Hunker Down and Cosy Up

NEWS: These past few months I've got to know my sofa quite well. Mainly because I've been sitting on it for increasing periods of time. My recent inactivity has been brought on by a new and fantastic occurrence...I'm four months pregnant! My husband and I are both beyond excited about becoming parents. It will be, and has already been, a massive learning curve but we're ready for it :)

As amazing as this life changing news is, it has brought on a tremendous amount of morning sickness - I don't think I ever fully appreciated how debilitating morning sickness can be. I take my hat off to all the mammas out there. I think I am past the worst of it, thank goodness, so now I want to get to the crazy nesting and obsessive planning stage. Any tips on preparing for motherhood are most certainly welcome!

It has been a while since I graced these pages with my presence. I do apologise. As I've said before, I cannot guarantee I'll be back here with a regular schedule but I do intend to continue posting as and when I can. 

Right, let's get down to business and talk some interiors...

I love making my home as cosy as it possibly can be; especially when the weather is as cold as it has been recently. Goodness me, did someone say fluffy slipper socks?! I, for one, have definitely been living in mine. To help me snuggle down sofasofa.com kindly contributed to my cushion collection. My obsession with grey is still as strong as ever, and so their Cleo cushions in pewter were the perfect addition to my sofa party. 

sofasofa.com Cleo cushions in Pewter

The cushions are extremely plump and supportive as well as being a good quality. I feel that the thick, ribbed material makes them hard wearing so they wont be looking sorry for themselves any time soon, especially considering my current overuse of them.

Hands up, who'll be running round picking up last minute Christmas presents this weekend. I'm very nearly finished but I certainly have a lot of wrapping to do. 

If I don't manage to head back here before the big day, may I wish you and yours a very Merry Christmas and a joyous New Year!

Claire x

Sofasofa.com kindly supplied the cushions featured in this post for review purposes. All thoughts are my own. 

One Whole Year

Today I am patting myself on the back...I've completed one whole year of blogging here at Happy Little Places.  Yay!

I am pretty proud of this milestone because it really does take a lot of dedication to keep up with a blog. (This is something I didn't quite realise whilst sitting on the other side of a laptop screen.)  I have thoroughly enjoyed coming up with content for these pages and I hope you've enjoyed reading them.  Whether you're a new reader or someone who may have followed from the first post, thank you from the bottom of my heart.
  

Source

I am really pleased with the opportunities blogging has presented to me.  I hope that this momentum continues.  Onwards and upwards, as they say :-)

Cheers, everyone!

Claire x

Official

I decided the other day to make Happy Little Places a tad more official.  Allow me to introduce my shiny new business cards.  I created my own design using Easy Print and all for free. Thankfully they lived up to their name, as it really was super easy.  I uploaded my logo, input the text I wanted, as well as the cute little house image and voilà!  I'll be cracking out these beauties at any future networking events.

What do you think of the design?  Do you have your own business cards for your blog?  

Claire x

Rollercoaster

The past few months have been a bit of a rollercoaster and hence my blogging schedule (if you can call sporadic, unplanned posting a 'schedule') has all but completely vanished.  

Our English Springer Spaniel Zara has given us quite the scare recently and so I've been a bit all over the place.  Allow me to explain...

Zara was coming up to two years old and we decided to get her spayed.  The operation went smoothly and she was allowed home the same day.  However, the rest of her recovery has not been quite so straight-forward.  There have been several rushed trips to our vet, the emergency vet and in the end a referral to The University of Liverpool veterinary school where she was seen at the Leahurst campus in the small animal teaching hospital.  They found out that she had an internal bleed caused by a dislodged suture which resulted in her requiring an emergency operation.  After this second op we thought she was on the road to recovery, unfortunately we were wrong and nobody quite knew why.  She underwent lots of tests and several potential diagnosis were mentioned.  It was thought that she had a genetic blood disorder which prevented her blood from clotting.  The treatment for which was intravenously fed plasma.  After a couple of weeks at Leahurst and close to 10 bags of plasma her blood results were still not improving.  The vet called us in.  Arriving in that consultation room was a bittersweet moment.  We were delighted to see her after what felt like forever but the news from the vet was not good.  They said that they could not stop the internal bleed and that she was not reacting to the treatment.  There was nothing more they could do.  They advised us to take her home and make her comfortable but that she would deteriorate at an unknown pace and eventually need putting to sleep.  

Poorly pup

My husband and I were complete wrecks.  We might not be parents to human babies just yet but our pets are our family and feel like our children.  We brought her home and decided to make sure she enjoyed whatever time she had left.  The first thing we changed was her diet, no more kibble for Zara, oh no.  She dined on steak, black pudding and liver as well as many other fine doggy treats.  We took her on small lead walks and captured a ridiculous amount of photographs.  

It was difficult to remain positive during this time.  Every day I expected the worse.  I couldn't concentrate at work.  I found it difficult to eat and was almost constantly nauseous.  Zara hadn't quite finished shocking us just yet.  The vets in Liverpool had sent her bloodwork to a specialist in America.  When we eventually got the results, everyone was shocked.  They were normal.  

The vets still don't know what or if there's something wrong with Zara's blood but she is currently happy, healthy and as bonkers as ever.  Her swollen blood-filled stomach has completely vanished as her body has reabsorbed the blood.  She looks and acts exactly as she did before the operation.  We're baffled but in a very good way.  

Happy pup

We understand that she might not necessarily be entirely out of the woods yet but we're certainly feeling much more positive than we did a few weeks ago.  We keep counting our blessings.  

I'd like to say a massive THANK YOU to all our friends and family that have really been there for us during this extremely stressful time.  I'm hoping with a bit more stability at home I'll be able to hop back on the 'blog-waggon'.

CB x

twenty seven

Today is my birthday and I am now 27.  

Quite recently I actually forgot how old I was.  I couldn't remember if I was 26 or 27, in the end my brother had to assure me that I was 26.  I was quite relieved because I couldn't recall what I had done to celebrate entering my 27th year on this planet. Phew! 

Celebrating last year with a trip to Formby Beach - cheeese

So at least I do get to celebrate turning 27.  It will most likely involve food, drink (hopefully something bubbly) friends and family.  

Little one-day-old me - photo by my father

Have a great day!

CB x

Extra Curricular Activity

I'm just stopping by to let you know of some exciting happenings...

I've recently teamed up with Rachael of The Social Butterfly and I am now officially working as her assistant.  Check out the little write up here. 

I'm super excited for what the future may hold and hope to share snippets here, as well as over on The Social Butterfly blog.  

Keep up-to-date by following me on twitter or instagram.  


Happy Friday!  :-)