This week has been half term – a unique and problematic holiday. It’s not really long enough to feel like it warrants any formal, paid childcare and yet at the same time work still has to be done, mostly in a blind panic early in the mornings and on the days when Belle has gone to stay with my mum.

Belle moved up to secondary school this September and has been finding it hard going, so I wanted to make sure half term was lots of fun for her – enough fun at least to keep her going until the Christmas holidays. As you can see from her whiteboard plan of the week we had a lot going on, including a lovely day out at Yeo Valley. The thing she was looking forward to most though, as you can see by her use of seven exclamation marks, was our trip to London on Wednesday to see The Lion King and to meet Bee for lunch. View Post

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How many loyalty cards do you have in your purse? I actually had to buy a separate card holder to keep them in, so full was my purse becoming with little rectangles of card and plastic. Unfortunately what happens now is that I will pop out with my purse, leave all the other cards behind, and so not be able to get a stamp on my ‘buy 173 cups of tea and get a hobnob free’ card anyway.

Much more manageable for me are online loyalty and reward schemes that do all the hard work for you. Whenever I order from The Book People for example, points just get automatically added to my account, without the need for me to carry a two tonne handbag around with me everywhere I go. I was happy then to have a look at epoints, and to share my thoughts. View Post

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This week has been my third week of bronchitis and despite feeling a lot better in myself I am definitely not quite up to my usual speed. On Wednesday I went out for a walk for half an hour, wheezing like an old man enjoying his morning pipe, and when I got home accidentally fell asleep for an hour and a half. Not ideal when you are meant to be working.

It means as well that running has had to be put on hold. I did try the ‘man up and get on with it approach’ last week but after playing netball twice on the Monday and then running on the Tuesday I felt so dreadful on Wednesday that I had to resign myself to taking things easy. I felt bad about it, like I was cheating, but Boyfriend gave me a stern look so I knew I had to behave.

I was especially sad though as it means I have only been able to use my new trainers once so far and I had been so looking forward to using them and looking super cool. View Post

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My teeth and I have not always seen eye to eye.

I’ve never really been keen on anything that involves getting my hands wet and when I was younger I was one of those children who would go to elaborate lengths to make it look like they had cleaned their teeth, rather than actually do it. I would run the toothbrush under the tap, makes splashy water sounds, even eat a little bit of toothpaste to give the illusion of minty fresh breath. WHY I couldn’t just take two minutes to clean my teeth and maintain this lovely cheeky grin I don’t know.

Smile

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I have a little quiz for you. Picture the scene for a minute if you will…

It’s Boxing Day. You’ve eaten 439 Elizabeth Shaw mints, drunk 14 glasses of sherry, and are collapsed on the sofa. Your Christmas presents are sat in a pile at your feet. Do you think to yourself:

A. What a lovely collection of thoughtful yet practical gifts!

B. What a bunch of crap. Why do my family hate me so?

C. It’s lovely that everyone has bought me a present, but I do wish I just had that camera I really wanted instead of these 27 Boots gift sets.

Let’s find out what your answers mean: View Post

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I’m starting a new weekly review slot to round up all the events we have attended and the products we’ve used in the previous week. (This is it in case you hadn’t worked that out.)

The weekend got off to a great start on Saturday, when Belle and I went to Bristol Old Vic for an audience with Lauren Child. Belle is a massive Lauren Child fan, and is particularly keen on her series of books for older children about quirky teen detective Ruby Redfort. Such a fan is she in fact that she even has a customised t-shirt. Ruby apparently has a t-shirt just like this one:

Let them eat cake

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One of my favourite quotes is from Joan Rivers. She says “”I hate housework! You make the beds, you do the dishes and six months later you have to start all over again.”

This is exactly how I feel.

Aside from my dislike of anything that involves getting my hands wet, housework is just so boring isn’t it? And futile. You could spend a whole day tidying up and making things look nice, and then a small child will come in, push all of your books to the back of the shelf, and the whole thing is ruined.

(Because everyone knows that books have to line up flush to the front of the shelves or else everything is just wrong. Children have a sixth sense for this weakness of mine and immediately upon entering my house they will make for the nearest shelf and push all of the books back with a look of glee on their eyes. I swear they have some sort of toddler forum where they share this things like this, just to be super annoying.) View Post

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Recently I went to watch Twelfth Night at the Tobacco Factory. My main concern obviously was what to wear. I don’t get out much, especially in the evenings, and for a funky theatre like the Tobacco Factory I wanted something that looked sophisticated, but at the same time a bit like I might have come straight from a studio of some sort, having been working all day on a Very Important Creative Project. I also definitely had to give the impression that I read the Guardian.

The look that I was trying to capture we decided was theatre casual.

To achieve my theatre casual look I turned to Seasalt. Seasalt wouldn’t normally be a brand I would think of, but their range is actually rather beautiful and the winter jumpers currently on offer are decidedly cosy looking. For my trip to the Tobacco Factory I decided to go for: View Post

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On Sunday we went for a day out at Cadbury World.

I have been before, about three years ago, but Belle has never been. Boyfriend took me there on a date the first time I ever went to visit him in Birmingham. If being taken to a chocolate factory on a first date isn’t a good sign then I don’t know what is.

Cadbury World

On my second visit it felt like there was a lot more to look at and see. I don’t think anything was particularly new, but I do suspect that the first time I went I may have been a little distracted, concentrating on being witty and charming and making sure I always stood at a flattering angle. View Post

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Today we have Bee again, telling us about her first few days at university…

Moving away from home is probably one of the most nerve-racking experiences of anyone’s life, especially if you’re moving into university halls, which often unfortunately resemble a luxury prison cell.

Even though my new room is bigger than my one at home, has an en suite bathroom, a big window and is actually very nice, it was a shock knowing I had to spend most of my time in this unfamiliar flat for a year. On my first morning I woke up and realised nobody here cared what I was doing or where I was. At this point my flatmates didn’t even know I existed. I sat down on the scratchy blue carpet amongst my partially unpacked boxes and sobbed. View Post

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I had a bit of an awesome Friday recently. Aside from a slight toddler vomiting incident, which we will figuratively and almost quite literally brush under the carpet, I had what for me is a near perfect day.

It basically consisted of one meal after another all day long.

Actually, to be fair, there were other elements. First off was a very successful breakfast meeting, in which I managed to sound convincing enough to secure myself some training work, so that was an excellent start. Then I headed off into town to meet Purple Mum and her lovely daughter to check out The Stable, the new pizza and cider place on the Harbourside.

That’s right, pizza and cider. Two of any Bristolian’s favourite things surely? View Post

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Today please welcome my special guest, Belle, talking about her new YUUBag…

Me: Can you tell me what it was that first appealed to you about the YUUbag?

Belle: The thing that first appealed to me about the YUUbag was all the compartments and the fact that you can attach it to the car and use it as a desk as you’re going along.

Why did you choose the HUUG design?

I chose the HUUG design on the YUUbag because it looked really pretty. My favourite colour is purple and I like horses so the purple horse on the front of the YUUbag  were just perfect for me.

How did you feel waiting for your YUUbag to arrive? 

Waiting for the YUUbag to arrive was really exciting because it looked really cool on the advert. I couldn’t wait for it to come so I could actually see it on the inside properly. View Post

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