I found out today that I won the top prize on the My Foam Party website - you might remember seeing this pic a while ago - in March I got free hair dye and was blogging about dyeing our hair using Clairol's new Nice n Easy Foam....
Well....we had to upload pics online and social network about it - which I happily did as I loved my "shade braver" colour.....
AND I WON! I get a night in a London hotel with the girlies, we all get pampered with manicures then I get whisked away with a personal shopper and a £500 budget!!!
I've never spent £500 on clothes in my memory - I usually get my clothes in Sainsbury's Tu range! So I'm awfully excited....
Just goes to show you - enter competitions! Sometimes you do win!
SO THANK YOU CLAIROL! And I still highly recommend their Foam!
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
A re-blog.....
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Via Flickr:
The return of BABY ALICE!!! We haven't seen her for a few weeks and by gosh she's gotten big!
Oscar was overjoyed to see his favourite little lady today after school - and she's sitting up in a bumbo already! She's chatting away, giggling and is quite delightful.
She was also the most decorous young lady in my house this afternoon - everyone else decided (with Oscar's encouragement) to form a nekkid club and they were all running around starkers!
Was so lovely to see Alice and her sister Hope though. My boys are quite smitten - Toby still introduces Alice as his sister - and who knows - maybe Oscar will marry her one day and she will be!
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Via Flickr:
This is Marianna, who is in Toby's class at nursery. He has a HUGE crush on her. She came round for tea on Monday and Toby insisted on sitting as close as he possibly could to her. He also kept kissing her.
(Oscar kept trying to kiss her big sister Marnina who has been told by her Daddy that she's not allowed to kiss a boy until she's 35 so she was most upset).
I love that Toby wants to marry Marianna.....tooooo cute!
Sunday, May 22, 2011
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My lovely parents went to a French Fair today in Beckenham and bought me these jolie tasses - pretty mugs. If I can't eat cake I can at least drink tea out of pretty mugs!
Thank you Mum!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
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Via Flickr:
I met Floella Benjamin today! And Humpty. YES! Humpty! THE Humpty from Playschool the real original one....
She's a wonderful lady. And she looks AMAZING. I was 4 last time I met her and I swear she looks the same. She came to celebrate the 50th Birthday of the Lewisham Preschool Learning Alliance who I work for.
I was first in line to meet her, elbowing small kids out of the way. Very cool....
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Via Flickr:
I am not a happy photographer. My beautiful new (to me) Nikon D60 is broken. It says "error. Press shutter release button again" on it. Wonderful Clogsilk attempted to fix it by following instructions we found online about taking the bottom of the camera off. I wasn't brave enough to do it myself.
It worked briefly today but now has reverted to the error message. It's going to cost £96 to fix. I don't have £96. So it's back to the point and click until I save up a bit....
Sad sad sad face.....
Friday, May 20, 2011
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Via Flickr:
I'm really very lucky. I decided to become Chairmum of the Catford area for Netmums - to organise meet ups and get togethers for fellow mums.
I've had such fun doing it - met some AMAZING women and we have a great time when we get together every week at Rascals - but for the second time we all went out for dinner at my favourite restaurant Sapporo last night - Laura, Suzanna, Saleha, Jo, Allison and Clare and I - and we laughed, and talked, (I swore a lot), had the best fun time - and we all met through a website.
I'm so happy to have met so many fab women - more than mentioned above as we had a lot of apologies last night - it's so hard to get out in the evenings sometimes - but we WILL be doing it again very soon. So this pic is dedicated to ALL my Catford Netmum chums - really happy we've all met.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
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Via Flickr:
I can point my toe. Look! Look! I know it's not necessarily a pretty little foot - it's quite a puffy fat foot actually. But it's working again. Nearly.
As good as it can be - 100% better than it was about 6 weeks ago. My MUA (manipulation under anaesthetic) went so well. And it's still flexible and pointable and rotateable.
My physio was so pleased she discharged me.
I'll always have arthritis in it, but at least I can bloody move it now
AND I can wear heels for the first time since I was a teen.....if it wasn't for the fact that I'm still waiting for my replacement debit card to arrive, I'd be shoeshopping right now!
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Via Flickr:
Toby wet the bed at 5.30am. I changed his sheets and then, thanks to a snoring husband and a seething rage, I couldn't get back to sleep.
Yesterday sucked. (Though @clogsilk had it worse). 2 really busy music classes on my own with no one to help.
Feeling like a zombie, exhausted, no patience...
On the upside Toby made me laugh by stripping off in Rascals and shouting "naked celebration!".
And I met a new friend who I think I will end up having a LOT of fun with!
But I was so sleep deprived I ended up in bed at 8.30pm. I'm not used to no sleep anymore...those baby days seem like a dim nightmare....
Monday, May 16, 2011
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I've been going to WeightWatchers since November 2010 and have in total lost 21.5lbs (2.5lbs of that this week).
I've found it hard to be motivated. 21.5 might seem a lot to a skinny bird, but since I have at least another 60 to go, it's no where near as much as it seems to me. I've been finding it really hard to motivate and stay on track and not just give up (like I have done the past 5 times I've done WW - I lose about this amount, get bored, relapse, put it back on then start again).
My friend Clare (Clogsilk) has been brilliant - she started last week and is helping me stay on track. And Penny the new leader (who is also a good friend) is very motivated and enthusiastic.
But it still doesn't seem like much.
Cue my lovely Mum who has kept 6 stone off through WW for the last 8 years, and in a previous life was also a WW Leader.
She challenged me to find 21.5lbs of stuff - put it in a bag and carry it around for a while.
As you can see - I found an eclectic mixture - to list them:
2 tins tomatoes
3 tins chickpeas
3 tins of soup
2 tins sweetcorn
1 tin alphabetti spaghetti
1 nearly full bottle of coke
1 jar of Dolmio (extra large)
1 Masons jar full of flapjack ingredients
I bag of sugar
Bloody hell it was heavy! You can see from my face and the handles on the bags!
So it brought it home to me - thank you Ma - that I HAVE achieved a good loss - and that it may not even be halfway but it's still a big step in the right direction. And I'm really glad I'm not lugging that lot around every second of the day like I was before November.....
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Via Flickr:
So on an impulsive whim, since both boys are Peter Pan mad at the moment, I suggested we visit Diana's Memorial Playground at Kensington Gardens.
We went on the DLR where Rob grabbed this very fuzzy shot with my camera phone - like a total dingbat I brought my DSLR but forgot the memory card so couldn't take any pics - and there were some beautiful opportunities too - grrrr - will just have to go back.
I highly recommend the park to anyone. It's gated with a manned gate so kids can't get out and anyone without a child can't get in. There's a huge pirate ship in the middle complete with crows nest and big wheel and rope ladders to gain entry. It's surrounded by soft white sand and various trickles of water and fountains.
There are three tepees, an adventure playground, little crevices and corners with musical instruments and musical stones to jump on. Pure magic.
Take a picnic - show your kids where you are and let them go. TAKE A CHANGE OF CLOTHES - our big mistake - Toby got soaked.
www.royalparks.org.uk/parks/kensington_gardens/diana_play...
Saturday, May 14, 2011
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To counteract Friday 13th vibes I have taken a picture of a fairy in my garden.
I have a beautiful tree which blooms with blue flowers (can't remember it's name). I love fairies and decided when we moved in to make this tree a fairy tree.
I have 2 fairy ornaments which are a little like Christmas tree decorations in that they sit on a ball...but they're meant to be outdoors. They hang on the tree all year round, along with some windchimes and a fairy who sits at the bottom.
I like that there are definitely fairies at the bottom of my garden. Makes me feel happy. Even if I did buy them on Ebay.
Happy Friday 13th
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It was book club tonight - and we went to a restaurant I haven't been to in Catford - Mekan (http://www.mekanrestaurant.co.uk/)
It was lovely food - Turkish - but the decor was what I loved the most - very minimal, quite industrial, with steel beams and wood floors - but this is the best bit - a wall full of mirrors. It's a stunning idea and one I want to copy (though I haven't got a wall I can imagine it will work with)
Book club was great - such a lovely bunch of women - and a great choice of book this month - we did The Worlds Wife by Carol Anne Duffy - haven't read any poetry for ages and I loved it.
So if you're near Catford and fancy a lovely Turkish feast (I had Kalamari and King Prawns - delish) then I can highly recommend Mekan!
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
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Via Flickr:
I had the boys hair cut today - I've always left it long before - never really liked the skinhead look - but it's SUCH a pain in the morning - and also in the summer trying to put suncream on their necks and ending up with hair full of it....
So I told myself - it will grow - and went shorter than ever before. And I LOVE it! And so do they!
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
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On Tuesdays my friend Clare (clogsilk) always comes round after school to play with her children - James is the same age as Toby and Claudia is 2 and in love with Oscar.
The weather is glorious at the moment and you've probably noticed my kids like getting naked....well this time they ALL got naked and James uttered the immortal line "This is my naked party"
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THIS was in our garden! Rob, my scientist husband, says it's the largest spider he's ever seen in the UK and he's seen quite a lot! I was very brave to take this picture I think - and he has MASSIVE hands - it was about 5cm across!
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Clare and I escaped to the Royal Naval College to take some pics this weekend and this is my favourite - one of the large windows seen from below...
Saturday, May 07, 2011
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Oz and Toby have loved playing with their cousins - this is the eldest one - Vitali who is 5. They all came over for dinner which Sarah's partner cooked (he's a pizza chef - how lucky is she?).
It's only when I get to spend time with her that I realise how much I miss her. My cuz is amazing.
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My cousin Sarah is visiting from France with her boys. I haven't seen her for 5 years! This is Tiziano, her youngest...
HOW adorable?
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For our anniversary we went to see my other love - Hugh Laurie - and his Copper Bottomed Band at the Union Chapel. It was amazing. I didn't take too many pics cos I was immersed in the music - as was Hugh - he sings with his eyes closed and makes funny faces. But I love him. Not like I love my husband of course...but he's my fantasy husband!
Wednesday, May 04, 2011
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I was married to Rob fifteen years ago today. We had two weddings - a civil ceremony in the morning and a humanist wedding in the afternoon. I wanted to walk down an aisle on my father's arm but not have to pretend to believe in God.
It was a wonderful wedding - so many friends helped to make it that way and I'm still in touch with most of them. (But not my chief Bridesmaid sadly).
Fifteen seems such a big number but I can remember it like it was yesterday.
Tuesday, May 03, 2011
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Tomorrow is my 15th Wedding anniversary. I feel old! Rob has forgotten (I just reminded him and he's so annoyed with himself). I'm not surprised though. After 15 years not a lot surprises me about him.
I reminded him tonight - didn't want to do what usually happens (I give him a card on the morning of our anniversary, he feels immense guilt and is angry). We're going out tomorrow night to see Hugh Laurie's Blues Band. We just had a wonderful weekend away in Whistable. He's my best friend. Cards are things made by companies out of trees that have sentiments that are sometimes sickening, sometimes appropriate, sometimes banal and boring.....
After 15 years of marriage, after 20 years of my life, half my life. I don't mind that he forgot. He loves me. I know this so deep inside my bones that a piece of paper (even though 15 years ago a piece of paper meant everything)...means very little in the scape of my life. Love is all you need. Easy as 1...2....3
Monday, May 02, 2011
April 2011 Collage
I think I say this every month but this really is the longest New Year resolution!
Again in April, though not always ON the day, I've managed a photo a day. And this is the last month I'll be using JUST my point and click. I've saved up enough for my Nikon D60 so hopefully the pics next month will be even better (or worse as I learn how to use it!)
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First of the Month. This is a pic Rob took of me and I really like it - you can see how relaxed I am after a lovely sunny, friend-filled weekend away.
Being optimistic about this month. It's our wedding anniversary on the 4th...I'm going to Sapporo tonight....the weather has been lovely and spring is on it's way...my sister might visit this month....my ankle feels SO much better
Lots to be upbeat about after a long time of not feeling it. Onwards and upwards. Smile everyone! It's spring!
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We had a fabulous last day of holiday on St Margarets at Cliffe beach with one of my oldest friends, Julie, and her family.
Grabbed the opportunity to get someone else to take a pic of all of us and this was the result (Ju is such a good snapper!). Us and the white cliffs.
Perfect day on the beach, perfect friends, blissful end of the weekend away.
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Druidstone Park near Whitstable. It was billed as a wildlife park with bluebell woods and enchanted magic. It was a bit crap actually. But I love this picture.
I love Toby's face. I love that Oz has his finger up Mr Toadstool's nose.....I love the bluebells.
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The boys are alternately loving and hating each other....there have been moments of both this holiday - here Toby had shared his sweeties with Oz (who wasn't allowed any since he was chucking stones at everyone).
Love his face. Love the sun. Love my boys.
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And here we are in Whitsable- first evening - Oscar spent a lot of time this weekend mesmerised by the sea - he'd stand at the edge and just watch the waves.....
Love the shape of him here, like a bird...
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It's the Royal Wedding this week and we're not really interested so tomorrow we're packing up straight after school and spending the weekend at the beach. Very excited.
(posting this in hindsight - isn't it interesting that Legoland got the Queen's outfit exactly right? And this was taken 2 weeks before - no idea how long before they built it - psychic lego eh?))