After the events of the past two weeks, I decided I needed to inject a little ‘happy’ back into my life and remember the things I love. My friend Sarah over at Mumzilla created a 5 Favourite Things tag, which I think is rather uplifting. So here are the things that make me smile every day…
Louche 1960’s dress
I’ve been making a bit more of an effort lately to not look like I was dragged through a hedge backwards. It all started a week or so back when I was inspired by Clemmie Hooper from Mother of Daughters’ post on body confidence. Truth be told, I have struggled with body confidence from way before I had Emma but it inspired me. She challenged us on her Instagram Stories to wear something you wouldn’t usually wear, so I wore this dress. I’ve never really worn it ‘in the daytime’ but it made me feel so empowered when I did. As a side note, if I were rich, I would buy every single Louche dress – I adore them very much!
Canon 700D Camera
This year I decided to make a bit of an effort with my photography. I realised that we don’t have that many photos to show the adventures we get up to, and in the process I’ve fallen in love with my camera. I should probably also throw my iPhone in the mix as I take as many photos on my phone as on my camera. I’m still learning as I go along but I really enjoy taking a few pictures of each place we visit…until Emma shouts “NO Mummy NO”, which means I need to put the camera away. She’s got her eye on me.
CD: Summerteeth by Wilco
Music has always been a big part of my life and when I met my other half, it became even more so. The album we listened to when we first met, ‘I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning’ by Bright Eyes was playing when Emma was born. This album though is my absolute favourite and will always remind me of him. I’ve noticed the first track ‘A Shot In The Arm’ in a few films and ‘She’s A Jar’ is probably the most beautiful song I’ve ever heard.
Charbonnel et Walker Champagne Truffles
Well it wouldn’t be a happy list without a bit of chocolate, would it? I can’t quite remember when these beauties came into my life but I’m so glad they did. You don’t get too many in a box but Charbonnel et Walker have got the perfect truffles down to a tee. These ones are brilliant, white chocolate dusted with strawberry powder with champagne inside – delicious! They sell them in Waitrose for £11.99 a box, you heard it here first…
Emma’s shells from the beach
My final slice of happy is a bit of a sentimental one. As a beach girl, Emma is all about the shells and pebbles. I often joke that the easiest way to entertain her is to take her to the beach and watch her ‘see stones’ as she calls it. This is the first shell we brought back from the beach, and I’ve been keeping it on our window sill. I know we’ll have many more memories to collect over the years but every time I see it, it makes me smile.
So that rounds up my little list of happy things, let me know what yours are in the comments below! I’ve tagged the bloggers below to take part too:
Laura from Five Little Doves
Ky from Snapshots and Adventures
Helen from Talking Mums
Fi from A Mum Track Mind
This is great! In our day-to-day it’s easy to forget the things we are blessed with, or a few of our favorite things. My favorites: My Tom’s shoes – they keep my ballerina feet comfortable, My cute yoga mat – I just started getting it out again after delivering my fourth little, my dining room table – one of my favorite places to sit and take a breath, my hammock – where I love to sit at night and watch the stars, my Haul’a Baby wrap because without it, I wouldn’t be able to accomplish much.
Ah that’s lovely about the shells. N’s finds I leave where he drops them, then remove and chuck out in the garden when he doesn’t do anything with them.
That dress looks lovely. I struggle with dresses (one leg swells up, and I’m pear shaped and now overweight so not a good mix) but they do smarten things up a lot.
What a lovely selection. Need to think of mine now 🙂 I’ve never had those chocolates…might have to try…! x
I like your choices, Bridget. My Five Things That Make Me Happy list would start with my first cup of tea of the day, made for me by my husband. I’ll think about the other four a bit longer.
We all need things that make us happy in life! Enjoy!
This is a great idea for a post!! Five small things that can make us happy. Sometimes we just need to stop and appreciate the little stuff. #dreamteam
Lola would definitely be my top thing. There’s nothing like waking up to squish an English Bulldog in bed each morning. #DreamTeam
Love the selection of things that you love – especially the Louche 1960’s dress – the color is so retro. #DreamTeam
This is such a great thing to have a pick me up moment and one that everyone should do. 🙂 x
#dreamteam
Aaaw how lovely that you kept the first shell she ever brought home! That is so cute! You must’ve known then that she was going to be a beach-lover! I definitely need to invest in a better camera – so far, it’s just my (very cheap) camera phone! Haha #dreamteam
#dreamteam I have a fancy camera – MUST get around to making it work. Do so much on my iPhone – are you even a mummy blogger if you don’t have a smartphone ???!!
So cute! Especially the shells As a fellow mum ‘by the sea’, I love these too!
Aww what a pretty shell! <3 I still remember what songs were playing when my boys were born 12 and 10 years ago! <3 You're Beautiful for the oldest, and Dream Catch Me for the younger. #DreamTeam
Lovely picks. I am a camera dumbass. Maybe someday Ill get it together and learn how to take better photos.
#dreamteam
Lovely post. Can things be dogs because I love my dog. ❤️ My new iPhone is also another love and my garden, of course. Love that your little one loves shells. They are so pretty. X #dreamteam
I love this, and that dress is beautiful!! I am going to make a little more effort with my appearance too! #dreamteam
All lovely things – especially the camera, can’t live without X #dreamteam
We love Charbonnel et Walker choccys! They are our favourite and make us very happy! Nice list x #DreamTeam
That dress is so lovely, how have I not heard of the brand before?? I definitely need to start dressing a bit more confidently, it does make a huge difference when you feel like you look good. These are all definitely things to treasure. Haven’t tried those chocolates before, I’m going to be scanning the shelves in Waitrose! X #dreamteam
#dreamteam ohhh i love this, I’m now listening to the album on your sugguestion – ‘I’m always in love’ is currently playing. thanks for spreading the joy.
I think it’s a great idea to sit back and reflect on little things that make you happy. I love the print on that dress!
A nice uplifting read #DreamTeam
A great selection! My 3 year old likes to collect stones and they are one of my faves!
Stopping by from #dreamteam
That dress looks cute!! #Dreamteam
What a great list!! My youngest also is a shell /pebble collector …. we’ve a whole box of stones she’s painted and we’ve written on where they are from. It’s getting quite heavy now she’s 9!!! Love the chocolate pic too!! DreamTeam
My Camera is definitely top of my list x
#DreamTeam
I love this idea. It’s so easy to get weighed down with the day-to-day that we forget to appreciate the good and happy in our lives. Jotting it down makes us remember!
#DreamTeam
That’s such a lovely list Bridget. We’ve started a shell garden at home for all of our precious seaside treasures and its quickly becoming one of my favourite things. Those chocolate truffles look to die for! (This diet is killing me haha). Dx
This is a really lovely list! It’s easy to forget the little things – lovely words about the shells #DreamTeam
Aw what a lovely uplifting idea! Those truffle too – amazing! And love the inclusion of a sentimental thing representing memories 🙂 #DreamTeam
Such a great list, especially the shell
I’ve never heard of Louche dresses so just typed it in and had to quickly close the browser as I was in danger of buying EVERYTHING! Those dresses are going to be calling to me all day now x
#DreamTeam
I absolutely love those truffles, always a birthday must have for me they are delicious! I really like the sea salt caramel ones too! #DreamTeam
Oh gosh this has totally reminded me that you tagged in this and I still haven’t done it!! I am a terrible blogger. I think camera would be pretty high on my list as well. x #dreamteam
This is a great idea. Nice to every once in a while reflect on the positives in our lives #dreamteam
That shell is so lovely and a piece of you guys. Love it! #DreamTeam
I love the shell! Beautiful and I need your camera!! #dreamteam
I love the idea of making a bit more of an effort… I certainly rock the dragged through a hedge look on a daily basis! Oh and chocolate would certainly feature highly for me as well. Fantastic list! #dreamteam
Beautiful. I don’t listen to much music and my hubby notices it quite a bit. I find it hard for music to overlay its emotions on me as I’m just to sensitive to it. I should make more of an effort to find some simple happy tunes to clear the silence. Love the shell. We have jars of them picked up from all over the place. #dreamteam
Ooh I really want to get a Canon camera! Is it as good as I imagine it to be? #DreamTeam xxx
We collect a shell and stone from each beach we visit and then display them in a vase to keep the memory. Lovely tag #dreamteam
I didn’t realise that this was a tag until now! How silly am I. I think your list is perfectly you. I share your love for cameras and chocolate… one in each hand? 😉 #DreamTeam xx
I love that picture, something about the background just had me staring at those items for ages… #dreamteam
What a lovely list! Those chocolates sound divine! #dreamteam
ooo them truffles sound AMAZING! #dreamteam
Lovely to hear your 5 happy things. One of mine is definitely that first cup of lovely hot coffee in the morning. It has to be once all the children are at school obviously otherwise it would never actually get drunk! #DreamTeam