Picture of the day #1

So I thought I'd start doing a picture of the day diary. I am no photographer but absolutely adore taking photographs and think its a great creative outlet for anybody.
This first picture was taken on Sunday the 7th July and is of one of my charges 'Popsicle'.

I am in love with this photo, she is such a photogenic little girl. Absolutely stunning and I love how chic she looks in this photo.

Device: iPhone 

Model: Poppy Millie

Location: Kew Gardens

Hat - NEXT

Shoes - PRIMARK

Dress - H&M

Denim Shorts - NEXT 

Kids Summer Hairstyle...

Hair amazes me!

I think the diverse styles are a great way to express your personality and feelings.

However i have never been good with hair, especially my own! I'm afraid my hair is in very poor condition. I get bored very easily and constantly dye it different colours and never really worry about heat protectors or things like that.

I can not style my hair at all, it's often down either straight or natural. I do find great pleasure in doing the girls hair though. I always leave enough time before school to get the little P's hair just right so we don't have to rush. I thought i'd share with you a couple of the styles i have done for P. She's a very gorgeous girl so lots of styles work on her.

1. The backwards question mark? It's a french plait that turns into like a ladder plait and then is finished off with a fish tail at the bottom.

2. The ladder plait with curly hair. I plaited P's hair the night before to get the curls.

3. The simple rolled fringe.

What's all the Bzz about!?

Recently i found myself addicted to an American television programme called 'Extreme Couponing'. I know, i know, what am i doing with my life? But actually it's awesome! This one woman had over $2000 worth of shopping in her trolleys and only paid like £2.50. Some people might call spending days planning for a shopping trip, cutting out coupons, labelling coupons and searching the details of shop offers in depth crazy, but can you really knock someone who's saving that much money every month on their groceries and not only that, creating stock piles of items that can provide for their families and the families of those in need for years.

Anyway I'm the kind of person who gets terribly over enthusiastic about things like that and ended up spending hours on my laptop searching for coupons and freebies in England. I came across a website called BzzAgent, and instantly signed up. Basically it's a company that will send out free products to their 'Bzz Agents' in return for honest opinions about the product. If you're looking for instant freebies with no work then this is not for you but if you're genuinely interested in discovering new products you love and sharing them with your friends both on line and offline then i recommend you sign up. Firstly you have to answer surveys about your lifestyle and preferences and once you're fully into the sight they will send you campaigns which you can then take part in. When you receive your product you have to test it out and then start discussions about it with your friends and family. But you don't have to just rave about the products to do well, it's all about being honest and telling people EXACTLY what you think of the products you have received.

I have only been joined up to the sight for a week, but have kept up with my surveys and interacted a lot via Facebook and Twitter, i have already been sent a campaign.

I have been chosen for the John Frieda^® Precision Foam Colour campaign and i am super excited. I dye my hair quite a lot but have never tried any John  Frieda products. This one sounds very exciting as it's a 'non drip foam formula', for someone as clumsy as me it sounds fool proof. I currently struggle with hair dyes as my hair has been dyed so many times that it has many colours and is hard to fully colour. I am interested to see how this one fairs and excited to try a new product.

If you're like me and love trying new things and sharing the buzz, then make sure you sign up to BzzAgent. It's free, simple and the rewards sound amazing.

I'll keep you posted when i receive the product.

Tatty Bye!
JJ :)

Bubbles with the Bee...

As you may be aware i'm a nanny for two beautiful children in London. I've been working with them for almost one and a half years now... WOW! It seems only yesterday that i had my first day looking after Bee without his parents or his sister around. I remember the moment he realised that he'd been left with me and his little 12 month old bottom lip stuck out in a pout. After that initial scream i wondered what i'd let myself in for, but here i am 1.5 years on with a 2.5 year old boy and i couldn't have asked for a greater kid to spend my days with.

 

I realised very early on that he had an insane amount of energy, more so than many other kids i've worked with. His brain seems to work overtime and i knew instantly we would have to fill our days with countless activities inside and out to keep his brain from going into over drive.

 

It's come to the point now at 2.5 where 'just fun' isn't enough and more educational activities need to be introduced into our routine. Don't get me wrong we do the basics like ABC's and counting, he is quite advanced for his age and has picked these up without much practice at all. But i'm aware he needs more structure in his days and after the half term break i have lots of little activities i've been collecting for us to do.

 

I still have to be the fun nanny though, i will NEVER give up that title and there is nothing that the little man likes more than bubbles. Seriously he would spend hours with a bowl of bubbles if i let him. It always seems that no matter how much effort you put into activities they always seem to adore the ones that take little or no effort on your part. Hey... i'm not complaining, it makes some days much easier.

 

So yesterday i needed to fill a few hours of 'quiet time' with bee and didn't have much time to prepare... so out came the 'bubble bowl' and his little dance of excitement made me feel like the best nanny in the world for a brief moment.

 

I wouldn't reccomend this activity for children who haven't mastered the straw yet, or for children who would easily accidently suck up and swallow the mixture. Bee is quite good with this though, as long as you explain to him that you don't do it he wont. Beauty is you don't even need that much liquid soap, the tiniest amount will create huge overflowing bubble towers. You can also add food colouring for extra fun, give them a straw and away they go.

 

 

 

 

It's also an amazing tool for calming down tantrum toddlers as it helps to regulate their breathing whilst simultaniously drawing their attention to something else.

 

Give it a try, you might find you enjoy it yourself. :)

 

J x

Life List...

A year ago on Sunday (Easter Sunday) i wrote my 'Life List'. Like a bucket list, things i want to do in my life. I kept it to myself and to be honest i had completely forgotten about it, but i was attempting to clear out some clutter in my room (see previous post) and came across this little crinkled bit of paper. It's actually quite worrying to think that this contains some of my hopes and dreams for the future and yet i had just tossed it aside without a care.

It made me smile though, when i saw what i had written and that i'd actually completed a couple in the 12 months since it was written. It also made me realise how much my life has changed over the past year, thinking of things that i could easily replace with the far more amazing things i had discovered over the past year.

Anyway, i thought i'd post the list on here, ticking off the things that i have done and maybe adding a few extras onto the end. Maybe next year i'll be able to tick off a few more :)

Life List...

1. Own my own house!
- I've always had this thing since i was little, i've always said 'i don't care how much money i make, or what kind of family, if any, i have... I just want a house that i can call my own. No matter how big or small... a home, just for me.'

2. Foster!
- I realise this wont happen for ages, until i'm settled and secure and can provide a loving home  for children. But i know one day i will become a foster carer.

3. See the sunrise!
- Hoorah! I actually did this! I went to Australia for Christmas 2012 and woke up really early whilst staying at the Sunshine Coast in Brisbane. It was absolutely amazing, the only emotion i could muster during the experience was thankfulness to God for creating something so beautiful.





4. Go to the Olympics!

- I've always wanted to go to the Olympics ever since i first watched the Olympic Gymnasts it's always seemed to me like an awesome thing to do, and guess what? It happened!!! Okay, so it wasn't the gymnastics event, but it was actually even better. My boss took me to watch the handball on the 3rd August and it was incredible. I actually fell in love with handball and would love to join a team, it's really a sport that is underestimated. I'll never forget that day at London 2012! It was amazing!









5. Swim with dolphins!
- I think this is a staple on a lot of people's 'bucket lists'. I always wanted to be one of the sealife handlers in Sea World Florida, every time we went i would watch in awe as they shared such an amazing connection between themselves and these amazing creatures.

6. Feed a Kangaroo!
- AH! I also did this one whilst i was in Australia over Christmas.
It was absolutely incredible. I am a complete animal lover, no matter what the animal. We went to Australia Zoo and you could literally walk around with the Kangaroos... it was insane! I loved the one in this picture he was the cheeky one of the group i think.











7. Skydive!
- Standard, i think my friend Britney wants to do this too. I think this is an adventure for next Christmas.

8. Write and get a series of childrens books published!
- I would love to give this a go.

9. Have a voice lesson with Yvie Burnett!
- How incredible would that be!!!

10. Be in a movie!
- Standard, i love acting... haven't done that much of it since i moved to London and need to get back into something theatrical.

So this was the end of the list i found, i have more to add and i'm sure i will post them on here in a future post. Lets hope when i do i can tick of a few more.

:)

Somebody else's laundry...

I've spent most of today in somebody else's house, helping them with their day to day tasks. What a very productive thing to do you might say, and yes you're right, it was very productive. I managed to complete many things that needed doing, cleaning, tidying, sorting, folding and do you know what? It actually felt easy, it wasn't a chore, i knew it had to be done and it was done. So why, oh why is my room the neglected chaos that it is? It seems to be so much easier to help somebody else with their clutter clear outs  but when it comes to my own i lose all sense of motivation. My wardrobe is in dyer need of sorting, i have many suitcases in need of unpacking that have been here for months, shelves that need clearing, a floor that needs hoovering and lots more to do.

It's not just general tasks either that i seem to do this with. I've spent the majority of this evening designing  a blog for a friend and practically forcing her to write a post. I succeeded may i add and you can check it out on mrscrimbles.blogspot.com. All this and yet my blog has been sitting here without any posts since i created it a few days ago.

Things have to change, i know that! So i've set myself a little challenge.

Challenge 1: Write my first blog post (check)

Challenge 2: Sort out my room... (pending)

Truth is... when it comes to my own room, this is how you'll find me.