Britishness...

We walked at the beach in the rain and the wind. Only lone dog walkers and a rare group of city-dwellers in search of a coastal 'away-day' accompanied us. Up and down the boardwalk that wove its way through the sand dunes and then back to our beach hut for refreshments. As we peeked out of our little wooden hut, smiling to passers-by with that conspiratorial smile and a 'hello, a fine day isn't it?' even though its blowing a hooley. I did think to myself how utterly British we were being, skulking at the beach in chilly winter weather, determined to get some all-important fresh air.

via are so happy

To me one of my happiest places on earth is at the beach, whatever the weather, seeing my kids run along the shoreline. There is just nowhere like it for me. Of course it would be rather nice if it were Florida instead of the South coast of England, but nevertheless...it has its charms.

via here

Remarkable things...

Remarkable things about this week...

I went to the memorial of the colleague of mine who died recently. This explains my very pensive mood this week. It seems you never really know the people you work with...I met his lovely, admirably stoical wife, who was a rock of strength that day. It turns out they had this wonderful love story in their past. She was American, he English; they met in a bar in New York, just by chance one day. They never had kids but filled their life together with other wonders like travel and mutual interests and hobbies. So very sweet and so very tragic.

I took the kids to the beach hut after school yesterday and had the most gorgeous time. Even their Daddy made it back from meetings in London to join us and they swam whilst my Mum and I sipped our earl grey tea. So utterly civilised to have tea on the beach!

My son has decided that being polite gets him a cute vote from anyone he comes into contact with. So he has started saying 'Please may I...?' before every request and more pleases and thank yous than I have ever heard from one child. Imagine blonde curls and please may I. It works every time.

We have pale ticking curtains in our bedroom so every morning the sun streams in and wakes us at 5am. Lovely...really...but I feel like I am robbed of sleep every morning. Meanwhile the Boos, who have black-out blinds, can be wakened...

Things of beauty...

Hello! Funny old week, now very much looking forward to a weekend of friends and fun. The sun has stayed - yippeee! I have one of my oldest University friends coming to stay with her brood so that should be lovely. Best of all, the white picket fence has been put up and is being painted today! It has the sweetest rose trellis arch...picture perfect! These things make me happy.

I have had so many lovely comments this week, thank you, honestly, it's been a pleasure and comfort to read.

One day I would love to have a sea view...what better way to pass the time when washing up, than gazing out...

via are so happy

I saw SATC 2 on Wednesday...this image is from the Japanese leg of their promotional tour. Loving Kim Catrall's new hair.

The most delicate Jessica Cooper painting, I can always rely on her work to make me feel happy and calm.

Vintage Vogue...my thoughts this week have been dwelling on our summer holiday to Portugal, where I intend to spend a good portion of it in this position...

Emily Blunt, looking absolutely stunning...

A Dior Bagatelle Rose ring...

I just adore this image...peachy loveliness...

I don't like to sail but it's a big past-time around here...it does look rather relaxing...

We have a part share in a beach hut on West Wittering beach, so I took the Boos for half term beach fun. There were 5 Mums and 13 children there playing 'Swallows and Amazons' in the dunes, swimming and building sandcastles. It was such a gorgeous day, I am so so pleased we got the beach hut, they are like hen's teeth to get hold of...

via www.sarahbrown.co.uk

I took Boo with me to have twin pedicures, as a belated birthday treat. She absolutely loved it! She choose Miami shell pink and I had Las Vegas red polish!

How dreamy are these hanging lanterns? Would be perfect for a summer party...

via it's mary ruffle

Peach petal beauty...

I borrowed this gorgeous image from Daniella at Dress, Design & Decor. It's Marion Cotillard. I think she is wonderful in 'A Good Year'...great film with Russell Crowe

Boardwalking...

Its half term, a free day and the sun has come out! Did he hear my last post? We went to the beach for hours, lolled in the sand dunes, jumped over waves, had a picnic (should have taken alot more food), collected pebbles and generally loved being outside and not being cold... What a treat.

We are lucky we live in a very cool part of the world. We checked out the beach hut too, but could not go in as we don't have a key yet...it looks like a blank canvas :-)

Proud renter of beach hut...

We are the proud new renters of a bonafide West Witterings beach hut! This is a big deal for us! These quintessential little huts of Englishness are notoriously hard to come by. West Wittering is a beautiful sandy beach on one of the southernmost coasts of England, a few miles from me and is the place in my blog header photo. Its absolutely my happy place; we go there come rain or sunshine, any season of the year. I grew up running around on that beach and so will my kids...so its really cool that now we can stop and have a cup of tea in the beach hut! I can feel a Cath Kidston hut make-over coming on already...