My List of 5.....

So the lovely Kate from Kate Takes 5 had a Listography a couple of weeks ago for everyone to discuss their laminated list......you know like the scene in Friends where Ross has removed Isabella Rosellina from his and then meets her in Central Perk so doesn't get to have a 'One Night Stand' with her because she's no longer on the list???  Now normally I wouldn't get involved but after reading about Cass from Frugal Family's terrible taste in men I thought I'd give it a go ;-)

Without a doubt the first on my list for the last 7 years has been the original 'Mr.Big'.....Chris Noth:

Can anyone say yum!!! Not only slick, moody and well dressed but he would also keep me in Manolos!! What more could a girl ask for???

Number 2 probably comes as a surprise after Chris but I do love me a bit of rough so it would have to be Caleb Followill from Kings of Leon!!! Dirty, gorgeous, talented but a nice Southern boy at the same time so you could introduce him to your Mum...... I may have stalked him last year.............

Josh Holloway comes in at number 3 for purely shallow and aesthetic reasons:

How beautiful is this man??? Smother him in chocolate and give me a couple of hours with him and I would die a happy woman!!!

Aaaaaahhhh Mr Jon Bon Jovi!!! I have sadly fancied him since I was 14 and I still wouldn't kick him out of bed for eating biscuits! Hasn't aged that well but for the sake of nostalgia will always make my top 5!!

Now I did toy with the option of keeping number 5 open in case anyone else should pop up into my memory but I decided to go with a choice from left field:

Evangeline Lilly. Wow! She is seriously hot and if I was thinking about turning lesbian, she would be number 1 on my hit list so why not include her???

People that just missed out on a top 5 spot: Channing Tatum, Phillip Glenister, David Beckham, Serge & Tom from Kasabian, Richie Sambora, Jensen Ackles, Jonny Knoxville and Adam Sandler, 

I would be very interested in hearing what your top 5 would be?? ;-)

Local discoveries and lots of cake!!

When I was young, I hated living in my little one horse town because it was 'boring' and there was nothing to do!!! Now I appear to have consigned my daughter to the same fate but I can also see the plus points of living here. We live in a medium size town no more than 15 miles from three big Cities. In a 5 minute drive you can be deep in the Leicestershire countryside and inside an hour we can be in the Peak District. Most places in the UK can be reached within 3 hours so it has some plus points is what I'm saying!!!

Apart from a few notable gaps I've pretty much always lived in Leicestershire and I like to think I know the Area pretty well.  However I always find it delightful when someone tells you about a hidden gem that you have no idea about. A couple of weeks ago I was in the park and one of my old friends from Mother and Baby group told me about this amazing cupcake shop in the local village of Woodhouse Eaves so of course we had to go and investigate:

Super cute just from the outside right? The inside is even better:

It's just so adorable that I couldn't help taking pictures!!! Also......so much yummy stuff everywhere.....Chick had her eye on one of these......maybe for her birthday:

Whilst I was taking pictures and trying to decide what cakes to buy I was also having a chat with the owners husband and making sure it was ok for me to take pictures. At this point I dropped my phone which bounced once, fell apart and the flew out the door. As I bent down to pick up the pieces I fell over my flip flop and out the door after the phone! Chick slunk away into a corner and tried to disown me whilst I tried to laugh it off but had to buy lots of cakes to hide my embarrassment....whoops!!! The moral of the story is that as soon as you take me somewhere nice I will make an arse of myself!!!!

How do you choose from all these lovelies??? It was a tough choice but in the end we went with plain chocolate with chocolate buttons and marshmallows and also chocolate orange! AMAZING:

The great thing about the chocolate orange is that the flavouring was in the icing and the cakes as well!!! Yum, yum, yum! Now obviously if ever you are in the neighbourhood it would be great for you to visit but if not you can order from their website http://www.kandycupcakes.co.uk/

*I haven't been compensated in any way for writing this....I just love cake :-)

Mothers Day and being grumpy/grateful

You all know that I feel very lucky for the things I have but sometimes I want more. I want to not worry about paying every single bill. I want to be able to buy whatever I like in the weekly shopping without adding it up as I go around to make sure we aren't blowing the budget. I'd like a few more hours in each day to spend with my daughter or to take photos or to just sit and enjoy the sunshine and the flowers! I also want to snap myself out of this ridiculous mood! On Mothers Day I felt like this:

Super attractive....I know ;-) It was a combination of things that started it. All of the above, Chick's attitude, having no plans for Mothers Day. I don't know what was wrong with Chick either but she was the child from hell. She's asked me not to talk about it so all I'll say is that it ended in tears for both of us!! Not the best way to spend Mothers Day it has to be said. Once we had both had a good cry and some time out, we made friends and decided that the day wasn't completely done with and there was still just enough time to salvage it!!

Chick went off and tidied her room with a minimum of nagging, we cooked dinner together and I didn't moan when she dropped it everywhere. I let her have some down time in front of the TV and then we went for a lovely long walk along the canal to blow away the cobwebs:

Somewhere along the way we managed to find our good humour and decided that actually we did quite like each other:

Then we decided that some puddle jumping was in order!!! We may have gotten slightly damp:

The best thing about coming home wet and cold is a nice hot bath and a cup of cocoa!! With things back to normal and Chick finally quiet and in bed, I finally got chance to have a proper look at my Mothers Day present:

And now I'm back to be being grateful for being able to enjoy the small stuff!!!

A Different Mothers Day Post!!!

I couldn't go (because I was working for a change) but I was invited to go to London on Friday to a Save the Children press conference to discuss a new report about the world's 'Missing Midwives'. Can you believe that in this day and age 48 million women (that equates to 1 in 3) around the world give birth without a midwife or any kind of assistance?

If I'm completely honest giving birth wasn't the most pleasant experience of my life and I took for granted a clean ward, trained staff and pain relief. Along with all the professionals my Mum and one of my friends were also there. It blows my mind that 1,000 women and 2,000 babies die every day from birth complications that could be easily preventable. 

There is a stark difference in the number of trained midwives available in the developing world. For instance in the UK we have over 26,000 practising midwives delivering 749,000 babies. In Rwanda there are only 46 midwives delivering 400,000 babies!! That's just crazy! The most dangerous place in the world to give birth is currently Afghanistan although thanks, in part, to Save the Children this is beginning to change. Worldwide there is a shortage of 3.5 million health workers.

Save the Children are launching this initiative as part of the 'No child born to die' campaign with some celebrity support including Natasha Kaplinsky and Stacey Solomon:

 
What is really needed though is the backing and funding of governments throughout the world to put Health Workers at the forefront of their plans to achieve the Millenium Development Goals and to plug the gaps in care. You can pledge your support for this campaign and join with other Mothers here so that many more women get access to the health care they need.

Lets hope that with your help the campaign makes a huge difference to the women and babies of the world. We should also be grateful this Mothers Day for what we in the Western world are lucky enough to have. I will be thanking my lucky stars that I didn't give birth alone and thinking about all the other Mum's around the world who haven't had that privilege!!

For more information about the campaign or to make a donation then please visit www.savethechildren.org.uk The report is available to read here!