BACK TO THE FUTURE

Sundays are the only day Matt and I seem to get free anymore so we've been spending them wisely lately, taking trips to our favourite places, thinking about what we'll do in the future, talking about exciting wedding plans, giggling and forever searching for new tearooms and trying out amazing cakes.

Last Sunday we decided to visit Lincoln, where we used to live and realised we do miss it and it's very dear in our hearts. We talked about how lovely it would be to renovate an old house, have breakfast in the garden and start a little family, scooping up our belongings and our baby rabbit to live in a historic city sounds like the absolute dream.

A giant Starbucks and lots of tiny paces up a very steep hill later, we took in the epic grandeur of the cathedral, pointed at cute little houses and oohed and aahhed at all the little trinkets, teas and cakes we found in the tiny treasure troves that Lincoln has. I lit a candle and wrote a prayer for those lovely people we are now without and that we miss with all our hearts, I hope they are somewhere peaceful with endless tea and laughter and cake always. Speaking of cake, we had the most amazing peanut butter and chocolate cake from Bunty's that is perfectly perched on the slope of Steep Hill. It was wonderful!

Afterwards we contemplated ice cream but decided we'd rather have a lovely meal out together so we could talk more about wedding plans and other lovely things but the place we were hoping to dine in was fully booked to the brim, we shall visit again one day. We headed home as the sun was going down, back to our little family life with our bunny we missed so much and had a lovely night in with chinese food and good films.

Hope you had a darling weekend lovelies. What are your favourite places to visit?

WE SINK

Hello lovelies, just a quick update on life lately, summer days, always carrying a huge bottle of water around with me, family barbecues in the sunshine, wedding plans, exciting emails and being asked to be a bridesmaid for my best friend, it's been quite a week! I'd love to share some advice & wedding planning posts over at natashalikestea so definitely keep an eye out on there for updates.

Hope you're all having a wonderful summer, looks like it's here to stay! I can't lie I am totally looking forward to it being socially acceptable to wear tights with dresses, I'm in no way a summer person, but I am thankful for all of the light nights, the open windows with floral breezes coming in, the fact you can eat ice lollies in bed, pretty sandals & teddy bear ice cream cones. 

listening to | robbers the 1975

the simple things

Happy Friday lovelies, hope you've all had a darling week, full of mini milks, sunny afternoons & midnight bubble baths. This week I've been illustrating, drinking lots of tea as usual, picking out sundresses & floral collared shirts to wear, playing with our little rabbit and constantly checking the progress of our grass in our back garden, all of this sunshine has meant it's actually grown! Hooray! 

I'd love to do some progress posts & advice for complete beginners of how to actually keep things growing in their little space of floral loveliness, a place to sip strawberry drinks in the summer, host barbecues, relax amongst honeysuckles, roses and picnic blankets, a place to dream about the future and laugh until your sides hurt, a place to look up at the stars and wonder what's out there, thinking about how amazing it all is. 

It's so strange, I feel that nearing my twenty sixth birthday I'm actually catching up with myself, feeling more and more like I did on my fifth birthday where I told my dad that I absolutely did not want to be a six year old and crying about it. But then as you grow older you're totally thankful and sometimes amazed that you've reached another year older, thinking about all the wonderful things, no matter how small that you've done and achieved and wondering about all the amazing experiences that will fill your life as you move through it all. 

This summer has been so lovely so far, and I'm so looking forward to all the summers to come, especially next year as Matt and I will be married and that is a new adventure! So the rain is here now, which is the perfect opportunity to make another tea! 

What are your summer plans? Future plans! I'd love to hear about them. 

OUR WEEKEND #1

Hope you all had a lovely weekend! We had more blueberry cupcakes to celebrate the 4th of july on friday, we'd already had some on thursday night thanks to my mum who suggested an impromptu indoor barbecue! It was so fun!

Our weekend was spent soaking up all the lovely sunshine, visiting bridal shops for swooshy wedding dresses, then in search of a super dapper suit for Matt. We had late supernatural episodes with noodles on saturday night and a lovely lie in on sunday. In the afternoon we ventured out to the amazing Hardwick Hall and fell in love with its charm and pretty gardens. It was such a perfect afternoon and although we missed our baby bunny we still had playtime with him later. He tried seeded toast for the first time and love it!

DOWN ON THE WEST COAST, THEY GOT A SAYIN'

Oh summer, you lovely thing! Walking into M&S last week I scanned the drinks section for something lovely to sip in the garden and found the perfect summer tipple, well non alcoholic drink actually. It's M&S' watermelon and coconut white tea and it's totally yummy! I chilled it before drinking and found it the perfect drink for a summer's eve, it's like a non alcoholic piña colada with a rose tint. 

I think this would be perfect as an alternative to pink lemonade, served up at high tea with paper straws. Perfectly princess-esque! 

MIXTAPE SUNDAYS #6

image | weheartit.com

Cannot get enough of The Pretty Reckless, so addicted to their tunes. A slight obsession has formed for Taylor Momsen after getting into Gossip Girl, only on season one, thanks Netflix, so please no spoilers <3 nbsp="" p="">

So here's my Sunday mix, this weekend has been a pretty chilled one, hope yours has been too! 

UNTITLED #3

#1 heaven knows //THE PRETTY RECKLESS

#2 chocolate  // NINA NESBITT

#3 work // IGGY AZALEA

#4 i know what i am // BAND OF SKULLS

#5 robbers // THE 1975

#6 everywhere // MICHELLE BRANCH

WEDNESDAY HAPPENS | # 1

Listening | The Pretty Reckless, love getting back in tune with my rock roots, hello fifteen year old me

Wearing | Black vests, lace ones, scalloped ones, plain ones, they're perfect for the summer, jelly shoes, I don't own this rather delicious looking watermelon pair but I have some black ones from Primark which were an absolute steal at £4, white nail polish, love this look with a tan, even though I'm actual milk bottle white.

Watching | Documentaries, anything really, especially if it has Karl Pilkington in it. Really want to see more of the Oprah interviews, Kimberley told me about the Lindsey Lohan one and Estee mentioned the Pharrell Williams one in her blogs

Drinking | Oh sweet lord, watermelon and coconut water from M&S, it's what mermaids must drink.

Admiring | Angelina Jolie, she's just amazing, I love all that she does and think her hard work for #timetoact is just incredible, awareness campaigns like these are imperative to changing all the terrible things that happen in the world

Reading | The Virgin Suicides, adore this book.

Doing | wedding planning, illustrating, it's a full time job and someone's gotta do it, in between that bubble baths with lots of cinnamon bubble bath & candles, can you tell I miss Autumn?!, fresh air in the garden, doing laundry and housework

Hope you're all having a lovely week, summer is finally here! Hurraaahhh! Looking forward to lots of yummy barbecues, drinks in the garden, walks in the forest and playing with our new rabbit, Pip

TUESDAY WISHLIST #3

Happy Tuesday lovelies, it's getting close to Wednesday, which means midweek and edging ever closer to that super lovely long weekend! It feels like we've reached summer, even though it's been strange weather & I'm constantly questioning whether it's ok to be wearing jelly shoes!

001 Love these simple statement tees, this covers my life most of the time, ha!

002 I am five, seriously though I always feel summery in a pair of these, to the beach we go!

003 I'm not gonna lie, a lovely new iPhone would be amazing as mine is constantly full even though I've taken all my music off it, I love having apple products that all sync together, also look how pretty!

004 Summer means I CBA with my hair, nothing new there, so I'm embracing the waves, hello beach hair & this will fix them

005 A pop of pink lipstick is an instant mood lifter, love this 'all about me shade' from Topshop

006 This leopard print Tangle Teezer has been a serious hair saver, it's amazing!

007 Pretty self explanatory, but this retro looking Chapstick makes me feel like Jen from Dawson's Creek, or at least I think it's something she'd have in her bag, so '90's

FILM & TV THURSDAYS: DEXTER SEASON 2

OK, now we're really late to this show and I know how amazing it is but sometimes you just have to accept that and realise that there's six beautiful seasons ahead of you and nobody can take that away, not nobody, not no how.

So my latest obsession is season 2 of Dexter in all its wicked glory and so far, I'm loving it. It's such a unique show and since I always have some kind of empathy with the bad guy, I'm looking at you Alex DeLarge, Tate Langdon, David from The Lost Boys, I was hooked.

FRIDAY LOVES: BREAKFAST FOOD EDITION

Spring days put me in the best mood, sunshine in the mornings is meant for fresh breakfasts to set you up for the rest of your lovely day. A lot of the time I'm still in my pyjamas late morning on weekends and it becomes more of a brunch thing, usually in a rush. But I do like to take twenty minutes or so with a hot tea in my reusable starbucks cup, yummy wholegrain toast with cream cheese and cucumber & then an apple for on the go, not forgetting some gum for my bag.

What's your favourite spring time breakfasts?

TUESDAY WISH LIST #1

001 the hand written letter project | this book is basically a collection of hand written correspondence and who doesn't love a hand written note? i do.

002 viktor & rolf flowerbomb | i absolutely adore this scent, the bottle is super pretty, agh i just need it on my dressing table! it was the perfume i was wearing in london when matt & i got engaged so it reminds me of that amazing rainy day.

003 korres lip butter | i've never actually tried any of the korres products but i always hear such good things about them and my carmex is due to run out so i need some kind of lovely lip balm to keep on my desk.

004 cath kidston spray flowers beaker | i love these little plastic tumblers for drinking water, pink milk & juice out of, they're so perfect for picnics! hooray for summer!

005 pink sharpie | as an illustrator i'm always in need of a pen of some sort, this pink sharpie is perfect as the colour is super pretty & it writes on everything! even glass! not sure when i'll be writing on glass...

FROM THIS VALLEY

Lovelies, hope you all had a rested weekend, it seemed that summer came back to visit us again which was super sweet. We took advantage of the sun and walked up the hill to the church, past dusty fields and hedgerows much taller than myself. It was a chilled out weekend and we laughed a lot.

YOU GOT PRETTY EYES, BUT I KNOW YOU'RE WRONG

pictures: weheartit

Hope you lovelies are all having a sweet weekend, mine is collecting inspiration, mixtapes, roses, bubble baths, missing summer, cherry lips ♥ 

I HEAR BIRDS ON THE SUMMER BREEZE

Hello lovelies, hope you're all having a super lovely summer with mini milks & sun dresses ♥ These Lana Del Rey prints are available in the Velvet Wolves shop, ready to hang on your pink bedroom wall or send as a sweet something to someone sweet ♥ 

Also, I'm hosting an illustrated giveaway on Velvet Wolves, so have a peek & enter for a chance to win

ILLUSTRATED BADGES

Hello lovelies, I hope you are all having a super lovely summer. I'm spending more time in our little garden and dreaming of darling places to visit.

I wanted to share with you these illustrated badges that you can now treat yourself (or a friend) to. They come in sweet packs of three for £2.50 and you can now custom order packs as well. I'm hoping to get some mermaid ones made along with a few others. If there are any designs which you'd like to see please comment below or you can tweet me @natashalikestea ♥

Pink milk & strawberries ♥

I'D LOVE HIM TIL THE VERY END

Painting my nails delicate rose colours, driving through sunny countryside, spotting rainbows, snapping pretty flowers. What have you been doing lately? ♥

IT TAKES A BIT MORE

It's been over two months since our engagement and we've been busy decorating our house with floral wallpaper, vintage finds, lillies and a white vintage bed. We've been talking about wedding plans, ideas for the ceremony, flowers and playlists. It's all overwhelming but super lovely.