Book Review: The Mysterious Miss Mayhew by Hazel Osmond

Posted on by Libby Price

The Mysterious Miss Mayhew

 

“Tom doesn’t need any more women in his life. He already has a five-year-old daughter, an estranged wife who keeps blocking his efforts to get divorced and a mother who might be having an affair with the vicar. So when Fran Mayhew turns up – years younger and with all the tact of a dinosaur with its backside on fire – she’s just another tricky person to deal with . . . And what’s she doing in his remote part of Northumberland crawling around in graveyards anyway?
But soon Tom discovers that there’s more to the mysterious Miss Mayhew than meets the eye – and that it’s not just his heart he’s in danger of losing.”

I read my first Hazel Osmond book a few weeks ago and really enjoyed it (and very excitedly got a tweet from the author – I am easily excited!!) and so I started my second of her books with high hopes and was not disappointed!!

It was completely different to the Mr Wolfe book – but that’s definitely not a bad thing.  There are an eclectic mix of characters – but they all fit together really well.  I loved Hattie – Tom’s 5 year old daughter – and with a 4 and a 6 year old myself empathised quite a lot with some of her escapades!

The intertwining of stories also works really well – with a mixture of intrigue, romance, suspense etc.  A couple of times it felt like the story had concluded – and then there was a further development!

As well as the traditional romances – between numerous pairs of characters, it also looks at extended family relationships – and the one between Tom and his brother is particularly lovely.

It’s not quite as rammed full of sex as Mr Wolfe is – but there’s still enough, and again, it’s very realistically written – we’re not talking 50 Shades here at all!

I particularly liked the fast forwarded ending, so you could see how things had panned on a year down the line – I often finish a book wanting to know what’s happened – so I LOVED that we found out about everyone.

I will definitely be downloading more of Hazel Osmond’s back catalogue soon!

 

 

 

Dubai – 2 days in!

Posted on by Libby Price

We are in Dubai for a few days – and whilst we are regulars here, we’ve never been in August before – and it is proper hot!!  Thankfully not as humid as Florida this time last year – but still in the 40s.  Even with flip flops on it’s too hot to walk on the sand, and going in to the sea feels like someone has been weeing in there for days #gross

** disclaimer – I don’t think they actually have, it’s just super warm **

Dubai afternoon

Anyway – couple of totally random things to brain dump so I’ve got them saved somewhere.

We were at Wild Wadi, the water park attached to our hotel, yesterday afternoon, and I was chatting to a fellow Mum in the kids’ pool – I was in a swimsuit, she was in a burkhini, and we chatted about the kids / weather etc – turns out she’s from Small Heath – about 3 miles from where I grew up in Birmingham!  #smallworld

Then, as I’m trying to get out of the wave pool at the same water park the husband announces (ever so slightly taking the p*ss) ‘Ooh, you look like Halle Berry’ to which the 11 year old responds ‘Why does Mum look like Mary Berry?’  I was not eating cake at the time I promise!!  (And clearly the husband totally resembles Daniel Craig at all times!!)

I am sure there were more things I wanted to record, but I’m struggling to remember – probably the heat!!  Therefore expect further updates in the coming days.  I’m off to finish reading Red magazine in the sunshine with a complimentary glass of champagne!

 

 

 

Isle of Cumbrae

Posted on by Libby Price

As a child I used to visit the Isle of Cumbrae – a small island a 10 minute ferry ride off the West Coast of Scotland from Largs – due west of Glasgow.  The holidays were to visit ‘Aunties’ of my Dad’s – one of whom was billeted on my Grandparents during World War 2 to make small arms in Birmingham, and she ended up staying until my Dad – the youngest of his siblings – got married to Mum, and then Auntie Una headed back to live with her family in Millport – the town on the aforementioned island.

I remember holidays consisting of cycling (it’s 10.5 miles around the island, and is what most people do when they visit!), walking, horse riding, putting 2ps in the amusements, going on the fair rides at the Garrison,

and rain

and midges.

It was an annual event to go to Millport in the 1980s, we were there when Live Aid was on the TV and I was there for my only visit in the 1990s when Princess Diana was killed in Paris.  Subsequently we went as a family with my parents, sisters and our families back in 2003 when I was 8 months pregnant, and we ended up cutting the holiday short as my blood pressure was really high and I didn’t fancy being helicoptered off the island to give birth.

So now it was time to show the Pricelets where Mummy had spent many a holiday.  Given they’re more used to Dubai or Florida it was going to be very different – but I hoped memorable.  Fingers were firmly crossed for good weather – I wasn’t talking Dubai or Florida – just dry…….

We have a 7 seater car at home – but with us, 4 kids and  loads of luggage (you have to pack for 4 seasons in one day going to Scotland!) we would have been overloaded – so we hired a mini bus from our local Enterprise car rental (who, on an aside, were great – and I would highly recommend them!).  We headed off up the M6 on Bank Holiday Saturday – and as far as Manchester we did fine – it was all a bit busy around the lakes, but a stop at the fabulous Tebay services saw us revived and we headed on up through Glasgow and out to the coast.

Millport 1

When we got to Largs I was *slightly* excited as we waited in the ferry queue.  The 10 minute Caledonian MacBrayne ferry ride across from the mainland to the Isle of Cumbrae was stunning – we could have been on a Med cruise!  I kept saying to the rest of the family ‘it’s not normally this sunny’ – which could have been the mantra of the entire stay!

Millport 2

We’d looked at self catering properties to stay in – but there were only a couple of options for a family of 6 and 1 was fully booked and the other my sister and her family had stayed in a couple of years before and they’d had issues with it smelling of dog and having no WIFI!  Given the husband and I had to work – and our kids are used to free flowing internet access – this was definitely a no no – so we booked a couple of rooms at Westbourne House.  I’d chatted via email with the owners – Jane and Stuart – before we arrived and they sounded lovely (and had kids a similar age to our eldest two) – and I wasn’t disappointed, they were great!  The rooms were well appointed, the breakfasts were beautiful – and I’m not sure we’ve ever stayed anywhere with a better view.

Millport 27

The first evening we wandered into Millport town centre, grabbed fish and chips from the chip shop, and ate them at the park.  Classic British seaside town action – and probably a first for the kids!

Millport 6

Millport 8

The next day we first went to the town graveyard to try and find the graves of the ‘Aunties’ I’d grown up with.  This was like some kind of Anneka Rice Treasure Hunt task – and we weren’t doing very well.  Thankfully the phone signal was briefly good enough for me to call my parents and they pointed us in the right direction and we found all of the graves.

Millport 7

We then headed up to the highest point of the island.  There was obviously some family pride at stake trying to get on top of the marker point – the Glaidstone (I didn’t – the stone needed to remain standing for many more years!)  The view was amazing (and remarkably there was 4G reception #winner)

Millport 9

We’d also booked to go on the Waverley – the last sea going paddle steamer in the world (although I must confess to telling the children ‘you know that boat that takes you from the car park to Magic Kingdom at Disney in Florida – well, it’s kind of like that’).  I’d gone on many trips on this fantastic vessel as a kid, and my sister and her family and my parents had done it the summer before.  In all cases cagoules were the order of the day and it was freezing!  But not on our trip!  It was practically tropical!  We sailed over to Arran – drank prosecco and pop, ate crisps and chocolate and admired the view – perfect!

On the Monday we decided to do what everyone does on Millport – cycle around the island.  Back when I was a kid the local bike shop (there are others, but Mapes is the original and the best – and having just searched for their website, I’ve found out it’s for sale – the end of an era as it’s been owned by the same family for 70 years) had a tridem – so basically a tandem but for 3.  The Homer family cycled on that loads! However now it’s in retirement – so we managed to rent a bike that seated all 6 of the Prices.  We’d been warned it would be a tough ride, and was really for pootling along the front – but we were optimistic.  We were also wrong!  We got as far as the Lion Rock (one of the 3 rocks the island is famous for) and gave up and turned back. It was exhausting.  To be fair we’d geocached that far (this was before Pokemon Go, when geocaching was still a thing!) but that was quite far enough for one day.

Millport 3

Lunch in the pub and playing on the traditional fairground rides (the same ones from when I was a child – albeit in a different location) were the order of the day – and some clambering over the AMAZING crocodile rock!

We ate in the lovely Harbour Restaurant that evening – a definite recommendation – but be careful – it appears to open on random evenings, so be careful to plan for a night it will be serving you!

The next day we did cycle around the island properly – bikes / trailers / tag-a-longs for all family members and we did all of the geocaches as we went around the perimeter of the island #boom.

 

When my sister and her family had been there 2 years before they’d managed every single geocache on the island apart from one – which was out on one of the Eileans (little islands) a boat ride from the main town beach.  It was a journey we’d done lots as kids (in fact there is an infamous family story of the aforementioned sister doing a poo in the dingy when she was about 2 whilst Mum rowed out to the first Eilean!  Thankfully, as the eldest child, there was no space for me in the boat so I’d had to swim alongside them – so avoided poo-gate!  Oh how we reminisced about Auntie Charlotte’s poo!!!!)  Anyway, the husband and the eldest 2 hired canoes to row out there – and they found the missing geocache!  The 4G signal might have been rubbish – but my son was still able to send a photo of it to his cousin! To be honest, once we’d got this geocache, we couldn’t really be bothered with all of those on the internal area of the island – this was the golden one!!!

The little 2 and I stayed on the beach – and it was beautiful.  The sun was shining, the sea was glistening – and we’ll ignore the fact I loathe sand!!!

We’d had a great time – totally made by the weather (it would have been a completely different trip if it had rained!) – but we were all getting on top of each other.  The bedrooms were fab – but that was all we had.  There was no bar / snug to chill out in – and so we were either ‘out’ or all 6 of us were squashed into bedrooms.  The kids were niggling with each other, we played musical beds every night – and all in all it was a bit tiring.  We’d had a fab time – but we decided to call it quits 24 hours early so we could remember a fabulous holiday – and not the time the children killed each other in the middle of the night because they’d nicked the duvet!!

The next morning Jane served us another one of Stuart’s fabulous breakfasts, and we headed back across on the ferry.  We then stopped off at Nardini’s (the local Italian ice cream place – and family business of Daniella Nardini who was one of the stars of ‘This Life’ back in the 90s – for all people of a certain age) and all had far too much sugar for the time of day!

Millport 28

It was then a  trek back down the M6 home – we had a pitstop at Gretna – to show the kids the history of weddings there, and the great new maze – and to stock up on supplies for the rest of the journey.

All in all, it was a fabulous few days away – and one I’m sure the children will remember far more than their 5 star trips to other significantly further flung places.  I will freely admit we were super lucky with the weather – even the locals admit 5 consecutive days of pure sunshine and 20+ degrees in May / June is unheard of – but all in all it was amazing.  I’m so pleased that revisiting a childhood haunt wasn’t a huge disappointment.

I would thoroughly recommend staying with Stuart and Jane – and they’re currently extending their caravan park – so you can have your own space, still with that amazing view.

Millport will always be a very special place to me (although if my parent’s plan to go and live there when I was a small girl had actually come to fruition – who knows where I’d be now!!)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

My name is Libby and I’m a Fitbit addict…

Posted on by Libby Price

I have been a massive fan of my Fitbit Charge HR since I got it for my birthday in 2015, I’ve worn it religiously since and so monitored every step, flight of stairs, minute of sleep for many months.

Fitbit

So imagine my devastation when it stopped working last week.  After a particularly energetic boxing session it just stopped counting steps – and no amount of resetting would get it to work, and then the screen died completely.

Now I know Fitbit customer service is brilliant and will send you a replacement (and they subsequently have – thanks Fitbit!) – but that would mean waiting for 5-7 working days, which seemed like an eternity stretching out in front of me (pathetic I know!) and I’d also secretly had my eye on the new Alta – so with Amazon Prime I could have that the next day so I ordered one immediately (how did I ever function without Amazon Prime?!  Even if my mother doesn’t approve of their taxation arrangements, they do make my life much simpler!!)

So the next day – after a seemingly wasted 24 hours (steps without wearing your Fitbit are just so pointless………….) my shiny new Fitbit Alta arrived.

Fitbit Alta

I very excitedly set it up – but couldn’t get the ‘buzzing’ function to work.. I read online that the vibration is a lot more gentle than the Charge HR – but unless the feeling in my arm was going, I was certain it wasn’t working.  I Googled (oh dear, more people my Mum doesn’t approve of tax-wise) possible fixes, but nothing worked.  Therefore I contacted Fitbit and a new Alta was on its way.

Thankfully the initial one still counted steps (phew!) – but I hadn’t realised just how much I relied on the vibration function for alarms / call alerts etc, so it was a real relief when a fully functioning Alta arrived a few days later.

A number of friends have asked me for my views on the Alta (being an oversharer means people always know I have an opinion) so here goes!!

 

FitBit Charge HR

Pros

The Charge HR monitors EVERYTHING – including the one thing that makes it unique amongst the FitBit stable, your heart rate.  This is really interesting (yes, I’ve checked it after many different activities!!) and you can get pretty graphs when you log on to the website.

The Charge HR also counts the flights of stairs you’ve gone up and down (I’m still not sure how it does that – potentially magic?!).  This has made me park on a higher floor in the car park and walk up and down the stairs more regularly at work rather than saving everything I need to take down until the end of the day.

It automatically registers sleep and exercise (I think some of the other FitBits don’t do that – although don’t have any personal experience)

You can set it to buzz for an alarm and when you’re receiving a phonecall.  This worked brilliantly for me as I often don’t end up in my own bed come the morning (annoying children, nothing more exciting!) but I know I will still be woken up.  It also means if you’ve left your phone on silent in your handbag you don’t miss a call (or if you’re in a meeting you can still be alerted without looking rude and having your phone out!!)

Cons

When I bought an HR they only came in black – since then the range has increased so you can have it in 6 different colours.  However, whichever you buy you’re stuck with that colour – you can buy ‘bling’ to brighten it up, but the base colour remains the same.

It is quite a chunky size, and so looks quite cumbersome and not very feminine – particularly if you’re going ‘out out’!  (And you couldn’t not wear it, as then you wouldn’t get all of the steps when you’re dancing / walking home from the pub etc).  The strapmark I have after a week in Scotland getting a tan makes it look HUGE!

It’s not splashproof so you need to be careful when you wear it.  I didn’t wear it for the mud run I did because of this (I’m still a bit bitter about the missed step countage!)

** Edited to add:  I’ve just been shown by a friend that it is splashproof just not fully waterproof – I shall be less careful in future.**

FitBit Alta

Pros

It’s BEAUTIFUL – sleek and stylish and much less ‘functional’ in its looks.  You can also change the bracelet for other options – leather, metal, beautiful designs – meaning it can look more like jewellery.

You can set it to alert you with a gentle buzz as an alarm, when you receive a call or text message (it tells you who it’s from – and with a text also shows you the content) and also if you haven’t done your 250 steps that hour.  Pretty much all the buzzing functionality of the HR and then some.

Again, as the HR, it automatically monitors your sleep and exercise.

The battery seems to last a lot longer than the Charge HR (even though I’ve perfected the ‘charge it in the car to not waste a single step’ routine).

Cons

It doesn’t measure flights of stairs.  I didn’t realise before I bought it and was a bit sad to start with. But this was mainly because it was the one target I managed to hit most days – so I guess, if I already hit the target it doesn’t matter?!

It doesn’t measure heart rate – I don’t think this is the end of the world though, I guess it depends what you want your FitBit for.

Sometimes it doesn’t want to sync with your phone app.  I never had this happen ever with the HR.  However if I turn wifi off and on again it tends to then work – so who knows why!!

 

Overall I am a total FitBit convert / addict.  The customer service has been great with both problems so whilst reliability has been an issue (and even worse for some friends) it has never been a major issue.

I also love the fact that you can connect with friends who also have FitBits and do workweek hustles or weekend warriors to see who’s done the most steps.  One of my workweek hustle groups is lovely – we chat most days, and whilst it is a bit competitive – mostly we’re just competitive with ourselves and hitting our own 10,000 steps per day (even if that means walking around the house / garden as midnight approaches!!)

And it’s definitely got me walking more – 100% – so that’s got to be a good thing?!

My name is Libby and I’m a FitBit addict………………………….

 

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: Break Point by Lee Stone

Posted on by Libby Price

Bookshots is a new concept by the author James Patterson.  To quote the Bookshots website “BOOKSHOTS are all-new, original stories that feature a complete, cinematic storytelling experience in 150 pages. Characters include favorites like Alex Cross, Michael Bennett, and the Women’s Murder Club. For readers with busy schedules, BOOKSHOTS is the answer.”

Some of the books are written by Mr Patterson himself, others by authors he’s chosen – and that is where this book comes in – and most excitingly, it’s written by someone I went to school with (well, he was at the boys school next door – but we shared a sixth form block!)

When Lee posted on Facebook about this (he’s been writing for years at random times of the day and night whilst also working for the BBC and having a gorgeous little – very little at the start as she was really prem – daughter with his wife) I immediately pre ordered it from Amazon.  But I’m always nervous reading something written by someone I know – I want to be able to write a glowing review – but what if it’s really cringey?  Or just downright bad? Or, biggest crime to me, full of typos and bad grammar?!

Well – I need not have worried one bit – it was fantastic!

Break Point

This is what the Amazon blurb had to say:

“One point away from winning the French Open, tennis star Kirsten Keller breaks down and flees the court in tears.
Keller has been receiving death threats. Terrified and desperate, she hires former Metropolitan police officer Chris Foster to protect her at Wimbledon.
As the championship progresses, Keller’s tormentor gets ever closer. And the threats become horrifyingly real.”

The book had me intrigued from the start – and I immediately wanted to know more about the characters.  One of my concerns about it being short was that they wouldn’t be fully fleshed out – but they really were.

I was also concerned (honestly, I shouldn’t have read this with all of these ‘concerns’!) that it would have to be predictable because there wouldn’t be time to build the story – but again, I was very wrong!  I smugly thought I’d predicted who the ‘baddy’ was early on – but I was totally and utterly incorrect.

The setting of Wimbledon was very timely given that it’s in a few weeks – and having been to the championship, it was nice to recognise the setting – similarly with some of the London narrative.

It is fast paced and difficult to put down – you could easily read it on a plane flight to Europe this summer in a oner – but I didn’t feel short changed, and that the story should have been longer (which interestingly I do often feel with some longer books!)  I would definitely consider downloading more Bookshots in the future for when you don’t want to wallow in a book for ages.

All in all a fantastic read – and I look forward to reading more of Lee’s books in the future.

Phew – concerns all answered!!

 

The morning after – Wicked Wednesday 15 June 2016

Posted on by Libby Price

I haven’t linked up with BrummyMummyof2 for Wicked Wednesday in a while – but this photo was a definite.

We’d been to friends to watch the first England game of Euro 2016.   The grown ups drank a lot (Kenny’s cocktails being the major issue) and we all got home at midnight – including the 4 and 5 year olds. #badparents

The next morning it’s safe to say everyone was a bit ‘tired and emotional’ – well, apart from my husband who’d moved to coffee rather than booze mid evening – he was fine (just unbearably smug) – but he made me breakfast in bed, so is excused his smugness.

Anyway – ‘Elsa’ couldn’t find her crown (it had been left at the friends’ house along with all manner of wet clothes following a bouncy castle / rain / washing up liquid incident) so we had a full on meltdown which lead to her falling asleep on the rug in the hall.

Elsa

To be honest I think quite a lot of people who watched England the night before felt similar…….

 

brummymummyof2

Book Review: The Unmumsy Mum

Posted on by Libby Price

The Unmumsy Mum

“THIS IS NOT A PARENTING MANUAL. THIS IS REAL LIFE.

The Unmumsy Mum writes candidly about motherhood like it really is: the messy, maddening, hilarious reality, how there is no ‘one size fits all’ approach and how it is sometimes absolutely fine to not know what you are doing. The lessons she’s learnt while grappling with two small boys – from birth to teething, 3am night feeds to toddler tantrums, soft play to toilet training – will have you roaring with laughter and taking great comfort in the fact that it’s definitely not just you…”

I’m not sure I’m target market for this book – as I’m already 13 years into my Mum ‘journey’ and with my ‘baby’ being 4 and a half – but I really like what The Unmumsy Mum posts on Facebook and her blog, so I downloaded it to my Kindle.

I LOVED this book.  It was laugh out loud funny at times – but also had me weeping today (the chapter where she talks about being a Mum but without her own Mum being around – it was so beautifully written and so moving. It made me think more about my husband not having his Mum around whilst we’re going through our own stab at parenthood as she passed away exactly a year before our eldest was born.).

I think this should be bought for every first time Mum so they can know what parenthood is really all about.  I was lucky that a friend had her first baby about 9 months before me – and we were very similar control freak / career girls until then – and she freely admitted the first 6 weeks were HIDEOUS.  It was such an unusually honest opinion and helped me no end – and having that written down in the public domain in a book is such a great support for people (the only book I read before having my first was Gina Ford #howstupidwasI?!).

Despite having 4 kids, I am most definitely not a mumsy mum – in fact I remember my oldest friend’s Mum being shocked when I had more than 2 kids, as apparently I was the least maternal amongst my sisters!! Therefore I empathise totally with The Unmumsy Mum lots.

The style of writing is great – and honest (and sweary – which is totally me)  Whilst it’s primarily about being the parent to small people it does cover other topics really well.  The ‘why have kids if you’re going to moan about them?’ section was excellently written.  It also  made me think a lot about comparing the sh*t you’re going through with what other people go through.  A friend recently lost her 11 year old son to a brain tumour which was utterly devastating – and hopefully something I never have to experience first hand – but I was at risk of thinking everything in my life was inconsequential compared to that – but some things, for us, are still important – and this helped me realise that, whilst still being there to support my friend and her family.

But don’t for one second think it’s all deep and meaningful!  It is brilliantly funny and, to quote The Unmumsy Mum herself, full of sh*ts and giggles – exactly like parenthood is.

 

 

 

 

 

Book Review: The Sunshine and Biscotti Club by Jenny Oliver

Posted on by Libby Price

The Sunshine and Biscotti Club

First things first, I must confess an interest in this book.  Back last October, at a charity auction, the author Jenny Oliver had donated a ‘money can’t buy’ prize of being a named character in one of her future books.  My wonderful husband bid lots of money for fabulous causes (Brain Tumour Research and Birmingham Children’s Husband) and I was the lucky winner! I had no clue what the book was going to be about, just that Libby Price would be in it – and that it would be out in May 2016.

I then got to read the blurb on Amazon:

“The ovens are pre-heating, the Prosecco is chilling…and The Sunshine and Biscotti Club is nearly ready to open its doors.
But the guests have other things on their minds…
Libby: The Blogger
Life is Instagram-perfect for food blogger Libby…until she catches her husband cheating just weeks before her Italian cooking club’s grand opening.
Evie: The Mum
Eve’s marriage isn’t working, but she’s not dared admit it until now. A trip to Italy to help Libby open The Sunshine and Biscotti Club might be the perfect escape…
Jessica: In Love with her Best Friend
Jessica has thrown herself into her work to shut out the memory of the man who never loved her back. The same man who’s just turned up in Tuscany…
Welcome to Tuscany’s newest baking school – where your biscotti is served with a side of love, laughter and ice-cold limoncello!”

So not only was Libby Price a named character – she was the main character – excitement overload. The blurb also contained one of Libby’s friends being called Evie – which is one of my daughters (interestingly I found out from one of Jenny’s friends that this was a typo in the blurb, and throughout the book Evie is Eve – but then so is my Evie, legally!) However, there was also an unfaithful rotter of a husband – thankfully not called Mark, which might have been a bit distressing!!

I was very excited on publication date to receive some flowers through the post from Jenny Oliver and Carina (the publishers) and a copy of THE BOOK!

I read the first sentence to my husband: “As the church clock struck midnight, Libby Price was attempting to haul a double mattress up a flight of stairs on her own.”
His response – “well, that’s obviously fiction, you’d get staff to do it”.

So off I went to see what this Libby Price was all about!

I was instantly sucked in to her Tuscan world and what she needed to do to get The Sunshine and Biscotti Club up and running in a slightly dilapidated hotel left to Libby by her Aunt.  It also brought about  the intertwining lives of her old friends who all rallied round to help her. The descriptions of Italy were wonderful – you could almost taste the limoncello – and the scenery –  the hotel itself, the surrounding countryside and the blokes – were perfectly described!  Each chapter was told from the point of view of one of the female leads – who all had very different lives now, years on from when they were first mates.  I have to say because my reading isn’t devouring a book in one sitting any more (the joy of 4 kids!) I dip in and out – and sometimes I had to go back and re-read to remind myself who everyone was – particularly the male characters, as there seemed to be lots of them, and I don’t feel I got to know them as well as the female ones.

Whilst the book was a lot about friendships it touched on other topics – particularly the Instagram perfectness that many people portray on social media, which isn’t their real life at all.

At the end of the book you’re fast forwarded a full year.  I have to confess to feeling a bit short changed – I wanted to know what had happened in the intervening period (I don’t like missing out on the goss!) It concluded nicely – but with enough’what’s going to happen next?’ to make you want a sequel – or to want to go on holiday there yourself!

This is a perfect summer read – even more perfect if you’re sipping on limoncello and nibbling on a biscotti in the sunshine whilst reading it!

Definitely far more perfect summer read then reading about this Libby Price’s exploits anyway……..

 

 

 

 

 

 

Blue playsuit?!?

Posted on by Libby Price

Blue playsuit

Get in from work, open up the Next delivery that has arrived during the day.

First item – nice tunic top, size 16, sensible length, capped sleeves – perfect for a 40 something mother of 4.

Then the next item – ‘blue playsuit, size 16’.

WHAT HAVE I DONE?!
It’s that internet shopping after too much wine again,
Why on earth would I have thought that I’d look good in a playsuit,
I’m going to have to trog into Redditch to return it or get the slightly creepy delivery man to come and pick it back up…..

Check item tag – it’s the age 16 one I ordered for Daisy as her age had sold out.

Panic over.  The people of Alvechurch are safe and will not need to see me in a playsuit. Phew.

Book Review: Memoirs of a Former Fatty by Gemma Reucroft

Posted on by Libby Price

Memoirs of a former fatty

 

“Four years ago, I was obese. I was also so chronically unfit that I couldn’t manage more than one flight of stairs without getting seriously out of breath. I was eating my way to a whole host of health problems and my knees were knackered.
Now nearly four years on, I am over 80lbs lighter and a whole heck of a lot fitter. I’m now training to be a Personal Trainer so that I can help other people like me. This is why I have written this book.
Along the way I learned a lot, and came up with some ideas of my own about how and why people lose weight….or don’t.
This is my story.”

Yet again I downloaded this upon the recommendation of a friend – the same friend who recommended “The Strong Woman Trap” and “Putting Social Media To Work” – in fact the author of this book is also one of the authors of the latter.

I’d really enjoyed Gemma’s style of writing (and I follow her on Twitter) and so expected to enjoy this – and I wasn’t wrong!

It basically talks about Gemma’s own experience (or journey if we’re being X Factor about it!) from being overweight and unfit to being a size 10 half marathon runner.

It does not contain a magic wand, or secret formula for this to happen – and Gemma is very upfront that basically it’s eat less and move more (something most of us know, but many of us struggle to do in practice) – but it is her own personal experience.

Lots of it – about why people fail (with weight loss and getting fit) is stuff I’ve read before – but still rings true, and always good to reinforce this (says the Queen of self sabotage – well we’re on holiday / it’s so and so’s birthday / it’s the weekend / the day has a y in it – all excuses I’ve used for cracking open the prosecco and then eating the entire contents of the children’s chocolate stash……).

I’m also inherently nosy (part of the reason I love social media) and so hearing how someone else has achieved something is very appealing to me – and Gemma sounds like my kind of girl (we have a mutual friend – so I suspect this is even more likely to be true!)

I really enjoyed reading this – and it’s definitely motivated me in my own weight loss / get fit campaign.  (I am pleased that Gemma fannied about a bit – technical term – before finally knuckling down, I feel I’ve been at the fannying stage for a little while now, and really need to grab the bull by the horns, so to speak!)

And – I’ve signed up for Race for Life with various female members of the family on 17th July – and want to try to run all 5km.  Baby steps and all that!