New year, new blog

Just a quick one everyone but I'm having a wee re-jig of my blog so don't worry if it keeps changing every time you come on as I'm still tweaking it!  I fancied a change & seeing as I have a thing for grey at the moment, that's the new theme.

I'm hopefully going to be getting a new header too at some point - isn't it bizarre what makes you happy sometimes!

Library overhaul ~ the reveal!!

You might recall my blog post back in November about myself & two other mums from my son's primary school doing up our school library.  Well after months of hard work, completely redecorating & designing the two rooms we were given to use & sifting through & cataloging over 3000 books, we finally had our grand opening a week ago!!

We were really nervous as we wanted the kids to love it but we had nothing to worry about as they all think it's amazing!!  We're really proud of what we achieved with very little money - and a lot of imagination! - so I thought I'd share some before & after photos (taken from roughly the same viewpoint) with you all!

I'm soooo happy with how my Gruffalo wall display turned out.  I said from the start that I wanted to do one as I just adore The Gruffalo book but I then worried that I wouldn't be able to do it as I'm really not an artistic person!  But I don't think I did too badly - and I even managed to get my real branch hanging into the room too although the photo doesn't show the twinkly fairy lights we hung from it!!

Hopefully we've given the kids a really inspiring & comfortable library & music room to use rather than 2 bookshelves in a corridor like they had before!  We now just have to train up the P6 & P7s to be Junior Librarians so they can run the library themselves (with the occasional supervision from us!)

So that's what's been taking up my time for the last 3 months as we've been in the school working pretty much every day since January!!  I feel a bit lost now though & need a new project to do as I've got the decorating & design bug again now.  Actually, there's a blank corridor in the school that's crying out for a huge mural........!

Forgan's, St Andrews

Apologies in advance for the very photo-heavy post but I just couldn't pare them down any more, I wanted to show them all!

 

So yesterday was the first Saturday of the month which meant it was Fife Farmers' Market at St Andrews.  We love to pop over to stock up on goodies but I can't believe I was so busy stuffing my face full of samples (mainly the Ochil Fudge!) that I forgot to take photos!  Oh well, we'll be back next month I expect.

 

I did however, take lots of photos of the newly opened Forgan's restaurant on Market Street.  We've been eagerly awaiting the opening of this place for quite some time & have been keeping up with the updates on Twitter & Facebook & I have to say, it did not disappoint one jot!!

 

Anticipating it being busy, I'd booked a table in advance which was definitely the right thing to do as we arrived at 12 noon & there were many people waiting already.  Forgan's do a Kids' Ceilidh on a Saturday morning (how bloomin' fantastic is that idea?!) so we had a couple of minutes to wait whilst the tables were being put back out.  I was surprised at how light & airy the restaurant was inside & the decor is awesome, I loved it!!  Seriously, the interior designer is a genius.  It's all washed wood, industrial steel & funky huge lanterns hanging from the ginormous skylit roof.  If someone asked me to describe my ideal setting for a restaurant, I think this would be it!!

 

There are 3 main areas, the largest being right in the centre of the restaurant with 'open' seating.  There is an area called The Den situated at the back which is slightly darker & has a cosier atmosphere.  And then you have the most fantastic idea of the private Bothies lining one entire side.  There are 4 separate bothies each seating 10 people on huge tables which have their very own fireplaces too!!  I could be wrong but I believe the bothies can be opened up for a larger private parties, again such an awesome idea.  (I now know where I'll be holding my meal for my next birthday!!)

 

I have only one tiny gripe about our visit which was that I had to ask 3 times for Alfie's smoothie to be brought out but hey, not a biggie & otherwise the food, service & atmosphere was fantastic.  I cannot wait for our next visit, hopefully during an evening sans enfants!!

Check it out if you ever find yourself in St Andrews!!  I'm not affiliated any way with Forgan's, I just believe in credit where credit's due!!  And now for the photos......

 

 

 

 

 

Oh yes, did I mention the free face painting for kids?  Ruddy marvellous.....!!