These are the weekends of which I dream when it's cold and dark outside. Hot afternoons followed by balmy evenings in the garden with friends, food, fizz, flowers and a fire (I didn't realise that I had a thing about "Fs" but with a "Freddie" and a "Flo" as children, maybe I should have done!) I love having all the windows and doors of the house open - just because it's warm enough to do so - and it seems to be at that point that the house comes into its own (particularly the new John Lewis cushions - got there in the end) and all is right with the world.
Anyway, enough of all of that pontificating. When it's a hot day, you need a new top don't you? Luckily the Lola Top from Boden (was £59, now £23.60) was in the Boden parcel that I received the other day and it fitted the bill nicely. It's still available in every size so clearly no-one else likes it but I do!
When it's hot enough for a top like this - minus a vest please note - then the temperature must be in the mid 20s, which means that it's also a day for shorts so apologies for the lack of a stylish bottom half to this outfit.
So this is where the fizz came in. The pink champagne was a present to my husband for his birthday in April but he kept it for when our friends from Brighton visited....
I have to admit to being a total and utter philistine when it comes to fizz - much more babycham than Bollinger - so I donated my glass to Mr SG (he was happy) and instead went for a drink made of prosecco, elderflower, mint, lemon and ice. Sweet and with lots of bubbles. I'm such a cheap date!
Then we moved on to flowers and alfresco dining. I love hydrangeas - they have the same silhouette as my Mum's hair - although she hasn't quite reached the blue, pink, or lilac rinse stage yet.
Next came the fire, complete with wood foraged from the bottom of the garden....
After a night's sleep and a long morning walk (well, for two of us and one of us was sort of co-erced into it by me) we headed for brunch at our local. Mint tea, a jammy dodger and a tea pot with a woolly hat - what could be better?!
Please remind me when I'm complaining about the cold that sometimes, just occasionally, the weather plays ball and that everything comes together as it should.
As an aside, the World Cup Final is on but the six year old isn't impressed with Argentina. Right at the start of the World Cup I told her all about Maradonna and "the hand of God" incident which was particularly relevant at the time as she was learning a song at school with the same words in it. Amazingly she remembered and has branded the whole team a bunch of cheats as a result of which she wants Germany to win. Maybe I'll cease with the history lessons...
