Today I have a Slow Watch review from my boyfriend. If you like this, check out his attempts at a juice detox.

Slow watch review

Somewhere on the internet, there must be some stats about how the global sales of watches have sunk since the mobile phone market has monopolised everything we do.  I don’t think I had worn a watch for about ten years, having always relied on my smart phone for the time of day. 

At the best of times, I can be described as a phone addict – I’m constantly checking my phone and if I was totally honest with myself, most of the time I don’t know quite what I’m checking it for.  In meetings,* there is nothing more blatant and rude than someone with their phone on the table, constantly pressing the home key to find out what time it is, or to check if something far more interesting has happened in their virtual life outside the room. View Post

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A guest post from my lovely boyfriend.

Cornerstone razor

Ask any man and they’ll tell you the same thing; as a kid, you see starting to shave as a massive leap forward into the world as an adult man. You watch your Dad shaving for years and long for the day when you can start pulling faces in the mirror whilst covered in shaving foam. I was always puzzled why my Dad used to tell me that I should enjoy the pre-shaving days, as the process was a total faff which would soon become a daily burden. I assumed he was talking total rubbish, but after a couple of years of shaving rash, nicks and cuts, I realised that shaving really is a pain.
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I’ve been spending a lot of time over the last few weeks browsing the internet for lovely things. I could pretend it has all been in the name of Christmas shopping but we all know that would be a lie. I just like doing anything other than working.

Here are four of my favourite things this month:

favourite things

A) This is a quote from A Midsummer Night’s Dream that makes me think of Belle, who is very little but very fierce. It comes from Bookishly, a fab company making literary inspired gifts. I love the style of these and would happily cover my walls with them. Get 20% off orders at Bookishly with the code SSMUMMY20.

B) This green tea shampoo is from a company called O’Right, and markets itself as the world’s first carbon neutral shampoo. The idea behind the brand is to create green products without compromising on quality, and they have definitely achieved that. Not only is the shampoo itself fantastic and eco-friendly, but if you plant the (beautiful) bottle it will grow into a tree. I’m not even kidding, an actual tree. How cool is that??

C) You know you should eat more fruit, but really you’d rather have a bag of crisps right? Well, I may have the answer here to all of your prayers. Emily Fruit Crisps are made just with real fruit and a little oil. They are DELICIOUS. I had a packet of the pineapple this morning and they were wonderfully crispy and full of flavour. The packaging is just gorgeous too. I’m looking forward to these becoming available in a supermarket near me.

D) Stack Magazines is a genius idea from a guy called Steven Watson, a magazine subscription with a difference. Every month Stack will send you a different independent magazine; you won’t know what it’s going to be but you will know that it will be interesting, inspiring and something a little bit unusual. Who doesn’t like surprises?

Disclosure: I was sent some shampoo and some fruit crisps to try out.

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I’ve been living in Taunton for nearly six months now (six months!) and although I’ve been pretty good at things like getting all of my post redirected and ensuring Belle goes to school most of the time, there is one thing I have been putting off – finding a new dentist.

Unfortunately this isn’t because I have super strong, brilliantly white teeth that need no care and attention at all – anything but – it’s because a) I am a teeny weeny bit scared of dentists and b) I have no idea how to do it.

Find a dentist

Definitely not me

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Anyone who knows me AT ALL knows that I love a quiz. Seriously. I LOVE a quiz. My whole sense of self-worth comes from doing well in tests.

When Totally Money asked me if I’d like to take part in a financial literacy quiz then I was on it before they even told me there was the chance to win an iPad Air; a place on the leader board was prize enough for me. I know about money right? I have an economics degree for God’s sake, I felt sure I could smash this quiz.

*pumps fist*

Hmm…

Turns out that having studied economics in the previous millennium doesn’t guarantee top marks in a finance quiz. I was a little flustered knowing I was against the clock but still, it was really no excuse for only getting 9 out of 16. I should probably hand all of my credit cards over to a grown-up right now, just in case.

Fortunately you don’t need to score top marks to go into the prize draw, so there is always the thought of that to make me feel better. After you’ve done the quiz just click the ‘Win an iPad Air’ button to enter. It’s with all the sharing buttons near the top and looks like this:

TotallyMoney.com - MoneyMasters.clipular

Take the quiz now by clicking on the image below and let me know how you score! 

I will sit and wait nicely.

All done? How did you do?

In collaboration with Totally Money

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You may remember a little while ago I posed a very important question – should I get my new Servis Hydrodrive washing machine in black or white?

Sensing the urgency of my dilemma, many of you responded and in true ‘I will let the internet tell me what to do at all times’ style, I listened. My black Servis Hydrodrive is now making itself at home and I hope you’ll agree that it looks like it’s settling in nicely. I love the black; I think it adds a nice touch of space age chic to my kitchen.

Servis Hydrodrive washing machine reviewI have to confess that I tend to be the sort of person who looks for the one programme on a washing machine that covers as many bases as possible – ‘mixed load 40 degrees’ normally – and then just keeps the dial permanently pointed at that, so I have been making an effort to get to know my new washing machine a little more intimately. (Not like that.) View Post

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Now it’s December I can officially start talking about Christmas without getting evil looks from all the scrooges out there. Hoorah!

Not that I haven’t been talking about it or thinking about it for weeks if not months already, but now it’s socially acceptable so I don’t just have to do it in my head.

At home things have been festive for a while. Candles have been lit, Baileys has been drunk and robin wrapping paper has been made. (Instructions for this coming soon.)

Robin wrapping paper

If you’re not really a crafty person but love the idea of making your own wrapping paper, you’re going to love wrap.me.

I’m listening. What’s wrap.me? View Post

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Let’s be clear, I’m not talking literal ingredients here. We all know those are butter and sugar and what not. I’m talking about the cakey qualities that set a truly great cake apart from an ordinary cake.

(I like to tackle the serious issues of our time.)

To demonstrate my point I am using a selection of the new cake squares from Kate’s Cakes. Kate’s Cakes are available in Tesco and wholesale, should you have a small business that you are looking to cake right up. As you know I take my work very seriously, so I am going about this properly:

Kate's Cakes

Portability View Post

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We have two Hollies in our lives. People as in, not bushes.

To distinguish them we have different names for them; we call them ‘Normal Holly’ and ‘Crisps Holly’. (Not to their faces, just when we are referring to them in private and their identity could be ambiguous.)

Normal Holly is my cousin and, as the name suggests, is relatively normal.

Crisps Holly is the five year old daughter of my friend Jo and, although also relatively normal, does like crisps. She has had her name for a couple of years now, (the crisps bit of it – she has been called Holly since birth), ever since she once stood in front of Bee, who was eating a packet of crisps, and peered in.

“I really like crisps,” she said, looking pointedly between Bee and the crisps.

“I really, really like crisps,” she said, having clearly not received the response she was expecting i.e. Bee handing over her crisps.

“You really like bread,” said Crisps Holly, breaking off a piece of her sandwich, placing it on Bee’s lap and helping herself to some crisps, “so let’s swap.”

You may wonder where I am going with this. As you will now see, what’s actually happening is that you are very cleverly and subtly being led into hearing me tell you what I think of the new Market Deli range of crisps from Walkers.

*smooth* View Post

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This review is from Bee. Enjoy!

…

I’m sure you all remember my breath-taking review of the Hudl 2 I did recently.

Well as soon as I got it I was hunting around on the web for accessories and a case because I always drop/break/spill something on/loose things basically as soon as I get them.

However the only place I could seem to find any was the official Tesco Hudl accessories page and all of the cases on there were a) not really my style and therefore b) a bit more than I was willing to pay for something I hadn’t really chosen the look of.

Then, as though they had READ MY MIND, GearZap.com asked me if I wanted to review their Hudl 2 wireless Bluetooth tablet keyboard case!

“Yes please!” I said.

This thing is the COOLEST. For starters, it’s a great case made from a posh and important black leathery material which makes me look like I’m doing something businessy on it, e.g. a pie chart. It fits around the Hudl 2 with room to spare so it keeps it safe, even from clumsy fools such as myself.

I’ve never had a case that flips open before because I thought the front part would get in the way all the time but I actually quite like it. You can flip it open dramatically as though you’ve just been sent an important document that you must look over immediately and not at all that you just fancy a go on Kim Kardashian Hollywood. The only thing I wished the case did was automatically lock the Hudl 2 when I close it, like the iPad mini case does. Although I’m pretty sure that’s more to do with the features of the tablet. A girl can dream. View Post

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I know only too well that if I go for even one day without eating that I will fall over, so I got my new boyfriend to test out the Juci Wellbeing detox for me. This is how he got on…

Juci Wellbeing

If Gillian McKeith is to be believed, and you really are what you eat, then I’m in a lot of trouble. Last year, I lost a whopping three stone by doing all the right things – a healthy diet, plenty of exercise and only a moderate intake of alcohol. I felt (and although I say so myself, looked) fantastic. I bought an entire new wardrobe and reveled in the ability to wear slim-fit tops and skinny jeans. I never grew tired of the unadulterated joy I encountered over the next three months at being stopped by everyone I knew so that they could tell me now wonderful I looked. I know that sounds horribly vain, but if you had spent the preceding five years looking like a darts player, you’d understand my situation. My confidence went through the roof, and all was very much right with the world.

Well done me.  View Post

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oversharingI have a tendency to over share.

I mean gosh, I’m sure you haven’t noticed, it’s not like I tell everyone on the internet all of the things.

I worry sometimes though that I do it in relationships and that it might be a bit much. It’s hard though isn’t it? There are so many conflicting messages. On the one hand we are told that the secret to any happy marriage is communication, communication, communication and on the other hand we are meant either to be cool, aloof ice queens, with men falling at our feet because we are so mysterious, or we are supposed to keep any sign of emotion under wraps unless it scare men off into metaphorical caves.

So contradictory is the advice in fact that I tend to just think ‘sod it, I’m going to tell him everything and then if he wants to run away he can do it now before I get too attached.’ It could almost be seen as a test; my new counsellor did say this week that she thought I was self-sabotaging. That’s probably for another post though.

So what happens is that I get full of all of these thoughts and anxieties and they all spin around together for a while. Sometimes I just tell myself to man up and keep them inside, sometimes I write them all down and then delete them, and other times I end up sending a long email or text that begins ‘So, I just wanted to tell you how I feel about…’. Then I send it and all the original fretting gets replaced with a new type.

It’s good to keep things fresh.

I have a few questions then: View Post

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