OOTD: Mothers Day

Happy Mothers Day Everyone!  Today i’m celebrating my very first Mothers Day but unfortunately, I have to work until 4pm so we’re not doing anything special. We will be doing something next weekend though so keep an eye out for a post to cover what we ended up doing. I hope you have a lovely day with your Moms whatever you’re doing!  It’s a simple outfit for us both today courtesy of Simply Be and The Kids Division. I’m wearing a Simply Be Tunic dress in a gorgeous Green colour and Black Gladiator Style Sandals. Millie is wearing a lovely Navy striped French Connection dress with H&M Tights and Converse.

 

Me Dress - Simply Be* Sandals - Simply Be* Necklace - Charmed Ivy* Lipstick - MAC Saint Germain Millie Dress - The Kids Division* Tights - H&M  Converse - Gift Hair Bow - The Bow Boutique

Abigail Interactive Story Buddy Review

Ever since I found out I was pregnant, I knew that I wanted Millie to be really involved with reading. I wanted to make a little reading corner in her bedroom with lots of pillows and a book case full of books and a little princess curtain to shut off too but unfortunately, we never ended up finding a house and have decided to stick it out another year in the flat until we find the perfect house for us. But, the book thing hasn’t changed. Millie has a few books that she loves to read and look at so when the kind ladies from Lucre PR sent me a bunch of goodies to review, including this lovely read along interactive Story Book and Teddy* I was thrilled. 

Abigail is one of many characters from the Story Buddy range and is available on Hallmark. She is an interactive bunny that responds to certain quotes read out from the books from her collection. You read a page or two and then at the end, there is a sentence that enables a reaction to come from Abigail and she talks! It’s so clever how it works and Millie absolutely loves her. She looks at the pictures in the book and then when I get to the end of the page, she’s holding Abigail waiting for her to talk. The first time it happened, she was a little confused but she loves her now. I tend to read to her in the afternoon when she’s just woken up from her nap.  Abigail is the perfect sized teddy, she’s super soft and also super cute. There are 4 books to collect as part of her collection and we have the Ballerina Book. I really want to get the others in the collection so it’s an idea for Millie’s birthday next month! 

If you’re little one loves reading then these character books are perfect. The interactivity will leave them wanting to read it over and over again and you also have the option of getting a CD-rom that is a ‘read along’ style that will help with their reading. Buy them for £19.99  Have you tried any of the interactive story books?

March Advertisers

This month, I am hosting advertiser for some fabulous blogs. The first being Rainy Day Faces. Sally writes about beauty - reviewing products and giving her opinion on what the best is for her and also lifestyle posts. Her post of the latest meet up that was in Nottingham is fabulous! I attended the meal and it was lovely to meet even more local bloggers. Read it here

The next is the lovely Frankie from Curiouser and Curiouser - a lovely little beauty and fashion blog with product reviews, wish list posts and lots of TAG posts too! To learn a little more about Frankie, you can read her TMI TAG here

My last advertiser for March is Emma from Emma and Alfie’s World - Emma got given this advertising slot free as she was my 800th Bloglovin’ follower and I plan to do another similar advertising space  giveaway for my 900th follower too so keep a look out for that! 

If you’d like to book an advertising space for April, I have an Easter offer on at the moment and if you Buy April, you’ll get May FREE! Check out what packages I have to offer here

Life update

I have so many things that I want to blog about but I thought that today, I’d do a little life update as I feel like i’ve had so much going on lately!  So, as you may know, I’ve been looking for a job since just before Christmas although I knew I didn’t want to start work until after Christmas with it being Millie’s first christmas and our first as a family so I was looking for anything starting in January. Taking into consideration Millie, Adam working and then Childcare costs, looking for a job was proving harder than I thought. I’ve had a fair bit of work experience in pretty much every sector you can think of so whenever it come to looking for work in the past, i’ve never struggled - but when I have everything else to take into consideration, that’s when it gets tough! I didn’t want to work in a bar because I’d have no time with Adam in the evenings and at weekends (busiest times for a bar), hotel work was out of the question because of the hours and I didn’t want to go back to hotel work really anyway, retail work was my only option. I’ve not had much retail experience and the jobs I was applying for were asking for significant retail experience - something I didn’t have so it was getting harder and harder to find a job.  I laid off for a while, just looking every so often for customer service jobs and come across a Passenger Service Agent job for Jet2 over at East Midlands Airport. It was a part time position, only 20 hours a week and also just 20 minutes away from home - perfect. I applied, had a telephone interview, I attended a selection day and was offered the job! I was so excited and couldn’t wait to start but during the time between the interview and waiting for the phone call that I had offering the job, I dropped a CV into my local Costa after seeing that they were holding interviews when me and Adam were having a coffee two weeks ago. They called me on Friday asking me to go in for an interview on Saturday so I did, just out of curiosity and to see if it would suit me better. The interview went really well, was really informal and I was asked back the next day (sunday) for a trial shift. I absolutely loved it and sat down with Adam afterwards and discussed what would be the better job… After careful consideration, I decided that if I was offered the Costa job then i’d take it. Yesterday (Monday), I got a phone call saying that I got the job and that I start on Thursday - YAY!!  I’m still studying part time too. I have 2 more assignments due in for my current module which is Inclusion, Participation and Equality in Childhood and Youth studies and then after that, I start a Childrens literature module in October which will go on until May next year. Once that’s done, I only have 1 more module and then my degree is finished! It’s then just a debate over what I do next… Whether I do a part time PGCE at a local university or something similar.  Along with all of this, we got ourselves a new car to help out with getting Millie to and from my Mums as she’s going to be having her whilst I work and its half an hour away so Adam will need to fetch her if i’m working late and i’ll need to take her etc etc.  AND, in April, Millie is 1! ONE YEAR OLD! I cannot believe it’s been a year already! Its crazy!! So, i’ve been looking for presents for her, we have a wedding at the start of May too so i’ve been trying to find the perfect outfit for both me and her (it’s hard enough looking for me but baby shopping is so much harder!). Like I said, it’s all been a bit hectic! We’ve also booked to go to Cornwall in May and then Brighton in June so we’ve got lots to look forward to over the next couple of months but having a job now just means that we can do more things over the summer too!  I hope I haven’t bored you too much with my jabber but I love being nosy and I guess there’s a few of you out there that like to as well! 

OOTD: Maxi Skirt

The weather is back to it’s English self again after a lovely 2 weeks and finally thinking that Spring/Summer was making an appearance! I even got my florals out to celebrate the sunshine and it meant that I could leave the house wearing sunglasses and it was acceptable! So, I guess that it’s back to the casual now and wondering whether it’s going to stay sunny, hail, rain or even snow!

I just want to add that I’ve really been loving doing my outfit posts (you can see my most recent ones here and here) and i’d love to know if you’re enjoying them too?! I can’t access an outside space to take photos like all the ‘big’ fashion bloggers do so my little hallway has to suffice - including trusting the flash to give the best quality photo! If you’ve got any hints or tips on taking outfit photos, i’d love to know them! 

Top - (Skater Dress) Topshop Skirt - New Look  Jacket - George at Asda White Sandals - River Island via ASOS Lipstick - Seventeen ‘Infared’ (yes, another Red Lipstick)

Mothers Day Inspiration

Its getting closer and it seems to be all that is being advertised. Yes, Mothers Day is just around the corner and if you're like me, you're wondering about how to celebrate it with your Mom or Grandma. 

Unfortunately, Adam is DJing in London on the Saturday night before Mothers Day and wont be back until later that day so we'll be celebrating the following weekend by going out for a meal or maybe going somewhere for the day (i'd love to go to take Millie to the farm!). But i'll be going to my Mums on that day just to wish her Happy Mothers Day and to give her her gifts.

Now, buying gifts on Mothers Day can be seen as a little controversial. Some people don't believe in buying gifts for celebrations such as Mothers Day and Fathers Day but I do and I think it's nice to treat your Mom to something that she likes even if it's a bunch of flowers and a box of her favourite chocolates, she'll love what ever you get her! Or maybe you can take her out to lunch to her favourite restaurant or book a spa day for you both just to chat and chill out? Whatever you do, she won't mind as long as she's with you.

Being a Mom is bloody hard work and since having Millie, I have a whole load of respect for my Mom for going through that with me (and my brother and sister!) and to see she's come out of raising 3 kids gives me such strength in believing I can raise Millie in the way that she raised me. 

Watch this adorable video and give your Mom a quick text to tell her she’s the best mom in the world (because she is, right!?) - I know it’s not Mothers Day yet but there’s no harm in doing it! 

*Sponsored post

Wedding Guest Fashion

Okay, so… I need your help. I have a cousin’s wedding to attend in May but I need something to wear and I’m seriously struggling to find pick something! It’s an English/Indian wedding so it’s going to be full of colour and I want to make sure I wear something colourful too but not too much. 

Below are my top picks of dresses I’ve book marked and that I need to pick through and choose from! They’re all from Very apart from one that is from ChiChi (the Black/Ombre Dress) as they’ve got a huge selection of occasion wear dresses that are all a little different to high street shops! Also, most of them are from Collections such as Amy Childs, Kimberley Walsh etc so they’re not as available as high street dresses are so the chances that someone else rocks up in the same dress are slim… 

So, what do you think I should go with!? We’re there for the whole day so it needs to be something that can transition easily enough into the night time by either adding a blazer/jacket for the day and or adding a pop of colour on my lips etc… 

Let me know what you think! 

Recent Beauty Buys

It’s been a while since I did a haul type post but most of the time I can’t wait to use whatever i’ve just bought and forget to take a picture of what i’ve got! What i’ve got here has been collected over the last 2 weeks so it’s not too bad I guess…
I’ve been looking for the most PERFECT Red Lipstick (if you haven’t noticed)... So, every chance I get, I hunt down another Red lippy and i’ve got 3 in the last 2 weeks, oops! I haven’t got a favourite at the moment but there will be reviews coming of all of my Reds soon! 

 When I first purchased the Garnier Micellar water, I was a little apprehensive as i’d tried the Loreal 3 in 1 beforehand but I didn’t like it. It didn’t remove my makeup well enough and it left my skin feeling really dry so when I went to get my regular Garnier Simple Makeup remover, it wasn’t there and I came across this instead. I’m currently loving it and it removes my eye makeup with just one cotton pad  (per eye) - that’s pretty impressive!! You can buy the Micellar Water from Boots here and it’s currently on offer at £3.33.

The Rimmel Stay Matte Primer, Stay Matte Powder, Urban Decay Lipstick in F-Bomb, Tanya Burr Lipgloss in Vampire Kiss, Vichy Dermablend Cover up Stick and the Perfume samples from Feel Unique as I had won a £25.00 gift code. I’ve been on the hunt for a good primer for ages as my skin is so oily at the moment so i’m hoping for good things to come out of the Stay Matte primer. The Urban Decay Lipstick was a bit of a treat as I get 10% off Urban Decay on Feel Unique as my product of choice (you can do this too just sign up to Feel Unique and choose your brand to receive 10% off - this week you currently get 15% off!) so getting it for £13.50 was a complete steal! The Tanya Burr gloss is just another to add to my ever-growing collection and you can see my previous reviews here. The Dermanblend cover up stick is going to be a holy grail for me when i’m working my 3:30am start shifts - covering up those dark circles just had to be taken into someone else’s hands! You can buy all of the discussed from Feel Unique here (Don’t forget to use NOTURAVG for 10% off).

I was recommend the Smashbox Photo Finish primer by Style and Splurging and Blog of Shadows and so I went and picked this up at the weekend using my Boots points. I also got a free miniature Full Exposure Mascara too! A freebie, with a freebie! You can get the Photo Finish Primer from Boots here for £25.00 or Travel Size for £12.50

The Loreal True Match foundation is another product that i’ve heard good things about and i’ve used it a few times and i’m enjoying it so far! It doesn’t blow my socks off though like my No7 Beautifully Matte Foundation does! You can get the Loreal True Match Foundation from Boots here for £9.99. 

I’ll be filling you in in the weeks to come how i’m getting on with the lipsticks and primers so stay tuned! 

What have you been buying recently?! Is there anything I need as a must have in my make up bag!?