hello SPRING?

OK, so I know it's not technically Spring until March but after glorious sunshine this weekend and walks around our local National Trust site, Anglesey Abbey, it sure felt like it was well on the way!

Snowdrops GALORE! Angelsey Abbey Winter Garden.

As we walked down paths lined with blossom and every kind of snowdrop, I was reminded about how much I love this time of year. The crisp, fresh (but mighty cold) air and bright blue skies with a hint of warmth from the sun genuinely is my favourite, especially when you're wrapped up in your fave woolies and have a flask of tea to hand.

"L for Love!"

It was really nice to spend an hour or so wandering around the Winter Gardens at Angelsey Abbey with no plan or intention other than to enjoy the weather, scenery and each others company. It also allowed me to have some time to think about the past month (and quickly realise a new month was just around the corner!)

I had planned on writing a little update earlier this month but February has WHIZZED by, not only because it's a shorter month but because it's been full on with a big ol' mix of adventures, work and adulting.  So before we welcome March this week, I thought I'd pop by and share some of what's been happening at Sunshine Towers (and beyond) since I returned from Edinburgh.

h e l l o   S H E F F I E L D

A weekend summed up with it's very own hashtag #dungareesanddoughnotts was definitely one of my February highlights. Toni Bee, founder of In Colourful Company invited a small groups of us for a mini colour walk and sleepover at her BEAUTIFUL house in Sheffield and Lucy&Yak had offered to send us each a pair of Dungarees to stomp around in for the weekend too.

It was brilliant (even if I was terrified at first) to get to hang out with a group of gals who I admire and chat to almost every day online. I mean, sure, it sounded odd when I told people I was basically going to a sleepover with a bunch of girls I'd met on the internet but we had SO MUCH fun together. The fact we were all as socially awkward and anxious as each other just made it even more fun!

IN COLOURFUL COMPANY!

photo credit : Toni Bee

Everyone looked AMAZING in their Lucy&Yak dungarees, we ate the most delicious doughnuts from the Nottingham Doughnut Company and had a lot of fun taking photos in and around Ikea and Toni's house (you can see more of Toni's beautiful home in the latest Ikea magazine too - total house goals!)

Toni did a magical job or organising the weekend (THANK YOU TONI!) and captured it all brilliantly in this YouTube Video so have a watch if you want to see more of what we got up to and don't forget to have a nosey at the #dungareesanddoughnotts hashtag on Instagram too.

To be invited to spend time with a group of women, who constantly inspire me was a real honour, (I don't feel cool enough to be part of such a wonderful girlgang!) I left feeling happy, excitable, grateful and inspired so as soon as I got home I couldn't resist getting my paints out and creating a little 'What We Wore Today' doodle for each of them.

A new ‘What WE Wore Today’ doodle and we wore all the Lucy & Yak dungas!

h e l l o  N E W T O N  

...or rather 'Sorry I missed you Newton!" On Valentines Day I was meant to spend the evening with two of my favourite Men, The Beard (Will) and Newton Faulkner as he was due to play his rescheduled gig in Cambridge.

Unfortunately Man Flu struck our house and we ended up tucked under blankets, listening to Newton Faulkner albums instead of being stood in front of him. I was gutted because he is one of my favourite musicians to watch live. My sadness was short lived though because a friend was there that night and I almost wet myself when I received this from her in the post...

Surprise signed poster and HUGS from Newton Faulkner - Thanks to the wonderful Mo!

Seeing as I have created a little Sunshine doodle every time I've managed to make it to one of his gigs, I thought I'd do the same again this time and got the paints out again. It was nice to turn the music up loud at home and pretend I was there whilst I doodled this...

Gutted I missed the show but had fun doodling @newtonfaulkner again instead 🎨

h e l l o   N E W F O R E S T

The weekend following our gig fail we had a mini Winter camping trip planned and thankfully we were both feeling a bit better for the journey down to the New Forest. It's not a super long drive and the weather was looking bright (if a little chilly!) but we were prepared with all the warm clothes and plenty of tea and soup to warm us up.

Tea tastes better outdoors!

We get laughed at and called crazy for taking camping trips in Winter but if the weather is dry and you're well prepared, we think Winter camping is the BEST! We enjoyed the peace and quiet of a whole campsite to ourselves, (not to mention at cheaper off-peak prices!) and although it was cold, the sun was out, the walking was BEAUTIFUL and we enjoyed hot soup and tea when we got back to the tent.

Clown spotting in the New Forest.

Call it cheating if you like but when it got dark, instead of sitting in the tent for hours, drinking gin (which is never a bad plan but we were still feeling a tad under the weather), we decided to hop in the car and headed into Southampton to the cinema. Black Panther was brilliant and we were treated to clear skies FULL of stars when we got back to the tent later.

New Forest wanderings in the Winter sunshine.

We were incredibly lucky with the weather that weekend and enjoyed bright sunshiney walks as well as a trip to the New Forest Wildlife Park too, which was formerly the Otter & Owl Sanctuary. I was in my element running round meeting all the different kinds of Otters there - it's a FAB place for a day out if you're ever in the area!

The Asian small-clawed Otters stole my heart completely!

h e l l o   W E D M I N

The rest of February has been full of quite a bit of 'adulting' and with the wedding less than three month away now (HOLY SH*TBALLS!) there's been a lot of paperwork and planning. Not all of the adulting for the Big Day has been boring though, I have a few DIY projects and decoration plans on the go and can't wait to see them come to life over the next few months! Eeek!

Having fun trying to figure out which DIY projects I can use all my lovely Cheerz photos for.

A BIG THANKS to the lovelies at @cheerz for sending me one of their Wedding Boxes!

h e l l o   S N O W!

Without boring you with other life admin and work, that brings us to today, the last day in February and although I started this post talking about it feeling like Spring had arrived, it's currently snowing! The weather these past few days has been bonkers, from dark ominous clouds and blizzards to bright blue skies filled with sunshine and softly falling flakes - it's been quite something.

Ditton Meadows and River.

These snaps were from Monday afternoon, it was really nice to get out after being cooped up most of he day in front of the computer. I was super thankful I'd been for my run early in the morning when it was still cold but just sunshine and clear skies.

Snow time in my Yellow wellies as a reward for completing boring jobs.

It's been snowing quite a bit since Monday and today there's been soft snowfall all morning. It looks gorgeous now the sun has come out so once I've ticked a few more jobs of the list I might reward myself with another snowy walk by the river

g o o d b y e   F E B R U A R Y

I hope you've enjoyed this little update, I plan to write again soon but with a bit more focus on work - I promise I do actually work in between all of these little adventures! Once some of the lovely commissions and collaborations I'm working on are finished I should be able to share lots of fun stuff with you so make sure you pop back in March.

Until then though, I'm looking forward to taking part in Joanne Hawker's #MarchMeetTheMaker challenge on Instagram (it starts tomorrow) so maybe I'll see you over there? 

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING!

☀️