Typecast

We always put our Christmas decorations up on the 1st of December in the O'Hara household; the perfect start to the Advent period. Even though (almost) all my children are grown up we still keep the magic for the grandchildren.  I even let them decorate the lounge last year - it looked like someone had taken a box of decorations and thrown it in the direction of the tree but they were so proud of it. This year I've been looking for some alternative decorations and ways to get in the mood for Christmas along with money-saving tips and bargains.  This post will be regularly updated between now and Christmas so watch out for update announcements on Twitter and Facebook . ¨¨°º©©º°¨¨ First out of the decoration box is my John Lewis snowman that I knitted a couple of years ago. A lot of time and love and swearing went into making this and he sits proudly on the shelf next to all the home/school-made decorations that are stored away lovingly each year.  I was h...

Recently I have been sharing updates from Sun Bingo's very unique online show - Having A Ball - which is hosted by Brian Dowling, Rustie Lee and Jean Martyn. This week I am running an exclusive giveaway for you here with a prize that cannot be bought in the shops .  I also have some celebrity interviews to share with you that I will be publishing over on my Facebook page . Win an EXCLUSIVE Sun Bingo onesie and mug I have ten Sun Bingo prize packages which consist of a Sun Bingo onesie and a Sun Bingo mug . These items are exclusive to Sun Bingo and cannot be obtained anywhere else . To enter this giveaway please follow the instructions in the Rafflecopter widget below (if you cannot see the widget please click through to the web version of this blog post ). To enter you must answer the question inside the Rafflecopter widget. There are additional entries available which include social sharing. If you are a new visitor here for the giveaway, it would be gr...

If you spend any time on Facebook at all you have probably seen the most recent 'tag' which asks you to share five of your 'good memory' photographs.  These are all fairly recent photographs (and isn't it hard to narrow it down to just five?) but they make me howl laughing when I see them because of the stories behind them. ¨¨°º©©º°¨¨ Five Bloggers And A Dwarf After attending my first ever blogger conference, a few of us convened in the hotel lobby with some  smuggled  pre-purchased drinks, evaluating the day's events and catching up with each other. Our mini-party was spectacularly gate-crashed by this vertically-challenged, extremely inebriated dude who took a bit of a shine to Amanda. Social Networking Ruined My Life My favourite ever t-shirt worn at the aforementioned blogger conference.  Iconic or ironic? It also features heavily in  this little mishap ... Dog 1, Grandchild 0. This stool resides in our lounge. When the dog was...

It's no secret that I'm a huge fan of music and dance. If I ever became famous (or, more likely, infamous), I'd be begging my agent to get me a stint on Strictly Come Dancing . I'd even be OK with being paired with Anton du Beke! I saw Tara share this video on Facebook recently and it supports a theory I have which suggests that any choreography changes its context if danced to music from a different genre.  Someone has taken an enormous amount of time to showcase this by stitching these dance scenes from various movies together and it needs to be enjoyed.    It's a proper 'feel good' clip so... LET'S DAAAAAAAAAAANCE!! And just in case you were wondering, here are the films featured in the clip: A Knights Tale, Airplane, American Pie, Austin Powers, Billy Elliot, Blue Skies, Clerks 2, Coyote Ugly, Dirty Dancing, Fame, Fame 2009, Flashdance, Footloose, Get Smart, Grease, Happy Feet, High Fidelity, High School Musical, Honey, Mamma Mi...

Sorry, I know it's still November but I've got to start preparing for Christmas soon and I need some off-the-wall stocking fillers and unusual presents. Music Room   contacted me to see if I fancied using their gift finder app to discover some music-related presents.  So, after getting a little bit nostalgic for my piano lesson days with their ' Dozen A Day ' practice books, I found some ace presents for my grandchildren and the rest of the family.  For the grandchildren There is method in the madness here. I would love my granddaughters to be musical so here's a perfect starter kit.  Their mum can play the keyboard [1] (which rolls up for easy storage - genius) whilst they accompany her with their percussion instruments [2 and 3]  (the castanets [6] are a bonus item because I remember my own Nana buying me a set once). I've chosen the Frozen songbook [5] for the four-year old and the One Direction songbook [4] for the six-year old (both obse...

This year has been one of many changes. Each one of those changes has involved making a decision that would forge a new path. Some of those decisions were easy to make, others were extremely scary.  In my old job I would have a specific process which would help me make (business) decisions but in my normal life I have many processes which I can adapt to certain situations.  Seven Ways To Make A Decision 1.  Have A Deadline For me, this is important for everything. If there is no end point then you can faff around forever trying to work out which is the decision to make.   2.  Make A To-Do List I talk endlessly about my BOAT (Book Of All Things). Using a variation of the bullet journal method I write everything down in list format, code it, take notes, brain-dump and then tick everything off when it is done (SO satisfying!). This works perfectly in conjunction with my Filofax too.  3.  Data + Information = Knowled...

A few weeks ago, my daughter took her two girls on their first holiday abroad to Lanzarote. The four hour plane journey was the perfect opportunity to test out the Trunki SnooziHedz - a travel pillow and blanket. They already have a PaddlePak each and are big fans of the Trunki products.  The SnooziHedz blanket is stored inside the pillow until required and then the pillow inflates (in the same way armbands do) when required.  The pillow and blanket can be clipped together with the unique Trunki grip to stop the blanket from sliding away. The blanket also has a pocket on the front which is big enough to tuck up a favourite cuddly toy for a nap too. As you can see, my granddaughters loved their SnooziHedz (they had Felix the Fox and Dudley the Dino) and they made the ideal travel companion for this journey.  They now use the blankets and pillows as snuggle blankets when watching films and they always bring them with them in the car if we are going on a long j...

I love random little "tags" that occasionally pop up in the blogging world or on YouTube. This time Kate tagged me for a mini-Q&A session so I decided to vlog it rather than type it all out.   Have a watch of it here . I've tagged Kate (again), Sian , Channon and YOU!  You have to answer my questions so here they are: Have you ever won a trophy?  If you won a large sum of money on the National Lottery this weekend, how long would you wait until you told people?  Where would you like to retire to?  What or who inspires you?  Is the glass half-empty or half-full?  Feel free to blog or vlog it - whatever you feel more comfortable with. Let me know when you've finished then I can come and have a watch or a read.

I love the opportunity to pull an outfit together. It probably stems from the days of my childhood when Nana brought round my Bunty magazine each week and the first thing I did was turn to the back page to see what pose and paper clothes were with the cut-out doll. The Polyvore website is definitely the grown-up version of those times and I spend an enormous amount of time on there trying seeing what different outfits look like with accessories and boots or shoes.  I've styled this outfit around the boots in the picture as part of my entry into  a competition that Duo Boots are running . I'm definitely an ankle boot person for this A/W season and I'm in love with browns, navys and purple/aubergine.  What do you think? Would you wear it? | 1.  Laverne Anke Boot in Tan from Duo Boots  |  2.  Molly Bracken brown jumper dress |  3. Tommy Hilfiger NIKITA blazer in purple |  4.  Tommy Hilfiger Bracelet (gold) |  5. ...

Over the weekend I posted a rather irate Facebook status bemoaning the bombardment of Christmas advertising when we were only just into November. On the other hand I have been trying to get my 15-year old son to write something that resembles a list of Christmas presents much in the same way he did when he was 10 .  When you read the list it's a stark reminder of how much your youngest child is growing up fast. So far, he wants: A mountain bike because his best mate lives in the next town so he spends a huge amount of time cadging lifts or using a bike that's a little bit too small for him now he's 6'2". An iPad (there's a good selection online at Tesco Direct ) so that he doesn't have to borrow his Dad's iPad or my tablet all the time. An iTunes voucher for some music or games downloads. XBox games.  I think he's hankering after the new Call of Duty game and Fifa 15. Microsoft points to purchase "maps" or "players" o...

Grease is one of my all-time favourite films. I know it back to front and I'm word perfect in all the songs (I always wanted to be Rizzo).  But, just in case you've never seen it - or haven't seen it for ages - here's the story of Grease in pictures. ¨¨ °º©©º°¨¨  Danny and Sandy meet during the school holidays. They fall in love with each other but realise that it's destined to be a holiday romance as Sandy has to return to Australia.  Danny tells her, "It's not the end, it's just the beginning." Term starts again and Danny resumes his position as cock of the school and leader of the T-Birds gang... ...whose girlfriends are The Pink Ladies - the coolest girls in the school. Sandy doesn't go back to Australia after all and, by coincidence, enrols in the the same school as Danny as a foreign exchange student (but neither of them know yet).  Sandy pals up with Frenchy, one of the Pink Ladies. At lunch time, she tel...

When Serenata Hampers offered me one of their products to try, I dived straight into the Port and Cheese selection which included a bottle of Taylors Port and a selection of luxury cheeses, crackers and chutney. The photo I shared on Instagram got plenty of jealous oooh's and aah's. The reason I was keen to try their hamper range out is because it seemed to be the perfect fix for my Dad, who is the most difficult person to buy for at Christmas or his birthday but this will be the solution I was looking for and all at reasonable prices. Serenata Hampers offer a wide choice of products including chocolate hampers, wine hampers, teatime treat hampers, Christmas hampers and newborn baby hampers.  All this is alongside a similar service for flowers and plants. What I was really impress by was the delivery options. You can order by 10pm (or 8pm for flowers/plants) and have the hamper delivered to the door the very next day for free . If you prefer a timed delivery the...

I believe its important to write with a good pen because of many factors but mainly because I find it improves your handwriting and shows individuality. Even with my love of all things digital I'm finding that handwriting (along with spelling and grammar) is becoming a lost art. So, this month for my collaboration with Bureau Direct , I chose to compare two fountain pens from the affordable end of their range, especially as the first Friday in November is Fountain Pen Day . The two fountain pens I chose to test are the Lamy Safari  (in white) and the Platignum Studio  (in lime). I filmed a short video which compares the two pens side by side and also a writing test. As I mention in the video , I am enjoying both pens equally which really surprises me. I thought I would prefer one over the other, especially as the Lamy came so highly recommended. It's also worth noting that the "bleed through" I mention on the video is because I tested the inks...