Claire Looked & Smiled

Neighbourly fireworks

Claire — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 14:32:53 +0000

Thomas and I happen to have some of the best neighbours a couple could hope for, they’re kind, generous and above all so when they invited me round to their fireworks there was no way i was going to turn them down.

They had set up a mini bar in their shed which as you can see it was really well stocked, although the candle light was a new thing

and as soon as i walked in the door i was handed a large glass of wine, although thanks to my hat it was insinuated that it ought to be a bottle of vodka!?

Everyone was really getting into the swing of things and really enjoying themselves,

This would me Malcolm and Margaret, otherwise known as Mags and Malc. This photo was taken a bit into the evening so obviously not the most flattering, but still what a laugh these two can be!

The wind blew the fireworks all over the place, but what a display it was and after many, many bad attempts to capture them i have three of four decent ones to show you all.

This one is one of my favourites, the colours and the individual sparkles just make it look so beautiful.

This one was tied to a post and created huge plumes of smoke all of which seemed to find its way to the house where most of us were trying to shelter from the chilling wind.

Then finally came the sparklers, my favourite part of bonfire night, and although i couldn't persuade anyone to write their name for me, they did come up with some interesting shapes! anyway after all of this we headed back in side to warm up and chill out a bit more. So here ends the evening and before i go i must say a very big thank you to Malc and Mags for a fantastic evening!

Going Up Hills

Claire — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 13:12:55 +0000

After the rush of the wedding and preparations for Thomas to go to America on business, we decided to take some time out and go walking one weekend not so long ago. So we headed off to Buttermere, down all the windey roads and through all the Cumbrian hills

The colours of autumn had seeped into everything

when we finally got into Buttermere we decided upon our route and set off with Millie up the hills. Within the first five minutes Millie had lost her Frisbee in the river which involved a bit of fishing on Thomas’s part and a very damp dog on her part. After its recovery we set off and went on up the hills, Thomas taking the lead.

He really stood out in his yellow jacket, and despite his decent pace up the hill neither of us could quite keep up with Millie's hill climbing skills.

We kept going until the driving rain (which just seemed to stick at the 45 degree angle for a good 2 hours or so) and the slowly lowering cloud got the better of us and we decided to find somewhere for lunch, when we stumbled upon this wonderful waterfall. The perfect picnic site as you can see it kept me pretty happy for a bit.

a nice cup of very hot tea and a rather random mix of sandwiches, and bounty bar to finish off with! Really keeps girl happy when walking on the hills.

With lunch over it was back down the hills and over some rather interesting bridges…

It somehow managed to remind me of a few bridges in Pakistan and their delicate state!

But none the less we had a fantastic time walking around about Buttermere, and i can’t wait for our next trip out and about Cumbria,

so till then all our love x

Millie goes a fishing

Claire — Sat, 18 Jul 2009 14:03:01 +0000

This week Millie and i decided to explore a bit more of our local area, and so at the recommendation of a friend of ours we trekked up to Midgeholme (the next village up from where we live) and found a fantastic river hidden away.

Millie’s energy seems to be growing everyday, and so taking her swimming in a nice cold river seemed like a good idea to burn off some energy

Things started off pretty calm with her running up and down the track,

and then the leaping started...

Then she really started showing off...

Then we found the river and it needed a lot of careful studying before Millie would get in

then she began splashing up and down the river and getting more and more excited the more she splashed about

Then she decided to start biting the water that she was splashing about, not fully aware that there were deeper bits...

The longer we spent wading up the river the more excited she got the more adventurous she became

It just such a beautiful place, sometimes it distracted me even more than Millie did

Then we reached my favourite section of the river a very deep plunge pool deep enough to swim in. As it turns out it was the only part that Millie decided that she didn't want to swim in, maybe because neither of us could see the bottom...

I think this is going to become one of my favourite spots to go walking in, it was such a peaceful place to be, oh the advantages of living in the middle of the countryside!

Before I leave please forgive the infrequent posts of late, I’m trying to organise things for the wedding and organise the house work Thomas and I are having done at the moment, Things will return to normal soon enough!

Wedding post II

Claire — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:00:40 +0000

Right rather longer pause than i had intended. had to say goodbye to my darling fiance for a few days and enjoy the sun shine. So I left you in the rain…

the rain finally cleared up and the photos continued, while ones of the bridesmaids and groomsmen were being taken Laura and Lee managed to catch a few moments to themselves

it didn't last too long though before they were dragged back into the frames...

then the photos were over and we dashed down to Penrith for the reception

and the socialization began. This is Claire, one of Thomas's niece a wonderful person who has been very sweet to me, and a whizz with animals, sure to become a guru to me I'm sure.

Lauras beautiful bouquet, has my favourite flowers in it, peonies!!! shame their not in season in August, hope mine look as beautiful

her flowers seem to compliment her garter, i just love that smile of hers.

then she got a hold of her favourite drink, beer! although her mother did insist that it was put into a wine glass

then came the food and speeches, the best man came out with some very revealing secrets that ended up with the groom featuring up on crime watch! rather shocking news for the young bride.

Jack displaying a beautiful fascinator, not entirely sure it suits him but hey each to their own...

then the bridesmaids seemed drawn to lee and tried to drag him off to play games all afternoon

then the real party began (left to right, Peter- father of the bride, Catherine- Thomas's niece, Claire- Thomas's niece)

my favourite part of the evening the first dance they just looked so cute. I photoshopped it a little bit, just to make them stand out a bit more make the look a bit more special.

Anyway it was a wonderful day, full of happiness and laughter, and as cheesy as this might be i hope that those emotions fill Laura and Lee’s marriage for many years to come.

Millie and the Buttercups

Claire — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:38:08 +0000

So its late at night, and I haven’t managed to post up the rest of pictures of the wedding but these are just too cute to leave on my computer, and I’m too tired to post much with them so please excuse the shortness of my writings and wrongness of my spellings. Just join in with the joy of the summer…

experimenting with a bit of bokeh

there are a rew of these running shots in sequence, i had to post them just cos i adore the way her ears move

RUN MILLIE RUN...

... just remember to stop

do you like butter? quick try it out...second running...

really starting to fly... ears ready for take off

and their down, but millie aren't you a little close...don't you think you ought to slow down just a little bit?

Quick quick diversionary tactics needed!!!

Back to being calm again, even though she seems to have eaten some flowers along the way!

this weird tactic of charging and trying to stop by me was repeated a few times and failed a few times!

This is just such a beautiful place sometimes, it just blows me away...

If only every afternoon could be like this, Millie, me and the sunshine... never mind maybe it'll still be there tomorrow... night one and all

Wedding Bells

Claire — Fri, 29 May 2009 11:59:28 +0000

The weekend before last, Thomas and I went to his nieces wedding. It was held in the same church that Thomas and I are going to get married in (written with a big smile on my face). It was a beautiful day and a great opportunity to get to see some of the family again. So we got there a bit early and met Lee the groom and his best man coming out of the church

Lee just looked so happy and excited, you could just tell that there was one thing on his mind.

and it seemed to be infectious as Thomas and Andrew (his nephew) seemed to be doing their best to spread the laughter.

Although I think it might have affected some in the wrong way... (left to right Sheligh- sister, Ann-sister, and Tony- brother in-law)

Ah there we go, a much better reaction! (Right to left, Patricia- sister, Russel- nephew, Chris- brother in-law)

Then the Bridesmaids turned up and I knew that we should have gone and bagged a seat in the church, as by the time we got in there the church was full. Never mind...

at least there's a few nice photos of them going into the church, and you get to see the backs of them!

The service was a full mass and was really nice, I was also using it to think out bits for our own service (naughty i know, but its been a while since I’ve been to a wedding and we haven’t yet discussed what order of service we’ll have!) It was beautiful, although i did miss the “you may kiss the bride” part, definitely not something that I’m cutting out. Anyway on with the photos…

When the service was over we all piled out of the church stretching out legs and rushing to take photographs before it rained.

Immediately signs of bordom set in with the younger members of the family

It did rain a bit but thank goodness for the big brollies

Right a quick pause in the wedding two posts in a day just isn’t enough think I’m going to make it a record three. and spilt this wedding in half and get some food in me and some household chores done.

Somewhere (in the middle of nowhere) over the rainbow…

Claire — Fri, 29 May 2009 10:22:08 +0000

Way up high, there’s a La La La La…. OK so no more singing, but Thomas and I came home home one day to find this sitting over our house.

It was so bright in the sky it was unbelievable, and then a second rainbow appeared above it!

We are often very privilaged to see really beautiful things in the area that we live in, and I don’t photograph them all but this one just seemed to deserve a few photos and a rather poor attempt at stitching two together (you can decide if it works for yourself).

Its definitely been a while since I've seen a whole rainbow

Then just to round off and interesting evening Thomas and I were doing a bit of fish finger taste testing in the kitchen…

as you do before dinner... and as we looked out the window and saw this...

I'm sure she would have liked some fish fingers but I think her table manners are going to need a bit of work first!

Trouble has a new name…

Claire — Wed, 22 Apr 2009 08:31:49 +0000

When I was posting my blog yesterday my pup Millie (short for Camilla) thought I was neglecting her and proceeded to destroy what ever she could get her mouth around. She is adorable but sometimes I need pictures like these to remind me that she really is very cute and not a demon in disguise.

I found her sleeping in the sunshine in the back area that we have set up for her (she managed to escape from that area yesterday)

But when she has a face like that, with all her freckles its hard to stay mad at her.

She has very long legs for a puppy her size which means that when she's running up and down stairs she sometimes falls over herself.

Anyway I daren’t leave her out alone in the garden for much longer, I’m beginning to dread those moments when everything seem so still in the house because you just know that she’s up to something.

playing swallows and amazons

Claire — Tue, 21 Apr 2009 13:03:52 +0000

Last weekend my fiancee treated me and a few others to a weekend of sailing (considering that I’m just a little bit afraid of the sea). It didn’t turn out quite as it was supposed to, we were meant to leave from Maryport on a rather large boat and experience the joy of the wind in the sails, the listing of the boat as we tacked across the seas etc.

Unfortunately the sea doors at Maryport had been sticking and this was the weekend that they decided that they needed to work on them so we couldn’t get the boat out. So they came up with a quick solution and we went up to Ardrossan and got on an even bigger boat.

She was called Lady Q and at 43.7 feet long she was a very big boat to be learning on. With three double beds on board one which had en-suite!!

We all booted and suited up in our sailing shoes, waterproofs and life jackets and set off through the harbour walls, neatly avoiding the the local ferry. The forecast for the weekend was extremely sunny with light winds, very light winds. so when we had motored out of the harbour and tried to put up the sails pretty much nothing happened, so we kept the motor running and took turns at steering.

I was pretty nervous at first when it came to my turn, but eventually it came to be one of the most pleasurable tasks on the boat.

We sailed for a good few hours enjoying the sunshine, eating lunch...

...and learning a few of the knots

we set our course and headed straight for the Isle of Arran

we looped a buoy and set up the dingy to take us into shore. The boys initially decided that the best way to get to shore was to use the oars on the dingy but half way across the skipper told us that he’d never rowed before and would someone else mind taking over so with a bit of jiggling about Thomas too the main seat and rowed us there and then the rest of the way back, and decided to switch to the motor on the boat.

Still it is kinda nice to watch

and it is rather a long way to row...

When all of us were ashore we found the nearest (and only bar/restaurant in town) thanks to a few tipsy walkers who were headed on to the next town and had spent some time at the Lochranza Hotel. We topped up on food and bit of drink, and then Shilagh and I went around the local castle and admired the sunset and the rather tame deer that surrounded the castle.

quite a cool and famous landmark on the island.

then we all piled back into the dingy and headed back out to the boat, to get rocked to sleep.

The next day we woke to another calm beautiful morning, and started to practice weaving in and out of the buoys, then lassoing the buoys. then it was time to enjoy the still waters once again and head home to dry land.

looking over the bow of the ship moving through the still water.

So here is my last look over Arran and if you ever see a weather forecast for the weekend that looks as good as this then head for the nearest boat and find Arran.

Dress Happy

Claire — Thu, 16 Apr 2009 21:57:20 +0000

Today thanks to a bit of organisation, most of my bridesmaids and I got together and went bridesmaids dress shopping (we didn’t neglect the final bridesmaid she’s on compulsory bed rest and hopefully recovering speedily!). Having been slightly starved of girly attention for a while, it was a real tonic to be around the girls that I’ve grown up with.

We started off by heading off into Watford, straight into one of our local department stores. We were looking for dresses that suited each of the girls, that went with my dress, and possibly matched in with my colour scheme of yellow and white. When we arrived we picked out three lovely dresses and then the real fun began. Playing “dress up”.

A quick intro to them my best friend Abi, Sammy my cousin and Katy my sister, I promise pictures of Jamie to follow later. The two dresses on the left were the initial favorite, our front runner, and the yellow was just because it looked kinda pretty.

Then they all swapped dresses around to see what the different dresses looked like on them. Katy kept describing the white dress as something from the sound of music, though I think she does look cute in it.

More and more dresses Katy trying on the sound of music dress (oh the excitement on her face) and Sammy trying on different sizes. Sometimes they look more like sisters than Katy and I do.

These were universally hated! But certainly gave us all a bit of a giggle.

A bit more of a folly dress with the draped neck, they loved the pockets but said that they really didn't feel special enough. The strapless dress went down a lot better but the poor quality of make just destroyed our opinion of it.

These were a few more yellow dresses that seemed to remind us all of Tinkerbell!? A little too much going on on the dress I think.

Then finally we found the one that got all the girls excited and prancing around the changing room getting excited about pockets in the dresses, the types of shoes that they could wear with it and what sort of jewellery would go. So as most good shoppers know when you start thinking about the shoes to go with the dress, you’ve found the right dress!

Too me they look incredibly beautiful and they all adore the dresses, I mean they have pockets!!! and on the label it says lemon, so I got the yellow dresses that I had hoped to have them in.

So now we just need to find the shoes and the rest of the bridesmaids gear, lets hopes its as easy as finding these dresses!