Side Street Style: December 2012

Goodbye 2012

31/12/2012

It's been a good year....at times it didn't feel that way and when your in it it can be hard to see how much you have done but on reflection we crammed a lot into one year. It's been full of highs and lows and lots of change - in fact big changes - we sold our house and moved closer to the city, we are only renting at the moment and are on the look out for our new home, John has also settled into his second year of his new job and it's also the year little Mr A learned to talk and everyday we are learning more and more about our little man.

10 Amazing things that happened to Side Street Style this year

1. We moved home
2. Mr A turned 2
3. Laura shot the Cardiff Treasure seekers street segment for TK Maxx
4. Our blog was featured in Cardiff Life magazine
5. John finally got his Russian Doll tattoo
6. We were invited to the Guess Watches blogger launch in London - it was amazing
7. We went family Glamping in Cornwall
8. Had an amazing short break in Chepstow
9. Laura spoke at the Women's Institute in Bristol about blogging and met some amazing ladies.
10. Arthur made his first Christmas cards

Here is what made our year so special in photos

John in his barbering element

Sticking together through it all...

A welsh sunset

Glamping in cornwall

It was also a great year for outfits and fashion fun...here are our favourites....

29/12/2012

2 comments

So did you get what you hoped for for Christmas? We made a point of not asking for anything - this way it was all a surprise. Here are the four things we are enjoying most of all....

My Chanel makeup gifts from John - a real treat! It consist of a quadra eye shadow - in natural "mystic shades" and Rouge Allure lipstick as well as eye pads and make-up brushes, can't wait to try them out.

We are both loving our new street style instalment from The Sartorialist - his follow up book - amazing as usual and highly recommended.

This digital radio was a present from my mother to both John and I as a house warming gift and also we have been sitting in silence at breakfast due to our radio breaking during the move...we love the Britannia feel to it

Mr A is having hours of fun with his toll bench, he loves to hammer the big nails in and them get them our and scream on the wood and it's great for building co-ordination and spacial awareness skills.

28/12/2012

1 comment

So Christmas has been and past...hope you got everything you asked for. This year I really enjoyed the giving side of things, I started planning far further in advance and found some really special little gifts for my friends and family, like finding this Ralph Lauren soap - I didn't even know they made soap!
I also managed to find little Mr A a very cute little wooden kitchen and wooden tools which he loves and hopefully he will leave mine alone now. The only thing to put a dampener on the day was for the past week we have all been struck down by a horrible virus - Mr A has been hit the worst and has had a fever for the past 5 days and totally out of sorts, he is slowly coming back to his old cheeky self.

Ralph Lauren Soap

Unfortunately because of us getting sick we didn't get to make Christmas the homemade affair we usually do. I did manage to pick up our wonky real tree and decorated before getting ill as well as making some orange slice decorations and Mr A and I also attended a Carol service which he enjoyed very much and had his face painted for the first time.

Christmas party pre-illness smiles

So this year was quite the mellow affair, John finally also got the Ralph Lauren autobiography he wanted and Mr A and I both had a lovely Fred Perry gift in the form of a new festive jumper for myself and a stylish Harrington for Arthur

What to play with first...wooden tools or wooden kitchen?

Mr A Rocking his Fred Perry Harrington, even though he wasn't feeling well at all

Me and my boy in Fred Perry...both under the weather but still smiling

22/12/2012

1 comment

Sometime we get so wrapped up with ourselves at Christmas that we forget the true feeling of giving and every year I try to do what I can for a charity and when I came across this Sense campaign I had to share it. Sense helps deafblind children lead stimulating and fulfilling lives and allowing them to communicate with the world around them by providing sensory toys, specialist services and much needed support to break their feeling of isolation. All they are asking is £3 - so help light up a deafblind child today.

15/12/2012

No comments

John wearing Carhartt jumper, Edwin jeans and Red wing shoes

So one of Johns favourite shops - Pavilion - based in Cardiff (also online) were running a special day for the first 100 customers through the door last week and of course John was one of the first through the doors as he had been eyeing out a Carhartt jumper for the winter. He got the chance to pick a discount slip out of a hat and picked 20% off plus a really sweet goodie bag which included a Nudies tote bag, Timberland and burlington socks, a barbour mug, Carhartt lighters and some stickers and look books. While in Pavilion he also picked me up a Norse Projects beanie which is super warm and which I love and has now become a staple for my winter wardrobe. Pavilion are also currently running a sale online - up to 50% off and stock some amazing Men and Women's lines including Barbour, Edwin, Red Wings, Vera, Heritage Research and Penfield to name a few.

Winter jumper warmer.

Me rocking my new Norse Projects beanie

Discounts pulled out of the bag

Pavillion goodie bag love

13/12/2012

2 comments

As you already may now we recently sold our house! We thought we would be moving just after Christmas but the buyer insisted on moving in before so for the past two weeks that is what we have been doing - packing...moving...moving and more packing - hence the lack of posts! We have also been offline for the first time in a long time, in fact we will only be reconnect to the world wide web next Wednesday so this post is coming to you via my parents broadband. Moving is always a stressful and crazy time but with a toddler thrown in on top of that it's pretty interesting - especially just before Christmas We have been working hard over the past few days to make our new temporary house homely - yes I say temporary as we still haven't found a place to buy, so we are renting a cute little cottage for a while instead. Here are my two favourite parts of our new home...

Our beautiful old Welsh fireplace

Our cosy reading nook

06/12/2012

2 comments

I am totally in love with Cashmirino - the worlds first Cashmere brand for children! With styles straight out of Milan I don't think I am the only one who thinks this is a good idea, why not wrap your children up in one of the finest natural fibres out there. I would love to have a few items for Arthur as they are such wonderful, stylish and fun designs that are really tailored towards children and allow children to have the movement they need so they can still run around and play. The brand caters from babies 0months up to 14yrs old and the garments are not cheap and are probably not something you would be able to buy everyday but if your looking for a touch of luxury under the Christmas tree for your little one, this would be a very stylish choice. I am in love with the fashionable look-book. Please note this is NOT a sponsored post - I simply wanted to share this wonderful find with you.