'White and red' by Me

White and red, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

My husband was such a sweetheart this week surprising me with a lovely bunch of flowers. It was a beautiful selection of white blooms. The scent is gorgeous too and really hits you as soon as you enter the room. I'm going to miss them when they are gone. As expected I took some photos. I was really pleased with the ones I took and four of them made it onto Flickr. I've had great trouble deciding which one to share with you here tonight though so I've gone for the one which is probably most interesting.

I was trying to decide how to photograph the bouquet and thought I'd try putting one of them in one of my red wine glasses. I took two shots and decided it wasn't going to work. However, when I downloaded them I thought I actually rather liked this one. What do you think? I like the texture of the flower next to the smooth glass and I like the contrast of the pure white and the bright red.

'Off to School in the Mist 2' by Jahina

Off to School in the Mist 2, originally uploaded by Jahina.

Yesterday I posted a picture of the stunning Northern Lights. As I said I do hope to view these for real one day but in the mean time I can be content knowing that the light right here in England can be just as striking.

This photo was taken in Albany Park in Enfield and hasn't the photographer captured such magical lighting? I love the fact there is a person strolling through the park in the background as well. I hope they were enjoying what looked like a lovely crisp autumn morning as much as I'm enjoying looking at it.

'Glacier Aurora - Jökulsárlón' by orvaratli

Glacier Aurora - Jökulsárlón, originally uploaded by orvaratli.

I was a bit dubious about posting something so stunning after my little nesting doll photo but I couldn't wait to share this with you. It's a photo of Aurora - or Northern Lights - that was taken in Iceland. I would so love to see this for myself. Hopefully one day I will and I might just take some photos as well!

I don't really need to tell you why I think this photo is so great. If you didn't know what the Northern Lights were you might be thinking this was taken on another planet and aliens are about to pop out from behind the rocks. Amazing photo of an amazing sight.

'I'm ready for my close up' by Me

I'm ready for my close up, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

I love nesting dolls. I even collated a Flickr gallery of some of my favourite nesting doll photos. However, I'd never got around to taking any myself until today. Whilst playing with my little girl in her room I spied the ones a friend had bought for her on holiday and grabbed my camera and snapped away. I am sure my daughter thought I was a little crazy. Anyway, I think this one is my favourite. It made me smile because it's like a proper portrait shot of the doll and she almost looks like she's posing on purpose for me.

'Limes Gone Wild!' by RєRє

Limes Gone Wild!, originally uploaded by RєRє.

Happy Friday to you all! Is it really the weekend already? Although saying that I did spend all of yesterday convinced it was Friday! Hope you all have a lovely couple of days whatever you are up to. My weekend will involve swimming, painting and catching up with friends.

I'm sure you can see why I chose this photo. I think it was very weekend appropriate and made me smile. And also love the bright yellow and green against the crisp white background. It looks very striking. Just wondering now if fruit can get hangovers!

'love ya' by Tammy Lee Bradley

love ya, originally uploaded by Tammy Lee Bradley.

It's important to let people know you love them. Even if you can't always find the words. I like this photo because of it's simplicity. I love these wooden scrabble tiles and the texture used in this photo compliments the wood perfectly. Beautiful picture capturing beautiful words.

'I had lemon meringue' by Me

I had lemon meringue, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

I took this photo in back April. It was a lovely sunny day which makes me realise how lucky we've been this year. Summer obviously started in April and well, it's still gorgeous now. I was really hot today and it's meant to be even lovelier tomorrow. I am going to choose to ignore the rain we saw so much of in August.

Anyway, back to the photo. We'd just been to Drusilla's zoo in East Sussex and had decided to finish off the day with a look around the local village of Alfriston. It's such a pretty little place so I was really pleased I had my camera (like there was any chance I wouldn't have). One of the shops we stopped at had this menu board outside. Well we just had to go in!

So as the title says, I had lemon meringue. What flavour would you have?

'Happy Hour' by Nionyn_

Happy Hour, originally uploaded by Nionyn_.

I love cocktail umbrellas. The reason I love them so much is because they remind me of my childhood. In case you were worrying I didn't drink - although I do rather love cocktails now - no, for some reason my grandparents had some at their house which I used to love playing with. I have no idea why they had them, I don't think they ever drank cocktails. I'm not sure I even realised that they were alcoholic drink accessories at the time, I just thought they were really cute. Anyway, this photo makes me smile because it reminds me of my grandparents. It's also a lovely happy colourful and happy photo which I'd loved even without the nostalgia.

'Splash' by adamy0o

Splash, originally uploaded by adamy0o.

Been looking for something to post tonight and keep coming back to this photo. I really love the angle it was taken at and how well the photographer has captured the power of the waves. It looks like he would have got drenched a second after the picture was taken. In fact there are lots of splashes over the lens already!

Oh and a bit of an update for those of you who read yesterday's post. Little one had a fantastic night in her big bed and so far an uneventful evening tonight. My little girl is getting all grown up.

untitled image by Jessica Florence

, originally uploaded by Jessica Florence.

I am a proud mummy today as it's my little girl's first night in her big bed! She was very excited about it and even helped us put it up today. I think she felt like a big girl. We had a bed time story in bed then she happily snuggled under the covers like an angel. Of course the night is young and it could be a different story in the morning, especially if she comes leaping out of bed at some ungodly hour but for now I'm going to enjoy it.

This photo is so very cute. I bet you said "Awww" to yourself when you saw it! It's almost as cute as my girl looks cuddled up in bed. Almost..... x

'September Promises' by Kala_M

September Promises, originally uploaded by Kala_M.

Earlier this week I promised you a beautiful autumn photo. Well here it is. Isn't it stunning? It captures what love most about autumn - beautiful colours but still bright sunny so you don't mind it's suddenly gone cooler. I hope the autumn sticks around a while and we don't hop straight into winter now.

Anyway, it's Friday!! Hope you all have a lovely autumn weekend - or spring weekend even if you are in a different part of the world far away from here!

'On the beach' by Me

On the beach, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

My and my little girl headed off to Brighton again today. It's funny how it's only a couple of weeks into September but the beach was empty and loads of stuff including the carousel are now closed. Didn't stop us though. We still ran around on the beach enjoying ourselves. I took quite a few photos of course and couldn't decide which one to post here tonight. I went with this one though as it sums up the day the best - just messing around on the pebbles but with our sweatshirts on as it's not summer any more.

'antique bookstore' by ♫ﾟnolitawanders ✈

antique bookstore, originally uploaded by ♫ﾟnolitawanders ✈.

I really want to read more as I love reading. I need to turn off the computer and curl up with a good book more often. I'm currently reading 'The Teatime Islands: Adventures in Britain's Faraway Outposts' by Ben Fogle because I'm fascinated by remote islands. After that I plan to read 'Eat, Pray, Love' by Elizabeth Gilbert basically because I want to know what the hype is all about. And I'd rather read the book than see the film.

If you love books and bookshops like I do then I'm sure you'll love this photo. Can't you just get a sense of that old book smell? Don't you just want to be sat there rummaging through the shelves? And the light shining through the window makes this perfect.

Do you love books? What are you reading?

'Love autumn' by Me

Love autumn, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

I went out today with with the intention of taking some lovely autumn photos. Turns out the leaves round here are still green. I guess I need to have a little more patience. It didn't really matter though as I took some gorgeous shots of my little girl enjoying herself in the park instead. Then on the way home I randomly picked up an acorn I saw on the ground. I'm not sure exactly what my intention was at the time other than I'll get this in a photo some how! Anyway, this is how I got it in a photo. An acorn placed next to a heart. The heart is part of a wooden serviette holder. I think it looks pretty.

'Troia' by sweet berry me

Troia , originally uploaded by sweet berry me.

I found a really beautiful autumn photo yesterday that I was going to share with you tonight but then today appeared to be summer again. We spent a blissful afternoon with friends. We ate lunch in the garden, we played ball and sang songs with my daughter and I wore sunglasses because it was just so sunny. It was a wonderful summer's day. I just knew that there was a little bit of summer left before autumn kicked off properly.

Anyway, I thought because of the nice weather I'd show you are more hot and summery photo. This one is just perfect and so peaceful. I love the simplicity of it and the fact that there are only really two colours in it. It looks like a perfect place for a bit of peace and quiet.

'Autumn in London' by Jos Mecklenfeld

Autumn in London, originally uploaded by Jos Mecklenfeld.

How cool is this? I love London so of course I love looking at pictures of the city but never seen one taken quite at this angle before. I think it's great that you can't see much of the surroundings but you know it's London. And the colours of the autumn leaves are just beautiful. What a gorgeous day it must have been.

But what I love most about this photo can't actually be seen. I find it fascinating thinking about what the photographer was doing. Was this a pre-planned photo? Or was he just wandering along and thought 'that looks pretty'? I also have a wonderful image in my head of someone lying on their front on the floor taking photos. I hope that was the case, it could of course have been taken by crouching down but I like the lying down idea. Much more fun!

'Hung out to dry' by zapxpxau

Hung out to dry, originally uploaded by zapxpxau.

I love this random and cute photo. It really made me smile which is a great start to a weekend. And I love the bright and happy colours. They are actually rather spring-like which is nice as it's the start of autumn here.

I'm actually finding it rather hard to think of anything else to say so instead of rambling on - which I am rather good at - I'll ask you what you are up to this weekend. Lots of fun and happy stuff I hope!

untitled image by katieohh

, originally uploaded by katieohh.

I think this photo is great and the vintage tones finish it off perfectly. I love the sense of freedom and being care ree you get from it. It looks like the photographer and the subject were having a lot of fun when this was taken. It really looks like a lovely hot summer's day too. Everyone should spend at least a few days every summer being carefree like this.

'West Wittering' by Me

West Wittering, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

What's that I hear you cry? I haven't posted a beach hut photo in ages? My gosh you're right, so let's rectify that immediately. Here is a photo I took in West Wittering of possibly the prettiest beach hut ever. I wish I'd got a chance to take more beach hut photos this summer but never mind. Nothing wrong with taking some winter shots if I come across some huts on my travels.

By the way, the observant people out there may have noticed I've posted this photo before as part of this blog entry but I believe such a pretty beach hut deserves a post all of it's own.

'Autumn Leaves' by frankallanhansen

Autumn Leaves, originally uploaded by frankallanhansen.

We've had some really lovely weather here in the UK so far this September. It's been lovely and sunny and I'm still able to wear flip flops! But you can tell autumn really is just round the corner. The mornings and evenings are a giveaway as they are much fresher than in summer.

I'm glad you don't just skip straight from summer to winter as autumn really does make the transition much easier to cope with. The colours are so beautiful. And it because of things like halloween, firework night and the run up to Christmas there's always something going on.

I love this autumn photo as it really does capture what the it's like here at the beginning of September. It can still be summery and bright but the leaves are starting to change colour and you can feel the cooler weather coming. If autumn is as beautiful as this photo then I reckon we'll all cope OK!

'The little car' by Me

The little car, originally uploaded by PhotoPuddle.

I love taking photos as you know but unfortunately there aren't a lot of opportunities for fantastic photoshoots during the day. Therefore, I tend to take a lot of photos of random objects around the house - more often than not my daughter's toys. The other day we were playing with her toy cars together when inspiration hit me. Here is the result. I can also confirm that about a second after this was taken she snatched the car back off me and wanted to get back to actually playing! I'm sure she'll appreciate my photographic record of her toys when she's older!

'Italian Door' by K.Hurley

Italian Door, originally uploaded by K.Hurley.

This afternoon was lovely. We met up with friends just for coffee but we ended up having a lovely walk with our children through some local fields and woods that I never even knew existed. I find it so exciting exploring my own town and stumbling across places I've never seen before. And I'm so pleased we are getting a little bit more summer before autumn and the cooler weather arrives.

This photo hasn't got anything to do with my afternoon, I just think it's lovely. I think I could really do with a relaxing holiday somewhere like this. This photo is especially beautiful because of the lovely light and also because of the way it makes you really want to know what's down that path. Looks like there is some gorgeous scenery in the background too. This is definitely a place I wouldn't mind exploring.

'Gold Rush in the Rain' by alex saberi

Gold Rush in the Rain, originally uploaded by alex saberi.

Isn't this just a really cool rainy day photo? You can tell instantly that this is London. The detail in this reflection is really amazing. And don't laugh but I actually turned my laptop upside-down to have a look at how the puddle would have looked on the ground. It was still a great image and been very well observed by the photographer.