November

That is a little sketch of Celestine I did when we went to see the fireworks a few weeks ago. She has to wear earmuffs because she doesn't like the bangs. I don't have any actual photos of her at the fireworks because I didn't bring my camera. But here's one from last year that I never put on my blog.

Celestine loves fireworks. Her favourite are the big gold sparkly ones that look like chandeliers dripping glitter from the sky. We had a nice fireworks night because we walked up the road to see them with some friends.

Anyway November, November. I have mostly been busy with sketching out a dummy for a new book which is taking a while. I don't know why but dummy books always take me agggges. So I have nothing new to show here really. 

It's definitely cold now. Last night we popped out to the shop and I was surprised to feel how cold it's got. And it's so misty at the moment. Misty mornings and misty dark driving. I bought a cream fur coat with a hood when we visited Henry's mum at the weekend. It is so soft and pristine that I have put it in my wardrobe and not worn it yet! But it is for wearing and I must get it out. One thing that always delights me about the winter months is the amount of sparkle in the shops. I always say that when you start seeing gold glittery heels in the shops, you know Christmas is on it's way. 

I loooove these gold booties. I didn't buy them because I don't have the legs for that style of boot so I took a picture instead. Sometimes I think taking a picture of something you love is almost as good. It still gives you that nice feeling when you look at it.  Glamorous, glittery, Christmassy, wintery boots.  Actually they are exactly the sort of things Celestine might have in her wardrobe. She loves gold.

Oh you know what else I've been loving lately. The M&S Christmas advert with the two fairies flying through the snowy city, making magic, flying through the chimney smoke, shooting red and white sparks from their fingertips. Definitely the best advert of all the big Christmas ones this year. I much prefer magical Christmas adverts to those over sentimentalized ones.

For all this talk of Christmas though, I'm not actually feeling very Christmassy yet. Unrelated but Henry and I really really thought we would be in our own house for Christmas this year but things have not gone to plan with that. There's been some complications with the house we were trying to buy and we have had to pull out. We were so sad about it as we love love loved the house (technically it was a flat but it felt like a house because it was on two floors) but I think it will be for the best.Well, I know it will be for the best. I won't say any more about it here as I don't want to jinx anything this time! 

I have really realised what a stressful business trying to buy a house it though. Seriously, we were up and down like a rollorcoaster for ages! 

November is for: Changing up my hair. I wanted to do it half black half white but I managed to refrain myself from doing that. Would have been a nightmare to upkeep. 

November is for: wearing gloves and my new furry hat, making Christmas cakes with the children at Craft Club. Nutmeg and cinnamon and candied peel, marzipan-ing and making a wish when we stir. Cycling in the early morning mist, chocolate truffle treats from the supermarket, shopping and house viewings, watching Mr Brooks (good film) and Rosemary's Baby, starting to make Christmas cards, listening to Affinity and reading Goth Girl, orange and yellow roses, discovering diamond star necklaces that are far too expensive to buy *sniff* and...

A tiny toadstool card/letter in the post from Polly. Celestine has stolen it away to put up in her castle.

Aaaand that is all!

Hope you're having a nice November.

★★★★★★★★★

Our Honeymoon

Finally I am uploading my pictures from honeymoon. I took so many that it took me until now to sort through them all!

So here are the best of the best.

Our honeymoon.

We started in Edinburgh were we stayed for two nights in a very nice and welcoming guest house. If you're ever going to Edinburgh I highly recommend this place!

We went on a bus tour round the city, walked round a lot, ate Lebanese for dinner one night, seafood the next and bought some tartan. My married surname is actually a Scottish name that is part of the MacGregor clan so we bought a scarf in the MacGregor clan tartan. It's red and green.

Speaking of tartan, Celestine ordered a special wardrobe of tartan clothes to be made for her for the holiday. She likes to be stylish.

I found these tiny little bottles of whisky in Edinburgh and also this tiny tiny little box of working matches which came in useful later on. Celestine was very pleased that Edinburgh catered for people her size.

Next up was the Isle of Skye where we stayed for another two nights. Above is some whisky porridge which Henry had for breakfast in the Skye hotel. Got to have some whisky porridge while in Scotland!

Because we went to Skye from Edinburgh we drove through the highlands. It was a pretty incredible experience actually. Barren landcapes, mountains looming, twisty turny roads. At some points we really felt like we were in the middle of no where. It was like a different planet!

One of the main things I wanted to do whilst on Skye was visit the fairy pools. So we did! They were very beautiful. In this photo below you can see a line running down the middle of the valley. Those are the fairy pools and you can walk all the way up them.

They are really beautiful. Pools and channels of clear, aqua water all waterfalling down. Celestine was entranced. She wanted to row around them in her boat. So she did!

The weather wasn't actually that sunny that day so it was hard to get photos of how crystal clear and turquoise the water was.

We also visted the coral beaches on Skye which were also very beautiful. We were there at about ten o clock at night and it was still light! It didn't really seem to get properly dark up there at all.

Here is Henry on a rock at the coral beaches.  

For our wedding Carol gave us a really really nice box of chocolates which actually lasted us for most of our honeymoon. we took them with us and ate one or two (or three or four!) a day. They were yum. It was nice to have them in the car as we did SO much driving!

After Skye we took the ferry across to the Isle of Harris. Here is Celestine on the ferry (and a close up of my wedding ring.) I admit I took quite a lot of photos of my wedding ring on our honeymoon, seeing what it looked like under all different kinds of light. I just love the way it slots together.

It was actually raining on our arrival to Harris. We couldn't get into our house yet so we drove up to Lewis and went food shopping.

The rest of the week we spent on Harris. It was the main part of our holiday. It really was a very beautiful and unique place. There were so many different types of landscape on the island. For example, on the east side of the island where our house was, the landscape was rocky, it almost looked like the surface of the moon. On the west side there were incredible tropical looking beaches. And then everywhere there were mountains.

I'd say the word to describe the Island of Harris and Lewis would be 'epic'. In fact pretty much all of the Scottish landscape we saw was epic. There's so much remote space, you can see for miles and miles and you become aware of just how massive nature is. That doesn't really make sense but I don't know how else to describe it.

Here is Celestine having a picnic on Luskentyre beach. Yes she does have a lot of food for one tiny person. Her eyes are bigger than her stomach when it comes to food! She had to be helped out a bit.

Celestine loves Nessie! ^ She took him everywhere with her in Scotland. 

You can see the weather wasn't sunny here. It wasn't sunny quite a lot actually. But we did expect that coming to Scotland. It didn't mar the beauty of the place though.

The beaches really were incredible. Just look at the colour of the sea! And that's not even on a sunny day.

We did actually get one really lovely baking hot sunny day. We spent this day sitting on the beach and paddling in the water, but only paddling as the sea was so cold. It looked inviting but it was freeeeezing!

Celestine sat on the beach too. She adores the beach. We found our own little small private one where there was no one else about. We had to climb down rocks to get to it.

Although to be fair, there was no one really about on any of the beaches on Harris. It was so remote.

It was so stunning!!

You can see I didn't take many photos of myself and Henry, I was too busy taking photos of the beaches! I love beaches. They are my favourite places to be. I always wish I lived near the beach.

There were other things to do on the Island of Harris and Lewis too. On one of the rainer days we drove around a lot (beacsue we accidentally missed the boat trip we were suppsoed to be on!) and saw the standing stones and machair. The machair are fields of wild flowers.

Traffic on Harris!

Above (bottom right) is a picture of the garden gate in front of the house we were staying in. This was our view if we looked out of the window. Not bad.

On that same day that we missed the boat trip it was very stormy and windy. I have never seen so much spray blowing off the waves before! We couldn't believe there was actually a man surfing in this.

That night Celestine had to camp inside becasue of the rain. She would have got blown away otherwise- and we would have never seen her again!

Celestine wanted a patchwork tent after she saw one on Marlou B's blog.

She did manage to camp outside a few times though. Much to her delight.

'Goodnight!' ^

Oh look, here we are at last! That's me with a map in front of me on Skye, planning our route for the fairy pools. there's Henry looking happy on Harris.

While on Harris we visited the Isle of Scalpay which is joined to Harris by a bridge. It's a small island and we walked round it one afternoon/evening. It took about 3 hours. 

It was so windy in places Henry's hair stood upright on his head which was funny.

There were piles of rocks like that on the top of every mountain and hill on the islands. I guess it is to mark the top.

Those bottom two pictures (above) were not taken on Scalpay. left one we took when we went on a very long treck round some mountains on Harris. It took all day and was 11 miles! I was very proud that we did it. We climbed up some big mountains and walked round the ridge at the top. It was definitely an expedition. We didn't see a single person during the whole hike. 

Here's Celestine at the top of one of the mountains. It was a hard climb! She was lucky she got carried for most of it. There's Nessie peeping out of her backpack!

We did manage to go on a boat trip in the end, even though we missed the original one we had booked on. We went flying and bouncing through the waved in a rib which was my favourite part. The waves were enormous.

This wasn't us but a little fishing boat we saw out in the water while on the rib. It was bouncing along too! You can't really tell how big the waves were from this picture but they really were massive. You went allllll the way up one and alllll the way down the other side.

We saw seals! I always love to see seals.

One evening we went to Hushinish beach and sat there in the evening sunshine. This was on the sunny day. Celestine had a campfire and toasted marshmallows. That is where those tiny matches came in useful!

That was Henry's favourite beach. We played frisbee for a bit. The drive there was amazing as well. So beautiful. We came across a castle on our way which I think was actually someones private home- so I couldn't really get a photo of it.

There's Celestine, swinging her legs with happiness. She so loves the beach. 

We really enjoyed our week on the Isle of Harris. It was different to anything we've done before. We definitely hope we can visit again some day!

On our way back home we stayed for a night in Loch Lomand to break up the journey.  Again it was beautiful. Although truthfully, by this point I was quite ready to get home. I've learnt from all the stops we did along the way to and from the Isle of Harris, that I don't really like living out of a suitcase and eating on the go all the time. I like to be in one place.  I think if we did go to the Isle of Harris again, we wouldn't stop at so many places on the way up- though, I am glad we did it this once. It was nice to see Edinburgh and Skye- especially the fairy pools. I have always wanted to see the fairy pools. 

Also by this point we had been away for almost two weeks and for me, that's enough. I am a home bird. And also by this point I was getting fidgety to do my work. 

So I was quite happy to be going home even though we had an incredible time. They do say there's no place like home.

Above left is Loch Lomand. Above right, a loch near the house we stayed in on Harris.

And that, is the story of our honeymoon!

Changes

I definitely feel different right now to how I felt a few months ago. I said this before and I don't mean it in a bad way necessarily. It's just that a lot of things have changed lately. Life doesn't feel the same as it used to. Being married feels different (but definitely good differet!) and knowing that we're probably moving out into our own house in a couple of months feels different too. No longer are Henry and I living here in my parents house indeterminately while they live in Dubai. They are now back from Dubai (as of a couple of months ago) and there are boxes absolutely everywhere and the house is full and that feels different too. Also Henry's new job is due to start soon so he has been on holiday for quite a few weeks which has been so nice (defo not complaining of that one!) but again feels different. I don't know, I feel a bit unsettled at the moment to be honest and am greatly looking forward to when we have our own house and are back in some sort of routine. I love routine!

Also this weather- it just makes me want to be in Cornwall surfing and sitting on the beach (ideally with friends- that would be nice!) But that's beside the point.

And also, I have a rabbit mind right now where it can't stop jumping from one idea to the next which is making it very hard to concentrate on developing new story ideas... but oh well! I will keep trying anyway.

On Monday we went to Brighton. i'm not sure why we did now. I think it was becasue I have always wanted to see the lanes. Everyone always goes on about how good the shopping is there. So we went. And it was a long drive. Much longer than we realsied. And parking was a big of a nightmare. But we finally got there and walked around a bit and I saw an amazing most beauteous chandelier which sparkled like anything. I'm sure it was one of the most sparkliest chandeliers I've ever seen. It was a forest of crystal. And I wanted it. Of course. But we didn't buy it, mainly becasue we already received a beautiful rainbow chandleier for our wedding and there will be no room for two chandeliers in our future tiny house. I was just being greedy for chandeliers. I mean we don't even have a sofa or a table yet for our house.

So anyway, we went to Brighton and we met up with Henry's cousin who lives there and her boyfriend. And that was nice. We chatted and sat on the beach and I ate a frozen yoghurt with blackberries and strawberries on it. And Celestine popped out of my bag and had a lick and posed on the beach for a photo. 

Later Henry and I ate fish and chips on the pier and then drove home which was thankfully a much shorter journey than the way there. And overall it was a nice day.

Now here are some more photos of the bathroom set I did a few weeks ago. I have made three of these bathroom sets to date! They will be used to help sell the titles I think.  So this one is actually a different one to the ones I have shown on my blog before even though it looks pretty much the same. I can never resist taking photos of the cabinet though with all its bottles and lotions and potions. 

Bubbly bath water. If only my bathwater glittered like that in real life!

Our Wedding

Well finally I have got around to sorting out some wedding photos to put on here! It's been a busy few weeks...

So yes. Our wedding. It was wonderful.

My siblings and I ^ (all three photos above taken by Anne Greenhalgh)

My mum made all the bridesmaid dresses (and her own dress!) I sparkled all the bridesmaid shoes up with the matching colour glitter to their dress: (photo by Anne Greenhalgh)

Instead of a veil I had a cloak made of tulle which my mum made for me. You can't tell in the photos but the cloak is covered in gems which I spent hours sticking on one by one! I was told it did sparkle a lot in the church so I was pleased. (below photos by Anne Greenhalgh)

The cloak was fastened by a very small silver Tinkerbell pin that I already had.  Glad I managed to incorporate a fairy into my outfit somewhere.

I also made the all bridesmaids matching glitter stars for their hair. Below right is the seating plan also made using glitter stars. Can you guess I love stars? (photo below by Anne Greenhalgh)

Here's Henry and his mum arriving at the church and then Henry waiting at the church with his ushers and best man (who was not a man but a woman!) (photos by Anne Greenhalgh)

Here we all come! I came with my dad in a special wedding car. We actually arrived a bit early at the church through a slight error in time judgement so we drove off to town for 20 minutes and bought some mints at a petrol station because I suddenly really fancied a mint which was funny as I haven't had a mint in absolutely years. (photos below by Anne Greenhalgh)

And now (below) here's the church- before it was filled with people obviously!

My Grandmother is a priest and she actually took the service! It was so so nice to be married by my Grandmother.

It was a very special feeling the first time I saw and smiled at Henry as I walked down the aisle. (photos below by Anne Greenhalgh)

And now outside, afterwards having photos. This one was with my parents. That's my grandmother in the pink hat below- she changed promptly out of her priest robes after the ceremony!

My parents had some photos done on the day too to mimic their wedding photos they had done when they got married as they got married at the same church! (second photo above by Anne Greenhalgh and also photo below)

After the church we had a reception in a marquee. We were very lucky becasue the weather was beautiful and sunny. It was as though the sun came out just for that weekend!

I tried to incorporate as many stars and as much glitter as possible into the theme. I also had all my fairies and goblins hanging up from the ceiling so they looked like they were flying above everyones heads in the marquee. My mum made the bunting.

It was such a beautiful place that the marquee was in. It was just surrounded by countryside. (first photo below by Anne Greenhalgh)

Cutting the cake. It was an amazing cake! Henry's dad made it and it was a fairy castle!

I had changed dresses by this point (into one my mum made me) because I wouldn't have been able to dance in the other dress. Henry and I learned a special first dance with lots of twists and twirls in it that we had lessons for. Our first dance was to walking in the air... but not the original- the remix! It's a lot faster and trancier.

Here below I've zoomed in on a picture so you can see the necklace I was wearing. I made it myself and it's made of swarovski stars. I really really love it- it is so sparkly! I'll have to get a proper picture of it sometime. I made the bridesmaids similar ones to wear too. I wore matching earrings- one was a swarovski crystal star and the other was a moon.

And now a couple more posed shots... (two photos below by Anne Greenhalgh)

and some more snapshots...

My favourite part of the day (apart from saying the vows and the church bit) was the evening part of the wedding when I was just dancing with all my friends and family and having fun. That was when I felt most relaxed. We had a fire pit and fireworks and bacon rolls and late night ice creams. (photos below by David Ellis)

It was such a great and marvellous day and so nice to be surrounded by so many people we love and also to see family that we don't see very often.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★