A Mind Body Soul Experience Comes To Manchester

Well, what an absolute nightmare day today has been.

I don't mean to be such a grump, but honestly, it is days like today that I really regret my choice at wanting to work with children.

It has been just horrible and now that I am finally home and have finally grabbed a bite to eat, all I want to do is sleep or eat some rubbish...or eat some rubbish and then sleep.

I'm a total misery and need some cheering up and reviving.

I reckon it's a very good job I'm visiting Manchester in a few weekends to take a look at the Mind Body Soul (MBS) Experience that will be exhibiting at Manchester Central on Saturday 10th and Sunday 11th May.

I certainly feel like my mind, body and soul need some working on today, that's for sure.

I've never really been one for alternative therapies if I'm honest, maybe because I've never really understood what they are or what they can offer - I've always found my stress buster comes from jumping around at a sweaty, calorie burning gym class.

I am really hoping to be pleasantly surprised by the weekends events and maybe have my eyes opened a little bit.

The Mind Body Soul Experience will apparently not only bring the mind, body and soul together, but "will add a splash of excitement, a dousing of entertainment and more than a fair share of pampering" too.

Now I am certainly all for the pampering that's for sure.

Over the course of weekend, over one hundred exhibitors will be providing visitors with a variety of different experiences, all encouraging the use of all five senses - there will be runes, raw chocolate, Latin rhythm and fairies on offer, to name just a few.

Every experience promises to be new and interesting with the aim of helping to develop a positive mind, a healthy body and an enlightened soul.

I could certainly go for a positive mind and healthy body today...and having an "enlightened soul", well that certainly intrigues me.

And what's more, the weekend event ticket gives visitors access to the OM Yoga Show too.

Although I've never thought of myself as much of a yoga person - I attempted a class once and my body just did not bend or stretch well enough to be able go back to class number two - I am still really intrigued by it, so a little apprehensive peek through the doorway may have to be taking place I think.

The weekend entertainment will certainly be full of new experiences for me - and Kelly as she will be my partner in health benefiting crime - and I'm really looking forward to it.

Tickets for this Manchester Mind Body Soul show cost £7.50 for one day or £10.50 for both days (admission on the door is available but costs slightly more).

Why not head on over?

Come and find me and Kel and say Hi!

I've been promised that our minds, bodies and souls will thank us for it, so why not yours!?

Loving My Little August Bluetooth Speaker

After a stressful day at work, I love nothing more than indulging in a long, hot, relaxing soak in the bath.

Usually accompanied with candles and a good old sing along - obviously as loudly as I can manage - to some fabulous 90's pop tune.

This also annoys the hell out of the two boys in my house....

...life's little pleasures eh!

The only problem I find with this though is that because I do annoy them so much I'm kind of running out of options as to how to get my bath time music fix.

My only music source upstairs comes in the form of the radio/CD player/iPod dock which is my sons and therefore in his bedroom.

He can often be found stomping past the bathroom, into his bedroom and switching my music off in a huff.

- Singing time over for Mum -

The next option I have is to use my phone, but this plan also has it's flaws.

The volume on my iPhone isn't the best - especially when it is left in my bedroom and I am in the bathroom.

I can barely hear what I'm singing and having such a low volume fails to disguise my less-than-perfect-voice.

- Not good at all, so again, singing time over for Mum -

And then we have the option where I actually take said phone into the bathroom with me for maximum volume.

This option is a no go I'm afraid - I've made that mistake before and it was RIP mobile.

- CERTAINLY singing time over for Mum - 

It would seem as though my daydreams of being the long undiscovered extra member of the Spice Girls or All Saints is to be left behind and forgotten after all.

Such sad times.

But wait a second, perhaps not - put away those celebratory balloons boys-of-my-house - perhaps the dream can live on.

Perhaps I can continue to sing my heart out once more.

And how can I do this I hear you ask?

Well, it is all possible again because I was very kindly sent this really cute, really sleek looking, silver piece of audio technology.

How very exciting.

And how very practical.

This August MS425B Bluetooth Speaker is a great size - it fits nicely onto the palm of my hand and is really lightweight and very easily portable.

I was able to take my singing on a recent family outing in the great outdoors (although I was a tad quieter than at home) as the speaker fit snugly into my small shoulder bag and it wasn't bulky or heavy at all.

The speaker is available to buy in six really cute colours, but I think my brushed silver one is the sleekest looking of them all...in my very biased opinion it is anyway.

(Really, they are all quite nice.)

It 100% goes without saying that I was mega chuffed when this arrived - I just couldn't wait to get it going.

Very unfortunately again for the boys in my house, I had just discovered that amazing, that brilliant, that fantastic Disney film that is Frozen around about the same time that this speaker landed through my door - and that could mean just one thing...

A DISNEY SINGALONG

No better way to test out the speakers music-blasting capabilities in my book than with the Frozen soundtrack - I reckon it would be rude not to.

The speaker connects wirelessly to my phone as soon as both are switched on and paired together (which takes only seconds to do).  Any songs on my phone will then play straight through the speaker and as long as they are within bluetooth range of each other they will continue to be compatible - about ten meters (or so it says on the box!).

I found the sound quality fantastic too.

With it being such a small device I think there was a slight expectation that the sound may be a little bit "tinny" or unclear at times, but this wasn't the case at all.

The music played very clear, very crisp and very loud.

Perfect for my sing-a-longs.

And then, most importantly, because the speaker has it's own volume button, the music can be turned up from there so there is absolutely no need for my phone or the speaker to ever enter the bathroom during my relaxation time.

I can leave them both in my bedroom, close my son's bedroom door as not to disturb him (as if I dare!) and still have a loud quality of sound to enjoy.

Fantastic Stuff

The speaker was packaged really well when it arrived too and came complete with a USB port charger.

I found that the battery lasted quite a while once charged - it got me through my Frozen fix anyway and that's certainly good enough for me.

Oh, and if a call comes through on the phone mid-song, the speaker will act as a little hands-free kit so you can chat away using it's inbuilt microphone.

I absolutely love this product and found it no different in quality or capability than some of the more expensive branded ones that a few of my friends have.

This speaker, in my opinion, is well worth it's £17.75 price tag on Amazon.

It's fab.

Surely it must be "Do You Want To Build A Snowman?" time again

* Product sent for review - all thoughts and images are my own

Book Review - The Memory Tourist

Reading has kind of taken a backseat for me at the moment, and that's something I'm a little bit sad about to be honest.

Once upon a time, in the not so distant past, I could easily read a book within a day or two, put a review together about it and then be well on with my next book, no problem at all, but I seem to have totally lost my mojo at the moment.

It seems that there isn't enough hours in the day for me to fit in everything I need to do, and unfortunately, it's reading that has taken a back burner for the time being.

This isn't something I consciously chose to do either - I really love putting my feet up and settling down to get lost within the pages of a really fantastic story.

Nope - it is not ideal...not ideal at all.
Especially for a lady who is supposedly part of an amazingly fabulous book club and currently has five authors sat waiting on me to review their books.

Oopsie

I really do need to get my book-worm head back in the game - and pronto.

But I have made a start - honestly - I really have!

And to prove this fact, and because I haven't done anything like this on my blog in a while, I thought I would share a review with you of a book I finished just last night.

This book is by a brilliant first time author, it costs just £2.94 on Amazon and judging by this story, I can 100% see lots more coming from this guy.

Fingers Crossed anyway.

The Memory Tourist

Glenn Haigh

This is the story surrounding the lifelong friendship of an extremely close, but very different group of friends, delving into their lives and looking at how they each cope with, deal with and move on from a horrible, life changing tragedy.

Dee Winters has always perceived herself to be "different" from the rest of the world, but with the love and support of her best friend Garth, she has faced her fears head on, surviving and overcoming everything with Garth's guidance, support and unwavering faithfulness towards her never faltering.

That is of course, until Dee stops being the "elephant in the room" and evolves into The Memory Tourist.

Now it is her time to be everything to Garth that he was to her - and a whole lot more besides.

But as The Memory Tourist, will Dee ever be detected?

Will she go un-seen, being able to trawl through her loved ones memories - be they of the past, present or the future?

Will Garth ever be able to forgive Dee for the blame he places on her for carrying out her seemingly selfish, unthinkable acts?

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

I absolutely loved this story.

It had me gripped from beginning to end and I found that it had every single element that you would expect from a brilliant book:

~ Rich, descriptive text which paints elaborate pictures in your mind

~ Lovable, lifelike, un-perfect, realistic characters that you immediately gel with and who you really feel as though you know

~ Extremely strong, thought-provoking language which really takes an amazingly strong hold of your emotions.

I found the plot of the story fantastic too - it has such a lovely, comforting concept.

The idea that the souls of those we love remain with us, even after death, with no-one ever being lost, not forever, is so beautiful, and is so lovingly captured within the pages of this book that I was actually really disappointed to have finished it.

I wanted it to go on and on.

Throughout the reading of this story, there were moments I found myself actually laughing out loud and other moments where I had tears of utter sadness running down my face.

The descriptions really are that strong - they grab hold of you and pull you into their plot.

As a reader, I find this very important because I want to be able to feel as though I am an actual part of the story, almost as though I am able to interact with the characters and really experience what they are feeling, not just feel like a passive spectator simply looking in.

And for me, this book certainly ticked that box.

There is also a real "gasp in shock" twist at the end of the story which had my mind reeling a little bit, but it was fab - you really can't ask for anything more.

I found The Memory Tourist a truly heartwarming, beautiful, 100%-must-read story and I can't wait to see what is next from the author.

A Real Five Star Story

Clothes I Simply Can't Live Without

When it comes to clothes and outfits, I'm not really a sentimental kind of a girl.

I have friends who have some fantastic pieces of clothing that their Mum's, or even their Gran's, used to wear "back in the day" which have been lovingly looked after and passed down to them.

And it goes without saying that they look really fashionable and amazing wearing them now.

But this is not me.

Unfortunately.

I tend to go on high-street splurges every once in a while, buy as much as I can and then wear it all to absolute death before it's ready for the bin.
And then the cycle begins again.

~ No family treasures.

~ No vintage heirlooms.

~ Just plenty of Primark, New Look and Top Shop.

* S I G H *

What clothing do I own that I simply can not part with?

Surely there must be something...?

It took a little bit of thinking and a trawl through my wardrobe, but then there it was!

It was so obviously obvious that I'm really not sure why it didn't jump straight into my mind at the very beginning.

The item of clothing that I simply can't part with is an item that I've owned for almost thirteen years now.

It's something that brings back a whole host of fantastic memories yet I can only recall wearing it the once.

And here it is:

Granted, the item in question is nothing really fancy or eye-catching, it is a just-above-the-knee black leather skirt which was bought from Oasis, and I'm sure it cost about £50 at the time.

To be honest, the price is probably part of the reason that I haven't thrown it out or given it away before now - paying that much money for a skirt isn't a normal occurrence for me let me tell you.

But the other reason - the main reason really - as to why I just can't part with this skirt is because it was bought especially for my 18th birthday party.

I absolutely had the best time at that party.

The place was packed and everyone I wanted to be there was.
I spent the evening surrounded by all my amazing friends and family, and I remember being the centre of attention at every moment and loving every second of it.

It was also the first time that I was daring enough to ever wear a short skirt...although that soon changed....!

2001 - and the skirt gets it's very first outing!

I've kept hold of this skirt for all of these years now and I really can't see me parting with it anytime soon, regardless of the fact that I'm very unlikely to ever wear it again, I'm sure it will keep very nicely in a little space, hidden away in my wardrobe for a little while longer at least.

Plus - and this is my favourite kind of plus - the skirt is actually a clothes size bigger than I currently wear at the moment.

I am absolutely loving the fact that within this skirt, I have an actual real-life item of proof, that at my grand old age of thirty years, I am smaller in size than I was at eighteen!

AND I've had a baby along the way too.

! Woohoo !

So there you have it - my item of clothing that I won't live without, and the reasons why I won't let it go.

I think I'll keep it forever...

Blue #rainbownailsblog

Awww - look.

Blue is the last colour in the rainbow song.

After this week, Kelly's #rainbownailsblog project is officially over - apart from a few "added extra" weeks that is - and I've loved taking part.

My nails are almost back to a "normal" standard now, how they were before my obsession with acrylic nail wearing took over and totally changed them.

So blue - obviously I had nothing at all even remotely blue in my sparse nail colour collection, but I picked up this Rimmel polish especially - and it is very bright and very blue.

Also after hearing good things about the spotty, speckled polishes from Primark, I hot-footed it there and made a bee-line for their make-up area.

Although this is slightly more lilac in colour than it is blue, I just had to include it, more so because it has it's own little story.

When I went to pick it up, this little box was the last one of it's kind on display...perhaps if I had asked someone they would have brought more out of hiding...but I didn't ask - I wanted this one.

And so it would seem did another lady - well - a young teen to be precise.

I'm not ashamed at all to say that I launched over and snatched this up before her hand could even reach out for it...which earnt me a very large sigh and an extremely filthy look.

But I really had to have it...it would just seem that nail polish rage is a new thing these days.

So as you can see, after all of that effort, I just had to include the polish into this post somewhere.

First - let's look at the rainbow colour - the Rimmel polish "Blue My Mind", which is indeed extremely blue.

The brush looked quite thick and I initially thought I was going to end up with it all over, but surprisingly it applied really nicely and covered the nail really easily.

Two coats gave this very shiny finish - plus it was dry in sixty seconds - what more do you need.

I'm not 100% convinced on the colour though.

Personally it's not my favourite and I don't think I'd pick it for an everyday colour, but for the purposes of #rainbownailsblog, it worked perfectly.

Now back to the Primark Spotty polish which was an absolute bargain at just £1.

The brush was again quite thick, but the polish applied lovely,

One coat gave a very pale colour, but two coats was perfect for me.

The spotty affect is created by different sized glittery pieces that are mixed into the polish.

The teeny glitter bits appeared on the nail with every brush stroke, but the bigger pieces took a little bit of maneuvering with the brush to make sure they were distributed fairly evenly.

The colour is perfect for an everyday look - it would go with any outfit colour or style - and it would have really been fantastic for Easter Day.

It did however take quite a while to dry - especially after a few coats - and I wasn't impressed with the smell of the polish at all either.

Once applied to the nail, the polish had a slight "plastic" smell, which remained even after the polish was fully dry - it wasn't ideal really.
But for only £1 I don't suppose I should grumble.

It certainly wouldn't put me off picking up a few more different colours anyway.

Just hopefully next time, without the danger of having a full on nail polish brawl.

A war over a nail polish?  Whatever next!

5.30am Running With Hi-Tec

I seem to be continuously trying to convince myself to get up and get out of the door to go and do some running at the moment.

I cancelled my gym membership so that it would force me to have to go, but it seems that no matter how many good intentions I have, I always find an excuse to put it off:

~ It's raining

~ It's too cold

~ Oh, it's too late now

~ I can't find any trainer socks (!!!)

Silly I know, but trust me, there are so many excuses I've allowed myself to use, it's pritty ridiculous really.

I really needed a kick up the bum, and then the fab people at Hi-Tec sent me some brilliant trainers from their Haraka Range - which I first told you all about here - and I figured that it was now or never.

I had to make sure I put these lovelies to good use.

No more excuses - get up, and get out.

And that's exactly what I've been doing this week - getting out and making the most of the nice weather and the rest of the school holidays.

Looking less than pretty, mid run!

I eased myself into my first run with two miles at a fairly reasonable pace around my local park, and then for the past two mornings - and by morning I really mean morning, as in 5.30am - I've managed three miles each day.

It's been very hard, I won't lie.

It feels like I'm starting my "Get Fit" regime all over again, totally from scratch, almost as though the past few years at the gym never even happened, but on each occasion I've had my new trainers on and I absolutely love them.

They've really helped to make things easier.

They are super comfy and really are as lightweight as advertised.

Usually if I run for any length of time, be that in a gym class, outside on the road or in the gym on a treadmill, at some point I will have to slow down or even stop for a breather because my ankles begin to feel really tight and start to really pull.

Now I'm assuming that these Hi-Tec trainers help to support my feet a whole lot better than my other trainers because I've had no issues at all with my ankles, which has been a very welcome surprise - it's really made such a difference.

Having no pain to worry about has meant that I can train for longer without being forced to stop - it just goes to show that the right footwear and the right support for your feet really does make a huge difference.

The colour is great, the laces fasten - and stay fastened (always a huge bonus!) - and I've even convinced my friend to search out a pair of Hi-Tec's for her next running shoes too.

I just love them.

The Haraka Lightweight Range has styles for both men and women in a whole array of different colours and they cost £34.99.

Happy Running

* Trainers sent for consideration of an honest review

Blogger Holiday Take Three - Cake & Tea Anyone?

Blogger Holiday - Part Three is here.

I figured if I stretched out telling you all about it as much as possible, then I could relive the fab weekend a little bit longer.

Acceptable logic, right?

If you've seen Part One (here) and Part Two (here) of "A Blogger's Holiday Tales", then you'll know that the very generous folk at Sykes Cottages recommended to myself and seven other lovelies, their beautiful Mountain View apartment a few weekends ago, where we ate, drank and became fairly merry.

It was great.

But there's still some things I've failed to inform you of, but I shall be rectifying this right now.

First of all, on the Saturday, I was the first one up - Mums never sleep late - enjoying a lovely coffee courtesy of those brilliant Ringtons people and loving the amazing views provided by the location of the cottage.

What a pretty place to spend 7am.

Once everyone else was up, dressed and had sang "Happy Birthday" to Hayley's very lovely Mum - who insisted on cooking a fab breakfast for everyone regardless of it being her birthday - the majority of us headed off into nearby Kendal to see what we could see.

Obviously we saw a shopping centre.

Obviously we ventured inside.

Obviously make-up was sought out, and obviously purchases were made.

These things go without saying really.

As does the fact that the shopping made us ladies hungry and the only thing to curb the appetite at that point was to indulge in some calorie-laden, sweet food.

Which obviously we did too.

Turning a corner, we came across Kendal's Famous 1657 Chocolate House, which held a whole host of beautifully smelling, and judging by some of our sighs of delight, amazing tasting, chocolate treats.

I held out at this point and waited until we stepped into the cute little tea room upstairs and once inside I knew what it would have to be - a scone with jam and clotted cream and a nice pot of tea.

The scone arrived and it was huge, and very tasty indeed.  There was no trouble from me finishing it all off let me tell you.

Most of the ladies indulged in one of the many, very tasty sounding hot chocolates, but I was more than happy with a good old cuppa.

Back at our "home", the majority of us began getting ready for the evening, whilst some of our more avid sports fans popped the footie on the TV and got very much stuck into the match.

Thanks to Kelly's amazing, early morning baking skills, we had more cake to enjoy, which went down very nicely with some of the amazing goodies sent to us by the brilliant people at Ringtons (see here).

We had delicious tea and some very amazing tasting biscuits - so amazing, I'm not sure if I could choose a favourite - I'd gladly eat the full packet of them all.

The rhubarb crumble ones were great though, very different and they reminded me of those rhubarb and custard sweets from being a youngster.

Very Yum.

And can we just take a moment to gaze upon the beautiful Alice In Wonderland teapot, which is very unfortunately not mine (*sigh*) but is Kelly's...and I'm not sure she would have taken too kindly to me pinching it...although I really wish I'd tried...

Anyhow, back to the sport.

(did I really just say that??)

I'm more of a rugby girl myself, but I do enjoy a penalty shoot out as much as the next person - and this one was pritty tense, judging by Kate's screams and hollers it was anyway.

It was soon time to venture out, to the only place to calm frazzled nerves after such a tense match - the local pub.

We laughed, drank and annoyed the locals until it was time for home.

The word "home" did not relate to the word "bed" though, as there was an impromptu midnight stroll to the beach, plus a few more cheeky cocktails....which stretched w-e-l-l into the small hours...

...the "headaches" the next morning were very much eased thanks again, to the beautiful Ringtons tea, the Ringtons biscuits and for me, cups and cups of the Ringtons gorgeous coffee...

Thank You Ringtons - so, so much...

* Ringtons hamper provided for us to enjoy, free of charge - all thoughts, opinions and pictures are my own

Happy Easter

! Happy Easter Everyone !

I hope you all have a very happy, chocolate filled day.

So, what have we been up to this year...

Well, at school, my son has had his first Egg "Egg-shibition", rather than the event held for the previous three years, where we had to make Easter Hats for the school's Easter parade.

Obviously parading around the playground in a hat covered in PVA glue, fluffy chicks and feathers is so not cool for an eight year old boy, so once the kiddies hit Year Three, they move up a level and now the Easter requirement is that they have to decorate hard boiled eggs in a variety of ways ready for an "Egg-shibition" in the school hall.

Now, whilst this is all put on because it is the Easter period, non of the entries were very Easter related at all - there were rugby eggs, One Direction eggs, Minion eggs - a whole array of eggs - however there was certainly a lot of hours put into all of the creations that's for sure.

Now in our house, well, we decided that "Everything is Awesome" and the egg theme chosen was "The Lego Movie".

My son chose this the night before the entries were to be taken into school.

We are so un-organised sometimes.

But off we went - painting the eggs bright yellow - which was a lot harder than anticipated - only then to realise that we had no idea how to make eggs look like Lego characters.

Cue a slight panic, but then my son decided that the only other thing yellow he could think of was:

Yep, The Simpsons.

...minus Maggie because we hadn't anticipated needing five eggs...

They turned out quite good in the end - my son is brilliant at drawing and I couldn't get over how accurate the faces were.

They certainly made me chuckle anyway.

So, what else are we up to this Easter?

Well, a little more Easter related is the Easter Egg Hunt I put on...*ahem*...the Easter Bunny puts on for my son.

I love the fact that he still believes in all of the kiddie imagination stuff, and I want to keep this going as long as possible.

There have been times when fictional characters have been questioned and his rational thinking began to take over, but the worry of "not believing means no presents/eggs/treats" soon switched his thinking back!

At the moment he's happy to still believe, and I'm very happy to allow him to, and help him keep his imagination working.

It makes everything a whole lot more magical and a lot more special.

So on Easter morning, we enjoy running around the house and the garden, in and out of the car and backwards and forwards throughout the different rooms, following the clues set out and collecting all of the chocolate eggs.

My son really looks forward to this and has been know to talk about it from around Boxing Day the year before - so it needs to be good.

And then, the best of all is obviously the stash of egg shaped chocolate to enjoy for breakfast.

Yum