This past weekend we headed to the city centre to sample some of the Edinburgh Christmas festivities. With small children in tow we were keen to avoid the worst of the crowds, so decided to head to St Andrews Square rather than the Princes Street Gardens – although I hear it is of epic proportions this year!Read More »Activities: Christmas Festivities
I was a little in awe meeting the fabulous Julia Murray this week and have really been looking forward to introducing her to you, along with her fabulous new venture – Bunny Hop!
Bunny Hop is an online boutique that stocks fun, functional clothing and accessories for kids, from 0-6. Rather than bowing to the expectations of the mass market it aims to bring high quality, natural products that children will enjoy wearing. I’ve learnt over the years that both Ben and Katie will not wear something, no matter how expensive or ‘designer’, if it’s not comfortable or does not allow play, so I very much was drawn to this aim.Read More »Style: Bunny hop
It is so easy to amass a huge number of toys – with them being so readily available in supermarkets for low prices, I often found myself caving into demands and buying something thinking ‘it’s only a couple of quid.’ But the problem with this approach is that those toys slowly built up. They were quickly forgotten about and shoved into boxes in an effort to tidy, but over time those boxes began to spill over.
I found trying to do a tidy-up with the kids impossible, both Ben and Katie would claim the long forgotten tat as ‘the best toy ever’and play with it for 5 minutes before it was abandoned, usually broken or with bits missing.Read More »The 5 Best Wooden Toys for Toddlers
I have massive issues with the vast majority of marketing aimed at parents today. Any parent who has tried to find something remotely gender neutral in a typical high street store will surely understand my concern. If you have a boy, then expect him to be dressed in blue, grey or brown garments adorned with dinosaurs or digger trucks. He will play with toy cars or trains, and if he goes against the grain and displays imagination, you can provide him with a toy tool kit.
At the other end of the spectrum, a girl will be typically be dressed in pink or lilac. If other colours are included, then it will probably have some kind of lovely animal or bird on it. Nothing with sharp teeth. Her toys will be dolls, cooking equipment or creative materials involving glitter. If, heaven forbid she picks up something blue or resembling a mode of transport, expect the question – ‘Oh, is she a Tomboy?’ As if choosing something not marketed towards girls somehow renders her masculine.
Bleak, wet weather calls for one thing… Comfort food! Ordinarily, I’d be heading to my local Starbucks for a latté and chocolate fudge brownie but as it’s ‘No Spend November’ I needed to get a bit more creative with stuff lurking in my cupboards!
Chocolate brownies are really pretty simple in terms of ingredients – all you need are eggs, butter, flour, sugar and of course chocolate. I also like to add vanilla essence and chopped walnuts but as I didn’t have these in store, I figured it doesn’t make that much difference! Cooking chocolate is obviously very bitter so a lot of recipes call for a lot of sugar to balance this out but I’ve found no one has ever complained when I’ve reduced the sugar – kids included!Read More »Food: Comforting Chocolate Brownies
It seems far too early to be even thinking the word ‘Santa’ but time does pass so quickly at the moment. I cannot believe that Thomas is 15 weeks already – the realisation that I should’ve found him a nursery place by now is kicking in, bringing a healthy dose of panic, which is only heightened by the depressing thought of having to return to work! It seems a long time until next summer but with Christmas looming already, I know it will be here in the blink of an eye.
My initial plans for the weekend had been to attend an event at the Portrait Gallery, but after a disrupted night sleep and waking up to yet more rain, the idea of getting all the kids across town for 10 really did not appeal. After hearing of Friday’s events in Paris, we were certainly in a sombre mood and then the inclination to stay in, safe from the world ‘out there’ was tempting.
Read More »Activities: Santa Parade
My daughter Katie has very set ideas about what constitutes ‘style’ in that on any given day she is absolutely determined that she will wear what she wants to wear. On a very odd occasion, this will match what I want. On a good day, I would describe her as independent of thought, or strong-minded. On a bad? Downright stubborn.
On Wednesday, we were having one of ‘those’ days. Rather than having her usual fruit and toast for breakfast, Katie wanted sandwiches. Then at lunch, she insisted that she needed her cereal bar before her bread and butter – after I caved in and said she could eat them in whatever order she wanted to – she ate the bread first.
I knew that to leave the house on schedule, I would need to start the process in plenty of time. Forty minutes before the starting time of her Art class, I said it was time to get dressed. She had noticed that Thomas and her Grandma were both wearing blue and white stripes (by coincidence – we’re not that weird) so she wanted to as well. Thinking this was an easy request, I set out her Polarn O’Pyret striped top, navy bubble skirt, some M&S grey tights and then her new boots from the Treehouse in Stockbridge. In my opinion, this, with a coat, was suitable for the weather, easy to wash (so fine for art) and she’d look presentable.Read More »Style: The opinion of a three-year old
Ocean Terminal is an asset on a rainy day as somewhere for the kids to run around. There’s so many of those ride on machines that usually I don’t even have to venture into soft play to entertain Katie! I generally just enjoy grabbing a coffee and then wondering round looking at the shops, so I was happy to see the Scottish Design Exchange appear and have since really enjoyed snooping round from time to time.
The Scottish Design Exchange is a concept store, bringing artists and designers together in one retail space. No commission is added so you pay a fair price and whatever you pay goes directly to the artist or designer. My husband Mike, is a sculptor and in an ideal world would spend all his time producing new work. The thought, time and soul that goes into producing art can be vast and I think it’s rare that artists really get back the true value of their art. Commission particularly can be astronomical so I am hugely impressed with this venture.
Read More »Design: Happy Retro Furniture
Next week is the first anniversary of my Dad’s death. It still feels very surreal to be writing that as in some small part of my brain, I still think he’s going to walk through the door tomorrow. That doesn’t make any sense but I think my survival mechanism is to just think that he’s on holiday or it’s just been too long between visits. Despite the fact that the family home has been sold and things have moved on, I can still picture stepping in the door and spying him asleep on the couch.
At the time of his death, I remember thinking that the sympathy cards had it wrong when they said ‘sorry for your loss’. I was so lucky to have him as my Dad that I couldn’t really feel like I had ‘lost’ anything. Even though he left far too early, I could only think I had gained by having him in my life.Read More »Light in the Darkness – find the positive
What does the acronymn GBBO mean to you? If it doesn’t conjure pictures of cake, bread, pastry and Mary Berry goodness, then Iet me try to educate you! Bake Off signals a happy time of year for me, it’s TV where people are genuinely nice to each other (even with last year’s bin gate) and it’s really hard to watch without feeling a little happy by the end. Also, it’s a time of year that I get baking again.
I find it very hard to watch the GBBO without wanting to get in the kitchen and try recipes out for myself. A few years ago my Mum and I decided that we would challenge each other to make one thing from each episode. It could be our own take on whatever it was but would have to generally follow the rules of the episode. We had to be honest about how everything went, take photos and occasionally have family members chip in but then we would come to a mutual decision about who won that week. Our friend Craig soon joined in and this year, despite the arrival of baby Thomas five days before the first episode – we baked along with Bake Off.
Read More »Food: Signature Bakes