Rachel Hein Photography

It's almost a whole year ago, that Rachel Hein came to our home and took these amazing photographs (amongst others) of Sebastian and Kingston. Sebastian was six months old and we wanted to have some beautiful pictures to record this stage of our lives. Aren't they great?
Rachel was so relaxed and after a chat and a cuppa she started snapping away. We weren't even in the room for this shot! Kingston is such a nosey dog (typical boxer), that he had to 'oversee' and slowly edged his way into the limelight. I love the result and I'm so glad Rachel let Kingston poke his nose in.
A photo shoot is such a lovely idea if you have new additions to your family, or for a kid's birthday party or just to record something special like your family decorating the Christmas tree. I love the ideas of getting vouchers towards a photo session, or prints, as a Christmas gift. Check out Rachel's blog for more photos and this super cute shoot she did for Perdie & Boo.
I loved the result of our family shoot so much that I asked Rachel to help me out with an exciting interiors editorial project I'm doing at the moment. The still life scenes are completely different to the active kids she's used to snapping but the results are brilliant! More on that very soon so watch this space!

Rachel Hein Photography

Yeah...Ok...Instagram

For snippets of day to day life you can follow me on Instagram...if you like. It can be food and family heavy but hey, that's where my life's at right now...

Instagram users search username 'yeahokbye'. PC users can follow via webstagram here.

The Zoo

I thought I'd had my fill of all things safari after visiting Edinburgh Zoo (for the first time) a couple of weeks ago, but by the looks of theses photographs, it appears I'm still drawn to interiors with skins, patterns and textures inspired by the kingdom of animals. I went with quite a few members of my family, some of which were over from Australia, to see the famous pandas. As exciting as the pandas were, my highlight were those of another monochromatic nature.........As the heavy rain of the Scottish summer drenched us, my mum and I, separated from the group and pushed a sleeping Sebastian, in his plastic covered pushchair, to the top of a ridiculously steep incline, to see the zebras. There were five of them, all sheltering from the rain, standing under the viewing platform. They were beautiful...perfect. And so close. It was the end of the day and the zoo keepers started calling them up to their shed. The zebras ignored them for a while but after a couple of whistles, they flicked their stripey, funnel-like ears and trotted up the field like obedient dogs. Magnificent.
The point of my rambling? Inspiration from nature in design is, as always, excellent. I love the giraffe inspired rug in this beautiful, masculine interior. 

Much to my disappointment, there are no giraffes at Edinburgh Zoo (Sebastian had a toy giraffe with him on the day to compensate), if there were, they may have stolen the show but for now, the zebras reign...in the rain. 
P.S. The shiny, wet hippos (mum, dad and baby) grazing, came in at a close second place.

Interior photographs by the super talented Phillip K. Erickson. Zebra photograph by me on my iPhone 4, then edited with Instagram.

The Last Month...

I thought I'd share a little Instagram round up of my goings on this past month. It's been pretty hectic but it seems 'hectic' makes for some interesting images.
Highlights have been the opening of the husband's new bar, The Last Word, and the first bar, Bramble making it into The 50 Greatest Bars on Earth in The Sunday Times Travel supplement. We also enjoyed a trip up north to Glencoe for a friend's birthday, and watching Sebastian discover Kingston's tail one rainy Sunday afternoon was pretty cute...

Edinburgh castle in 5pm sunshine | Sebastian finds a new toy | Bramble makes it into 'The 50 Greatest Bars on Earth' according to The Sunday Times | a gift from my sister (handmade!) | my grandfather's orange lamp on my great aunt's piano in the corner of my living room | coral and leopard print | the best pizza in Edinburgh | Sebastian eating 'Lolipop and Grandpa' (illustrations by Cate James) our current favourite book | the husband opens a new bar, The Last Word | Liberty fabrics | Cramond beach | Sebastian's heart shaped birthmark | mummy and daddy swans with 9 cygnets at Rouken Glen Park | Kingston gets comfy on the new old sofa | 'Spaces' by 'Frankie' magazine arrives from Oz | bargain purchases | Kingston looking super white (and a little confused) after a bath | a few days in Glencoe | mmmm...antipasti | 'homely' Stockbridge market Edinburgh

First Christmas...

I hope everyone enjoyed Christmas and managed to relax and enjoy some time off.
We received some gorgeous decorations for the tree, from family and friends, for Sebastian's 1st Christmas...which was lovely! They will, of course, now be annual fixtures on our family tree. Can you tell which ones were sent from Australia?

...Enjoy your Hogmanay celebrations and I'll see you in the new year! x

Naked Nursery

When I was pregnant I wanted the baby's nursery to look something like this. 

 I still LOVE this look but now that Sebastian is 4 months old, his response to bright colours is incredible (and exciting considering his daddy is colourblind!). So far his nursery is still a work in progress...not that he even notices...and we are slowly collecting colourful bits and pieces, including these, and this to add to the pale gray walls we finished just days before he arrived (we're fly-by-the-seat-our-pants types). I'm so looking forward to the day it's done...if it ever is...
P.S. Still want the white rocking sheep!
Images from Smallable Christmas catalogue

Sebastian's 1st Poster

We love Belle & Sebastian...
It is, however, a happy coincidence that our son shares half the band's name, and no, if we have a 2nd and it's a girl, she won't be named Belle. Whilst looking for artwork for his room, I thought, why not make sure he can spell his name as soon as possible by plastering it on his wall, so...I found this and we love it! Can't wait to get it back from the framers...The colour is even prettier in real life, and it has that chalky, hand printed finish that you can't beat. As ever, I'm drawn to these photographs of the making process. I'd love to do my own screen printing one day...it looks deliciously messy...and oh so satisfying.
From StrawberryLuna

Sebastian

So...I had a little blog hiatus. For around nine months I didn't feel too inspired in the way of blogging so I thought it best to take a break.
In the meantime, I grew a baby...and this, blogworld, is him...


Many thanks to those who stuck around, apologies to those who have abandoned and hello to those who are new. I promise not to become a mummy blogger and continue, as much as possible, in the same ilk as before, although I can't promise a completely baby free blog from here on in...x
pictures taken by yours truly