Green Giant - The Event - High 5!

You may remember waaay back when in October we spoke about 'Kids & Their 5-A-Day'  I asked you how you get YOUR kiddo's to eat their 5 fruit or veg and we had some fantastic, funny responses.

You will be over the moooon to know that I have picked a winner to receive the fabulous hamper, sponsored by Abel & Cole, which will be revealed in my next post - Coming Soon to a Blog near you. Haha - so dorky.

Anyhoo Green Giant organised a Fab Event in Manchester on 29th/30th October, where you and your littlies were invited to High Five the Green Giant :)  As you can see there was a FANTASTIC turn-out with 193 families arriving to Meet the Giant and share their tips on encouraging their families to get their 5-a-day, everyday.

Oh the cuteness

Colin Jackson was there too, hurdling an Uber Giant Sweetcorn. Oh how my girls would love to get their teeth into that. The sweetcorn that is. Not Colin of course.

Go Colin!

Check these littlies jumping up as high as they can - too sweet man :)

Pretty cool huh? Stay tuned to see who won our fabulous prize too!

Go over and 'Like' Green Giant on Facebook HERE - to stay up to date, & to pick up loads of tips and tricks to help keep your kids healthy and strong!

http://view.atdmt.com/UMC/view/365713550/direct/01/

*This is a Sponsored post for Green Giant. Thoughts are my own. :) *

I missed Silent Sunday!!

Gah!! I was cooking a roast for 30 people ('scuze me while I scrape the gravy off my face)

No time to even fart, let alone update my precious ol' blog.

There's lots going on here people... all shall be revealed soon.  Also, I'm busy typing up my Thursday post for Off The Deep End.  A fantastic site I have been asked to write for, along with around 20 other bloggers.

Ho Hum - the pressure.

I'm thinking all things Christmassy today, so I will have an uber cool blog post about this for you laters.

In the meantime, can I direct you to Thinly Spread ? She has the most fantastic Xmas tradition going... make way for the Snuggle Sack!  Also, if you haven't joined into her Festive Friday meme, you totally should.

Oh, here's my favourite Xmas song for you too:

You love it too .. Don't cha? Maybe watching the video isn't such a good idea... they're not... Well... sexy. So close your eyes and listen.


Lovies, Mwah x

Saturday is Caption Day!

Hosted by the Awesome Mammasaurus - the sexy beast that she is.  Hop over to her site HERE to find more, or search SatCap on Twitter :)

Can YOU think of a Caption for this yummy pic?

Leave your Caption in the 'Comments' section - Love you Forev's

Work 'n Mums Feature 2: Vanilla Kink

Welcome to this week's Work 'n Mums Feature - Interviewing Real Mums in Business!

Ladies.... And Gents.... Hold your breath for the fabulous Steffy Jones from Vanilla Kink Lingerie Boutique

It does NOT get sexier than this... you NEED an outfit like this...

Now before we all get a little flustered... lets kick off with the fabulous Steffy's Interview!

A little Background: 

I'm a single mum, living in Cheshire with my son and a cat. After the split from my son's dad, I'd hit a wall with my life and career and was a little worried about what the future held for us. I returned to university to study for a Photography degree and on the back of that set up my own business.

Tell us about your Business:

Initially, I chose to specialise in Boudoir Photography as I'd always been fascinated by the naked form and had a huge interest in lingerie. As a sideline on my site, a lingerie shop was added to bring in a little extra income. Over a short space of time, things got carried away and the lingerie Boutique took on a life of it's own. My photographic career was going from strength to strength, I was meeting all kinds of people at networking meetings and the jobs began rolling in and working relationships established. Quickly, it was advised that Vanilla Kink be split into divisions so we now essentially have two businesses under one Brand umbrella, VANILLA KINK BOUTIQUE and VANILLA KINK PHOTOGRAPHIC. Things are moving alot faster than originally expected from our launch in April this year.

Describe a typical Work Day: 

There is no such thing as a typical day for me I have Vanilla Kink Photographic days (and nights) I can be shooting boudoir/bands/headshots/portfolios in the studio or on location. I can be in the office working on images or out networking, hosting a stall at business and enterprise events. On Vanilla Kink Boutique days I can be out and about meeting with designers, visiting trade shows/ adding stock/editing the website/picking and packing orders/ researching the industry or blogging and working on PR and social media and general admin and accounts. My workload is very demanding and varied yet immensely satisfying.

What inspired you to start your business?

My inspiration is obviously my son, working for myself is our best hope of starting afresh and building a stronger future. I've always had a very strong work ethic and have spent most of my adult life helping to make others rich. I knew taking the plunge to build a business from scratch was ALOT to take on and carries alot of risk but I'm not prepared to listen to the negatives. It HAS to and WILL work. If I can teach my son anything, I'd like him to embrace ambition and himself to possess a strong work ethic and appreciate the value of money and hard work and like every mother want health and success for my children.

Tell us about your Customers?

Vanilla Kink Customers come from all walks of life, online business comes from all over the world so it is essential for us to use social media and PR exercises to get our name out there. I particularly love the networking events and trade shows, the variety of people you meet that you wouldn't cross paths with otherwise is immense. I've met and shot musicians, therapists, doctors, solicitors, travel agents, sales people, models and actors to name a few. I love my job and love the people that had I been limited to an office from previous jobs I would not have had the good fortune to meet.


How do you 'Do It All' with a family & a home to look after?


It IS a struggle some days to fit everything in, the trade off for being fortunate enough to be able to be there for my son's school runs is that I can be up working late into the night. On the weeks that I have a few shoots in, I can be all over the place, the house becomes a mess (which my OCD does NOT cope well with), the washing builds up a little and we may have a couple of emergency freezer teas and have to call in a few favours with childcare. I have a new partner now too, who also has a young son, so we have to make time for outings together and also crucially allow time for ourselves as a couple. I have many good friends and like to be sociable and try to maintain my hobby of ice skating. All in all a working mums life of juggling children, partners, career, housework, washing, school runs, friends, family, exercise and hobbies and children's hobbies is NOT an easy one BUT we all do it and will continue to do it. I will work as hard as I have to to make this work but work it will and one day it WILL all be worth it.


What's your Top Tip for mums wanting to venture into their own business?


I'd say: To ignore the demon on your shoulder telling you it cant be done or it's too risky. You HAVE to take risks to succeed,...feel the fear and do it anyway. I know my son will be proud in the end and appreciate why mummy had to work so hard

Steffy has arranged a FABULOUS 20% discount for all Lovebump Readers in her Online Boutique!!!

AS AN OFFER ALL READERS QUALIFY FOR A 20% DISCOUNT IN THE ONLINE LINGERIE BOUTIQUE (ENTER CODE VKLOVEBUMP AT CHECKOUT)
www.vanillakink.co.uk

ALL NEW FACEBOOK 'LIKER'S WILL BE AUTOMATICALLY BE ENTERED INTO A FREE PRIZE DRAW FOR SOMETHING PRETTY (DRAWN JANUARY)
http://www.facebook.com/VanillaKink

Follow us on Twitter @vanillakinkgirl
 

Thank you Steffy for participating in this weeks 'Work 'n Mums' feature! 

Handpicked Media - An Observation, A Rant, A Rave!

So Monday. I thought I'd be grown-up, clever & brave & venture out to the Big City of London to attend the Handpicked Media Social Event, along with some awesome Beauty/Fashion & Parent Bloggers.

I tooks me some photo's to tell you's the story. With my crappy camera phone, but I've tried to tart them up a bit for you.

So first of all, I had to take a train to stay at my brother's place overnight. I luuurrve taking the train, but soon realised that carting an enormous backpack onto a London bound train on a Sunday night is probably not the smartest thing in the world to do. It was PACKED ... You also master the art of stirring sugar into your coffee in a REALLY confined space.  I also had to take the tube. I won't even GO there to tell you my thoughts on being packed like cattle on a speeding bullet underground, while not even acknowledging the slightly shorter woman who has her face pressed up against your breasts for 5 whole station stops.

I was trying to not look like a tourist, but just couldn't resist taking a pic of the London eye from Waterloo station. Like Wowza.

My fabulous brother was of course there to collect me from the station and after Holly's yummy Shepherd's Pie and a few one glass of yummy Red Wine it was off to bed to be 'Bright Eyed & Bushy Tailed' for the morning..

Thankfully Krista from Handpicked Media was on the ball when it came to organizing a great breakfast and much needed cups of coffee with yummy biccies. I took this photo for @motherventing the biscuit muncher ... 20 seconds after I took this pic, a man opened a door onto me and the WHOLE LOT went crashing to the ground. This was NOT good for my blogging popularity stakes.

Among the Fantastic line-up of speakers was this inspirational woman - Shaa Wasmund. Visit her website HERE or HERE. Seriously ... Go Get 'Em! 

Blogging is all about Collaboration people. More on this subject in another post. In the meantime, go check out the wonderful writers I've 'collaborated' with at this phenomenal site: Off The Deep End

Of course, because these were primarily fashion & beauty bloggers, there were a LOT of beautiful people there. Halfway through the morning session, someone tweeted to say there were a lot of these High Buns visible there. There was a special name for these hair buns. I cannot for the life of me remember the phrase. So I've gone with High Bun. You get me.

Being the MOST UNSTYLED PERSON IN THE WORLD was a massive problem for me. However I did manage to hobble around in these trendy Hudson's until lunchtime when I snuck in the loo and changed back into my comfortable floppy Ugg's. Oh the shame.

After hobbling out of the loo with blisters on my feet, I thought I could benefit from some pampering, so I marched over to the Shu Uemura stand where the lovely Leah from Smudge Style was applying eyelashes. Can you see them flicked out at the edges? She also gave my makeup a quick refresh and I felt instantly fabulous in the space of ..oh.. about 10 minutes.  Please visit her Blog, it is AMAZING!!

 Me. Trying to look fabulously important with my new eyelashes and makeup. And my £1.00 charity shop dress. Oh the coolness. You can also see right up my nose here if you like.

Of course we were treated to some beautiful goodie bags filled with make-upie things, as well as these YUMMY dried fruit crisps by Nim's - seriously they taste amazing and are great if you are fat on a diet like me.

After an amazing informative day, it was time for me to head home...

Here's what I was met with over at Waterloo on the way home. Delays. Cancellations. More delays. I hopped on a train to Basingstoke, hoping for the best and ended up standing the whole way home. 4 hours and 3 train changes later I was home.  All worth it of course. Especially when I was met with a glass of red and a yummy Chicken curry.

So, have you ever wondered what makes a really great Blog Title? Garry from Why Communicate sent us this brilliant link for 102 TOP blog titles! Click HERE to download  - enjoy my lovelies!

Handpicked Media Social Event - I went!

Yesterday I attended the Handpicked Social Media Event in London. It was FANtastic. I am preparing a post on 'My Observations' due to go live here on the blog tomorrow, but I thought I would introduce you to my absolute favourite speaker - Shaa Wasmund. Wowza's, what a breath of fresh air! She made me want to run around the auditorium naked screaming "Yes I can! Yes I can!" A true inspiration for all small businesses, and Bloggers too! Visit her site HERE. Here's a little clip from her website - Enjoy :) Check back tomorrow for Photo's of my journey out of Carrot-Crunching World into the Big City and for NOTES on this brilliant conference!

Silent Sunday

Search #SilentSunday on Twitter for more :)

Silent Sunday

Search #silentsunday on Twitter for more :)

Saturday is Caption Day...

ADD THE CAPTION IN THE COMMENTS! 

Work 'n Mums Feature: Kyna Boutique

Welcome to my FIRST Work 'n Mums Feature!

Every Friday, right here, I will be interviewing One fabulous Mum in Business.. to ask them just HOW they 'do it all'! Be inspired, let your creative juices flow, Read On.....

We're kicking off this feature with the fabulous....

Jenny from Kyna Boutique!

·         A little background..

My Name is Jenny; I am a mum to two young boys Kyle (6) and (Nate 14m) and a wife to my amazing husband! I decided to start my own business after deciding not to return to my previous job following my maternity leave. This was a huge step for me as I had worked for the same company for 12 years.

·         Tell us about your business..

My Business is called KyNa Boutique. An online children’s clothing retailer for 0-5yr olds, stocking unique & individual clothing that isn’t readily available on the high street with a heavy focus towards bamboo and organic cotton lines. I also have a passion for great customer service; far too often I was frustrated when shopping for the boys. I made it the company’s ethos to ensure every customer is treated as an individual & our service tailored to their needs.

·         What inspired you to start your business?

I was inspired to start after struggling to find suitable clothing that was fashionable and delicate enough for Nate’s sensitive skin and after hours of trawling the internet, I decided I wanted to share the great brands that I had found with other parents.

·         How long have you been in business?

The business was established is August 2011 and the website went live on 1^st October 2011 so still early days but things are going great!

·         Is there a special place/person that inspires you to keep going?

My children inspired me to start and inspire me to keep going.

·         Tell us about your customers?

My customers are the lovely people who follow me on Twitter & Facebook, Parents that attend local parent and toddler events and anyone who comes along to local school and church fairs. I also get quite a few customers who have searched for ethical, organic or bamboo clothing on Google.

·         How do you ‘do it all’ with a family & a home to look after?

I fit everything in around school runs, nap times and after the boys have gone to bed, which sometimes mean some very late nights. 

What's your Top Tip for Mums wanting to venture into their own Business?

Make the most of nap time..it can be the most productive time of the day! Also, CARE about your customers :)

Find KyNa Boutique on their website HERE
Twitter: @KyNaboutique
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/KyNaBoutique

Hop over and say HI :)

Thank you Jenny for sharing your thoughts with us here on Work 'n Mums! 

Bizu : A REVIEW!

We were sent the BIZU Style Studio to Review by Blog-Match

My girls LOVED this!

What is BIZU? Bizu are fashionable, charm beads which can be mixed and matched together to create jewellery which can easily be twisted to form little animals. They even have handbag accessories - LOVE. Bizu has over 35 characters to collect within 4 different themes... Glam, Funky, Rock & Wild! Take a looksie...

The Style Studio is basically storage for all these nifty beads, which create both a toy AND a jewellery piece!
Over 15,000 combinations can be made up. Kept them busy for Hours.. yay.

Sprog #1's design

Happy Happy Chappies

You thread the beads onto the tool and then clasp together to make up your design. Really easy for little hands!

All the 'bits' pre-creation

And VOILA!

Little princess Shan loved this the most - I would DEFINITELY recommend as a Christmas present for the age 6-9 year age group

Available from Argos, ASDA, Sainsbury's, Smyths, Tesco & Toys R Us. RRP is £ 19.99 and the additional bead packs start at £ 5.99.  Visit their website HERE.

The Lovebump was sent a Bizu Style Station for Review, all thoughts are my own :)

So. Do you BIZU?

Silent Sunday

Saturday is caption day!

Can you think of a caption for thus pic? Tell me what it is in the comments... that will be RAD.

Hosted by the fabulous mammasaurus. Hop over here to see more!

My Crazy little Sister

My sister... little sister.... yes she's thinner younger than me. She is possibly more nutty than I am. True Story.

Here she is:

She was 7 months pregnant here. I love this photo because she's Fat pouting in it.

I thought I would share our 'Online Chat Conversation' with you from this evening. She's just started a new job, so I asked how its going..She proceeded to tell me the conversation between her and her new boss.

Brace yourselves.. her/our language is shocking!!

Sister: I was finished all my work today, so asked for more and they all looked at me like... " work? whats that?"
         her boss: "here do these claims"
Sister: ok, where do i start?
          boss: i dont know

thelovebump aka ME: haha

Sister: ooookkkk, so who do i contact to get the claim forms?
          boss: i dont know
Sister: right, so i must figure this out on my own and i dont even know what im looking at?
         boss: if you like

thelovebump: oh nice. if you like.

Sister:  well not really.....  i would actually like to win the f***ing lottery but i've got no hope here!
so i went to smoke instead, then clock watched for 3 hours...
I think the jobs going ok

thelovebump: haha ! result!

Sister: oh lord... taide (her son) is shouting... maaarmm can you pleeeeeeeeease sing me a sorng
I said..... f*** offfffff
did i tell you what i did to him last night?

thelovebump: hahaha!! oh look. tayla (my child) is at the door now. f*** offffffffffffffff
no tell me

Sister: i found a scream mask and put it on, turned out taide bedroom light then hid under his bed, and when he came to bed i jumped out....waaaahaha
hahahaha, he screamed and went green, then laughed. thank f***!

thelovebump: ahahahahahahha!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! he must have wanted to s*** himself
LMAO

Sister: it was really funny, well i thought so anyway :)

She is insane. That is All.

A little bit of loving...

LOVING this X Factor contestants version, even more than the original

Watched this last night - its funny & cute. Written by one of our locals, Tom Williams!

The weather is cooooooling down baby. I'm not a fan of winter, BUT we do like the odd snowball fight or two!

We have found our FAVOURITE coffee shop in Frome... Cafe La Strada.  Click HERE to visit their website. They serve DELICIOUS Illy coffee and the BEST bagels you will ever eat. In. Your. Life.

Loving that SOON I will have some time to take photo's again. I need to finish my online course before March. Eek!

So, What are you Loving today?

Silent Sunday

Saturday is Caption Day!

Can you think of a fabulous caption for this here photo? Leave your caption in the Comment Box Below!

Hosted by the wonderful Mammasaurus.  Click HERE to view more entries

10 Things about Me

10 Things You Probably Didn't Know About Me:

*Warning... Some of these are weird. That is All*

1) I hate wearing colours. My wardrobe consists of black, brown, grey, some more black, bit of white, some more black....erm... that's it.  I feel stupid in colours. Like I'm wearing a pub carpet. Plus..... BIG Plus. Black makes you thinner. Seriously.

2) I always read the back of the sugar packets in coffee shops. I don't think this applies in the UK. However, Hulett's sugar in SA, has little sachets, with positive sayings on the back of them.  However, I do not leave my fortune to fate alone. Oh no.. I scratch around until I find one I like and then pretend I was meant to pick that one up. They say things like: 'Outside Noisy, Inside Empty'. hmmm....

3) I once stole a bottle of wine from my Dad & then spent 3 hours running around every bottle store in town trying to replace it.  So... we were desperate.  We downed his bottle of 2005 Cab....Do you think I could find that exact bottle ANYWHERE?? If you are thinking No.. you would be correct. 2006 - yes! 2007 - yes! 2008 - yes!

2005 - not a chance.

Great.. now what? After my major run round and with only 15 minutes to spare until he came home, I grabbed the 2006 bottle & carefully put it back, covered it up a bit with the Bible -(god save my soul) and hoped and prayed like hell he wouldn't notice.  He didn't. Although if he works out how to read my blog he'll know now. Sorry Dad - I am your favourite child remember? (*wait for evil comment from sister on this one*)

4) Sometimes I feed my kids Beans on Toast for supper & convince them it's healthy because it contains 4 essential food groups..
Bread - Carbs
Butter - Fats
Beans - Beans & Lentils group - oh crap, I can't think what it's called. Legumes??
Cheese - Protein

Sometimes I even chuck them an apple to include the 'Fruit & Veg' group. The worst part? I don't feel guilty doing it. Such a bad mom.

5) On very rare occasions when I see someone I don't want to talk to in the shops, I flip my phone open and natter away to NOBODY, just so I don't have to talk to them.
Ok. That's a bad one. But you know when you just feel so yuk, everything's gone wrong that day, & you can't remember if you even brushed your teeth that morning? ok.. you definitely never brushed your teeth... AND you're wearing your jeans that your kid puked on 3 days ago... In the distance you spot your funky, single, childless friend from school, ultra-thin, ultra-gorgeous, ultra-manicured, ultra-not stressed and you think ...

'Sh*t. I cannot talk to this person'

Out comes the 'flip up phone and talk to no-one' technique. Smile & Wave girls, Smile & Wave.

6) If I'm sad I blast out SAD SAD songs, sing along loudly & badly, chunk my heart out, do the UGLY cry, and feel SO much better afterwards!


7) This one is SO embarrassing..... whenever I eat something yummy, I HAVE to say 'delicious' after I've eaten it. Even in Company.. I'll cough it under my breath. I. Am. So. Weird.

8) I NEVER ever have Nookie with my socks on . Never. That's just gross.


9) I make LOADS of lists and hardly accomplish anything on them. Or leave them behind when needed. I feel very efficient for making this practical list, but usually just shut my notebook and never look at it again. Probably why I never seem to finish anything. hmmmm.....

10) I really want to bungy jump.. Back when I was running my tour company in South Africa, we used to take people to the highest bungy jump in the world - 216m! Thats kak far. I won't do it because.......

I am scared I will lose my feet. Yes. My feet.

I have a fear they will just snap off and be left in the loops on the bungy cord while I go crashing into the river below.. Footless. Yes. I am weird.

Ok... Make me feel like I still have friends then... SHARE something with me that I don't know about you :)

What I want to be When I Grow Up

A businesswoman.

A businesswoman?? huh?? Not a doctor, or a marine biologist, or a Firemanwoman?

Nope. A businesswoman.

It's what I've always wanted to be since I was little. I was always pretending I ran a multi-million dollar business, flying around the world in my sharply pressed suits, staying in the best hotels (the words New York & Paris keep springing to my fingertips as I'm typing this)

I wanted to be rich, organised, efficient, in charge and basically Kickass.

I did not want any children.  Did i just say that out loud? Nope. I blogged it.

And this is where my story begins.

16 & Pregnant (can you see the word 'businesswoman' slowly being crushed by a huge efficient filofax?)

b s  i   s    w m n 

By the age of 16, I had a Beautiful, Beautiful Baby Girl. She was perfection. I fell totally, absolutely, completely in love. I gave birth to her with my big, steel, wiry braces still on my teeth and tried to be the best mommy I could possibly be. I got married. I had 2 more perfect little girls.  And I marched on to become the businesswoman I still dreamt about, albeit with a little puke on my left shoulder.

The business ventures I have started (many of them failed) include...

1) Selling Advertising Space on a Telescope... this isn't as stupid as it may sound. It totally worked.

2) Making up Labour & Birth kits for expectant mums to take into hospital with them.

3) Making up and selling Nappy Cakes

4) Running a fish and chip shop with my dad. This lasted ONE week.
*note* Upon further reflection and a 2 hour break in typing up this post... I think this was a Chicken & Chip shop. Not fish. Either way = Total Nightmare

5) Running a successful Travel & Tourism Company in Cape-Town, South-Africa. It totally broke my heart when I had to leave it.

6) Starting up an Online Virtual Assistant business when I landed here in the UK. You can see it HERE if you want to.

7) Running a gorgeous little pub, which you can take a look at HERE

I'm sure there are more. I have a feeling I tried to sell water purifiers once. Clearly it didn't last long because I remember NOTHING about it.

And now as that 7th Chapter closes, another Chapter opens.. and my business brain is tick tick ticking away again. I'll be sure to keep you all updated with my plans of course :)

So, enough about me - I wanna know... What did YOU want to be when you grew up?

Image credits : filofax.com & casual-slacks.blogspot.com