some posts may contain affiliate links, i may recieve a commision on them at no extra cost to you.
30/06/2015

Why I moved to the UK

A younger child free me My mother is Welsh and my father South African, I spent 19 amazing years in Cape Town, South Africa, the place that will be forever home yet I doubt I will ever live there again. I flew over to the UK at the tender age of 16 as I had been invited to train full-time at a well respected Judo Dojo in Edinburgh, I had some success on what was at the time my future plan but needed to return to South Africa when I was 19 when my father passed away suddenly. This gave me a lot of time to reflect, I had had the chance to live in two different countries and I realised that as much as I loved South Africa in terms of work and school the UK offered better opportunities at the time as well as my mother and brother living in the UK it seemed like the best choice. As I said the UK does have some great opportunities if you are willing to work and work hard at that. I was lucky enough to achieve my degree in the UK, something that would of been a lot harder in South Afri......
28/06/2015

Street Style Sunday - Denim Dress

As I have said before it can be pretty hard to find dresses that are post-pregnancy and feeding appropriate but when I came across this simple denim style dress from Zara I thought it would be perfect for a casual summer look, paired up with some gold slip-ons also from Zara and my black Paul Costello bag. John has also recently picked up a Beams Plus summer jacket and shirt and paired it up with Edwin Jeans and Clarks YMC loafers. As we have been so busy this past month, going away a few times and lots of day trips to London, it's been important to be fairly practical as there has been a lot of long hours on our feet but still wanting to remain stylish, so for summer it's all about loafers, espadrilles and sandals and it's great to wear them while we can as the UK summer is always too short for my liking. I would love you to come and join in with Street Style Sunday and share anything fashion related. An InLinkz Link-up ...
27/06/2015

Saturday Kitchen

I've been getting to grips with my new Le Creuset pot from House of Fraser, this classic french casserole pot is amazing, beautifully made and looks very stylish in any kitchen and I honestly don't think there is anything better than veggies slow cooked in one of these and there is something very comforting and rustic about it. I have been craving spinach lately so when I came across a hotpot recipe in Waitress Harvest book I thought i'd do an inspired version of it and it came out better than I thought and was hit with all the family. It's so simple yet tasty and full of goodness plus protein from the chickpeas.  Spinach, Chick Pea and Potato Hotpot Serves 4 2 tbsp olive oil 2 onions, sliced 1 1/2 tsp ras el hanout spice blend 400g Chickpeas drained and rinsed 100g fresh baby spinach 500g charlotte potatoes, scrubbed and sliced 1 vegetable stockcube in 300ml water 15g butter 1. Preheat oven to 180c or gas mark 4 2. Heat a littl......
25/06/2015

Handcrafted Homewares

If you are a regular reader of the blog you will probably know I was born and grew up in South Africa and I will always have a soft spot for African inspired interiors as well as hand crafted goods so I am very excited about the Unique Crafted homewares coming to HomeSense from the 13th July. What is even better is the range is part of an initiative to help some of the most disadvantaged families increase their incomes so they can afford to send their children to school, in fact income received from selling two baskets could pay for a child to attend school for a term. Flavoured ground coffee £3.99 The range will be available in both HomeSense and TKMaxx and consists of Drums made of Cowhide from Ngeye Traditional Craft group in Uganda, traditional woven baskets and ground coffee which also comes in a variety of flavours. I have my eye on the colourful and creative baskets which I think would make a great addition to our living room space and bringing in some much n......
24/06/2015

Dorset Cereals B&B awards

Is there anything more blissful than waking up to the early morning sun shining through the window  of a beautiful house in the countryside, walking downstairs to a breakfast of locally produced produce and all without having to lift a finger? I don't think so and I type this I am sitting in the most stunning farm house in Somerset enjoying one of many amazing B&B's dotted around the UK. I am so happy to announce that I am working with Dorset Cereals who have paired up with Sawdays to bring you the first Dorset Cereals B&B awards which aims to showcase the top B&Bs the UK has to offer and each month 12 shortlisted B&B's will be posted on the Dorset website where fans can nominate their favourite one. I have to admit it's been a fair while since I have stayed at a B&B but we cannot wait to share what we have got up to this week, it's been such a wonderful and stress free break on an organic farm with lots of space to explore as well as a ......
23/06/2015

Turn your photos into Wall Art

Given the monumental wonders of modern technology, taking pictures is now super easy. In addition to the abundance of smartphones and devices that help us capture the important moments in our lives, there has also been an explosion of tools and platforms that are designed to edit, store and share our pictures as well. One popular by-product of this revolution is canvas printing. From photos of lush green landscapes to family portraits that document your memories, printing your photos on canvas can literarily turn them into fine works of art! Over the years and through lots of trail and error, we have become familiar with some of the best ways to ensure great looking pictures and what is needed to turn them into beautiful pieces of art on canvas. Let me share some of them with you: Use the Best Pictures If you are going for canvas prints the most important aspect to get right is the quality of your images. Selecting the best of your pictures to use for canvas printing will......
21/06/2015

Street Style Sunday - Thank you

This past weekend has been surreal to say the least. On Friday we hoped aboard the train from Cardiff and headed to Holborn in London for a night at the Montcalm for the two-day blogging conference that is Britmums, thanks to my wonderful sponsors HomeSense . An amazing event that brings together so many different type of bloggers from parenting to fashion, travel and interiors plus any other kind of niche you can think of. The Friday night was also the Brilliance in Blogging awards ceremony and party and Side Street Style was up for the Style category for the second year in a row. Things have been so manic since having Baby G and I have struggled to find clothes that are "me" since he was born, having to juggle with breast feeding friendly clothing as well as the fact he is in the sling most of the time, I have to admit I committed a fashion faux par by not making as much effort in the past but having time to get nails and hair done with a 3 month old is fair......
19/06/2015

Travel with kids - 5 things to pack

Both John and I did a fair amount of travelling before we had kids but nothing really prepares you for taking little ones along for the ride until you actually do it and since having Mr A we gone on some amazing adventures and have become more travel savvy in terms of keeping him entertained on a budget as well as making sure all his needs are met. ClickStay invited us to put together a post about what our top tips for travelling with kid which you can VOTE for. I would put together a little vlog and blog about 5 budget friendly things to pack to help keep kids entertained while on the road, that is not an iPad. We only recently got a tablet so the majority of our travels have been without any kind of tablet to help entertain our son even on long train journeys from the UK to Europe and to be honest you really don't need one either. John and Mr A in Paris last year When travelling with young children you need to make them feel as involved as possible and allowi......

Totsbots, rolling & 16 weeks

Wow I cannot believe how quickly time is flying by, everything seems to be happening so fast. Baby G started rolling when he was 14 weeks old and follows his brother around the room and really wants to join in with him. He is full of smiles as well as giggles and loves talking to me and in all honesty is such a happy and easy going baby and the breast feeding is still going great and I cannot quite get my head around the fact that in the next two months we will start weaning him on food. Brothers We have been enjoying picnics in the garden as well as many outdoor adventures as well as two trips to London last month. He really loves sleeping in his sling and we have also been getting to grips with using his Totsbots reusable nappies, which has meant slightly more laundry than usual but we are seeing the positive side of not only them being eco-friendly but also economical. We have been putting The Easyfit and Bamboozle stretch totsbots to the test and we like both but t......
18/06/2015

Beautiful Bibico & Giveaway

If you are a regular reader of the blog you probably already know we love ethical brands, so when I stumbled across Bibico on twitter a few months ago I immediately wanted to know more about this locally designed, ethically produce, fair-trade and organic independent store based in Bath. It can be surprisingly hard to find clothes that are not only stylish but also produced in a low impact way and that benefits the people who actually produce the clothes such a the cooperative in Nepal who hand knits all of Bibico's knitwear. Most of the knitting is done at home which means they don't have to travel, reducing costs and allowing them to stay close to their families. Summer inspired outfit from Bibico - love the Breton dress for £49 What I love most is the beautiful simplicity that their collection captures with classic designs such as Breton dresses, Aran jumpers and canvas espadrilles, it reminds me of blissful days spent at the seaside or in wellies in......
16/06/2015

Big Feastival has Food and Fun for Whole Family

I can be easy to understand why some people get a bit jealous of child- free friends in the summer months. Of course it's always great to see everyone having fun in the sun, but as dedicated record fanatics it can be difficult to see all the amazing Instagrams snaps from some of the best (slightly less baby friendly) music festivals in the world—Wireless, Glastonbury (have been & I know they encourage families but we will be going when the boys are a bit older) etc to name a few. Mr A having fun at The Beyond the Border festival last year We are not complaining though as there are now tons of fantastic festivals aimed at not only teens and youthful festival goers but also families with small children and we are actually planning on going to Camp Bestival and Just So  Festival this year and we also recently came across an amazing family friendly foodie one that is the Big Feastival  up in Oxfordshire. The festival is curated and organised by Blur bassist ......
15/06/2015

Monday Interiors - Laura Ashley A/W

Last week John and I dashed off to London for a little interior and fashion inspiration in the form of the Laura Ashley A/W press day. It's been a while since I have been to a Press Show due to having the baby 3 months ago so it was really nice to be getting back into the swing of things and I was especially excited as I am a huge fan of Laura Ashley, in fact we have Laura Ashely wallpaper in both the nursery and our bedroom. This was also Baby G's first time to the capital, already in his short time here he has done a fair bit of travelling. As expected they had the countryside inspired look down to a tee and their kitchen range is all about vintage, wood and creating that homely feel. The China blue collection also caught my eye and is very clean cut with striking prints. What I really enjoy about press days is the creativity that goes into the room sets, I loved the record players covered in floral cut-outs and samples of their wallpaper,  as well as the st......
14/06/2015

Street Style Sunday - Festival Essentials

Hope everyone has been having a wonderful weekend, it's been a busy one for us, with two trips to London this week and another one next week it's been all go recently and this warmer weather has been blissful and I hope it sticks around for a while. With all our recent travels and more to come this summer I am looking for some chill out time at some festivals this year, as you may already know we love a good festival and have taken Mr A to them since he was 18 months old and this year we will also have Baby G in tow. Round sunglasses, Denim Dungarees, Love life tee, black espadrilles - all F&F As with everything the more you do the better you get so after a few good years we have the camping and festival thing down and have worked out what is worth packing and what simply is not. When Tesco asked me to put together a list of camping essentials from their Summer Boost collection I couldn't wait and for those who don't know what Summer boost is......
12/06/2015

Tips for eating Al Fresco with HomeSense

One of my favourite things about summer is being able to eat outside, it really make my soul sing wether it be fresh mornings with a croissant and a cup of coffee, a midday picnic or evening sundowners on a warm evening. It's a summer tradition that is also a favourite of my son, in fact we have already had a fair few picnics in the garden and if it was up to him we would eat outside everyday. As you may already know I have collaborated with HomeSense in the past and being a hunter for a good deal and my passion for interiors I am naturally a fan of HomeSense which offers up to 60% off the normal retail price and they have some amazing pieces in at the moment to enhance your garden, summer al fresco gatherings and picnics. Here are three very simple tips for eating Al fresco 1. Keep the food simple, fresh and enjoy a more tapas style affair such a hummus and veg sticks, cut up fruit, lightly dressed salads, pitta breads, bring colour to the plate and food you can s......
11/06/2015

Lunch at Babylon, Kensington

Earlier this week we jumped on the train from Cardiff for a much needed day out in London, it feels like it's been forever since both John and I have had the chance to be back in the Capital together, in fact when you have a family it can be a bit of a struggle having any quality time together. We think it's very important to make time for yourself as an individual as well as a couple so when Virgin Experience Days  asked me to choose an experience I thought would be perfect for treating the man in my life in the run up to Fathers day I couldn't wait to surprise John. I am fully aware of how much John does, he works long hours and happily gives any of his free time to spend with our sons and very rarely complains, he is in all honesty a very dedicated father so it was wonderful to raise a toast to him over a three course lunch in the beautiful surroundings that is Babylon , a Roof Terrace on the 7th floor overlooking Kensington. The entrance to Bab......