Everyday adventures in Spring….

Life here at the start of spring has been about the everyday adventures and celebrating the small moments that I tend to miss when I let life speed by.  As the flowers start to bloom I am trying to be conscious of slowing down and appreciating everything around me.  Life is truly beautiful when we allow ourselves the time to experience it and keep our minds and hearts focused in the right direction.  Sometimes that can be hard when I have a morning where it seems like everything is completely upside-down and backwards but if I just change my view and increase my patience it's all of a sudden right side up and sometimes better then I could have imagined.  The first small moment that I have grown to love so much over these past few weeks is sunday tennis lessons.  I know you are thinking what…really?  There can't be anything that exciting about taking kids to their tennis lessons? Well for

Sunday Fun-day!

  me that hour has become a very special time with a amazing little girl.  While Luis and Maxime are working on their forehands and backhands Olivia and I are exploring.  We get to just walk around and talk about anything and everything we see.  You would think it would get boring being at the same place week after week but we always find something new to see by taking a different path, or sitting on a different bench or just walking backwards instead of forwards.  I just love watching the world through her eyes as she grows.  Hearing her talk about new things each week and ask questions reminds me how quickly these little ones get big.  At the age of 3 and some change I feel like everyday she does something new that she couldn't do the day before or is experiencing something for the first time.  It is so beautiful to watch and I am grateful that I get this special hour just the 2 of us in this beautiful setting by the sea to experience moments that might seem small but are such a huge blessing.  She also has helped me to see more then I would have seen in this place had she not been with me.  I probably would just bring a book to sit and read and never see some of the beautiful things that she finds for us to look at.  She

We did it…Climbing the rock pier!

reminds me that there is more to a beach then just sand….if you dig you will find treasure and that flowers are "So pretty to see with our eyes!"  I am so thankful for the beauty this little girl brings into my life each week.  The other little lady in my life inspires me also.  My strong, ambitious Maxime encourages me to do things I don't think I can do or just wouldn't do with out a bit of a nudge.  As you all know she was my skiing teacher and definitely pushed me to try what I wasn't sure I could do.  One of the latest adventures was climbing to the end of a rock pier.  When we got halfway I said maybe we should go back and she looked

Love this little girl who pushes me to be stronger!

at me like I was crazy and said "oh, come on Sara, you can do it".  This little girl whose half my size is stretching her little legs to the max to get from rock to rock with out even thinking of giving up till we are at the end is telling me don't complain and do it.  How can you say no to that…so on we went.  We got to the end and then realized that the tide had come in a bit (which was one of my fears) and our path back was not so clear.  I got nervous but it didn't even phase Maxime.  She just pushed ahead, with a bit of hand holding on some tricky rocks and made it back to the beach dry and happy.  I, on the other hand, soaked my converse

Balloons make everything better.

and most of my pants but was still happy and loved this small moment that effected me in a huge way.  It helped to remind me that caution is good but sometimes I need to balance it out with the fearlessness of a child to have a great experience.  Maxime is daily helping me to become a stronger woman.  Now lets talk about the bus ride.  For weeks the kids have been talking about riding "my bus" into town.  It is my bus because a lot of times I will take the city bus into town instead of driving. We have been so busy on the weekends that it kept getting put off but finally we had a saturday with nothing to do so we packed up, counted out our change to pay for the bus and walked to the stop at the end of the road.  Oh man were they excited.  It was so precious watching them pay the bus driver and then carefully select their seat.  Who needs amusement parks when you can just ride the bus.  Almost as exciting and the line is much shorter to get on.  When we got into town Luis pushed the button for our stop and we all hopped off.  Each one of us had our thing we wanted to do while we were in town.  I needed to return something to a shop so we started there and they waited patiently for me to have a lengthy discussion with the cashier

Snacks on a bench to end the day…Happy kiddos!

to get my money refunded.  I honestly think part of the reason she did it was I had the kids with me who were so well behaved.  Maxime had brought some of her own money with her in the hopes that we could go to Claires (yes the accessory shop) to get some more of her bands to make bracelets with.  But in route to Claires we happened upon an ice cream shop and being that it was sweetie day we made a decision to have an ice cream to get our energy back up and continue on shopping after.  With ice cream in our tummies we braved the main shopping road  where the kids got balloons, Maxime got her loops and we

This view never gets old…love where I live.

added in some culture by going into this beautiful church that is in the middle of the shopping district. Shopping completed, returns completed, and sweetie eaten we headed back to the bus stop and waited for the bus.  We ate a quick snack on the bench and the kids counted out their money again for the ride home.  All in all a wonderfully successful day.  All these tiny adventures don't seem like much when you talk about doing them but I find they give so much joy when you do them.  Doing life here is never boring…it's full of small moments that bring joy to my soul.  I am feeling happy and content with the path I am on here and grateful I am surrounded my some great kids who inspire me.  With easter break now upon us and visitors arriving the next blog will be full of more big and small adventures.  Stay tuned…..

Feels like home every time...

London…my home away from home away from home.  Maybe I am collecting too many places that feel like home but then again maybe that is a good thing.  I'm lucky to have some many places with so many great people.  London still is the top of the list though so when I had a few extra days off stored up escaping to the most amazing city was the logical thing to do.  For once the border crossing was very uneventful and even a bit entertaining.  The guy who was checking out my passport and information asked me to evaluate his uniform, from a designers perspective, and tell him what I thought.  I gave a diplomatic answer so as not to offend the man who stood between me and that much needed entrance stamp on my passport and he just laughed and let me in.  Those guys must get really bored and need to liven things up every once in a while or maybe he was

The sign says it all

hitting on me…I am rubbish at reading those signs properly..but which ever it was I got my stamp and hopped my train into the city.  I got in a bit late that night and Lauren wasn't in so a fun phone call with a friend and heading to bed was the extent of the evening.  The next day consisted of a brunch date with Polly and then a new adventure.  Every time I head into the Westminster area time gets away form me and I have never made it into the Abby.  This time I decided to make a special trip there just to attend the evening song inside the abby.  Gorgeous can only begin to explain it.  The building itself is lovely of course but the choir was beyond words.  I did get a bit lost

Lunch and the Theater

following along with all the stand up, sit down and repeat now stuff but the singing and beautiful acoustics were lovely.  I followed up this event with a lovely dinner with Lauren and then we just hung out and caught up at her place.  That night felt so perfect.  We just flopped down in armchairs and on the bed and chatted about life and laughed.  At one point Lauren looked over at me and said "Look at you just snuggled up in Your bed.  It's like you are home now."  That was exactly how I felt.  Sharing a glass of wine and a chat with a good friend…feeling just as comfortable as if I was in my own place with people who have known me for years.  Man, I feel so lucky sometimes.  As always time was flying quickly so I had to pack a bunch of stuff into the next two days.  I had originally had plans with a friend who was supposed to be in town but unfortunately his arrival kept getting delayed so I quickly filled the time up with a stroll through Covent Garden, lunch at a pub across the street from a last minute theater decision.  Show of choice this time…Charlie and the Chocolate

SouthBank Street Art

factory.  Maxime and I had just finished reading the book together and it was a favorite from my childhood so I went for it.  It was really a cute show.  I wish it would have taken on a bit more of the dark side of this story but still was a good show.  I also ended up with an upgraded seat (from balcony to floor) which made it even more enjoyable.  My stroll to the tube station led me through the south back where I took in some art and then met up with Lauren and Claire at one of my new favorite spots in London Ales and Tails.  Great beer and really well done interior.  Good fun and randomness... As all my nights in London seem to be…was what this night included.  Great catch up with friends, a formula one test driver (fast cars and an accent…what more could a girl ask for) and a taxidermy fox at the

bar.  Have I mentioned I love London?  My last day led me to a walk through my favorite museum, the V&A where I stumbled upon some limited run fabric that was perfect to go with some of my new concepts.  The evening was dinner with Helly and a tour through her new home that she recently purchased.  It was so fun to see where her and Will were settling in.  Such wonderful people who deserve this amazing new stage in their life.  After dinner I headed back towards home but stopped for one last pint in The Pigs Ears.  As I sat there I couldn't help up think about all the memories I have been collecting on all my trips.  Some have been amazing, some painful and caused me to grow and think in ways I didn't want to but am grateful for now, also some missed opportunities that hopefully will come back around another time.  But that is what it's all about right.  Taking the time to create moments when you can, don't dwell on the ones you didn't get and look for another opportunity to make new and different ones.  Life just keeps moving and we have to get the most out of each second we are given.