17.05

I sometimes wonder what it must be like to see the world through Ted’s eyes. I mean, not from the literal perspective (super tall everything!), but more from his actual perspective. He seems so thrilled with life all the time, you know? He wakes excited, he spends his days excited, he goes to bed sleepy, but still, pretty darn excited! His tail has only stopped wagging for longer than about twenty minutes once in his whole life (when it was paralysed by a fall into freezing cold water, of all things!), and unless you try to take away his favourite toy, you’d be hard pressed to make him anything other than happy as a lamb!

It turns out though, seeing life from Teddy’s point of view, that is, from down at knee-height (via a camera strapped onto his back) does give you a pretty great understanding of how happy he is. I was hard pressed to find footage from all that we recorded from Teddycam that wasn’t so shaky it felt like being inside a washing machine (the above video is, if you can believe it, the most serene footage of the bunch!), and it’s clear as day, to me at least, that this bouncy little dog has a pretty well-developed sense of joie de vivre!

Here’s Ted’s perspective on it all…

‘I’m awake. This is absolutely fantastic! I love being awake! Mornings are my favourite thing! I’m the first one awake again, so it’s handy that my people put a door with ridges on it in the kitchen because my claws make the most distinctive sound when I scratch on it, and it always sends someone running to open it for me.

Mum asks if I want my breakfast, so I look at her like the fool she is. I mean, have we even met before? Doesn’t she remember the time I did a wee on the floor when I was small because I got so excited about breakfast? (Mum says she likes breakfast too, but not as much as me. Obviously). Wonder what it’ll be this time. She said the word ‘biscuits’ so I think it’s biscuits, but if Dad’s not around she’ll probably give me a lick of yoghurt and an apple core too. Win.

Want to know what the main difference is between dogs and people? It’s that people haven’t learnt yet that it’s actually really easy to eat a whole bowl of food in three bites. You just have to be okay with choking a bit.

OUT. She said out, and out is my favourite thing! I knock over her wellies in my excitement, which is fine because we do it every morning and so it’s a game I think. Portal open- freedom is here! Run fast- bark at cat – surprise old person neighbour – arrive at car! Mum’s car is nice because it used to be cream but now it’s brown inside and smells of me, and she must really like it like that because it’s been ages since she made it not smell of me. She says she’s ‘given up caring’. I don’t know what she means. She tells me to get into the back, so I jump onto the front seat, and then onto her seat too whilst she’s walking round to get in. It’s fine because we do this every morning so it’s a game I think.

We’re at the forest, and now I’m *really* excited because this is my actual real favourite thing! A rude dog just barked at me, because I sat in front of its person to get her to give me a treat. She said no, which is also rude because usually when I sit nice I usually get treats from strangers. (Jokes on them, I knew how to sit when I was 8 weeks old. Puppy’s play. Give me something hard to do.) Mum said ‘sorry about him’ to them, which she says lots when we’re out. I don’t know why.

tedtv1

Here are three reasons why the forest is the best place on earth:
1. You can run really really fast everywhere and feel the wind in your ears.
2. The smells are fantastic. Second to none. Sheep, deer, pheasants- you name it, I can smell it here in these woods! The pheasant smells are my favourite smells.
3. The water here is the brownest and stinkiest of everywhere we go ‘out’, and Mum loves it too because she makes loud noises and big flapping hand movements when I jump into it. I think it’s her way of cheering me on.

A BALL. Some dogs are dumb and leave their tennis balls behind in the woods, and today’s my favourite day because I found one! Mum tries to get it out of my mouth so she can wave it in front of my face, then throw it all the way down the path like it’s some piece of garbage. The woman wouldn’t know quality if it slapped her in the face. Idiot.

The walk is over. I am forlorn.

The hose is being brought out, and I’ve got a bad feeling about this. Someone call the RSPCA, because I’m about to maltreated. The issue is that Mum clearly doesn’t appreciate how much effort I go to to gather smells when we’re out. I mean, I roll in dead stuff. I tread deliberately and carefully into the big mounds of horse poop. I eat things the smelliest things I come across. And for what! For her to wash it all away with horrible clean water when I get home? No thank you. I’m off, this is an injustice.

She caught me. I am now clean. Got my own back by shaking next to her laundry and running inside with wet paws. Sucker.

The best time of day (D.I.N.N.E.R.T.I.M.E) comes after nap time, so I sleep by Mum’s feet whilst she sits and ‘works’  all afternoon (yeah right, as if sitting and staring at a flat box with the light inside it is work). I spend the rest of my day barking at people who come and knock on my front door (how dare they), putting my toys on the sofa next to Mum to show her how fantastic they are, and making sure no-one steals the bone she gave me earlier because you can’t trust anyone and that’s a fact.

You know what? You should try this whole running-sniffing-chasing-eating-sleeping thing some time. It’s pretty great.’

** This post was created in collaboration with PetPlan. Ted’s been insured with PetPlan since he was a pup, and we’ve always been impressed with their service.

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20.11

Cider-with-Rosie-tartan-scarf Sunday-country-walk-Cider-with-Rosie Cider-with-Rosie-Guildford Cider-with-Rosie-country-walk Teddy-working-cocker-spaniel Bronze-ferns Black-long-sleeved-jumper-Cider-with-Rosie Working-cocker-spaniel

Apologies for the radio silence here yesterday! I was in London most of Tuesday morning and early afternoon, and came home that day feeling weirdly exhausted. Turns out though that it wasn’t just a case of the city-blues, but actually a case of that blasted common cold! I am kind of miffed that I had the flu jab for the first time ever a couple of months ago and have so far been sick twice this season, whereas last year I didn’t get ill once! Oh, the irony! So yesterday was spent taking an actual, full-on sick day to knock this thing on the head, though I did have to head out into the chill a couple of times to take Teddy out for a run around. But I did so with a hot water bottle strapped under my coat, so all was well ;)

These photos aren’t from an under-the-duvet sick day, but from last Sunday. It was one of those happy Sundays where we wake up at least an hour later than intended, and head out with the dog  for a walk before making visits to both our family homes. And since we managed to time the day so beautifully, we wound up having lunch at my Mum’s, and dinner at Jason’s Mum’s! If that’s not a great Sunday, I don’t know what is.

p.s. That final shot of Jason and Teddy? My new favourite <3

What I wore :: Jumper || Jeans || Scarf {‘borrowed’ from my Mum last year, similar here} || Boots

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Posted in COUNTRY WALKS, DOG WALKS, JASON, TEDDY, WEEKEND

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05.08

Pain-au-chocolat

Well, hi! It feels like an awfully long time since I sat down and wrote a post! In reality it’s only been a few days, but I’m pretty sure that it’s the longest I’ve gone without writing a blog post in about a year! The few days Jason and I took off from work were so, so refreshing. We didn’t do much at all (the pile of paperwork I purposefully left in plain sight on the dining table as a reminder that it needs sorting remains untouched, and we did an alarmingly insignificant amount of wedding planning) but that was kind of the beauty of it all. No computers, no screens (…kinda), no alarms, no two hours of work-talk in the evenings. It was pretty blissful!

We made it a priority to get out and spend some quality time together whilst we were off work, and so on that note, let me tell you about the Sunday morning we spent at The Tablespoon! We very often head over in the direction of Sunningdale when going up to Virginia Water lake at the weekends with Teddy, and this Sunday was no exception. There’s a beautiful little coffee shop and restaurant on the corner of the high street that we’ve been meaning to visit for ages, and so after our walk, we decided to stop in for a coffee.

The-Tablespoon Gaggia-coffee-machine

We were (typically) about 15 minutes too late to choose from the full breakfast selection, but lovely Bruno and his wife (who manage The Tablespoon) rustled up a couple of pastries from the kitchen for us. The food is all freshly made in house (and you really could taste it, the pasties were delicious!) and the coffees were pretty tasty too. It really feels such a treat to have such a sweet, independent coffee shop nearby. One of the few things I don’t like about living outside of a city is that most of the places to eat and drink nearby us tend to be branches of nationwide chains, and so it’s not all that often that we’ll come across a unique local gem like The Tablespoon amongst the masses of Starbucks & Costas! The dinner menu looks divine too, so much so that Jason and I are thinking about heading back there for a meal on our anniversary in a couple of weeks time. We had a little peruse of the dinner menu, and I’ve been thinking about the burger (brioche bun, chipotle mayo) ever since…

Cider-with-Rosie-The-Tablespoon The-Tablespoon-menu The-Tablespoon-water The-Tablespoon-pastries The-Tablespoon-water-bowl Teddy-at-The-Tablespoon

We sat outside and enjoyed our coffees in the sunshine for a good half an hour or so, and talked about things like The Merits Of Bands Vs DJs At Weddings, and How Great Are Pain Au Chocolats. And also, about how our dog was turning two that very day! I can’t quite believe it’s been almost exactly two years since we got him. It feels as though he’s been a part of our lives forever! I also can’t quite believe how much more *time* we used to have, when we didn’t have to dedicate at least an hour or so of each and every day to walking an over-excited little spaniel! ;)

So, happy birthday little man! We love you a lot. And also, The Tablespoon- we’ll be back!

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Posted in BRUNCH, COFFEE, JASON, TEDDY, WEEKEND

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12.02

Cider-with-Rosie-Richmond-Park

This Sunday, Jason, Teddy and I took a family trip to Richmond! I’d heard on the grapevine (Twitter, naturally) that a new branch of the Hummingbird Bakery was opening up in town, and since Hummingbird’s red velvets are up pretty high on my list of All Time Favourite Foods, I decided a visit was in order. We stopped by the bakery early, picked up supplies (lattes for us both, a raspberry cheesecake brownie for evening dessert, and two post-walk cupcakes) and then bickered our way across to Richmond Park. I say bickered, because we didn’t know the way and I was in charge of navigating, and if any couple out there knows how to find your way somewhere new in the car *without* bickering then I want to know your secret ;)

Hummingbird-Bakery-Richmond-Cupcakes Hummingbird-Bakery-Richmond-Lattes Hummingbird-Bakery-Richmond   Cider-with-Rosie-Sunday-Walk

^^ He is so handsome, he sets my heart a-flutter. ^^

Richmond-Park-Rutting-Deer Richmond-Park

Richmond Park was pretty beautiful this weekend. Windy though. So windy! Even having hot lattes in our hands didn’t stop them freezing stiff and sore. (I don’t know why I keep leaving the house without gloves at the moment. Stop doing that Rosie.) I had about 500 heart attacks whilst we were there, watching Teddy take an interest in the deer. There were some huge stags with the biggest antlers I’ve ever seen, and I kept having awful visions of Teddy charging on up to them trying to make friends, and them not taking too kindly to his presence. Jason told me over and over not to worry, and that Ted was under control, but I still couldn’t stop my stomach doing flips every time he so much as looked in the direction of the herd. I think it’s a sign of what I’ll be like as a Mama ;)

Aside from all the worrying, it really did feel like the biggest treat to be able to see the deer so close up. We only ever get to see deer for a second or two before they bound away whilst out walking in the woods back home, and so I stood and enjoyed being able to watch them for ages and ages on Sunday.

Richmond-Park-Oaks Richmond-Park-Silver-Birch-Trees   Teddy

^^ He’s my favourite photo subject. Those wispy ears get me every time. ^^

Richmond-Park-Deer-Herd Cider-with-Rosie Cider-with-Rosie-Teddy Cider-with-Rosie-Jason-and-Teddy

I know I’m biased (being that I took the photo) but I think this one’s a frame-er for certain! Those boys are the handsomest. We met a little dog called Bertie whilst out walking who thought Ted was the handsomest, too. He’d run off from his owners, took a liking to us, and then spent 15 minutes trotting along behind Teddy with his face as close to Ted’s butt as he could manage. We ended up having to pop a lead on him, and go off in search of his owners. Turns out the little man was deaf, and so hadn’t heard them calling and calling him. A cutie, for certain.

Teddy-and-his-friend Hummingbird-Bakery-Richmond-Red-Velvets Hummingbird-Bakery-Richmond-Red-Velvet-cupcake

We ended the trip by eating our cupcakes in the car, looking out over the park in all its glory. We shared the cakes, of course. Above is my favourite red velvet cupcake, and a special edition Bounty flavoured one too. It was really super delicious…but the red velvet still took the crown. Goshdarnit I do love cream cheese frosting.

Hey, Hummingbird! Thanks for opening up a bakery so close to home! You’ve made this sweet toothed-couple very happy.

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Posted in DOG WALKS, HAPPINESS, JASON, TEDDY, WEEKEND

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