Typecast

I've never been a fan of school reunions, mainly because I break out into cold sweats at the memories of the bullying I received during my high school years.  But my primary school years were great.  I was lucky to be surrounded by teachers that were inspirational and that I remember to this day ( especially "Sir" ).  People change, people move on and whilst the memories remain intact life takes us down very different paths. One of my best friends at primary school was Steph.  We enjoyed lots of birthday parties together and attended Brownies.  We came as a gang of four or five (including Tara, Claire and Frances) and I can't remember a single time that we fell out although I'm sure there were some. Steph ended up going to a different high school and we lost contact with each other.  Many years later, through the wonders of the internet we managed to hook up again via Yahoo but, for one reason or another, we lost touch again.  Then, finally,...

We had a slight interlude with  Soundtrack To My Life  last week but we're back with a vengeance.  This week I am featuring Nicola whom I first met on a parenting forum a few years ago.  Nicola's blog has taken what may be considered a rather macabre turn as she is a taphophile (passionate about cemeteries).  However, her photographs and her additional "freaky" and "murderous" posts are really interesting.  Here are Nicola's musical choices and the tale behind why she has chosen each one.  ¨¨°º©©º°¨¨ Diana Ross - Chain Reaction This is the first song i can ever recall actually liking.  I must have been about 5 years old at the time, maybe even younger when it was played on the radio and the video shown on the television.  I have no idea why I liked the song so much, but I did.  Even to the point where I asked if I could have the song for my birthday.  I didn't get it, thus started a long path to disappointment....

Whenever I open the Daily Fail's Entertainment Section Sidebar of Shame (don't judge me...) I am treated to a number of reports based around zeleb's twitter activity, including bitch-slap rows, omgshesnotwearingmakeup shocker twitpics and Get.A.Room voyeuristic tweets. The main culprits are the TOWIE* crew and I always wondered why they insisted on public tweeting whilst out on the town rather than private texting.  It has always seemed very "HEY.  ME.  OVER HERE.  YES, ME.  LOOK AT ME AND MY PLASTIC-CELEBRITY MATES"... That was until I attended two rather large conferences this year! In a situation like that, almost everyone use Twitter.  It's sooooo much easier to pull up your phone's Twitter app, with all the names preloaded and tweet out something along the lines of : Saw @superamazingmum earlier and then lost her... where are you, Sophie? And you get a response along the lines of: [from @mummybarrow] @nickie72 @supera...

What a gorgous name for a radio show! Dream Corner is broa dcas t on  OnFM Londo n  and its ethos is to inspire women of all ages to follow their dreams and their passions.  It is presented  by the very lovely Viv Oyolu , whose accent is to die for I rocked up to the Riverside Studios in Hammersmith  and I could have happily blagged a few more hours there to have a nosy round if I'd have know more about the  studio's history  but I had arranged to call in for a chat with Viv on my way to the BritMums Live! event.   Prior to the interview, I sent in a guest post to be featured on the website - we called it ' Life In New Directions '.  During the interview we had a chat about the direction in which my life has taken me, what I have done to cope with the difficult times in my life and how my husband and I support each other.   I had an amazing view over the River Thames from my microphone and it was a very relaxing hour...

The over-riding message from almost all speakers at " BritMums Live " this weekend was to use your own voice and be a great community member.  I'm paraphrasing, of course, but clarity in thought with regards to social media, monetizing, story-telling and rewinding was what I came away with, both as a speaker and an attendee. I shall write more about the weekend later but I would like to highlight the session I was leading during BritMums Live - Crossing The Chasm : How To Bring Your Blog To The Next Level .  My fellow speakers were Melinda Fargo , Maggie Woodley , Jane Blackmore and Michelle Pannell (click their names to be taken to their blogs) and, whilst our personal ethos is very different,    without realising or prompting  our message to the audience was very similar.  We each spoke for a few minutes about our own blogging journey to date and then opened a discussion with the audience.  Below is my own introduction, then a Google+ ...

At Britmums Live! I am in the " Bloggers Studio " on Friday afternoon (5.10pm - it's a 45 minute session) talking about how to take your blog to the next level.  Immediately afterwards myself and my fellow session speakers will be holding a G+ hangout with Melissa from Google+.  I hope to see you there in one capacity or another!  Anyway, this is what I'll be wearing so you can recognise me... Friday Changes Boutique Applique Tunic Top from Simply Be Changes Boutique Stud Trim Leggings  (navy) from Simply Be Brown Knee Length boots from Tesco  (I've had these boots for a while - really comfy) Khaki Jacket (not pictured -  found in a charity shop for £1.50 a few weeks ago) Saturday  My (now famous) white and navy striped jacket  " Check out my Blog " t-shirt Anna Field ankle boots (all from Zalando  - not available any more) Skinny jeans from Asda Smart but comfy is the order of the weekend. ...

Parents, I have a small piece of advice for you.  When your child falls and breaks his (or her) foot in two places DO NOT say to them: "To save you moving, love, just ring me from your mobile." because they may take advantage.   * dinky text tone *  Is it time for my pain-killers yet? It's really sore. I keep getting muscle spasms and the dog keeps sitting on it. * ring ring *  Jake : It's really itchy! Me : I'll get you a knitting needle. Jake : What's a knitting needle? Me : It's like a long stick. Jake : Huh? * dinky text tone * It is time for my pain-killers yet? * dinky text tone that's starting to get annoying now * Can I have a drink, please? * dinky text tone that I swear I'm going to change in a minute * England won. I'm going upstairs. Can you shut the baby gate after me? * dinky text tone that I forgot to change that is now driving me mental * I'm sitting in Michael's bedroom ...

My children's dad is pretty special - well, I have to say that after 22 years, don't I?  He's a bit of a jack-of-all-trades, what with fixing the cars, home DIY, the allotment and of course, being the at-home parent whilst I doss around at work go out and earn a crust. Just as they did for Mother's Day, MoneySupermarket.com have put together some research in the form of an infographic (yup, I'm still loving them) to show the Value of a Dad .  So let's celebrate all Dad's today.  They're allowed one day of the year, I suppose! This infographic was supplied by moneysupermarket.com For more details please see my disclosure policy

This is a guest post from Lorna Clark of Greatvine , a website with expert advice for parents.  For further details about guest posts please contact me and have a quick look at my disclosure policy .    Sleep deprivation is tough for everyone and if your little one wakes several times a night you can soon find yourself desperate for answers. Parents of breastfed babies sometimes wonder if switching to formula, or formula at bedtime, would get them a good night's sleep. Formula milk is digested more slowly than breast milk so in the very early days a formula fed baby might sleep a little longer between feeds. Having said that, after the first few weeks breastfed babies can sleep just as well, and many formula fed babies have trouble sleeping all night. I believe that mums should be supported in achieving their feeding choices, whatever those are, and there are many reasons why you might choose to use formula. Having said that, breastfeeding is great for you an...

On Soundtrack To My Life , I'm trying to get a variety of people to contribute and knew that my sister-in-law, Trish, would definitely be forthcoming with her tunes.  I love Trish to bits for reasons that don't need explaining.  We clicked from the beginning - what sometimes seems a very long 22 years ago - and we swing from being very alike to very different.  We have similar tastes in music but the conversation that ensued via Twitter for her fourth song made me howl laughing and still makes me giggle when I think back to it now.  You'll soon see why.  Here are Trish's choices and the story behind each one. ===================== Spandau Ballet - True Trish is a massive (and I mean MASSIVE) Spandau Ballet fan.  I made her come to see Duran Duran with me in on that memorable day in 2005 (18th December if you're wondering - I'll tell you the full story another time) and she was convinced she would hate it.  She ended up having a fab time b...

Every time I watch this video I am transported back to an era. Warehouse parties, illegal raves, whatever you want to call them... getting lashed up (and the rest), driving to a motorway services station - usually Charnock Richard, joining a convoy of about twenty or thirty other cars, bombing off back down the motorway, off at a random junction, down a few B-roads, over a field and into a disused barn.  You then entered a world of loud music that touched your soul.  Bright lights that sent energy into your body.  Beats that rocked your world.  Out into the sunrise and off to the nearest greasy spoon for breakfast then home to sleep for about twelve hours. The decent clubs were few and far between but we had a few trips out to Wigan Pier.  Otherwise we had to make do with the local nightclubs where the music was still rave-orientated but a bit commercial. Then it all ended after the children started to arrive.  Apart from the very occasion...

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Whilst writing Volume 1 of the Soundtrack To My Life I wondered what music represented parts of other people's lives; whether they used music as a journey through life or if they hung onto pieces of music to help them anchor an emotion.  I'm always on a journey of discovery through music enjoying finding new tracks and uncovering long-forgotten music as well as appreciating what is current.  I have asked a number of friends to join me on this journey and tell me about their own Soundtrack To My Life. ===================== I am lucky to have Siân in my life for a number of reasons.  She is a 1972 chick (the best vintage in my opinion * cough *), I'm extremely proud of her for single-handedly creating Cybher  and just the fact that, as a true mate, I can say one word and she'll know immediately what I'm on about. Siân has battled her own demons in her life but that's not my story to tell.  I did start to worry a bit that she seemed to be choos...

When I got my new camera for Christmas I started experimenting a little and took a few pictures which I was probably a little too overjoyed with.  I called the set "Jar of Hearts", blogged about them , created their own album on Google Plus and even set one of them as my desktop wallpaper. Then we decided to tart our bedroom up.  You know, treat ourselves to a new bed (*nudge, wink*), new wardrobes, a lick of paint and maybe a couple of nice pictures.  Let's just say it's been a work in progress for a few months now and we have only just finished.   The old romantic in me wanted get one of my " Jar of Hearts " pictures on canvas and hang it on the wall and, just by sheer coincidence, HelloCanvas emailed me with a challenge.  They wanted me to send them my best picture - one that I thought they couldn't match the quality of at large size.  In return they would attempt to reproduce the image on a 50x70cm / 20x28inch canvas as long as I gave the...

Music has always been important to me, especially in my angst-ridden teenage years when I made mix-tapes for everyone I loved (and lost) or wrote long, meaningful letters made up from lyrics from songs.  I'm sat here listening to Top Of The Pops 2 whilst writing this post and keep stopping to watch and listen, reminiscing and trying to remember when I last heard a particular song.  To me, music is timeless although it does tend to represent a certain era in my life, rather than define the year is was released.  I'm not sure that will make much sense to you, but it does to me. My first memories of music are from around 1976 - I was four years old at the time.  The first song I ever recall is Brotherhood of Man - Kisses For Me and remember my Nana recording it off the TV with a cassette recorder and handheld microphone.  She then started and stopped the tape, rewound it, repeated and carried on until she had all the lyrics written down so she c...