Mirror Mirror

An exciting start to a very big week.


Last Monday the twincesses and I were invited to a screening of Mirror Mirror. As this involved a trip on the train to London there was a huge amount of excitement!
It also required a rather early start, hence the less than enthusiastic faces.

The screening took place at London Soho Hotel, sounded easy enough to find but having enough to contend with being alone with the girls, google streetview was scrutinised the night before. Does anyone else do this before going to a new place?

The hotel is incredibly chic and the girls were really fascinated by the most enormous cat in the entrance. As we walked in I actually wondered at the sanity of holding an event for small children somewhere with such immaculate surfaces and beautiful art. As it happens we were directed into an equally beautiful, slightly less daunting room, laid out with a colouring table, soft drinks, balloons and biscuits.


The girls both had their faces painted, "with lipstick Mummy" and Bunny Lashes bagged the Prince for his first dance. And his second and his third and his fourth...



I think he was mighty relieved when it was time to watch the film, poor chap. Although he did get 'twinned' before we left.



The film was a very modern but charming take on Snow White. Julia Roberts as the wicked Queen is superbly vile, scathing and has crinkles. Lily Collins is picture perfect with more than smidgen of modern day kick ass who saves the hapless Prince.
Not before he is bewitched by a potion of puppy love; the girls laughed all day about this part.
Fiesty leading ladies, beautiful costumes, lots of laughs and a scary dragon; we loved it! It will definately be part our of ever growing collection.



Happily full of cupcakes, goody bags in hand we made our way down Oxford Street in the scorching sun. Our balloon hats didn't make it very far *sad faces all round* but a much longed for trip on the top of a double decker bus (at the front no less) soon brought the smiles back. Honestly, it was sweltering on there; you could barely breath but they sat there beaming as though they were enroute to the flipping moon!

A few more hours pottering topped off by a Mr Whippy in the park where we very gratefully took our shoes off and it was time to brave the underground again to go home. For me it was the first of three trips to London last week. The next one was very, very exciting.

Business Mums Unite - at last!

October last year I was lucky enough to attend to the launch of Business Mums Unite.
I don't mind telling you I was a more than a little apprehensive as it was my first ever large event of this type. As it turns out I had a really super day.
The Venue was very easy to find, very impressive, the staff were friendly and the buffet lunch provided was scrummy!

In the morning there were some truly inspirational women speakers including Elaine Hanzak Gott. I am sure I am not the only person in the room to be moved to tears by her incredible story. She came across as such a warm and upbeat lady that you would have absolutely no idea of the personal trials she has endured. The fact that she chooses to help people whilst at the same time dealing with the things that life has thrown at her is truly amazing.


Rebecca Jones made a wonderfully humorous speech. Her style was so animated and she seemed to have so much energy that you couldn't help but be captivated. She gave some really valuable pieces of advise; in particular doing less but doing it better and scheduling time more effectively in order to appear more professional - even if you are working from under your stairs. She also wore the most gorgeous red shoes.



Noami Temperley also spoke about her path to success with Baby Loves Disco and how she entered and survived the Dragons Den; brave and incredibly down to earth.

After a very yummy picnic lunch on the carpet (lots of fun) and far too much cheesecake I attended two workshops. The first one held by Becky from Baby Budgeting on how to generate income from your blog. I took a great many notes and learnt a lot so thank you Becky for all the fab tips.

The second, small business accounting was run by Georgina from Starfish Accounting Being horribly mathematically challenged shall we say, if ever I needed a notepad it was now!
Georgina managed to make it sound not quite so scary and explained the important parts in, what I should imagine are to her very simple terms. She patiently answered all our questions and I definitely came away with a clearer understanding of what is required. Thank you!
Shall still be using an accountant though, really cannot face it on a regular basis...

As well as meeting some truly lovely other ladies I also met one who I think will continue to be a life long friend. I entered a twitter competition for mentoring from The Mother Factor
A.K.A Sally Petitt. Since then she and I have had many conversations and are planning a girly day out. Sally is one of the most generous and kind ladies I have ever met, if you are a Mother in business or thinking of starting one I highly recommend her services.

The whole event was planned by the lovely Charlotte Pearson. I have no idea how you manage to plan something on a scale such as this and still look so utterly unfrazzled but she pulled it off perfectly.



I know that Business Mums Unite 2012 is in the planning, not only that but she also runs Mummy Fever which is launching on the 17th February. Thank you Charlotte and I am so very sorry it has taken so long to get this written up for you, I truly had a wonderful day!

Love,

Sailors and Lions and Clowns, oh my!

A few weeks ago I took up an offer from the very kind Merry Raymond who was asking for people to review some Hama beads from her shop. I was able to pick whichever set I thought my girls would like so I opted for a marvellous looking Puppet Theatre set. As you can see,the twin bunnies were a tad excited when it arrived.

I picked this set for two reasons, one because bunny lashes is absolutely nuts about Lions and two, because being a larger kit and having two children on the front I thought that it would be something they could do together and not fight over...

First things first, in the box are two bags of beads,(five thousand in total) four sticks with discs on, a set of sticky pads, one board to make the chosen design or pattern, a sheet of ironing paper and a colour sheet with four characters and instruction booklet. This particular set also comes with a very colourful cardboard puppet theatre so you may create theatrical masterpieces once you have made your figures.

 For anyone that isn't familiar with Hama beads the concept is very simple. The image is made with the corresponding beads on the picture. It requires a small amount of dexterity and a little bit more counting. Once your creation is complete you place the ironing paper over the design and iron carefully over it until the heat fuses the beads together. Once it is cool you can remove it from the board.

With this kit you make a front and back for your character and attach them to the sticks using the double sided tape.

Whilst there was never any shadow of a doubt as to which character would be chosen by one twin, Bunny Dimples just could not make up her mind.

Decisions, decisions.

Both girls were eager to get started but I hadn't read the details of the kit properly and was rather dissapointed to find that there was only one board supplied.This was, of course, my fault entirely but I do feel that as the box depicts two children and it is a large kit with four characters to make that perhaps two boards would be more practical.

I put a teatowel on a baking tray to stop the board moving around and the beads ending up all over the floor and decanted a few of each bag into plastic tubs to make them easier to get at.




One twin grasped the concept fairly quickly and finished her sailor pretty easily. The other one did not. Not at all. She refused to finish it and couldn't be coaxed back to the table for all the tea in china. Despite finding the process easy the other twin also refused to do anymore so her poor sailor has just a front.

I have to admit that I was genuinely surprised by their reaction to it, I thought it was a really lovely kit. The characters are bright and engaging and the cardboard Theatre lots of fun.
The girls absolutely love crafting and making things and so far this is the only thing that they haven't really enjoyed very much. I think that it may be due to the constraints of making the characters. They have subsequently made their own designs and enjoyed that much more.

To sum up, I think that Hama beads are great fun. This kit at £13.99 is very reasonably priced and I think for the right child it would offer many hours of fun (read peace and quiet for parents). There is such a huge range to choose from and larger beads for smaller fingers.

I have not put the kit away, it remains on the bookcase and I am keeping my fingers crossed that they return to it and finish it. If they don't I may very well do it for them!

Love,

Silent Sunday

Love,
 

Mallorca, Majorca or whatever you like to call it...

(Our pics, otherwise known as other peoples fascinating boring holiday snaps. Aren't you glad I spared you all 500?)

Well here we are again, back in dear old Blighty after a very hot two weeks in Mallorca.

We try to go every year; for us it's not just a family holiday as much as a family visiting holiday. My father (and his parents) are from the little magic island and although that probably makes me biased I truly love the place!

If you've never been, you've probably heard (and read) horror stories about 'that dreadful Magalluf' place and hoardes of drunken, half naked teenagers doing unmentionables on the beach? I can't deny they happen of course, the poor Mallorcan police and locals would tell you otherwise. But it's worth taking a closer look at this tiny place to find the magic it has to offer.

Hundreds of small beaches or Calas, crystal clear water, nature reserves, very friendly people (as long as you don't shout loudly at them in English. Hmm, yes people still do that.) Archeological Talyot villages and boat trips to Islands with no inhabitants other than small lizards.

I love Valldemossa; the place where Chopin and his girlfriend George Sands came to stay. It is car free and one of the loveliest places to visit as long as you have a strong stomach for the windy roads.

Being a huge fan of Chopin it's an absolute thrill to see his piano in the Monastery there. He was a favourite composer of my English Grandfather  too so it makes me a bit teary now 'sniff'.  Anyway, moving on!

We spend fourteen blissful days hanging by the pool, eating more wonderful food than is good for us, boat trips plus of course, happy and teary family reunions. The twins also had their fifth Birthday over there and we spent the day at my Fathers house in Buger, swimming, eating, drinking fresh pomegranate juice and knicking his almonds.

I timed our booking to coincide with the Santa Ponsa festival. It's a yearly event, full of activities for everyone. The highlight for us was the 'Nit de Foc' or Night of Fire. Yes, it's as mad as it sounds and the public are advised to wear non flammable clothing... Locals dress up as fire devils and dance with fireworks.

That's it. No barriers; nada.

They also shake what sounds like cowbells and chase small children, great fun!

Of course for me, my holiday isn't complete without several of these.

 

and some long overdue family hugs.

My boys & twins with their Great Uncle & Aunt

The boys & my Father

 

The girls & their Great Aunt

The island is very child friendly. You can buy all the usual baby products, some of them are actually better than ours. They have fantastic medical care (great chemists too), especially if you have your E11 card with you and have one of the best new hospitals in Europe; in case those sorts of things worry you. Let's face it, as parents they usually do! I think my next post will be about travelling with small babies on aeroplanes? Just in case anyone would like any pointers.

Hope you all had fab holidays too!

Am off to try and finish a disgusting amount of laundry now...

Love,

SILENT SUNDAY

Listography - Guilty Pleasures

This is the first time I have joined in with the linky from Kate Takes Five but this weeks topic seemed too much fun not too! Am not sure I should really admit to all of these but nothing ventured and all that so here goes...

1. Mafia Movies and 'Mob' type chaps.

 

Young Marlon Brando 'swoon'

I confess to having seen the Godfather (all of them) several times and we have them on Video and DVD. Casino, Heat, Goodfellas, you name them. I love them all. Darn those pesky bad boys! 

2. Curtis Jackson - a.k.a 50 Cent.

Number one son and I have been to see him twice in Concert. I behaved very badly and got a tad hot under the collar when he started to strip off and  then threw his shirt into the crowd. Sadly not to me, but it was still a rather nice sight. Number one son was very good and pretended not to notice (bless him) The whole concert was amazing, so full of energy I was high for days. A fine example of a man in his prime 'cough cough' Killer smile, great sense of humour ( lots of laughs all night) what's not to drool lust over?

I appreciate not everyones cup of tea and I have to admit it did take a while to find a clip without a huge amount of expletives but here he is with that smile and those eyes! 'melt'

moving swiftly on to

3.  Fabric

 

Am utterly addicted to buying fabric and have boxes overflowing full of yards, scraps and fat quarters; some of it still in the bags am ashamed to say. I save old pieces and clothes to cut up for 'projects' some of which never materialise. I can't help it. I can't leave it alone, the feel, the colours - it's like sweet shopping for me. I love to sew and cover things in fabric too, I just can't leave anything alone the way it is!

4. Enrique Iglesias

What's not to like? I know that his Daddy is nearer my age but who cares right? He's just plain gorgeous. The first time I saw him was on the video for 'Bailamos' about ten years ago. One of the girls I worked with brought the CD with it on in. I don't recall doing a huge amount of work that day...



Is it molt calenta in here or just me? Must be in the blood...'fans self'

Last, but not least a foodie pleasure.

5. Nestles Sweetened Condensed Milk

This was a chance discovery when I was expecting number one son; I had bought a tin and left it in the fridge without it's 'lid' on. Overnight the top hardened, a sort of layer. It was like runny fudge or white caramel. So utterly yummy, really, really sweet and probably really bad for you too. About twice a year I buy a tin just to take the top off and leave it to harden; every time I go in the fridge I eat a teaspoonful, isn't that awful!


I really enjoyed reading other folks guilty pleasures; made me feel so much better about mine ( although I could have written more than five; (fried chicken, sobraine cigarettes and fruitellas spring to mind!) some of them are really funny, pop over and have a read

Love,

Business Mums Unite

I really am genuinely excited to have been invited to attend the launch of the Business Mums Unite Conference and Exhibition on the 19th October. It's being held at the Albert Hall Conference Centre in Nottingham; just a quick trip on the train away for me. (As a non driver this really helps!)

The aim of the day is,
'to bring together mums in business to share ideas, support each other and network, as well as this we would like to encourage those mums who have not yet ‘taken the leap’ to do so and this is the ideal platform to support and inspire these women.'

This really appeals to me as I have been toying with a business idea for a few months now and have absolutely no idea how to go about it. I think it's a jolly good one; whether it's viable or anyone else concurs remains to be seen. If it is then the accomplished ladies attending will certainly be able to steer me in the right direction!

The keynote speaker is Elaine Hanzak- who through personal experience talks about postnatal depression from the baby blues to severe more forms. She is renowned internationally as an inspirational speaker and attends events worldwide to share her expertise. I was lucky to not suffer postnatal depression after the twincesses were born (was there time?) but did have a dreadful time after my first son was born and am known to struggle with terrible lows after Christmas each year. (I know it sounds funny but I really suffer for a couple of weeks!) So I will certainly be interested in any coping strategies that she may have to help and look forward to hearing her.

Another speaker is Naomi Temperley, Dragons Den survivor and UK director of the very funky Baby Loves Disco and  Social Media Boom, who specialise in the the best ways to get the most out of Social Media. Such an important tool for any business and I'm sure that I still have a huge amount to learn about this ever changing subject.

There are also workshops throughout the day to suit all areas of starting or improving a new Business.
I am really loooking forward to attending one hosted by Amanda Farren.  She will be talking about the importance of branding for a Business- I don't have one so hopefully will glean lots of tips to help me. As she is better known as one of the founders of  Mumpreneur UK and owner of Qwerty Cow (and a busy mum of four) I don't think I could have any better advice on branding!

The other workshop where I will be making masses of notes is held by Georgina Rollings from Starfish Accounting. The word accounting fills me with utter dread frankly. As a complete mathematical dunce I am absolutely clueless when it comes to keeping books, V.A.T forms, business plans and other such horrors.
She was also awarded  a WOW award by Jacqueline Gold (Chief Exec of Anne Summers & Knickerbox)
Hopefully she will be able to ease my fear of of such things and she is also a fellow twin mumma so it can't be that scary, surely?

Tickets are £65 and include  lunch and a fab goodie bag, extra tickets are £40 per person; bargain!
Business advertising is £30, trade stands are £150; to include your delegate place and lunch & aforementioned goody bag.

If you would like to attend, both the Business Mums Unite website and Facebook Page  have more information or you can contact them via twitter.

Wish me luck with my new business!

Love,

Crazy For You

I have to apologise in advance; this IS one of those posts where I ramble on about how marvellous one of my children is. He is, everyone who sees him says so, so there...

Anyway, if you're still with me?

Every Summer, the Theatre in our little town runs a Youth Project. They hold auditions early in the year and then for two weeks, 100 children sing and dance their little socks off to perform a show for six day/nights. That's just over 10 days to learn a whole show; pretty impressive!

My boys have been involved in it for a few years. The eldest with the technical side, painting props and playing with wires. The youngest has been in the chorus and had minor roles. Until this year that is, this year he was given the lead part. 'eeeeeek'! It was just the most perfect part for him too.

'Crazy For You' is billed as the 'New Gershwin Musical Comedy'. It has the most wonderful score as you'd expect and features songs such as 'Nice Work If You Can Get It' & 'Shall We Dance', heaven!

The story thus follows,

Bobby Child, a well to do 1930's playboy has one dream in life; to dance (sounds familiar!)

His mother and his fiance want him to work in a Bank. But Bobby has 'dream girls' in his head

He only wants to work with Bela Zangler; the famous follies director.

His Mother sends him from New York to Theatre in Nevada to deliver a letter of forclosure from the Bank. Here Bobby falls in love with Polly whose father owns the Theatre. They dance & they kiss 'ooooooo'

 Then she finds out why he has come and slaps him, telling him that the only person she wants to is Bela Zangler. who will put on a show and save their Theatre. Bobby has an idea...
You guessed it - wig, glasses and a stick on beard for Emile.That plus a Hungarian accent made for a lot of funny routines and a few dozen very quick costume changes as he played both parts. In the later part of the show the poor chaps face was bright red.

Well of course; Polly falls in love with 'Zangler' and wont have anything to do with poor Bobby.... 'sniff'.

 

But a few more dance numbers, six more kisses and two slaps later all is well and Bobby gets his girl.
Cue a starlit finale and a tearful Mumma as 'Bobby' sang his solo then spun his girl around.

Here is a little video clip of Emile singing and dancing on a car (carefully) in the first musical number in the show. I know the quality at the beginning isn't good - it's very hard to video without disturbing people and I couldn't see where I was filming! (It does get better)


I spent two weeks chaperoning and working in the girls dressing rooms, making head dresses and generally having a long but fabulous two weeks with the most amazingly talented group of young people. There were lots more tears on the last night and I know we all can't wait for next years show.

Hope everyone is having as much fun this summer holidays!

Love,