If You Go Down to the Woods Today....

Happy First Birthday to our sweet baby girl Floraidh Jane! Turning one is a huge milestone for both her and us,  I still can't quite believe we made it this far. Floraidh has turned in to the sweetest, most caring little toddler who loves to laugh, read books and explore outdoors! She also has a thing for mac and cheese, yogi (yoghurt) and Peppa Pig.

On Saturday, April 1st 2017 we celebrated her first year of life by putting on a little Teddy Bear's picnic in the park. The weather was colder than expected but that didn't stop Floraidh from having fun and chattering with her little friends. She also got to sample some victoria sponge cake for the first time and loved it I must say! Since then she has had half a cream egg and a lindt chocolate bunny, there goes the chocolate ban!

It was such a wonderful day and we are so thankful for all of our friends here in Louisville who came out to help us celebrate. We are so proud of our baby and are enjoying watching her grow more each and every day. The first year has been a roller coaster of feelings and emotions but we finally feel that we are on the up side of the ride and are enthralled by every twist and turn. We can't wait to see what the next year has in store.

HAPPY 1ST BIRTHDAY, LOVE MAMA AND DADA x

Our Greatest Adventure Yet...

We survived the first 6 months! I can't believe I am sitting here writing this 7 months into motherhood. For a while there I thought that life would never be the same but oh how wrong I was. Life isn't the same, it's better! 

The first 3/4 months of Floraidh's life were a whirl wind of eating, sleeping, not sleeping, crying, pooping, getting into a routine, visiting family, eating again, sleeping again and yip you guessed it,,,crying again. The fourth trimester is for real and it is something which has not to be taken lightly. Then all of a sudden your baby transforms into this happy, smiling, giggling, crawling, spaghetti bolognaise loving wee friend. At 7 months she is quite literally the love of our lives and is by far our greatest adventure yet. We have finally found our flow and our rhythm as a family of 3. We are enjoying watching Floraidh grow into the independent, determined and fun-loving girl that she is and we are enjoying being able to start showing her around the world a bit more and exposing her to adventures of her own. 

Her first adventure was across the pond to Scotland (via Canada)! I was so nervous about taking her on a plane for the first time all by myself but she nailed it and slept the whole way there and the whole way back. Floraidh was a huge hit in Scotland and the people there were even able to pronounce her name right! It was such a wonderful trip and we both loved spending this time with family and friends despite us both being so tired. 

At 6 months old we took Floraidh on her first camping trip. She spent time playing outside in nature, swimming in the lake and sleeping out under the stars. She was so flexible and loved exploring outdoors. She also slept solidly from 7:05 - 7:00 and didn't wake until the sun came up. She did however catch a little cold afterwards due to the tent being damp so I wouldn't recommend camping in October when the temperatures fluctuate so much between day and night. Overall this was a great adventure and one I would highly recommend, esp if you were keen campers before baby came along.

We are now gearing up for visiting the beach in Florida and then getting reading to take on Scotland for the second time this year! We are excited for Floraidh to experience new sights, sounds, tastes and smells as she continues to add to her travels but we are also excited for her to see the familiar faces of the people she loves back home. Here is to more great adventures!

Life with Floraidh...

♥ Floraidh Jane McLachlan (Florrie) ♥

Yeaaaahhhh!!!! We did it..we gave birth to the most beautiful and precious girl in the world. Floraidh Jane was born unexpectedly at 6:32pm on Thursday 31st March 2016 weighing 7.4lb. She arrived 4 days early which was a surprise to us all, However, it was not her plan to come on her due date (April 4th) and instead picked a stormy evening to make her entrance into the world. 

Life since that night has never been the same. It has been more amazing than we ever could have imagined and my husband and I are both adapting well to having a newborn around. Luckily for us Floraidh is a very good baby and pretty much eats and sleeps most of the day. She has naturally developed her own schedule and seems happy and content. She has also taken like a duck to water with breastfeeding and we are delighted that we have been able to nurse her in this way.  Floraidh has also proved to be pretty flexible and fits in to our schedule whether we are eating out, hiking in the park or going for picnics. She loves being outdoors and enjoys socializing with people. We really couldn't have asked for a better baby and absolutely love having her around. She completes our family and makes life for us here in Louisville more meaningful. We are both looking forward to all the new milestones that each month brings and watching her grow into the adventurous, kindhearted and beautiful girl that she is destined to be. Welcome to the world baby girl...we love you more every day ♥

Life Happens...

Wow, I can't believe it has almost been a full year since I last posted! That surely is a sign that life has become way too busy, and that when Friday nights roll around the choice between blogging or bathing in a hot bath is an easy one. Anyway, in a bid to continue to document important events and memories in my life (for future reference) I am back on with a new attitude. 

When I first started this blog I felt a real need to have to write something at least once per week. That just became way too much and often left me with a feeling of guilt. I also struggled to think up things to write about so was just creating random recipe/ craft or fashion posts which had no real meaning to me. My new attitude to blogging is one that involves much less stress and commitment. I am now more focused on using my blog as a tool for myself and my family as a means of documenting memories, feelings and adventures. This will give us a platform for looking back and reflecting on the years and will enable us to reconnect with the things that make us happy. I am way more comfortable with this approach and feel much less obligated to have to write every week. I am hoping to write at least once every 3 months and focus on the highlights throughout that time. This way it will be like keeping an online journal of major events and will help me to be more mindful about the content of my writing. With that said I am now going to share the highlights from the last year to bring you up to speed on what happens when "LIFE HAPPENS"....

July 2015

Angus and I both flew home to Scotland for the summer and had an amazing 5 weeks of visiting family and friends and exploring our beautiful country! During our visit I went on a  hiking trip with Angus's sister Rachel. We completed the "West Highland Way" in 6 days and had the time of our lives. It was most definitely one of the best trips I have ever been on. The emotional roller coaster over mountains and across moors left you both tired and hungry for more! Unforgettable. 

Angus and I were also lucky enough to have a few days to ourselves down at the Cotswolds in England. This was part of the UK that I had been wanting to explore for a while and what better time to do it than on our 1 year anniversary! We reserved a barn conversion off the side of a cottage called "Popfosters". It was so beautiful and had a ton of character. As we explored the small towns and villages of; Chipping Campden, Stow on the Wold and the Slaughters we both felt like we had gone back in time. It was fun strolling round the little shops, eating afternoon tea and hiking over fields on the Cotswold Way! 

August 2015

After a wonderful summer back home, Angus and I returned to Louisville with a bun in the oven! We found out we were expecting our first baby on the morning of Friday 31st of July. We couldn't be happier...

Yes. This is us.....

I knew for a long time (even before we got married)...that I wanted one of our wedding pictures turned into an illustration so as you can imagine it didn't take me long to start looking for an illustrator once our wedding pictures arrived! 

It took me a couple of months to finally find the right one as there were so many different styles and a range of costs that it was actually quite overwhelming. Anyway thanks to the amazing Sumek Injai on Etsy I now have ours framed and sitting on top of our side dresser! I am completely in ♥ with it and just had to share it for all of you newly weds out there who might be searching for the same things! Here is the direct link to Sumek's shop....enjoy x

https://www.etsy.com/shop/HandMek?ref=search_shop_redirect

Costa RiiiiCCCCAAAAA!...

5 months after our wedding my newly wed husband and I embarked on the adventure of a life time to the wondrous world of Costa Rica! It was a long awaited honeymoon but it was certainly worth it and even more than we had ever imagined. 

A colourful country full of flavors, lush landscapes, confidant creatures and vast beaches. Our plan involved a 14 day road trip from San Jose to Lake Arenal then on to the north west coast of Guanacaste. Followed by 4 days in the rainforest at Manuel Antonio National Park. Along the way we climbed through lava and up volcanoes, swam under natural waterfalls, bathed in hot springs, zip-lined through the jungle, surfed the waves and went spotting for wildlife! The don't call it the adventure capital of the world for nothing. There really is so much to see and do and the "Pura Vida" way of life is evident as you venture throughout. 

The thing that struck me the most was how friendly, approachable and trustworthy the people are. I had heard so much about them but it really took my own experience to truly understand how magical these people are. Relaxed, caring, thoughtful and happy. I remember saying to my husband that there is just something about them. It is when you look in their eyes that you can really see the kindness. 

The country and the people really touched me and Costa Rica is a place that one day I hope to return to. ♥

Renting the Runway!.....

Me wearing "Badgley Mischka - Night at the Oscars" c/o Rent the Runway

Due to recent work commitments and various travel expeditions I have not managed to find the time to blog as much as I would like to! Luckily for you all, I set aside some time this week to share with you my recent (life changing) discoveries within the fashion industry. Now, you may read this thinking "Yeah yeah....you are behind the times with your fashion just as much as you are with your blog" OR you may read this thinking "Thank you for this post you have opened my eyes to whole new world of fashion possibilities!". I personally hope it is the latter. 

Ok Ok, enough of the chit chat....lets talk (life changing) fashion; well, you see, it all began on the lead up to my 30th birthday. For weeks on end I was searching shops in the hope of finding the most perfect outfit to wear to my "Roaring 20s" birthday party. Unfortunately the more shops I visited the more I realized that a) No shops in Louisville compare (even one bit) to the high end fashion in the UK and b) I was not going to find my perfect outfit in any of the malls that I trailed. I left feeling deflated and a little disappointed by the lack of stylish and fashion forward clothes on the shelves. It was then that I took to the web! After a few hours of internet shopping later and I still hadn't found anything. It was only only then that I thought about the concept of renting. I eagerly typed "dress rental" into google and to my amazement RENT THE RUNWAY popped up! As soon as I clicked on it I knew that this was the place I was going to find my dream dress and sure enough it was!

Since my 30th birthday I have rented a further two dresses. Each time they drop it off at your front door the day before your event, you wear it and then return in in a pre-paid envelope! It could not be easier. The dresses are just beautiful and definitely the type I could never dream of affording. Rent the Runway enables you to wear red carpet dresses at a fraction of the cost. They are the kind of dresses you really don't find anywhere else, unless you are a superstar and it save you buying a new dress for your wardrobe that you really only wear once anyway!

For any future events from now on I will always.....Rent the Runway. 

They really did "Love My Dress"...

Wow! Absolutely delighted to announce that our recent wedding was chosen to be featured on the award winning UK wedding blog "Love My Dress" (www.lovemydress.net).  My husband and I are both over the moon to have been selected and extremely pleased that we can play a part in helping to inspire brides (and grooms) to be! 

Love My Dress played a massive role in helping us to create our dream wedding and enabled us to have the confidence to plan a very special DIY wedding of our own. They feature so many wonderful weddings and it is lovely to see how other couples manage to pull their day together and to recognize how much time and effort has went in to planning such a memorable occasion.  Annabel and the team at Love My Dress do a such wonderful job at celebrating the success of so many wedding days whilst capturing the love of each couple that they feature,

Thank you. With all of my ♥

Debbie 

Click here to view our AMAZING wedding feature!