This year Anthony turned this.........

Into this..........

Master Bedroom w/ built in wardrobes 

Master bedroom en suite/With large Shower

Main Bathroom

2nd Bedroom with built in wardrobes.

The Boy did good! 

In Anthony's words "this was a crackin' deal"

This was a Goldmine of a find in central London, located just across from Marleybone Station. Anthony has a few flats in this area, and the agents know him and what he likes. So when they called him up telling him about this gem he got on it straight away. He was the first to view it and put an offer in immediately even though he did not have the money to fund it all himself, he said it was just too good to let go. It was accepted so with that he felt the heat to find investors quick which he did - phew!
This project was intended to be a fast turn over profit, and besides the cranky woman down stairs who blocked the planning permission for a couple of months over nonsense, it was exactly that.
A year later,  it was sold for nearly double what he bought it for, with two extremely happy investors who got a fantastic return on their money. And one happy husband who can feel a little financial relief for a while..... and of course me, I was a massive beneficiary, especially when the sale completed and exchanged right before my 30th birthday, which meant we were all in the mood for celebrating big... of course I didn't anticipate how big Anthony had in mind! (birthday post to follow).


 Anthony has quite the talent when it comes to maximising space to squeeze the most value out of something - which is necessary for London living.
This is a typical finish for Anthony, he usually goes for a neutral canvas for easier sale.  He decided to dress the flat for a quicker sale and to give himself every opportunity of getting a top price - It worked!
"It sold itself" the agent said, when an eager cash buyer came in with an offer 5k above the tested asking price a week before it officially went on the market.
Anthony put me on the case of dressing the flat, but he had to specify strongly that I didn't do it to my own tastes! ha! I think my thoughts where too transparent when he mentioned glass table and leather chairs.... But he was right, he was aiming for the single business type buyer 'luxury on a budget' he told me, and it had to be non gender specific.So charcoals, stones, neutrals it was!  I loved being sent to work though - I charged him for my services of course!

I wish id taken proper "before" photos, the ones above are from Anthony's phone. As much as we loved how awful the condition was (money wise), it made me sad that an old man lived in it like this. Crazy.

It was great seeing Anthony out of the office and out doing more of what he loves! There is definitely something infinitely more attractive about a man doing what he's passionate about.... well anyone really! It kinda lights up the soul hey.

January to Easter..

January brings the snow.... 

 I kinda love our token 3 days of snow, enough for the country to go into melt down, everyone gets off work and school and they become spontaneous family holidays. We build our snow man, do some sledging, and then its gone before we get completely sick of it. We had lots of family fun in it this year, I loved sledging with the kids...

February half term, we headed to London Zoo.....

 Then I took the kids up north to see their cousins...first to Yorkshire, then across to Liverpool......

 When ever I go without Anthony, I'm always so glad to get back home to my own bed.

            The Easter bunny came on Good Friday before heading up to Liverpool again over Easter......

We visited Quarry Bank Mills with family......

 



These are my favourite pictures from Easter Sunday in Liverpool.... Anna sitting with Anthony watching The Easter Storey on his phone...., Then spending the entire sacrament meeting on his lap. She definitely loves her dad. I also managed to get a bow in her hair for about an hour! record!

My mum and dad did all the kids a big Easter Egg hunt Sunday afternoon, which of course was a huge hit! So many boy cousins on this side of the family which William cant get enough of......

                                                 That Bath time with cousins shot....

That's January to Easter in a basic nut shell...... next few months coming soon.....

January get away to Wales....

The weekend after Williams birthday we all packed into the car and escaped London for a Welsh cottage getaway.... I loved driving through snow topped mountains at night, it was a wonderland. 

And the reason was Lydia's 30th... Lydia is one of my brilliant friends from uni and she orchestrated a weekend away getting some of us uni lot together again.... 

The cottage was big spacious with tuns of rooms and bathrooms, old beams, Old stone work, an agar, fireplaces, tea sets, out door hot tub, poster beds....But it was FREEZING! really freezing! Seriously even Anthony thought so and usually that's something we always disagree on! 

But we had a lovelly time (as long as I was closest to the fire), with great friends in a gorgeous setting, great food (John and Leor did a killer Roast), catching up and reminiscing on memories 10 years ago! crazy! 

A funny moment was walking back to the cottage with Lydia having left the group to walk further up the mountain, hearing shrieks, turning to look to find our friends sliding down the mountain side on their coats.....

                                     The kids enjoyed the farm, hot tub and some sledging....

I am definitely a city girl, I know that much, I love the city, its energy and all it has to offer...But I do LOVE a good country escape.

Better late than never....

Apologies for being such a lousy blogger this year - I will blame instagram for now, its certainly more convenient, but life has been busy (in a good way), and blogging just got shifted to the back of the queue.... Anyway I'm gunna do a quick 6 month recap on some key events to get us up to date again... it may take me a few posts so enjoy before another blogging drought!


JANUARY 23rd. William turns 3!  And in his honour, will write the rest of the post in Blue! Not pale, pastel or pretty blue but bright super (kinda obnoxious), BLUE.

I hadn't given his birthday much thought, just as we were winding down from Christmas it suddenly sprang itself upon me - But I guess I'll have to get used to that. He was very clear that he wanted a "Super Hero Party", So the week before I sent out a quick email invite, then grabbed some blue food colouring, hit the pound shop and managed to muster something of a superhero themed party. I was tempted to colour black masks across the bunting below but decided I wanted to use it again so let that one go! 

The invite suggested an undies over ya PJ's DIY kind of super hero... Keepin it real like the good 'ol days... I have a certain nostalgia attached to that kind of stuff... life before manufactured kids costumes! ha!  
On the day William wouldn't wear the red cape I got him, or smile for any photos.... But he did LOVE his party.

We played lots of party games, all the classics - pass the parcel and pin the mask on the super hero...

The last game, we headed out to the small pirate ship play ground round the corner where a bank robber (Anthony)was hiding with all the (chocolate) money. Equipped with silly string the little Supers had so much fun hunting him down and getting the money from him. 

He really is Super....We are really glad this Super kid and all his crazy came to our family! 

Christmas Time....

The Christmas festivities began early when we went and picked up a tree on the 1st.

 It just about made it still alive come the 25th! 

Grabbed a quick pick which did for our first family Christmas card.....For those who didn't receive one (i grossly underestimated amount needed), here it is....

The kids - so happy and angelic!

Williams first nativity and one of the most joyous, funniest and proudest moments of my mothering life! 

Although help the person who would accidentally call him a Shepherd...

"I'M NOT A SHEPHERD I'M A SUPERHERO!!!!"

(Distorted idea of the nativity but we went with it as it was the only way he'd dress up). 

The Blue Tiger, Batman and the girl taking the Christmas train to see Father Christmas

 Driving through London enjoying the city's lights, 1 a.m, Anthony and I live it up after a Party! ha!

Our traditional Christmas family date in London, was simplified to Winter Wonderland in Hyde Park with the German Market, followed by Harrods Toy department. Anna made it her mission to cuddle and kiss every stuffed animal in the place. 

Christmas eve we enjoyed a small get together with friends, a delicious pre Christmas spread hosted by our friends The Milners...And then home for our own Christmas eve preparations. Anthony made a contraption of string and Jingle Bells, but this was just infuriating William "But I cant see him, I cant see him??!!", He was to overwhelmed so we had to start down playing everything instead, bless 'im.
And When the kids where in bed, Anthony got on with the food preparations and I finished off the presents whilst "Its a Wonderful Life" played in the back ground. Christmas was here.

 The chocolate roulade above is only the work of Anthony!! He did amazing on all the Christmas food.

And Here is Christmas Day in Pictures.......

'Train Track, Lego, Sweets'...Williams Christmas list on auto pilot for weeks....The treasure Chest was a hit, especially since it was where he could lock up all his precious chocolate! (He spent the first half of Christmas morning just counting out his sweets!)

Whilst Anna was only interested in one thing...BREAKFAST! 

Don't Come between this girl and her cereal!

Discovering Santa's been, Checking the reindeer ate their oats and carrots.

The Gruffalo and The gruffalos Child were on repeat all over Christmas! I love them probably as much as the kids!

We had Some of Anthony's family over for Christmas dinner, and a friend of ours from church...in all we hosted for 6 adults and 4 under 4 yrs olds!! It wasn't a sit down kinda meal put it that way! ha

Cousins...

A precious moment, and my fave of the day was whilst driving with William to pick up our friend for dinner, he sighed a deep sigh and said "This is a wonderful day, a really really wonderful day".

Like William, I Hope you all had a "really really Wonderful Christmas".