The Gallery

 A Family Story

I've been following the gallery as a blog reader and really enjoyed it so now, as I'm getting my own blog together, I was eager to find out how you join the club! I was very excited to find The Sticky Finger's blog open and friendly, with a lovely invite to all bloggers to come and join in, hurray!

So here is my first entry,  I love the theme as it really made me think back through old photos and brought back lovely memories. This is one of my all time favourite pics, I think I took it when I was about 10 with my new camera (long before the days of digital cameras don't you know!) I love how it shows the three generations of men in the family, although they like to think they're pretty different, this photo tells a different story! Look at the concentration on their faces, they all share the same competitive streak when it comes to sports... the ladies of our family have long since learnt to opt out of games such as this!!

My Grandpa loved sports and didn't like to lose. I remember going to see him in hospital not long before he passed away (at the grand age of 92!) and he pretended he'd never played draughts before just in case I beat him... I didn't! He's left so many fantastic moments like that with me and photos like this bring them all back.

My best travel photo

This is my favourite travel photo which I took in St Lucia. These caterpillars were as big as my hand! I love this photo because of the interesting shapes they make in the moonlight and also because it sums up our time there... everywhere we looked we discovered new creatures and flowers we'd never seen before, it truly felt like paradise!

I entered the Flythomascook Photography Competition:

Emma Talbot – the new face at John Crane Ltd

Look what we found at our house this weekend!


John Crane were offering mummy bloggers a chance to snap up a limited edition Emma Talbot print, I asked nicely and crossed my fingers and they were lovely enough to send me one! In my day job I'm a graphic designer and so one of my loves is great design and illustration. I'm a sucker for cute children's prints and beautifully illustrated books so I was excited to look Emma Talbot up! 

What I found was a passionate, fresh new illustrator with an evident soft spot for rabbits and using environmentally friendly methods. Her blog is gorgeous and warmly invites you in, I'd recommend a peak. I found Emma's designs just so lovable and I can see why she would be the perfect choice to work with John Crane toys.

Part of what we love about John Crane products is their beautiful attention to detail and topnotch design. Emma's illustrations will feature on some all new toys in the Tidlo range from puzzles, to cuddly plushes. The idea of her illustrations on puzzles is perhaps most exciting for us, my little one loves puzzling over jigsaws more than anything at the moment and I find it surprisingly hard to find ones with nice pictures. 

The print they sent us was very sweet and we were excited to get it through the post. Squiggle loves animals so she loved her little panda print and he is certainly going up on the wall. Bright and fun he's bringing extra cheer to those magnolia walls! A great taster for some exciting new products to come.

Thanks so much John Crane for choosing us to receive one, what a treat!! x

My best ever holiday

I love holidays, who doesn't?! Getting away from it all and spending time with the people you really care about for once is about as good as it gets! Most of my favourite memories, which I'm sure will stand the test of time are from my holidays. Tots 100 and Al Fresco Holidays are running a competition asking you to choose your all time favourite, so here's mine... so when you've had a read head over to http://www.thomsonalfresco.co.uk/  to check out their fantastic deals!

A few years before our little one was born, and we were not long engaged, we took a trip to Sardinia. We were saving pennies for the wedding but I was determined to get my holiday! I had heard lots of good things and friends described the beaches as 'exactly like the Caribbean'. I didn't fancy my chances of getting to the Caribbean on our budget so it sounded perfect. Actually it turned out that it was quite an expensive destination itself, so we had to come up with a new plan. We booked some absolute bargain flights to Alghero ourselves and I found a campsite. I've always loved camping and growing up we did this a lot for our family holidays, I was just a bit worried what it would be like in the heat and if our tent would survive the flight!

San Teodoro
Our campsite was fantastic, right on the beach at San Teodoro which is on the east side of the Island. All the plots were in the shade so it wasn't too hot and it had a lovely peaceful air to it. The beach there is a gorgeous long expanse of sand, it was quite busy but I didn't mind that. As English tourists we were in the minority and it was mainly Italians holidaying there. I found it quite relaxing lying on the beach listening to Italian accents!! The people were so friendly and really proud of the Island, asking us, "what do you think of our sea, isn't it clear? How about the beaches?" Yes the sea was crystal clear and the beaches gorgeous. Oh and "have you tried the suckling pig?" sorry I wimped out on that one! 

A HUGE plus of being on an Italian island is indeed the food and wine. Ooooh boy!! I think we spent all the money we saved going out for dinner in the evenings, but San Teodoro had some great restaurants and I had the best meal of my life there. It's bustling in the evening with street markets open late, and lots of people meandering about. The idea of home cooked campsite dinners flew out of the window!

As our campsite was so close to the beach we used to head back at sunset, armed with a bottle of wine and two plastic glasses (classy I know!). By this point the place would be deserted and I felt everyone was missing a trick back at their hotels, it was so perfect.

Party time!

We hadn't realised when we booked it but there was a drum and base festival happening in that resort while we were there. When we found out my heart sank, it's not really my kind of music and I thought it would be a over-run with clubbers. But if you can't beat them, join them they say so we decided to go along a couple of nights and had a blast! It was held in outdoor clubs which were so chilled and fun and I was great to have a bit of a laugh and dance at night.

Touring
Knowing we'd have a fair amount of baggage and camping equipment with us, we hired a car which was fantastic as it meant we got to see more of the island. Every beach you want to was different, some with white sand, some red, some pebbles it's an amazing place! There's not as many cultural attractions that you might find on mainland Italy but Alghero is a beautiful old city with lots of streets and the city walls to explore.

We also visited the Costa Smeralda, the designer resorts where the celebs go apparently. They are lovely to walk around but we almost choked on our cokes when we found out how much they cost! I love walking round ports and deciding which boat I'd pick and what I'd name it. At Porto Cervo the boats didn't dissapoint, they are super yachts and some are unbelievably grand! Great to look at before you head back to your little tent :)

The best is yet to come...
So that was my favourite of holidays as a couple, but I really look forward to topping it as a family! It's a holiday I would love to revisit with my little one, we did some camping in September in Northumbria for our holiday. It was lovely cuddling round the fire but a little chilly for a 2 year old. I look forward to a holiday where she can run around in the sand and splash in the sea! xxx