A hair raising (MACADAMIA) review

I was recently sent some macadamia hair products to review from TheHut.com. I do look after my hair and always use different kinds of products. I'm always changing my hair colour and at the moment I have quite alot of bleach in there! I work in a hairdressers, although I am a beautician, so I do have a little abit of 'hair knowledge'.

Overall I like the products, I like things to smell good that I put on my hair and these certainly do! They smell clean and fresh :) They left my hair smooth and feeling healthy.

Deep Repair Masque
This is the first product I tried because my hair always feels better after a repair masque I feel like it just puts all the moisture back in and gives it a glow. The Macadamia one didn't disappoint, it was nice and rich and felt luxurious combing it through my hair. I could still smell the masque on my hair the day after and it stayed soft and shiny and smoothed down my ends.

Nourishing leave in cream
I used this after my shower and rubbed into my towel dried hair. I combed it through and went to bed. In the morning I found it much easier to style my hair, it felt smoother and softer. My straightners glided over and seemed to straighten my hair much better than normal.

These are just a small selection of products from the macadamia range and there are lots more to be found on TheHut.com website.

Have you used any of these products before and what would you recommend?

8/52

Millie: She loves the great outdoors but she likes to turn back and check we are still there
Toby: He's a brave one running up and down the hills he has no fear.
Leon: He's a great explorer and likes to no the reasons for holes in walls :)

Center Parcs and Tots100 February Blogger Challenge

Its half term, I love spending time with the kids during half term and making, playing and just generally having lots of fun. I completely forget about housework and do the bare minimum around the house and try and make the most of the time they have at home.

Tots100 and the Center Parcs blogger challenge has been running a while now and I have often thought about entering but this is the first time! Winning bloggers can win a stay Center parcs so I thought its worth a shot!

This months challenge is to create a home made game. This is right up our street, my children love junk modelling and are always making and gluing things together from recycled boxes etc.This half term we have come up with a marble run.

You need to start by collecting tubes (we used some fabric and wrapping paper rolls), or cardboard boxes and making channels from them, the pieces can be as long or small as you like. We also used bits from a hot wheels track as they are the perfect surface! We stuck ours to the wall because we are decorating so we don't need to worry about the wallpaper but you could use the door.

You need lots of sellotape and patience because the marbles don't always go where you think they will. Its great for a teamwork game working out the best angles and positions of the tubes.

We wanted to makes other obstacles for the marbles so we made this funnel from a used reel of cotton and some cardboard. Since then they have made another from cardboard.

Here's our finished marble run:

I really can't tell you how much entertainment this has provided for a 7,5 and 3 year old. They have played together for hours, changing, timing and racing the marbles down the run. They have worked together to make the run better and cheered each other on as their marble go down.

They have absolutly loved it...

This is my entry to the Center Parcs and Tots 100 February challenge. If I’m chosen, I would like to visit Sherwood Forest

Light and airy bedroom inspiration

I feel like I've lost my blog a little over the past couple of weeks to reviews and regular posts so I thought I would do something abit different.

This year I need to decorate and renew my bedroom, I mean everything, new curtains, furniture, bedding and I want a rug!! We have laminate flooring throughout the house and its so cold in the mornings!

I find it so hard because i like so many themes, I like pinks, country, monochrome etc. I'm a Libra and apparently this is one of our traits - being extremely indecisive!

I'm going to go with duck egg and shabby chic theme its completely out of character for me to choose blues but I've seen some really nice duck egg things about! Its light and airy and that's just what I need in the mornings. 

 Dressing table / Rug / cushion / Table lamps / throw / bedside table / Wallpaper

I love the Laura Ashley wallpaper, it will take a lot of persuading for Mr H to hang this I think though! I love the colours I chose and i think it will work well with white walls and the wallpaper on just one wall. we are going to get  mirrored sliding doors to create a wardrobe and hopefully this will make the room look bigger.

What do you think of my choices?

Save a life buy a Kujali ipad mini cover

Kujali is a new conscious tech accessory brand founded in November 2013 by Marc Day, that helps to protect children in Africa  from Malaria. Marc and his wife have travelled to Africa and have seen how the locals live, they decided the wanted to try and help save the lives of the children living there. Marc was already selling tech accessories and decided to develop a protective cover for the ipad mini and for every one sold he would donate a mosquito net or a life saving treatment to the children in Africa.

Did you know?

Malaria kills over 1 million people every year and it is one of the largest killers of children in the world today. 90% of deaths are in sub-Saharan Africa where it claims a childs life every minute. That is the equivalent of seven 747 Jumbo Jets of children dying from malaria each day.

We were sent a KUJALI classic ipad mini cover to review. I fitted the ipad mini in and left the kids to road test it first after all the are the biggest critics! They were all excited and impressed with it, my oldest said he particularly liked the red suede.

I personally I think its good, its a luxury, well fitted, robust case. It protects the ipad well as Millie proved yesterday when she dropped it! The ipad is protected by a red silicone skin

Which is then slipped into a stylish hard casing. The ipad is protected on all four corners. As well  all charging ports etc. are covered by the silicone but still easy accessible.

The casing is thick and hard wearing, its sleek and classic...

It has two indentations in the covers so you can watch or use your ipad at two different angles, perfect for watching a film... or in my case catching up with emails whilst making the school lunches :) 

And most of all it provides perfect protection so the children can comfortably play with the ipad. Its ironic really we are protecting a ipad but by buying a cover you can protect a life...

I would recommend this cover to anyone... did I mention it has a lifetime guarantee? What are you waiting for? You can even buy them from Amazon! 

7/52

Millie: Trying on her new swimming costume goggles and swimming hat she insisting she needed.
Toby: Sleepy after a busy weekend
Leon: He's growing so quickly, he has such a thirst for knowledge I often wonder what he's dreaming about.

Hero of the city goodies competition

Rescue vehicles are a big hit in are house at the moment. Both sons love cars even at 7 and 5 and my daughter likes playing with them too. Also with the amount of rescue vehicles we have seen this week there has been alot of role play revolving around our emergency services.

Heroes of the City is a television cartoon about rescue vehicles in a small town where everyone can be a hero. Meet Pauli Police Car and Fiona Fire Engine as they help the townspeople find thieves, put out fires, and solve one of the many mysteries that happen in the otherwise quiet town.

You will also get to know Calamity Crow, the most unlucky bird in town. Emphasizing friendship, Heroes of the City contains a great deal of warmth and what may be accomplished by helping each other. The cartoon is primarily targeted at children age 3 – 7.

Not only that you can play along with the apps available on itunes or Google play which I have to admit do look pretty fun!

I've got a bundle of hero of the city goodies to give away to my readers which includes a book, 2 vechiles and a dvd. Just enter the rafflecopter below...

*Vehicles may vary from ones shown

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Terms and conditions

• UK only
• The prize will be sent out by the promoter
• Closes 10th March 2014

Wish I was there- Alfresco competition

Last nights storm and all the damage I have seen and heard about is probably the worst I've ever seen in this country. Around our way I know of at least 8 trees falling down and blocking the road. I know of two people who have had smashed windscreens and conservatory roofs broken because of fallen roof tiles. I've seen pictures on facebook of two different roofs that have blown off buildings and thats just in our small town.

All this bad weather has made me cast my mind back to when we have had perfect weather. I wish I could rewind time and land myself back 18 months ago when we were in sunny Italy about to get married in the sun, surrounded by our family.

This is one of my favourite pictures from the wedding as I love the focus on the tree and us in the background. I also love the green of the willow tree and the blue of the lake. It really was a perfect day and every time I look at the pictures I really wish we could go back to that day.

After the wedding we holidayed in Italy for a further two weeks. The children enjoyed every minute and occupied every day. We swam either in the pool or the lake everyday. We visited local towns and ate lots of pizza and ice-cream. Lake Garda will always hold a special place in my heart.

This is my entry into Alfresco's  wish I were there photo competition to win a new camera. You can enter enter too and find all the information here.

Say it with cake - Baker Days review

On Saturday morning a cake dropped through my door... a letterbox cake!! When I told the hubby what it was his words were 'good look with that!'. I had to admit it did sound pretty crazy that a cake could drop through your door, make it in one piece and taste good! But thats what Baker Days do and very well might I add! 

Weather its personalised birthday cakes, Good Luck, Well done, congratulations or just last minute cupcakes Baker Days do it and can deliver so the cakes are with you the very next day!

It came beautifully packaged in a metal tin  along with some love hearts..

Wrapped up with super easy instructions of how to remove the cake in one piece...

I chose a cake for my husband just to remind him of how much I love him. I really like the bright side designs and my wedding planner was the same design so it reminded me of that :)

The cake was surprisingly moist and tasty. We cut the cake for 5 of us and the pieces were perfect sizes. And just to make it clear these are not like supermarket cakes, they are not dry or crumbly. They are all handmade, soft, moist and perfectly tasty.

Fresh, light and tasty just how we like them...

I would recommend Baker Days for any occasion, in fact I think these cakes would go down better than flowers.  I think they are good value for money when you take into consideration, the excellent packaging, next day delivery, the quality of the designs and the tastiness of the cakes.

This would definitely brighten up my day picking up one if these off the door mat with a special message inside. Or if your quick you could get one just in time for Valentines Day...

Review: Slumberdown easy wash 10.5tog duvet

Yesterday saw the change of are old duvet that we had for 8 years to a new slumberdown easywash 10.5 tog duvet! I didn't realise until I took it off it was a 15tog duvet, I wasn't surprised as I like to be warm and cosy I try to wrap myself up in the duvet as much as I can before I get complained at!

I was abit dubious about putting a 10.5 tog duvet on. I like being warm. The slumberdown duvet felt airy and light.  But it was so soft and new...

Its also made in the UK, I rave about everything that's good quality and value for money that's made in the UK. My parents are in the sewing business and I like helping out anyone that's trying to keep things in our country! So slumberdown has mega brownie points from me :)

I slept really, really well with the new duvet, in fact I've just thrown my 15 tog in the bin. This duvet somehow kept the heat in and kept me super warm. I didn't realise how heavy my old duvet was. It felt so much more relaxing without a heavy weight.

These aren't the best picture ever my camera was playing up with the light behind me. Leon was the first to try out the duvet. He thought it was soft and squishy. In fact he's not stopped going on about him having a new duvet!

I'm really pleased with the new duvet and would recommend it. Another great feature is that its washable and it can even go in the tumble drier, saving trips to the launderette.

One of my resolutions this year is to de-cltter and recdecorate my bedroom and this has insprired my to keep going. Its a lovely freshen up to the room.

You can buy yours here.

Weekly weigh in

This week I started off really well, I exercised on Monday morning following The fat burn revolution and then went for a spontaneous run in the afternoon with my husband. It was completely unplanned and a last minute thing and I felt great! 

The rest of the week I have been super busy at work and not done much. I did a small amount of excercise from The fat burn revolution on Thursday and Friday morning and a quick swim on Friday afternoon.

I didn't really change my diet at all this week I wanted to see if just exercising daily would help, although I didn't get chance to do that. I'm going to try again this week to do daily exercise, although tomorrow I have a full day at work so that will have to be my rest day!

I'm shocked to report a loss of 1lb this week. I'm really not sure how I managed that but I did! I think it will prove better to exercise rather than following a diet plan, but we will see for next week. I'm going to try very hard to cut chocolate out in the week and maybe just have a treat at the weekend.

Starting weight: 13st

Current weight: 12st 12lb

Weight lost: 2lb

How did you do this week?

6/52

Leon: He lost his 2 front teeth in the past 2 weeks

Toby: In his favourite Indiana Jones costume

Millie: Trying old clothes on telling me they still fit 

Valentines Gifts in Unusual Places

This is my last minute entry into Sports direct valentines competition to win 5 items of your choice for your other half.

Who would have thought of SPORTS direct for Valentines gifts? Not me, but after browsing the website I have found lots of things that would be suitable. I have bought from them before but I never realised they did more than just sports clothes and equipment.

Valentines day is a perfect day to be soppy and make time for each other. This year it lands on a Friday which is great as Dave finishes just after lunch. I have the day planned out for him already :) As soon as he comes home we are going to go for a run together, this is something we both like doing, we run through the countryside and chat about our day, its perfect together time until we need to pick the children up. 

So here's what I would buy him:

His excuse for not running is that's its too cold, so with a brand new karrimor running jacket he will have no excuse and it will go to show how much I care about his 'coldness'.

Once the children are in bed our Valentines night will begin, its a Valentines night in for us so I plan to make him a play list on his mp3 player of all the songs that remind me of him and our time together. So the skull candy 50 50 earphones would be perfect for him to listen to the songs properly whilst I get some dinner ready.

Next are the candles (who new you could buy these at sports direct and such a reasonable price too!), they will really set the mood for the night. We both like lighting candles at night and I just thought these were a bit different to what we normally have.

Who said you can't give men underwear? Hey? Whats wrong with these sexy Calvin Kleins? I wouldn't really care at what point in the evening he wore these, he can wear them to the dinner table for all I care ;) HOT! 

Lastly I would give him the soulcal signature decal hoodie, mainly because I really like him in light grey but also because he's always complaining he is cold. This would be a comfortable outer layer that he can wear around the house but also when he is nipping to and from places.

All of my items are from sports direct and I think my husband would be happy and surprised if I gave him all this on Valentines day. I think I would defo have some brownie points for putting so much thought into it!

Have you planned your Valentines day out?

Weekly weigh in (THE FAT BURN REVOLUTION REVIEW)

Today I have come to the realisation that I am a yo-yo dieter. I diet for a week or two and lose half a stone, then I forget about the diet and pile it all back on again. I have a huge problem with chocolate and I'm totally addicted. It's rubbish.

I got on the scales this morning and have put 4lb on since last time I weighed myself 3 weeks ago. So here are my stats:

Starting weight: 13st

Current weight: 12st 13lb

Weight lost: 1lb

I have new inspiration though! The fat burn Revolution The Fat burn Revolution by Julia Buckley. Everything in this book is broken down - food, emotions, habits, exercises and a plan to follow. I have spent the last week reading the book and noting down key things to help me.

The book starts by giving you some information about the writer, Julia. It's nice to know she wasn't always into sport and fitness. ThenI it goes on to really get you in the right frame of mind to make changes and admit where you are going wrong. She goes on to explain how and why the plan is going to work. She doesn't preach about food, she just suggests things to avoid. 

I'm really excited to follow Julia's plan and I have already done the first lot of exercises today. I dropped the children off at school and it took me 20 minutes. 20 minutes is no time really and I'm sure most people can find that in a day. The exercises are really easy to follow as there are detailed instructions and pictures to help.

Overall I think this is a really positive book and I would definitely recommend it to help you on your weight loss journey, its really informative and its really good for getting you into the right mindset of exercising.

It gives you daily exercises to do over a 12 week period. Its great that the exercise aren't the same and there is something different to do on each day.

I am going to try and follow this book as much as I can. I think I can stick to an exercise plan rather than a diet plan.

Better still you can download it right now onto your kindle so you can easily take it with you to remind yourself what you are doing that day.

Come back next week to see how I'm doing :)

5/52

I've said before I really don't take enough pictures of my children, so I've decided to do something new and post a picture of each one of them every week on my blog.

I'm hoping it will help improve my photography skills too. I don't want many words, it will just be some nice memories for us to look back on :) I'm actually starting on the 5th week of the year hence the title.

Millie: We were playing her favourite cupcake game and I just thought she looked cute in her pigtails

Toby: Eating a omlette before school - his new favourite breakfast!

Leon: Feeding baby goats at the farm this morning

Moments that mattered 2013

2013 was a good year for us as a family we had no ups and downs and everything ran fairly smoothly. I'm really grateful for that as 2012 we seemed to have bug after infection and 2 hospital stays!!

There was no changes to our work, home or lifestyle. Therefore we were also happy financially which is always a good thing.

We holidayed in Brittany, France in May for a week. I did write about it and looking back I think it has got to be in the top 3 best holiday of all time. There was so much to do and never a down day. We swam every morning and kept ourselves busy in the afternoons. we have already talked about booking a holiday there for 2015!

The biggest event of the year by far is was my sister getting married (she has recently started a blog you can read it here). It happened in August and it was a beautiful day. The wedding was set in the countryside and they managed to get married outside as the weather was stunning. I was bridesmaid along side Millie and the boys were pageboys. It was definitely the happiest day of 2013.

My little man started school. A day he had been waiting for for so long. He wanted to be just like his big brother. On the morning of the first day he got dressed super quick, he asked me to 'sort his collar out' as that's something I said to Leon on a daily basis. He was so happy to have photos in the garden before he went and he said he was so glad to "finally be a school boy". It made me realise how quick they grow up and they really need to stop wishing their little lives away.

Luring December I did something that I had talked about for a long time but never thought I would actually do! I got tattoo, now this wasn't exactly all my own doing. I'd spoke loads about getting one and decided it would be nice to have the date I got married on my ring finger underneath my wedding and engagement ring. One morning I had gone to town with Dave to do some banking, or so I thought. We were outside the tattoo shop when he told me he had booked me in. You can't see it great on a picture but you can get a general idea of what it looks like.

So that's the highlights of my 2013 I had a great time and hope for the same again this year!

Disclaimer: This post is my entry into the Moments That Mattered competition to win an iPad Mini in association with Lloyds Bank.