Robert & I celebrated our two year wedding anniversary this weekend. We’ve been together for six years in total and spent about eighteen months engaged as we wanted to have our wedding take place in Yosemite Chapel, Yosemite National Park and it took that long to organise it. But on the 1st of August, 2008 we tied the knot. It was a wonderful, wonderful day. Perfect in every way and just right for us. The fact that it took place in California had something to do with it and I can just see Robert rolling his eyes as I say that!

The last two years have been an adventure to say the least. We’ve moved house, had things change dramatically in both of our professional lives, been unfortunate to suffer the loss of two babies and then been given two babies in one go when our twins were born two months ago.

The arrival of our children, Ned & Anaïs, are the reason why this anniversary was somewhat more….how shall I put this…..relaxed than it may have been had they not arrived yet.

Case in point : Robert the Husband, dead to the world and asleep alongside both babies in the garden on Saturday afternoon.

I’m glad I spotted them as Anaïs needed a wee blanket to keep warm. But I was pleased that they were all getting some rest as I was feeling a bit more awake on Saturday and managed to get a huge tidy and clean up done throughout the house. Hoovering included!! Although right now, a mere forty eight hours later, you’d never know I’d done it. But hey ho!

Yesterday it was my turn to try and sneak off to take a nap although I was caught very early on and probably need to rethink my hiding places. Anaïs swears that she didn’t tell Dada but I’m not so sure.

We did manage some time out of the house and went down to Brighton for a walk along the front and had lunch at Jamie’s Italian. It was good to reflect on all that has happened in only the last twenty four months and bite our lips as we think about the next few years. Robert and I have a hard time NOT planning and have already started to look in to another crazy plan that may well see us entering in to our biggest adventure yet. The great thing about this one is that Ned and Anaïs will be around for the ride. We’re a little gang of four now and if one does something we all have to do it. At least until the kids are old enough to leave home……….

The sea breeze helped a great deal and woke me up somewhat. Robert and I are smack bang in the middle of night feeds and every time the babies sleep an extra ten or twenty minutes during those dark, dark hours we have a mini celebration. Those celebrations sound something like…

“Oh my God, it’s 03.50am”

“You’re joking”

See, celebrations all around!!!!!!

This month I am going to try and suck the life out of August as it can be seen by many as the last of the summer months. I don’t agree. I think that September and October can be deliciously warm and to say I’m scared of the Summer ending is an understatement. As far as I’m concerned I’m going to continue to cook, eat and live outdoors until someone drags me in to put me into my thermal underwear in a centrally heated room. THAT’S how much I want the summer to continue!!!!!

I was meant to be uploading a piece of filmed content today but just as we were about to call “action” we had a downpour and that was the end of that!!! Thank you so very much for your feedback and kind comments on the recipe I uploaded on to Cherry Telly last week. I can assure you that there are plenty more clips to come and you’ll be sick of me before you know it!

But until then please accept my latest downloadable desktop calender and all of the wonderful summery articles that we have planned for you over the next four weeks or so.

Lots of love,
Cherry

This is the .jpeg version of my free desktop calendar. Click image to save.

This is the .png version of my free desktop calendar. Click image to save.

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While writing this newsletter I realised that June was a month of ‘firsts’. I became a Mother for the first time in June.

We harvested the first of the Sweet Williams in June.

Robert and I took the twins on their first trip to Brighton.

And my Dad began work on our first twelve seater table.

A few days later Cathy and I sorted the fabric for the first tablecloth to cover the first twelve seater table. I snuck out in to the garden to do this as the babies and Robert slept in front of the television whilst watching Wimbledon. The sound of a tennis ball being hit back and forth across a net is the most relaxing sound I have ever heard and I have slept in front of many a match this year myself.

I had my nose sucked by Ned for the first time in June…..

…and spotted the first ripened Blueberries I have ever grown by myself.

We also harvested the first of our Courgettes.

A month of firsts. Some HUGE and life changing some simple and life affirming. But as my Word of the Year – 2010 is the word ‘Life’ this all makes sense.

Since our home became home to two babies on the tenth of June I have noticed a seismic change in my thinking. Due to very little going to plan (babies occasionally have plans of their own, the cheek of it!!!) and my daily workload increasing by about a million I have discovered that the only way to get ANYTHING done is to do one thing at a time and not to think too far in to the future.

I have to admit that I’m quite enjoying this new way of going about my day. I notice things I would normally be in too much of a rush to see and at this time I can’t afford to miss a thing. What I mean by this is that my daughter Anaïs has already grown out of her newborn baby-grows and vests and she’ll never again be in them.

That can’t be missed.

It’s with that thought that I chose a basket of Cherries for this month’s desktop calendar download. Cherries are in season right now and this July we’ve got some of the best recipes featuring Cherries that I know of. It’s also to remind me personally that if I stop to look around me often enough life may not be a bowl of Cherries the whole time but there is ALWAYS something to be eternally grateful for. So although I miss my husband today I know that he will be back this evening to be the best father in the world to these babies. And THAT is my focus.

Simply click on the image and save it to your desktop.

Have a wonderful July. May it bring many joyful ‘Firsts’ for all of you. See you tomorrow for the launch of this month’s giveaway.

Lots of love,
Cherry

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Ah June!

Flaming June.

Early mornings, long nights, sunny days. The garden comes to life and everything green turns to technicolour as the flowers come out.

June is also the month of tennis. Wimbledon will soon be upon us and that can mean only one thing – Strawberries!

Strawberries are one of, if not my most, favourite fruits. I love picking them, eating them, baking with them and then eating them all over again.

I love their shape, texture and when they are ripe and juicy their taste is like nothing else I can compare it to. I am currently growing my own Strawberries in my container garden but I have been able to get hold of a couple of good tasting punnets from our local farmers market.

This past weekend was a three day weekend in the UK and as we spent a great deal of it up in the middle of the night or on the sofa dealing with contractions, severe backache and utter frustration I got to eat quite a few Strawberries (well I wasn’t doing much else. Oh no, that’s right I went to the garden centre and the supermarket. JOY!!!!).

I mostly ate the Strawbs with pancakes and maple syrup but occasionally I would treat myself to an entire bowl of nothing else but the fruit itself and scoff the lot.

So as I sit here and will these babies to come out of my body sooner rather than later I will also be thinking of some delicious recipes that I can share with you using this most wonderful of fruit.

I can already direct you to my recipe for Strawberries & Cream for Grownups as well as my super quick and easy take on Eton Mess and of course my five day course on Strawberry Jam, including a free download for Strawberry Jam Jar Labels.

June is a wonderful month and that is why I’m pleased to be having my babies at this time. Whether they come this afternoon or in twenty four days time (their forty week point) they will still be here in June.

Their birthdays will be full of flowers, food and fun. The mercury will be rising and the opportunity for them to have their parties out of doors will be there. When old enough they will be able to have Pimms and Strawberry Daiquiris served at their celebrations but until then it’ll be Strawberry Milkshakes.

Bless them. They have no idea how much fun they’ll have!

Don’t forget to download your free desktop calendar and check back tomorrow for my FABULOUS June Giveaway!

Love Cherry xoxoxo

Click on the picture for the .JPEG version of my free desktop calendar

Click on the picture for the .PNG version of my free desktop calendar

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When I woke up and realised that they weren’t here yet I found myself missing them. Come back, I’m missing you, I want more of you. MORE PLEASE!

Last month as part of my monthly giveaway my question to you all was ” What would you like to see more of at Cherry Menlove.com?”

Your answer was MORE PLEASE!

We had a great response and I have to thank you all for such detailed and thoughtful answers, you really are all utterly fantastic.

We have gone through the emails we received and it would seem that you guys are after the simple stuff. The stuff that makes life better, easier, less complicated and all together more fun. Simple suppers, gardening articles that are written for people who know nothing about gardening,  more patterns and downloads, home decorating and restoration ideas etc….

This is all absolutely within our power to give you…….and so we shall. We are working on some brand new buttons and functions for this website that will make the whole thing easier to navigate and offer you all of this.

However, HOWEVER, there was a theme running through a really high percentage of the emails we had that was simply asking for more. More tales from behind the scenes, more pictures of what we get up to on a day to day basis, more personal blogs. Simply put – more of an insight in to what we do everyday here on this little farm in West Sussex.

Most of you, very politely, prefaced your request with stating that you didn’t want to appear nosey when asking for more of this type of thing. I can assure you that sometimes I get emails asking very personal questions that I simply won’t answer but this type of request is the sort of thing that I myself would want to see. I’m always fascinated by peeks behind the scenes, reality shows and pictures showing how things are done.

I started writing a blog about my days in England and adventures in all things ‘home and garden’ in 2006. It was entirely personal and I threw a lot of myself in to it. But as time wore on I wanted something more substantial to write about. I was almost bored of writing about myself and my thoughts on things. i wanted projects to get my teeth in to and I wanted to grow and develop in whole range of skills and then to share this with the people who read my site.

And that is what I have been doing exclusively for the eighteen months or so. I’ve written personal blogs in that time and my Twin Pregnancy Diary has certainly been more personal. But having read your emails I think I now know that you want a bit of both – content and life. The Stuff of Life.

I feel very privileged that these are the sorts of things you have requested as I very often disregard photos, articles, stories and the like as I’m convinced that would be interesting to NOBODY. But perhaps that isn’t entirely true.

In light of all of this, bear with us, we have some modifying to do and some changes to make to to the website but you have all been heard and as we all know…it’s good to talk!

Before I go don’t forget to download my desktop calender for the month of May….MAY!!!!!!!

Click the picture for the .jpeg version of this months desktop calender

Click the picture for the .png version of this months desktop calender

And so what!

Robert the Husband & I got to hang out for a bit on our own at first starting with finding an AWESOME Thai restaurant housed in a country pub about twenty minutes from here. It was so good I’m still thinking about the meal I had. We also caught a movie and went down to Brighton for waffles by the sea.

As I’ve mentioned before Robert is experimenting with some bread recipes that he’s going to be sharing on this website (Yay!) next month and this weekend he worked on his Focaccia. We ate like kings on Sunday evening and enjoyed the fruits of his efforts. I’m looking forward to this bread series as I think it will be super handy if you want to give bread making a go.

And then yesterday we were all together for the first Easter Egg hunt that my sister’s twins have been able to partake in. Robert and I went out early and hung bunting from the trees. It was and still is CHILLY out there but at least it wasn’t raining and I still find it hard to believe that by the time this month is out the whole garden will be alive again. Just four short weeks.

When we had finished hanging the bunting Jodie went out and hid the eggs and chocolates for the girls and then they were set loose. It was great seeing them spot the brightly coloured wrappers in amongst the daffodils.

Each time they found a new treat they held it aloft before putting it in their wee pink buckets.

Crouching down for treasure…..

…and excitedly showing it off.

Before long their buckets were getting full and luckily, or there would have been trouble, each of the girls managed to find equal amounts of treats. PHEW!!!

With them being only two years four months old, when their Mummy shouted “Shall we do it all again?” they were more than happy to oblige. It won’t be long before the contents of the bucket are worth far more than than the hunt for them but until then Jodie was more than happy to empty out the buckets and hide the eggs in different places for a second time.

Eventually however, it was time to head back indoors for lunch. The little girls with their little pink buckets. Their first Easter Egg hunt behind them.

It was all go in the kitchen as we got lunch ready. I’ve found since getting bigger during my pregnancy that I have to use my energy wisely. This means that I make an awful mess when I’m preparing a meal as I don’t clear up as I go. I justify that by figuring that folk would much rather eat than wait for me to clear up and the clearing can always be done later. Sometimes a great deal later but at least we’ve all eaten. Although I should add that Robert has officially been declared ‘Dishwasher Stacker’ of the year by me as that seems to be the appliance I’ll find him by the most. Thank you, love!

I made two different Jamie Oliver salads this Easter, both of which are delish. His recipes never fail me and working your way through any one of his books will make you a better cook. Fact!

Truly came to help me as I set the table, again, for another feast and we chatted in a way that you can only manage if one of the contributors are a little over two years old. I could sit there all day and chat with her. She makes sense. Uncomplicated sense. I like that.

And so we all had lunch, with the girls sitting on big chairs like grown ups and the rest of us in our highchairs….

Afterwards we ate some of the eggs that had been collected and sat down to catch a bit of Chitty Bang Bang. Is that film not interminably long? Goodness gracious, how we ever made it through it all as children I’ll never know!!! I get bored after Toot Sweets nowadays and if it didn’t take me ten minutes to heave myself out of my chair I would have gone off and done something far more interesting.

Eventually it was time  for everyone to go back to their own homes and everybody left us. Robert and I had another tiny clear up before settling down with a glass of wine (Robert) a bottle of Gaviscon (me) and the final of University Challenge.

And of course the memories of the girl’s first real Easter Egg hunt. By this time next year they’ll have to race more than each other to find the eggs as my two will be here by then.

Here’s hoping they like chocolate!

Speaking of chocolate…

Here is this month’s screensaver calendar.

As you can see it depicts chocolate and fabric. So many of you gave up chocolate for Lent that we thought we’d reward your efforts by dedicating the whole of next week to the good stuff. We have four classic chocolate recipes coming your way and I know you’ll love them. The fabric you see represents all of the brand new craft projects for the home and for you that we are working on here at Cherry Menlove. We’re making so many beautiful things at the moment that the thought of dedicating a whole month to fabrics seems right and proper.

Here is the .jpeg version of the calendar for you to save as your screensaver

Here is the .png version of the calendar for you to save as your screensaver

But for now I’m off to finish the Easter clear up and enjoy the spoils of the garden in April. There is SO MUCH coming up!!!!

Lots of love,

Cherry xoxo

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Hello there!

How good does this feel?

We’re in the month of March!!!!!

Yes, we made it, we’re in March and the only thing going downhill right now is the slide in to Summer. Welcome, welcome, welcome.

As you can see from the collection of fresh green’s and white’s that we’re channeling this month Spring, has well and truly sprung and the whole house is being given a lift. Inspiration is everywhere and the garden is just waiting to burst into life.

I’ve been inspired a lot lately. As the twins grow heavier in my belly and my mobility gets a wee bit more limited, shall we say, I have been hunting around me for things that make me feel great and give my spirits a lift.

Work on the Paddock area begins in earnest today with the installation of rabbit proof fencing made pretty by a hand-built white picket fence – photos to follow very soon. It grieves me not to be out there building the fence myself but the job is in my brother’s trusty hands. What I have been able to do is to plan the space and create an area that I hope will be heavenly in the Summertime. So the gardening books have been out all over the carpet and notes have been taken. Magazine pages have been torn out and stapled together and a plan of the space has begun to take shape. All of the plants and flowers have been ordered and some have even been delivered. It’s nice having something arrive on your doorstep that you can look at and see flourishing in all its glory in a few months time.

I was also thoroughly inspired by this work of art just yesterday afternoon….

A Single Man by Tom Ford was , quite simply, the best LOOKING film I have ever seen but also utterly, utterly sublime, warm, human and extraordinarily bittersweet. I felt the heat of the Friday night sun hit my face as the two gentlemen left the liquor store with the Tanqueray and cigarettes before reaching thier car. I could feel myself brushing past the orange trees in Charley’s house and could almost smell her perfume. But most of all I could see and feel everything that George Falconer was going through as if it were happening to me. That is the sign of good film-making. Tom Ford, I salute you and if you ever feel the need to put a pregnant lady in one of your campaigns I’m your gal due a distinct lack of bashfulness.

I feel a little pedestrian after all of that telling you to download my green screen saver and calender for the month of March as it’s not nearly as stylish as the movie. But that is why being inspired is so important. You use it as a mode of transport from one phase to another. I feel that I am leaving one phase of design right now and entering another. This is a good thing for a very pregnant woman to feel as it can sometimes feel as if I am treading water waiting for the babies to be born and then my creative life can be begin again. Not true. I can do whatever I like creatively, pregnant or not, and move in whatever direction I feel like……..as long as the folk around me don’t mind being directed from near the very large and comfortable chair I’ll undoubtedly be sitting in until the end of June!

JOKE!

This is a .jpeg version of March’s calender that you can save to your desktop.

Or if you prefer, this is a .png version.

Last months downloadable desktop calender was a bit pixelated for some of you so I hope this is better.

Tomorrow I’ll be back with my brand new giveaway. It’s a GREAT one this month and one that is in keeping with a great many articles that I shall be writing this month.

Have a great day and an inspired start to the month of March!

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It’s the Love Month. Yep, we are actually in February now and I can’t quite believe it. I’m not a huge fan of January so landing in this month is really rather fun for me but it also means that a full year of celebrating and entertaining can really begin now and we start off with Valentine’s Day. Over the next two weeks I’ll be taking you through some of my favourite Valentine’s recipes, entertaining and crafty ideas as well as some other articles that will enable us all to feel like Spring is right around the corner and the sun is already beating down on our faces.

Something new that is starting this month are these colour boards that I have turned in to photographs. At the start of each month, along with my newsletter, I’m going to publish the colour boards that we prepare here at the house to show you the types of colours, items and palettes that we have coming up. Each month there will be a different colour palette and I’m excited to see them change through the seasons and as inspiration hits. They will also make up the downloadable calendar (below) which I have changed this month due to requests from readers. You can print the calendar off and stick it to your wall if you wish but you can also save it as your desktop calendar for the month. I’ll try to make them as bright and as colorful as possible so you never mind having the calender glaring back at you.

I was watching an episode of House last night (I swear to goodness these babies are going to come out speaking about infarctions, lumbar punctures and wanting to walk with a cane. WE WATCH SO MUCH HOUSE!!!) and it was the episode when the fireman has a procedure that erases a great many of his personal memories. To help this procedure make sense to the patient the doctors summed it up as being able to start over. As I was watching this episode I asked myself if I could ‘start over’ but still know all that I know now and life a life of hindsight what would I do differently? This question was similar to one someone asked me about what advice I would give to my twenty year old self.

I thought about that question and the one which arose from the episode of House and I thought about what things were like when I was in my very early twenties. I remember having a very lovely flat in a Victorian house and how big the windows were. I remember decorating my kitchen in exactly the same way as Meg Ryan had hers in Sleepless in Seattle. I remember coming home from a break in the States with as many Martha Stewart magazines as I could carry and then subscribing to another American lifestyle magazine when I got home. I thought they were great and they were my only resource for the things I loved to make and do. I also had a Mary Engelbreit book on cross stitch and I worked my way through it, content on the sofa. I had miniature roses on my coffee table and an all white bathroom.

It was very simple and one of the reasons for this was that there was no Internet then. I got it about a year later but it has taken a good few years to evolve in to the gold-mine of information that it is now and I’ve become totally overwhelmed with it all.

So, in this month of love, if I were to go back to the twenty year old me or live a life of hindsight I would most definitely tell that person to keep it simple, don’t let the mind get too crowded and to make it a habit to practice anything that made them feel at peace and discard anything that doesn’t. My middle twenties were ever so turbulent and I wished I’d been told these things. But hey, the party was great while it lasted!!!!

Have a wonderful, colourful, creative and vibrant February. Feel free to download my free desktop calendar for your personal use and if you are married, dating, single or any other combination have a great Valentine’s Day. I’ll make sure that there is something for everyone this month!

LOVE, Cherry xoxo

The top image is a .jpeg and the bottom image is a .png

Click on the image you think will work best for your computer and it will open up in a brand new window. Then save the image as your desktop background.

See you tomorrow!

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We’re here!

We made it.

We have stepped in to 2010, leaving the noughties behind us, and already I can sense great, wonderful and courageous things are going to be happening from here on in.

I can see the tiny specks of beauty in the every day, lightness in the home and a real appreciation of all that surrounds us beginning to pervade my thoughts and thus enriching the time that I spend planning what goes up on to this website.

This newsletter is a fun one to write as it can be so full of possibilities and wishes for the coming year if I want it to be and it just so happens that it is full of all of those things.

Yes, Christmas is over and for many of us, me included, today marks the first proper day back at work and back to some sort of normality. It’s hard not to look at Robert the Husband starting his long commute all over again, the festive remains (odd bits of tinsel and the non-eaten Quality Street) and remember the cosy days of Christmas. But the amazing thing about nature and the magic of the seasons is that to compensate us we have a brand new year to conquer and, I’m pleased to say, SPRING is right around the corner.

This New Year also marks the forth time that I have chosen a word for the year instead of making a resolution.

2007 my word was Organisation

2008 my word was Focus

2009 my word was Calm

Each time I have chosen a word it seems to have acted like a self fulfilling prophecy and without knowing it at the time I have really needed the word that I chose on a hunch the previous January.

And so for this year my word is LIFE. Not just because I have two lives growing inside of me at the moment but because I feel the need for more LIFE. 2009 was amazing on so many levels, a few of which I still can’t reveal, but it was also a FREAKING roller-coaster. Robert the Husband and I got to the end of 2009 looked at each other and said “We have to have more fun next year!!!!”

So we’re going to. We’re going to live life, give life, love life and hopefully, HOPEFULLY, a great deal of this new attitude will rub off and find its way on to this website.

Boy, do we have some plans afoot for this place. I love this website. I love working on it, creating for it, dreaming about it and adding more ‘stuff’ to it and in 2010 this website will be bursting with LIFE as my own life spills out on to its pages!

Of course I do have to take it a wee bit easy as running a creative business/website/several other projects makes one busy but, BUT, all I have to do if it gets too much is ask myself if what I am doing right now is living or simply making it through the day? If it’s the latter then I know I have some shuffling to do.

I can let you all in on some brand new plans we have lined up though. Here are only six of them, in no particular order …..

Monthly giveaways for everyone
A brand new place to chat, post, comment and meet other great folks online
Super new craft downloads and patterns
A brand new series to be announced
My pregnancy diary
The creation of my wonderful new flower, herb and veggie garden in the paddock

Oh, and HUGE amounts of fresh colour, but more on that anon.

Have a great January and “Hello” to all of the new people who have started to visit me so frequently. It’s great to see you here and I thank you for taking the time to stop by. It can only get more exciting/creative/vibrant and HUGE around here so I very much look forward to sharing it with each and every one of you.

I’ll be back tomorrow with my round up of 2009. Yep, I’m also compiling my forth annual ‘Year in Pictures”.

Blimey!

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Oh my goodness I can’t believe that I’m even writing this message, it’s very exciting to be with you at this time of year and I hope you’re having a wonderful time.

First of all I would like to say thank you to everyone who has taken part in our Christmas Stocking Advent Extravaganza. We have had such fun putting this together and are so glad that we managed to pull it off. It has been a privilege to giveaway the caliber of prizes that we have had and enormously encouraging and humbling to see so many of you wanting to take part and join in the fun.

It has also been a time of learning for me as we thought about and I then wrote the 24 separate articles that went behind each advent stocking. It’s really important for me to draw from personal experience when writing but I also wanted the information behind the stocking to be applicable to as many people as possible. I can’t tell you what time of day to put your Turkey in the oven as I don’t know how large it is but I can suggest ways to ensure that you leave enough time to get everything done in time for lunch before anyone gets grouchy or starves.

It has also been very beneficial to do virtually the whole of Autumn and Christmas while experiencing the early stages of pregnancy. Never before have I not been able to rush and sprint around the place powered by coffee. Never before have I had to conserve energy and think about my time so seriously. It has given me a wonderful taster of what is to come and what many of my readers already have to do while looking after their families.

I’ll be a full-time working mother when my twins pop out and this , I know, will be a tremendous challenge. But, like so many of you, I’m not the first and no different from all of the other miracle working mums that ‘make it all happen’ on a day to day basis across the world.

Jodie and I try to bring as much thought and care as we possibly can to the projects we put on to my website. We think about costs, different abilities and always work from the premise that if I can do it anybody can do it as I myself am entirely self-taught in all that I do. I have simply made it my business to know as much as I possibly can about all that I do. I grew up phoning my Nana when I was making my first stew “a stew boiled is a stew spoiled” she would say and my Mum taught me how to knit, crochet and use a sewing machine when I was little but those activities were soon discarded when I got in to fashion, music and boys. I’m sure that’s true of many of us and this is what makes it all that much sweeter when, years later, we re-discover skills that we thought had been lost forever.

So, with our team expanding in January to welcome another member of staff it is now up to me to make a promise of new, vibrant and rich content to come your way in 2010.

I always begin the New Year, not with a resolution, but with a word and my word for the new year is ‘Life’.

I’ll expand on that in my first newsletter of January to be published on the site on Monday the 4th. But until then have a wonderful Christmas, a safe and Happy New Year’s Eve and I’ll see you in all your glory on the other side.

I’ll be posting regular pictures to my site from my own family Christmas and a little trip that Robert the Husband and I are making to the snow. So feel free to peek in over the Christmas week and see what we’ve been up to.

Until then thank you all so much, Happy Christmas and lots and lots of love from me!

Cherry xoxoxo

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“Sleigh bells ring, are ya listening?”

Ahhhhh, we’ve landed. Tomorrow we enter December. One of, if not THE, coziest months of the year. The shops are getting busier, the weather is finally getting colder and the feeling in the air finally turns its attention towards Santa. My gift list has been given to my husband and was surprisingly hard to compile. When I’m asked what I want I find it really hard to think of anything, but of course at any other time of the year I sit there lusting over all manner of ‘stuff’ found online.

Before I get on to more important things I wanted to draw your attention to something I’m trying out this year. I am ‘doing’ Christmas according to a colour palette this year. I picked out four colours, blush pink, soft green, a couple of shades of blue and fluffy white. I then decided to stick as closely as I could to these shades as I decorated the house. The most remarkable thing about doing it this way is just how easy it is to decorate. I knew how to decorate the Gingerbread House. I was certain on the colours for the stocking garland and when replacing some baubles I saw my colours immediately.

If you asked me I couldn’t tell you why I went for this colour scheme at this particular time. I think it had something to do with wanting the house to be as bright and as fresh as possible. If I’d opted for dark red and green it would have been like living in a traditional gentleman’s club which would have made me very grouchy indeed.

Of course now my challenge is to find a way for all of these current decorations to fit in beautifully with my chosen palette for NEXT year. But I’ll think on that anon.

Now to the good stuff……

Tomorrow sees the first day of advent. It also sees the launch day of my DOWNLOADABLE ADVENT CALENDAR. This wonderful widget will sit so neatly on your desktop or dock and is deliciously shaped liked a stocking. Once downloaded it will gently remind you each day to click on it and you will be taken through to a brand new section of my website that has been especially dedicated to the days of Advent. I’ve even added an extra day and will have a wee message for you on Christmas Day itself.

There will be several chances to win some amazing prizes as well as 24 rock solid hints, tips, trims and things from my home to yours!

And don’t worry as soon as Boxing Day has passed you can remove the widget and it will not be there to remind you of Christmas until next July. A more depressing thought there never was!

So tomorrow is the day of the big launch. Visit my home page or the daily post and all of the details will be there on how to download one of the cutest widgets you’ve ever seen. Oh, and it’s darn handy too!

Love to you all…….”JOY TO THE WORLD”!!!!!

It’s finally here!!!

Cherry xoxox

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If it’s good enough for the cat it’s good enough for me!

The clocks have changed, it’s now dark shortly after five pm and if there is one thing that we have to do during the month of November it’s hibernate. I’m sure it happens this way around in order to prepare us for the madness that ensues next month but more on that later.

As you can see I’m napping in front of a newly tiled Union Jack that sits proudly behind the Aga. I chose three really pale and rather muted colours for it and Robert the Husband tiled the whole thing over a couple of weekends and in the evenings. We still have the sides to grout but that will only take a moment and I really wanted to show it off. I’m proud of him and the awesome flag he made. Thanks, love!

So, we’re already in November, what’s that all about?!

Well , first of all don’t forget to download my calender for this month. This can be found right here!

We’ve also decided to give you, the reader, all that we can to help ease you into a time of the year that can get a little hectic. We have been working like elves in order to post our own Christmas projects super early for you to have a go at. We’ve got brand new recipes, some beautiful craft ideas, house keeping tips including how to make kindling for any roaring fires you may decide to have.

We’ve also got gift ideas, decorative how-to’s and I’ll be starting a new series called Anatomy of a Room. This is when I showcase a room I’ve been working on and go through each and every corner writing about how I got there.

My diary is pretty full this month as among other things I’ll be filming my 24 Days of Advent as part of my ‘Have Yourself a Cherry Little Christmas” series. Something I’ve tried to run since I started blogging about four years ago. Each day I’ll be popping up on screen and suggesting one simple thing to prepare, check on or sort out before the big day and I’m looking forward to shooting them. Knowing how these things go there will probably be a far longer blooper reel than any actual usable content as I find it very hard not to ad lib or act like a fool. But it’ll be worth it for the giggles.

I’d like to take this moment to say a massive HELLO to all the folk out there who have found this website over the last couple of months. It really is awesome to see you visiting and I hope that we continue to create content that is relevant, doable and beautiful for you to look at, take part in and simply enjoy. If you’re anything like me sometimes just looking at pretty pictures is enough to make one feel totally revived and ready to move on.

However, before we get deep into Christmas prep we still have Bonfire Night to celebrate in the UK. And that means only two things…

Beans and  S’mores.

The bean recipe is on it’s way and here’s all you need for the S’mores….UK style of course!

This past weekend was Halloween and we had a little visit from the twins.

They had both just gotten over an horrific cold. During which time they learnt to say “Calpol” very, very clearly indeed. Poor little mites.

This meant that there was no dressing up as ghosts or making camps for them to play in in the living room. We all just spent an evening by the fire having cuddles,eating  Mexican food and it was an early night for all. But that’s OK. Truly was up bright and early at 5am, arms outstretched and wanting a cuddle. Auntie Cha-Cha was on hand to whisk her out of bed, still  wrapped in her quilt and settle down in front of the tele for a very early showing of Polar Express. Which currently goes by the name of ‘Train!!!”.

Precious, precious times.

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OMG!!!!!

It’s OCTOBER and we can officially get as cosy as we like whenever we like!!

Jeez, I was only just out in the garden swanning around in maxi dresses and now I’m hunting around the bedroom floor in the dark for a thermal vest (I feel the cold).
I can’t quite believe that this time of year, my most FAVOURITE time, is passing by so very quickly.

Stop, slow down, don’t go by so fast!!
I want to savour you, enjoy you and revel in the build up to Christmas because you KNOW what comes after Christmas!!!!!

I’m not going to say the ‘J’ word just yet but you have to admit that time is going by pretty quickly.

Shall we collectively grab it by the neck and force it to slooooowwwww doooowwwwnnnn?

So, what does October hold for us here at this very old house in West Sussex, England?

Well of course we’re already preparing good ‘n’ proper for Halloween. I am really pleased that Halloween and the celebrating of it has taken off to such an extent in this country. I’m not talking about the commercialisation of yet another date in the calender but rather that it gives us another chance to invite folk over and have lots to eat and drink.

You’ll notice that there are many pumpkins in this post. You may also remember that I wrote about how to plant pumpkins way back in June 09 sometime.

Many of you wrote to me to ask how my pumpkins were doing. Would you like to see them?

Well if you glance at the picture above, you’ll see them….or should I say ‘it’.

There it is. The top left hand side of the picture just above the leaf sack.

Shall I go in closer?

Yup, that my friends is how much success I had with my pumpkin patch!!!

The plants got a horrific mildew due to a wet July and bad watering habits from yours truly.

Coupled with the Pumpkins being eating by animals before they really had a chance to get going. Oh dear.

Oh well, not to worry, there’s always next year!

WELCOME TO OCTOBER!!!!!!!

Boy are we going to have some FUN.

Lots of love,
Cherry

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Download your free September Calendar right here!!

Ahhhhhhh, it’s September! Can you believe it?
I know that in many parts, here in England to a certain extent, the weather is still very much in the summertime but there is something about the start of September, don’t you think?
A certain cosiness that arrives in the air as the clock strikes midnight and one that finds us rooting through the brand new mail order catalogues searching for the ‘look’ that will take us through the colder months to come.

My house and garden are alive with activity this coming month as we begin work on building the raised beds in the paddock. We’re starting at this time of the year as it gives the compost we add to the beds a long time to rot down and nourish the soil ready for growing. It also means that we’ll be working with enough light to get the job done and the earth won’t stand as hard as iron.

This month also sees some brand new sections being added to the site and another themed week. Jam Week went down so well in August that we’ve decided to run another. This time we’ll also be running it in alongside some of our usual articles so if you don’t get in to the theme we’ve chosen you can still check in and read about the usual antics. Although I’m almost convinced that you’ll love the theme we’ve chosen as it’s a classic – which gives you a hint to one of the brand new sections we’re adding.

For me personally September is a month of preparation. As someone who loves her garden September and October see a buzz of creativity as the Spring bulbs are planted. The garden will also be cleared of annuals, the rake comes out for the start of the leaf drop and the lawns are re-seeded. Imagining what the garden will look like next March and April is the fun bit of planning where to plant the bulbs and I’m going ALL OUT this year. I’ve been blessed with some AWESOME spaces to play in and, as it would appear that I like themes, I have decided upon a palette for the garden that ties in with some of my most favourite shades of Spring. I literally can’t wait to show you.

So, my friends, all that is left to say is a huge, big, giant THANK YOU! We launched the new website in August and you have all been so very generous with your comments and feedback. It seems that you guys love the new look site and I’m really happy that you do. It is my mission to fill it with ‘stuff’ that you’ll love to look at and read and hopefully try out for yourselves.

At this time I feel I should add a tiny warning about some of the content to come. If you’re not a fan of Christmas and don’t like to prepare for it, THINK about it or make stuff for it until the very last minute then I’m a little afraid that this won’t be the place for you in the coming months. Don’t worry too much as we’ll be enjoying Autumn very much indeed but as emails to me show there are a lot of you who like to get a head start and have time set aside for projects that take a little longer to complete. I do too and I’ll be writing my own plan that I would LOVE, LOVE, LOVE to share with you if you’ll let me.

Right, I’m off now.

Robert the Husband and I had some great times over the three day weekend and I took a took a ton of photos that I want to show you. There’s also a brand new recipe to write out which was inspired by a gorgeous meal I had whilst in Las Vegas and I HAVE to finish off the pelmets for the entrance hall. This is a project that I began in JUNE.

Oh yes, and I still have a few bits to clear up from the bar-b-q we enjoyed………on SATURDAY!!!!!

Oops!

Lots of love & see you later on!

Cherry, xo

Download your free September Calendar right here!!

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Cherry Menlove

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Join my Facebook page!

Cherry Menlove

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Feel free to add me to your links list. Here it is ! - http://www.cherrymenlove.com/

Facebook – Please feel free to join my page

Twitter – please feel free to follow me