We got something exciting in the mail!

We have just received our custom ordered, handmade, 100% recycled, BEAUTIFUL cat bed from Raggy world. Cara loves it already, have a look...

I love the colours and the whole rustic feel - right up my street :) She also normally leaves hair all over that bit of the sofa where she likes to curl up, now she just gets her bed hairy and since its machine washable thats fine by me! So I'd like to say a big thank you to Wean - we all love it in this house!

Raggy world also happens to be one of my lovely sponsors so if you're interested in handcrafted recycled products you should definitely click the link in the side bar and have a nosey around her Etsy shop! My favourites are these place mats, they remind me of the summer sky :)

A work in progress...

So the hen run is taking a little longer than expected but thats only because the car needed MOT'd and we decided to focus a full day yesterday on my new Etsy shop, taking pictures etc. I'm really excited to be getting that up and running, a creative outlet for me and everything I earn from it can go straight into our mortgage fund, every extra helps! Also it suits my personality to have a few wee ventures on the go :)

Anyway back to the hens! Heres what it looked like on friday after a few evening hours at it...

House starting to take shape - roof is going to be very steep so there is room to perch on the
high side and nesting boxes on the low side. All very sturdy - should last years and years :)

Then today Al has been working away by himself (I'm working on the computer outside 'supervising' lol as if he needs it) He's attaching the wire and doing a beautiful job - look how tight and neat it is! It's starting to look like a real chicken run now SO EXCITING!!!!!

 

Its beach weather :)

Im not really a beach person, shocking I know! I really do prefer the mountains or even just pretty countryside but when the weathers like this who can resist some barefoot stone collecting :) These pictures are from Achill Island, County Mayo.

We're getting hens!!!

We've been talking about it for ages and we decided this weekend to just go for it, and start building! If we only have 2 and our run is movable then it shouldn't mess up the grass too much and we are dying to get back to eating our own fresh eggs! We'd love our hens to free range but since there is so many cats around here, Cara the hunter included, we've made them a secure run as big as we could move and when we are at home to keep an eye on them they'll be allowed out to wander :) 

We bought the wood for £25 ($40) at a saw mills. I had drawn up some rough sketches so we had average measurements, they worked out great for the run, we've still got the house to make. 

What we started with...

Getting stuck in, Cara also helping as usual...

We had to put the screws in really deep because we didn't have long enough ones lol

Hubby getting stuck in - I'm not too great with precise sawing so I left that up to him

The perils of drinking tea outside... I fished it out and drank it anyway, is that gross?

Putting the supports on the bottom

Half done!

Al putting in the last screw :)

And thats the frame for the run done, we have some chicken wire already, just need to add that. Those bits sticking out the sides are the handles btw so I can take one side and Al the other and we can easily lift it to another area. The house is going to go on top, in the middle but up against one side, to about half way across, if that makes sense? There will be pictures, hopefully by the end of next weekend there will also be hens :) Anyway for one day I was pretty happy to just get the frame done.

Time for a time capsule!

Next month we'll be celebrating our 1st year wedding anniversary and I've never been happier. Since becoming a Alan's wife something has settled inside me, I feel a contentment and deep happiness. I no longer feel the need to travel every year, to have big extravagant plans for my future or the non-stop social life I had before. I am completely in love. Our life is mostly just us, thats what makes us happiest, thats when we laugh the most. Al inspires me to be the person I want to be everyday, his constant encouragement, positivity and support gives me so much confidence, in myself and in our future together. 

This time in our lives could easily be seen as an in-between stage, like 'that time after our wedding but before we had kids' or seem not so important because there was no huge event or move to a different country. So I wanted to give this time, while it is just the two of us in our little married bliss bubble, some recognition.

This time is important. This time is wonderful and will never be forgotten. 

To make sure of that we've decided to make a time capsule, one that will be sealed for 10 years. Inside we'll put; the music that been our soundtrack lately, some pictures of our home, notes of the little private jokes that are making us laugh, a letter to ourselves about life right now and what we hope for our future selves, a few of the notes we've recently left around the house for each other and also a secret letter to each other that we'll only be able to read on our 11 year wedding anniversary in 2022! 

I already can't wait to open it and it's not even made yet :)

Smiles in the garden

Smiles for lots of reasons -

1. New funky glasses that I love!
2. Sun was out, on Saturday so we could enjoy it together.
3. I was wearing my Ireland top that I altered myself, it used to be one of Al's back in the day but now I wear it with pride, 2 years to go till I'll have an Irish passport WOOP :)
4. We planted loads of seeds to fill up our wee greenhouse, peas, silverbeet, lettuce, rocket, turnips, broccoli, sunflowers, courgette, cucumbers and more chillis.
5. The smell of baking banana bread was floating out our kitchen window to us!
6. Our spuds are growing really well in the tyres, we've already added a full tyre of soil to each of them, our ones in the drills are not quite up yet but we did plant them late...
7. Lastly, I always smile when I watch Al gardening, only a few years ago he was a total beginner but really keen and interested. He had grown spuds and peas at home with his dad as a young child and that was it, now I think he's overtaking me on the knowledge front! I love that vegetable gardening is a passion and a hobby we now share, for us spending the day together in our garden, talking laughing and planting is pure bliss :)

My very best friends!

Sometimes I really wish these two lived down the road! I met them both when I was 15 and had just moved to Australia, 9 years later they are (along with Al and my sisters obviously) still my very best and most wonderful friends. I love them so much :)

I know they look like a sweet couple but they're not, Amy has bagged herself a lovely Scottish man and is very much taken. These pictures are from my wedding last year, I've seen amy once since then but Aza lives out in Australia so I'm not sure when I'll see him next :( but I must say I love skype, its such an incredible tool for us 'traveling types' who leave friends scattered across the world! On my day off this week I sat on the sofa in my PJ's and chatted to Aza for nearly 2 hours, and it really felt like we'd caught up, we laughed and talked as though he were here, I loved it :)

I also found out he reads my blog all the time so "Hi Aza, I miss you, come visit!" xx

Its only 5 weeks now until we go to Edinburgh to visit Amy and Paul, I'm so excited! We're gona see the Castle, walk in the parks, eat crepes and celebrate our 1st year wedding anniversary and my 25th birthday in style. I CAN'T WAIT!

The amazing thing about true friends is that when you do catch up it's just like you've never left them, don't you find that?

I'm Guest Posting :)

I am guest posting about 'looking forward to the bank statement' over at Michelles blog today.

I'm sure nearly all of you follow her already but if you don't, and fancy checking out my more financial views - click here and head on over! 

Blog gets a makeover!

Hello all you lovely readers out there, just a quick note :)

First of all sorry if things were all over the place if you visited here over the last few days - the moving around is all finished now and I hope you like the new blog design, my hubby is a graphic designer and I enlisted his help to freshen it up and add some of my own personality to it :) Im also going to need a brand for my Etsy shop when I launch and I wanted it all to link in with a proper logo, didn't he do an amazing job? I love the logo so much!

On the left you can now click to look at specific categories, they are all existing posts but I think it'll be nice for new readers, a good place to start maybe, on a topic that takes your interest?

Everything else is going to be staying the same, I'm not changing! Just wanted the look of 'a journey to a dream' to reflect me and my taste a bit more :)

I hope you like it as much as I do!

Letting the light in!

We have shade problem on our back patch of growing space...

Fortunately I have a rather handy hubby and the fence was no match for him! Even though this is a rented property we figure our landlord wouldn't mind since we can put them back quite easily. 

Now it gets loads of afternoon sun (well, not that bit right in the corner) and early in the morning the left hand side gets a bit of sun too. See the shadow from the top bar, the shade went up past that! I'd love to hear any recommendations you have for veggies that grow well in half shade... We're trying spuds here and winter lettuce but not sure what else would grow.

Naturally Cara was helping too...LOL Isn't she beautiful though? 

Something else thats been on our garden to-do list for a while is move our raised bed (that I made all by myself!) to our new house from our old one, this is how we did it, and we only scratched the car once haha Definitely a success! 

It looks a bit funny sticking out like that but thats where the most light is, we're not really aesthetic gardeners, even though we try :) That bed will be for lettuce carrots and herbs I think.

Taking in his handy work, and wishing he could dig up the lawn. One day darlin' one day :)