Gift Ideas with Oregano Designs

I'm a sucker for a personalised gift, I think they are the best kind of gifts not matter the occasion. 

Suzanne over at Oregano Designs kindly sent us one of her personalised items. Suzanne has a background in design and began her own business after doing prints and gift ideas for friends and family. Suzanne creates all of her items from home while looking after her two little ones. 

We chose the family crest frame and it's such a lovely idea. I love the calligraphy writing in the middle of our 2 family crests and it's the first thing we have where our names are combined.

I was really impressed by the quality of the prints and the whole frame in fact, delivery time was also super quick. The colour of the family crests is really vibrant, it makes the whole frame stand out and catch your eye as you walk down our hallway. 

If you're looking for something a bit different then Oregano Designs will definitely offer that - I've already got my eye on the Finger Print Gift for another occasion. 

Suzanne has kindly offered all of you lovely readers a 15% discount off your entire order including shipping when you buy something from her website. Please use promo code 'PROMO15'

Life Lately...Finding A Balance Again

Oh hello there little blog! It's been so long since I've posted, my little space on the internet has been neglected but life has got in the way these last few months and that's ok. 

What's Been Going On:

I think I last posted in February, not long after I was struck down with Influenza B and honestly it's taken me a while to get back up on my feet again after it. 

Work has been busier than usual at this time of the year and the OH has been busy holding down 2 jobs and finishing his final year in college.

The boy child seems to have had lots of preschool holidays, an extra mid term this month, what's that all about?! 

Back in March the snow put the country on hold for about a week, we we're stuck in our estate for 5 days! 

The campaigning for referendum on the 8th Amendment has pretty much taken over my life since the voting date was announced and now we are only 10 days away from May 25th when we will get a chance to cast our vote. 

What's Happening Now:

I'm trying to concentrate on myself a bit more. I've been getting out for walks in my lunch break, trying to improve my diet with fresher foods and less processed and taking my vitamins and supplements regularly as I really feel it when I don't take them for a while.

I'm spending some time tapping into my spiritual side and just trying to refocus on the important things with a more positive attitude. I attended my first Scared Feminine Circle  with Juliana Torres recently, I'll write more about that a later date I hope but I really enjoyed it and I feel more able and focused since. 

The OH has been able to give up his job by night in the local hotel and is currently putting the final touches to his last projects for college. I can't believe he is almost done with 3 years in college, it feels like yesterday he started but at the same time it's been a long and hard road not least for him. I'm very proud and keeping all my fingers and toes crossed that he gets the final mark that he deserves. 

As of next week we will be able to regain some kind of normal routine when he is finished college and back to work in the one job full time. It'll be a bit strange having him at home more but looking forward to some proper family time. 

We now have an almost 5 year old imagine! In less than 4 weeks the boy child will turn 5. He's done a lot of growing up lately - he's finally given up the dummy. He had it at night time mostly and we had made a few attempts to get rid of it but he wasn't letting go so we stepped back and allowed him to do so when he was ready. It's funny how it happened, we had been chatting in my room one afternoon during the Easter holidays and it came up that I had braces as a teenager and he asked me what they were. I explained as best I could, metal and a bit of cement on your teeth, it wasn't very nice and he didn't seem to take much notice but the next afternoon he threw his dummy across the room and said he didn't want ti anymore and that was it! He asked for it that night but I told him i threw it out as he had asked and he's not looked for it since. He gave up on his "bear" for a week or so too as he associated it with the dummy but now he's back taking ti to bed every night which we're happy about as he's had it since he was a newborn and I love that he still has a bit of comfort.

The referendum on the 8th amendment and the lead up to the vote next Friday has been all consuming. I'm been out and about campaigning as best I can over the last 2 months and honestly I'm so looking forward to it being over. We are fighting the good fight here in the Together For Yes group but having to deal with the dirty tactics and the abundance of lies from the No side has been draining to say the least. I will probably write a separate post on this in the coming days as I have a lot to say but we will be campaigning right up to the last minute in the hope that care and compassion for the women of Ireland will prevail in the polling stations on May 25th. 

I feel like we as a family are moving on to the next phase of our adventure and I am really excited about what our future holds.

Love & Light To You All xx

Our Weekend Happy #2

Week 2 of documenting our weekends and I'm loving it.

It's reminded me to take out my camera and capture some very ordinary but lovely moments, it's reminded me that the weekends are important for family time and having a break from the hustle and bustle and it's reminded me that we don't have to do anything extravagant at the weekends to have a nice time. 

Last weekend saw us get a blanket of snow, not for long mind but throwing snowballs and chasing each other around the garden was definitely the highlight of the weekend for Luke. 

On Sunday we actually had 4 seasons in one day! It was sunny, snowing, raining, windy, cloudy and then a shower of hailstones! We'd no sooner have our jackets on to go out in the snow and the sun would either melt it away again or the rain would start. Not to worry though we did manage to get out in the snow and I got some lovely pictures of Luke enjoying his first proper snow experience.

As you can see he was absolutely thrilled to be out and about and chasing his Mum and Grandad with snowballs! 

The garden looked like something off a Christmas card for the short while the snow hung around. 

Car shopping was on the agenda last weekend as my car is hanging on by a thread at this point. I have found my perfect car and I'm hopeful we'll have it in the next few weeks, a few financial aspects have to be looked at first as it will be a big investment but I'm excited at the thought of having something that runs smoothly for a change. 

After car shopping we went out for lunch and despite it being absolutely freezing, it wasn't enough to deter Luke from getting his ice cream after lunch!

We had other plans to travel to commemoration ceremony at the weekend but due to the bad weather we couldn't so we spent the rest of our weekend visiting friends, doing a clean up around the house and lots of puzzles. We even managed a lie in on Sunday which was much needed, I really need to start going to bed earlier again during the week, it's been so late recently and I'm exhausted.

Overall it was a lovely weekend, we had a lot of time with the 3 of us which was is rare but lovely.

Linking up with Mummascribbles and Mrs H's Favourite Things for the #ourweekendhappy linky.