Smiggle Store Birmingham

I love stationery, my girls love stationery so we really couldn't turn down the invitation to the opening of the new Smiggle store in Birmingham's Bullring.

If you don't know about Smiggle it's high time that you do. The girls have been talking about it for the last couple of months, since one opened in Leicester Highcross. 

Packed to the rafters with awesome, Smiggle is a stationery lovers dream. Kitsch, cute, eastern styling in a plethora of popping colourways to excite and invite.

A very big thank you to Smiggle for planting firm smiles on all of our faces. Check out what we bought along with our fab goodie bag contents below.

If you love stationery get your Smiggle on asap, you will find a store full of perfect bits for Christmas and beyond. 

You can follow Smiggle on Twitter, Instagram and on Facebook or check them out at www.smiggle.co.uk

LOVING : New Tripp Trapp® in Lava Orange and Aqua Blue

I very rarely blog about my clients but when you are lucky enough to work for a brand that you love, their has to be the odd exception to that rule.

Today is one of those days because I'm head over heels in love with the two new Tripp Trapp® colours that were launched today. Meet Lava Orange and Aqua Blue.

I'm in LOVE, like really in love but then I have a full on Tripp Trapp® fetish. 

I bought my first, second and third Tripp Trapp's before I worked for Stokke and over the years as old colours are retired and new ones come into the collection I buy another (or three). I have these grand ideas that I'm going to give the kitchen a make over by changing the Tripp Trapp's (well that was my idea when purple was launched) but I love the loved, used nature of my original chairs that have now been in daily use by my children for 12, 11 and 9 years.

We all sit on Tripp Trapp's when we are round the table - we own adult dining chairs, Varier (was Stokke) Date's but don't use them. 

Tripp Trapp® addicted.... and I NEED that orange beauty in my life - and quite probably the blue beauty too.....

Which would you choose?! How do you choose?! HELP!

The new colours will be in store from May. 

*Disclosure: I work for Stokke but my addiction and views are entirely my own

Mum

It's been a tough week and despite my mum being ill for so many years, one that none of us really saw coming.

I was woken by the phone ringing very early on Tuesday morning. The home phone never rings, we don't even have a handset upstairs but I knew right away the conversation that lay waiting for me on the other end of the line. I raced to the phone and despite knowing what he was going to say, my brother's words hit me like a ton of bricks. BOOM. After twenty plus years of suffering from emphysema my mum had just passed away. 

Practicalities kicked in and my brother, No1 son and I headed to my dad in Cornwall. We had strength in each other's company but dad's phone rang constantly and seeing him break just a little bit further with each and every call chipped away at us.

I chose to see her at the hospital and it hit me then that she was really gone, that I didn't have a mum anymore. That was quite simply the worst moment of my life. 

Please cherish yours because when she's gone you will need her more than you ever did.

I dedicate this post to my mum, who despite battling such an awful illness for so long, was a huge inspiration to so many others.

I love you mum.

Silent Sunday

Old School Filofax Love

I might be a tech addict but no matter how many gadgets I have to ensure I get through each day in one piece the lure of the paper is just to much for me.

You see, I love notebooks and I love diaries. I start each year with such great intentions but never quite manage to keep up with my alter-ego organised self. I'm ultimately just a bit rubbish when it comes to things like that.

So my new squeeze is a Filofax Swift Personal Organiser. It's compact, it fits into my obligatory Cybher™ issue satchel and it's blank pages fill me with excitement and promise of everything I need to know being in one place.

Whilst I love a Filofax, I'm not overly keen on their diary inserts. The five languages on each page make it too busy for me. I either need it to be clean and zen or funky and cool but as neither of those boxes were ticked I opted for a Dodo Pad Personal Size, Filofax compatible diary refiill instead.

Much more me, with plenty of room for all of the things I need to remember, not just in my schedule but for the rest of the family too.

I added some extra note paper, a selection of Filofax Assorted Sticky Notes and took out the address pages and A-Z dividers. 

I'm not really sure why they still include them... It seems a bit needless when you have your contacts stored on your phone, but maybe that's just me?

If you have any creative ideas of how I could use them, I'm all ears.

So watch this space. Let's see if i make it to Christmas is a superly, organised way.

Disclosure : Filofax sent me the Swift Personal Organiser to review. The additional items were purchased by little old me.

Cute Kitten Alert

It's been tough on us since we lost our cat Rex and finding another Cornish has been tough but my Google skills have finally paid off because today we went to visit out new baby.
She's beautiful and I'm totally in love with her little pink nose! The downside is that we have 5 weeks to wait before we can bring her home but she'll be coming to us in style after debuting at the Supreme Cat Show in Birmingham at the end of November. We'll be there to cheer her on!

After an hour in the car home and after much heated discussion between Biba and I, we have settled on the name Aggy (after Agyness Deyn).

The Gallery : Yellow : Rex

My beautiful Cornish Rex cat, Rex was killed a couple of weeks ago in a hit and run. We miss him so much and as the days go by it doesn't ease. 

Biba (10), found him on the road outside our house. It had just happened. He was still alive but barely. He was bleeding out of his ears and he'd lost most of his teeth in the impact. The driver thought it was ok to just keep on going. 

My Gallery pic this week is in memory of my little Rex with his fat saggy belly and his love of food, Sonny and me. He was more of a dog than cat in nature, loving to come on walks with us and insisting on accompanying Sonny to the school bus in the morning. He was a softie, a cutie and will always be missed.

For this weeks The Gallery. Do stop by the other posts you will find on the linky on Tara's blog.

New York New York

I love this city, proper love it. I'd really like to live here one day. I'm not totally sure what it is that has me all of a flutter, perhaps the melting pot of cultures and the anything goes nature.

I've been here this week as a guest of Cybher sponsors AVG and my post about the launch of their 2013 security is coming soon over on the Cybher blog, but in the meantime please enjoy New York through my eyes.

Back home tomorrow:(

Silent Sunday : Cornish Rex Love

For this week's Silent Sunday.