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Just over a week ago, we said our goodbyes to our lovely 1 Old Bakery Mews in Boughton. After having just gotten back to England from Normandy, we drove over to pick up our last few bits (and to defrost the fridge and freezer) and then finally head to Wingham. This was hands down my most chaotic move to date. (I do have some moving credibility, as I've moved 4 times since the age of 18!) It was probably so hectic because I had my "Life in the UK" test on the Monday, carpet cleaner on Tuesday, packing Tues, Weds, Thurs and literally move & CLEAN {the entire house} on Friday. Not to mention Friday night was our family meal for Peter's dads' birthday and Saturday - early - we were off to Normandy until Monday evening. Therefore Monday evening entailed picking up our last bits, bidding farewell and coming home in Wingham to mountains of boxes. I've learned plenty of lessons from this move: don't plan an important test just beforehand, and don't plan a vacation and move during the same weekend. Also, start packing earlier & make a list of cleaning duties to share with the hubby. Lesson  learned. 

We're now in lovely Wingham and I thought I would really miss 1 Old Bakery Mews, but I don't! (yet). I love our new house and haven't really had the chance to think about Boughton much. Wingham has a sweet community feel with 3 pubs, a bakery, etc and the house has so much character. I can't wait for all of our overseas visitors to come and stay in our guest room and show it off!! My journey into work is also a lot quicker and easier which has been really nice in the mornings.

Below are a few old pictures I've found of Boughton which I think are really neat, and also sharing a few pics of the new Wingham house!!

Ta-ta for now!

Wingham Goodies

We've moved to Wingham! It was the most hectic move I've ever experienced but things are finally starting to fall into place and feel like home. Since this house was unfurnished, it became my new project to find either cheap or free furniture. I was pleasantly surprised by how easy it was to find everything and although it might not have been in the best condition, I decided I would just paint everything and make it look nice myself. And I was excited to choose fun colors and experiment with colors I  might not normally try had I actually paid for the furniture. Someone told me about Annie Sloan chalk paint and I was sold right away. Not only are the colors gorgeous, but the paint is so thick you can literally paint on any surface without having to sand or do any work beforehand. And it's also made to distress furniture into a shabby chic effect which is fun. So we set ourselves a paint budget & ended up with 4 liters, 1 tester pot, and 1 can of wax. Waking up that morning felt like Christmas, I was so excited!

Anywhere, here is our handy work - and free finds - in the pictures below. Enjoy.

Wardrobe: Free

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After

Chest of drawers: £25 

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After

2 Nightstands, £10 for both

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After

Peter's TV stand - ours already

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After

Coffee Table £5

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After

Wooden shelving unit: free

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After

Table: Free

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After

Free shelf

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After 

(sadly ended up taking the door off)

Coffee table: free

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After

Post Box already in place

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After

Handful of free goodies including table and breadbox

Before

Table after

Breadbox after

Coat rack: free

Bookshelf: £10

No painting required!

Sofa, Armchair & Ottoman: Free

 Treasure Chest: £10

2 Floral tub chairs: free

Fire effect heater £10

Chest of drawers org £25 down to £15

No painting required!

Sadie & Martin

A few months ago, I remember having a really horrible day. One of those days where everything went wrong. At the end of my work day, I had about ten minutes left before I could go and I decided that I'd check out the new videos on Aquavivus to brighten my day a little. I somehow discovered Aquavivus just before our wedding - and bursted with admiration. I could watch their videos all day, every day if I could. This particular day though, I watched an engagement shoot - and was moved to tears (as I often am with their videos). But more importantly, I had an "AHA" moment.  (I didn't actually know it was an AHA moment until about a week later when I watched Amber Rae's TED talk) In this moment though, I realized that I would absolutely LOVE to make similar videos to theirs for the rest of my life. I've put together a few videos before - one of our wedding day and a few of our trips away, and I love
e v e r y thing about it - documenting a special memory by stringing clips together and adding the perfect music/song. It had just never clicked in my mind as a possibility to grow into something- possibly a career at some point. Since my aha moment, I've been researching and slowly letting people in on my secret new-dream-job. I obviously don't have as much as experience or wonderful equipment like Aquavivus does...so I'm slowly building up my experience and researching equipment and any other knowledge/resources I can get my hands on.

Anyway, Peter's friend and work colleague, Sadie, hired Peter to photograph their wedding. He did a pre-wedding shoot with them, and the pictures are gorgeous. I'm sure it helped a little that she's a model, and it's obvious that Martin is head over heels about her - making their pictures (and video) stunning. Peter offered them my video service for the wedding as a way for me to build my experience, and they said yes.

It turned out to be the biggest pleasure for me to be Peter's second shooter for their wedding, AND to have the opportunity to act as a fly on the wall and capture their special day on video. You could feel the love - more than I've ever felt it before, with Sadie and Martin. I was in complete awe at their love just radiating for each other and also by how gorgeous their day turned out to be. The planning was perfect, the decorations were incredible, the cakes, the people - everything was just perfect! Sadie and Martin are such an enchanting couple, I couldn't have been any happier to be part of their day and put this video together for them.

Tea for Two

Peter's parents got us a 'tea for two' voucher to use at Eastwell Manor  for our second anniversary. Since we took an entire week off for Sardinia but came back on Thursday, we decided to make the most of our time off and enjoy this treat on the Friday. It was so nice coming to this gorgeous estate for a reason. We'd come once before to look at their services as a potential gift for his mum, but otherwise had no reason to come back. It's beautiful, inside and out. I felt so posh sitting in that tea room looking through the pricey menu. We ordered a pot of normal English tea and our voucher came with the finger foods- they were the yummiest sandwiches, cakes and scones! Surprisingly, the cucumber sandwich was my favorite - it was with a dill cream cheese and tasted so good. I've already tried to replicate it. It was a really nice experience; one that I probably wouldn't have ever treated myself to otherwise, so I am very happy to say I've now had a full English tea for two experience!

Beach Day

Day 3 in Alghero:
We woke up around 8.15 and had breakfast around 8.45. I had two cakes...the banana chocolate (two thumbs up!) and course, the ricotta coffee cake. 

We chatted with Bruno during breakfast about his career aspirations then came back to the room and P took a short nap while I got ready/social networked. Then it was on to the grocery store for more water (2L) and a plum = € .47! The funniest man came into the shop, listening to his music singing to all the shoppers in the checkout line! Peter managed to get some of it on video which gave us something to laugh about afterwards. Then it was on to the beach! There were so many beach options, but we ended up settling for a spot pretty close to the main hub. It didn't feel like it, but we stayed there, laid out and reading for nearly 4 hours!!! (I desperately needed that!)

We took a break and walked across the street for another focacceria sandwich and I ordered a coconut gelato in a cone after lunch...yum.We walked slowly through town and into the cathedral while taking tons of pictures. On our way back to the B&B we picked up our bus tickets for the following morning and saved €1 by getting them in advance! (So instead of €3, they were now only €2!!) We got back, took a quick nap, showered and got ready for our fancy dinner at Kings. We still had about €110 left since everything was so much cheaper than we budgeted for, so we decided we would treat ourselves a little tonight and we did. We ate through our basket of bread in no time at all then ordered our mains. In Italy, they have 5 course dinners...(another affirmation that I was secretly supposed to be Italian, haha) so we were kind of confused which number course we should be ordering from!! I ordered the tagliatelle with king prawns, peppers and tomatoes and P ordered the tagliatelle with lobster. Both were so delicious. We ordered Sardinian wine, too - I changed my mind at the last minute and switched from red to white to compliment the seafood - and it did. Both wines were truly amazing. The owner was there, sitting outside with his family and newborn baby girl, showing her off to his customers. We liked him. It was the best dinner, with an incredible view of the waterfront. I would go back in a shot.

 After our perfect dinner, we had a slow walk around town and stopped near the gelato place and couldn't decide what to do next - it was only 9.45. So...we shared two scoops of gelato and sat peacefully outside and just watched. If there's one thing I'm sure of, it's that I really wasn't ready to say goodbye and go back to the cold rain of the UK. It was absolutely the perfect getaway that I would recommend to anyone. We will definitely go back one day, and I already can't wait.