Floaty dresses, Walled gardens & Friendships

Lunch dates with a friend are one of those events I miss pencilling in to the diary. Since becoming a mummy its the little things like grabbing a coffee and a couple of hours away with a friend that I miss so much. Adult conversation, catching up, laughing about the little things and generally just finding a teeny bit of time to be me. More so than other little things I do find it more difficult to make time to meet with friends, I think we all do – especially when some live so far away. And of course, with Mr H and I both working full-time, finding time to do the things we love like exercise and running my little online space doesn’t leave a lot of time outside of being mummy and daddy to our gorgeous boy. Weekends are often filled with family time as lets face it that time is so precious and lets not forget birthday parties and running between football, swimming and drumming classes.

Don’t get me wrong I do make time for my friends but it tends to involve our little family and more often than not turns into a play date which in itself is nice but it isn’t the same as just sitting and chatting about not much at all to a good friend. Being a mummy to one, I think it is really important for him to see his friends and of course it generally involves a nice cup of tea and a sweet treat so in that sense I cannot complain. I also want our gorgeous boy to have as much of a social life as possible. As ever finding the balance is a challenge.

Speaking of friends, let me introduce to a good friend of mine. The lovely Jenny from Lets Talk Mommy. Some might think its strange that someone who I met online some three and a bit years ago is now a really good friend. Jenny was the first blogger that I reached out to for advice. We’re so alike and so different in so many ways, for a start this gorgeous girl is American – I just love her accent. We have the same passion for photography and capturing our families, we both love fashion and generally being all girly which is lovely to share with someone. And genuinely, Jenny is one of the nicest people I know, someone who looks out for you, truly understands this online world I find myself in on a daily basis and lets not forget my personal fashion photographer.

I would love to say that Mr H is the perfect Instagram husband, sadly he is not. He isn’t sad about this at all. He is the first to admit that he dislikes taking my photo, mainly because I direct him, get a little bossy (who knew) – he would prefer to mess around with the camera whereas I just know which shots I want and need and lets not forget that horrid feeling of being really awkward in front of the camera – I am usually behind it!

Thankfully Jenny and I took the plunge one weekend at the beginning of the year to take photo’s of each other for brand collaborations and I am so glad that we did. We have both become so much more confident behind and in front of the camera and we have even managed to combine our photo shoots with play dates with our gorgeous littles who also enjoy spending time with each other. We’ve helped each other so much and I genuinely am so thankful that this little online space of mine brought us together.

A few weeks ago we managed to grab a few hours together at Tatton Park, we took photo’s of each other in the gorgeous walled gardens, we chatted and stocked up on photos of beautiful blooms, fashion photo’s and of course we stopped for a little drink and slice of cake. It was such a beautiful day, the sun shone the whole time we were there which helped to make it quite simply a perfect day.

A few days after we caught up Jenny disappeared to America for the summer and I won’t lie I am really missing our regular conversations. Thankfully this online world we live in helps us keep up to date. She has only been gone for a few weeks but already I am desperate for her to return, not only for the conversation but also because I am running out of photo’s to share.

Here are a few from our day…

I couldn’t write this post without mentioning a few others that I have met in this online world who have since become friends offline. Ones I chat to frequently, often more than my offline friends which at first felt a little strange. We meet up for playdates and spend time with without the littles, or just remain friends online. If truth be told I am so glad that I have found them, these last three years have been wonderful getting to know them all. Its a great thing to make new friendships and ones with likeminded people, who have similar passions, hopes and dreams. Thank you Pamela, Darren, Emma and Sian for being so lovely and supportive.