{St Andrew's Day}

Tomorrow, Nov 30th, is St Andrew's Day - Scotland's official national day to celebrate Saint Andrew, the patron saint of Scotland. As part of Glasgow Loves Christmas, there is be a packed weekend of celebrations planned in Glasgow's George Square.

Over the weekend there will be a film event and concert, outdoor ceilidh, live cookery demonstrations, carts & crafts, storytelling and street theatre. A number of restaurants and cafes have special St Andrew's Day menus planned. I'm liking the sound of the Haggis, Neeps & Tatties with a dram for £10 at Stravaigin. Yum!

Also as part of St Andrew's Day, various Historic Scotland venues are opening their doors for free. A great opportunity to check out some of the tourist stops round the city... it includes People's Palace & Winter Gardens, Provand's Lordship, Scotland Street School Museum, The Tall Ship at Riverside and World of Golf.

What do you have planned for the weekend?

{Look Good, Feel Good}

At the weekend I asked my Twitter followers for some advice on under eye concealers. The lack of sleep is starting to take it's toll, and the current product I use just isn't good enough (Lancome Teint Miracle)! The consensus seemed to be Bobbi Brown, so I hit the shops, but unfortunately there wasn't a Bobbie Brown concession at the department store so I ended up getting a MAC concealer instead (Pro Longwear Concealer). So far so good and I'm impressed with my choice. Coverage is good, it doesn't feel too thick on my skin and it lasts the day too.

MAC Pro Longwear Concealer

I thought I'd share a few of my other make-up essentials. I've mentioned before my mum's mantra of 'look good, feel good' and I do believe that a bit of make up can do wonders for my mood & confidence level! A year ago I had a make-up lesson with a friend who is a MAC make-up artist, and I'm still using a number of the products that she recommended.

My current foundation of choice is MAC Studio Fix Fluid. For a while I was using Bare Minerals but my skin has become a bit spotty of late (stress I think!) and so I needed better coverage. When I have a night out I team this with a primer so it lasts longer.

Here are my fav eyeshadow colours that I layer up for a smokey-ish neutral eye:

MAC Shroom

MAC Satin Taupe

MAC Black Tied (black w/ silver sparkle)

My last essential product is mascara. I currently use Estee Lauder Double Wear, on the basis of my friend's recommendation. I'm less convinced with this product now than a year ago when I first tried it. I may revert back to the mascara I used to use - Chanel Inimitable. For night's out I've been applying strip false eyelashes from Sally Salon Services and I love the effect it has. I wish I could achieve a more dramatic look for day-to-day with mascara - suggestions anyone?

BTW, for those of you in Glasgow - there is a new MAC counter at Debenhams in Silverburn!

{Believe}

I was chatting with @Single_Man_75 the other day about Christmas, our respective kids etc. when I divulged a secret. Although it's not going to be a secret for much longer... I was 10 or 11 years old when I discovered *whispers* the truth about Santa (I forget the exact age, but I remember the conversation I had with my mum and little sister). I was distraught.

My son turned 3 in August, and it's only now that he is properly understanding the concept of Christmas. It's lovely to watch him get so excited. I'm hearing from friends with older children that their little ones are questioning the tooth fairy, Mr Claus and the like at much earlier ages than when I was a little girl. I do hope I can maintain the magic in the Glasgow Mummy house for the foreseeable future!

I have been reliably informed that the Father Christmas will be visiting the St Enoch Centre in Glasgow, and your little ones (from age 2-10 years) can even join him and his elves for breakfast, brunch, lunch or tea at Hamleys! Each guest will have a special chat with Santa, enjoy some yummy food, play some Christmas games, decorate cookies and just before it's time to leave they will receive a special goody bag before marching out to Hamley's Christmas chimney to send their wish list to the North Pole. Even I'm excited about all that!!!

I've also been told that Nigella Lawson will be at the centre on November 29th from 6pm for a book signing. Double excitement!!!

{Fabulous Finds - Safari Bedroom}

I thought I'd share another one of the rooms in my house as part of my Fabulous Finds series... this time my toddler son's bedroom which is safari themed. I'm a big fan of Etsy, which is where I found a lot of the artwork and vinyl stickers that I used to decorate the walls. The walls are Dulux Natural Calico with the woodwork painted white. My thoughts were that the theme could then be changed fairly easily as he grows up. You can find the post on my daughter's bedroom here. I've just realised that I didn't photograph his bed (probably because it wasn't made!) but it is the Nantucket Bunk Bed from Aspace, but we're using it as a single bed for just now.

Sonoma 10-drawer wide chest from Marks and Spencer. I featured the fairy lights in a previous post and the jelly mould night light is from Mathmos.

Monkey wall graphic from Solana Graphics Studio

Safari animal print from Smiley Walls Art Studio

Giraffe vinyl sticker height chart from Single Stone Studios

Storage baskets from JoJo Maman Bebe

Cloud B ladybug night light from Amazon.co.uk, thanks to a recommendation from a friend. Tonight is the first night that my son has gone to bed, and stayed in bed, until he fell asleep. This is night two with the ladybug, and it seems to be working a treat! The light projects stars all round his room and he can pick to have red, blue (his favourite) or green stars. They automatically go off after 45 minutes.

What would spiderman do? print by Peter and Janes at notonthehighstreet.com

Roar - Natural fabric which my mother-in-law kindly made into curtains for us.

More animal prints from Smiley Walls Art Studio

Washing machine laundry basket from Vertbaudet

Book storage on wheels from Vertbaudet

{Homemade Christmas Wrapping Paper}

Sorry, it's another Christmas-related post! I just can't help myself - I love this time of year!

Last year I wrapped all my Christmas gifts in brown paper with bright ribbons and I shared a free printable for the gift tags. This year, I'm still using brown paper, but I decided to get the little ones to decorate it themselves. I have tonnes of ready mixed poster paint from Baker Ross and I bought some Christmas sponge painting shapes from HobbyCraft. The kids had great fun stamping the brown paper with green Christmas trees, yellow angels and red (toddlers choice, not mine!) snowmen! We also decorated a brown paper shopping bag (with white snowmen, just as they should be!).

Here are some other gift wrap ideas from a previous post of mine. How do you wrap your gifts?

{Fabulous Finds: Online Gift Shops}

I thought I would share a few of my favourite online gift shops. Yes, it's that time of year again and Christmas is fast approaching! I've already placed a few online orders for gifts and I'm feeling organised!

I'm a big fan of notonthehighstreet.com and I've already dedicated a fabulous finds post specifically to this site! So it's a given that it would appear on my list!

Next up is Cox & Cox, and again I've mentioned this site before. I placed an order with them the other day for a few bits & pieces, including this Super Sound Machine. It's boasts 16 sound effects... who doesn't need their own fanfare or drum roll (from age 3 years, but I'm thinking I might keep it for myself)!! 

Super Sound Machine from Cox & Cox

I'm also loving Graham & Green. They have the most amazing home accessories, furniture, lighting... (I could go on and on!!). A few years ago I also bought some beautiful beaded Christmas decorations which I always get compliments on from visitors. Something I haven't seen before are these drumstick pencils:

Drumstick pencils from Graham & Green

I've also found that the popcorn popper I mentioned in a previous post is £10 cheaper over at Graham & Green. Something to bear in mind!

You must also pop on over to etsy.com for a browse if you haven't already been to this site. It's just amazing, and I absolutely love, love, love it! Again, I've mentioned it for a previous fabulous finds post when I was choosing prints for my daughter's bedroom.

Last but not least is funkymoose. I've bought a few things from this shop in the past (including the cute sheep baby shoes below) and I've found their customer service to be great. 

Shaggy Sheep Soft Baby Shoes from funkymoose

Have a peek at some of my other gift & shopping posts for more ideas....

What are your favourite online gift shops?

{November}

Can you believe that it's November already!?! Not only November, but 6th November!!! Seriously... where has the time gone!?

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October was a busy, busy month... and thankfully things have quietened down now in the Glasgow Mummy house and we're getting back into our usual routine. 

The kids are with their dad three nights a week, and whilst I'm glad of the rest (I need it!) and the me-time (catching up on laundry, meeting friends for coffee, time at the gym...) I'm finding that I really miss them. I arrived at work this morning and my colleague was filling me in on the lovely day she had with her daughter at the zoo and I nearly started crying at my desk. Don't get me wrong, it's such hard work with an 18 month old and a 3 year old... they're at that awkward age where they're yet to become good company and I struggle to do certain outings with them on my own. But I feel a bit lost when they're not around, so I'm finding that I'm keeping myself busy to keep my mind off things. Yesterday though I actually put my feet up and had a proper rest - I watched Alfie (Jude Law - yes please!) and then Dirty Dancing. I think that's why I'm feeling a bit 'meh' today... I had too much time to think yesterday!

{image source}

In other news I'm getting a cat... yes, you read right - a cat! I'm thinking it might help cure my loneliness. Although we'll have to see how I go as I'm allergic to cats (I know, I think I might be a bit insane at the moment! haha!!). My sister has two cats, called Pickle & Onion. I had initially planned to get a cute little brown cat and call it Branston (awww!) but Ali has offered to let me take Onion for a while rather than commit to a new cat. Pickle & Onion don't get on terribly well, so we're thinking Onion will be less grumpy when he's with me, and away from Pickle! Watch this space to see how we get on...!!! 

{35 at 35: Redecorate bedroom, check!}

Number one on my 35 at 35 list was to redecorate my bedroom. I've finally gotten around to finishing my bedroom, and I'm so pleased with it!

Here are the photographs...

Onduler Mirror from Home Accessories by Lauren

Bedside cabinet from local charity shop. Lamp from TKMaxx

Fairy lights by blaze on from Velvet Moon

Chair from made.com and grey curtains from Ikea

Kubrick Wing Back Chair in Plum Purple from made.com

Side board from local charity shop

Steel frame and walnut wide drawer unit from dwell

Bed from Robinsons beds