Posts Tagged With: Home

TastyKakeMinis: The Mini ‘Kakes’ that are….

Posted on October 7, 2015 by British Chick

…Awesome! (and Tasty of course)

A while ago I signed up to Influenster.com to receive their VoxBox -which is basically a box they send you (every now and then) of a new item or product to test and review.

The main point of it is to get people to test it and to also have them share their opinions on social media and basically spread the word about a new product. The more opinions they share and tasks they complete… The more points, potential prizes and a bigger chance they have of receiving a vox box in the future.

The contents of my VoxBox

Sometimes a requirement is to blog about the product that you’re testing and as I do have a blog I will do that from time to time. At this point I must state that I was sent this product (for free) for the sake of testing and reviewing; these are my own opinions. (Oh and if I don’t like the product I will be brutally honest about it)

So…in this VoxBox I received Tastykake minis to test (yum!) Apparently you can get one of three flavours, those being coffee, chocolate or Reese’s peanut butter. I had a peanut butter flavour (yay!) which, honestly, would be my first choice of the three anyway

The theme of the VoxBox was celebrating so the VoxBox came with a whole box of TastyKake Minis, a drink cosi, party hat and some money off vouchers to share with friends (I shared with my husband and son because that way I know I’ll be getting at least one ‘kake’ in return and I’ll really have a reason to celebrate * insert evil laugh mwahahahah * ).

Celebrating Solo

Tasks involved sharing how we celebrated with TastyKate Minis, using the hashtag #tastykakeminiwins on social media platforms of course. Luckily for me, that week I had just started my new job so I had a genuine reason to celebrate … not only having a job but also celebrating the coffee breaks and the chance to put my feet up after a day at work 🙂

So now the product itself- TastyKake Minis are small sponge cakes – in this case chocolate, with peanut butter flavoured icing and peanut butter flavoured crème filling. They come in wrapped packets of 3 – which has a little cardboard tray at the bottom to help avoid squishing 😉 The cakes are very sweet but small enough to not feel guilty about it. They have the perfect amount of crème and icing to balance out the chocolate sponge – which is moist and springy. I feel 3 cakes per pack is just the right amount, 4 would be too many and 2 wouldn’t be as devilishly satisfying. Overall they were a hit – a big thumbs up from me, my husband and my son (seriously I had to hide them to make sure they weren’t all inhaled in one go)

I can see this being a regular thing…(need more wine though)

Each Box has 24 mini cupcakes (so 8 packets per box) which is a good amount … but odd enough to make you have to buy more than one box every fortnight if you’re using them for lunch-boxes and snacks (sneaky but it works). The box itself is bright, secure and opens in such a way that you can store it in your pantry and still access the TastyKakes without having to take the whole box out each time, which, as a mum and maker of lunches, is a definite plus.

I had never heard of or noticed the brand TastyKake before this VoxBox (maybe if I had grown up in the States it would be a different story) but honestly since testing them I have seen their brand everywhere so this VoxBox thing works as far as spreading the word and sending out those subliminal messages 😉

There are MORE of them!

I would definitely recommend TastyKakes, they have been added to our shopping list and I’m sure they will be a regular purchase from now on. I enjoyed this VoxBox and look forward to the next one 🙂 Have you tried these yet? Are you a TastyKake fan?

https://www.facebook.com/Tastykake

https://www.instagram.com/Tastykake

Categories: Reviews | Tags: Abroad, BritishChickAcrossThePond, Chocolate, Chocolate cake, Facebook, food, Home, Influenster, Kids, Peanut butter, review, TastyKakeMinis, TastyKakeMiniWins, Twitter, VoxBox | 3 Comments

I know, I know, here I go again rolls eyes

Posted on October 5, 2015 by British Chick

It’s been so long since I’ve been able to sit down and get my ancient laptop to actually DO SOMETHING I ask it to do (Maybe I should have been TELLING it what to do all this time instead)

All I can do is hold my hands up (again) and apologise for my absence…and maybe blame a MASSIVE percentage on rubbish technology and joint pain but I digress…

I HAVE been busy with all sorts though. From ALMOST finishing painting the kitchen (photos ~~soon~~ eventually I promise) to starting a new job (yay me) – or a pretty intense health scare (thankfully all clear now) to a handful of new fur-babies coming to stay with us. It’s been a roller-coaster indeed but I’m still here and I’m still smiling 🙂

For now I just wanted to say Hi and also direct your attention to the “snapshots” on the right hand side —> That WAS linked to my personal instagram – click here if you’re an Instagram(mer??) & want to follow that account – but it has now been updated to share snapshots from my BritishChick account instead so hopefully that will let all you crafty people see the relevant things I’ve been up to…. rather than selfies of me and my dog…. *rolls eyes*

I shall return! (famous last words I’m sure but this blog is always on my to-do list so the intention is still there)

I hope you are all well and happy 🙂

Categories: Desperate Housewife | Tags: BritishChickAcrossThePond, Business, crafting, DIY, Facebook, Home, Instagram, painting, Photo sharing | 8 Comments

Cloudy with a chance of spray paint

Posted on April 19, 2015 by British Chick

I promise this blog isn’t going to be ALL about my house BUT while that’s what I’m working on I’ll share as I go-otherwise you’ll never hear from me. This time is all about my kitchen table transformation

Ignore the mess….focus on the wood 🙂

My kitchen is very… Wooden. The walls will eventually be painted cream or “off-White” (is there a difference??) The one thing I want to keep is the black metal handles on the cabinets so with that in mind black will be the accent colour.

My husband is fed up with the dining set we have, mainly because it’s a cheap Tesco table that has been with me for years but also because I’ve used it for painting on, one chair is broken and again it’s very… Wooden.

After hunting for dining sets and hearing my bank balance scream I decided to update our set and give it a new lease of life.

*Enter my two enemies, the sander and the spray paint*

First I sanded all pieces (with the right type of paper)

Then I set to work fixing the broken chair. This bad boy has been held together with a mixture of wood glue, duct tape and sticky labels ever since my then-toddler had a tantrum and knocked it over.

This is my new favourite thing

I found this stuff which claims to be harder than steel… A quick dip, squeeze and wrap later and it’s stronger than it’s ever been. It can also be sanded and painted over.

I took to the garden and got going. Remembering previous mistakes I took my time, opting for a few light sprays from a distance. Then the thunderstorms happened so I moved to the carport *note to self- check weather before starting a project*

This particular spray paint claims “no drips” but it lied!! A light (hand) rub down with ultra fine sandpaper removed any splodges and I simply sprayed over it lightly to cover.

Also it turns out the weather really does matter! Humidity+ water+ spray paint = cloudy results and/or cracking in parts, especially if rain droplets find their way onto whatever you’re spraying

After a good day letting it dry, googling cloudy-removing solutions, spending a good 30 minutes of hair-dryer action and fearing that the clear coat spray may give the same results I resorted to my backup plan – THIS stuff. A brush on paint AND sealant in one.

Moving into the house, armed with rollers, sponge brushes and plastic sheeting I lightly sanded the pieces and painted over them. I found that light coatings with drying time and light sanding in between works best. Any thick/drippy bits were easily sanded and re-coated

I’m in love 🙂

4 coats later and I’m in love. With the addition of some beige/cream chair cushions and a random place-mat with jug combo I’m really pleased with the outcome. It definitely kept me busy AND saved some money (even more so when I returned the left over spray paints)

Cushions $20

(Wasted) spray paint $14

Rollers, brushes & tray $10

Polyshades $11

Jug (gift)

Place mat $2

$57 for a new dining set

As always here are more pics to show the ~~stress~~ process

: The original

: After sanding

: Broken chair

: seems easy enough

: Magic fixing stuff

: The results – It can be sanded and painted over

: My weapon of choice

: Here we go

: before

: after

: second coat

: The cloudy-ness

: Before Polyshades

: After Polyshades

: Add a cushion…

: Add a place-mat and jug combo and we are done 🙂

Categories: Desperate Housewife | Tags: Chair, DIY, Do it yourself, Home, paint, painting, Sandpaper, Weather, wood | 4 Comments

Who knew stripping was so hard

Posted on April 5, 2015 by British Chick

The bathroom – part 1 (don’t judge me)

I made a mess of my bathroom (paint) and I’m upset with myself. I make no secret of the fact that I am NOT good at DIY – or making good choices OR being patient for that matter

Pink and brown…mmmmm

The Problem: First off- this is what I had to work with…. typical pink (or nude) and brown (or skid mark) tiles and matching unit that was popular when it was built and decorated in the 70s (and kept that way ever since) It has lovely green carpet too(in pics below)… Luckily for us it’s just laid over original tile and easily lifted -or it will be when the time comes, it’s just a shame the tiles aren’t more appealing.

The plan: I wanted colours which could tie in with the tile -meaning less work in the long run- but I also wanted something warm and inviting. For the main wall I chose a warm caramel it has “warm” in the name so the choice wasn’t that difficult, the tiles will be eventually cream and the accent colours for example the nice pink unit will eventually be a chocolate brown…. Easy enough right?

*my dad calls this colour “baby poo”, it looks very different on camera than real life and the reflection from the remaining pink tile isn’t helping either but trust me it WILL look nice in the end*

“Baby Poo Brown’ with primed tile

The lessons I learned the hard way:

Work from the top down: I decided to prime the pink tile as that’s that main thing that irks me (aside from the carpet) but after priming one wall I realised I should probably start at the top and work my way down. A little time wasted but no biggie
If the advice at Walmart is “Maybe your should go to Lowes” … Go to Lowes
Buying paint at Walmart purely because it’s closer and ~~I’m lazy~~ I happened to be there when the urge to impulse-buy paint struck wasn’t the best idea.
Don’t trust the “paint-finish-key”: I’m used to buying paints marked “bathroom” etc but Walmart just has flat, satin, glossy and semi-gloss The key told me semi-gloss was the way to go… It wasn’t

What I learned about semi-gloss (this deserves its own section:

Unless you’re going for a very light colour or painting a large room with natural light… Stay away from semi-gloss
It’s going to end up darker than the picture on the tin
You’ll feel like you’re in a wet, dark, cave
Gloss paint shows up every imperfection in the wall! So either sand the wall or go for satin. Otherwise shelling out for paint “pads” which are “smoother than a roller and quicker than a brush” is completely pointless.
If you hate the look of the first wall… Painting the others will not make it look any better.

The sander is NOT my friend

The outcome: I backed away and went to bed- when you lose sleep over something you know it’s got to change. This morning I woke up determined to repaint it with a satin finish and googled whether that was a possibility or not….it is. A friend suggested sanding it first to remove the obvious brush strokes showing through from the previous owners so I bought a hand power-sander to help speed things up. *yes I can see you cringing*

Lessons about sanding:

Using the wrong type of paper when sanding over gloss paint can remove 3 layers of paint in patches all over the place leaving the option of attempting to paint over the patches OR removing all paint from that wall with a tiny paint trowel I found in my craft drawer….

3 days (and some wine) later the wall was stripped, patched, primed and ready for round 2

I’m so much happier now it’s not as shiny, I painted over the other walls (without sanding) and it acted like a second coat, filling in any patches and calming down the cave-feel. I’ve since started on the tile – with the RIGHT kind of paint (thanks Lowes) so I’ll update you once I’ve come down from the fumes 🙂

: BYE PINK! maybe doing the tiles first isn’t the best idea

: Green Carpet…it just doesn’t make this ANY better

: OOPS

: Tiny scraper to the rescue

: This took forever

: Considered knocking down the wall at this point

: almost there!

: patched and primed

: first coat

: top half done

: Add a little feature switch plate

: ahhhh much better

: wall done and starting with the ‘off-white’ tile

Categories: Desperate Housewife | Tags: Bathroom, DIY, Do it yourself, Home, painting, Painting tile, Sanding, Sandpaper, Tile | 4 Comments

Maybe it runs in the family….

Posted on March 24, 2015 by British Chick

I have a few posts in the pipeline but many are being written in real-time (usually part way through an ~~awful~~ a challenging DIY project) so I will wait to see how they pan out or at least edit them a bit better before posting. In the meantime I wanted to share my little mans latest Artwork.

I have mentioned before that he wants a Spiderman themed bedroom. Well with the exception of any major changes like the colour of the walls its beginning to take shape with the help of some blue and red items (such as his Spiderman-blue book crate I painted here), some shelves and bedding etc. I have a few more tweaks, including a huge canvas but eager to get going he wanted to make one of his own.

so here it is….

SpiderMan

I love it 🙂 You can tell what it is and everything -or I can anyway. I gave him free reign on this – which given my ~~worrying~~ ~~controlling~~ ~~picky~~ nature was a big step forward for me and I’m so proud of him. He’s reminded me that he doesn’t need me to hover over him and help all the time and that hes more than capable of making something beautiful unaided.

Speaking of which…. we received a letter from his school informing us that one of his art pieces had been chosen to represent the school and be displayed at the local “mall” (VERY PROUD MUM ALERT)

Here he is with his art 🙂 Can you tell what it is?

Whoop Whoop!

Theme Week: DIY with and for Kids

Categories: Crafty Chick | Tags: Canvas, Creative, DIY, Do it yourself, Home, Kids, Life, painting, Parenting, Superhero | 5 Comments

Anything that CAN go wrong….

Posted on March 5, 2015 by British Chick

We are finally in the new house! It’s been a crazy few weeks but we made it.

We moved by ourselves (only 5 minutes down the road but that doesn’t make lifting a sofa any easier) discovered an abandoned mouse nest behind the kitchen drawers -and evidence of them running all through the cupboards *shudder* and then the gas/heat ran out Sunday night. The world chose that moment to send a winter storm our way.

It’s warmer in my freezer than in my house…

We spent 4 days and nights with no school, no work and no heat; surrounded by boxes (have you ever tried unpacking wearing 7 layers of clothing??) and surviving on 2 tiny space heaters- not fun! We didn’t dare go out and play in it as the idea of getting warm again… Well it wasn’t really an option ha ha. At a few times it was actually warmer in my freezer than in our house … Again, not fun.

Just as the world started to thaw the gas man arrived and we got back in the swing of things… Until I received a phone call informing me that my husband was in hospital after slipping on ice. Worryingly he had slipped and remained on the ground for about 30 minutes face down in the grass unable to move Luckily he came away with just bad bruising and very strong pain medication

BUT that means he’s been out of action for almost a week now. And of course the weather took another turn so little man has been off school too. I think it’s safe to say we’ve all got a bit of cabin fever now ha ha!

ANYWAY, despite everything I’ve managed to unpack everything and find a place for it. So far there is one room I’m completely happy with (and that’s because it’s the spare room so nothing is moved the minute I finish organising it)

It used to be hot pink and black but this time the curtains dictated which way I should go with it, opting for a more grown up and simple look rather than Barbies brothel. – BTW choosing curtains has been such a headache AND EXPENSIVE ha ha.

Toby approves of the spare room

I love it! A friend sold me a black chair to go with it – I’m thinking it will do as somewhere to drape clothes until we have the means to get some real furniture but for now that, a laptop table and a huge “closet” should work just fine 🙂

As for the carpet…. (Ha ha!) it runs the entire length of the house – including the bathrooms!!! *yuck* but it will be going as soon as the weather warms up. It’s original hardwood underneath so that will be a project in itself.

As always I’ll leave with some other pics (no before and afters as it’s only the addition of furniture lol) but hopefully I’ll be back to show you another finished room sometime soon 🙂

: The back garden …we may need a bigger dog

: Poptarts…

: “Do you wanna builld a snowman??” (NO!)

: Rhonda (my car) looks like a frozen fish

: This came off Rhonda – just sheets of solid ice

: LUCKILY we have this… however we only had one log (sadface) and it was rather smokey as it hasn’t been used in a long time

: The guest room…and the carpet *vom*

: Toby approves of the spare room

This Cat Has Figured Out a Genius Way to Beat the Winter Blues (VIDEO)

Categories: Desperate Housewife | Tags: Home, Life, Moving, Snow, Weather, Winter storm | 2 Comments

The day the Spray Paint almost won

Posted on January 28, 2015 by British Chick

Over the past few months my little man has learnt to read. I’m a big reader so I’m thrilled that he enjoys it so much and want to encourage him to keep at it. His growing library is rapidly outgrowing his book rack so I began the hunt for extra book storage I can cook-up ready for the move.

SandPaper is my friend – as is cardboard

Sadly the majority of ideas offered by Pinterest involved sewing to make a “book sling” so they went out the window, basic shelves crossed my mind but that would involve some kind of spirit level and something stronger than drawing pins to hold it up…not to mention book ends *urgh* (I must state here that 90% of my wall-hanging objects are held up with drawing pins and/or bluetac)

I eventually decided on wooden crates. EASY! Just grab some Spiderman Blue spray paint, nail them to the SpiderMan Red wall (after trying and failing with pins no doubt) and the books can stay put regardless of how wonky they are 🙂 (yes I realise I could make my life much easier by investing in a spirit level – or just digging out the one that’s buried in the garage) BUT painting is my thing, DIY is not… This crate idea seemed to be a winner….

I found a crate/box in a local charity shop (I wish I had a “before” photo) and went to work on it. I don’t know why I chose a late afternoon to start this project… In the garden… And the wind but it happened.

Turns out paint and spray paint are two very different mediums. The can wouldn’t spray colour unless is was pointing straight forward (like spraying a wall) but it simply dripped down the wood if sprayed at this angle. After adjusting and experimenting I seemed to have the distance, angle and speed worked out and managed to make my crate look “alright” until the wind blew my protective newspaper (yes Blue Peter would be proud) up and onto the wet paint.

SpiderMan Book Rack *Whoop Whoop*

The paint was just tacky enough to hold all alien materials to it so I was left with large chunks of some cartoon character seemingly immortalised on the box. *urgh!* To make matters worse, in my panic to remove the offending paper I had run inside in search of sandpaper; thus freeing the puppy who then ran around the garden, knocking the crate onto another of its wet sides…. MORE paper stuck to it.

I spent the rest of the sunlight sanding the whole thing down, chasing Toby (the pup) in order to retrieve the sandpaper he insisted on eating and vowing to start again tomorrow.

Tomorrow is here and I’ve finished. (Yay) I’m happy with it & can’t wait to see it against the red of his (future) wall. It’s a small victory but I’ve learnt a few things for next time…

1-Read the can! The angle/distance wouldn’t have been such a surprise if I’d done that

2-Cardboard is a much better surface protector than newspaper (especially on windy days)

3- Less is more (but less work ha ha) Light coats dry quicker and more evenly

4- Rushing is not an option– waiting 2 minutes between coats saves a few hours of sanding to fix a problem

5- Puppies & Sandpaper do not mix– Toby spent the rest of the night throwing up the remains of it (he’s ok now though)

6- If you’ve used most of a can of spray paint on one small item… You’re probably doing it wrong

And finally

7- Just because something LOOKS easy, doesn’t mean it actually is. It turns out people who make “easy” pinterest crafts have probably spent some time tweaking their methods.

Categories: Crafty Chick | Tags: Aerosol paint, BritishChickAcrossThePond, craft, crafting, Creative, DIY, Do it yourself, Home, Moving, paint, painting, Sandpaper, Spray painting, Superhero | 4 Comments

3 steps to world domination

Posted on January 6, 2015 by British Chick

Ok so maybe that’s a SLIGHT exaggeration…

Happy New Year 🙂 The start of 2015 marks the start of my 2^nd year here in the states.

I seem to have settled in nicely – I’ve made friends, we have a new addition to our family, I can now drive without wanting to open-mouth-scream-cry at the sight of a 4 way stop AND I’ve started my own small business. Yup, I’m doing what I love and painting for people other than my mother (yay). Admittedly it’s still getting off the ground and I have a few other tricks up my sleeve but I have faith in what I’m doing and building my British Chick Empire is top of the list. So what better way than to kick off with some resolutions?

Start an Etsy Shop: TICK

This crafty stuff has always been a hobby; moving here I joined a local a craft group and it stemmed from there. I discovered a little giftshop which holds hand-made items from over 40 local vendors – now including me 🙂 I set up a facebook page dedicated to my business and an actual online shop seemed like the next logical step. Its very fresh and rather daunting but it’s open and I’m adding to it every day (it’s here btw)

Blog again: TICK

I have missed blogging. However – busy schedules aside- the physical act of typing has a lasting affect on my body (cause to be determined) Because of this

I think I’m going to need bigger pots…

I find it easier to avoid typing too much too often and that didn’t suit my previous blog schedule so it fizzled out completely. This time I am aiming for shorter posts and/or less frequent. I really miss the writing challenges so I think with all things considered it makes sense to change up the old blog and focus on my passions.

Get my DIY on: (Pending)

We are in the process of buying a house (eeeek) it’s definitely a fixer-upper as far as cosmetics anyway and I know we are going to have to do a lot of work to make it a little more bearable to live in -IF the sale goes well. I really want to try and do as much DIY as I can (or as my body will allow lol) and hopefully learn some new skills along the way (I’m sure the disasters & triumphs will make entertaining blogging material) I hope that by this time next year I will be a DIY QUEEN with a beautiful house – or at least part way there.

Of course the list could go on forever with the usual stuff like call grandma more often or stop nagging PEOPLE *cough cough* for leaving the toilet seat up…so I’ll leave you with a few ongoing aims (in no particular order) that have made it on to my list:

THIS is our new addition – Toby

Work in progress:

Understand Taxes – a must when registered as self employed

Train the puppy – Pee pads are expensive

Be nicer – think/act/sound

Ebay/Donate/Throw away the clutter – started and vow to continue (if only to make money and room for more clutter

Health sorted – always a good one

New Recipe each week – I fear my family may run away at the sight of yet another spag bol

Family games night once a week – we got loads more games for xmas (and actually played them) so I want that to continue

……I think I’d better get started 🙂

What are your New Years Resolutions?

Categories: SophiE-Mail | Tags: Business, craft, Creative, DIY, Etsy, Goals, Home, Life, New Year, painting, Resolutions, Vows, writing | 18 Comments

Crafty Blogger

Posted on March 16, 2014 by British Chick

As you may know I’ve signed up for a monthly craft swap with some local crafty people – some vague details on that blogged here.

Well when I joined I did explain (to them) that I am in no way, shape or form an expert… Or that good lol but what I didn’t realise is that most of these people do their crafting for more than just a hobby. Many sell their items- some locally, some internationally! Some have actual walk-in shops and some display theirs at a local gallery….

I wish I had known that before I made that valentines sauce-bottle-vase which, if you need reminding, is blogged here *cringe* For the record THIS is the craft I was given in return…it’s gorgeous! It’s sealed… It even has glass… But most of all it’s not made from an old ranch dressing bottle. Even my husband -who doesn’t DO crafty- was impressed, He took one look and said “Are we erm… hanging that in the guest room….you know…hide the competition?” * sad face *

https://www.facebook.com/PinsandNeedlesPrimitivesLLC?fref=ts <_ hopefully this link works

Click the image to visit her (crafty) facebook page

I think I’m in over my head here! The closest I’ve ever been to having a “Sophie Original” commissioned was when my mother gave me £20 to buy paint and a canvas to do one for her friend (and she let me keep the change)- it turned out ok but a one off isn’t going to pay the bills lol. I don’t do crafting for a living, I do it because it relaxes me and because I’m too cheap to buy wall art for my house.

The theme for March is Mardi Gras – again my thoughts on this are blogged here– and I upped my game a little…

Let the good times roll

Before you say it I had already stocked up on wooden frames before I received her swap item so I’m in no way trying to compete in the painted frame industry. It’s not a masterpiece but hey I like it. It’s on theme, it didn’t break the bank… It’s got ACTUAL GLASS…and I used sealant this time which – for me- is pushing the boat out. Above all I enjoyed making it … Isn’t that the point?

Categories: Crafty Chick | Tags: craft, crafting, friends, Home, Home Made, Mardi Gras, painting, proud | 10 Comments

Wooden Letters

Posted on February 26, 2014 by British Chick

Reading this weeks writing challenge I found myself nodding along thinking of how often I struggle to start writing due to having too many things to write about… Often resulting in a blog blowout.

Wooden Letter

Looking around me I see one object in particular which hits a nerve, it’s sentimental, it’s relevant… It has a blog-worthy story to go with it…Hanging on my living room wall are a pair of wooden “S” letters. They are painted ivory, each hung by a navy blue ribbon and covered with scribbles in blue “sharpie” ink – classy or what?

A year and a half ago – almost to the day- it was our wedding day. The colour scheme was navy blue and ivory -The navy to match my husbands military dress blues and the traditional ivory to match my dress – which was chosen purely because it looked nicer with the navy.

Due to the logistics, timing and finances linked to a fast wedding involving two people with family in different countries we chose to have no family – just friends at our wedding. 9 to be exact; 3 whom I had known previously, 5 of his friends whom I had met the same night as I met my husband-to-be and 1 whom had asked the awkward “so are you … like… official… or….?” A little further down the line.

Wedding Kiss

The service was at the local registry office -in a pink room which totally ruined my colour scheme!- followed by a pre-ordered meal at our favourite restaurant. The night before, my girls and I had set the table with home-made decorations, center-pieces and name tags… Finishing it off with our wooden S letters… One on the back of my chair and one on the back of my husband-to-be. Together they signified our first names AND (post-wedding) our surname too. We would now both be “SS”

After the meal the letters were passed around the table and signed by the few guests we had – Somehow we managed to avoid the profanities they threatened to write and instead ended up with some kind- but mostly strange and funny sentiments which are now a part of our home, moving with us wherever we go – even if the people that wrote them aren’t.

It’s having familiar things -like these wooden letters- that usually makes a house feel more like a home. But as I sit here I can’t help but feel sad because I miss them. Physical distance aside I miss the friendships, I miss how things were at that moment in time. Many of them moved away with the military, some just grew apart while others sparked deeper relationships. Things change, people change… Life goes on.

Personalised Wooden Letter

These letters remind me of a moment in time, it’s immortalized in them through the writing, in the photos and the memories themselves. At the time we were just there -in the moment- but now we are actually living the parts we had previously swept over. The moving away from anything or anyone you know…the intense flash-in-the-pan friendships that feel more like a ‘holiday romance’ just because we all happen to be in the same place at the same time…the realization that these bittersweet letters aren’t a one off…that this will happen time and time again…that real relationships will be very few and far between – and even then there’s a good chance one of us will have to say goodbye and move on…

They remind me of how things were but also of how things can be. I’ve been anxious about meeting people here. I’m Sure you can imagine the idea of making an effort with people whom probably won’t be here for long doesn’t really motivate me to get out there but these letters signify just that. That even though I may not make many friendships that will last a lifetime … I will absolutely make memories that will.

Other Entries for this weeks challenge (If this works)