Typecast

It is rare that I get the chance to dress up so creating an outfit for Ladies Day at Aintree was an opportunity that I couldn't miss - even if it was just pretend.   This  Ladies Day infographic  offers loads of advice about the history of Ladies Day (did you know it can be traced back to 1711?), general etiquette on the day (don't drink too much champers!) and brilliant fashion do's and don't's (try not to mix a high hemline with a low neckline). Here is the outfit I created.  What do you think? I love the brightness of the blue dress and think that the frills and the asymmetrical length are perfect for Ladies Day. The peacock fascinator highlights the blue of the dress is quite unusual. Nude accessories are ideal for showing off the dress but keeping within this season's fashion.  Finally, wedge shoes bridge the gap between needing height from heels and not wanting to sink into any grass.   Given the opportunity, what would...

I've really enjoyed pulling Ange's Soundtrack To My Life together - probably because it is full of the music I love too. The internet makes the world a much smaller place and after a chance meeting on one of the social media channels we found out that we both hail from Lancashire and some of Ange's family live in the village where I was born and bred. How's that for random? More about Ange at the end of this blog post but for now, here's here music and memories... ¨¨°º©©º°¨¨  Queen - Killer Queen Apart from being an amazing song, when I was a child, we as a family lived in South Wales which was a 4-5 hour journey away from my birthplace in Lancashire. When we visited extended family, or went on any extended car journey, Queen's Greatest Hits was always the album of choice. I can't listen to this song without thinking of my dear departed Dad at the wheel as we all sang along. Happy days. Soft Cell - Tainted Love I've been a lifelon...

I'm not good with house plants so this "Lucky Bamboo" is probably the perfect present.   All I have to do is remember to keep the roots in water.   What could go wrong?

One of my favourite blogs is My Two Mums . When I featured Kirsty's Soundtrack to My Life  I said that I loved the way that her and her wife, Clara, blog about their relationship and are very open to questions about parenting in a same-sex relationship. In March 2014, same-sex marriage was made legal and the first ceremony is due to be held tomorrow (Saturday 29th March) so here is a fabulous infographic from The Cotswold Frock Shop  which looks back at some of the moments which got us to this point. This is a featured post. For more details please see my disclosure policy .

When Mum was alive I made a special effort to keep in touch with her regularly because we lived in different towns. A recent study by Sainsburys Mobile  found that the average woman will spend the equivalent of two months of her life chatting on the phone to her mum.   You know I love a few good statistics so here's what the research found: Women make an average of three calls a week to their mum  with each conversation lasting just over 16 minutes.  Incredibly, more than one in ten ring their mum at least once a day (some admit that their conversations last at least half an hour each time they pick up the phone).  Poor old dad is treated to just one phone call a week, lasting less than seven minutes a time - that's probably when he picks up the phone, has a quick chat, then passes it to mum... This study of 2,000 women found that in an average week, they will speak to a friend, relative or work colleague on the phone fourteen times, with each of ...

Having a spring clean is one of the best things about a new season and reviewing the Personal Patent Compact Filofax has given me the opportunity to review my current system and move sections about so they work better for me. Straight out of the box and I am absolutely in love with this colour. It is such a fresh spring colour and the minimal pocket space fits in totally with the compact ring size (15mm in diameter). I think a Personal Compact is a great place to start if you're looking for your first Filofax. It is at the cheaper end of the Filofax market and you can play around with just a few sections to see what works for you.  The organiser doesn't lay completely flat when you first open it but I imagine that, with some daily use, it may do.  This binder has a high gloss leather look PU (a man-made material made to look and feel like leather) and the interior is a combination of PU and colour-matched polyester.  It comes with a variety of inserts that make...

It's 24th March 2014 and I'm updating this post so that I can join in with another of Kate's Listography posts . She's allowed me poetic licence on this one seeing as though it was originally written in March 2012. Ever since I learnt to read at the age of three I have been a book addict but after Kev suprised me with a Kindle one Christmas I've hardly picked up a real book.  I've read loads more though, tending to lean more towards recommendations and free Kindle downloads, expanding my reading genre.  I've also created a small-but-perfectly-formed  Kindle group on Facebook  full of reading suggestions, freebie alerts and writer/self-publishing information. A couple of years ago I got a bit hooked on the " My Life in Books " programme hidden away on BBC2. Well-known faces were invited to share the books they love, explain why they had chosen them and read passages from them.  So I have decided to share some of my life in books with you. ...

It is time for Bex to share her Soundtrack To My Life choices today. Amongst her likes are the colour red, rock music (highlighted below), drumstick lollies and things that sparkle.  Her music choices vary greatly which is what I love most about this series.  For now, it's over to Bex... ¨¨°º©©º°¨¨  The Spice Girls - Wannabe   My parents were never that interested in music when I was young and although they played some, there is nothing that stands out to me as a memory sparking song. The first music I really got into though was the Spice girls and I dove head first into this obsession. I remember singing this song with my friends at birthday sleepovers, and day dreaming about platform boots. ACDC - Back in Black   The bloke and I met at Download festival in 2010. We had a lot of friends in common and so were camping in the same area but had never met. The weekend involved copious amounts of alcohol, very little sleep and some amazing b...

Today I introduce Lorraine to  Soundtrack To My Life . Her Twitter bio makes her sound like my spiritual twin with her mentions of blogging, snooker and swearing. She originally fancied stopping at just the one song (Queen) and I probably wouldn't have minded on this occasion - or she could have just chosen five Queen/Freddie songs. Luckily for you, she chose four more and here they are. ¨¨°º©©º°¨¨  Queen - Bohemian Rhapsody   Roll your eyes all you want. I've got something special about me, that I only share with a few thousand other people born within a couple of weeks of me. Bohemian Rhapsody was number 1 on the day I was born, and again on my 16th birthday. If you don't sing along, there is something seriously wrong with you. Really, why am I even going to choose another 4 songs, when it doesn't get more perfect than this? (Oh, yeah, right, Nickie will kill me, that's why) Portishead - Sour Times (Airbus Reconstruction) I grew up a co...

My job takes me to the deepest darkest corners of Lancashire and having decent directions is so important. I had been relying on good old Google Maps - printed off originally but then using the built-in app on my phone but each came with its own bad points.  Paper versions are impossible to read whilst actually driving and the app wears down the battery on your phone really quickly so you can often find your way there but not your way back! Tesco Compare have asked me to be a safety and security tester for car accessories and sent me the Garmin Nuvi 50 SatNav to review. First impressions are that it is chunky without being too heavy and it fit perfectly into my existing windscreen device holder (although a screen holder is provided).  The screen on the Garmin Nuvi 50 is a huge 5in which was a massive improvement on the much smaller screen on my phone. I scrolled through the settings initially and programmed some personal settings into it.  My Top Tip...

Offer a 14 year old a scooter to review and he becomes your most well behaved child. Jake has been trying out the Zinc Sports Outbreak 2 Scooter .  When we received the box I gave it to Jake to so that he could have the full experience of assembling his scooter (plus, I'm not brilliant with an Allen key so it was a bit of a cop-out).  Here's what he thought: The scooter was only in two pieces and came with two Allen keys.  The instructions for assembly were printed with words and pictures and were really easy to follow.  It took me about five minutes to put together.  The stickers were already stuck to the metal frame so I had no choice about the placement of the grip tape (the non-slip footing on the base of the scooter). The frame is fairly lightweight (reinforced aircraft graded aluminium) but feels very sturdy.  I went out on it straight away and it took about half an hour to break the wheels in (this means to make them spin freely).  Th...

There was a knock at the door yesterday. I've learnt to recognise it; three slow rattles on the letterbox. It signals the arrival of two little hurricanes. The frosted glass in the front door shows the distorted images of two scruffy heads peering through who see the porch light switch on as I pad down the hallway. This is their cue to hide around the corner to 'surprise' me as I open the door. Sometimes it is a yell of "HELLO" as they leap out at me! Other times, I hide behind the front door as it opens and jump out at them as they innocently wonder how the door has opened by itself. They babble their greetings, take off their shoes (it's a ritual), remind me that they haven't stayed over for a while and tell me that Mummy has a surprise in her bag for me. The surprise is a bunch of daffodils.  They picked them in the park (we'll have words about that at a later date) and the stems are all but two inches long. No vase is small enough for them...

This week's Soundtrack To My Life is from Av.  Myself and Av wasted far too many hours discussing all things 80s on a dedicated forum and chat room a few years back.  The biggest surprise, for me, in this STML is that there isn't any Spandau Ballet!!  Let's find out what she chose instead. ¨¨°º©©º°¨¨  John & Vengelis - I'll find my way home   This lways reminds me of Christmas & going to the airport in Dublin to look at the decorations & the way the DAA lit up some parts of the airport. The atmosphere was brill there especially when we used to go and collect my brother from the airport when he'd come home from studying in America for Christmas. John Parr - St Elmo's Fire   All because it was the first Brat pack film I ever watched & loved the song from it. Somehow it reminds me of Live Aid but I've no idea why! Squeeze - Hourglass   I know it was out in '87 but it reminds me of the Barcelona Olympics. A f...

Today is International Women's Day . It is a global day that celebrates the economic, political and social achievements of women from the past, the present and the future.  This year on International Women's Day , three bloggers are out in Tanzania finding out how donations to Sport Relief have helped create female entrepreneurs and "lasting change" for themselves, their families, their own communities and beyond.   Tanya, one of the bloggers out in Tanzania at the moment, sent me this digital postcard. Here's what she wrote to me "The woman in this picture is Lucy. Through mentoring and training with the Gatsby Trust , Lucy has gained the confidence to develop her business and to network after moving from the countryside to the city. She has her own craft and textile business and looks forward to expanding her business by training other women." Isn't that inspirational and innovative? You can help projects such as this in th...

If you follow my twitter feed you'll see that it has recently been peppered with references to crochet and knitting. I have been trying out a little book that Black Sheep Wools sent to me.  It is part of a " Twenty To Make... " series and contains 20 different granny squares with 8 mini-projects and has really easy to follow instructions if you're a beginner like me.  As long as you can crochet a double and a treble stitch and have a bag of wool scraps (what hooker doesn't?) then you should be able to follow the patterns (instructions are given for the US hookers too).  Here's a couple of the granny squares I've done from the book compared to a traditional granny that I had already made.  They were loads easier than I thought they would be to complete and didn't take too much time. Crochet Granny Squares - £4.99 from Black Sheep Wools After completing my first crochet project - an afghan throw - I sold my third born,  bought more ya...

A few months ago I was asked to attend an event at the Houses of Parliament.  It was to hear how Lord Saatchi was developing a Medical Innovation Bill designed to help support doctors who want to innovate so they can advance medical science and so they can find new and better treatments or cures for diseases.  This has been called the Saatchi Bill . Sadly, I couldn't attend the event due to work commitments but I know how social media (blogging, Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus) can be used to spread information and awareness. Firstly, please can I ask you to watch this video at some point this week. Now, during your lunch break, Friday evening, bookmark it and watch it whenever. I'll explain why further down the page. The Saatchi Bill supports medical innovation - more importantly, innovation in cancer treatment. Currently, the law prevents innovation in cancer treatment citing it as negligence.  It needs to be known that doctors who innovate don't...

My favourite ex-pat, Toni, is my inner voice when I get a bit ranty. She is the angel on my right shoulder when things get a bit heated. She soothes my ruffled feathers by giving me a good verbal kicking when it all goes a bit Pete Tong, and for that I am ever grateful. Let's have a listen to the musical memories she's chosen for Soundtrack To My Life  and see if she calms you down too...   ¨¨°º©©º°¨¨  George Harrison - My Sweet Lord I got my love of music from my dad. Although his real genre was Sinatra, Tony Bennet etc back in the 50's, he was open to anything. I was a kid when My Sweet Lord came out in 1970. I loved it and would just stop whatever I was doing when it came on the radio. One Saturday, he must have seen this, and he said "Come on, let's go and get it". We jumped in the car and drove to Boots and just bought it. That's not something we typically did. It was my first single and a memory I'll treasure. (Dad died when I was 20 ...