How is it nearly Christmas? These last few months have flown by and I've been so busy I haven't had time to document it! So here's a little recap of new updates to the house and beyond!

Pumpkins invaded our house and the planet.

I absolutely loved having these as ornaments and moving them around the house. The silver one is from Home Sense and will now be coming out every Autumn. I also bought fresh pumpkins from the greengrocers which lasted the whole 2 months. I didn't really want to throw them away!

I also took inspiration from Theresa Gromski and had a go at spray painting some!

Some were more successful than others and I underestimated my patience waiting for them to dry. Turns out I have none!

I got out in the fresh Autumn air.

As long as it's not raining, I absolutely love going for Autumnal walks. The colours, atmosphere and mood are just divine. Dunham Massey is a local favourite spot for strolling, drinking hot chocolates and spotting deer.

I was also lucky enough to be invited on a booze cruise for my friend's 30th which took us along the Manchester ship canal and I got to see the city in a whole new way.

Even my walks to the train station became photogenic with frosty crisp mornings and low winter sunrises. And we enjoyed a decent firework display at Platt Fields park which we are lucky enough to be within walking distance.

Updates To The House

I have been lucky enough to have been gifted a few items this season for which I had lots of fun styling and creating content for.

VonShef allowed me to choose from their new Christmas Cocktail range and it was a no brainer which one to choose. The 7 piece brushed gold cocktail set is absolutely perfect on our sideboard and of course I had to test it out with an espresso martini! Top marks all round!

Another favourite gift was The Squares from Squared One. They will print any of your images on 5mm white plastic boards which make the images really sturdy. This means I can prop them up anywhere around the house, which I have been doing loads of! I chose a few images from our Italy trip to keep the memory alive during the dark winter months!

And of course no house update is complete without a couple of trips to Ikea. I went in for a cafetiere and came out with a chair, a coffee jug and a monstera plant!! Totally worth it though - the Ekenaset chair was such a bargain. It reminds me of some of the mid century modern designer chairs that are triple the price and it fits perfectly in the man cave.

The Monstera has been placed into our bedroom and needed some sort of platform to sit on - hence the second trip to Ikea for a stool. I think I'm going to either paint or stain it darker but it will do for now!

Another new item I am obsessed with is this Ikea coffee pot, which is crazy considering I rarely drink coffee! It fits so perfectly with our Fika print though, and looks amazing when styled with Ben's Mums famous pumpkin pie!

And finally...

I decided to make the most of my weeknights!

I feel like this year has flown by and it's probably due to my ever increasing age but I like to think it's because I really do live for the weekend. Apart from exercise, my weeknights consist of eating tea, watching tv and getting into bed as soon as it's socially acceptable!

So I made a few weeknight plans and it felt so good. Getting up for work wasn't painful, the day went really quickly and I had something to look forward to (I really don't look forward to exercise).

First up was Champagne tasting at The Refuge, Manchester. In collaboration with Pierre-Jouet they had transformed their winter garden into an interactive high-tech garden installation. We had 4 full glasses to taste, including a £68 per glass vintage. It was such a lovely evening with the girls and I can think of much worst way to spend a Tuesday evening!

I was also lucky enough to be invited to a Moodboard Workshop hosted by the lovely Helen Robinson of Stylin In The North and Kirsten Wilson of Hello Day Planner. It was held in the ever gorgeous setting of Rose & Grey Interiors.

To say I was nervous was a massive understatement. I had never done anything like this solo as I'm generally rubbish at networking and promoting myself but I wanted to push myself out of my comfort zone. It was honestly one of the best things I've done in a long time. Being with like-minded people was so refreshing and I finally got to meet some lovely people that I chat to regularly on Instagram but had never got to meet. It has opened up a few doors for me which I'm very excited about working in the future and I can't wait to do more. I would urge anyone who is unsure about attending a workshop because of confidence to just go for it. There is nothing bad that can happen when you are surrounded by this lovely Insta community!

And so that sums up Autumn - my favourite time of the year! Looking forward to exploring winter now! :)