My summer was mostly spent shuffling along wondering when I would stop feeling sick or like I’d not slept in a month (still waiting for that second one to be honest). I can’t say it was my favourite way to spend the summer months but right at the start (pre-sickness) and at the end (mostly post-sickness) there were some special days that I would have captured at the time if I’d had the energy to:
My sister got married!
We had the best weekend in June celebrating my sister and her now-husband. They were the most beautiful bride and groom. From getting ready with the other bridesmaids at my sister’s flat, the white London taxi delivering us in style, the ceremony at Marylebone Town Hall, the red bus ride across London to cracking food, giant glow sticks, an excellent play list and lots of questionable dance moves at the pub; every part of the day was a joy. We also had pizza and brunch with the immediate families the night before/morning after and isn’t it so bloody lovely when everyone really gets along in these situations? Probably my favourite day of the year tbh and I love looking through the photos (captured by the same photographer we had at our wedding which makes it even nicer).
A family holiday to Devon, including a hitchhiker
Not long after the wedding, we headed off on a family holiday to Dartmouth, Devon. My parents used to spend a lot of time in Dartmouth and they used to have days that they would call ‘A Dartmouth Day’; where you would essentially while away a whole day just pottering around Dartmouth, not really doing very much. It’s that kind of place. We had quite a stressful first half of the year and, so, when thinking of booking a summer holiday, we just wanted something easy. We’re very familiar with Dartmouth and didn’t want to do very much so it was the perfect place. As predicted, everyday was just spent pottering about, mainly between the park (cos 2 year old), the beach and cafes. We were really lucky with the weather with every day but one being sunny, and it was also when we realised that we had a little hitchhiker with us, just starting to grow in my belly. I think my favourite moments were early evenings sat down by the river in the for a drink and bowl of olives, and just enjoying the view (in between chasing Alfie around of course), paddling in the sea, and sitting on a bench and eating fish & chips (where Alfie took it very personally that seagulls were hanging around trying to steal his chips and kept telling them to go away). We also stopped off in Bath on the way there and back and it was lovely to soak in the city in the sunshine.
London day: Lincoln’s Inn, sunset views and all the food
In September, just as summer was petering out, I wangled myself a weekend off parenting and spent two nights in London with two of my oldest friends. We had a little bit of culture looking around Lincoln’s Inn as part of the Open House Festival which I really liked for the Hogwarts vibes, took in the glorious golden hour views down by the river just by London Bridge and otherwise ate a lot of food and did a lot of chatting. Shout out to Comptoir Bakery which did unbelievably tasty pastries, Flour & Grape, a deliciously good pasta restaurant, Humble Crumble at Borough Market which did, you guessed it, really good crumble and Lechevalier, a cosy cheese and wine bar with amazing cheeses (I’m told the wine was very good as well, I just couldn’t sample it myself). A lovely weekend.
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