Eyes – The Photo Gallery Week 203

Posted on by Libby Price

The topic for The Photo Gallery on the Sticky Fingers Blog this week is ‘eyes’ inspired by the charity #seethemiracle.

My 2 youngest daughters both have huge eyes that are frequently commented on by people wherever we go – so this week’s picture(s) had to be of them. Sometimes the fact that they have different coloured eyes makes it easier to tell which is which in baby photos (this was never so much of a problem with the older two as we could rely on gender stereotypical clothes to highlight which was which!!)

Eyes

P1010829 P1010299

Do pop over to #thegallery to see what other people have posted for the topic ‘eyes’ and to learn more about the charity that inspired this week’s topic.

Sticky Fingers Photo Gallery

Wicked Wednesdays – 8 October 2014

Posted on by Libby Price

Last Saturday the husband and I deposited the 4 children on to family and friends, went for cocktails, popped home for a power nap, got our glad rags on and headed off to a charity ‘Fall Ball’ – it was a brilliant night with lots of great friends, food and booze, and loads of money raised for some excellent causes.

One of my friends took this HIDEOUS photo of us dancing – it is just wrong on so many levels. May I point out that I am not sure what’s happened to my lower left arm?! I have tried, unsuccessfully, to recreate this arm positioning – my father suggested perhaps I need to drink a litre of cheap white wine before attempting it again……..

Fall Ball

Normally it’s my kids that feature in Wicked Wednesdays over on Brummy Mummy of 2’s blog – but as soon as I saw this I knew it had to be this week’s entry!!  This is obviously what happens when parents have a night off.

brummymummyof2

Book Review – Here’s Looking at You by Mhairi McFarlane

Posted on by Libby Price

A few weeks ago I read and reviewed ‘You Had Me At Hello‘ by Mhairi Mcfarlane and loved it, and the lovely author (whom I must confess I have a bit of a girl crush on) even tweeted back saying she loved my review – eek!!!  She’ll probably block me on Twitter now thinking I’m a crazed stalker….

So – I set about on her next book with high expectations of enjoying it immensely!

Heres looking at you

Here’s the blurb from Amazon:

“The new novel from the bestselling author of You Had Me At Hello.
Anna Alessi – history expert, possessor of a lot of hair and an occasionally filthy mouth – seeks nice man for intelligent conversation and Mills & Boon moments.
Despite the oddballs that keep turning up on her dates, Anna couldn’t be happier. As a 30-something with a job she loves, life has turned out better than she dared dream. However, things weren’t always this way, and her years spent as the ‘Italian Galleon’ of an East London comprehensive are ones she’d rather forget.
So when James Fraser – the architect of Anna’s final humiliation at school – walks back into her life, her world is turned upside down. But James seems a changed man. Polite. Mature. Funny, even. People can change, right? So why does Anna feel like she’s a fool to trust him?
Hilarious and poignant, ‘Here’s Looking At You’ will have you laughing one minute and crying the next.
The new must-read novel from #1 bestseller Mhairi McFarlane.”

And it did not disappoint at all.  I totally agree with the writer of the above review – at times I really was laughing one minute and crying the next (although I do cry very easily – adverts / X Factor / school assemblies all have me reaching for the tissues).

Don’t tell my friend Emily – but I also found the bit where she took the mickey out of Mills & Boon editors quite funny!!!

The historic (1980s / 90s) references are just bang on for a ‘just 40’ year old – and it’s so well written, like chatting with a mate.  After reading Gone Girl and not really giving a toss about any of the characters, it was lovely to read something where you are rooting for the good guys.

Only a month until Mhairi’s next book ‘It’s Not Me, It’s You’ comes out, and the first few chapters are fab.  Now what to read before then…………

Friday Funtimes

Posted on by Libby Price

So ‘Friday Funtimes’ is similar to ‘Monday Meltdown‘ but a different day requires a different alliteration.

My day so far:

0520 – husband gets up to go to meeting in London
0545 – disturbed by her father, the 4 year old comes and gets in with me, wriggles a lot
0630 – alarm goes off, shower, nag children, dressed, nag children,  breakfast, nag children
0720 – nanny arrives, drop daughter at station, go to work
0920 – leave work and go for lovely manicure and pedicure as pre Fall Ball preparations (tomorrow night’s fun!)
1120 – quick butcher and hardware store trip (support your local businesses and all that)
1145 – back at my desk for the afternoon, drink coffee when really want gin
1625 – leave office to go to station to collect daughter again, sneaky bit of Kindle reading
1700 – get home, quick handover with the nanny
1740 – text message from husband to say he’s stuck on motorway and won’t be home for ages
1745 – round up 3 of the children to come with me for spray tan (more pre Ball prep)
1800 – don paper pants and be sprayed, leaving children with my phone watching Peppa Pig

And seemingly taking random photos.......
And seemingly taking random photos…….

1810 – 2 year old upset that she can’t have her ‘face painted’
1820 – get home, leave 3 kids in car, straighten eldest daughters hair
1825 – back in car to take eldest to party
1827 – do quick U turn as daughter has left present for birthday girl at home
1829 – back home to find husband in garden, locked out with no keys having just got back
1830 – deposit son at home, little ones remain in car
1840 – drop eldest at her party late, apologise to all adults who see me for ‘spray tan and no underwear’
1845 – huge meltdown from 4 year old as she wants to stay at 12 year olds party
1847 – 2 year old wants a wee, have to hold her over the gutter, being careful not to get wee on feet (streaky tan)
1855 – drop auction vouchers for tomorrow’s Ball at organisers house
1859 – walk back into the house and be presented with cold glass of sauvignon blanc by husband

Wine

is it time for bed yet???

Sh*t happens

Posted on by Libby Price

4 years ago (according to Timehop – I bloody love Timehop!) we bought our first Caroline Shotton painting entitled ‘Sh*t happens’!  The big kids were 5 and 7 at the time, thought the title of the painting was HILARIOUS and no doubt repeated it at completely inappropriate times!

sh-t-happens-13281

Since then we’ve bought a few lot of her other pieces – lovingly called ‘cow pictures’ by the little ones.

I found out that Caroline was doing a personal appearance at Castle Galleries in Solihull last month, and the eldest and I found that one of her paintings ‘Best Dad’ was for sale.  Husband’s birthday is October – so we thought it would be the PERFECT present!  All was going well, I’d plotted with the lovely Carole from the gallery and I’d paid for the painting, designed a perfect dedication, and then was going to sneak back and pick the painting up after the event so he was none the wiser.

All was going well when we arrived at the gallery – and the kids enjoyed milkshakes and cupcakes…..

Milkshake Cupcake

And they were allowed to choose new cow paintings for their rooms (extravagant I know – but it’s an investment – and looks so much nicer than a poster from Smash Hits or Bunty!!)

Then – husband spotted ‘Best Mum’ and announced that I had to be given that one.  Obviously I started weeping (did I mention that when the kids had milkshake I’d had champagne?!) at the sentiment (although my son did point out I was the only Mum he had – so had to be the best one – throwing on its head the ‘you’re my best son’ that I use on him!!) and the fact that my birthday surprise was usurped and so I’d have to think of something else!  (Given husband’s favourite 40th present was his Bissell carpet cleaner – this is not a joke –  I suspect it may have to be a household appliance now!)

Weeping

Then we got to meet the very lovely Caroline in person – and she dedicated the back of all of our purchases (and she’s very good at drawing cows in her dedications too – I am always well impressed by people’s artistic skills being an accountant myself!!)  Here’s a picture of me and the eldest with Caroline – and some of our paintings (all protected ready to leave – they’re not some weird, modern blue frames!)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA]

So cake, milkshake, champagne, a lovely artist and our favourite gallery made for a fabulous (if slightly expensive!) afternoon.

We just need to make sure we avoid Mell Square for a bit now, so we’re not tempted to add to the Paul Horton or Shazia collections too…………

Wicked Wednesdays – 1 October 2014

Posted on by Libby Price

After the success of last week’s strop photo (now known as ‘Ballerina Bum‘) for Brummy Mummy of 2’s Wicked Wednesdays I’ve chosen another child’s strop photo this week (we could have a recurring theme here with 4 of the blighters!!)

This is the first time our youngest adopted the ‘I have my arms crossed so this means I’m in a really bad mood’ approach to stropping….

G strop

I have to say it’s a skill she’s worked on – in fact my favourite photo of our entire summer which I blogged about here was a variation on this theme!

Make sure you pop over and see other people’s entries to Wicked Wednesdays

brummymummyof2

Book Review: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Posted on by Libby Price

I know, I know, everyone else read this YEARS ago, I am totally behind the times! Just like the series ‘Breaking Bad’ (which I am still resisting) loads of people have raved about ‘Gone Girl’ by Gillian Flynn and I’ve just never quite got round to it. But with the Hollywood interpretation of it due out next month, I thought I should really get my act together and read it before I see the film. I hate seeing films before reading the books (although often don’t like the film once I’ve read the book, so perhaps I shouldn’t read so much!) Although with 4 children, popping to the cinema is a thing of the past –  like a full night’s sleep and size 12 jeans!

Gone Girl

So I finally started ‘Gone Girl’ last week and I’ve really enjoyed it. The story is widely publicised at the moment, I’ve kept hearing it on the radio in the trailers (which has been a bit weird) – but basically, on Nick and Amy’s 5th wedding anniversary, Amy goes missing and Nick is the prime suspect. It is written from both of their perspectives and has brilliant twists and turns – a real thriller and consequently kept me engaged.  I can’t really say much more about the plot without giving away major spoilers (just in case you’re the only person left in the world who hasn’t read it yet!)

A number of people had told me the ending was rubbish – and perhaps it was because that gave me really low expectations, I didn’t find it as bad as I expected!!  Whilst it’s a good, fast paced, thriller – it isn’t exactly literary genius – but it was very enjoyable.

It will be really interesting to see how the film turns out (but make sure you read the book first!)

Charity begins at my home….

Posted on by Libby Price

Last Friday lots of people around the country were taking part in the Macmillan Cancer Support’s Big Coffee Morning – and I decided to jump on the bandwagon.  Macmillan were really helpful to my husband’s Mum when she was suffering with cancer – and to lots of friends who’ve had their own personal battles too.  I decided it could be a dual fundraiser, as some close family friends have a 10 year old who is fundraising for Birmingham Children’s Hospital who are currently supporting him through treatment for a brain tumour.

My fabulous parents arrived armed with an urn and some extra mugs, the most wonderful ‘Very Smart Cookie Company‘ were providing the cakes and I could waft about in my new clothes purchased this week with a personal shopping experience at John Lewis (there’s another blog post in there soon – bet you can’t wait?!)

Lots of my very lovely friends came and ate cake, drank hot drinks (decaf tea, normal tea, peppermint tea, coffee, decaf coffee, red milk, green milk, blue milk, sugar, sweetener – we were practically a branch of Starbucks!!)  and were suitably generous – raising a whopping £210 to share between the charities.

But aside from the fundraising – it was just a really lovely morning – I know I’m biased, but I have some very nice friends.

A big thank you to VSCC for not only the wonderful cakes – but also these fab photos!

Very Smart Cookie Company Cakes
Chocolate and coconut brownies, scones and carrot cake!
Competition to win CAKE!
Competition to win CAKE! (And fab cards in the background)
Lovely friends
Lovely friends

P.S.  If you’d like to donate to Fin’s fundraising for the children’s cancer unit at Birmingham Children’s Hospital – then you can click here. xx

New York – the city that never sleeps……..

Posted on by Libby Price

Next month the husband and I are off to NYC – sans children, for 4 whole nights.  Husband wanted to go for his 40th birthday – but as I was 37 weeks pregnant with our 4th child, Centerparcs with a load of friends happened instead! (It was a great time – and lots of memories were made, before anyone takes offence!!)  But 3 years later – off we go to the city that never sleeps……

New-York-2

We’ve got enough BA Miles to fly for just the cost of  taxes and charges in First Class with British Airways – which I am beyond excited about – and in my head it’s going to be totally Sex and The City for 4 days – but having just read Brummymummyof2‘s post – I’m now thinking maybe not…….

So whilst my heart is thinking cocktails / shopping / trendy clubs / amazing restaurants / strolls around Central Park – maybe we’ll actually just relish some time together to catch up on some sleep without a small child (or 4) coming and getting in to bed with us in the middle of the night?!? Kind of ironic in the city that never sleeps!!

First class flying should be an amazing experience – but what’s the betting after a couple of glasses (bottles!) in the lounge beforehand, we’ll be snoring before take off and miss the in flight entertainment / vintage champagne / Michelin starred cuisine?!

I am determined that jet lag will be our friend – and we’ll be up early each morning to explore all there is to see in this amazing city, and with 3 bags at 23kg each – that’s a lot of shopping we can bring back!  We have tickets booked for a show on Broadway, and restaurant reservations made.

But maybe just a little afternoon nap each day ……………

Book Review: Pop Goes The Weasel by M J Arlidge

Posted on by Libby Price

Earlier in the year, upon the recommendation of someone I follow on Twitter (and subsequently Richard and Judy) I read ‘Eeny Meeny’ by M J Arlidge. It introduced us to DI Helen Grace (I imagine her as a slightly younger, feistier and even more messed up Jane Tennison / Helen Mirren!) and her crime fighting in Southampton (where I went to University – so I always feel an allegiance to the city / football team) It was a fast moving, graphic, chilling thriller – and I LOVED it! I immediately pre-ordered the sequel ‘Pop Goes The Weasel’ and it magically appeared on my Kindle last week.

Pop goes the weasel

The Amazon blurb says this:

“A man’s body is found in an empty house. His heart has been cut out and delivered to his wife and children.
He is the first victim, and Detective Inspector Helen Grace knows he will not be the last. But why would a happily married man be this far from home in the dead of night?
The media call it Jack the Ripper in reverse: a serial killer preying on family men who lead hidden double lives.
Helen can sense the fury behind the murders. But what she cannot possibly predict is how volatile this killer is – or what is waiting for her at the end of the chase…”

You don’t have to  have read ‘Eeny Meeny’ to read this – but, this has loads of spoilers in it explaining things that happened in the first book, so you couldn’t go back and read the first one afterwards without knowing lots about how it would conclude.

Again I raced through this, really enjoying the fast pace.  The chapters are often quite short – so  ‘just one more’ happens a lot (and before you know it, it’s 1am and you should have turned the light out hours ago!) I have to say I guessed who the killer was pretty early on this time around – although not all of the twists and turns that went with the story.  It was also quite stressful to find the suburb I lived in 20 years ago, Portswood, being described as the red light district – and that students from my University were being forced into prostitution to pay uni fees!!

Having just read up a bit about the author, he has worked in TV for years – and I think that’s quite apparent from the scene setting and excellent descriptions of the areas and characters (surely someone will buy the TV rights for this?)  This is gory – and you need a strong stomach for some of it – but it’s worth it.

Yet again I’m left wanting to find out what happens to DI Grace and the team next – roll on 12 February 2015 when the final book in the trilogy ‘The Doll’s House’ will hit my Kindle.  Suspect it won’t be the perfect Valentine’s read!!