Saturday 29 November 2014

Christmas Gift Guide - For the Pets

So, I've got two kittens that are going to need Christmas gifts!! You may laugh, but I think it's only fair that they have a little something under the tree (that they will never see as they're not allowed in the living room!).

Anyway, here are my selection of gifts your pampered pet and their owner too...

I used to have this fish bowl for Onion when we were in the old house and I loved that it was stylish so I didn't mind it being out on show. It's expensive but it was really practical (non-slip, easy to clean and each dish is removable so you can top up the bowls without too much fuss) as well as looking good.

Cat Fish Bowl, approx £19 at Amazon

Similarly, this is the same radiator bed that we have for Rhubarb and Crumble (it used to be Onions!). It's practical (for example it opens up and flattens out so it can be hoovered/cleaned) but it also looks good so I don't have to compromise on my interior style.

Jolly Moggy Bamboo Cat Radiator Bed, approx £23 at Amazon

If you really wanted to go all out on a bed, then this dog bed from Joules is just beautiful and it looks so comfy (plus being stylish so will appeal to the owners too I bet!).
Square Dog Bed in Navy Floral, £36.96 for medium sized bed at Joules

I don't have space in my house for a scratching post, so when I saw this hanging scratch mat I thought it was ideal.


After my chat last week about finding the perfect Christmas wreath, then how about this dog biscuit version from BHS?

Bonio Wreath, £10 at BHS

Or how about a personalised treat jar? I thought this one from Not On The High Street is super cute!


With the weather becoming pretty cold now, most small dogs will need a wee jacket to keep them cosy. I love this quilted one from Barbour. Isn't it so cute!

Barbour Quilted Dog Coat, £34.95 at Outdoor and Country

I love these white animal coat hooks from Rose & Grey. This would be ideal for hanging up a dog lead (or a cat harness, if you're so inclined! I remember as a child we had a wee harness so we could take our pet rabbit out for a walk down the street. Crazy huh! Just a shame there isn't a cat version!! You can take your pick from dog, cow, elephant or horse.)

Animal hook, £16 at Rose & Grey

I  have mentioned Snapdragon before in the children's gift guide, but I do just love their mugs. They have an ideal one for dog lovers - you can buy a personalised mug like this one and there are a few other dog breeds to choose from too:

Personalised Pug Mug, £12.50 at Snapdragon

And it wouldn't be Christmas without a squeaky turkey!

Christmas Noisy Turkey Dog Toy, £10 at Marks and Spencer

Friday 28 November 2014

Love The Little Things

Joining up again with Morgana at But Why Mummy Why for her weekly Love the Little Things linky.

butwhymummywhy
Read

A rather amusing post by Dawniepopsies on How to be a Blogger. It made me chuckle!

Watched

I have been really ill this week and it's not been pleasant. I've not made it into work and I've literally spent about 80 hours in my bed. I'm a terrible patient. I hate being ill. But I was a weak, coughing and spluttering mess. My face hurt (sinuses) and my body is still aching. I managed to have a bath on Monday but I felt faint afterwards (maybe the heat?). I'm starting to feel a bit  more like my normal self, and I managed out of the house to do the school & nursery runs without collapsing - but that's all I've managed.

So during my time in bed I have watched a number of YouTube videos including episodes of Grand Designs and I have discovered Lily Pebbles and Vivianna Does Makeup. They've kept me going!

Heard

Have you heard the news?


*sings* "I'm leaving on a jet plane... don't know when I'll be back again"* 

Yes - the day has arrived. R is whisking me away to an unknown destination this evening for a long weekend. I'm assuming I'm going on a plane... I do know that I need a passport! My last holiday out of the country was in 2010.

I am super excited as you can all imagine, although travelling and being on a plane (or train, or bus) for ages is the last thing I want to do when I'm feeling under par. But I will paint on my happy face and I'm sure I'll have a lovely weekend. My bags will be packed with plenty Lemsip, ibuprofen and the like to see me through.

Made

Not very much... but I think that's acceptable given that I've not been myself. You're lucky if I even made my bed (I didn't even do that!!).

Wore

At the start of the weekend, when I still felt like a human being, I was wearing my new Smashbox lip lacquer and I'm loving it. But since then I've been feeling, and looking, crap. I was even sporting a fashionable 'tissue-up-the-nose-to-stop-it-dripping' look (in front of R too!).


And lastly...

It's not long now until Christmas!! If you haven't already seen my gift guides, then do please have a peek. I'm quite proud of them!


Have a great weekend folks. Keep an eye on my Twitter (@glasgow_mummy) as I'll no doubt announce where I'm off to as soon as I find out myself!!

*not technically true as despite not knowing where we're going, I know we're back on Monday evening!

Thursday 27 November 2014

Beauty - Pure Spa, West Nile Street



Pure Spa & Beauty opened up at a new location last week - West Nile Street in Glasgow City Centre. I was invited along to have a tour of the facilities, enjoy a glass of fizz (although I had orange juice as I was driving) and have a 15 minute mini treatment. I chose to have a shoulder and scalp massage, and it was just super relaxing. It's the little touches that made the experience even better... the heated bed was delightful and I had a lavender pillow put over my eyes for the duration of the treatment. Thank you Kerry. It was a perfect end to what was a busy week!


The spa facilities are very much like the other locations. I've been a few times to Pure Spa Silverburn for treatments and similarly the West Nile Street spa has a mani-pedi bar, express treatment rooms and the spa treatment rooms and chill-out area with loungers for relaxing pre- and post-treatment. The West Nile Street spa's location is ideal; just a short walk from one of the main shopping districts, Buchanan Galleries. It's extremely convenient, especially if you work in the city centre like me. 

The spa treatment rooms are located deep within the bowels of the building, so there doesn't appear to be any external noise despite the city centre location. I had my treatment in one of the express treatment rooms near the entrance of the spa and with it being a busy opening night I could hear guests going up and down the stairs. I sometimes find it hard to switch off during a spa treatment when I can hear other things going on outside my treatment room. But I believe in the spa treatment rooms this wouldn't be the case - all you will hopefully hear is the relaxing plinky plonky music (that is if you manage to stay awake!).  

(This isn't me btw in case you were wondering!)

If you are interested in visiting the spa for yourself, then I think this Party Recovery package sounds like a fantastic deal. Included in the 2+ hours treatment is infra-red sauna detox, signature foot ritual, relaxing back massage, Elemis deep-cleansing facial and a foot nourishing treatment and all this is just £59. Sounds bliss doesn't it! You could buy this for a treat for yourself or you could put it on your Santa list ;-)

On another note, can you believe it's now under one month until Christmas!!

I received a complimentary 15 minute treatment at the West Nile Street Pure Spa in exchange for a review. As always, opinions are honest and are my own.

Wednesday 26 November 2014

Getting Festive - Christmas Wreath

I used to have a Christmas wreath that went on my front door... note the tense here :( It was a gorgeous wreath from Marks & Spencer and unfortunately it got ruined in the horrendous weather that we experienced last December (some metal parts from the apex of the roof of my house came off in the wind too!).

I'm not going to make that mistake again! Instead, my thoughts were that I could have a wreath on an internal door!! 

Of course I went straight to Pinterest for some inspiration, and here's what I found:





You can see that I'm drawn to metallics, natural textures, leaves and green foliage.

I'd love to make my own, but I literally do not have the time.

Instead, if I am going to have a wreath, it will be a shop bought one, and with that in mind - here are some of my favourites:






Tuesday 25 November 2014

Beauty - Bumble & Bumble, Smashbox and Ojon

I was invited along to Malmaison last week to hear from three brands: Bumble & Bumble, Smashbox and Ojon. I've previously used Bumble & Bumble (I had a tube of brilliantine which I got at my old hairdresser, MB Hair) and I've got a tube of smashbox primer in my make-up bag. But I hadn't heard of Ojon (please tell me I'm not the only one?). All three brands are stocked in Boots so you should hopefully be able to get your hands on them relatively easily.

The next day I tried out a few of the products that I was gifted for the purpose of this review...


The Bb shampoo and conditioner were lovely to use. The conditioner especially which had a nice thick consistency. Both products smelt gorgeous too. These products contain a blend of featherlight oils which help to soften, silken, tame, de-frizz, detangle and protect hair. 

Getting ready to blow dry... me not the cat of course!!

After towel drying, I sprayed my hair with the primer and then combed through some of the blow dry creme. Have you heard of using primer on your hair? I've got a few face primers, but never thought that you would need to prime your hair. The pre-styler spray works to protect against breakage, heat styling and UV damage. 

The all-style creme was also intriguing. If you put it on your hand, it's initially a cream consistency and feels smooth but if you keep rubbing it in, you can then notice that it has a powdery finish. Turns out there are oil-absorbing powders in the formula that will help keep your hair looking fresh. 

Anyway, the end result was fab and I thought my hair looked super glossy and sleek.

I also tried out a few of the make-up products, the contour kit from smashbox and the lip liner and lacquer. The Always Sharp Lip Liner is such a fantastic concept. I love it. A couple of clicks and you've got a sharp pencil again and again without having to actually use a pencil sharpener. Genius!!  (Turns out there is a tiny built in sharpener in the tip of the cap, so it's not magic!). 

The Contour Kit is going to take some practicing I think, but smashbox have some YouTube tutorials so I'm going to watch these a few times before I have another go! The kit comes with three blendable powders - to contour, bronze and highlight - and it comes with a specially designed angled brush. What's handy is the little diagram that you can see on the mirror below which is basically a cheat sheet that will help you achieve great results.

The palette is expensive at £35, and I'm not sure I could justify that much money on a contouring product. Maybe once I've mastered the art my opinion might change. However I think the lip liner and lacquer are well worth the money.


My new luscious, shiny locks and my smashbox lip colour (which lasted for the rest of the day without touching up!)

I've also subsequently tried some of the Ojon products. The Restorative Hair Treatment Plus was lovely. It's a solid balm in the tub, but you scoop out some onto your hands and then rub them together to transform it into a luxurious oil. I massaged this into my hair whilst I had a soak in the bath tub. This intensive hair treatment helps hydrate and improve the condition of damaged hair. The story behind the brand was quite remarkable; I enjoyed hearing about the founder Denis Simioni who discovered that communities in Central America used the oils extracted from the nuts from the native Ojon tree for hair and beauty remedies. Again, my hair felt in great condition afterwards. I'm going to keep using the products, so I'll keep you updated with my thoughts on them after a few uses.



Do let me know what you think - have you tried any of these brands and/or products?

I received some complimentary products from each of the brands for the purpose of this review. Opinions as always are honest and are my own.

Saturday 22 November 2014

Getting festive - Disney Store's Share the Magic

This week we were delighted to attend the Disney Store at the St Enoch Centre, Glasgow for the VIP launch of their annual charity campaign 'Share the Magic' with In Kind Direct.

The 'Share the Magic' initiative invites families to post their own Letter to Santa at Disney Stores across the country and for every letter that is posted, a Mickey Mouse soft toy is donated to a child through their chosen national charities*. This is the 6th year that Disney Store has run the campaign and this Christmas is set to see the 100,000th soft toy donated. If you can't get to a Disney Store, then you can still participate online where you can use the letter writing tool and post your letter digitally.

This year Disney Store is supporting In Kind Direct. The charity redistributes quality, usable products donated by some of the UK's best known manufacturers and retailers to charities working in the UK and abroad. Disney Store is one of In Kind Direct's founding donors, first donating in 1997. Since then the Disney Store has donated over £2.6 million worth of toys, clothing and accessories.

The kids and I got into our Christmas clothes & accessories, jumped in the car and headed into town for the event.

We had great fun making snowflake decorations for our Christmas tree and posing with Mickey Mouse. We then wrote our letters to Santa before posting them in the magical post box. I even enjoyed a wee sparkly mince pie, or two (don't tell the PT!).



There were a few celebs attending the event, although I didn't spot any of them at the store on the evening!

If you're CBeebies fans like us, then you'll recognise the stars from Wooly & Tig!

This is Jane McCarry with her family; she is better known as Isa from Still Game

And here we are!! I was loving my son's Santa shirt with red bow tie - we got it at Primark if you're wondering. (Although he looks a bit crazy in this photo!!)

The kids were very lucky to be given a goodie bag each as we left the party that included a festive Mickey Mouse soft toy and a Christmas decoration. We also received a gift voucher for the store which promptly was spent on a small Star Wars set for the eldest and a princess nail polish for the littlest. Nothing for mummy unfortunately!

*A maximum of 25,000 soft toys will be donated.

Friday 21 November 2014

Love the Little Things

Joining in with Morgana's Love the Little Things blog hop again this week.

butwhymummywhy
Read

Very little again this week :-/

Watched

R & I have been watching The Walking Dead and I'm hooked. It's absolutely brilliant. Think we're at Season 3 now and it just keeps getting better and better.

I have also been watching Homeland, but to be honest I've been a bit disappointed with this series and it's not the same without Brody.

Wore

I was at a Bumble & Bumble, Smashbox and Ojon event on Tuesday afternoon this week at Malmaison Glasgow and came away with a few goodies. Feel very lucky! I tried the new Bumble & Bumble shampoo and love the result, and the lip colour below is a Smashbox product. It lasted really well throughout the day & I'm suitably impressed with it.

I'm starting to miss my fringe and the photos of the gorgeous Morgana and her heavy fringe are not helping matters! I may end up getting mine cut back in!!


I've also worn my Christmas jumper!! Sorry, I do realise it's only November still but I just can't help it! We were at a Christmas party last night so we all had on our festive gear!

Heard

The soundtrack to my life right now is either children laughing (& sometimes screaming) or cats meowing. I'm loving the wee kittens but they are making my life harder work and I'm already at my limit. I know it will be easier when they can go outside, but for just now they're stuck inside and their litter tray stuff is getting absolutely everywhere. I can't get to my tumble drier outside without having to find the kittens and make sure they're secure without means to escape and I've no place to put food that's safe now because they are managing to jump onto the kitchen counter and my kitchen is teeny.


Made

Littlest & I put together these pom poms for the hallway and there are a few leftover for her bedroom too. We were sent a kit by my friend Ailsa who is living in Australia.  If you're reading this - I just want to say thanks for the gifts and sorry for being a crap friend but I seriously miss you guys loads. Wish you were back in Glasgow!!


I've also styled my coffee table for Christmas, although I didn't technically make any of the stuff on it, but I did collate it! The sparkly Christmas tree candle is from Marks & Spencer as well as the silver glass candle at the front. The other candle holder to the right is from Ikea and the smallest tealight holder I think is from a little gift shop in Pollokshields, Glasgow called Marie Brown at Home. The mirrored tray is from Debenhams and the plastic stag is from eBay. It looks much better in person than in the photograph.



And Lastly...

The healthy eating and exercise is starting to pay off... I weighed myself and I've lost 6 lbs. Just another 8 lbs to go. I've been a bit rubbish this week as I was feeling rank on Wednesday and Thursday so I've been going to be bed at the same time as the kids! My blog has suffered as well as the exercise regimen. I'll hopefully be on better form next week!

Monday 17 November 2014

Interiors - My New Coffee Table

I've been on the hunt for a coffee table for my 'grown-up' living room and had been pinning loads and loads of inspiring photos but hadn't actually managed to source one that would work for me and the space available. My living room is medium sized, but with all the furniture that I already have in the room there isn't much available floor space left (goodness knows how I'm going to manage to squeeze in a Christmas tree too!). When I've had friends round we've had to have drinks and nibbles on the floor or on one of the kids stools, so I definitely needed a table of some sort!

This was the style that I was after and my plan was to then store Moroccan poufs or knitted stools under the table as additional seating for when we had guests over.



I quite liked the idea of a more industrial concrete coffee table, something along the lines of this one:


The littlest and I popped along to Sterling Furniture on London Road the other week to have a browse. It was definitely worth a visit and we picked up a few new Christmas decorations. Anyway, whilst I was there we had a browse at the coffee tables. There were a few that fitted the bill...

But the more I thought about it, the more I thought that a glass coffee table would help give the impression of more space.


In the end I've gone for a more economical option from Ikea. I had spotted this table on gh0stparties vlog and it's perfect for my living room too! I'm hoping that I'll still be able to get a pouf of some sort under there!


I've been busy styling the table for Christmas, and picked up a gorgeous mirrored tray from Debenhams the other day as I would quite like to recreate something along the lines of this...


Or this:


Here's the tray I've bought:


Once I've got the space more organised I'll take some photos and let you see the end result.




Beauty with a Conscious

I volunteer most weeks with the Prince and Princess of Wales hospice, located in Bellahouston Park, Glasgow, where I deliver a mindfulness m...