100 Happy Days

There are days when you wake up and before you've even left the house, you've burnt the toast, lost your keys and tripped over the dog. That's when you know it's going to be 'one of those days' and so you carry on your day with a certain grumpiness about you. You get splashed by a bus going through a huge puddle on the way to the station, only to miss your train and then get to work late. So that's it, this is officially a rubbish day - roll on tomorrow!

We're all guilty of writing off a day so early into it just because of how it's started, so when I saw the 100 Happy Days challenge on twitter, I wondered if I could actually go a whole 100 days finding something happy about each and every single one of them, without complaint. What's more, if you sign up on their website here you can get a book at the end as a reminder of what makes you happy on a daily basis, no matter how big or small that might be!

I'm currently on day 23 - pop over to twitter @HayleyGradwell to check out my process or search using #100happydays

Want a sneak preview? Here's today's photo..a visit to Bedford to see the in-laws.

Why don't you join in and see if you can stay happy for 100 days? It's so important to take a positive from everyday to keep your spirits high, and if the day starts badly 100 Happy Days will MAKE you turn it around!! 

Stay happy guys x

Stay In & Do Stuff: Like Decorate?!

Despite the weather getting increasingly better there is always plenty to do indoors; and my upcoming project is exactly that - plenty to do indoors!

After renting out my house for the last 4 years it will soon be empty again and it's LONG overdue fresh décor & TLC. As with most rented property it's never given back to you in the same state you left it and this one is certainly no exception!

Here's a sneak preview of what I have in store...

**If you are squeamish look away now**

           (Aren't I the lucky one??)

The closest I've ever got to 'decorating' is whipping a paintbrush around a large wall so tackling wallpaper, sanding and treating wood, relaying carpet and erecting garden fencing (to name a few of the many jobs to come) are certainly going to put me, my skills and god knows my poor partner to the test!!

It's going to be all hands on deck in the next couple of months so if anyone out there has any tips/tricks for perfect cleaning or time saving DIY - please PLEASE share them with me. As you can see - I really am desperate...

Pancake Day!!

On my pancakes I like Sugar and Syrup and Chocolate and Marshmallow and...you get it right? ANYTHING sweet and naughty!

My OH likes Lemon & Sugar. How simple.

What did you have on yours??

Home Improvment Hero

When Money Supermarket gave me the opportunity to take part in their Home Improvement Hero challenge I knew exactly what I would do with the cash!

The idea is to spend their money on improving your home and see how far you can stretch £50.

We've not long since moved house and our garden was more like a miniature jungle than an al fresco haven so as soon as the dosh was cleared the green fingered girl of mine was out there and hard at it!

We hired a Jet Wash, bought some gardening tools and added some new plants and turf to our outdoor space and with a bit of hard work our garden was transformed!

  Before...

After...

We even found a buddha who had been hiding behind the bamboo bush!!

We did so well with our bargain hunting that we still had a bit of money left! So we decided to raid a local car boot and found this cool mirror for a bargain £8 to finish off our new lounge.

Every penny counts...

Thanks Money Supermarket for your help in making our new house more of a home! We love it!

Bush Trimming. Ooh er.

So the sun has come out and it looks like its set to stay for a British summer. Yes, a BRITISH summer. I know, I'm as shocked as you.

And what comes with summer? Gardening. Well it does in our house anyway. I don't mean lawn mowing, more like flower watering, weed pulling and bush trimming. Yes I said bush trimming and yes, I'm still referring to the garden!

Our front garden was becoming a bit wild , the hedge was claiming half of the pavement and the rosemary bush was almost knocking on the front door. So with an 'electric and very lethal looking hedge trimmer thing' borrowed from my mum, Naomi (my better half) decided to tackle it.

(How very professional looking..)

Once trimmed and pruned we had a rather large pile of fresh rosemary cuttings, and me being a Michelin star chef wannabe (NOT) decided to share the rosemary love and hand it out. We delivered bags of the stuff to friends and relatives and left the rest on the front wall with a note.... 'FRESHLY CUT ROSEMARY - HELP YOURSELF.' I thought it was a friendly community type thing to do and although I didn't really expect anyone to take any, I still hoped they might.

So after delivering to those in need of fresh herbs, and mainly to those who wouldn't know what rosemary was if it landed on their doorstep in a freezer bag, we returned home to find this where the rosemary had been left....

Brilliant! Thanks.