and the winner is.........................

Firstly, thank you so much to Chic Unique for providing such a beautiful bracelet in my giveaway......

The lucky winner is CAROLE HEIDI!!!!  Well done, please can you contact me with your address.

Win tickets to the Excel Baby Show February 18-20th 2011

The lovely Louise at Safe Dreams has given me four pairs of tickets to giveaway to the UK's number one baby show at the Excel in London between the 18th - 20th February 2011.

This is a great day out for any parents or parents to be, as you'll find lots of inspiration and advice as well as making huge savings on anything child related.  I saved nearly £200 on my top of the range buggy a few years ago which pleased HAW immensely.

With fantastic savings, expert advice, and hundreds of essential products to choose from , The Baby Show is the ideal place for visitors to give their babies the very best start to life, all under one roof.

The Show will offer visitors handy hints and tips on the best products to buy for babies and birth, as well as 1000’s of fantastic savings on all those must have pregnancy and baby products from top brands.   There are lots of live demonstrations offering you the opportunity to try before you buy. 

This is also an event where people showcase their latest products, so you can pick up unique items that are not being sold on the high street yet.  You'll be the trendsetter!

Naturally, being a family friendly show, there is plenty of nappy changing, feeding zones and play areas making this one of the most pleasurable shopping experiences for parents and babies alike.  There is even a "shop to drop" area where you can quite literally drop your bags, ready for collection by car, making shopping that much easier. 

Don't forget to drop by stand G42 and have a look at the Breathable Cot Wrap a safe alternative to the cot bumper.

Here's what you need to do win one pair of tickets:

1 Follow this blog and tell me below that you are doing so
2 Follow @superamazingmum and @lou_safedreams on twitter and RT "I am entering to win a pair of Excel Baby Show Tickets with @superamazingmum and @lou_safedreams RT and follow to enter"

Please let me know below what you have done!

Good luck and Happy Shopping!

 

BlanX - Intensive Whitening Treatment - a review Part 1

I am very excited to have been asked to review the BlanX tooth whitening range.  I have to say, I am very proud of my teeth which although rather on the large side are relatively straight and cavity free.  However, I have recently noticed that they are not quite as pearly white as they once were, something I blame on my daily consumption of tea, coffee and red wine.   

I have used tooth whitening toothpaste in the past and not noticed a difference so I am keen to see if this is the product I have been searching for.

I hadn't heard of BlanX before but I love the story behind the brand.   The key ingredient in BlanX  is Arctic Lichen which was discovered by a team of American scientists during an expedition to the Arctic.  The team noticed that the native population had extraordinarily white and healthy teeth, and  further research showed that all they did was rub their teeth with lichen that grew nearby.

Italian researchers then investigated this lichen and isolated the active ingredients responsible for the whitening effect. From this, BlanX created a range that is unique in its effectiveness and protection, based on the natural ingredients derived from the Arctic Lichen.   

So far, so good,  it's natural, it doesn't damage enamel and it has a minty taste.

I have been sent the whole range to try, so first up is the intensive whitening treatment which you use 2x  day for 2 weeks.   I am already on Day 6 and can see a difference.  There is a handy BlanXometer included in each pack which indicates the level of staining currently on your teeth.  It's a bit like a paint colour chart with varying degrees of tooth colour from hollywood white (I wish) to builders tea brown (yuck). 

I'll let you know how I get on, but so far, so good, it's natural, it doesn't damage enamel and it has a fresh and minty taste. 

I am definately on the way to whiter teeth, now where did I put that toothbrush??

Toilet Tuesday - Oh ground please swallow me up....

The gorgeous Wendy at Inside the Wendy House has come up with an ingenious meme.  It's childish, it's funny, it's vulgar, it's embarrassing and it's right up my street.   She has christened it Toilet Tuesday and it is just that, anything that is vulgar or shameful that you really, well shouldn't be broadcasting but just can't help yourself

Here is my contribution (and I can't believe I am doing this Wendy, a tweet is fine but a blog - eek!)

Four years ago my lovely Beansy and I were in Waitrose doing the weekly shop, he loves to help and was happily putting items onto the check out, giving me a running commentary as we go along, you know the sort of thing:

"Yummy, grapes mummy"

"I like these biscuits"

I was busying myself with the packaging away, when all of a sudden I heard his loud (very loud) but sweet little voice say "Oh look Mummy, it's those things that you put up your Noonie"

I'll leave you to guess what he was holding up for all to see but it starts with a T and ends with an X.

Remind me never to take part in this again, or else I will have to share the story of the pigeon ejaculating on my head!!!

That was the week that was - TWTWTW, week 3, 2011

I can't believe another week has flown by, I have had a very mixed week where I have really struggled with the whole WAHM (work at home mum) status.  My work days are Thursday and Friday (that's when I have childcare) but the reality is that I work every single day.  It's not helped by the fact that I have an iphone so if a client emails me then of course I will respond.

I need to sort this situation out!!

The highlight of the week was definitely finding a painting in a skip in Hampstead I'm rich beyond my wildest dreams and I am going to get it re-framed this week.   

This week I also had a bit of a spend up in debenhams, I have been wanting to try the Lancome genifique range for a while and so with some Christmas money, I got the eye cream, and youth activating (hah, I live in hope!) moisturiser.  It's got a wonderful fresh smell and is very easily absorbed without leaving a greasy feel.   All the things I want in a moisturiser, only time will tell if it works, but it has great reviews so I live in hope. 

Have a great week everyone.

"I'm rich beyond my wildest dreams"

well, erm I could be.  Maybe, hopefully. Let's see what you think.......

Yesterday, I was in London seeing a client who was lucky enough to live right by Hampstead Heath.  This was a serious case of house envy on my behalf, it was truly amazing and not much change out of £10m I imagine.  It was one of those white stucco fronted houses, spread over six floors and with a reception hall that was bigger than my whole downstairs.  It had a games room, cinema room and bar.  It was truly lush.

Anyway, they were a wonderful family who loved their photographs and I left a happy bunny.  The sun was shining, and as I was going back to the car, something caught my eye resting against a skip.  I am a bit of a magpie and couldn't resist a look.  This is what I found:

I saw straight away it was a woodblock on possibly silk (see I did listen in art class) and I also saw that is was an original.   I looked around and saw that a massive mansion was being renovated, there was even a belfast sink in the skip, which sadly for me, I couldn't even lift.  After bumbling around for a few minutes, I decided to take the painting.  (Gosh, that makes me sounds as if I was stealing it, but someones trash was definitely my treasure!).

When I got home, I called my parents as my Dad knows a bit about "art" and my mum used to work in a gallery in St James.  After a bit of pondering, they identified it as an original by the artist Alice Goodwin who studied at Camden Art School in the 60s (which probably explains why it ended up in a big old mansion in Hampstead).

So, what's it worth??  A bit of googling says anything from a couple of hundred, to a couple of thousand!  Do I care? No, I just really like it or rather I like the idea that in 50 years time my grandchildren could be on the Antiques Road Show saying "My granny found it in a skip in Hampstead and it's been in the family ever since" only for them to be told it's worth millions!

I'm a daft old romantic at heart, but it's captivated my imagination!

7 things you don't know about me.......

I’ve been tagged by Missie Lizzie over at Me and My Shadow and Michelle at Mummy from the heart to share 7 things you didn’t know about me.  Pop over there and read theirs.

I ignored this for a while as it all seemed a bit too chain lettery but Gemma from Hello, it's Gemma has been on at me to participate and seeing as she is my blog twin, I can't say No.

What you are meant to do is choose 15 people to tag.  It's going to be hard to see who has and hasn't been tagged so for today, I am going to choose the following people who are all lovely and make me laugh.  Some of them are new to blogging, so let's share the blog love and support them! 

http://kailexness.wordpress.com/
http://lotusflowerlily.wordpress.com/
http://chocorangecitymum.blogspot.com/
http://cherrymumof6.wordpress.com/
http://bod-for-tea.blogspot.com/
http://manic-mums.blogspot.com/
http://ghostwritermummy.wordpress.com/
http://emsyjo.blogspot.com/
http://missbehaving.wordpress.com/
http://mummysquared.blogspot.com/
http://insidethewendyhouse.blogspot.com/
http://ladouceviesuisse.blogspot.com/
http://i-heart-motherhood.blogspot.com/

Here are 7 things you don't know about me:

1) I have snogged a member of a very famous boy band. I didn't know who they were and it was when they were touring round schools and youth clubs performing.  He is now a global superstar and I shared an illicit snog and fag with him outside the youth club.  I was drunk on 20/20 and he probably was as well!  He was a fabulous kisser but I will never kiss and tell (erm, well maybe give me a £5 and I might).  I now have a ridiculous school girl crush on him that HAW thinks is insane.

2) My grandmother was a survivor of the Titanic.  We don't know anymore as she was orphaned and bought up in a nunnery in Oxford.  She always alluded to this but confirmed it on her death bed.

3) I was a teenage wild child.  I used to sneak up to London on the train and go to all the cool clubs.  My parents still to this day think I was at a friends studying. (sorry mum!)  Her parents were very liberal and would cover for me, mine were super strict.  I find it incredible now that one parent would lie to another parent. 

4) I am a make up junkie.  I have enough products to open my own department.  Space NK fills me with joy.  I blame this addiction on my first job.  Can you guess what it was?

5) I failed my maths GCSE 3x. For a grammar school girl this was unheard of.  Despite this, I went on to successfully run blue chip companies advertising teams dealing in trades of approx £20m.    I have never needed to use trigonometry since.  My grammar and spelling is also atrocious.  I am very grateful for spell check.

6) My daughter is named after Jodie Foster's character in Bugsy Malone.  I am still amazed I managed to get that one past HAW as he vetoed it for 10 years.  I think he was so fed up with the pregnant me, he did it for an easy life!  Despite this, she is called Pixie more often than not!

7) I have been in a commercial with I heart Muthahood's husband!!  I went to stage school when I was younger and had to recruit lots of friends for a  crowd scene in a Young Person's Railcard TV/Cinema ad.  He was a great friend of mine and along with the rest of our gang we had a brilliant day out.  We didn't realise that we "knew" each other until we started reading each other's blogs!

Your challenge now is to complete this and link up with me (I think)

Good Luck! xx