Love Audrey Weekend At Bristol Science Museum Love Audrey Weekend At Bristol Science Museum Love Audrey Weekend Rich, Stuart, JesseLove Audrey Weekend Ice Cream Love Audrey Weekend Bristol Harbourside Love Audrey Weekend Bristol HarboursideLove Audrey Weekend Yarden Dinner Love Audrey Weekend Crunch Salad

  • Waking up as Jesse crept into our bedroom a little after 6am.
  • Feeling groggy and tired. I’d had a rotten cold and it continued to bother me over the weekend.
  • Tip-toeing downstairs so as not to disturb our guests who were asleep in the attic.
  • Drinking tea and gradually beginning to feel a little more human.
  • Laying the table for breakfast.
  • Hanging my wet washing out to dry in the sun.
  • Enjoying the sight of bright blue skies and fluffy white clouds overhead.
  • Joining everyone else around the table and tucking into tea and toast while we discussed how we should spend the day.
  • Grabbing a quick shower before pulling on a polka dot frock, navy blue tights and my favourite pair of clogs.
  • Driving into town and parking up near Millennium Square.
  • Bumping into some old friends in the multi-storey car park.
  • Excitedly heading to At-Bristol.
  • Trailing after the children as they dashed from one exhibit to the next. It really is a brilliant museum, I highly recommend it.
  • Sitting down to watch Space Explorers, an interactive Planetarium show for children under 6.
  • Watching Jesse react to the images in front of him. The look of pure wonder on his face was magical. I’m pretty sure he’s under the impression that we really did journey to Saturn on Saturday afternoon!
  • Nipping out for lunch at The Stable.
  • Resisting the urge to sample some of their cider.
  • Strolling back to the museum in the sunshine.
  • Smiling as Mr L.A. hoisted Jesse up on his shoulders so he could pretend to present the weather forecast on TV.
  • Making our way out through the gift shop once we had experienced absolutely everything the museum had to offer.
  • Treating the children to an ice-cream.
  • Wandering along the harbourside in the sunshine.
  • Loving how much Jesse loves his Godfather, Rich.
  • Heading home to get a head start on dinner.
  • Letting the children eat their tea in the yarden.
  • Sending Jesse up to bed with a quick story from his Godfather.
  • Greeting another house guest at the door.
  • Pottering in the kitchen while Mr L.A. whipped up a few cocktails.
  • Serving up Jools Oliver’s Pregnant Pasta with a chicory, watercress, spinach and rocket salad.
  • Drinking too much.
  • Tucking into chocolate brownies and freshly whipped cream for dessert.
  • Laughing until my sides ached.
  • Secretly wishing every weekend could involve dinner parties with good friends and great food.
  • Collapsing into bed a little after 1am.
  • Waking up with a huge hangover.
  • Wishing Jesse wasn’t quite so eager to discuss his rock collection at 5.45am on a Sunday morning.
  • Hiding beneath the bed covers and desperately trying to ignore him!
  • Giving up and going downstairs.
  • Feeling grateful for tea and paracetamol.
  • Cooking waffles and bacon for breakfast.
  • Deciding a PJ day was the only acceptable course of action.
  • Relaxing in the yarden while the children played happily upstairs.
  • Slowly making a start on Sunday lunch. I made our old favourite, Chicken with 100 Cloves of Garlic.
  • Throwing together an incredibly colourful salad. Little gem lettuce, tomatoes, homegrown mint, cress and raw podded peas dressed with olive oil, balsamic vinegar and a good grating of parmesan. Delicious!
  • Saying goodbye to some of our guests.
  • Using the last of my energy to finish the laundry and put the house back together.
  • Drinking tea in the sunshine.
  • Seeing off our final visitor.
  • Cooking burgers for the children.
  • Coaxing them into bed.
  • Taking a hot shower while we waited for our takeaway to arrive.
  • Watching back-to-back episodes of The Office as we ate our meal on the sofa.
  • Retreating to bed before 10pm.
  • Deciding we’re probably not cut out for such late nights and excessive alcohol consumption after all!

Love Audrey xxx

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Love Audrey
My weekend has mainly been spent…
Love Audrey Weekend At Bristol Science Museum
Love Audrey Weekend At Bristol Science Museum
Love Audrey Weekend Rich, Stuart, Jesse
Love Audrey Weekend Ice Cream
Love Audrey Weekend Bristol Harbourside
Love Audrey Weekend Bristol Harbourside
Love Audrey Weekend Yarden Dinner
Love Audrey Weekend Crunch Salad
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May in photos 🤳

1. Finally, some Franky weather. One of the best things about this month has been dusting off my summer dresses and being able to wear sandals ☀️

2+3. Coronation weekend. So many thoughts 💭 But the food was good! I made a vegan version of my mum’s famous coronation chicken and it was delicious.

4. Jesse staying upbeat during yet another trip to hospital. That steroid buzz though. IYKYK.

5. Some of the food served at the first meeting of Bristol Cook Book Club since 2020. It felt so good to get this going again. I can’t wait for our next feast!

6. Me among the cow parsley, snapped by Jesse.

7. I’ve been thinking about creativity a lot this month while working through the ‘The Artist’s Way’. 

8. Breakfast outside.

9. {Still} scrapbooking December. Fingers crossed I can finally wrap up this project in June 🤞🏻

10. Izzy’s final show at The Tobacco Factory. After tonight, she’ll be done with college {and compulsory education} forever 🤯

We packed a lot into this month. Enough to fill two carousels! This might explain why I’m so tired! I’m looking forward to June though. Everything’s better when the sun shines ✨
@_charlieswift has been raving about ‘The Artist’s Way’ by Julia Cameron for years. I finally caved, ordered the book and agreed to work through the course with her and some other artists. 

The book focuses on ‘guiding you through the process of recovering your creative self’ to ‘help you unleash your inner artist’. It’s early days {I’ve only read as far as week two and I haven’t even started my morning pages yet - IYKYK}, but I’m enjoying the process so far. 

Today I took myself on my first Artist Date - ‘a block of time… especially set aside and committed to nurturing your creative consciousness, your inner artist’. I decided to treat myself to a solo cinema trip to see ‘Are You There God? It’s Me, Margaret.’ The film was brilliant and taking time out midweek to do something just for me felt… kind of naughty? And fun! It definitely filled my creative well {again, IYKYK}.

Have you read ‘The Artist’s Way?’ Where would you go on a date with your inner artist?!
☀
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Franky weather ☀️🌅🔆🌻✨

That’s it, that’s the caption.
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April in photos 🤳

1. Our trip to London over Easter was a definite highlight this month. Here’s the obligatory ‘flowers outside Liberty’ shot.

2. Finally! Some sunshine! More of the same please, Mr. Weatherman ☀️

3. Dressed for a day of sightseeing in my new favourite pink jacket. It’s Boden and I bought it in the sale 💖

4 + 5. Scenes from a trip to the big Waterstones in Piccadilly. This poem by @charlycox1 floored me. Crying in a bookshop. Not awkward at all.

6. I was proud of these steps, so I’m posting them here for posterity 🚶🏼‍♀️🥄

7. The Easter holidays also featured lots of lazy days 🎮😴

8. We bought a nutribullet and I’m officially in my smoothie era.

9 + 10. Dinner and drinks at @thecoconuttreeuk with our IzzyBee. Taking your daughter out for cocktails is a season of parenting I’m very much enjoying.

Not pictured: a family funeral and the chest infection I’m still getting over 🤒 How was April for you?
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Easter weekend in my hometown 💃🏼

No trip to London is long enough for me to see all the people and do all the things I want to do while I’m there, but we always manage to pack a lot in. It’s 17 years since I moved away, but somehow it still feels like coming home. Here’s some of what we got up to…

1. Being tourists.

2. Shopping at Westfield.

3 + 4. Hanging out and eating at Southbank.

5. Refuelling in Chinatown.

6. Enjoying the big Waterstones in Piccadilly.

7. Admiring the spring flowers outside Liberty.

8. Visiting the Imperial War Museum for the first time since I was a child.

9 + 10. Seeing Elton John at the O2 with my mama 👓🎹🎤🪩✨

I hope you’ve managed to enjoy the long weekend, whatever you’ve been up to! That sunshine though!☀️🤩
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March in Photos 🤳

1. How it’s going…

2. How it started.

3. My in-laws were involved in a terrible car crash earlier this month. They’re very, very lucky to be alive. It was a horrible time, so I’m grateful there was a happy ending.

4. My husband sent me this photo of a photo from our wedding day while he was visiting his parents. Turns out his mum carries it in her purse ❤️

5. While I was waiting for news from Derby, I took myself out on a walk and ended up in @thesmallcitybookshop. It was like my feet knew books would bring me comfort.

6 + 7. Just spring things.

8. Vegan lemon and almond loaf and a green smoothie from @theorchardcoffeeco 🍰🌱

9. I bought it 🌸

10. Other music? I don’t know her. 

How’s March been treating you? Personally, I’m ready for April and spring PROPER!
There is a past version of me who cannot believe I get to do this every day 💭📝💻

She’s around 12yrs old, working on her first novel in a little ring-bound notebook, dreaming up stories, devouring books and trying to imagine a life filled with words. Everything that makes my business possible now barely existed then, so even she’d struggle to conjure up  an image of what my life looks like now.

I’m grateful that I get to do this, for the clients who trust me to find the right words, and I’m grateful to that past version of me too. Without her, I wouldn’t be here now. Sure, she’d probably want me to hurry up and get back to that novel, but I think she’d be proud of the business I’ve built and the way I’ve managed to create a life filled with words.

What did you want to be when you grew up?
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Lockdown memories, three years on 🦠⏳

Very little of my life made it on to the grid in 2020, so this is the first time I’ve shared these images. They’re all from the first lockdown and most were taken between March and May. I think the arrival of spring will always remind me of this strange time.

When Boris made his announcement on the 23rd, our children had already been out of school for a week. Jesse, who was initially deemed clinically vulnerable, spent the next 6m shielding. He left primary school one day not realising he’d never go back. He did not see another child his age until the summer. Like many kids and adults in the same situation, the experience had a deep impact on his mental health. 

Izzy was in Year 10. As the pandemic raged on, she did most of her GCSEs online, celebrated her 16th birthday via Netflix Party, finished secondary school with minimal fanfare and missed out on prom completely. When she finally had a normal night out with friends in the winter of 2021, I cried quietly in the kitchen when she got home. Seeing her so happy and animated after a simple ‘cheeky Nando’s’ only highlighted everything she’d missed out on in the previous 18 months.

It’s easy to forget how little we knew about the virus in the beginning and how frightening that was for everyone involved. We had it easy in comparison to some, but I still marvel at the way we coped with it all. The way we isolated, home schooled and kept our businesses ticking over. My goodness it was hard! As my children often joke, I hope we’re done living through major historical events for a while.