The Gallery - Relax

So the theme this week is "Relax" . Something which a lot have us have been able to do as it's the summer holidays. I find I can have a more relaxed morning without early alarm calls and rushing out of the door with toast hanging out my mouth praying I make it on time.

For the past few days Aalliyah has been nose deep into her book (My Sister Jodie - Jacqueline Wilson) and she has been randomly bursting into fits of giggles at the clearly comical writing. However during the last chapter she went rather quiet and in fact her giggles turned to tears as she was met with the all too common "sad" ending.

I think she certainly has the right idea on how to relax though? Maybe all that blood rushing to her head helps soak up all that literature ;-)

Head over to Sticky Fingers and check out all the other Gallery entries this week.

An Ode To Emma Louise

The wonderful Emma Louise
Made blogging seem like a breeze
She helped me get started
Because she's so kind hearted
And always aims to please

This is an ode to my brilliant blogger friend Emma over at theminimesandme . She not only inspired me to start my own blog but is always on hand to help me :)

I am linking this up over at Grumpyishmum.co.uk

Saturday Is Caption Day #SatCap

As terrified as Aalliyah looks on the drop down tower, she did actually go on it about 20 times after this! We had lots of scary fun last weekend at Gullivers Land.

Do you have a funny caption to go with this shot? I'd love to hear it. Then why not head over to Mammasaurus where you can have fun captioning lots more pics and even upload your own!

Saturday Is Caption Day - #SatCap

No I haven't just melted a mars bar and smeared it all over my face.. It was in fact a mud mask. Nothing like a bit of self pampering.

Have a funny caption to go with this photo? I'd love to hear it. Then why not head over to mammasaurus where you can caption loads more photos and even add your own!

Have a great bank holiday weekend, what ever you are doing! Lets hope the sun keeps his hat on.

Red - The Gallery

Wow .. Feels good to be back...

Anyway, this weeks theme for "The Gallery" is RED.

So here's my picture. Yes it's a picture of me, and yes it's a bit self indulgent but who cares, I have a reason to be a show off this week after being presented with a certificate of achievement at last weeks weigh in for losing 50 lbs! So this weeks gallery is my chance to show off a bit and enjoy the fact that I actually liked seeing a photo of myself for the first time in a very long time!

Why not head over to Sticky Fingers and check out the other gallery entries :-)

Silent Sunday

My Reasons To Be Cheerful #R2BC

OK, So here they are.. A little late but could not find enough minutes in the day yesterday!

1. A really good weigh in at weight watchers this week. I lost 4 pounds which means I am only 3 pound away from a 2 stone weight loss. I am so proud of myself, having always been big, I never thought I would be complaining that my clothes are too big lol.
2. I have made a nice big dent in the Christmas shopping. I have picked up some fantastic bits online and in town. I think I am more excited than Aalliyah. I have noticed a lot of people have started to xmas decorate already. I am looking forward to decorating the tree with Aalliyah..But not till December.
3. Aalliyah had her first gymnastics class this week. I knew she would take to it like a duck to water as she is forever springing about at home and at the end of the lesson the coach told me how impressed she was with Aalliyah. She told me she was a natural and would definitely be interested in Aalliyah joining their squad :)

So there are my reasons to be cheerful this week.. What are yours?

The Gallery - The Eighties

OK, So the theme this week is "The Eighties", but being born in 84 meant I only had 6 years of the eighties to endure, so no perm pics here lol.

I think this picture was taken in around 89, so just in the "Eighties" bracket.

I am on the left in the "nice" lime green costume. Needless to say I have never had a photo taken in a costume since! In the middle is my very good friend Siobhan who I lost contact with for many years and in the past few years have got back in contact with each other. She is also a mummy now, so we can share in our experiences as parents together too. Not only that, but her beautiful little girl was born on Aalliyahs birthday :-)

On the right is a girl called Jade, who I will only ever remember for the biting and pinching that she did and the constant temper tantrum screams coming from her flat lol.

Head over to Sticky Fingers Blog and check out the other entries :-)

How Your Child Sees You Meme

I was tagged in a fantastic blog post over at The Olivers Mad House, and jumped at the chance to take part. Those of you that know me, and Aalliyah, will know that one thing Aalliyah does constantly is draw. So when I asked for her to draw me, she quiet happily agreed.

So this is how she sees me!

I am very chuffed! So much slimmer in pencil lol and I knew I wouldn't be drawn without my famous face full of freckles.

Thank you Aalliyah.. I love you xx

I am tagging the following fabulous peeps to take part! 

Emma - www.theminimesandme.com

Bubbly Apples - www.bubblyapples.com

Mummy S - www.littleguysmummys.blogspot.co.uk/

(Apologies if you have done this meme previously - Please ignore)

Reasons To Be Cheerful #R2BC

I love how the #R2BC is on a Thursday, as this is also my weekly weigh in day at Weight Watchers. So I can always wait until later on in the day as the scales might give me reasons to be "not so" cheerful! But today was another fab day with regards to weight loss. I have lost another 2.5lbs this week bringing me up to a total weight loss of 21 pounds! Which earned me my 3rd silver seven. I am over the moon at how well I am getting on with the pro points plan.

My second reason to be cheerful this week is that I finally repainted my lounge. I know its a pretty simple one, but I have had all my paint for months! I kept saying next week and it turned into months, so I finally got it done.. Only 4 more rooms to decorate now!!

My 3rd and final reason to be cheerful is the Christmas spirit which has started oozing out of all the shops with their window displays, the T.V with its festive adverts and all the people I speak to on Facebook and Twitter commenting on how they have started their Christmas shopping or how much they want to start decorating for Christmas  I love Christmas so much and get more excited than Aalliyah I think! I have started my Christmas shopping and bought some new decorations for my tree today :)

You see.. Simple things that make a big difference to my week. What has made you happy this week?

Saturday Caption Day #Satcap

Its Saturday!! Which can only mean one thing.. Time to caption! Here is Aalliyah and "Dolly". For those of you who haven't read my previous post, Dolly was a dead, hung girl we made for our Halloween party. Here she is before we made her "dead" and "hung".

Head on over to Mammasaurus and have fun captioning more! I am spending the day repainting my lounge but will come on later to check out all the entries.

Knowing Me Knowing You Meme

For those of you that don't know me, My name is Emma and I am a complete newbie to the "blogging" world. I have been blogging on and on for the past month or so, but I would say it has only started to gain momentum in the past few weeks. 

The purpose of this meme was to bring bloggers together, to learn about the person behind the computer screen. I myself know how hard it is to form new friendships as a new blogger so to me this is a great idea!


The Rules:

• Nominate five other blogs in your post ( All must have less than 250 subscribers)
• Post five random facts about yourself.
• Answer the five questions that the "tagger" has asked you, and then list your own five questions to ask others.
• Let your five friends know you have tagged them by commenting on there blog/tweeting them.

My five random facts:

1. My confirmation name is Monica and was only chosen as a group of us all chose names from the show "Friends" (Great religious meaning there lol)
2. I still have an irrational fear of the dark. (Have to have hallway or bathroom light on when I'm in bed lol)
3. I'm a bit of a Call Of Duty addict. Granted I can't play half as well as the guys on there.. But I give it my all and get very angry in the process lol
4. I have 2 tattoos. One of my lower spine and one on my shoulder (Both wording)
5. I am a massive Dr Who fan! But can't stand the new episodes with Matt smith lol

Here is the five questions I was asked to answer:

1. What is the most embarrassing experience you have ever had?

Hmmm.. How do I choose? I am the most clumsiest person ever so have taken an embarrassing tumble more times than I can remember, but I would say the most embarrassing thing to happen to me was being in labour and having to have the normal "dilation checks" as you do and being escorted to a ward with zero power, so having a friendly little helper having to hold a huge JCB builders torch over me while I was examined.

    2.  What is your most treasured childhood memory?

The number one thing that stands out for me is sharing a room with my sister. I remember we had everything matching, and I believe at one point it was a Pierro Clown theme. (No wonder I have a fear of them now) I remember constantly making up dances and performances with my sister and one that sticks out in particular was a dance we did to Shakespears Sister's Stay. We practised for hours and them performed it for our parents.

   3.   What is your favourite meal?

That's easy.. Boiled gammon joint, potatoes and cabbage. Proper comfort food!! Haven't had it for so long (Following pro points plan and trying to be good) 

   4.   If you could go to any destination in the world, where would it be an why?

OK, So it's not a far away land or exotic location, but I would love to go to New York. Having struggled with work and finances, I have not been in a position to be able to go on a holiday like this and so Aalliyah is yet to experience her first plane holiday. She would absolutely love New York more than me. So now I have quit smoking (Nearly a year now) Hopefully back in employment very very soon! This is definitely our first holiday :-)

  5.   If you could wish for just one thing for your child, what would it be?

This is by far the hardest question of the lot. How do I choose just one?? I guess one of the main ones, is that I wish that she is happy in whatever she chooses to do. Many people can have big bank balances, big cars and even bigger houses and be the loneliest people in the world.

I am tagging the following five people to take part:

http://glitzygleam.blogspot.co.uk/
http://themumstodolist.blogspot.co.uk/
http://mumtales.wordpress.com/
http://theoliversmadhouse.wordpress.com/
http://teacakeandmyboy.blogspot.co.uk/

Your five questions to answer:

What one thing (material object) could you not live without?
What is your favourite blog post?
If you could go anywhere in the world where would you go and why?
If you could go back in time what one thing would you change and why?
If you had one wish right now( at time of writing post) what would it be for and why?

Let me know when you have done your post and I'll check it out :-)