Feeling Calm #6

17/02/2016 anywaytostayathome 4 Comments

For my birthday I was given a great new book ‘Calm’ and a journal from my friends to help me find some calm in my life and to de-stress a little. I have been writing in my journal everyday and on Wednesday’s I go through the daily highlights I’ve written down and pick out my 10 favourites.

Getting to walk round Cambridge in the evening #LoveLight2016

This week has been pretty good actually, a lovely weekend away with the other half, enjoying the Festival of Light in Cambridge, finishing off one big project with Hobbycraft and getting started on a second and lots of silly fun with the little one.

It amazing the difference a week can make! I’m in such a completely different space this week in comparison to last, it’s nice. Here are my top ten moments:
Continue reading Feeling Calm #6 →

Parenting

Getting the world ready for your new arrival

15/02/2016 anywaytostayathome Leave a comment

Dettol have launched a great new campaign #gettheworldready exploring how real mums get prepared for meeting their little ones for the first time, sending them off to nursery or play group for the first time and generally preparing the world around them at every step.

Get The World Ready

Whether you’re a first-time mum or you’ve been through it all before, a little help to get everything ready for your new arrival can go a long way. Continue reading Getting the world ready for your new arrival →

Brand Ambassador, Days Out & Holidays, My Life, Reviews

Our Valentine’s Weekend at e-Luminate Cambridge 2016

14/02/2016 anywaytostayathome Leave a comment

This weekend I was lucky enough to not only have a child free weekend away with the other half but to have also been invited to e-Luminate Cambridge Festival of Light as a blog ambassador.

e-Luminate Cambridge Festival of Light

The festival started on Friday but we sadly couldn’t make the opening ceremony and it runs until the 17th, so there’s still plenty of time to visit and enjoy the amazing light installations and if you’re lucky book onto one of the fab events. As it’s half term week it would be a fab thing to do with the kids. Continue reading Our Valentine’s Weekend at e-Luminate Cambridge 2016 →

My Life, Reviews, Spa days

A Relaxing Spa Day at Clarice House – Bury St Edmunds

12/02/2016 anywaytostayathome 2 Comments

A few weekends ago my sister and I went to Clarice House in Bury St Edmunds for a day of relaxation and pampering to celebrate her 30th birthday.

I booked our package through Spa Seekers, which was fine and I got an awesome deal, but what wasn’t mentioned, at any point, was that our package didn’t include robe and towel hire, so whilst I would recommend both Spa Seekers for the deals and Clarice House for the loveliness I will say now you need to make sure that your package includes everything you assume it would.

Our package included an hour long massage, 30 minute facial, 30 minute manicure and 30 minute pedicure, as well as lunch and use fo the facilities. Pure bliss.

The Beautiful Clarice House - Bury St Edmunds — The Beautiful Clarice House – Bury St Edmunds

Continue reading A Relaxing Spa Day at Clarice House – Bury St Edmunds →

Electrical & Tech, My Life, Reviews

Improving My Workspace with Lumie

11/02/2016 anywaytostayathome Leave a comment

I love my little workspace at home. It is so important to me getting quiet time to work, being productive and being happy. It’s a work in progress still but I love it. My recent improvement has been with the Lumie Desklamp.

My little workspace is set up in our conservatory, a world of natural light you would have thought, apart from the fact we live in England and it is normally miserable, I do most of my work in the evenings and the lights we have in the conservatory are a bit pants.

So I needed a new desk lamp and having worked with Lumie before, reviewing the wonderful bodyclocks, they seemed like the perfect partner for me. Continue reading Improving My Workspace with Lumie →

Gifts, Reviews

We Are Family

11/02/2016 anywaytostayathome 1 Comment

I think I may have found the perfect Valentine’s Day gift, or Mother’s Day, or Father’s Day actually.

The We Are Family Journal from Illustries.

It’s a beautiful hardback A4 book, printed in navy and classic brown and filled with page upon page of wonderfully printed ideas and themes to fill out for your family.

I love it for it’s simple and elegant look, it is a perfect ‘coffee table’ book. It is stylish and unlike other memory books I have seen it isn’t overly girly, it is a much for my husband as it is for me, which I really like.

Continue reading We Are Family →

My Life, Parenting

Things My Toddler Says that Make Me Melt

11/02/2016 anywaytostayathome Leave a comment

What things do your kids say that just make you melt?

L is at the stage with his learning that new words are coming thick and fast. Sometimes they are very amusing and sometimes he is just so cute it makes me melt inside.

At the moment my favourite words are Apple or ‘papple’ which is just really sweet I also love that he calls any horse or donkey a ‘keekaw’. If he wants to be picked up he looks and me and says ‘mup’ and cuddles are ‘cuggle’. Aww.

What is not so great but highly amusing/embarrassing depending on the situation are the rude mispronunciations.

We currently have an issue with socks and sticks. Hmmmm.

So what words do your kids have it make you melt inside or laugh out loud?

Food & Drink, Reviews, Subscription Boxes

My January Degustabox

10/02/2016 anywaytostayathome 2 Comments

Time for my monthly Degustabox feature, if you haven’t seen previous month’s posts, Degustabox is a monthly subscription box, filled with amazing new foods for you to try out. Including new lines from big brands and foods from smaller brands that you maybe weren’t aware of. For £12.99 per box you will have contents worth well in excess of that, get the chance to try something new and maybe even find a new favourite treat. I enjoy getting to try things I wouldn’t normally buy for my family.

The January box was a treat as usual, filled with lots of new flavours and even a cheeky bottle of lager, hooray. Here’s what I got; Continue reading My January Degustabox →

My Life

Feeling Calm #5

10/02/2016 anywaytostayathome 6 Comments

Well this last week has been far from calm, it has been busy and angry and sad. It has had me questioning whether I should carry on trying to make my Social Media Business a success or if I should just quit and get a job at Tesco, even questioning whether to carry on blogging or not.

Getting help with my Hobbycraft makes from L

I love my blog, with all my heart, but it takes up so much time and when time is at a premium it can be hard to justify, a blazing row with the other half didn’t help, but actually talking afterwards did.

It has also been a week of increased understanding, new opportunities, fun and giggles. It is these parts that I’m glad I’ve written down so I can gain some perspective, whilst one of my daily highlights may have been ‘getting on top the laundry’ oh the exciting life I lead, strangely that hasn’t made my top 10, but here they are:
Continue reading Feeling Calm #5 →

My Life

New Beginnings

10/02/2016 anywaytostayathome Leave a comment

A new domain, a new look and a new start. Same me, same style and same musings on life. Yes my blog has been moved and revamped, I hope you like it!

All my old content is still there for all to see at anywaytostayathome.com, the competitions are still live, everything is as it was.

Anything new will be here though, on my brand new website.

The move may have been thought about for a while, but my hand has been forced, as since Sunday I have been unable to put any new content on my old website, after hours and hours of speaking to my tech support they informed me the software I was using wasn’t up to the job, that I should move to a new software, hellooo WordPress, and that I would have to rebuild my site, manually, from scratch.

Tears have been shed, frustration and fear felt, total and all encompassing panic happened there for a while. But then I calmed down, gave myself a shake and made a decision.

So instead of a rebuild, that I have neither the knowledge nor time to do myself, and apparently not enough funds for someone else to do for me, here I am here making a fresh start.

I hope you’ll come with me, I hope you’ll love it even more than before, I hope you’ll have patience with me just while I get everything set up.

If you find glitches or errors, please let me know, but in the meantime I just want to say thank you for your support!

Any Way To Stay At Home