What is your favourite comfort food?

When I’m feeling in need of a little calorie based comfort I regress to toddlerhood and find myself drawn to all the beige foods – mashed potato, thick white toast with lashings of butter, pasta and cheesy sauces – you know what I’m talking about. Small children really know what they are doing there.

Another of my favourites is cauliflower cheese, which has the added bonus of not being all about the carbs. I’ve put together a very simple recipe that proves that a lack of colour doesn’t have to mean a lack of taste and nutrition – it’s all the fun of wintery stodge but without the guilt.

smoked haddock and cauliflower cheese recipe View Post

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January is a mix of fresh starts, fitness regimes and credit card bills, so my favourite things this month are about looking after yourself rather than just buying yourself pretty things for around the home.

These are four of our favourite things this month:

January favourite things View Post

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Today I’m giving a plug to a relatively new Bristol based business called Cardnest. I met one of the founders of Cardnest when I was delivering some blogging related training, so when he came to me saying ‘Your training was ace! Can I tell you about my new business?’* I could hardly refuse could I?

Cardnest are, in their own words, a bit like a cereal variety pack, bringing you a mix of different cards every month. Unlike the cereals though there is no cornflake equivalent, no dud card you tolerate just because you want the Coco Pops.

Cardnest card subscription service

It’s very simple. For £7.50 per month you get three beautiful cards delivered to your door, plus three first class stamps – surely less than you’d spend in a decent shop? All the hard work is done for you, so next time you have a birthday, a special occasion or just want to write to a friend and say ‘thank you for being awesome’, everything you need is ready and waiting. View Post

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I’m trying hard but I can’t think of a time when I had an accident that wasn’t my fault.

When I first moved to Bristol I had a car accident where I managed to write off three cars, including one parked on an Avis forecourt, but that definitely was my fault. I wasn’t really having a very good day and I sort of forgot that I was driving around a dual carriageway/one way system. Still, on the plus side, I did help Belle tick off one of the things on her bucket list that day.

“I always wanted to be in a car accident,” she told me, “but I always imagined it would be the last thing I’d tick off because I’d be dead.”

I was pleased then to have been able to involve her in a non-fatal car accident. A proud parenting moment indeed.

Car accident

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This post has been produced in partnership with McCarthy & Stone

When my Gran was alive and much younger, she always said that when she got to a certain age – I think it may have been about 65 – she wanted us just to shove her off a cliff. Of course 65 came around and she changed her mind. Turns out that 65 isn’t terribly old after all. In fact, once you reach that hallowed retirement age, life can be pretty sweet, once you get into the swing of it.

Actually retiring though can be a tricky process for some people. Think about it for a minute. Can you even imagine having no work to do at all ever? Personally I think I would find that a bit of a shock. Since the age of 17 I’ve had the responsibility of being a parent and work of some form or another, and suddenly one day being retired and not having to earn a living… I’m not sure I would know what to do with myself.

If a member of your family is approaching retirement age then, chances are that they could do with some support to help them with the transition and to make sure they make the most of their new found freedom. This could be as simple as encouraging them to join local clubs or societies, helping them discover what’s going on in their local area, making sure you visit on a regular basis or helping them through the process of downsizing or choosing a retirement property if that’s on the cards. View Post

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I get quite a lot of people on Twitter and via email asking for tips to help make their blog look professional and start making them money. Normally this is a Twitter DM that reads something like this:

‘Great to connect! I’ve started blogging but not sure where to start – any tips?’

Hmmm, let’s see, I have 140 characters, what exactly are people expecting here?!

Because clearly 140 characters is not enough to share all my massive blogging knowledge and experience, I’ve put together an online course that I’m offering through my media training company, Inside Scoop. It’s about 80,000 characters long, which is definitely more than you can fit in a tweet.

If you know of anyone who might enjoy this course then please do share this information with them. Cheers!

Go pro and make money from your WordPress blog

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I am turning into my mother.

It’s true.

I don’t seem to be able to go a single meal nowadays without dropping food on myself. A couple of weeks ago I actually missed my mouth and poured tea straight down my front. It wouldn’t have been so bad if I hadn’t been on a train at the time on my way to London.On my way to London to be filmed for something.

D’oh!

It wasn’t pretty. View Post

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I’m trying out a bit of a new thing today, so would be interested to know what you think and if you’d like to see more. I don’t host a lot of video on my site, but when Beauty and the Boutique approached me to see if I wanted to work together, I had a look and really liked the natural, accessible style of their videos. Plus doesn’t Katie have amazing white teeth?? I was hypnotised.

So, hands up who wakes up in the morning wishing for a less ‘mother of young children’ type complexion, not to mention a little help with the dark circles? If you’re hand is up, then read on. My first video from Katie, who is a professional make-up artist, stylist and founder of the awesome fashion and beauty online store that is Beauty and the Boutique, is all about improving your complexion.

It also demonstrates what happens if you bring a cat to work with you. View Post

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I’ve got another infographic for you today. I can’t help it, I’m a sucker for them. If you’re a blogger though, this one is a must – 30 really simple ways to promote your blog and get more people reading your posts. That’s what it’s all about after all isn’t it? Knowing you write great stuff is all very well but it’s so much more rewarding to know that people are actually reading it.

Do you have any extra tips for reaching new readers? Please do share! View Post

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When I moved my blog to self-hosted recently, I was totally agog at the number of wordpress plugins available. Seriously, I didn’t know where to start. What plugins does wordpress even need??

After much muddling along, I’ve picked out my five favourites to get you started…

Five must have wordpress plugins

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Video blogging made easyToday I am blogging again from the Collective Bias Social Fabric conference in Arkansas. Despite Belle being a bit of a natural behind her diary cam, I don’t often use video in my blog and so went along to the session with Danielle Smith to find out how to incorporate video more into my blogging.

First up then, why should you use video as part of your blogging? Well…

  • You can make money from it
  • You can learn new skills and reach new audiences
  • More and more people are watching videos and watching them via mobile
  • Youtube is the world’s second largest search engine
  • You get to develop your own voice, showcase your presenting talents and create opportunities in traditional media View Post
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In my work, (and it really is work Boyfriend, I don’t care what you say…), I use social media a lot. Possibly a little too much, judging by the weird night I had this week where I dreamt in Twitter updates. Whenever I am talking to brands and bloggers though, there is one question that comes up a lot – how exactly are mums using social and how does it influence their buying patterns?

“Do we really need to worry about bloggers and online reviews and what not?” some brands will ask, looking sort of anxious and hopeful at the same time.

“Yes,” I say. And not just because otherwise I would be out of a job.

I came across this infographic today from Diffusion PR which I think gives a really interesting snapshot of exactly how mums are using social to research their buying decisions. 40% of mums it says have read a post, comment or review online and then decided to purchase the product because of what they have read. View Post

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