Our Weekend in Pictures

FYI Rocotillos hands down do the best milkshakes in Bristol. Pregnant me was addicted and it seems un-pregnant me feels the same way.

Me and my buddy, hanging out with this little chap is the best. Life sure would be dull without him.
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A little (big) bedroom tour

Tom and I aren't the tidiest of people. Thankfully its an affliction that curses us both, I've lived in situations in the past where I'm the messy one of the household and it's a pain. Mainly because I wish I could be better but it's that crushing guilt that YOU are the one that caused this a problem and everyone else has this ability to tidy that you just have missing. 

Anyway, I often say if it weren't for this here blog O mine our house would be in much worst state so thank you blog readers for forcing me to get my act together once in a while.

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Days of play

The past few weeks (longer maybe, weeks all seem to blur into one lately) have been boiling in the South West. Sometimes when the temperature hits 29 degrees and I'm feeling sticky just walking to the end of my road I think 'it's too hot!' but then I stop myself and remember, this is the UK it won't last so appreciate every boiling minute of it. 

So I'm banking all this sun and this heat despite my english rose complexion and my discomfort out of the shade because in a few months when it's raining and cold I will miss this badly!

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a little snap shot of life lately

Becoming a mum has changed my life for so many reasons and becoming more confident and more sociable is one of them. Becoming a parent blogger introduced me to a ton of inspirational women many of whom who I now call my close friends. Here are some of our kiddos being friends too

These photos were taken on two separate days but both to the same place. Windmill Hill city farm. 

The ones with Wilf in his shark dungarees were taken the week prior to this outing as was a result of me getting my days muddled up and thinking we were meeting friends a week earlier than we are actually were..initially I was a bit annoyed with myself for getting it wrong, especially as we had had such a busy morning that day but actually my little boy and I had a great time just the two of us, sharing lunch and taking a stroll around the vegetable patches.

The second time we went to the farm was the correct date and we met up with my friends Adele, Jess and Laura and their kiddos. 

We had such a great morning and I love that our kids can play at ease together now too. I don't know if it's the sun that helps so much (and boy is it sunny right now!). I love this city we live in and the friends we have made!

A little snapshot into one of our days, what have you guys been up to?

Simple things

'And all I wanted was the simple things. A simple kind of life' - No Doubt 'Simple Kind of Life'

When I was younger the thought of having a 'simple life' used to terrify me. I wanted my life to be extraordinary, I wanted to prove myself to be someone and something worthwhile. 

Now I'm older I realise that the 'simple things' I have in my life are the things that make my life worthwhile and to me extraordinary. I know just how lucky I am to have a family that I love more than anything and to feel secure in my life and their love. How amazing it is that I am able to take for granted a coffee trip on a Saturday morning and being able to do things like buy my son a new bedspread in a sale that took my fancy. They sound like nothing to write home about, walking on a wall, stroking a neighbours friendly kitten, playing chase and a slice cake of in a cafe but they are the little things that make me sigh with happiness.

Joining in with the ever lovely Katie and her 'ordinary moments' linky 

Iphone Lenses

I was recently sent these iPhone KLYP lenses from Manfrotto to review. I was really interested to test them out as I tend to use my phone a lot with day to day photography but do really enjoy the difference lenses can make to me DSLR photography

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Scandinavian wanderlust

Follow Fritha Tigerlilly's board Scandinavia on Pinterest.

Scandinavia is one of the places I have always wanted to visit. Maybe its my childhood being brought up on the Moomins or their fantastic sense of interior design, not to mention the fashion and beautiful illustration.. Actually there is usually a 'scandi chic' theme to pretty much everything I am pinning to my Pinterest boards these days!

We all have the travelling bug pretty hard at the moment and Tom and I spend many an evening wondering where we could visit next. I love the idea of watching the northern lights, seeing the fyords..the colourful houses.

Why not check out my Pinterest board, or rather if you don't want to get wanderlust then maybe don't.

Have you ever been to Scandinavia?

Our Weekend In Pictures

It was Tom's birthday over the weekend and he decided to have a quiet one especially after the excitement of last weekend. It also rained for the first time in weeks, we had a huge thunderstorm through the night which was much needed to break all this humidity. 

(Wilf's shirt is c/o JoJo Maman Bebe)

My friend Lori told me about this new place on Gloucester Road called Bakers and Co which is inspired by the San Fransisco cafe scene. 

If you didn't know me by now I am always on the hunt for a new cafe hang out so I dragged my little family though the rain on Saturday morning to check it out

We filled our tummies with huevos rancheros (Tom and I) and banana bread (Wilf). We slurped coffees/babyccinos/juice until we realised we were in fact too full to even try one of their delicious looking cakes. 

All the more reason to come back again I guess!

I also dragged Tom vintage shopping..but did treat him to cake after!

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For the Home

I'm a little addicted to Pinterest at the moment, or rather I'm a little more addicted than usual. Planning a wedding will do that to you. When I'm not pinning images of pom poms and autumnal coloured steamers I'm also peeking at beautiful interiors, my weakness. In fact think my 'for the home' board is my most pinned to board.

Here are some of my latest finds:

This white industrial bathroom is based in a warehouse converted into a bachelor pad. Whilst its very masculine I love the white against that metal and additions like the wooden mirror really soften the shape angles like the stand alone basin.

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Giveaway with Nica

You may remember this bag from a 'What We Wore' from a few weeks back, it's since been my go-to bag for most occasions. It's the perfect size for essentials like wallet, camera, phone, keys and little bit of make up too. It's also nice to have a bag that it not full of children's toys and snacks. I like to leave that stuff in my change bag and keep this one free for more 'care free' days.

Nica are giving away the same bag to one lucky winner. All you need to do is enter the below. They are also offering a 15% discount which can be used once on full priced items using code TigerQ15. 

By entering this competition you are signing up to the Tigerlilly Quinn newsletter which you can opt out of at anytime.

linking up with street style sunday

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Me and You

We took these pictures a few weeks ago on an outing to the zoo gardens. There is a secluded little walled spot behind some trees with a stoney area and some fountains. A friend first pointed it out to me earlier last year and since it's been my favourite place to take Wilf. That boy loves stones and will play happily for well over an hour dropping the stones in the fountains, jumping in and out of the spray and leaving me in peace to drink my take away coffee. Tom often doesn't get to join us as we go during the week when it is quiet but we decided to take a trip the other day as a family and whilst W was happy amusing himself with the water we shot these silly selfies.

Tom and I got together when I was 22 (a week before my 23rd birthday) which always surprises me, I feel like I was 22 a million years ago but that Tom and I have only been together a few years (I'm 28). Which I can only take as a good thing I suppose! It's funny being the age I am now as it's the age we had initially decided would be a good point to start a family. Wilf of course came along a bit earlier, he was planned so I guess I just hadn't banked on how powerful feeling being broody can be! ;)

I have never been the girl to dream about getting married. Everytime I went to a wedding (as much as I enjoyed myself) I always felt panicky watching the bride walk down the aisle and I always thought 'I'm so glad I'm not doing that!' and it reiterated my idea that it wasn't for me. My parents have never gotten married, in fact they are both quite against for concept of it (more on that another day). I've always believed quite adamantly that the act of deciding to raise a child with someone is way more of a commitment than signing a piece of paper. That being said Tom and I discussed marriage quite soon into our relationship (I mean he did say he wanted to marry me after meeting me for just a few hours ;)).

We always said that if we did it would be to have a celebration with good friends, as a celebration of 'togetherness' I guess. I'm undecided on many parts of the traditional marriage, I'm in no way religious and it does bother me a little that choosing to get married is kind of being a hypocrite on that regard, despite the fact we're having a non religious service (would love to hear your thoughts on this btw).

There are bits we had to work out, would I change my name? Nope, in fact Tom thought it might be an idea to add my surname as a middle name to his. I didn't think too much about the whole surname thing when we had Wilf so he has Tom's and not mine, I felt a little sad about this a little while ago so we've considered adding mine is as a middle name for him or even choosing mine as a surname for consequent children. I like that marriage can be done on our terms, how we define our relationship and our beliefs.

Do I think getting married will make us more committed? Nope, choosing to have a child together did that and knowing that we loved each other cemented the 'for ever and ever' part a long time ago. Is it a nice celebration of the love we have for each other and as a family? Yep, I think so and I can't wait to share the rest of my life with this guy xx

p.s don't forget to visit, Lucy, Becky and Kirsty's blogs to see their 'Me and You's' for the month!
p.p.s you can read our engagement story here and here if you like

An Engagement (part two)

Sorry to leave you hanging guys! Here's part two!

An Engament (part one)

So I realised I'd have to split this into two posts (sorry!) but really I couldn't fit the pictures into one and really although I narrowed them down a lot I decided that if there was ever a time for a two parter now might be it. Indulge me.

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Our Weekend In Pictures + Cosatto Giggle Review (Moonwood) – John Lewis Exclusive

A super image heavy 'our weekend in pictures' this week so do click below to read what we got up to!

Stuck On You

With summer in full swing we've been taking lots of day trips lately. We always travel by train (as both of us don't drive) so a bag packed with travel activities is a must. In general we don't really leave the house with any less than five plastic animal's and some kind of car. When travelling for longer journeys we try and take a notepad and crayons too, I spent most of my childhood drawing and love that Wilf seems to enjoy it just as much.

Stuck on You kindly sent Wilf his own personalised 'artist's kit' including sketch pad, pencils and pens and also this personalised beach towel, ideal for day trips to the beach!

They are offering five lucky readers £20 vouchers each plus for free shipping and 10% off everything in store use TIGERLILLY until the 21st of July.

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We Like to Read - Miffy

Miffy by Dick Bruna* c/o The Book People
best miffy books, miffy book collection
It's been a while (again) since a 'we like to read' what I've learnt is really I'm not really very good at the 'ol keeping up a linky thing and much happier when I just post for the sake of it.

Once I realised that I felt more inspired to share what we have been reading. After all I really do love a good book and we do very much like to read :)

I'm a bit Dick Bruna fan and have written before about how much I love his illustrations both here and here. I've never read the book on how Miffy arrived in the world until now though!

What are you reading? If you have posted about your favourite books lately why not leave a link in the comments for people to check out? 

Win a family pass to Lolibop Festival - CLOSED

I still can't believe we haven't been to a festival yet, we keep talking about it and then this and that comes up and it never really happens! Luckily for you guys (or your kiddos rather!) Lolibop are giving away a family pass to their children's festival based in London's Hatfield House. 

Going into it's fifth year Lolibop is a festival designed for the under tens and their families. Lolibop offers everything from live music, theatre, walk-about performance, sport, literacy, interactive demos, workshops, dance lessons, circus skills, cooking classes and of course the most popular names from the kiddo entertainment world. You can find out more about them on their website here and some more from the festival itself below!

Build it, paint it, climb it…. LolliBop, the UK’s biggest kids festival is back!

Taking place at Hatfield House, August 15-17, the all star line-up - aimed at children under the age of 10 - combines some of the hottest names in kids entertainment, as well as hundreds of activities and interactive areas.    The programme includes: Justin Fletcher, Mr Bloom, Mister Maker, Lazy Town and Sam & Mark on the main stage, plus live shows from Chris & Pui, Postman Pat, Scooby-Doo, Swashbuckle & many more. Creative kids will love the new 'Join In with Southbank Centre' area with plenty of dress up, make and take and workshops. We also have a brand new active zone with footballing from Tottenham Hotspur, baby ballet, an old fashioned sports day and martial arts.  Other highlights include Bear Grylls Survival Academy, LolliKitchen, LolliBooks and special areas featuring Thomas & Friends, a Disney Silent Disco & Skylanders Trap Team. 

Hatfield House is easily accessible by road, or rail, just 20 mins from London Kings Cross and has ample parking on site.  The whole programme is for the under 10s and tickets are on sale now priced £22.00pp http://www.lollibopfestival.co.uk/

We’ve got one family pass (four tickets) to give away to this brilliant festival. To enter, answer the question below in the comments box

Q: Where is the location of LolliBop 2014?

A: Hatfield House  

B: Hyde Park 

C: Central Park


Terms & Conditions
·      The competition closes 25th July 2014
 . We have one family pass to giveaway. Each pass admits 4 people, one person in the group must be aged over 18 (NB children under the age of 12 months do not require a ticket) 
·      The winning family can attend on the day of their choice, either August 15, or August 16 or August 17. The date must be specified at time of confirming the prize 
·      Travel and accommodation are not included
·      The prize is non-refundable and cash alternative will be offered
 -     The prize is non transferable and ID will be required at time of collecting the ticket wristband upon arrival
 -    The prize includes all events and activities at LolliBop but not food and drink from any stalls or bar

CLOSED WINNER IS NICOLA GIBB

A day out in Cardiff

A little day out in Cardiff with our friends, click below to read more

Etsy Wish List - For the vintage home

I do not need vintage cat salt and pepper pots..I do not need..oh who am I kidding..

You guys just look at these stacking cups..just looook at them

This dress is pretty pretty pretty

Vintage plastic trays..OK these did end up in my basket, how could I resist! 

Our Weekend in Pictures + What We Wore

Click to read on after the jump!

Win Polaroid style IG prints with Square Snaps

( Wilf's cute PJ's are c/o Frank & Nora)

I love Instagram, it's one of my favourite social media networks. I love how we now all have camera's on our phone to capture those moments we might not have been able to previously. I also love the community feel of IG, the glimpses into each other's life and the general slower paced feel it has in comparison to other networks.

Something I'm very guilty of though is uploading a picture and then forgetting about it. When Wilf was around a year we did end up printing a lot of my Instagram pictures out and used this as a bunting type decoration for above our mantle piece. I can't quite believe that was a year and a half ago, it's a good reminder I need to start printing some of my favourites out again for sure.

Square-Snaps are a company that do just that, print out you Instagram pictures. The process is super easy you can just choose your preferred product from their range, log into you IG and choose the images you want! 

Square Snaps are giving away 27 free Polariod style prints to three lucky readers. All you need to is enter any/all of the below and good luck!

What's more they are offering 20% off all orders until the 20th of July with code 'TLQ20' 

By entering this comp you are signing up to both the Square Snaps and the Tigerlilly Quinn newsletter of which you can opt out of at any time

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