FINALLY A BABY BAG TO LOVE with PACAPOD


When I was pregnant with Caleb there were a lot of those, 'first' purchases I was so excited about. The pram. The cot. The teeny tiny neutral baby grows. I still can't help but smile now when I pass the newborn section in shops. It brings back all that excitement I felt at the time.

One purchase that completely eluded me though was 'the baby bag'. Which was crazy to me as I adore me a good bag, but I just couldn't get excited about a bag (however practical) that was so far removed from my usual style. There wasn't anything that warranted the price tag for me. So instead I bought a Longchamp shopper and put a separate baby change mat inside. It worked at the time but due to its lack of compartments there was a many a time spent digging for whatever I was looking for. Not ideal when you have a screaming baby on your hands. 

Roll on four years and the world of baby bags has certainly become something to get excited about. Not only have designs become even more practical but finally they look like a bag you would lust after baby or no baby. Pacapod have created just that with their beautiful Firenze bag in pewter. I was really excited when asked to review this beauty. For one, I adore bags, and two, I feel I've got a very good idea about what I want and expect from a baby bag now. I mean it's only taken four years and two babies ;)


What makes Pacapod particularly special is their 3 in 1 system. It's such a clever idea which really makes life so much easier. Pictured above is the front of the bag opened to reveal two separate pods inside. The beige pod has a change mat attached and plenty of room for your nappy, wipes, and cream. The red pod comes with a bottle warmer inside and is perfect for carrying food, drink and snacks. It also has straps on it turning it into a backpack for your little one too. Genius.

Each pod is easily removed and better still can be attached to your pram on their own if you didn't need an actual bag with you. I love this feature for many reasons. I like that the baby change pod can be taken to the toilet without the whole bag needing to go with you too. I still get grossed out by the stories of how much germs our bags pick up by being taken to public bathrooms. Also, when we're out as a family of four their are points in our day were we may split up for a bit. Toilet trips, naps etc. I love that instead of one person having the bag with EVERYTHING in, we are now able to pass over the pod that is needed for the particular child and then we can go our separate ways. It's something I never would have factored in when looking for a baby bag, but it really makes life as a family of four so much simpler on days out.

Once fully packed for the day this does make the bag pretty heavy, but I think this is mostly unavoidable when kids are in the mix. This however makes the pram straps to attach your bag to your pram even more invaluable.


This bag has definitely become a staple for me and I even use it when I don't have the boys with me, which says how much I love the look and design of this bag. Forget the days of the ugly mum bag ;)

If you're a mum to be then Pacapod bags are wishlist worthy, and to all the mums who like me could never find a baby bag you loved, ladies, things have indeed changed.

The Pacapod Firenze in pewter is currently available to pre-order here, with delivery in August.

Sunday, 31 July 2016 Comments: 4
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IT STARTED WITH A RUG


Creating a new space can always be a little daunting, especially if you're like me and like multiple looks and eras. So for me a starting point is committing to a particular piece that you fall in love with and then taking it from there.

For me that turns out to be a rug. I have a love affair with rugs. Like give me them all. I find they're a cracking starting point when designing a room, as you instantly have your colour palate determined and the type of look you're going for. For example, I went with this Ferm Living beauty (pictured below) for our living room. Now I would usually recommend living in a space before you start buying new pieces but I fell in love with this rug instantly and it became our first purchase for our new home that wasn't even built at that point.


With it's Nordic vibe and cool tones I knew I wanted to pair it with grey furniture, I didn't want the room however to have a cold feel to it, therefore I picked out some copper and brass tones. I love how the metallic pops without being overpowering.


Since we went with cooler tones in the living room I knew I would want colour in the dining room (which leads on from the living area). Now in my dream of dreams I'd be sourcing a Moroccan or Persian rug beauty, but hello, reality, and hello, I wanted it for underneath my dining room table, ie. dumping ground for half of my kid's dinner.

So here's a top tip of mine, if ya can't afford it, check out Gumtree (secondhand selling website) in your area. It is crazy what you can find on there, with some people actually giving things away for free, I guess the bonus being for them that you save them the hassle of getting rid of it. Other people trash is others peoples....and all that.


That is where I can across my Iranian treasure that was completely in my price range, and because of it's vintage nature (it has slight wearing which I actually think is the charm of these pieces) and its rich colour it has made it the perfect rug for under a busy family table. With such a statement piece I knew I didn't want anything else competing with it, I therefore started to source industrial looking pieces.


Now knowing how much these two rugs had brought to both these rooms I now wanted one for our kitchen living space too. The kitchen itself though determined what type of rug I was looking for, that and a couch we had already purchased.

I had felt a little unsure about the colour of the couch at the time. With having grey units in the kitchen I knew I didn't want yet another grey couch, white was out because again, kids. We instead went with an oatmeal beige, which if I'm honest I wasn't really completely sold on but I adored the style of the couch. I needed to find a rug that would tie the beige couch and grey units up nicely.

I found all that and more at French Connection. Btw when the hell did French Connection start selling home ware?? All I know is I'm happy they did. This rug was the missing piece to this space, with its beige and grey tones offset nicely with blush pink and mint it's fitted in perfectly, and funnily enough has made me love my 'beige' couch all the more.


So there you have it, three major rooms in our home on the way to being complete, and it started with a rug. Rugs are bloody awesome.

Thank you so much to everyone's support and kind words with the blog relaunch. Don't forget to enter our giveaway on the previous post here. Only a few more hours left so go, go, go!

Thursday, 14 July 2016 Comments: 6
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A LITTLE BLOG RELAUNCH & GIVEAWAY



So, hello there.

Well as you can see we've had a little change up around here. It was time. So much has changed in the last year that it seemed only fitting that this space should change too. Plus, I kept on logging into the blog thinking, ugh, girl, you need a serious face lift.

So here she is. I like to think of this update as the older, wiser, classier blog big sister ;)

If you have any problems navigating around the new site please let me know. You'll see up there on the top left hand side in the drop down menu we have different categories. Home decor and film being the newest. I'm really excited to share with you how we came to choose our home and its design, and to talk a little bit more about the interior design choices we have made because we have young children.

Talking of young children, mine are currently growing like weeds. Caleb has just completed his first year of school nursery and has loved it. His speech has come on leaps and bounds, and he's growing into the sweetest soul. Archie is no longer a baby. We know this fact because he informs us daily, 'I'm not a baby'. Seriously. I feel I've blinked and everyone has got so grown up.


I had a little (okay, kinda big) panic about this a few weeks back. Babies have been my life the last four years that the level of independence the two boys have right now was freaking me out. My knee jerk reaction was I need to have another baby. Nothing quite like going for a dramatic solution. Though I now suspect that is why many families go onto have child number three, four....(if you've gone past this point, I love babies but you are craaazy ;). Thankfully, I have a calm husband who is looking at it from both sides of the fence, mainly the side of, 'but things have just got so easy' fence.

Ha, and he's right. My last post which you can read here, was very much tackling the hard elements of toddlerhood. A few months back we were having a really tricky time with Archie. Our happy go lucky kid, became a ball of frustration with the word, 'NO' being the most spoken word in the house. I'll hold up my hands and admit, I panicked. You see I remember when this stage started with Caleb, it went on to last a year and a half. With hindsight we now know his behaviour was all linked to his speech delay (which wasn't confirmed until much later). So as soon as I recognised this same behaviour in Archie, I really did panic, because I couldn't imagine living through a year of that again. Not that you have the choice in these matters. If that had been the case I would have had to suck it up and at least I would know how to handle it better this time. Yet this only lasted a matter of months, it's obviously the point where their mind makes a leap which their language skills haven't caught up too yet, they know specifically what they want but not always how to express it. Cue, the drop down tantrum.

However, just like that Archie's words have exploded. It's a marvel for us to watch it happen organically. He's like a little parrot, and back is our happy boy. Gahh it makes me want to hop in a time machine and go back to Caleb at this age and just hug the hell out of him. I understand why he was so miserable all of the time now. I'm literally in awe of that boys strength of character, even now when people don't understand him (he still struggles with certain pronunciation) he never loses his patience and will just find another way to explain.

So you see I think this maybe the root of my problem. We're a boat sailing along on a calm sea, and it's actually quite disarming. If we've not been dealing with babies, we've been dealing with house moves, rental, sickness and most importantly great loss. Both Michael and I have had to say goodbye to my grandad and his nana. It has literally been one big thing after another, and here we are. For now calm seas. It's taken me to realise this fact to actually think, wow, so we're here, and it is really good. We now live in a house with no immediate neighbours to worry about, because ya know, two boys and all. We have a garden, which hello, biggest game changer for us. We have two happy, healthy boys, and slowly our time is becoming more our own again.

That's another reason for the blog face lift, this is a space I love dearly and want to expand on, and I now finally feel like I have the time and more importantly the desire to do so.

To my old readers, thank you. Thank you for sticking around. You'll be seeing more of me around these parts, and I really hope you enjoy this next chapter, and HELLO to any new readers. You should know I can ramble quite a bit and have awful pronunciation and spelling, but apart from that I'm alright ;)

To celebrate our blog relaunch I have got two amazing giveaways for two lucky winners. I handpicked two companies I am loving right now and I know you will too. This giveaway will be inconjunction with our Instagram account too, as that's a place that creatively has really pushed and inspired me over the last year.

First up is a gift for the little people in your life.

MORI, is a luxury baby brand specialising in beautiful bamboo and organic cotton baby wear. I am currently obsessed with their two piece pyjama sets as I've never felt anything so soft, every time I hug Archie in them I think newborn goodness all over again.

We will be giving one of you the chance to win one of their gorgeous throws. Pictured below is their 100% cotton Mori Star throw, priced at £55, and let me tell you, you'll be wanting to steal it for yourself. Even baby spit up wouldn't make this throw an eyesore in your house. I keep eyeing up the Mori Mountain throw, thinking of how nice it would look draped over my living room couch, but like I said, this is totally a gift for baby ;)

The lucky winner will get to choose which design and colour they would like. 



The second part of our giveaway, and one I am very excited about as it's for all you lovely ladies, or for the lovely ladies in your life (for my male readers ;).

Tienne, are giving one lucky person the chance to win a bracelet or necklace from the Daisy London Chakra range (subject to availablity). I was drawn to this range in particular as recently I have just felt a real loss of self. A thoroughly normal thing in the thick of motherhood, but something I really wanted to work on. I had stopped doing little things I once loved, like painting my nails, braiding my hair, or wearing pretty jewellery. My default response being I didn't have time, or the absolute worst one, what's the point? Well the point is I love those little things, as they make me feel good, they make me feel a little more me, when my daily life consists sometimes of very little me. So I upped my nail painting, hair braiding, jewellery wearing game.

Picture below I am wearing the Daisy Chakra bracelet, which stands for self expression and creativity. Kinda perfect for how I've been feeling lately and the positive changes I want to make. The winner will get to choose a Chakra bracelet or necklace of their choice, with a price range of £55 to £95! They come in gold, rose gold and silver. Something for everyone. 




To enter is simple. Simply comment below telling me which Mori throw you love and/or which Daisy London Chakra bracelet or necklace you would like and then head over to our Instagram where you can gain more entries. Heading over to our Instagram is essential as we shall be contacting our two winners via our Instagram account.

This is an INTERNATIONAL giveaway! You have until midnight Thursday 14th July 2016 to enter. The winners will be contacted via their Instagram account and will have 7 days to respond. After which point another winner will be drawn if necessary.

Good luck, everybody!! After commenting below you can head over to our Instagram by clicking HERE.

* UPDATED *

Congratulations to our winners Sacha @sachavu and Elizabeth @blowyinthewind. Both winners have been notified via their Instagram accounts.
Thursday, 7 July 2016 Comments: 30
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