My year in review

So here we are again. Christmas is over and plans for New Years party are in preparation and I am reflecting back on 2015. And what a year it was!

Due to being on maternity, for the first time in 4 years I had my weekends free and I planned events for almost every single one.

Watching Layla grow day by day has been a joy but it really has only been recently that I can see how much she has grown. She has become her own little person, full of personality already. 

This year also saw me making changes to my appearance and life style. I decided to add a streak of blonde hair, inspired by the beautiful Imelda May for when I do my barrel roll hairstyle. I also embraced wearing vintage and vintage repro clothing every day and made new friends via Facebook groups such as Vintage Vixens Den and 1940s/ 1950s Most Marvellous meet ups. 

In June we went along to the Pinup picnic in the park in London, that was an experience! 

And in August we helped out on the Work force at Broadstairs Folkweek, with my parents coming to look after Layla.

Camping with a baby wasn't as hard as I thought.

September time saw us going to Salute to the 40s at Chatham Dockyard, which was a scorcher of a day.

In October we went to Glastonbury for the faery ball, this years theme was Middle Earth.

Suffice to say with all this vintage events happening and being a brand new mother my paganism  took a bit of a back seat. 

I managed to get along to two Beltane picnics with Layla and to my local drum group for one night but that was about it! As Layla gets older I know that I will be able to get back to my pagan studies but for now I am enjoying being in the Mother aspect of my life's path.

2015 has seen it's share of good times and bad. Of laughter and sadness. New friendships made and old friendships not as close as I would like. 

For me 2016 will continue to be an exploration of motherhood with my little girl, who every day strengthens my love and admiration for her. 

In June I am taking her to 3 wishes faery festival after a two year hiatus and I am sure there will be plenty more vintage events to go along to, as long as I can book the time off work.

It's been a busy time and now that I am back to work I hope to get blogging more frequently.

All that is left to say is;

Blessings for 2016. 

 

Pinup Picnic in the Park

 So sorry for lack of blog posts. I have been up to so much in the past few months but finding time to blog about it while looking after a baby is near impossible! However I just HAVE to blog about my weekend. (27th June) 

****warning text heavy post****

Over on Instagram I have been following a collective of lovely Pin ups called The British Belles. A few months ago they announced that they would be putting on a picnic in London I really wanted to go!

Taking a baby to a large city seemed very daunting to me. When Layla was only a few weeks old I found it hard to leave the house, let alone in to town! 

I was so determined to take Layla with me to London that I over come that worry. Babies are so resilient and that I was babywearing also helped!  Luckily my friend Sam wanted to go too and we hatched a plan for me to drive to hers and get the train from there, saving money on train fare and having someone with us who knows London well.

My partner also came with is and on the morning of the picnic we drove to Blackheath and got the train at Kidbrook station. 

       In the car, on the way to London.

Unfortunately the train we wanted to get was at the the station already and we had to sort our tickets so we waited for the next train. It was a good job we did get that next train as who should be on there but Miss Vintage 2014 Holly Foster and we travelled all together to Victoria station. 

From there  we got the bus to Hyde park (we got off at the wrong stop and had to do a lot of walking through Hyde Park in shoes that decided they hated me.)

Finally we found all the lovely beauties all set up eating their picnic in a corner of Hyde Park. 

A feast for the eyes, a banquet for the soul.

My next worry was actually meeting up with all the beautiful women who I knew were going to be at the picnic. These women are dedicated to vintage and pinup that I would feel like a complete amateur in their presence. 

However, when these lovelies saw me walking across the field with Layla they all went awwww! It was like all there Ovaries went into melt down.

         All set up for the picnic! 

After setting up our picnic blanket (and a popup tent for Layla) and had some food, I did something I would never have done if it wasn't for Layla. I went round and Introduced her (and myself) to all the little group of pinup picnickers. Layla had given me the confidence to do that. In return everyone loved her and they commented on how cute we both looked! It has definitely given me a boost to my self esteem.

        Holly and little Layla

Pinups!

Pinups everywhere.

Me and Layla in matching nautical dresses . As featured on Instagram! 

  Lovely Sam

The day itself was lovely and it was great to put names to faces to all the people I had 'met' via social media. The British Belles did an excellent job hosting and collectively we raised £1000 for Macmillan Cancer research. Amazing!

Photos by Sam Penney used with kind permission. 

More information on the British Belles, visit their blog! 

 So sorry for lack of blog posts. I have been up to so much in the past few months but finding time to blog about it while looking after a baby is near impossible! However I just HAVE to blog about my weekend. (27th June) 

****warning text heavy post****

Over on Instagram I have been following a collective of lovely Pin ups called The British Belles. A few months ago they announced that they would be putting on a picnic in London I really wanted to go!

Taking a baby to a large city seemed very daunting to me. When Layla was only a few weeks old I found it hard to leave the house, let alone in to town! 

I was so determined to take Layla with me to London that I over come that worry. Babies are so resilient and that I was babywearing also helped!  Luckily my friend Sam wanted to go too and we hatched a plan for me to drive to hers and get the train from there, saving money on train fare and having someone with us who knows London well.

My partner also came with is and on the morning of the picnic we drove to Blackheath and got the train at Kidbrook station. 

       In the car, on the way to London.

Unfortunately the train we wanted to get was at the the station already and we had to sort our tickets so we waited for the next train. It was a good job we did get that next train as who should be on there but Miss Vintage 2014 Holly Foster and we travelled all together to Victoria station. 

From there  we got the bus to Hyde park (we got off at the wrong stop and had to do a lot of walking through Hyde Park in shoes that decided they hated me.)

Finally we found all the lovely beauties all set up eating their picnic in a corner of Hyde Park. 

A feast for the eyes, a banquet for the soul.

My next worry was actually meeting up with all the beautiful women who I knew were going to be at the picnic. These women are dedicated to vintage and pinup that I would feel like a complete amateur in their presence. 

However, when these lovelies saw me walking across the field with Layla they all went awwww! It was like all there Ovaries went into melt down.

         All set up for the picnic! 

After setting up our picnic blanket (and a popup tent for Layla) and had some food, I did something I would never have done if it wasn't for Layla. I went round and Introduced her (and myself) to all the little group of pinup picnickers. Layla had given me the confidence to do that. In return everyone loved her and they commented on how cute we both looked! It has definitely given me a boost to my self esteem.

        Holly and little Layla

Pinups!

Pinups everywhere.

Me and Layla in matching nautical dresses . As featured on Instagram! 

  Lovely Sam

The day itself was lovely and it was great to put names to faces to all the people I had 'met' via social media. The British Belles did an excellent job hosting and collectively we raised £1000 for Macmillan Cancer research. Amazing!

Photos by Sam Penney used with kind permission. 

For more about the pinup in the park event, read The British Belles Blog; http://thebritishbelles.blogspot.co.uk/?m=1

Most Marvellous meet up at Southend

As I am on Maternity leave at the moment it means my weekends are free and I have decided to make the most of it.

Lately I have joined a lot of vintage, retro Facebook groups, one of these being 1940's/1950's Most Marvellous Meet ups. I am hoping that 2015 will be the year where I make more vintage loving friends and what better way to do that then meet others in real life.   

The first meet was to be at Southend  at the Bobby Jo's Diner. I wanted to go there last summer but never made it, so this would be the perfect opportunity.

The journey to Southend is about an hour and 45 minuets by car and we were running slightly late with getting out of the house with a baby and the traffic in Southend was dismal. The meet was meant to be at 12 o'clock but by the time we parked up it was almost 1pm!

In the car getting worried about the time! 

The other ladies were seated near the back of the diner and luckily I had studied their profile pics so I knew who to look out for. Everyone absolutely adored Layla and she was as good as gold!

If you have never been to Bobby Jo's and are curious to go then just go! The food was really tasty and great value and the milkshakes were a dream as was the decor. 

After we had our food and drinks we all walked into town to a vintage fair.

This was really good if a little small but I did come away with a new Collectif Anchor skirt, wired hair tie and two beautiful tops by Bamboo Bettie. A vintage clothing Reproduction company I will definitely be keeping an eye on. 

It was a lovely day  and such a lovely change to talk to others who are passionate about the 40s/50s style. Friendships have been forged already. 

The ladies +man and baby of the Southend meet

The next Marvellous Meet up I am going to is in Rochester, Kent on the 21st March. You can find more information about this and other meets happening all over the country  on the Facebook group.

https://m.facebook.com/groups/634809676647737?ref=bookmark

 Just tell them the Rockabilly pagan sent ya and I look forward to seeing you at future meet ups. 

New year, new beginnings.

Happy new year!

Wow what a year 2014 was. I am still amazed that it has come to an end and we are now in January.

So what has happened in the last few months since my last blog post?

I became a mummy!

Minutes after Layla's birth.

Little Layla was born on the 24th November at 4:34am. She was 3 weeks early and was in a rush to meet us all!

Happy family

But of course with life comes death and a few days later my elderly Nan passed away. It has been quite a roller coaster of emotions for me as you can imagine.

Me and my Nan who I was miss very much.

Now Layla is over a month old and we are getting use to being parents. The late night feeds and getting out and about with a little one have all been massive learning curves but starting to feel a lot more confident now and looking forward to seeing what 2015 will have in store for us.

I hope you all have a very happy new year!