FOR THE FELLA IN YOUR LIFE

So, who still has a few last minute gifts to get?! Luckily, this year i've been pretty good and all except a few small gifts are wrapped and either under the tree for certain grown-ups, delivered with love to relatives or are in the North Pole awaiting their final journey on Christmas Eve!

I even managed to remember the mister this year, and that's not always the case (ahem!) but this year I pootled along to amazon.com and was able to create a rather nice Christmas box in one fair swoop full of items I know he'll love...

1. Luxury bath robe // 2. Burts Bees Mens Body Wash // 3. Los Pollos Hermanos Tee //

4. Sipsmith Gin // 5. Eat by Nigel Slater - all Amazon.

This is a sponsored post. Gift list curated by myself, with thanks to Halifax

04.07.13 | OUR BIG NIGHT IN (THE GARDEN)

As you may have gathered, i missed out on Glasto this year (really, like I haven't bleated on about that enough) so when i got an email from the peeps at Money Supermarket asking if I'd like to take part in this competition I jumped at the chance to have our own mini festival at home! I was given £50 to get creative and figure out the best way to have an awesome night without blowing the bank or leaving the house, so we did just that.

Flo & I started thinking firstly about ways to make the garden look pretty (naturally!) We stocked up on washi tape, tea lights and lanterns and got cracking. We decorated jam-jars to make cutlery holders (thanks for the idea Alexis!) and make pretty lanterns to hold candles. We decorated some old milk bottles to make vases which we filled with purple flowers before scattering them around the garden.

We invited some friends over to join us for some good food fresh off the BBQ and enjoy some summer drinks with us whilst we listened to Glasto on the radio. I painted the kids faces and we played games - all under a bright blue sky. When the sun started to set and the air turned cooler we got into our jammies and toasted muffins on the chimnea.

It was the perfect Sunday day and night in :)

Want to have a festival in your garden? Easy:

Decorations (washi tape, paper lanterns, tea lights, flowers) £15.00
Food and drink (chicken, veggie bangers, rolls, salad ingredients, slaw ingredients, stubby beers, strawberry cider, juices, sparking water, ice cream) £35.00

23.06.13 | LEBANESE FEAST / CHILLI SAUCE RECIPE

When we were last down by the coast we ended up trying some Lebanese food, something I had not had before. We were served with a giant flat bread filled with beautifully marinated chicken, oodles of fresh crunchy salads and a chilli sauce that was both spicy and sweet. We took it as take-out and ate it watching the sun go down and I promised myself that once we were back home, I'd try to recreate it.

Not long after I made that promise, I got an email from the folks at Eco Market asking me if I'd like to sample some of the Steenbergs Organic range. It took me about 0.3 seconds to spot a few that I knew I'd like to base some recipes around and one of them was a Lebanese 7 spice which helped to make one of the best home made chilli sauces I've tasted - and it was pretty spot on to the one we tasted just weeks before.

It was such a simple yet amazing supper. I marinated some diced chicken in a little lemon juice & olive oil for a couple of hours before griddling it. I made two very simple salads consisting of red onions in a sumac and red wine vinegar dressing, and some cabbage and chopped parsley which I sprinkled with some sea salt & drizzled over some fresh lemon juice. I cooked some wheat berries in some organic chicken stock & a teaspoon of paprika and served it all alongside some giant Lebanese flat breads & some hot pickles. It was however the chilli sauce that stole the show...

Lebanese chilli sauce - makes one jug

- 1 onion, chopped

- 4 cloves garlic

- 2 tsps Lebanese 7 spice

- 1/2 tsp hot chilli powder

- 1 tin organic chopped tomatoes

- 50 ml distilled vinegar

- olive oil

1. In a food processor whizz together all the ingredients except the olive oil - pulse until well combined.

2. In a medium saucepan, heat a little olive oil to lightly coat the bottom. When warm, add the sauce mixture from your food processor.

3. Bring to the boil, then reduce the heat & simmer for about 10-15 minutes or until the sauce has thickened slightly. 

4. Leave to cool and enjoy!

This will keep in the fridge in an air tight container for up to a week.

23.05.13 | BATH FASHION MUSEUM

Thanks to being the proud owner of a National Art Pass I get to go to lots of lovely places, this week being no exception as I met up with the lovely Fritha and Bonnie to take a visit to The Fashion Museum here in Bath.

I was especially excited about getting to see the current Dress of The Year (which is amazing!) but really the whole collection is beautiful &  I found learning how costume has evolved over time very interesting, especially when you spot themes popping up time and time again.
Reading about how certain designs came about or what inspired a fashion trend was thought-provoking to say the least - it even forced us to question our '90's fashion choices which were, erm... 'interesting' (consider this: my main fashion influence until about 1995 was Blossom!)

Looking at the Victorian dresses I was a bit shocked by how small the corsets were (ouch!) and equally amazed by how heavy the dresses were. Yes, you read that right we dressed up like the adults we are but sadly (totally on purpose) I didn't get any pics of me doing that ;) I did however take a few snaps of some of my favourite pieces.

28.02.13 | A DAY FOR NEW FRIENDS

On Monday of this week, I was lucky enough to join the very lovely Fritha, Abi and Nell for a day out at the Thermae Spa. I've lived in Bath since Florence was 8 weeks old and in all those 6 years I've never once visited (I know, crazy). So after a frantic school run and one huge buzerko tantrum from India, I was more than ready to chill out and have some child free time amongst new friends.

The spa was / is just beautiful and as soon as I stepped into those hot mineral waters i knew i wanted to stay there for well, days actually! Again, why have i not been before?! 

Within minutes of our guided tour ending, we were relaxing in the indoor pool area chatting about everything and anything from embarrassing waxes (me) Bath rugby team (Abi) and having more babies (er, definitely not me). I'd not actually met Fritha or Nell previously, yet it was instantly as comfortable a vibe as if i was there half naked with my closest and oldest girl friends (it's a funny experience meeting someone for the first time in just your cozzie)...

After we had taken a dip on the rooftop pool we headed to the most amazing steam rooms i have ever been in. Each was infused with a different aromatic essence which I'd never experienced before. It was exhilarating and I can now say I'm a big fan of the eucalyptus mint room - heaven!

Believe it or not, all that time spent doing little more than floating and sitting is in fact hungry work (no, really!) so the three course meal we were treated to did not disappoint. The red snapper I ordered as a starter was so so good and it was a nice treat to have a little glass of wine too. Ladies who lunch eh?  How decadent!

So, all in all an amazing day in this beautiful city with some lovely ladies is just the sort of day I needed and I can tell that the spa is going to be my new favourite thing to do!

This is a sponsored post but as always all opinions honest and my own (I'm clever like that).

This place really is that awesome!

LETS SHARE // ETHICAL FASHION

With Christmas only a month away (cue heart attack inducing mad panic) i'd thought share with you some of my favourite pieces from the world of ethical fashion. I was browsing the splash website last night whilst trying to get some inspiration for some eco-friendly Christmas gifts, when I stumbled across a few ethical fashion labels that were new to me, and boy did i hit the jackpot! 

Eco-fashion has certainly come a long way from it's early image of patchwork quilted rainbow dungarees & floaty tie-dye patchouli oil dresses hasn't it? (I made both of those things up, but you get the picture don't you? No? Well think Glastonbury Festival when tickets were about 28 quid). Ethical fashion as we know it today is not only something that people are genuinely proud to be a part of, it is also pretty damn gorgeous and it's majorly high up there in the fashion stakes. It's fashion with a conscience and it's awesome. And lets face it, when you get the likes of young fashionistas such as Emma Watson facing campaigns for companies like People Tree, you can guess the designs are going to be pretty special. 

Take a look!

1. Star Bobble Hat Chinti & Parker // 2. Star Scarf Chinti & Parker // 3. Heart Elbow Patch Sweater Chinti & Parker // 4. Jill Red Stripe Tunic People Tree // 5. Purse Elvis & Kresse // 6. Key Ring Elvis & Kresse

INSPIRATION: LETS SHARE // ECOVER ZERO

Have you heard of Ecover's new range, Zero?
Of course you have because the blogging world has been going crazy about it lately hasn't it?! Well, now i know why - it's because it is pretty damn good, that's why!
Plain & simple.

I've actually been a huge fan of Ecover for a long time & have used the standard Ecover products around my home for as long as I can remember. So when I was asked if I'd like to try out the new Ecover Zero range, I practically jumped at the chance!

The new range has been specially crafted for those of us who require top quality cleaning but who may need an allergy-approved product or prefer a fragrance free alternative to smelling like a mango infused with lavender & patchouli oil on a hazy summers day in June (thanks, but no!). 

This new range appealed to me on many levels. I get mild eczema and have done all my life and Flo has a mild form of asthma which she was diagnosed with age 2.  Alongside that, as a mum of 2 school kiddos and one seriously grubby toddler i do way more than my fair share of washing, so the least amount of crap I'm pumping into the environment, the better in my opinion.

When I recently returned from my jolly in London, I was welcomed home by a house full of sicky peeps. So when I say I put the Zero laundry range to work, i really did. It cleaned superb, and although i was a little worried about the no-scent thing for such a major job, it was excellent and our washing came out smelling of.... wait for it.... clean washing! Just want i wanted was exactly what it delivered. Refreshing right? I think so.

I also was pleased to see they do a washing up liquid in the range. Don't get me wrong, I'm not pleased i was handed a new reason to do more washing up (!) but i used to use a separate bottle sanitiser for all the kids cups & bottles etc rather than run them through my dishwasher load and now that I have Zero (& will continue to buy Zero) I just was everything up together! Fab!

I really like this range, and if you are keen on protecting our planet as best you can and want cleaning products that work well, then you can't go far wrong with this stuff! It just goes to show you can be clean and be green - hurrah!

This is a sponsored post but all opinions are honest & my own. 

You can read more about Ecover and it's work here