The Gallery: Hair

Tara really is trying to shame us all with photos of years gone by and this week's Hair theme certainly won't disappoint.

I've struggled to settle on just one of my many hair styles, so I'll leave it to you guys to choose your favourite. Be nice!

1988 : Dodgy perm

1992 : Cute bob

2003 : Streaky hell (I blame the pregnancy hormones).

2007 : Red bob

2008 : Blonde again

Don't forget to check out the rest of this weeks Gallery.

To Downing Street... surely not?

I could have been in any old meeting this morning as I shared the things I'd seen in Bangladesh, but I wasn't. I was sitting amongst a room full of fellow Save the Children Ambassadors, as a cabinet meeting took place in a room below us at 10 Downing Street.

What a whirl-wind of a year it's been. 

From blogger to conference organiser to campaigner to ambassador to being on the guest list at world's most famous address. 

If anyone ever questioned the validity or reach of the parent blogging community - here's the proof.

I'm so proud that Blogladesh reached out to so many people and that it was the inspiration for Save the Children's amazing new 'Born To' campaign. 

You see.... we really can change the world.

And get your pic taken by loads of tourists while you are at it!

Silent Sunday: Fox eats Bunny

For this weeks Silent Sunday

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Win Babies the movie on DVD

To celebrate the release of movie-documentary BABIES, which is out on DVD and Blu-ray from March 28, I’ve teamed up with Optimum Home Entertainment to give you the chance of winning your very own copy on DVD. Expect an hour and a half of adventure, action, humour and tumbles!

BABIES is a documentary film from Chez Wham providing a unique look into four babies from across the globe, journeying with them from birth to their very first steps.

The film simultaneously follows Ponijao, Bayarjargal, Mari and Hattie, from Namibia, Mongolia, Japan and the United States, capturing the funniest, most carefree and moving moments of the first year of life. Starting with each of their births and continuing all through the first year, it paints a mesmerizing picture of just how different, and yet how similar, these babies' lives are.

To be in with a chance of winning a copy of Babies on DVD, simply leave a comment on this post with a way to contact you if you winanswer the following question:

What countries are the children in BABIES from?


a)  Namibia, Mongolia, Japan and the United States
b) Thailand, Loas, Scotland, Canada and Mexico
c) Germany, Russia, England, Malaysia and New Zealand


Babies - released on DVD and Blu-ray Monday March 28th.


Entry closes at midnight (GMT) on 6th April 2011.
A winner will be drawn at random.
Competition terms and conditions.

The Gallery : Education

What a great theme for this week's Gallery!

This is me age 7. The same age as my youngest daughter is now.

I can clearly remember the day this was taken because someone threw up in the corridor and the caretaker covered it up with a big bucket of sand. Nice.

I love the fact that I'm accessorised by a red leaf in my fringe. Why the hell didn't someone tell me?

Whatever you do this week, make sure you find some time to view the other Gallery entries. If nothing else it will give you a good laugh!
Stop by Biba's post too.

BLACK SWAN countdown...

Babysitters are a bit thin on the ground around these parts which makes it really difficult impossible to ever get to see a movie that's isn't aimed at kids.

On the whole I'm OK with that (as after having all my internet enabled devices prized from my pockets I generally sleep through most things anyway), but them came BLACK SWAN.

I so wanted to see this movie in all of it's big screen glory, only to have my two arranged dates aborted due to puking sitters. 

On the day that we finally said 'enough is enough, lets bunk off and go see it whilst the kids are at school', the run had ended:(

So I had no choice but to soak up the many conflicting reviews from my friends and sit pretty till the DVD release. I thought that I was going to be in for a long wait, but no... BLACK SWAN comes to DVD and Blu-ray on the 29th March.

Having grilled every single one of my friends about the movie I'm even more intrigued. It's been described as dark, dirty, depressing, uplifting, amazing, shocking, twisted, beautiful and inspirational. How can it be all of those things?

I guess that's what makes a truly great movie.

If you're as eager as I am to immerse yourself in this film sensation you really need to check out the Black Swan Experience. 

Sit back and view short clips from the movie and react to the emotional prompts to discover if you are a white or a BLACK SWAN. 

No prizes for guessing what I am..

BLACK SWAN is available on DVD and Blu-ray from Twentieth Century Fox Home Entertainment on March 29th 2011.

Have you seen it? What did you think? I would love to know.

Haven't got a clue what I'm going on about? Then watch the official BLACK SWAN movie trailer.

Inch Blue Giftset Giveaway

I've been a big fan of Inch Blue since I stumbled across their cute shoes in a very early issue of Junior Magazine. Over the years my three little ones they clocked up around 40 pairs and I've always sung their praises to new mums as they are the only baby shoes that really do stay put.

They come in so many styles and colour combinations that it's not difficult to see why we had so many and they are handmade in the UK.

Their shoes start from £17 in sizes from birth to four years and for a fab new baby pressie idea take a look at these cool vest and shoe combination giftsets at £32 in sizes 0-6 mths and 6-12 mths.

I have these two funky Cupcake and Zoom giftsets worth £32 each to giveaway. To enter leave a comment on this post with the answer to the following question;

How many legs does an Octopus have?

a) 10

b) 2

c) 8

This competition closes at midnight GMT on 28/03/11.

This competition has now closed.

Silent Sunday: Friday..

Now go and see what everyone else has been up to this week over at Mocha Beanie Mummy's blog.

The Gallery ...... Trees

I'm with Tara, you can't beat a good tree in my book and I love this lone specimen that resides just down the hill from our house.




And just past the watering hole stands this lonesome group, lined up as if waiting for a bus.

For this weeks Gallery. Stop by Biba's Gallery post if you get a minute... she has clearly inherited my love of trees!

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Journo Request... Was your baby Overdue?

Was your baby overdue?

A top pregnancy magazine is looking for case studies of women who went overdue when expecting their baby. The specific stories we're looking for are:

- Someone who had to be medically induced.

- Someone who had two sweeps and then went into labour.

- Someone who managed to bring on labour naturally with curry/exercise/sex etc and avoided an induction.

We'd like to tell your birth story in the magazine and include some of your lovely home snaps.

All it would involve would be a brief chat on the phone. The piece would be a lovely keepsake for you - and a great source of info for expectant mums.

If you're interested please leave a comment with a means of me contacting you and how old your baby is now and I will be in touch to request a bit of info on your story, a photo of you with your baby and your contact number.

Image: Google 

Three by Nine Meme... I got tagged

I was tagged by the lovely Cheshire Claire in her new Three by Nine Meme. All you have to do is answer the nine questions below and then tag three of your blogging buddies so that you can learn a little something new about each other, so here you go;

Three names I go by: Sian, Sianie, Mummytips

Three places I’ve lived: Shropshire, London, Leicestershire

Three places I’ve worked: Stokke, as Clear as Media, CyberMummy

Three things I love to watch: Contemporary dance, my children, my kitties

Three places I have been  and love: Hong Kong, Phuket, New York

Three people that email me regularly: My daughter Biba (9), my husband Yan, the CyberMummy team

Three things I love to eat: Yan's special pork dumplings, noodles, Haribo

Three people I think will respond: Karin, Paul, Transatlantic Blonde

Three things I am looking forward to: A holiday, my husband, seeing my girls make their TV debut

I’d love to read a “three by nine” meme post by:

Karin Cafebebe, Transatlantic Blonde and Paul from The Strange Blog of a Daddy (who really wants to come to cyberMummy).

Over to you guys....

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Journo enquiry... How Healthy are you?

Want to have your health assessed?

A glossy women's magazine is looking for couples willing to complete an online health assessment. It'll only take about 10 mins! We'd like to chat to you about what health issues your assessment throws up and the advice you get on improving them.

The chat will be brief, you'll get some expert advice on improving your health, and if your story is featured you'll receive a £10 gift voucher as a thank you, too!

If you're interested please email;

jessicapowell [dot] freelance [at] gmail.com for more information. Please include a phone number.

Silent Sunday... Spring

For Silent Sunday. Don't forget to check out this weeks other pics over on Jay's blog.

Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Win a Signed Copy of Sarah Brown's Behind the Black Door

Last week I went along to the eagerly awaited launch of Sarah Brown's book, Behind the Black Door. It was great to meet Sarah in person after months spent chatting on Twitter and I have to admit that I did indulge in a little celeb spotting with Liz Jarvis and Annabel Karmel too!

Sarah's quite an amazing lady who works tirelessly to raise awareness for charities around the world. I can't wait to get stuck into her memoir and find out what family life behind the closed doors of Number 10 is really like.

As you may already know, Sarah is the keynote speaker at CyberMummy in June, so if you'd like the chance to meet her you'd better hurry as we only have around 50 tickets to this years conference left.

I have a signed copy of Behind the Black Door to giveaway. To enter leave a comment on this post with the answer to the following question;

What colour is the door to number 10 Downing Street?

A)  Red

B)  Black

C)  Pink

The competition is now closed. The winner is lunarossa.

Rex for Silent Sunday

Rex the Cornish Rex finally arrived this week.
For Silent Sunday.

Wikio March Parenting Blog Rankings... sneaky peek

I've just been sent the sneaky peek of Wikio's March's parent blog rankings. I had a great month of traffic but I've slipped down one place to number 11, how about you? I'd love to know your thoughts on your positioning and if you've had more or less traffic than last month.

The full listings will be published by the end of the week over at Wikio.

1	Sticky Fingers
2	Redtedart's Blog
3	PhD in Parenting
4	ParentDish - UK
5	Madhouse Family Reviews !
6	Baby Budgeting
7	journey of the mocha bean(s) and mummy
8	Sleep is for the Weak
9	Mummy from the Heart.......
10	Thinly Spread
11	mummytips
12	The Diary of a Frugal Family
13	notes from home
14	Maison Cupcake
15	Typecast
16	BECKICKLESIE
17	3 Bedroom Bungalow to Let in Crazytown
18	The BMB Blog
19	Kate Takes 5
20	Littlemummy.Com

Ranking made by Wikio

Our new Cornish Rex is here!

We've been waiting for him since two weeks after he was born in November and now he's finally here! He's so cute - though I'm not sure that Purdy and Cheryl quite agree.... yet...
The breeder had named him Boy George but we think that we've settled on calling him Rex. What do you think? Do you have any other suggestions?

Press request Did you get married on a budget?

A top wedding magazine is looking for case studies of brides who planned

on-trend weddings on a tight budget. Maybe you homemade your favours, got a friend to arrange your flowers, or found a bargain website to shop from.

You will have founds ways to do the latest modern trends for less. If you have a story to tell please contact with a bit about your story and some snaps of your big day.  Please email Jessicapowell [dot] freelance [at] gmail [dot]com.

Please include a contact number.

Big Brother's Watching. Blogging, the ASA and You

If you blog and you work with brands then you really need to read on as yesterday the UK Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) issued new guidelines that are potentially going to cause a huge impact on the way that bloggers and brands can work together.

The ASA's new Big Brother powers cover all aspects of a brands online marketing including their own website and social networking hubs like Twitter and Facebook.

So any claims that a brand makes about their own products have to be 100% true. It's no longer acceptable for a razor to be 'The Best a Man Can Get' now they have to prove that it is.

Then it gets even trickier, as user-generated content, and i'm talking simple comments, blog posts and tweets, can also fall foul to the rulings. 

But what does that really mean for brands using social media?
It means that they have to think twice before they comment or re-tweet because as soon as they do, they will have to be able to prove that statement is true. All of these ares are affected.

• Websites.
• Owned social media spaces (Facebook page, Twitter, blogs, brand run forums).
• Any commercial relationships on above owned social media spaces (and that includes blogger outreach).

If you run a Facebook page or Twitter account for a brand you definitely need to re think your social media strategy and read up on the new guidelines as things that you wouldn't have even thought twice about doing a week ago are now a real no no.

It all feels like a pretty grey area and the ASA is after all, self regulated. Does this mean that brands are going to be on the constant look out for competitors to shop to Big Brother? I'm sure that they'll be looking for some high profile brands to name and shame on the new section of their site - and this could easily become a destination page for slow newsday stories. I just hope this won't be the case.

Read the new guidelines in full on the ASA site.

I would love to hear your thoughts on this, especially if you are a small brand who relies heavily on social media marketing.

Yan To.. The Next Collection

Whilst I've been head down in social media world, Yan has been busy creating this totally stunning new collection. I'm so incredibly proud of what he's doing and how far he has come.

Now what are you wearing for CyberMummy?!

Available from Harrods in Knightsbridge.