We often chat about what we’d do with our home if we owned it. Top of the list would be a new kitchen and bathroom. Our kitchen has that classic late 1990s orange pine vibe going on, and the bathroom… Well, the bathroom has more of a ‘windowless prison cell with peeling paint’ feel. You get used to it, but if it was ours it would definitely get a makeover.

I actually have a scrapbook of pictures that I have cut out of magazines. It’s like Pinterest, but in the good old days, when we used Pritt Stick. When I do own my own home, I will know exactly what I want.

The key element for me is colour.

After so many years of renting, and being stuck with white walls, I’d love the freedom to experiment with colour. This doesn’t necessarily mean painting all the walls in bright colours – it might be a bit more subtle than that – but just having the chance to add a bit of wallpaper or some colourful tiles would be lovely.

All of these tiles are available at Tile Mountain and I’d be happy to have any of these in my scrapbook:

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Do you remember a little while ago I tried out Everdine? It’s a food delivery service where everything is wonderfully wholesome and delicious. Imagine what it’s like being at my house for tea. (We had fish fingers, mini potato waffles and baked beans last night.)

Everdine is the opposite of that.

In yet another fantabulous Christmas competition, I’m giving away a month of clean eating meals from Everdine. It’s two, eight meal boxes, spread over a month, so 16 meals in total. That’s enough to make sure that you’re nicely balancing out all the Christmas excess and don’t have to feel quite as bad about yourself as if you were having mince pies and mulled wine for every meal.

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I mentioned a little while ago about how difficult I am (apparently) to buy presents for. Essentially it’s because I’m just not that bothered about stuff. 

Sometimes though I fall in love with something totally random, something that no one that knows me would ever have thought to buy me. My new bangle from Infinity & Co is one of those things. I’m sure that if my mum or sister for example walked past this in a shop, they wouldn’t in a million years choose it for me, and yet…

See how sparkly it is?!

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win Christmas competition HiHouse

When I say ‘Christmas survival kit’, I’m not talking here about Kendal mint cake, stout boots or water purification tablets, I’m talking about the things you need to survive Christmas, like foil, ibuprofen, and emergency gifts for the people you’d forgotten were coming over.

(Not that that ever happens to me.)

This particular survival kit has been generously put together for us by a retailer called HiHouse. HiHouse sells all of those non-glamorous but nonetheless essential things like bin liners and kitchen cleaners – the kind of thing you try to remember to go to a town centre discount shop for, but never quite get round to because you can’t be bothered to lug it all home.

HiHouse offers an alternative – great value prices on essentials, but delivered to your door, so that you don’t have to drag a nine pack of toilet paper around town with you.

(Not a sexy look.)

HiHouse has written some fun product descriptions too, which goes a long way to making boring shopping more fun. It’s worth having a browse just for those. View Post

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You’d be pretty popular if you gave someone a Fire tablet for Christmas wouldn’t you? Well read on, and I’ll let you know how you could win it.

First up though, I need to tell you a little bit about the company who have very generously donated the prize. They are called Poki, and they offer masses of different online games, including educational ones. I’m always up for doing anything at work that isn’t actually work, so I thought I’d have a play. Geography is not a strong point for me, so I had a look first at the geography games. There’s a USA game, where you have to figure out which states go where, and a European one.

Europe – well I live in that don’t I? (Just about.) I should really know my own continent shouldn’t I?

You’d think.

poki logo

Europe is HARD. A little plane flies across the screen with the name of a country and you have to click to show where it is. As you can see, I managed Italy, Germany and Iceland. But Slovakia?? Honestly, who knows where that is? Well, most people apart from me probably. As you can see from my score I am not a natural geographer. All the more reasons to play.

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Just before we start – and bear with me because I know you’re excited – I just want to say that I have LOADS of competitions coming up in the run up to Christmas. Good ones too, not ‘win a box of teabags’ or anything like that. I’ve got a Fire tablet, a MASSIVE Christmas essentials pack – all sorts. To make sure you don’t miss them, you may want to sign up for my updates, if you haven’t already.

Just saying. I don’t want you to get left behind or anything. Pop your email address in here and don’t forget to confirm your subscription when you get the email:



All done?

Good, let’s crack on. View Post

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Fact.

And yes, you’re right, I’ve never run a Thunderbirds themed competition before, but even if I had, this one would be better.

Look at the prize!

thunderbird competition

Don’t tell me that’s not ACE. If you won this, you’d basically have Christmas (for Thunderbird fans) sorted.

There is a reason behind it too. The iconic children’s TV series Thunderbirds Are Go is set to blast back onto our screens this autumn, with favourites including Scott, Virgil, Alan, Gordon and John Tracy coming face to face with a new nemesis, The Mechanic. The first episode of the new series will launch on ITV on 22nd October at 3.30pm, followed by a second showing on CITV on 23rd October at 8.30am. View Post

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Belle, bless her cotton socks, has always maintained a dream of having an elegantly co-ordinated bedroom, with furniture that matches, and accessories in beautifully soft pinks and greens. What she actually has is an old trunk that we’ve reupholstered about four times, a dressing table I bought on eBay, which Belle then painted white, and some old tin cans that she has painted with pink wood paint, to keep her make-up brushes in.

I call it vintage chic.

Belle calls it Mummy not caring enough to buy her proper furniture.

Life is subjective.

If you’re the kind of parent who really does want to do more than just shut the door on your kid’s bedroom and pretend it’s not there, then this is the competition for you my friends – step on up!

I’m giving away £150 of your finest British pounds to spend with Ollie & Leila, a rather lovely online store specialising in children’s beds, mattresses, bedroom furniture and accessories. They sell the sort of thing that Belle is probably coming to realise, now aged 14, will never appear in her room, because instead I have spent all my money on house plants and mini-breaks.  View Post

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September is a bit of a crappy month for parents. You’ve spent pretty much your life savings in Clarks, standing for hours with one of those deli counter tickets, like you’re queuing for cheese without even getting to eat any cheese*, which means nothing left to update your own wardrobe ready for autumn.

Perfect timing then for another competition from Lily & Me.

I’ve written about these guys before, and you know I love their bold patterns, and the thought they put into the quality and cut of their clothes.

Here’s a little sample to give you an idea:

Lily & Me competition discount code View Post

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Today I have a cool competition to win a tea delivery from Piacha, in celebration of their new tea subscription service. Hooray for tea!

I have developed a bit of a subscription habit.

It all started a year or so ago, when I signed up to Cardnest, and then cranked up a notch this year when I bought an Odeon Limitless subscription, asked for a subscription to Living Etc magazine for my birthday and then signed up to Papergang. Oh, and Pact coffee. And last night I accidentally subscribed to the V Gd Fun Club. Gosh, it really IS a thing isn’t it? I’ll be joining the gym before we know it.

(Haha! That will never happen obviously.)

There is something though about that feeling of being part of a club, and of knowing you’re going to get a little treat every month, that’s very seductive. It’s why I’ve added one more subscription to my list this month – the new tea subscription service from Piacha.

tea subscription Piacha View Post

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I have to admit that when I think of Ryvita, I think of my mum on a diet in about 1989. I wouldn’t normally think about Ryvita as an everyday sort of food.

Oh how wrong I am.

Did you know for instance, that Ryvita do an apple and cinnamon flavour?! It’s immense. Even Belle, who really prefers just to just eat Weetos and Fry’s Chocolate Creams, will happily munch on these, dry, as a biscuit alternative. I prefer to smear mine with a thin (i.e. thick) layer of peanut butter, but either way, they are really tasty. There are in fact 12 different flavours to choose from, so there is bound to be at least one that takes your fancy.

I’m as guilty as Belle of eating a fairly restricted diet, in the sense that although I’m always happy to try new things, (unlike Belle, who made a retching noise at the weekend when I put some samphire near her), I just don’t ever really get around to it. Every day I fall into that classic office lunch trap of boring sandwich, a cup of tea… you know how it works. In my mind I want to be eating a delicious vegan quinoa salad with fresh herbs and pomegranate, but I just can’t be arsed.

Ryvita though. I feel like I could get creative with a Ryvita, (so long as there is no quinoa involved), and so I have taken up the #MyVita challenge to liven up my lunch, by coming up with some new topping ideas for my Ryvita. I had a browse of the Ryvita website initially for some topping inspiration, and must say that I was pretty impressed with their take on the classic fish finger sandwich. It looks pretty ace doesn’t it?

Ryvita fish finger recipe

Image – Ryvita

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As you may have noticed already from earlier blog posts and some of my Instagram posts, I’m a big fan of Lily & Me. Their prints are just gorgeous, the quality and cut is excellent, and they are always very flattering.

The spring/summer collection does not disappoint.

I’ve been rocking a couple of items from the collection over the last few weeks – a beautiful bird print dress and a yellow skirt. Seriously, I just love wearing them – they’re so comfy, but also manage to make you to feel smart and sophisticated, even though you know you could comfortably lie around on the sofa watching repeats of Dinner Date in them. (You know, only if you wanted to. *cough*)

Unfortunately, try as I might to look super cool and stylish in photos, I normally end up looking like an excitable three year who has been shown a lollipop and asked to smile for the camera. Hopefully you get the idea though.

Lily & Me

Lily & Me
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