Today I have another guest post from my boyfriend. My sister and I decided we should from now on refer to him as Rupert. He is not called Rupert. If you like the cut of his jib you can follow his ramblings on Twitter.

Standon Calling festival camping

“Have you ever been to a music festival?” Jo asks.

“Of course!” I scoff.

A few seconds later, I look up to see if Jo is observing me for signs of a caveat to my reply.[I was.]

“Really?”

“I’ve been to the Proms”. I add. “And the Three Choirs Festival. They’re both music festivals”.

I’ll say it for you. What a dick. [A little harsh.] View Post

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I was sat working this morning with the kitchen window open. I could hear children outside playing the street and it gave me a real feeling of spring. Then some small boys started kicking a football repeatedly against my wall and the images of daffodils and gambolling lambs where replaced with an urge to throw a bucket of cold water out of the window at the offending footballers.

Still, for a minute there I was very nearly full of the joys of spring and was beginning to imagine the spring time adventures Belle and I might have, skipping hand in hand through a flower filled meadow, pretty summer dresses flapping around our knees, the air thick with the sound of her laughter.*

A mummy can dream can’t she?

To continue the fantasy, I spent a happy hour browsing Melijoe.com (whilst Belle played on her laptop upstairs), dressing up my springtime family in the latest spring trends for children. And yes, before you say anything, I do know what the spring trends are.**

Spring fashion trends for kids at Melijoe.com View Post

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Belle has been on the case for me again this week, putting together one of her little videos, this time for a kids’ clothes website called Melijoe.com. Belle’s technological abilities always impress me – she literally went into the garden on her own with her phone, came back in, disappeared upstairs for about ten minutes and then presented me with a 30 second video, set to music, with captions.

How did she even take the pictures on her own??

The girl is a genius.

Melijoe.com caters for children from birth up to 16 years old, which in itself is a draw for me – so many kids’ clothes websites only go up to 10 or 11 years old, and it can be hard to find clothes for Belle that are actually for children and yet stylish and durable at the same time. So often it feels like the choice is between cheap man-made fabrics with garish cartoon characters on or crop tops and leopard print, as though the average 12 year old is often to be found ‘in da club’ at weekends.

Belle was in heaven picking her items from Melijoe.com; there are literally thousands of things to choose from. I did my best to be patient, but confess there were moments when I wished their collection wasn’t quite as comprehensive, just so that she would get on and choose. In the end she went for a new pair of summer pyjamas, with shorts instead of long trousers, and an embroidered white dress and cardigan. I would have put money on the dress as Belle has a very girly side to her and loves a bit of voile. The dress is beautiful, and as Belle says in her video, the detail is stunning:

Melijoe.com dressI was a little bit worried about sizing, as I’ve always thought that Belle was small for her age, but everything fits perfectly; Belle seems to have gone through a real spurt lately height wise, which is nice for her as she has always felt a bit uncomfortable being the smallest in class, but not so nice for me as I can no longer get away with squeezing her into her age 8-9 jeans and telling her they are intentionally cropped.  View Post

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Today I have my third and final video interview for the new SpongeBob Movie: A Sponge Out Of Water. If you’ve not yet watched me talking to Antonio Banderas or Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke then where have you been? Watch them now and catch up.

This interview was actually the first one that I did and although I don’t think it’s horribly obvious, I was incredibly nervous. My hands were shaking and I could feel my face getting redder and redder. Because of the nerves and not knowing what to expect when I first went in the room, I fear I may have got off on slightly the wrong foot with Paul Tibbitt; I knew I should pay him a compliment, but panicked and couldn’t think what to say, so ended up telling him that the film had ‘given me a lot to think about.’

Hmmm.

I edited that bit out.

I also edited out the bit where I asked him if he had grown a beard to make him feel like a real man.

(I’m not sure I am a natural at this.)

I like the thumbnail for this video – it feels like a good reflection of how he must have been feeling inside by the end of the interview…

I went to New York with Paramount to watch the new SpongeBob Movie and interview the cast and crew.

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Following on from my interview with Antonio Banderas and review of the new SpongeBob Movie today I have the second in my series of interviews from New York. This one is with Tom Kenny and Bill Fagerbakke, the real, actual voices of SpongeBob SquarePants and his best friend, Patrick Star.

spongebob and patrick

Bill and Tom were both lovely and it was hard to get them to stop talking; I only had to ask a few questions and they were away, bouncing off each other. I could see the assistant in the corner of my eye, gesturing for me to wind things up, but it was hard to get a word in edgeways; Bill and Tom clearly have a fantastic relationship, both on and off screen.

I was a little disappointed that neither of them admitted to accidentally slipping into character in the bedroom, but they were fantas

I flew to New York with Paramount to see the new SpongeBob Movie and interview the cast.

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Today I am very pleased to welcome my very funny friend Lucy, with some top tips for planning a wedding on a budget. Please leave a comment if you enjoy the post!

budget wedding

My two girls are getting quite excited by the prospect of my imminent wedding. Despite raising them to spurn all things pink, romantic and princessey in favour of equality and female empowerment, they have been leaving notes for my partner to ‘definitely marry mummy’ since he first stepped his nervous foot into my house.

“So…something old?” questions my 9 year old daughter, Josie.

“That’s me!” quips my (slightly older) fiancé.

“Something new?” asks Josie.

“That’s you – his new wife!” says my eldest, sarcastically.

“Something borrowed?”

“That’s the money to pay for the wedding!” I snort.

How we laugh. I should say, however, that it’s not quite true: we have been saving for the last year. It’s not so bad saving for something exciting like a wedding; you don’t mind sacrificing those new winter boots when you are excitedly planning your brideszilla Jordan-stylee 40-layer tulle extravaganza.

And some people really do spend ridiculous sums on their wedding day: the average cost of a wedding is now a terrifying £22,000. But it doesn’t need to be a horror story: here are my tips for a financial fairy-tale ending that will ensure that the ‘something blue’ isn’t you: View Post

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Right then, hands up if you watched Louis Theroux last night.

*surveys sea of hands*

Pretty good wasn’t it?

I’m a big fan. He has a wonderful way about him where he manages to get people to say honest and shocking things at the same time as making them feel like he might be on their side. It’s brilliant journalism and I watch with a mix of fascination and a slight envy at his skill.

I read a review this morning on The Guardian website that described Louis as ‘not looking out of place in a psychiatric hospital’. The author talks about a scene by a vending machine in which Louis could, apparently, be mistaken for another patient. “Seemingly put-out by the caffeine ban,” the author writes, “he paces in an agitated way. “I guess I’ll get water for now, is that what you’re getting?” he goes on, as if looking for some kind of reassurance or approval.”

Louis Theroux by reason of insanity View Post

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Yes, that’s right, Antonio Banderas. And me. Face to face. In New York City.

Boom.

I was in New York to talk to Antonio Banderas about his role as Burger-Beard the Pirate in The SpongeBob Movie: A Sponge Out Of Water and the location for my interview was The Ritz Carlton, overlooking Central Park. I’d dressed up nice and brushed my hair and had a notebook and pen. I’d put together my questions at breakfast that morning and was imagining myself as pretty cool.

Although I was feeling reasonably well prepared for this interview, having already interviewed the director and figured out how things worked,* I was completely thrown the minute Antonio Banderas opened his mouth as he IS Puss in Boots.

If you’re not sure what I mean, listen to this short clip before you listen to my interview. It’s rather disconcerting to feel like you are actually interviewing a cat. View Post

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At the end of January I took a trip. It was a very exciting trip, a trip in which I got to fly to New York, wander around Central Park in the snow, ride the wooden escalators in Macy’s and, (she mentions oh so casually), interview some of the cast of the new SpongeBob movie, including the one and only Antonio Banderas. It was a little Bridget Jones-esque, as I wasn’t totally prepared for what that would involve, but more on that when I publish my interviews over the coming week.

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Part of the trip then, before I did my celeb interview bit, was getting to watch the film. Here I must take a minute and admit that despite being told, by grown-ups, that the first film was actually very funny, I hadn’t seen it. I downloaded it to watch on the plane on the way over, and said grown-ups were right, it did have a good splash of adult humour. One of my peeves as a parent is having to sit through kids’ films that are made purely for kids – who do these film producers think pays for the tickets after all?

So there I am, popcorn in hand, in a cinema in the middle of New York, feeling that heady mixture of excitement and jet lag, waiting for the film, (or perhaps I should say ‘movie’ as I am in the US?), to begin.

To get you in the mood, here’s the trailer: View Post

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Today I have a guest post from Belle! I am basically training up my whole family so that I can retire. She has been playing a game called Star Stable. I thought she would like it as she is a big fan of any game where you have to choose outfits or design anything. Her favourite bit of playing the Wii is designing the faces on the little people…

Star stable

Recently I was asked if I wanted to do a review of a computer game. Obviously I said yes because who doesn’t like playing them?

Anyway, at first I was really exited because I searched it up and it looked AWESOME! It was surprisingly really quick to download and soon I was creating my character and choosing my dream horse.

Unfortunately, the game is live play (that means it takes up the whole screen) so I could not take any pictures of it. 

I must admit that I wasn’t a pro at the start but I soon got the hang of it! I really enjoyed learning new skills like galloping, jumping and caring for my horse but most of all I loved racing!

I wasn’t particularly good at it… I had drawn the short straw and had chosen the silliest horse of them all, leaving me to constantly scream at the screen shouting stuff like ‘NO DON’T GO INTO THAT FENCE!’ or ‘slow down you ARE GOING TO DIE!’ but then I realised that it was because of my horse being unhappy, (poor horse), so I had to go on a special quest to find objects like hay, hoof pick, water bucket, and so on. In no time my horse was performing really well!

What I most enjoyed about the game was all of the different outfits and gear you could buy for you and your horse. I loved designing outfits and purchasing rainbow saddles and stirrups.

I really need to say that if you do decide to get this game then have fun and when you feel stuck and lost, trust me, it gets better.

By Belle x

Belle was given a free account for the purposes of this review.

 

 

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I have been spending rather more time than is strictly necessary lately looking at home furnishings. If I’m not careful, I will start using Pinterest properly, and then we really will be done for. Belle will be foraging for snacks in other people’s bins, unable to pull me away from the latest geometric trends.

I think it comes from living somewhere small. I have all sorts of grand ideas, but no room for any of them. At the moment I don’t even have a coffee table. I know, shocking isn’t it? I may as well live in a shack in the woods. I really want a coffee table though. In fact I have had a bit of a coffee table crush for 18 years now; I had a boyfriend while I was at university who shared a beautiful flat in Bristol with a friend. The friend had this coffee table – it was a big, square, wooden dining room table that had had the legs cut off about a foot from the ground. I don’t often think about the boyfriend, but I do think about the coffee table.

My dream coffee table would be big. It would be just the right height that you could rest your feet on it from the sofa, but also sit on the floor next to it for playing games. It would always have a vase full of fresh flowers in the middle, and possibly a bowl of exotic fruit. There would be magazines galore – nothing too glossy, something with a matt finish and articles encouraging me to ‘savour the moment by roasting my own coffee beans’ or something equally as bohemian and time consuming.

To while away a happy hour this afternoon then, while my potatoes baked gently in the oven and I imagined myself living in a house where I couldn’t see said potatoes from my spot on the sofa, I had a browse through Pinterest and collected 16 of my very favourite coffee table pictures.

I seem to have a bit of a thing about yellow at the moment, so that features amongst the collection. I also love solid wood furniture. Maybe one day, when I’m a proper grown up…

coffee tables

Do you have a coffee table? Is it wonderfully glamorous and covered with beautiful books full of stunning interiors? Or is it piled high with dirty cups and school letters you’ve not read yet?

Collaborative post

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I get approached by a lot of companies asking me to write about their products or services. A lot of them go along these lines:

“I’m a parent, just like you, and have given up my job to concentrate all of my attention of a new app I have developed to help toddlers with potty training. It’s really like nothing else available, and I’d love for you to try to out…”

Cue the loud bang as I fall asleep and my head hits the desk. I am, fortunately, well past the stage of having to worry about toilet accidents other than my own and can’t help but wish, for their sakes, that these people had stayed in their stable, well paid jobs.

This week though I was approached by a new online investment company called Nutmeg and actually got quite excited, not least because there was a quiz AND charts. I love both of these things. I’ve had an online stocks and shares account through my bank for years, but have never used it as I’ve been put off by the transaction fees and have always been under the illusion that you need to invest thousands and thousands of pounds to make it worthwhile. I’m very aware though of the value of this sort of investment – one of the first things I did after going on maternity leave with Belle was to set up a stakeholder pension in a high risk portfolio. I couldn’t afford to pay much in, but every little helps and all that.

Nutmeg’s idea though is to make investments more accessible for people exactly like me, people who understand that simply putting money into a savings account isn’t worth the effort of setting up a standing order, and yet aren’t at the stage of wanting to manage their own investment portfolio. I suspect that the fact that the phrase ‘managing an investment portfolio’ makes me think of an actual folder of paper that needs sorting into colour order confirms that I should not be put in charge of it. You wouldn’t guess I had a first class economics degree.

So, how does it work? Well, the idea is that it’s meant to make investing as simple as possible, so you have a choice of investing in a basic saving account, and ISA or a pension. The minimum investment levels are low too – a £1,000 lump sum, plus a minimum monthly contribution of £50 per month if you pot is smaller than £5,000. Although this sort of investing works best when it’s long term, you are free to withdraw as much of your money as you like at any time – you’re not locked in at all and unless you need your cash super quick, there are no charges for withdrawals.* View Post

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