Welcome To Autumn…

I love the feeling of Autumn, you can keep your Spring and your Summer, this time of year is the one for me. The leaves, the chill in the air and the anticipation that something is coming. For me, it’s the time of year when I think about new things, I want to sort the house out for Christmas, I start to think about treating myself a little… you know the thing. If Summer is the season for make-up free beach days and neglecting the house, Autumn is a time for focusing on the home, family and a bit of me time. Here’s what I’ve got planned over the next few months when we’re not donning the waterproofs! 

Home

With all good renovation projects, there comes the after-lull; the time when the building work is done but it’s still not-quite finished. Having focused on the playroom over the last few weeks, it’s time to turn our attention to the main living space. After all, us adults are important as well! With no real table and chairs to speak of, our first move has to be to locate some that we both love, something that’s proving harder than it sounds. We’ve got a sofa on it’s way to provide some essential lazy space and floating shelves to put up in the alcove. Once that’s done? It’s on to my favourite part; the ‘fluffy’ bits. Photos and blankets, mirrors and artwork, it’s all about dressing the space. I can’t wait to spend these darker evenings creating a cosy living area for our family to enjoy.

We’ll also be out in the garden in the next few weeks, ensuring that everything is ready for Winter. Having destroyed our back garden with diggers and rubble, we’re looking to do the reconstructive work now and then allow it to settle and bed in before Spring. It’s been one of the hardest things about our extension; our beautiful bi-folds look out on an apocalypse site! With a toddler who loves to be outside and a dog who permanently wants to escape, we want to create a simple, safe space that we can all enjoy. For us that means replacing the rickety fencing, landscaping the lumps and bumps (and rocks) out and removing some of the (now overgrown) bushes to let in plenty of sunlight. With no curtains in our new living space, it’s important for us to retain as much privacy as possible at the same time. Sounds like an impossible task, doesn’t it?

Self

Summer for me is all about survival when it comes to hair and beauty. My hair gets thrown up into the obligatory mum-bun (with a ponytail every now and then for good measure!) and make-up’s relegated to the bottom of the drawer, replaced by an illuminating moisturiser and a shedload of suncream. Bored of doing the same thing with my hair, I’m hoping for a refresh and have been following this year’s Autumn/Winter trends (#AWBeautyTrends for anyone similarly minded) in the hope of locating some much needed inspiration. According to Ellisons (the UK’s leading hair and beauty wholesaler), this season’s big hair trends include the side-parting; ideal for someone like me who suffers pesky greys through my centre parting. Thankfully the up-do is still in so I’ll be following their lead and entrusting my messy mop with the professionals. I’m hoping to chop some length off with a much-needed relax at the hairdressers, I’ll still be keeping the mum-bun-ability!

I think it’s safe to say that I’m unlikely to start becoming a beauty guru this Autumn. Make-up beyond the realms of bronzer and mascara has never been a big thing for me, but every now and then I do like to have a focus on my nails. It’s something I’ve neglected since becoming a mum and I miss the time spent forced to relax whilst someone pampers my hands and chats at me. As someone who bit their nails for years, I find it helps to have polish on them, even if I do end up picking at it from time to time. This season it’s all about the mixed neutrals, which appeals to me in an understated (but still a little quirky) way. With gold a major player on the metallics front, I’ll be mixing and matching the soft pink from my wedding with a subtle glitter gold to give a hint of glamour on these dull days.

Family

What’s in store for our family this Autumn? We’ve got a holiday planned in the next couple of weeks; re-visiting our stay in North Devon from last year. Whilst the weather won’t quite be tropical, we’re all looking forward to a week of enforced family time with no distractions. After that? Our weekends are often filled with family time so we’ll be making an effort to carve out some days out just us three. I’d love to do a first visit to the zoo now that he’s started appreciating animals as well as plenty of visits to trains and tractors. Well, why deny his favourite things?

As a couple, it’s about time we re-claimed our date nights and I’m hoping this Autumn may herald our first baby-free night. We just need to achieve a few nights without 3am wake-ups and off to the Grandparent’s house he goes! It’s 50:50 as to whether we’ll get there, but I need to take the plunge soon. Although even so, we’ll probably just end up getting a takeaway and making the most of an uninterrupted night’s sleep. Bed by seven?! Well, it is dark outside!

Happy Autumn! x