Snapshots: Life Lately

Bits Of My Life
Pretty Confused Life Lately Pretty Confused Life Lately Pretty Confused Life Lately
Hello citizens of the internet, it's been a while. Real life has been a bit crazy round here the past few weeks, but it's been fun. The weather hasn't really been helping either. Each time I thought about taking some outfit photos it was raining, snowing, hailing or ridiculously windy. Ah well. I've got the long weekend off and my schedule is a bit more manageable for the next few weeks. I'm looking forward to getting a couple of posts written and finally catching up on my emails (I'm so sorry if you are waiting to hear from me!)

I took these photos on a wander with the dogs yesterday - they've been so bored with both of us working full time. Mania has gone on a bit of chewing rampage and destroyed at least 2 pairs of my shoes. We've been making an effort to make it up to them at the weekends and give them a chance to run. We didn't go far from home yesterday but at least they burnt off some of their excess energy.  
Pretty Confused Life Lately Pretty Confused Life Lately
You might have already seen these photos on my Instagram, but I've really only been taking iPhone photos lately so I thought I would share them again. 1. Sitting in the park with the dogs - it started snowing just after I took this. 2. After a job interview, I didn't get it but it was a nice wee boost to my confidence even to get the interview. 3. A very snowy walk to work. 4. A very sunny walk home that same day, I wish I had taken a picture of the grass too - all of the snow had disappeared by the time I was walking home. 
Pretty Confused Life Lately
Hope you are all having a wonderful weekend and happy Easter if you celebrate it (I'm definitely looking forward to opening chocolate eggs tomorrow). 

Snapshots: Family Reunion

"My Pack"

This week we have, unintentionally, bumped into quite a lot of doggy family members. I think it is really amazing that our two pups are related (Scallywag is Mania's aunt, just in case you didn't know) and is probably one of the reasons they get on so well together. Adding Scally's mother and Mania's brother to the mix for a couple of walks lately has just made it so much more fun for them, and gives me the chance to introduce you all to the pack.   
Ermintrude is Scallywag's mum and Mania's grandmother. She's a lab/mastiff mix and is actually curled up on the couch next to us right now (we're babysitting her for the evening).

You guys already know Scallywag, she's been so excited to have her mum around. I've never seen her that excited or that submissive with any other dog. She definitely knows who Ermintrude is! Scally is going to be three later this year and she's a mix of lab/mastiff/staffy/lurcher.

Mania loves every other dog she meets, but she's definitely enjoyed having some big friends around to play with. She's about one and a half now. Her father is one of Scallywag's litter and her mother is a Siberian Husky (where she gets her different coloured eyes). 

And finally Scrap, he's from Mania's litter so he's still pretty young and exciteable, but he's absolutely gorgeous and seems to adore all the ladies in his family. 

Eventually I hope you get photos of the entire family, we were living with Scallywag's father and his owner for a few months last year. Then I can make some sort of dog family album!

What I Wore: Leftover Snow

Outfit

I'm sure you all know that I feel pretty strongly about snow, in fact I am usually pretty crazy about it (the dogs' reactions are always fantastically funny). Snow in March though, that I am not so sure about. This unexpected flurry started on Sunday but has already close to disappeared. I'm kind of relieved, I was really happy to see the first Spring flowers at the end of February, I'm slightly worried they will have died with the cold temperatures. I have got a couple of daffodils on our kitchen table at the moment. Did you know that daffodils can actually survive the frost? Hopefully in a couple of weeks there will be a flurry of yellow in gardens around the city. 

I mentioned a few weeks ago that me and Le French are both going through some changes at work, he's actually starting a new job tomorrow and for the past week and a half I have been working from the office. An entirely new experience for me. It's only temporary, but it is causing me all sorts of outfit conundrums. I just don't have enough office appropriate dresses. To fix that problem I did a quick trip to Primark last Thursday and bought a couple of dresses that were on sale. 

This one was £10 and I'm absolutely crazy about it. The material is lovely and thick and it has the most lovely royal blue lining. I probably won't be able to wear it for too much longer this year, but I'm sure I will still love it this Autumn. I switched my coat for a black cardigan and snow boots for some black pumps when I got in there, but I definitely felt very grown-up (isn't it ridiculous for a 25 year old to say that - but, as I said, office work is kind of new to me). Anyway, I'm off to curl up with my lovely man and watch a film. We're planning on getting an early night so we are both fresh and sparkly tomorrow morning. Hope you are all well!

Monday Link List: 038

Monday Link List

This illustration by NanLawson is absolutely beautiful.

I've been drinking loads of coffee lately to cope with my new early mornings, this print is just perfect for me.

Even more coffee (can you see a theme?) this photo really made me smile.
Have you guys checked out Erin's new Etsy shop. This necklace is absolutely gorgeous!
This fox art is absolutely stunning. I think they are one of my favourite animals.
This has been me every evening for over a week, I know I have things I am meant to do, but I spend my time doing the least important task possible.

Past Spring Favourites: Tieka shares some outfit inspiration for the new season. I'm getting so excited about pulling out all my florals again.

Guide To Walking Edinburgh: Smidge shares some of her favourite walks in Edinburgh, I cannot wait to the sun to come out again so I can spend a little bit more time outside.

Blog Pals Snail Mail Sign Up: They seem to be popping up every where but here's another blogger penpal group for anyone who is interested.

What I've Learnt in One Year of Blogging: Allison talks about what she has learnt in her first year of blogging and how it has affected her.

Life as a Small Business Owner: Melissa shares her kind of incredible story as a small business owner and in part two talks about juggling multiple ventures and knowing when to let go.

10 Good Things Right Now: Katie and Reuben talk about some things that are making them happy, I love that first photo!

Thoughts on Being "Too" Connected: While worrying about her apparently broken phone Maria muses on how social media can take over our lives.

Month In Review

Month In Review
Highlights:
  • Multiple museum trips. I love the variety of museums in Edinburgh, but rarely get the chance to visit them. Getting to go to the National Museum of Scotland twice in one month was a nice treat. 
  • Flowers. Both on my table and popping up in the various green spots around the city I am so excited to see some colour again, and a little bit of sunshine as well. 
  • Valentines Day. Even though we didn't do anything specifically Valentine-y the last month has been lovely, lots of couple time. 
  • Snow Days. Dogs in snow, what else can I say?
  • The quiet before the storm. March is looking to be one crazy month round here, I definitely made the right choice having a relaxed month before hand. 

Lowlights:
Trying to finish my embroidery in time for Mother's Day on Sunday. Watching ER. Getting ready for a very busy March. Unexpected visits from friends. The thrift gods smiling on me. Second hand dress patterns. Re-watching Mary and Max (one of my favourite films ever!). Installing The Sims 2 on my laptop and creating all my favourite deceased characters. The dulcet tones of David Attenborough teaching me about animals. 

New (To Me) Blogs:

Looking Forward To:
A very busy month (although one week in I'm also kind of terrified). Spring and everything that comes with it. Finally watching the final Twilight film. A job interview. Sunlight in the evening again. New opportunities. Meeting some new people. Mother's Day. Getting organised (you've probably noticed my lack of posts recently, I'm not going to apologise, real life has to come first sometimes but I really miss that feeling of satisfaction when I manage to post consistently).

Monday Link List: 037

Monday Link List

I love the Spring colours in this print by Unravel Design

This cat pillow from Kitten Rain is just amazing, so cute!
This shark tea infuser is possibly one of the best things I have ever seen, if I had a larger collection of loose tea I wouldn't be able to resist it!
Lauren's Log Lady outfit is absolutely amazing - doesn't she just look perfect?
Such a beautiful illustration, by Elena Mir

9 Tips For Beginner Bloggers: Great advice for people who are thinking about or have just started a blog. I love the focus she puts on being part of the blogging community.

Thoughts On Going Full Time Freelance: Lots of us bloggers wish we could quit our day jobs in order to blog full time or pursue our creative endeavours - Maiedae talks about the reality of being full self employed and how she prepared for the change.

Social Media Do's & Don'ts: Not any ground breaking stuff but I find social media quite scary (am I sharing too much? Not enough?) but as bloggers we spend so much time trying to cultivate our online voice it is important to remember how that translates across social media.

Posing Dogs For Photos: Sometimes my dogs love taking photos, at other times they are too excited to stay still, it's just their nature, but Katherine's tips do make it just a little bit easier if you want some still shots.

GOTCHA!: One of my favourite little families celebrated their first year of being together, such a cute post!

Freelance Ain't Free: Mandi talks about how her various freelance endeavours are taking over her life.

When Looking For A Dog: Part 2 of Kristina's series about dog ownership, this time she talks about different sizes of dogs and working out what size of dog you and your family can handle.

On Being a 17 Year Old Anti-Feminist: Olivia talks about feminism being a dirty word and how her views have changed since being a teenager.

Me, Myself & I: Megan talks about taking your own outfit photos and shows off some of her favourite (hilariously named) poses.

It Happened To Me - I Sold My Soul For A Haircut: Allie talks about the temptation of free stuff and trying to keep your integrity.

Touches of Spring

Happiness Is...

It's been a while since I have done one of these posts, not that I haven't had lots of moments that I am thankful for, or lots of beauty in my life lately but those photos frequently make it into my 365 posts instead. Seeing as I didn't manage my 365 this week though I have a couple of photos hanging around that I had nothing to do with. I took this in the middle of last week on a walk with the dogs, and as I was standing watching them frolic around madly I felt the sun heat my face and spotted this little beauty peeking through grass next to my feet. A moment of calm in the middle of the storm of my life, at least until I had to go chasing after Mania when she stole someone's football. It can't all be perfect, eh?