides to adopt, she will always be half english. and a momma’s gotta love that.

marmite. they say you either love it or hate it. and most americans are in the ‘hate it’ category. here’s one yank who cannot get enough of the stuff. my two favourite recipes are: hot, buttered toast with a scraping of marmite and a cup of tea, and pasta with butter and marmite. to die for. if you are a marmite virgin and would like a good, first-time try, make some grilled cheese and put a scraping of marmite on the bread so the cheese melts into it. its fantastic and how i got hooked!

my third english love. monmouth coffee. it tastes amazing. a-mazing. i am a coffee snob and this, my friends, in my–well, honestly it’s not so humble–opinion, is the mecca of quality coffee. not just in taste, but in ethical quality as well. they have relationships with their growers where quality, quantity and price are discussed fairly, equally and openly. then they bring it back to london and roast it up all nice. in a sea of tea, a yankee coffee lover found her dream cup o’ joe. thank you monmouth coffee. i love you.