This weekend I have been a busy lady. Heading up to Nottingham for a hen do. My lovely friend Jess is set to get wed exactly a month today (eek) and we all went for cocktails and a few beauty treatments. One of the bridesmaids Ginny, is pregnant so we went to Nottingham as it's her home town and we wanted her to be 100% involved in this outing.

After our 3 hour journey (full of 90's R&B) me, Jess and Katie arrived and went to the gorgeous Beauty Temple where we met Ginny and all had treatments. Me and Ginny both opted for a zen pedicure that left our feet feeling silky smooth and gorgeous. Perfectly prepped for a night on the tiles!

We then went to Turtle Bay for cocktails and chats. They had an amazing 2 for 1 deal so two cocktails were less than £7 (bargain!) After filling up on them we went and checked into our hotel.

Of course the hen has to suffer some sort of embarrassment on her night out so we played drinking games, had dinner and then went out to a nostalgic 80's/90's/00's club where we sung our hearts out to everything from Spice Girls to Beyonce.

Obviously I won't disclose what happened but let's just say we had a blast and ended the night crashed out in a very comfy bed!

You know when the chocolate goes missing and you immediately point fingers at your other half. Well we found our culprit in our family!

I'm so proud to call Rosie my sister in law. She's grown and developed into such a wonderful (and slightly drunk at times) young woman. She's off to college to study sports and hopes to compete in an Olympics during her life at some point (to compete in hammer throw) and I'm 100% convinced she will achieve that.

So it's a massive thumbs up from Max for these Plum treats!

BritMums recently set some bloggers a competition to create a recipe or meal plan using the new Richmond Mini Meatballs. These meatballs are bitesize and perfect for little fingers. 

We spent ages trying to think of a perfect way to include these into our meals. We wanted something that was easy to make, didn't take forever and Max loved. We also didn't want to use things like chips or rice as we wanted to include as many veggies as possible. 

Mini Meatball Messy Mash

Prep: 5 minutes

Cook: 20-25 minutes

Teen parents always seem to be at the forefront of hate. They are stereotyped into a box of benefit snatching, underachieving kids who just want a free house and to leech off the government.

I don't know if I could be categorised at a teen parent. Yes I fell pregnant as a teen but gave birth in my twenties. Having said that I don't apply to any of the above comments. Maybe because I pushed myself or maybe because I wanted to prove them wrong. 

Americans seem to be doing everything in their power to shame teen parents. Recently there have been ad campaigns (see right) telling teens that if they have a child then the dad won't stay with them and they will end up in poverty. And then there is the celebrity shaming. Stars such as Carly Rae Jepsen (see below) and Fall Out Boy all tweeting and putting their pictures to a #noteenpreg campaign. Ironic that Carly Rae Jepsen's bestie Justin Bieber was the product of a teen pregnancy. Apart from being so insulting these campaigns are just telling you that you should only have a child when you have changed the world, got married, bought a house and made a name for yourself. I'm pretty sure that no-one in the whole world can achieve all of those things or the world will be a very different place. 

The UK don't seem to have a campaign like these, thankfully. But that's not to say they don't do their share in shaming and scaring teens into thinking that having kids is completely the wrong things to do. From what I know the UK has drop in clinics and basic sexual education during senior school. 

Education is the greatest way to advise teens on pregnancy. It's not a bad thing if one ends up with a child. For some teens it changes their life, sometimes for the better. 

When I fell pregnant I was in my first year of university. I was in the infancy of the relationship with Scott and we had no money to our name. Once we realised we wanted to raise this child together we worked together. Yes it was hard, I can't deny that there were times that I broke down in tears in the bathroom because I had no idea what the hell I was doing. Having said that we are still together 3 and a half years later, we are engaged and planning on buying a home. We graduated university and are striving to achieve our dreams. Yes we have a child but why should that stop our dreams. If anything it's spurred us on to achieve better. 

We don't get state handouts. We don't have a council home. We haven't underachieved. We haven't decided to live of benefits. We want to give our child a good upbringing and good working ethic.

In fact, some older parents could be classed as worse parents than young ones. It's not your age its how you parent and making sure that your child is clothed, fed and loved. Who cares if you are 18 or 38, as long as you and your child are happy it doesn't matter. Who cares if you don't stay in a family together. I know so many parents that have separated and parent so much better than when they were together.

Shaming teens with campaigns will never stop teen pregnancy. If anything they make teens feel like they have no one to turn to when things do happen. What is needed is support and education. When I fell pregnant I would have loved support from people other than friends and family. Next time you shame a teen parent, just think. Are they really doing that bad a job? Maybe say well done next time. 

Whilst I don't have any contact with my dad due to my own choice, Max has a fantastic dad. So I thought I would take this time to write a post about the little things that Max has told me he likes about daddy.

Are there any special things you love about your dads. Or that your little ones love about theirs?

If struggling to find gifts for the men in your life is always a problem then join the club. I always seem to get Scott the same things. Either a DVD, top or book. Inspiring eh!

Well the lovely people over at RING Jewellery are giving you the chance to win a set of personalised cufflinks. Perfect for any occasion from birthdays through to weddings.

RING Jewellery are a bespoke jewellery company based in Brighton that have created many  beautiful pieces of jewellery from rings through to cuff links that everyone including the stars love too. People such as Theo Walcott and Mark Ronson have all worn pieces from this wonderful company.


To enter this wonderful competition to win a pair of cufflinks all you have to do is fill in the Rafflecopter form below. Make sure you follow the instructions carefully or your entry could end up void. The giveaway closes at the end of Wednesday. Good luck!


a Rafflecopter giveaway

This month we are trying to be very good with our spending. We find that we normally drop money on things we don't need like DVD's and snacks so we are cutting all of that out in the hope that we can pay off some of our student overdrafts so we can start saving for weddings and houses. 

So I now spend my time making wish lists of the things I want even more than before! My birthday is next month so I'm hoping that I've put this up here with enough time for Scott to see and get me something (wishful thinking)

Plum sent us some of their amazing Plum Tot's meals for Max to try out. They have released an amazing line of mini meals with amazing flavours with everything from lamb tagine to jerk chicken.  

Scott always feeds Max on weekday evenings because I am at work when dinner time comes around. So once a week Max is being given one of these scrummy dishes to try out. Last week daddy took the reviewing reigns and here it is?

Plum Food Review – Jamaican Jerk Mango & Chicken

It was dinner time again. Max took his place and asked as usual in his politest tone ‘DADDY I WANT A DRINK!…please.’

The Plum Tots dish that was selected was Jamaican Jerk Mango and Chicken. I was excited to give Max this dish, for the simple reason that after a trip to Jamaica I realised what a joy jerk chicken was. With Mango, peppers, chick peas, sweet corn and rice to accompany it, I was only envious of Max that he had a quality dinner.

After opening it up, I noticed the contents was a little watery that did make me a little sceptical of what the dish was going to be like. However, after microwaving it, the contents turned out thicker and denser than previous dishes. I didn’t mind the display, I mean it’s tough to criticise a ready meal on its presentation when it’s all mixed in together. And to be honest, I prefer mixing in my jerk food in together.

I popped it down and Max commenced shovelling, eating the majority of it with big MMM and YUMMY…then disaster struck. Max became distracted by the fact the TV wasn’t playing what HE wanted. He doesn’t even face the TV when he eats, but to have it as a background noise just stole his focus. I also believe he ate a fair bit that day prior to dinner…he’s a greedy guts just like his Dad.

He placed the nearly finished dish on the side and stole back the Television to watch EVIL!…I mean cBeebies. Was I gonna’ let this dish go to waste, knowing it included my favourite marinade? Heck no! I took that dish and went through it myself. Glad to see so much veg in the dish to give Jerk Chicken and rice some versatility, one thing saddened me. The jerk flavour was a little faint, I know it’s been designed to be more mild than the marinade can be, it relied more upon the veg to give it extra flavour. 

Construction wise, the dish worked towards the favour of veg, personally I would have liked for the emphasis to have been on the flavour.

CONCLUSION: Really, the dish is ideal for introducing your child to new flavours and exciting recipies. Jerk is such a great flavour for so many different seasons and prepared dinners. On this occasion, I think it did miss what I enjoy most about the flavour, but the use of vegetables was really well arranged to make the Vegetables the interesting part of the meal. Maybe I’m off on this one and it could be a big hit.

(Max did eat most of it from what I was told - So it's a big thumbs up from him and daddy!)

Thank you again to Plum for sending us the dishes. Can't wait to share the next taste test!

So this morning we wanted to do something different. We threw ourselves in the car, armed with some drinks and a 2 for 1 entry voucher and headed to the Sealife Centre in Weymouth. I haven't been there for years and the boys certainly have never even been to Weymouth so it was perfect. 

We got there and headed straight to the meet and greet section. This summer the Centre have some very special guests that most Cbeebies loving kids will know...

We are a family that love music. There is not a day that goes by when we don't listen to music. And I'm not on about nursery rhymes and TV themes. We love everything from Mcfly to Nirvana and Frank Turner. We got offered an opportunity to have a copy of a different kind of album aimed at children so of course jumped at the opportunity. 

Megson are a husband and wife duo that create amazing folk songs. When their daughter was born they decided to create an album based around traditional and original songs with their classic folk style. 

When we received the album Max was so eager to put it on he was bouncing up and down! To be perfectly honest it took a couple of plays the whole way through for Max to really love it but I was hooked from the beginning. I love the original songs and how they apply to what is going on in society around us. The music is so lovely that it could totally be used as a lullaby CD for Max too! 

My favourite is definitely the track "All The Shops Have Fallen Down" and Max's definitely is "Five Little Ducks" as he knew the track from nursery and likes to tell them how the one of the CD is better than the one they sing! (oops) So far it's been on loop in our car for the past week and I think apart from playing a few other tracks we love it may stay there for quite some time. When Max likes his music he really likes his music.

We are gutted we aren't going to Larmer Tree this year as they are one of the amazing acts that are going to be there this year!

This CD is priced at £10 and can be bought from their shop over here. I urge all you parents that love something a bit different to check it out. 

We were gifted this CD for review purposes. All opinions are my own. 

This week is a bit of a wish list. Ikea has a sale on at the moment as I love a bit of Swedish flatpack. Who doesn't love spending 6 hours trying to put a bookshelf together before making your own holes and doing a bodge job. Or is that just me? Haha!

As you all may know I work for one of my favourite companies ever, Waterstones. This year they are running a campaign for people to recall "The book that made me". 

Books are powerful things, they introduce us to new things, give us courage and make us believe things we wouldn't have before. Some books save people, some books change people. Everyone has a book that makes them who they are today. 

Waterstones are looking for everyone to share their story of the book that made them. Everyone from authors to booksellers and the public are being urged to indulge in the world of literature to share their story. 

The book that made me was "The Perks Of Being A Wallflower". I've spoken all about it before but it helped me through one of the toughest times of my life. It is also a book that I return to whatever is going on as I know that I will finish it feeling optimistic and knowing that everything is going to be okay. 

Please share your story, spread the word and maybe your book could be someone elses.

The Book That Made Me

The sun has been shining, Max is only in nursery 3 days a week and Scott has finished uni. This means that we can actually spend some time together as a family!

Yesterday morning we packed up a picnic rug, food and drinks and headed down to Hamworthy park to take a dip in the pool. It was freezing in the water but the boys seemed to love it and Max wasn't afraid of anything. 

It makes me realise how great living where we are is. That's not to say when we move to Portsmouth it won't be because infact they have pretty similar stuff there. Just thinking that the south coast can be beautiful when the sun decides to shine!

Hopefully we can keep those shorts on for a little bit longer.

This month my books seemed to be dominated by proofs and teen fiction. Maybe it was the mixture of news or the fact that I've been so distracted by everything that teen fiction is normally my easy read go to!

What have you read recently?

So as most of you know from my announcement , Scott had some amazing ulterior motives for taking me to London at the start of the week. But apart from my mega bombshell the rest of the trip still deserves a post!

We took a really early train on Monday to London and decided that we needed some lunch before heading to the hotel as there was a late check in policy there. We stayed in Waterloo station and managed to get a seat at the bar and grill upstairs and let's just say my fish fingers and Scott's burgers were fantastic! 

After that we battled our way to our hotel (after some issues with finding our booking) we got settled and promptly went over the the Science Museum. I bloody love that place so I knew I wanted to go there with Scott as somehow we have missed it on every trip we've taken. 

Google have put a web lab in the basement all about how the internet and electronics affect our daily lives and how fascinating it all is. You go around different stations and take part in the activities using your lab tag to record it all. There was everything from drawing your own face in sand by a robot, to creating music with people all over the world. It's interactive so you can do it from your own home right here. 

We then headed over to Bavarian Beerhouse as Scott was desperate for some proper beer. The food was pretty impressive but having a bit of a headache I didn't bother too much. We then decided the best thing to do was to head for a walk so we went to Covent Garden as it was near our hotel. We then got asked if we wanted to go and attend some free comedy at the Top Secret Comedy Club which is right up our street as we were originally looking at trying to find some comedy to attend anyway. It was so funny and some of the acts weren't our style but they still made everyone laugh!

The next day was dampened (quite literally) by awful rain. We headed over to the south bank to go to the film museum which was closed for a private event (boo) then went to go to the natural history museum which had a giant queue (boo) so we went home to go get ready for our night ahead! I've already written about Book Of Mormon. But it was fantastic!

After that Scott took me for a walk around Leicester Square. Popped the question and we celebrated with Haagen Dazs ice cream cupcakes and cocktails!

All in all it was a fantastic few days, not only for the fact he proposed but also because it was amazing to spend some days with him away from Max. I love the kiddo but sometimes I need to remember to be me rather than mummy!

So one of the reasons we went to London (apart from getting engaged!) was to see The Book Of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre. 

Book of Mormon is satirical musical about Mormonism written by the hilarious creators of South Park. Its based around two young missionaries who have to head to Uganda to try and spread their word of the Book and sign up some new recruits. Of course Uganda is a place where religion is the last of their worries when 90% of the village has AIDS and they are under attack by a General that would rather kill women. 

After winning 9 Tony awards including best musical I knew that this was one I needed to see. The musical was co-written by the writer of Avenue Q which is one of my favourite musicals of all time so I was so excited when I got given tickets for Christmas from Scott. 

The musical exceeded my expectations. We were fortunate to sit right at the front and spent the majority of it crying with laughter. It's definitely not for the easily offended with some moments where you definitely took a deep breath while thinking 'Shit did they actually say that?!'.

In terms of being offensive I don't think it really mocked Mormonism in a bad way. In reality it took a poke a religion in general. Showing the audience how rigid and fickle parts of it can be. But altogether showing you that religion can be great if it's understood that most is metaphoric rather than literal. The Mormons have actually taken out advertising in the program to promote the real book with things like 'The book is always better'.

The songs are so catchy and we spent the majority of the night and next day singing bits of them to each other falling into stitches of laughter. Definitely downloading the soundtrack now!

It's definitely a musical to check out. Only if you don't find things like South Park offensive though as it is very much in a similar vain comedy wise to that.

Here is the opening song which they performed at the Tony awards!

It's definitely become a favourite of mine and will definitely look to go again sometime soon. It's that addictive!

Have you seen it? Does it appeal to you?