In my work, (and it really is work Boyfriend, I don’t care what you say…), I use social media a lot. Possibly a little too much, judging by the weird night I had this week where I dreamt in Twitter updates. Whenever I am talking to brands and bloggers though, there is one question that comes up a lot – how exactly are mums using social and how does it influence their buying patterns?

“Do we really need to worry about bloggers and online reviews and what not?” some brands will ask, looking sort of anxious and hopeful at the same time.

“Yes,” I say. And not just because otherwise I would be out of a job.

I came across this infographic today from Diffusion PR which I think gives a really interesting snapshot of exactly how mums are using social to research their buying decisions. 40% of mums it says have read a post, comment or review online and then decided to purchase the product because of what they have read. View Post

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Last weekend Belle and I had a little weekend away together in London. With work and school, the weeks get very busy and we really enjoy taking time out every now and again to spend some quality time together.

Quality time. How wholesome I sound!

This time our trip was extra lovely, as we had been offered a room in the Cavendish Hotel, just off Piccadilly Circus. I had already been to the Cavendish once for afternoon tea, so was very excited about getting to spend the whole night there.

Belle has a thing whenever we are away somewhere, of wanting to spend as much time as possible in whatever our accommodation is. If we are at a festival for example, she is always nagging me to let her go back to the tent. I don’t know why, she just seems to like being in something. View Post

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Quite often, when writing a guest post or feature, I am asked to include a line or so about myself. It normally goes something like this:

Jo Middleton is a freelance writer, blogger and mum of two daughters, living in Bristol.

There we go. That’s me.

But is it?

Sometimes I want to argue ‘how can I possibly sum up all that I am in one sentence?’ but then part of me worries that if I were given a freer rein, that I wouldn’t know what to say. View Post

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I don’t need to say any more than that do I?

Personally, I’m a massive cocktail fan. Mostly I don’t actually like the taste of alcohol, so any alcoholic drink that I can actually enjoy for the flavour is great for a start. I also love the glamour of it. Sipping a cocktail from a Martini glass makes me feel like a Bond girl, even if I am at home in my pyjamas.

(Not that I would drink cocktails at home in my pyjamas. Gosh no. Who would do that? *ahem*)

Recently I was given the not really very arduous task of testing out the new pre-mixed range of cocktails from Tails Cocktails. The idea behind them is that you can get all the fabulous flavour of a freshly mixed cocktail, but you don’t need to worry about tossing it all up in the air Tom Cruise style and dropping it on your head. (I am quite clumsy). They come in miniatures, or large bottles for taking to dinner parties as a fancy alternative to a bottle of wine. View Post

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I’ve got Bee here again today, wearing some lovely new clothes…

Its 2008. I’m 12. My much cooler friend Lauren walks into our geography classroom. Instead of the usual tween gossip mag filled with brand new information about the Jonas Brothers, she’s carrying a catalogue.

“It’s the new Joe Browns catalogue”, she says, “It came in the post this morning.”

“Oh yeah, cool” I say, acting like I know what she’s talking about. I then find out that Joe Browns is a super cool clothes website where Lauren gets most of her clothes. Being 12 and spending most of my money on Maltesers I’m not known for my amazing fashion sense. I stare at the catalogue wistfully as Lauren points out all of the things her Mum has agreed to buy her. I imagine that if I owned a t-shirt or even a hair clip from Joe Browns, I’d immediately be transported to the Cornish coast where I would surf, have long blonde windswept hair and listen to Jack Johnson while drinking coconut smoothies with a group of beautiful friends laughing around a camp fire. View Post

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Today I’ve got a corker of a competition for you. In conjunction with eHarmony.co.uk, I’m giving away the key to a knock out new look. There will be two prizes – the winner will receive £200 of John Lewis vouchers, with £100 of vouchers for the runner up. Both winners will also receive a trial three month subscription to eHarmony, which you are very welcome to pass on to a friend if you’re already happily attached.

I wrote a post a little while ago about the importance of a first kiss, but first impressions are important even before you meet, let alone get any smooching action. We all know that red is the colour of love and romance, but the evidence suggests that men find women dressed in red more attractive, whether that be in a photo on an online dating profile, or in person.

It works in all kinds of scenarios apparently, so make sure you wear a red t-shirt if you’re ever hitchhiking! View Post

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Get more Twitter followers

Picture the scene… you’ve signed up to Twitter and you’re regularly tweeting a range of fascinating and hilarious insights. 137 people are following and about 8 of these are actually listening. You know you’re witty and insightful, so how come the rest of Twitter hasn’t noticed it yet?

Sound familiar?

The trouble is, that although we all know the mantra ‘content is key’, there is no point in producing great content if there is no one there to read it. In the UK particularly we are a little bit British about blowing our own trumpets, but when it comes to getting more Twitter followers you can’t afford to be shy.

So how do you get more people to follow you on Twitter? View Post

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Update: I wrote this post originally in April 2013, but rather that start from scratch I thought I would just add new things to my list here as I thought of them and cross off the ones I do. This post has new things since you first read it, so best read it again :-)

…

This week, with my 35th birthday looming, I have taken some important first steps in my 40 things before 40 project.

First off, I bought a new notebook. This is possibly the most important step, and I do sometimes wonder if I may not have just come up with the whole idea purely as an excuse to do this very thing. I do love a bit of cutting and sticking after all. However, despite having purchased said notebook, got it home safely, and stroked it for a little while, the novelty didn’t seem to wear off, so it was time to start writing in it.

Best felt tip pens at the ready.

40 things before 40

I am looking for a total of 40 things to do over the next five years, but I figure I don’t have to have them all decided until a year before the deadline, as I am known for being a tiny bit fickle and am sure to come up with new ideas along the way.

Here’s what I’ve got so far then:

  • Eat a meal in a Michelin star restaurant – I did this one on my birthday! Read all about it here.
  • Got to the opera – Done! I went to see Turandot originally and have seen a few more since. I’m not a fan, although I did like that with Turandot we came out into the restaurant for a different course between each act. That was fun.
  • Visit Auschwitz – Done. Read about it here and why I didn’t feel how I expected to feel.
  • Visit the Dark Hedges – Done! Read about it here.

dark hedges northern ireland

  • Ride on the Orient Express
  • Stay in one of the places from the Amazing Spaces programme. – Done! I actually can’t remember where it was, but I remember thinking ‘Oh this means that I can cross this off my list!’ I’m sure it will come back to me.
  • Drink a milkshake in an American diner – Done! See the evidence here.
  • Grow an avocado plant from a pip. – I’m really trying with this one but the damn things refuse to grow.
  • Solve a mystery Nancy Drew style (i.e. in matching hat and gloves) – I went to a mystery evening at Belle’s school and bought a Nancy Drew style hate to wear especially, so I think this counts?
  • Go to a festival on my own. I’ve thought about this one a lot and decided it’s not that important to me anymore. Although I have been to things like the Bath literary festival so maybe that counts??
  • Do a driving experience where you get to go off road and drive through rivers and things like that. (I like driving through puddles at the side of the road when it’s really rainy.) – I’ve done this one – evidence here.
  • Hang out in a 19th century Ottoman mansion and take a cruise up the Bosphorus

Istanbul hotel

  • Sing in public – did you not see my Mariah Carey at the 2017 taunton freelancers Christmas party??
  • Tell a joke at the Edinburgh festival (this one can be just in the street)
  • Cook a souffle – I’ve done this!

  • Visit every house I’ve ever lived in. I’ve decided I’m not that fussed about this one either. I mean, I LIVED in them all, so technically I’ve done it anyway right?
  • Swim (or splash a bit at least) outdoors in Iceland (country not shop) – this was a tiny bit late but I did it a couple of months after I turned 40 – the trip was a birthday present from my lovely sister and brother-in-law.
  • Fly business class – I’ve done this a few times now, only for work when someone else has been paying. It’s pretty nice being able to lie flat but I’m not sure it’s really worth it, unless you have more money that sense. You all arrive at the same time still.
  • Visit Sintra in Portugal. It’s a crazy multi-coloured fairy castle. What’s not to love? – I did this one just a few days before I turned 40!Sintra portgual

Image – Mapics/shutterstock

  • Take an open top bus tour in ten different cities (I am a sucker for these – all the best bits of sightseeing but sitting down!) – I’ve done London, Barcelona, Cambridge, Liverpool, Stratford, Bristol, Bath, Derry, Paris and Dublin. Hoorah!
  • Own one of those wicker baskets that fits on the stairs. (I know this is ridiculous, I’ve just always wanted one.) – My mum got me one of these for my 39th birthday! And very lovely it is too.
  • Live in a tree (even if just for a night) – So is this!
  • Make fresh pasta from scratch – yep!
  • Publish a book – this is happening! This is a weird one as I’d kind of decided it wasn’t something I wanted to do after all, and then TWO DAYS before my 40th birthday a publisher emailed me out of the blue. If that’s not fate then I don’t know what is.
  • Have a family portrait done – yep, we did this one! Courtesy of Life is Crawsome
  • Get a tattoo – done! 

  • Go to a make-up counter for a makeover and learn how to actually put on make-up like a grown-up – I’ve done this! Sometimes I even put the make up on…
  • Have something custom made – yes! I was a bridesmaid at my sister’s wedding in August 2016 and had my dress made. 

  • Sleep overnight on a train in a proper bunk, Hercule Poirot style.
  • Buy a house – Done! Who’d have thought it!

I was tempted to add ‘become debt free’ but I fear it may rather conflict with the other 39. If you’ve counted, you may see that there are only 39 things on the list – I’m leaving one for luck in case anything else amazing occurs to me.

So there we go! Not long left now… If you can help with any of the outstanding ones then please let me know!

 

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If someone had said to you over Easter ‘how about a spot of camping?’ you may well have used an expletive. If someone had said to you ‘how about a spot of camping with a double bed, wood burning stove and flushing toilet in your tent?’ you might have felt a little more inclined to brave the cold.

We fell into the latter category.

We did meet with a few raised eyebrows when we told people we were off on a family camping trip for a few days during a week when the temperature at night was dropping below freezing, but it’s amazing how much warmer you feel when you sleep in a fur hat. Besides, what is living in the UK about if it’s not ridiculously cold camping holidays? View Post

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Two weeks today is my birthday. I will be 35.

(I know it’s hard to believe, I barely look a day over 21, etc etc).

35 seems like the kind of age where you should be making plans. By 35 you feel should have at least bought a house, possibly be married, maybe have some savings. I of course have done none of these things. Whoops.

I never have been very good at long term planning though, and after getting in the whole ‘have children’ thing pretty early on, I’ve always felt that my ‘make a commitment to something Proper and Grown-up’ box has been ticked. Now though, I’m beginning to wonder. I’m beginning to wonder if actually it might not be a bad idea to have a bit of a plan. View Post

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I’ve been reading a lot of blogs lately. As part of my new job with Collective Bias, I’ve been trawling the web, looking for the very best of British writers and photographers. It’s a fascinating job, as there are a lot of amazing blogs out there.

In the process though, I have developed several blogging pet hates, which I’m sure other PR companies and brands must share. They are silly little things, but you’d be amazed at how many people forget them. Your blog might be the most beautifully designed site you’ve ever seen, your photography may make your readers gasp with joy, but if you are missing any of these then you could be holding yourself back when it comes to working with brands. View Post

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I think I might have a problem.

I’ve got this thing.

I do it when I find myself alone in the house.

Sometimes I will do it in bed before Boyfriend comes up and then act all casual because I say I don’t like phones in bed, and I really don’t like phones in bed. View Post

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