A Vintage Romance

It's actually quite easy to fall in love...almost anyone can do it... but to stay fallen in love, now that's another matter entirely. Not a lot of people manage that very well. Yet, a great romance might indeed last a life time...

MANY people said that it wouldn't last,

 that it would all end in tears.

... they declared our relationship doomed to failure

but they just did not understand the gift

... how could they, it didn't belong to them

so many letters were written....hearts longing just to be together

journeys undertaken by train

the Silver Fern...went from Auckland to Wellington
 & back.. one way took 14 hours!
... & sometimes by plane, on standby

the cemetery was the prettiest place we could find 

& there were wild flowers there! 

....and then, finally we were married & could be together...always

 Our love of vintage was with us even then, right from the beginning...hunting for old bottles in wild gardens, exploring the abandoned flat next door in Tinakori road in Wellington & finding this sweet, sweet picture in a cupboard
under the stairs.

fossicking through Victoria St market
& antique shops

... everywhere we went 

looking for loveliness & anchoring ourselves to the 

imagined halcyon days & romantic notions of times gone by.

Quite soon, we found our own little house in Hawera

 then came two small children

& later another,

and all the while our love affair continued...

little did we know what lay ahead of us,

all that we would have to endure & work through 

& what that would cost us both.

We grew up together, however & eventually found 

a place in the world to be ourselves

 & to make a difference.

A great relationship takes courage, commitment & passion

& a plan of tender care & adventure.

When our 3 children were still quite small we began to be 

very brave & saved up some money & some courage &

 booked a night away in the historic County Hotel Napier 

(only 20 mins away saves on petrol!)

now when we look back over the last 32 years we cannot 

seem to harness the time & all the memories very well
 but we do recall vividly, all the sweet times like this when
we chose to honour "the gift" of our love in these
special romantic interludes together.

A couple of weeks ago we headed over to Napier once again.

 Having carefully packed & planned

we took an alternative
route to get there

over a one way bridge.

(There's no turning back

it's the rules!)

our bags packed with lovely things & a spare vintage blanket

 or two, just in case it got chilly & a delightful selection

 of magazines

pretty tablecloths, & flowers from home

...bubbly wine & bubbly 

water, homemade museli 

& guavas

& Greek yoghurt 

for breakfast

candles that I made in old pressed glass jugs

epsom salts & essential oils for the spa bath

we felt so blessed when we came across the most
exquisite green vintage velvet eiderdown in the
Antique Centre & "the girls" decided to make it
half price because of a water mark : )

The green is actually much richer but velvet is
notoriously camera shy. 

These vintage clip ons that I found in Decorum are
so much fun. I just love wearing them.

Linda kindly allowed me to photograph these gorgeous 

vintage velvet flowers that were for sale

..so glad that I could show you

aren't the pansies just divine!

sweet dreams are the

 heart beat of romance

(a sign in Emerson St)

we all need to dream a little...

who knows what adventures are stilling waiting for us....

MUCH 

 SWEET DREAMS XX

several of the pictures in this post came via we heart it