Friday Quicktakes

1. I am addicted to Ebay at the moment, addicted I tell you.  In a positive way though, as in selling, not buying, much to Himself's relief. I looked with fresh eyes at my wardrobe a few weeks back, and it was bunged with all the things I never wear cos they make me look fat ( it's not me, it's you), or don't fit me anymore, or never actually fitted in the first place but I'd DEFINITELY slim into them by Christmas.

 Then there were the tipsy purchases, (who doesn't love a little Saturday night surfing?), the not so unmissable bargains and the unwanted gifts. (Don't deny it, you do it too). And as I stood there looking at my bulging wardrobe, I suddenly had the urge to cleanse and clear and before you could say Ka-ching, I was uploading pictures with cracking descriptions such as 'too fabulous!' and 'sexy but sooooo elegant'  and 'Go on, grab yourself a bargain!!!!' Clearly I have a knack, because they read so well that I actually wanted to buy them right back off myself, which doesn't even make sense and likely illustrates shopaholic tendencies, which I've no wish to dwell on right now.

 But I've sold over 20 items so far and am now BFFs with the lady in the post office and £300 richer.  A second cull has yielded 30+ more items, so I reckon that'll keep me  the children in shoes for a few more months, AND my wardrobe's never looked so spacious.

2. Last Monday evening, I went to a fab Blogging Tools evening in Maven on the Lisburn Road in Belfast, run by Gemma, who blogs at That Belfast Girl  and Avril from SchoolGateStyle. In a nutshell, these two very successful bloggers treated a group of us to lots of tips, many of which included the important PR side of blogging, Yes, that would be the whole networking and social media side of things that I happen to be completely shit at. It's partially time constraints for me - I find the precious time to squeeze in some writing but then rush straight back to family life, neglecting to do all the important stuff that means people might actually get to read what I've written. So yes, as you can imagine, it was a productive evening for me.

For instance, I learned about a brilliant  photo app called 'A Beautiful Mess' which enabled me make the (teensy bit fabulous) photo collage for my 'Shoe of the Week'. Gemma and Avril  also convinced me that I should try harder to 'get' Twitter AND I'm committed to find out what the actual point of Google+ is, and what it's doing on my blog. (I haven't done it yet,mind, but I'll tell you all about it when I do.)

3.   Overheard.
Two boys at the table having a snack.
Cormac (age 10) - So Lukey, what did you do in nursery today? Who did you play with? Did you have fun? Did you play outside ?
 Luke (age 3)- (calmly) Dude, just stop talking.
Cormac - (incredulously) What????
Luke - Stop talking, dude. (Face-palms)



4. Lent starts next week ....and right at this moment,  I childlishly feel the urge to boo, panto stylee.  I've decided that I'll maybe, possibly, probably give up Facebook for Lent, because giving up the entire internet  would be way too difficult and anyway, I neeeeeeeeed it for my blog, so that's that decision made. I did it last year too, and honestly, the first few days were tough, but it definitely freed up time for other things...like Amazon. I'm joking...no, not really.


5. My boogie in the car seat this week is an oldie, but a goodie. I heard it on the radio earlier this week and it brought me right back to my teens, when I actually remember getting goose bumps every time I heard it on 'Cool Goes Quiet'. Mon dieu, that reveal near the end never gets old.
Enjoy my lovelies, have a fabulous weekend and I'll see you in March! Emx






PS- If you haven't done it already, could you take a wee minute and nominate me in any of the categories you think I fit into in the Mad Blog Awards 2014? I'm hoping it might be a case of three times a charm.Thank you - I very much appreciate it. xx

The Big Meet

Recently Luke and myself have started going to a  JO Jingles music class on a Friday morning in Moira, and I gotta tell you, its's a big hit. ( Check him out throwing a few moves to the endlessly popular 'Sleeping Bunnies'!)



 Beforehand though, to suitably fortify myself (caffeine drip anyone?), we often  go to my very favourite spot in Moira-The Fat Gherkin- for a smoothie (him) and a latte (me).

Last week, I had arranged to meet, for the first time IRL (In Real Life!) the lovely Dara who writes the fabulous crafty blog- Mum of all Trades. We've been buddies on Twitter until now, and I LOVE her blog- she's so creative and inspiring-you wouldn't believe the things that girl can do with a spray gun! (In stark contrast, you'll be a long time waiting to see any crafts on my blog- I'm so rubbish at them, I start to twitch when the play dough comes out). Coincidentally, she too has four boys and a girl, so we'd loads to chat about and I even got to meet her adorable three year old daughter Olivia. (Although as toddlers do, she and Luke steadfastly ignored each other the entire time!)

(L-R)  Me, Dara and Avril and no, the floor isn't ACTUALLY at that angle!

Then, quite by chance, we heard that Avril Keyes who writes the wonderful School Gate Style blog was ALSO in da house! Who knew The Fat Gherkin was such a magnet for bloggers? I adore Avril's blog,  and amongst other things, I've learned how to tie a scarf in numerous different ways, got a heads up on the upcoming  Boden and M&S sales, and had my say in the ongoing wedge trainer debate. (In case you're interested, IMHO they're so wrong, they're right.)

 So of course, being blog divas, we had to capture the moment for posterity, and thankfully Olwyn, the proprietor, was on hand to snap this shot, which then I instagrammed just for the fun of it.

Staaaaap Already!

 You can't see it, but Dara and myself have a little stash each of The Fat Gherkin's famous caramel squares to take away. Now, I realise that I've told you about them before, so look away now if you're on a diet, because these bad boys are every bit as gorgeous as they look.   (Don't deny it, I KNOW you're having a wee sneaky lick of that screen right now!)
 Ciao bella xxx