All-in-One Mum

In December last year I had the pleasure of sharing my 30th birthday celebration with close friends and family at the fabulous Darcy's Restaurant  in St Albans. Darcy's is one of my favourite local restaurants and so when it came to planning my party, there was no question as to where it would take place and as I couldn't be in South Africa for my birthday I decided to bring a taste of Africa to my birthday in the UK, and so my "Out of Africa" theme was born. Anna, the Restaurant Manager at Darcy's and David, the Head Chef, worked with me to create a delicious menu that tied in with my theme.  The flavours and selection were absolutely perfect and I can safely say that every single one of my guests had a wonderful time and loved their amazing meal filled with flavours of home as most of my guests were South African. For those of you who are curious, this is the  mouthwatering 3 course menu we had on the night Starters White onion sou...

Oh phooey! So you saw the post title and thought this was going to be a bit saucy? Seriously now, this is a family friendly blog people! On a more serious note, I really did just slip into something more relaxing. Two things actually and they are absolutely fabulous! You'll only see me wearing these babies when I'm at home and man, oh man, they fit like a glove. Soft, fluffy, tan and red Winnie the Pooh slippers.  Never mind that they keep my toes toasty but they always lift my spirits at the end of a nippy winters day. RANDOM INFORMATION THAT YOU COULD DO WITHOUT : I've lived in the UK for nearly 8 years and have slowly developed quite a collection of flannel pyjamas, gowns and fluffy footwear.  My winter wardrobe is about twice the size of my summer one and I always seem to have an emergency umbrella somewhere in the house in case one meets with a large gust of wind and turns inside out. Isabella thinks my Pooh shoes are hilarious, especially when they 'ch...

I've been married for nearly 6 years and I still love all things wedding, so when a friend asked me to go with her to a Wedding Fair at Hatfield House I jumped at the chance.  Picking the venue, the flowers, the dress, the rings, the cake and everything that goes along with it is all so incredibly exciting! Not all of the exhibitors were able to attend the day unfortunately due to thicker snow fall in surrounding areas putting a spanner in the works.  The individuals and companies that were present though were all of a very high standard and so I'm glad that it wasn't me that had to decide between who would be perfect to give me my dream wedding day. I've often talked about my husband and I having our 10th wedding anniversary in Hawaii.  Our actual anniversary is in June but we would tie it in with Ironman Kona which is in October.  We would be killing two birds with one stone in doing so as hubby gets to watch the ultimate Ironman race and we can renew our vows ...

Apparently tonight's dinner would only be eaten if the monkey suit was worn. Ax

I've still not been on a skiing/winter holiday as the idea of voluntarily spending a week playing in snow doesn't really excite me to tell you the truth.  Give me a beach holiday or other suitable location that is in excess of 30 degrees Celsius and I will be an extremely happy creature. All that said, I woke up this morning feeling like a child at Christmas.  Today is the first time that Isabella will have seen, touched and tasted! I slipped out of bed quite early, showered then dressed and even started to clean the house while my husband and daughter slept peacefully in their beds unaware of how giddy I was with excitement. Bella's little outfit was set out last night so that I could quickly feed her breakfast this morning, let it settle and then change her into her warm clothes for outside.  I had it all planned out! I lasted until about 8.30 a.m. before I simply had to wake the household up.  I couldn't wait any longer to see the look on Isabella's ...

God Put a Smile Upon Your Face (Coldplay). Phew! Just had to get that out! Din, din, din, dinnnnnn, din, din, din, dinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn, din!   Din, din, din, dinnnnnn, din, din, din, dinnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnnn, din! That is my version of the  opening riff as I hear it in my head. COLDPLAY - GOD PUT A SMILE UPON YOUR FACE LYRICS I love Coldplay.  By far the most amazing and outstanding live act, other than the band Live, that I have ever seen, live! As many of you know I am incredibly random.  Baby posts by day, parent or more grown up posts by night.  I was going to use the words 'mature' or 'adult' but I think the connotations of those two just wouldn't sit right and I foresaw a few negative comments coming my way if I'd used them.  I think that my quirkiness is all part of my charm and the reason that many of my friends like my company and that people follow my blog, or am I simply being presumptive? Please don't answer that... ...

Welcome to my first All-in-One Mum personal weekly goal! As each of us is so wonderfully different I find it extremely interesting to see what others are striving towards in their lives, hence I've created my All-in-One Mum Weekly Goals and All-in-One Mum Weekly Achievements. My challenge to you is to set a goal for the week.  It can be as simple as making a small change to your daily routine, trying a new task, writing that blog post you never got around to doing, spending more time with your children, trying a new or interesting recipe or as ambitious as getting that marathon time you've always wanted or trying a new hobby that you thought was impossible to do.   Each Sunday you get the opportunity to write down a task that you are wanting to achieve for that particular week.   Add your name/blog name and link to your blog in the linky at the bottom of my post and you will have the opportunity to share your goals and dreams with the rest of t...

Every night before Isabella goes to bed, I sing nursery rhymes to her.  I hold her snuggle in my arms and walk around her darkened room while she rests her little head on my left shoulder.  We usually start our routine with me singing the song from CBeebies (The time has come to say goodnight...). Isabella's current nursery rhyme top 10 The Time has Come to Say Goodnight (CBeebies Song) Baa Baa Black Sheep Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star Mary Had a Little Lamb Incy, Wincy Spider Three Blind Mice (a bit gruesome but I try to make the actions as PC as possible) Old MacDonald Humpty Dumpty  Rock a Bye Baby Hush a Bye baby The next step in the routine is for Bella to request a song.  I've seen a very big improvement in her language skills over the past few weeks and she is gradually learning the lines to the different songs, albeit that no one else but me can understand what she is saying in most cases.  For example, we have progressed from 'Baa Baa'...

A few of you may think that I'm about to go straight into waxing lyrical about my daughter and what she has brought into our lives.  I think it goes without saying that each child is precious and individual and that they touch your lives in such a unique way and that all the words in the world could never truly express this. Yes, I do get a bit soppy at the end of this post but the real aim of this was to see what a change Isabella has actually made to our home in the physical sense of the word.  It must have been extremely dull and boring before she arrived in April 2010. Here is a small peak into what our home is like now. 1.  Our Bathroom Pre-baby our black and white tiled floor bathroom with other basic white goods was very simple.  Now it is colourful with baby bath toys, bath products, etc. 2.  Our bedroom Our room is a subtle green.  Extremely peaceful with black brown furniture and a gorgeous Feather and Black Oliver bed which I adore. ...

For my 30th birthday I was given a very generous gift card for  Champneys .  Any other sane person would look at the little golden book of fabulous treatments that Champneys includes with the gift cards, pick something and book in to be pampered.   Well, not me! Let me attempt to explain a bit of my logic behind not treating myself to a much needed (deserved?!) full body massage just yet. I don't usually take the time to treat myself to things like this.  I get the basics done (mani, pedi and other bits) but nothing more indulgent than that. There are 9 treatments that would fit the bill.  I'm torn between Mediterranean Bliss and a stock standard full body massage.  I have read this booklet front to back on a number of occasions and each treatment sounds more dreamy than the other.  I can actually imagine how relaxed and zen like I will be after my special pamper session.  The more I read them the harder it is to choose! If I actually bo...

I came across Kate's blog, Kate Takes 5,   a couple of weeks ago.  When I read 'Blogging for Sanity's Sake' under her blog title I immediately took a liking to it. Once a week Kate picks a topic or subject and makes a list of 5 things that relate to her particular choice for the week.  These can range from top 5 destinations right down to top 5 biscuits.  Once posted, Kate invites her readers to do the same and then share a link to their list on her page.  You can read about what inspired her to begin Kate Takes 5 Weekly Listography here . It is extremely interesting and a real eye opener to see just how different (or similar!) we all are.  For a person that loves making lists, this is heaven!  I make lists for absolutely everything.  I even make lists for what I am going to blog about.  I like order and it makes me happy and keeps me semi-sane.  So, with all that said, I start my 1st listography list on my Top 5 Websites! ...

I think I have fallen in love.   Completely head over heels in fact!   A very routine shopping trip turned into a rather fabulous outing today!   I stumbled across the  most wonderful, fabulous and amazing kitchen storage ranges at my local Marks and Spencer.   With collection names like Circus, Geisha, Animal Print, Retro and Cherry Heart, how could they go wrong?   The spring cookware collection is also completely gorgeous and simply on first sight would inspire anyone to cook and bake in an utter frenzy of food happiness!   The snaps you see are of a couple of the Circus tins that anyone who loves to bake should, in my humble opinion, own.  I will definitely have to buy them and once they are filled with scrummy cakes and bakes, I will post the photos for all to see. My store also stocks La Crueset and with Valentine's Day just around the corner, what better excuse to buy the collection of 3 gorgeous  h...