It’s about eight months already since I bought my first house and moved in.

Can you EVEN BELIEVE IT??

No, me neither.

(What do you mean you don’t really care? Rude.)

I’ve worked (a bit) hard to get things how I like them and I’m especially happy with my bedroom. After getting the wardrobe of dreams, it meant I basically didn’t have to have any other furniture, so I have a very uncluttered, relaxed vibe going on. I wrote a whole post about it here a while back, so go and have a nose at that if you’re interested. (It includes some VERY cute pictures of Camille when she was a small kitten and had tiny, short legs.)

One thing I’ve always found slightly weird about my bedroom though is the ceiling light. You know how in most rooms the ceiling light is positioned in the centre of the room? Well, my bedroom light is most definitely not. It’s central to the WIDTH of the room, but it’s way over on one side, right next to the window. Very odd.

I was also not a fan of the shade, which I bought when I first moved in on a bit of a whim.

When Urban Cottage Industries offered me one of their Rosa Cage Pendant Lights to review then… WELL. It was like it was MADE for me, for two reasons.

Firstly, this is the shade. Or the cage as I should probably call it.

Rosa Cage Pendant Light

I know right? Pretty damn cool. Like me, obvs.) View Post

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Post in association with Switchcraft

Today I’m going to talk about Switchcraft, a clever new energy switching company.

Every time I think about Switchcraft I imagine Frank Sinatra. He is singing, obviously, and does a little dance move which involves him swishing an electricity bill about with a flourish and pointing at a gas meter with a cane.

Are you picturing it?

It’s basically this, but with more utilities based dance moves:

Anyway.

Frank Sinatra has literally nothing to do with Switchcraft the energy switching company, I just wanted to get you in a relaxed frame of mind.

Because that’s basically what Switchcraft do – they take all of the hassle out of switching energy suppliers, on an ongoing basis, so that you can just sit back, stick the gramophone on, and never think about your gas bill again.

So what makes Switchcraft different?

An excellent question, I’m glad you asked.

The great thing about Switchcraft is that you just sign up, ONCE, and that’s literally it. Job done. There are plenty of companies out there who will help you compare one off prices, but that involves sitting down regularly and going through tariffs and options. It’s always in the back of your mind, whether or not you should be checking prices again, and quite frankly it’s BORING.

With Switchcraft there’s none of that. No more worrying every year about doing a comparison and organising a switch, no more making excuses to those people in the street who ask you if you want to save money on your energy bills, no more huddling together for warmth in your weird jumper made for two. Everything is taken care of.

compare energy suppliers

Once you’ve signed up, Switchcraft keep track of all the deals on your behalf. If a better deal comes along, they switch you automatically without you having to do anything at all. They let you know beforehand of course, and you can opt out of any switch, but it means that all of the hard work is going on behind the scenes without you ever having to worry about whether or not you could be saving money.

In case you’re wondering that this means you’ll be switching every week or something, it doesn’t. Switchcraft reckon that they’ll switch you roughly once a year, so exit fees aren’t an issue. Average savings so far are £313, year after year, and half of all users sign up on their phones in less than five minutes. It really is that easy.

So what’s the catch?

There isn’t one.

Switchcraft is totally free to use and you can opt out of a switch any time you want to. Switchcraft make their money by earning commission from the energy providers, but their recommendations are unbiased and all based on the best options for you.

Switchcraft energy switching

We have so many aspects of our lives automated, why on earth would you not do the same with your utilities? Think about it – we have direct debits, online supermarket shopping lists, hundreds of monthly subscription services and apps galore doing things like sending birthday cards on our behalf – why not automate switching your energy suppliers too?

Find out more about Switchcraft now, and save money on your energy bills, year on year, with absolutely no faff.

Photo by Anne-Marie Pronk on Unsplash

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Post sponsored by Pfizer

Growing up, my mum worried a fair bit about our health. It was hard to do anything vaguely physical without hearing a sharp intake of breath and my Mum muttering ‘you could break your neck!’

Conversations would often go something like this:

Me: ‘I’ve got a bit of a headache, so I might go to bed early.’

Mum: ‘Do you have a stiff neck? Do you have a rash??’

Me: ‘No, I don’t have meningitis. Hush.’

I think it probably got to the point where even if I HAD had a stiff neck I wouldn’t have said anything, just to avoid the fuss.

While no teenager particularly wants their parents fretting around them all the time, my Mum was right to take meningitis seriously – it’s a serious disease, and something that we should be educated about.

To help hammer the message home, here are five things you should definitely know about meningitis. Please share them with other people, especially young people, and please do share your own thoughts and experiences in the comments.

The more we talk about meningitis, hopefully the fewer people will have to experience it. Find out more about how to protect yourself here.

meningitis vaccine View Post

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I had a cracking start to the year reading wise, but February was a little bit slower. I wasn’t well, and then I had that brief obsession with making my own Jaffa cakes and Jammie Dodgers. You know how these things conspire against you.

Still, I managed five books, which is not bad at all, all things considered, even if two of them were basically the same.

The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham

My February reading started with me having a mooch in my local Oxfam bookshop and coming across a big stack of the dark green Penguin Crime Classics. I love a bit of vintage crime fiction, but for some reason I’ve never come across Margery Allingham.

The Crime At Black Dudley

There were about 15 of her books in Oxfam and I should just have bought them all as they were only £2 each, but for some reason I was feeling sensible so I only bought the first three in the series. The Crime At Black Dudley is the first one.

That night though I dreamt about them. I dreamt that I went back into the shop and none of them were left and I was sad. The next time I was in town then I went back in, but most of them HAD been sold and I WAS sad, so proof that dreams CAN come true. View Post

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I’ve done quite a lot of STUFF in my life.

By ‘stuff’ I mean the kind of things that you normally see on people’s bucket lists, like flying in a hot air balloon, riding in a helicopter, or jumping out of a plane. (True story – when I jumped out of a plane I passed out mid air and woke up on the ground. Oops.)

never have I ever ideas

I have a list of 40 things I want to do before I’m 40, which helps, but generally I like to try things, even if it’s only once. Like skiing.

*shudders at the memory* View Post

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Post in association with Wayfair

I used to have a bit of a blind spot when it came to interior lighting. My friend Lucy was always coming over and bemoaning my lack of flattering lighting.

‘It’s just these God awful centre lights!’ she would say. ‘You need some strategic lamps to stop me looking so ancient.’

She was right.

I took heed though, and if anything I’ve gone the other way – I have lamps everywhere, even in the kitchen, and candles galore for when you’re feeling like you really do need a darker corner to hide in. Lamps are lovely too for creating little areas of interest, highlighting areas of the room you particular like, or making cosy yet well lit corners for reading or crafts.

A well placed light can totally change the feel of a room – the warmth, the colours, the tone. You can give the whole place a lift without actually having to spend too much money.

This week I’ve been looking for a home for my new lamp from the Endon Lighting range at Wayfair. Endon Lighting has been around for over 75 years and has a focus on well designed, trend-led lighting. The range is definitely worth a look.

At the moment it’s next to my bed like this:

endon lighting at wayfair View Post

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I notice it most starkly when I go to London. There are people everywhere, rushing from one place to the next, and it’s like a sea of black and grey. Occasionally you walk past a woman in a pink coat and you think ‘yessss Queen slay!’

(I think that in my head in Bee’s voice.)

It’s so bloody miserable isn’t it? All these DRAB clothes, making everyone look DRAB. Come on guys! Spice things up a little bit!

red dress

I guess people are nervous about wearing colour. It’s not something that I’ve ever been worried about, but then in my family I am notoriously badly dressed. Having said that, there are definitely ways to wear colour without having to be too conspicuous.

To make the point, Joe Brown’s sent me some bits from their new spring/summer range, all on a red theme. Using these pieces, I came up with four ways to wear red and feel SUPER sassy: View Post

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In association with No7

Did you ever do that thing when you were a teenager where you’d just stare at your face in the mirror, really close up, for ages and ages?

It’s the kind of thing you have time for when you’re 15. It’s all measuring at that age isn’t it? How many friends do you have? How wide apart are your eyes? What’s the circumference of your calves?

(I had a disagreement with Belle the other night, who is 15 now, the same height as me, and about four stone lighter. She was insistent that she her thighs were just as chubby as mine. Even when I made her measure them and could show her that mine were EIGHT INCHES rounder than hers, she still seemed fairly cynical.)

At 39 I spend a lot less time staring at my face.

This is what it looks like:

No7 Face Study anti-ageing serums

No7 Face Study anti-ageing serums View Post

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Post in association with NatWest

A couple of weeks ago I found myself sat alone at the bar of a members’ only club in London, sipping prosecco and feeling that heady mix of nervous and excited as I messaged my family WhatsApp group.

‘What are you doing in London?’ asked my sister Annabel.

‘I’m going to a speed dating session being run by NatWest to show how easily you can be emotionally vulnerable to online scams,’ I told her. ‘I was MADE for this.’

‘Do the other daters know,’ asked Annabel, ‘or is the assignment to go in and try and scam them?’

‘I think they have to scam ME,’ I said, ‘but I know there’s going to be ‘a twist’. A behavioural psychologist is going to be there. Maybe they just watch and laugh at how gullible I am??’

‘You’re going to get so scammed,’ she said.

‘I’m going to get scammed RIGHT UP,’ I agreed. ‘Hopefully someone will step in before I hand over any cash.’

tips to avoid being scammed

Because I wasn’t joking when I said I was made for this experiment. View Post

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2017 was a bit of a slack year for me on the old book front.

I could make up excuses about moving house and relationship changes and what not, but let’s be honest, it’s really just laziness. When you’re tired, watching the remake of Dynasty on Netflix feels EASIER than actually having to move your eyes from one side of a page to the next, over and over again.

It’s stupid really, because I love reading, and a good book is way more absorbing than the antics of modern day Fallon Carrington, so this year I decided to make an effort to read more books. And by ‘read’ I mean ‘finish’, not just read a few chapters, stack them up on my bedside table and move on to the next thing.

To give myself some focus I thought that every month I’d share with you what I’ve been reading. Pretty straightforward – no vagina gags – just a few thoughts that might give you some inspiration for your next book choice. I’m not going to bother with links or anything, you know how to work the old Google.

It doesn’t really count as reading, but I’ve also listened this month to the audiobook version of The Humans by Matt Haig. I’ve read (with my eyes) a few of his books already and love them. Matt writes with this straightforward honesty and clarity that often makes me stop and think ‘YES. That’s exactly it.’ He has a way of capturing the essence of things in a very beautiful, simple yet powerful way.

So, the books.

Margaret Atwood Hag-Seed View Post

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NOTE: If you want a three month follow up to the Geneveve treatment I have also written a follow up Geneveve treatment review.

There is literally so much opportunity for hilarity in this post that I don’t know where to start.

It’s a serious subject – my vagina and the laxity thereof – but also, it’s my VAGINA, so. Also, as serious a subject as it may be, it’s always good to be able to have a laugh about these things isn’t it? I mean sure, the woman we saw when my Mum and I went to register my Gran’s death wasn’t exactly on board with that as a concept, but I think it’s important to be able to laugh about serious things – it helps us talk about them.

Where to begin?

First up I’m imagining your mind boggling a little at the term ‘vaginal laxity.’ I don’t blame you. Let’s not get carried away though, nothing is flapping about in the breeze like the proverbial wizard’s sleeve, it’s just a term used to describe what happens naturally to your vaginal tissue as it ages and after it has gone through trauma like childbirth. Your vagina is made up of collagen fibres, just like your skin, and it’s natural that over time it can lose its strength and shape.

Still with me?

Okay.

So, while this loosening is to some extent ‘normal’, it can have a significant impact on our lives. It can play a part in urinary incontinence and it can impact on sexual sensation and satisfaction. Neither of these are things you should feel that you just have to put up with, especially if they are changing the way you go about your day to day life. If you’re not enjoying sex any more, or are worrying about going out because of the fear of leaks, then that’s not okay.

The Geneveve treatment, available at The Clinic by Dr Mayoni Gooneratne, uses tiny pulses of radiofrequency energy to gently heat the deeper layers of the vaginal tissue to stimulate the body’s own natural regenerative processes. Dr Mayoni is passionate about helping women to feel confident and comfortable, which is why she is the perfect doctor for a treatment such as Geneveve.

Dr Mayoni is an experienced general surgeon and during her medical training, she spent several years specifically studying pelvic floor dysfunction. She saw for herself just how deeply so many women are affected by pelvic floor issues, yet so many don’t seek help for it because they feel it’s something they just have to accept, or they are embarrassed to talk about it. Dr Mayoni’s passion for female wellness is evident throughout the procedure and she made me feel at ease which was great, especially with the type of treatment I was about to have.

It was a grey Friday in January that I look the train to London, to try the Geneveve treatment for myself, unusually aware of my vagina, amusing myself by composing Instagram stories. View Post

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Post sponsored by ProVen

Do you remember recently when I sent my poo through the post?

It wasn’t the sexiest thing I’ve ever done to be honest, but it was part of some research looking at how your DNA and your gut bacteria effect your health. Although it didn’t flag any weird diseases or anything, my general gut health was not great. In fact, I only scored 4 out of 10 for my ‘microbiome diversity’.

how to improve microbiome diversity

Oops.

Apparently ‘Diversity indicates the approximate number of bacterial species that live in a person’s gut. Each type has its own functions that are often complementary. A diverse microbiome can perform a broader range of tasks that regulate and compensate, making the whole system more stable. If the community lacks richness, this compensation mechanism may be compromised and cause dysbiosis, a condition known to precede illness.’

And nobody wants THAT do they?

Also, generally I dislike doing badly in tests. It’s not really my THING. It takes me back to being ten years old and being in the team for the inter-school book quiz. We were in the semi-finals, which were being held in the town library in front of an audience of friends and family. We’d been given a book to read, which we were then quizzed on.

The quiz began.

‘We will be asking questions today about ‘Woof”, said the quizmaster.

I panicked.

We hadn’t read ‘Woof’.

It turned out that our teacher, Mrs Bryant, who I already had a bit of a grudge against as she had disagreed in front of the class with my interpretation of some of Romeo and Juliet, (I was a precocious child, but she was wrong), had made us read the book for the FINAL by mistake – ‘The Wolves of Willoughby Chase’. Rather than stand up and say something though, she let us sit through the WHOLE QUIZ getting everything wrong and looking stupid. Needless to say I cried at the end and have never forgiven her.

Anyway.

My gut bacteria. View Post

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