Honfleur in Photos

As the summer is almost officially at an end, (Was it just me or did the temperature drop last night to reveal an autumn chill?) I wanted to make sure I have posted all our summer adventures.

The trouble with taking a mammoth amount of photos all the time, is it takes so long to choose your favourites. 

This week is going to be emotional. We have lost Sammy's precious dog dog (he held him out of the car window he says) and although we have managed to get through 2 nights without him, I am dreading a bad dream night. My sister is returning to work full time today, my big boy will be wearing a pair of school shoes, my small boy will be heading to pre school, without the security of his big brother, and my family will be united around the globe, to support each other through something personal and private.

I know lots of people couldn't imagine taking a good few hundred photographs on a weekend away, but everyone is a memory for me. Digital cameras were invented to give us all the ability to click away to our heart's content. 

If you ever get a chance to visit Honfleur, snap it up! And if you don't, I hope these photos will make you feel as though you were there! 

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I felt so inspired in Honfleur, inspired by the food, the flowers, the vintage brocante shops, brimming with French goodies, the architecture, the people and oh my days, by the beautiful b and b we stayed in. You can see my post on where we stayed here.

On the ferry ride home to Portsmouth, I scribbled down ideas, lots of which you will see over the next month or so. 

This summer has taught me so many life lessons. That your family, your health and happiness are priceless. 

Sometimes I think we should slow our lives down, I've even said it to friends out loud over the last couple of days, inspired by their relaxed way of life. But it's just not in our nature. We live almost every moment to the max, and for us, that's the magic.  

LifeLucy Heath Comments
Introducing my blog sponsor for September & Sunday Prop Shop

Two new things from me today.

I have a lovely blog sponsor for the month of September  - PaperShaker.

I know it seems the norm to announce your baby's birth on Facebook or Twitter, but I adored sending traditional announcement cards when my boys were born. PaperShaker offer a range of beautiful personalised photos cards, invitations and have a stationery line coming soon. I for one still get ridiculously excited over pretty stationery and can never resist a sweet notepad!  

Check them out for your next memorable occasion. 

I am also sharing a little idea that has been bubbling away for a while. I love using props in my blog photography and especially in the food and drink recipes that you may have seen popping up. 

I think it's my love of photography that is driving this new love of cooking, but if that's what gets me finally in an apron, hooray! 

Every fortnight, starting next week, I am going to share my props finds, or bits from around my home that have suddenly had a new lease of life as a photo prop! 

I'd love you to join in and link up your charity shop bargains, car boot finds (suddenly rusty cake tins are in high demand) or show us all how you've used something new or old from around your home as a prop in a blog post. 

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I have an idea for a "mini savoury allotment" this week (think baby carrots and courgettes) so I have gathered together some of the earthy and green colour way props. Some I picked up in charity shops for pennies and some I already had in the cupboard. The fake moss is from our holiday to America! But I just love the texture of it and I think it will look fab in a photo! 

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You can join in using the #SundayPropShop on Twitter and Facebook and the link will be open for 2 weeks so you have lots of time to style up your blog shoot!

The best way to inspire and be inspired is to share ideas, so I look forward to seeing lots of yours! 

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Me and Mine - A Family Portrait Project August

This family portrait project has really brought things home this month. 

Over this summer, it has felt like we have been away, more than we have been at home. 

We had a brilliant holiday with best friends in Spain, a romantic trip to Honfleur, a birthday visit to my brother and sister in law in America and, as I type this, we have just finished a glorious week with my sister, brother in law and little niece Yasmin lu, at our family home in Southbourne, near Bournemouth.

That's a ridiculous amount of flights, a ferry ride and countless trips with the boys in our red wagon, down the zig zag path to the beach hut.

We have been spoilt. Spoilt with time, spoilt with excitement, I was spoilt with presents and we have been spoilt with sunshine.

But what we realise every time we arrive home, with bags of dirty washing, tired children and dogs who are not sure whether they live with us or my kind in laws, is that we are totally spoilt with our home. 

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We adore our house and the home we have created. 

On paper, on this blog, our life seems almost too lucky. Holidays, Facebook and Twitter photos of picture perfect happy times, which I am sure a lot of people end up getting irritated by. It isn't always, I can assure you. Behind the rosy scenes there are worries, terrible anxiousness and heart ache. It's just that I have chosen to keep those things private.

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BUT. What this summer has taught me most of all is that being spoilt with holidays is meaningless and that the times you have as a happy family at home, with the boys jumping on the trampoline, the garden littered with toys, whilst we hang out the washing are the best times. 

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The times you couldn't live without. 

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We have tentatively started thinking about moving over the next 18 months. With my in laws moving to Poole in September and my Mum and Sister in Ashford and Bracknell, we really need to put a pin on a map half way, and move!

BUT. I adore our house. I love that this is where we brought both our babies home. The memories make my heart ache. 

 

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And yet, a week with our darling niece (and her Mummy and Daddy), including 24 hours with my Mum, watching how much unconditional love she has for my own darlings, plus realising how much of a Father and Mother to me my in laws are, combined with the fact that my Mum and my Sister are my best friends, makes us think that next year, is the year to move! Phew that was a long sentence!

So, in case we aren't here in a few years, I wanted to take a photo of us, dogs and all, at the home we adore. 

My Me and Mine for August. A snap shot, at the end of a happy day in the garden. No perfect make up, hair that hasn't been washed, boys clothes with food stains and yet I think it's the loveliest photo of my little family we have ever taken.

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Join in with us, now I've shown you me and mine, show me you and yours! Once you've linked up, go and have a peek at the lady who started it all. I am very grateful to Lucy for helping me realise how important our little family is.

dear beautiful