Beauty and the beast theme partyThe beauty of having a daughter called Belle is that when it comes to Disney princess related gifts or themes, you’re never in two minds about which to go for.

Cinderella of course!

Only kidding.

I couldn’t throw a Disney Princess birthday party for Belle and not make it Beauty and the Beast themed party now, could I? You might think that turning 13 makes you a bit old for a Beauty and the Beast party, but I say you’re never too old to feel like a princess. Ever.

*adjusts tiara whilst typing*

It ties in rather nicely with the Sky Movies competition we’re running at the moment too, as we can either have the film running in the background, or save it for when things get a little frantic and I’m looking for an excuse to get everyone sat down quietly. (That is, five minutes after the guests arrive.) Sky also very kindly sent us a big trunk full of Beauty and the Beast themed goodies, to help us get the movie party started, with everything from a popcorn maker to princess tiaras.

So now I’ve got a ton of ideas about how to throw a Beauty and the Beast themed party!

beauty and the beast themed party ideas

Given the number of characters in Beauty and the Beast who are based on items of crockery, a tea party feels like the obvious theme, and luckily old floral cups and saucers are ten a penny in charity shops. To help inspire you, here are eight of my very best ideas for throwing a Beauty and the Beast themed party: View Post

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Following on from our review a few weeks ago of the Smart Car, this month we’ve gone to the opposite end of the spectrum, by reviewing a BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer. My fiancé is going to be giving you his boy’s eye view too, but in the meantime, I’m going to tell you how it’s been settling in from my point of view.

So, to start with, it’s white.

I’m kidding. Girls know more about cars than colour, dur.

It is though, that’s not made up. Here it is, getting to know our existing car, in the style of two dogs meeting for the first time:

BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer review

There were a couple of things that initially struck me about the BMW 2 Series Gran Tourer. The first is the size.

It’s big. (That’s the technical term.)  View Post

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A couple of weeks ago we were given a new smart forfour to try out for a week. As I mentioned here, two of my favourites things are cheese and trying new things, and although there was no cheese involved in this review, it did definitely tick one of the boxes.

The idea behind the smart forfour is pretty simple – it’s designed to combine all the innovation of the standard smart car, but it’s a four seater. You’re with me so far aren’t you?

By way of an introduction, here’s a little video of the smart forfour being driven around a deserted, lightening-filled warehouse. (This is not obligatory in your own smart forfour).

My first thought when the smart forfour arrived at our house was ‘how sweet! A car that looks like a mint imperial!’ It is very cute and definitely feels like the sort of car you could give a name to. View Post

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get out of debtI racked up a significant amount of debt in my early twenties. I had Bee when I was just 17, and had gone off to university at 19, with a toddler to take care of. I say ‘gone off’, I didn’t actually go anywhere – I needed to be near my Mum and my Gran to help with the childcare, so I lived in Somerset, and commuted every day to lectures in Bristol.

As you can imagine, this wasn’t cheap. You didn’t have to pay fees back then, but I did have to support a whole household, albeit a small one, and find the money somewhere for all that petrol. It’s no surprise then that I came out the other end of it a little the worse for wear financially. View Post

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I was sent an HTC One M9 recently from EE. I’ve been having a play around with it, so I can let you know what I think of it.

Shiny right?

HTC One M9

First though, let’s give this review a bit of context.

Douglas Adams said something about technology that is so true; it goes like this… View Post

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bedroom makeover tips

A guest post from Bee

Recently I moved into my first very own flat. Well, I mean, I rent it, with other people. But still. A couple of days ago I moved rooms to the best room in the house (because I’m the best, obviously) and made a start on decorating it. I put on some music and lit some incense and set about making it my own. I’ve moved house enough times now to know exactly what I want my room to look like. But if you are about to redecorate your room and don’t really know where to start, I’ve got a few extremely wise tips to share with you. 
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A guest post from Bee.

start your own business

We all have that business venture that we think about starting up from time to time. Last week I found myself dramatically excited about starting a business outside of All Bar One after a couple of cocktails with my friend Lia.

“OMG, LET’S JUST START A BUSINESS, like you and me, right now! Let’s just start a business! Let’s go! Let’s just bloody do it” I was screeching across the table at her, as though I was thinking of buying a bar and calling it Puzzles. (Why Puzzles you ask? Well, that’s the Puzzle!)*
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I was chatting to someone yesterday about work, and they asked me an interesting question.

“What would you do,” they said, “if you didn’t need to earn money?”

I thought about it for a few seconds, and started to answer.

“Oh, I don’t know,” I began, and then I corrected myself, because I totally do know. A few months ago I did an exercise where you write to a friend. It’s five years in the future, and you write as though you haven’t seen the friend in all that time. You write with no boundaries at all, describing your life, filling them in on everything that has happened since you last saw them. The key is that nothing is impossible. If you want to tell them you’ve been to the moon, then you can, there are no limits, it’s your dream life. Money is no object.

“I would spend quite a lot of time on a squishy sun lounger,” I told them, “or possibly a hammock, sipping cocktails and reading books. I would travel more, but in luxury.”

hammock on the beach

“Oooh yes,” they agreed, “that would be nice. I could handle that. No tent nonsense right?”

“I definitely would NOT have a back pack,” I confirmed. View Post

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I had a bit of a moment of realisation this morning.

I’ve been getting slightly obsessed, and very boring, over the last week or so about a blogging related competition. I never normally do any sort of awards or competitions that involve getting people to vote for me, and this experience has been a reminder of why not – very quickly it became less about actually wanting the prize and more about just winning. I AM Monica.

It has brought out all of my worst qualities, and, more importantly, taken my mind away from the here and now. My thoughts were focussed in the future, I was distracted, and as a result, failed to appreciate actual life, as it was happening, in quite the same way.

The competition hasn’t finished, but when I woke up this morning and my first thought was not of the sun streaming through the curtains but of wondering how voting had gone overnight, it was a sure sign that it was time to stop. I had gone into second place overnight, and couldn’t face a whole new wave of begging. I don’t want to be that person thank you very much. 

So i have come out into the garden instead.

I nearly sat on a bee, but avoided it at the last moment, which is yet another thing to be grateful for. I have a cup of tea, the garden we share with the other flats in our block is empty, and the sun is already hot on my face, even though it’s not yet 10am. There are several bushes in the garden that are full of pale pink roses, and when you get close up and stick your nose right in they smell beautiful.

seize the day

When I’ve finished writing this I’m going to lie down for five minutes and feel the sun heat up my skin and listen to the sounds of the birds. Who needs to win a holiday when we have all of this around us all the time?

I just need to remember to look for it.

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cool cafes in London to work from for freelancers

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Looking for a cool cafe in London to work in? Want a creative workspace in the city to hang out in for a couple of hours? Need somewhere funky for a London meeting that will make your prospective client think you’re super cool?

You’ve come to the right place, because I’ve put together a list of 11 cool cafes to work in in London. (I bet you guessed that from the post title didn’t you?)

After six years of freelancing I can safely say that nothing is guaranteed to sap your motivation and creativity more than five days in a row sat at home, staring at the same four walls as you work, with only the murmur of Escape to the Country in the background for company.

You need to get out there dude! Soak up and the sights and sounds of life! Honestly, the change of scene is just what you need to kick start that dusty old work ethic, and finding a great cafe to work in can be a lifesaver. I took a whole day recently, getting up extra early, to explore some of the best cafes for freelancers that London has to offer. All of these I have visited myself, (or a branch at least), and I paid for all my own food and drink, so you know I will be totally honest.

Of course one of the key factors in choosing a cafe to work from is the internet access. Experience tells me that wherever you are in London you’re never far from the Internet, but just in case, I went armed with an 4GEE WiFi Mini from EE. This funky little device not only looks pretty cool, but it’s actually useful too. It acts as a mobile internet hotspot, so even when you don’t have access to WiFi you can still get online. In fact, you can connect up to ten devices at once! Not only that, but it doubles as a charger, so you can use it to top up your phone or tablet battery when you’re out and about. View Post

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“This was the only jumper I could find,” said Bee, coming downstairs wearing a black cardigan she had pilfered from my chest of drawers, “you need more clothes.”

It’s true. I am notoriously bad at buying clothes. I have several issues with it. Firstly, I find it difficult to justify spending money on clothes when technically I already have some. It’s not like having an empty fridge, where you have to buy at least a token tub of hummus and some yoghurts to not look like you’re neglecting your children, because there are actually clothes in my wardrobe. I have things I can wear, so buying more feels a bit greedy.

Secondly, I hate trying things on. You get all flustered and sweaty, and then you look in the mirror and see your thighs at angles you never normally see them from and you just want to cry. That is not my idea of fun. Thirdly, I apparently have no dress sense, so my kindly family have told me many times over the years. Rude.

In Joe Browns though I have found the solution – they are very reasonably priced, they deliver, so I can try on everything in front of my carefully positioned mirrors at home, and finally, everything is so lovely that even my mum surely wouldn’t be able to question my taste? Also, a lot of things have flowers on, which is my Best Thing when it comes to clothes. View Post

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Being self-employed is a double edged sword for me. On the one hand I love the flexibility it gives me; I can be around for school plays, sick days and to ferry in the inevitable forgotten PE kits, and it’s brilliant not to have to be forever letting Belle down because I can’t get time off work.

Ace.

The flipside of this though is that it can be difficult to establish that elusive work life balance. To make up for the time I have off with family and home commitments, I often find myself fretting about work in the evenings and trying to get a head start on work emails over the weekend.

School holidays are tricky too. Unless we are actually away, I often find we spend day after day in a sort of limbo, where I’m working from home out of guilt at going into the office, but Belle is still left to her own devices. Taking proper holidays can be hard too – no one pays for your time off when you work for yourself and overcoming that feeling of losing out on valuable income puts the pressure on.

I’m about to embark on a new project, (which I plan to finish before the summer holidays), with Direct Line for Business. It’s going to cover not just the practicalities of self-employment, like business insurance, but also some of the emotional difficulties, as well the logistics of keeping everyone happy when you work for yourself.

As part of the project I’ll be hosting a Twitter chat and creating a video with one of Direct Line for Business’s experts, asking for their top tips to help successfully manage your own business. I’d love to know what issues you struggle with, and what advice or support you would find useful.

To kick things off, I’ve come up with five things to think about if you’re self-employed or are thinking about setting up your own business: View Post

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