Remembering Jack: The Final Chapter

For those of you with a really good memory, you may remember how myself and my friend Lisa had a great deal of support from a lot of amazing people in order to raise £2,000 for Addenbrookes Hospital. We started the fundraising to honour the memory of Lisa's beautiful son who lived just two days. If you would like to, you can read the original story here. Lisa recently travelled to Cambridge to hand over the cheque and meet some of the wonderful staff who do such a brilliant job looking after some of the most vulnerable of the hospital's patients. There follows a short post from Lisa, who wanted an opportunity to thank everyone who made this possible, so I will leave the final word to her.

Shared Parental Leave

Shared Parental Leave is a new initiative being launched by the government in April this year. Following the birth of a baby, it allows parents a lot more flexibility to care for their new offspring together. This is something I wholeheartedly agree with. In principle. I think the idea that parents can be equally involved in the care of their child is long overdue and will go some way towards reflecting the 21st century position in this country; where it's near impossible for the average family to survive on one income and it's by no means unheard of for the woman to earn more than the man.

Win £50 Cash with Cheesestrings!!

Two things I love, one is competitions, the other is putting things in my son's lunchbox that I know he will eat. It's getting more and more complicated to organise packed lunches for school these days. There are different rules about what is considered healthy enough. Some schools will only allow products with a certain percentage of fat and sugar, others will only allow certain types of products, for example no sweets or chocolate. Now, this part I agree with. There are plenty of healthier choices, but what matters most to me is that my son eats. I worry about him getting hungry and I get really fed up sending him to school with a good lunch, then unpacking most of it when he comes home again!

A Really Easy Toastie Twist!

Fed up with unimaginative cheese on toast? Here's a way you can jazz it up, with very little cost or effort! This lunchtime recipe is super-simple to make and can be adapted to use up all kinds of left overs you may have languishing, unloved, in your fridge. It's a straight forward twist on classic Cheese on Toast. All you need to start you off is grated cheese and tomato puree, the rest is up to you! Here is how I made mine, but you can add or remove ingredients to suit your taste and budget. You can also use french bread, or pitta bread, which makes it more like a pizza.

Mothers Day Competition

I am wondering if I ought to apologise for the amount of pictures that this post is likely to contain, but I'm hoping you will love them as much as me. I was talking recently to some very good friends of mine, Lucy, from London Bird Lucy and Mellissa, from The Diary of a Jewellery Lover about the tricky business of buying gifts for Mother's Day. There are so many generic 'Mummy' type gifts, mass-produced in our stores these days, much like I illustrated in my Valentine's Day post recently, that it's hard to find something truly unique and special. So, we decided to get together and figure out a lovely giveaway, with a prize that is sure to please any Mum.

Wing Walking Super Mum for Parkinson's UK!

With Mother's Day on our minds, I thought I would share with you an amazing story about a wonderful mum and her crazy fundraising efforts, guest posted by her daughter, Eleanor. It would be really lovely if you could share this post on your own Social Media platforms, in order to spread the word and raise as much money as possible for an amazing cause. Thank you. 

Bellissima Bella Italia

Oh my goodness. I may never eat again. I don't think I have ever eaten so much food. The trouble is, you know when food is just sooooo lovely, you don't want to stop eating, even though you seriously risk exploding like an over-inflated barage balloon? At Bella Italia it's all about flavour. Not just the flavour of the food, which was epic, but also the flavour of Italy. It's everywhere, from the decor, to the titles of the dishes on the menu. My first impression of the venue was extremely positive. It was very clean and well organised, but the part that I really appreciated was the atmosphere, it was just so friendly and welcoming.