This week's Nails of the week is one of those Pinterest fails that actually turned good in the end. It was inspired from an image found on Pinterest, taken from Cupcakes and cashmere, one of my favourite blogs! I use the term 'inspired' quite loosely because in reality, my mani turned out nothing like the Cupcakes and Cashmere version, it is in fact very distant relative. I contemplated removing it all as soon as I had finished but in the end it kinda grew on me, so much so that I'm actually blogging about it. The neon pink was quite old and ended up streaking when I applied the topcoat but this unintentional effect ended up being my favourite part of the manicure in the end!!



The base colour is Essie Sand Tropez, I'm having a bit of a moment with this shade, it sat untouched in my stash for a few years but I have been using it more and more lately. The left dot is Essie in stitches and the streaky right one is the positively ancient, Essie Disco Pink.

I'm still working on my Shellac Hack- I'll get back to you as soon as I have found the winning formula ;)

We have a pest in our house, not ants, or wasps or even mice, unfortunately I don't think Rentokil can help us with this nuisance because it is to do with that archaic household device known as 'The Landline' . Why we even have a Landline, I do not know- no one ever calls us on it except for my parents and now increasingly so, the nuisance callers, usually trying to sell something we don't need. From PPI to no win no fee accident claims to people calling for whoever owned the landline prior to us, we have them all! But by far the most annoying is the recorded message calls, which are apparently voice sensitive so if you do swear at them and tell them to P**S off as errrrm I may or may not have done a few times, it will register that the phone line is in use and call you even more.



What irritates me most about these calls is that the always seem to call at the most inopportune moments! I will have spend hours rocking my son to sleep in the buggy for his day time nap, no sooner will his eyes have shut and the landline will wail waking my toddler up. I run to pick up the phone before it wakes him beyond the point of no return, only to hear some robotic recorded message on the other end. Otherwise it's usually at meal times when I have two hungry children screeching at me whilst I try to prepare some food. No, I really do not have time to answer your customer service survey right now and no, you can't call back!!

So I've been doing some research as to how we can put an end to this pest. By far the easiest solution seems to be to buy a call blocking device such as one of these Panasonic call blocking phones  I have also signed up to www.tpsonline.org.uk which is a free service that allows you to record your preference not to receive unsolicited sales or marketing calls. I'm not sure that there is a way to completely block these calls out as they probably could just call from other numbers but I really hope these steps will help.

Do you have any tips on reducing nuisance calls?

 

When E and Rufio were newborns, I could never find any products gentle enough for either of them in the supermarket and would always have to order separately online and let's face it as a new Mama, you have enough to do! The great thing about this is that you can pick this up in the baby aisle in the supermarket or in Boots and the recommended retail price is a very reasonable £2.99 but you can find it even cheaper if you shop around.

So our verdict: A really lovely and gentle product which we will continue to use. I would love it even more if it was Paraben and SLS free but generally another great product from Cussons Mum & Me, we loved their Baby Bath to Comfort Snuffles and we love this too!

As you may have guessed from the deluge of photos on my Instagram feed, few weeks ago, we had the pleasure of being invited to review Bluestone National Park Resort in Wales. It was just the pick me up we needed from our post Christmas blues, and a short break from city life.

Although I grew up in Wales, just outside Cardiff, I'm not all that familiar with Pembrokeshire, Mr Jones and I had visited Tenby for a wedding a few years ago and loved it, we couldn't wait to go back!






Arrival
It took us around four and a half hours to drive from South West London to Bluestone, despite the snow towards the end of our journey. It was all very well sign posted, as we got closer, we followed signs for Oakwood ( the theme park next door to Bluestone) and eventually there were signs directing us towards Bluestone itself.
We checked in at the drive through reception and were directed towards our home for the next few nights. As we pulled up, the lights were on inside and it looked very inviting and cosy.


Accommodation
During our stay, we spent four nights in a Grassholm lodge in Preseli View. A four bedroomed Lodge that slept 8 people with one double bedroom and three twin rooms ( you could easily push the beds together to create four doubles) and three bathrooms one of which ensuite.  We brought some good friends of ours along with us so altogether we were four adults, three toddlers and a newborn. The lodge was clean and spacious with neutral decor throughout. I loved the open plan layout and despite us being 8 people it didn't feel at all cramped.  You do have the option to pay extra for maid service, we toyed with the idea but as we were only there for four days, we didn't bother.
Bluestone is self catering and the lodges come very well equipped with utensils, we have never stayed at a self catering hotel before and found it really convenient with the children.









Activities
Before we arrived at Bluestone, we were sent quite a few e-mails encouraging us to book activities beforehand. I didn't have time to book anything before our stay but there was plenty to do nonetheless. The children could not get enough of the indoor adventure centre, with it's bouncy castle, soft play area, the lego wall and a huge overhead wooden climbing frame, for older children. They had so much fun here, I'm not sure how we managed to avoid tantrums when it was time to leave but we did!

We also adored the Blue Lagoon waterpark, I lost count of the number of times we went around the lazy river, which E and our friend's little boy were absolutely obsessed with, especially the part where the current takes you out outdoors. The pool is created to mimic the sea shore so the water's edge is really shallow and perfect for toddlers to splash around. There is also a very shallow toddler pool to the side of the main area with a little slide and even some rock pools!






Spa
The bit you've all been waiting for- The spa!! The gorgeous Well Spa is located in the village in the centre of Bluestone. I had looked at the menu online and the prices were eye-wateringly expensive- think high end London spa!

I decided to pop in to the spa to see if they had an offers on and fortunately they did!! I booked a 1 hour personal yoga class for myself at a very reasonable £20, I would pay this for a group class in London. The teacher Bethan Walton was trained in Viniyoga  and was absolutely fantastic. To begin with we sat down and discussed what I wanted to achieve with yoga and then we moved on to some poses and breathing exercises. If you are at all interested in yoga, I highly recommend you book this class, I left feeling motivated and very much inspired to take up yoga once again.

I also booked a spa morning with my friend, we left the children at home with the guys and had a relaxing morning catching up in the luxurious spa. We paid £35 for an hour's use of the Thermal Rooms which include a salt room, ice room, sauna and outdoor plunge pool. A half hour facial was also part of the deal and this was lovely.

In short, take advantage of the offers before arrival or call up the spa and ask what deals they have, on arrival.







Food
We loved Bluestone but to be honest we found that the food on offer wasn't really to our taste. One evening we ate at the Knight's Tafarn, which is kind of like a pub, the kids loved their bangers and mash!
 There's a local store in the town which is pretty well stocked but with heaps of local produce on offer but as we didn't really want to cook every night, we ended up driving out of Bluestone for dinner in the evenings. Fortunately my friend who was staying with us is actually from a seaside town close to Bluestone and was able to suggest places for us to eat in the evenings but on driving in and out of Bluestone we encountered something of a problem which leads me on to my next point....





Parking
Bluestone prides itself on 'Free range fun' with it's no car policy and my city children absolutely loved being able to run free. You are allowed to drive your car to your lodge to unload and load your luggage but for the rest of the time you leave your car in a long stay car park.

The week we visited it was absolutely freezing and as Bluestone is quite vast, Mr Jones decided to rent a golf buggy for the week which was undoubtedly the highlight of his trip. As we were visiting mid week, we paid £65 for 5 days use.

However, on the evenings when we drove in and out of Bluestone, we encountered a problem. Each night on our drive home from dinner, the children would inevitably fall asleep in the car. There was absolutely no way we could then transfer all four sleeping children, ranging from three and a half to three months into a freezing golf buggy in order to drive from the car park to our lodge. On both occasions we had to plead with the guards at the door to let us drive to the lodge and although we loved the free range concept, we did find it to be a touch inconvenient in the evenings with such small children.






So what's our overall verdict. Well although Bluestone isn't the sort of holiday we would usually choose we absolutely loved it!! We thoroughly enjoyed our stay and would most definitely go back again. For families it is ideal and there is something for everyone to enjoy regardless of the weather. It has definitely open our eyes to the concept of holidaying in this country as we usually go abroad.

One of the things that I liked most about Bluestone was that with all the optional extras such as maid service and welcome hampers you can really tailor your holiday to suit your individual needs and your budget.

We found Bluestone to be seriously relaxing and heaps of fun, the perfect family escape from London! Just what we needed!!


 www.bluestonewales.com

A few weeks ago I wrote a post about how much I wanted to cut my hair in to a long bob. Quite a few people have been asking me if I went for the chop so I thought I would give you all a little update. As I'm sure the photo above shows, I clearly did not get a LOB, I totally chickened out at the last minute. I do like to change things up a bit whenever I get my hair done so instead I opted for some blonde balayage ( Above Left: Before & Right: After)
Balayage is a highlighting technique which I first came across years ago, back when I was at University in Paris. In basically involves painting the dye directly on to the hair instead of using foils. The result is a very natural and rooty effect. You know how children often have that gorgeous natural ombre effect hair colour, well balayage kinda reproduces that. It seems to be really popular at the moment and I am super happy with my new hair colour. In fact I LOVE it! I also like the how my roots already show through a tiny bit which gives a really natural effect and hopefully the re- growth shouldn't be too harsh.
As for the Lob, I haven't written it off! I think it's the perfect yummy mummy hair style at the moment, even Kim K has opted for one since I wrote the original post! I still really really want to get so if and when I finally get the courage to cut my hair, I will let you know!!

Have a great weekend everyone.

One of the best things about blogging for me is discovering fun and new things to do with my family that I wouldn't normally come across. Big Fish Little Fish family raves definitely fall in to this category. A few weekends ago we were invited to The Electrowerkz in Islington for Big Fish Little Fish's Space Oddity themed event.
My sister and her family also joined us and upon arrival the children were given fluorescent bracelets which they were absolutely thrilled with. Each event is held at a different and quirky venue and this time BFLF was held at Elektrowerk which used to be a metals factory. In the main room there was a disused tube carriage which had been transformed in to a bar and the ceiling was adorned with giant stars and orbs. There was a sweet little cake stand selling themed cupcakes and cake pops, the children devoured these so quickly that I didn't even get a chance to photograph them. E immediately clocked the face painting stand, she has wanted to have her face painted for so long but was too impatient to wait her turn.






We then moved on to the DJ room, it was just like a real rave and took me back to my teenage weekends spent clubbing, it was especially surreal with the children there. BFLF isn't a kids Disco, it's a rave that children & parents can attend.  Despite the funky music, it was quite dark and the older girls who are both 3 and going through a 'scared of the dark' phase and didn't want to stay in there too long. There were plenty of kids ( and parents) in there LOVING the tunes and even babies with ear defenders grooving away.

Our next stop was the chill out room, complete with a bubble wrap wall ( Did I mention it was just like a real rave!!). The Chill out room was a winner all around, the dads snuck off for some beers at the tube carriage whilst my sister and I entertained the kiddie winks at the craft area. They all loved creating glittery alien themed crowns, this section was really well organised and there were staff on hand to help the kids create their extra terrestrial head wear so parents could relax a little.

Best of all was the huge graffiti wall, which we literally had to tear the children away from when it was time to go home. Left to their own devices I'm certain they would have stayed there until bed time, it's not every day that you're actively encouraged to draw on a wall after all!!













Check www.bigfishlittlefishevents.co.uk for upcoming raves, but be warned BFLF is extremely popular and events do sell out fast so make sure to book your tickets well in advance. The rave we attended in Islington was jam packed!

The first thing my daughter said when she woke up the next morning was 'Mummy, can we go back to 'Fish little fish' again today?' A sure sign she enjoyed herself!!

• An all-expenses paid trip to a recording studio to sing and record the Thomas & Friends theme tune which will feature on a special anniversary DVD

• A half-day musical experience run by a music specialist
• £200 worth of musical instruments

• A visit from The Fat Controller