The lovely people at Hotter invited me to their Derby blogger event on my birthday this week and as a huge fan of their shoes I jumped at the chance to celebrate my birthday with them. I already own three pairs of Hotter Shoes; 2 boots and a pair of their trainers. They are the comfiest shoes I have ever owned and they go up to a size 9 which is brilliant for a big foot like me 😉
Last week thanks to the wonderful people at Next I got to to go on an overnight spa at Champneys Springs with some other lovely bloggers. I’ve been to quite a few events with Next now but this is the first without the kids and it was lovely to go away for the night and have some quality relaxing time with some very lovely people. It was so nice just to feel like a person and not a Mum for a little while. Read more
Yesterday we headed down to Leicester to the Next Headquarters for the #NextKids Summer ’14 Preview. We arrived at HQ a bit earlier so we were the first to get there and we had a good chance to look around and enjoy the mock shop and munch on delicious pastries and drink lots of coffee and juice! I love going to Next kids events, they always make you feel so welcome and try and do their best to accommodate the kids! Read more
At the weekend we were invited to the launch of Lego Galaxy Squad at the National Space Centre. We had a fantastic day out, Bugs was amazed at everything in the Space Centre and Boo loved learning all about the new range of Lego.
Here are some photos from our day out… Read more
A couple of weeks ago we got to attend the Go Wild with Next event at ZSL London Zoo! I had never been to London Zoo before and decided that I would brave it on my own with the two little ones.
Next treated us to a preview of their new range, a lovely play area for the kids, a meerkat viewing and a lovely lunch as well as some fab goodie bags! It was a really lovely day and I am so pleased I made the effort and took the kids! The journey on the train was just over 1.5 hours each way and then we got a cab straight to the Zoo so it wasnt too stressful!
We also got to chat to the designers behind the children’s wear who were very lovely and open to our suggestions!

The event room before the kids hit it…

Next’s Summer 2013 Children’s wear Range
There are so many gorgeous clothes in the range… I picked out just a few of our favourites to show you!

Bugs will look adorable in the Zebra Sun Safe Suit £12-£13

Bugs adored this Kermit T-shirt, £9-£10

Boo would look beautiful in this Elephant Appliqué Dress, £24-£26
The Next photographer took some gorgeous photos of my kids… which I just LOVE!
We all got to take home a goody bag; the kids got new sunglasses and sun hats which they love and wore all they way home on the train 😉
We had a lovely time walking around the Zoo for a couple of hours after the event before we went to get the train! It was a fabulous day and so nice to see so many familiar faces! A huge thank you to Next for treating us to a lovely day out once again! 🙂
Some of you may know that I was a finalist in the MAD blog awards this year and on Friday I took a trip down to London for the MAD blog awards party! I treated myself to a new hair cut & colour and had my nails done on Thursday as I wanted to make sure I was looking my best 😉

Pretty nails.
The very nice people at Skoda sent us a Citygo to travel down in, Jen from Love Chic Living drove us there whilst myself & Becky from Family Budgeting helped navigate 😉 We arrived at the Radisson Blu Edwardian on Bloomsbury Street about 3pm which left plenty of time to chat to some fabulous people before I went off to get my hair and make up done at 4pm.
I had my hair styled by the lovely people at Regis & they even let me have a few styling products to try from their Designline range which I already love as you can see here! I had my make-up done by a lovely lady called Rose Magnall using Arbonne products; she also did me some false eyelashes which looked awesome; I’ve never tried them before and I was really really happy with them! Obviously after all this pampering I was feeling rather glamorous and ready for a good night out 😉

Just had my hair and make-up done!

All dressed up with somewhere to go…
I was also given a lovely watch bracelet to wear on the night and take home with me afterwards from Find Watches. I really love this; perfect colours for me and really really pretty! I haven’t taken it off since Friday!

Ladies Gold Plated Heart Charm Bracelet Watch
Unfortunately I didn’t win my category I really didn’t expect to; to be quite honest but cannot deny feeling a little bit disappointed. However it was such a lovely atmosphere that nothing could have spoilt my good mood and I continue to enjoy myself until the early hours.

Great Food!

Great Company! Me & Mammy Woo.
It was wonderful to get to meet so many wonderful bloggers and to join in congratulating everyone who won awards – a very tearful moment was when Multiple Mummy won her category and her lovely husband came and collected it for her. I am so pleased to hear that she is continuing to get better and really cannot wait to see her back blogging and hopefully collecting her own award next year!
A huge thank you to Sally and the MAD Blog Awards team for making Friday night so special for everyone of us 🙂