Askamum love my blog, ooo-errr how exciting!

As this past weekend I saw my best friend get married I thought I’d say a little bit about what she means to me. I met Eve when we were 14 years old and her family and my Mum and I had all gone on a package holiday to Tunisia for Christmas. Fate that we should all choose the same hotel perhaps or maybe it was meant to be. The friendship Eve and I struck up as a result of our meddling Mothers talking to each other and throwing us together one night in the hotel disco is one that has lasted for nearly 19 years. From those first days when we bonded over the flirtations we had with a rather posh boys school on a field trip to the present day and with all the ups and downs we’ve visited in between, our friendship has remained solid. Rocked and knocked on occasion but always there and the basis of our friendship is of course and as with any, love. I made a speech at her wedding about how you can, despite the saying, choose your family and I guess that’s what we are to each other. Friends, partners in crime, sisters and family.

Most of my memories of having fun with a friend since then have included Eve, either because we were together or because I missed her when we were doing something else. We were inseparable from the age of 14 to 18, she lived in London and I stayed with her once a week to break up my commute to school. She then used to spend every other weekend at my house and we did everything together, shared all our secrets and then… she went to uni and I didn’t. That was the first knock our friendship took as we’d chosen different paths. Until that point we’d wanted and done the same things, had our first boyfriends at the same time, our first heart breaks… We’d not had different experiences from one another before and I can’t say it was easy for our friendship but we made it through to the other side and with many laughs together in the middle. Loads of different choices later and we are back to leading the same kind of life again only this time we’re all grown up. Eve had a baby girl, then I did, then I got married and her and her little girl were my bridesmaids, then she had a baby boy and then I did, then she got married and Florence was her bridesmaid… Somehow we’d grown up together, spread our wings yet remained close and now we are grown ups together… I know I haven’t always been the best friend I could have been to Eve and I’m regretful for that; I think she knows what I would change and when but the thing about our friendship is that we’ve both had to forgive each other on occasion, from a hairband dispute to the far more serious. To me, if you can argue with someone, forgive them and love them regardless then that’s a true friendship. Love and forgiveness are what make the world go round.

Watching Eve get married last Saturday my heart soared for her. My friend, the girl I laughed all my teenage laughs with, cried all my teenage angst to, followed and copied because she was just so damn cool! I could tell you a million tales about us and the things we got up to and I’d still have only told you the half of it! We can pick up a conversation from the last time we saw each other be it 6 hours, 6 weeks or 6 months; aren’t  I a lucky girl to have that in a friend! So here’s to my friend Evie and our friendship, it means an awful lot to me and I hope our girls can be as lucky as us and have the same kind of bond with someone, perhaps even each other! I can’t wait till she’s back from her honeymoon so I can hear all about it!

This is Eve and I on a night out about 15 years ago…

DONKEY WATCH

Donkey Modelling!

Now this week we took Le Donk to do something very special indeed! Another of our favourite brands is Snoozeshade so we were delighted when Jimmy was asked to model for their new packaging! Obviously we rocked up for the day with our Donkey and once in the studio it seemed rude not to let him strut his stuff too, well he is a rather gorgeous specimen after all!

Jimmy is 5 months now and very nearly ready to move from the carrycot into a seat but not quite… I’ve tried him in Florence’s seat and because the dip for the bottom is quite deep it’s just a touch on the big side at the moment but another month and he’ll be there. Until then he’s adapted this position and likes to sit up when he’s awake these days. He’s just like an old-fashioned baby in an old-fashioned pram. Donkey comes up trumps again!

 

 

For more information on the ‘Donkey’ and all other ‘Bugaboo’ products please see their website www.bugaboo.com. It’s also worth noting that ‘When you choose a ‘Bugaboo’ product (now available in more than 50 countries) you are choosing a company which is a proud (PRODUCT) RED™ partner. ‘Bugaboo’ contributes a portion of its profits across all products – to the Global Fund to help eliminate AIDS in Africa, with the goal of ending mother-to-child HIV transmission by 2015.

 

Berry Entertaining!

This week has seen Jonny really have to knuckle down and start work on his Open University degree. It’s the start of another year and there’s always absolutely loads of reading to do. At the beginning of every term he gets sent a massive box of books which until now he’s had to cart around with him as he reads and revises. This year is starting out a bit different though because with BlackBerry PlayBook he’s been able to down load all the texts straight on to the device and instead of carrying loads of books all he has to pack in the morning is the PlayBook! I can’t say Florence is terribly fond of the fact that it’s not available for her to use in the week during the day times but it’s certainly making Jonny’s work journey easier.

Not only would Jonny have to lug around all the books but he’d have to scramble around in his bag finding the right one, hold it open while he wrote things down and then pack it all up again. Can you imagine the difference the PlayBook is making! Not only can he store the books on it but at the same time he can flick to the internet and quickly look things up as and when he needs to. There’s free wifi on his train in the mornings so it couldn’t be easier! I’ve said it before but I’ll say it again, this is a device which has a starting price of £109! I’m not sure that could be beaten right now!

On the left are all the texts Jonny needs to take around with him plus his note book. On the right are also all the texts Jonny needs to take around with him plus his notebook AND the BlackBerry PlayBook (which stores ALL the texts – good eh)!

For more information on the BlackBerry PlayBook and all BlackBerry products please see http://uk.blackberry.com/

 

Don’t forget my competition! I’ve teamed up with the makers of Ben and Holly’s Little Kingdom Live to offer one of my readers the chance to WIN tickets to see the show! Click HERE to find out how!

MY LIFE WITH 2!

My friend’s wedding was absolutely amazing and it topped off an utterly brilliant week! I went to see Kevin Bridges at the Hammersmith Apollo with my friend Sarah on Monday, had a good friend round for lunch Tuesday, Wednesday I went to a celebrity filled launch party (I kid you not), Thursday Jimmy did his modelling and Friday we left for the wedding!

The launch party was for T-H-X which stands for Total Hair Experts and it was to introduce their new range of electrical styling tools which are available exclusively at Tesco! I came away with a fantastic new tong for putting curls in my hair and used it to get ready on the wedding day! Take a look at how I got on here!

And the wedding was utterly amazing! Florence looked so pretty in her dress and running around the walled garden with the other bridesmaids made them look like fairies from ‘A Mid Summer Night’s Dream’. Jimmy had a couple of special outfits for the day too; take a look at what he wore here. For being such a good girl on the day of the wedding Florence got a bit of a big present too! I find a bit of bribery here and there doesn’t do too badly and I’ve wanted to get her a big baby dolly for some time so it seemed appropriate for this occasion to give her the Baby born Interactive which she loves! Check out what we think about the doll after playing with her for a few days! I think we’re all a bit sad that the wedding is over now… It’s lovely to go to a big wedding, special when it’s someone close and we have some great memories of the day but man I’d like to do it all again! Look at some of our photos!

Anyway, aside from weddings and excitement the other news chez Rocknrollerbaby is that I am iron deficient as my iron level is only at a 5 when it should be between 11 and 14! This is why my hair is falling out! Thank goodness I’m not just going bald! I have some iron supplements to take for 6 months and I should see an improvement, fingers crossed. Poor little Jimmy’s been to the Doctor too as his BCG injection caused him to get an abscess and it looks so sore. Apparently this could also last 6 months! I’ve been bathing it with water gently and using the Seaborne Natural Baby Sponge by Tippitoes which I think is really good. Take a look at what I think here. He’s been in his own room for a few days now and next week I’ll be reviewing the Lindam Clarity Digital Video Monitor which at the moment I am absolutely loving! I’ll also be writing about all things spooky for Halloween – whoooooooo!

Just before I go… If you like me are fans of Vax then you might like to know that they are having a SECRET SALE for the next 3 days only! There’ll be up to 80% off vacuums, carpet washers, steam cleaners, solutions and spare parts on www.vaxsale.co.uk and you can only gain entry with password STAFFSALE12. I absolutely love my Bare Floor Pro steam cleaner as I stated in my review a few weeks ago and the new Air 3 Vacuum cleaner I have just got is brilliant too so I’ll be reviewing that in a few weeks time! What a bargainous sale they’re having, can’t sniff at that eh!

And one more P.S from me is that Lollibop Festival are up for not one but TWO awards at this year’s UK Festival Awards, Best Medium-Sized Festival and Best Family Festival! I’ll be casting my vote for them and if you want to do the same then just click on the link above.

See you next week and in the mean time follow me on Twitter @rocknrollerbaby

(All opinions and words, apart from those in green, are my own. I have not been paid for this article although I did receive some products to keep after I had reviewed them.)