I’m live blogging from the Save the Children conference today which is all about getting people activated in social media to do good and become campaigners. I’m glad to see that #blogladesh is still moving people into action and there is a movement towards doing more across more people. Most of the people here are [...]

My one wish for 2011 is that I can spare some time to experience the rich and wonderful tapestry of London’s cultural life (and fit everything else in too!). It’s not so difficult to fit in a visit to an art gallery or museum, that’s why we live in London right? In this world of [...]

I’m one of those people that has an idea and then seeks out the thing, or things, that I need to make it happen. This ‘idea’ I have had, for some time actually, is to buy an old printers tray and repurpose it. Having searched on eBay and online, I knew the only way I’d [...]

For those humbugs who say community spirit has gone down the pan, well I say, have a look around you and you might just have to get involved to find out where it’s at. We had our Summer street party a couple of weekends ago and it was a brilliantly organised day with everyone mucking [...]

These rather grubby fox cubs usually get up at 8am or so and have a stretch out in the sunshine before having a bit of a lark about and then making their way out of our garden and into the neighbourhood to forage or do whatever they do.

If you’re a blogger there are some things you should know about how brands view you…and not just in travel either. Your blog can make for a rich and rewarding experience through the communities you engage with which will without any doubt include brands.

And what makes me so qualified to write this post? I’ve been a corporate blogger for over four years and a parenting and lifestyle blogger for nearly two. My advice is for bloggers who are finding themselves approached by brands, pr agencies, digital agencies and advertising agencies who are all trying to get a piece of this new blogging bubble.

Do anti cellulite creams work? You need to use it for one month morning and night and apply it from the ankles up to the waistline. It smells exotic and contains caffeine, menthol, camphor and salicylic acid plus ginseng and biloba. On first application, I was expecting to be glooped but the serum-like gel dries quickly and the tingling sensations do last a while.

So home and back to the grindstone it maybe but the simple pleasure of cooking an evening meal and having neighbours pop over to say hello is just the bees knees. I’ve always believed that travel broadens the mind, but it also emboldens the home loving heart much more than I imagined or remembered.

Mothers’ Day is so lovely. When I was 21, I was so skint, I couldn’t afford the train fare to my Mum’s house. I walked the whole way, nicked some daffs and made a card, then turned up late but jolly and was greeted warmly with a knowing smile from my Mum. Yep, I was [...]

Living and working in London and bringing up a child in one of the most cultural capitals of the world is a rich and rewarding experience. There’s no way you can really slow down unless you leave town for the weekend or take a holiday, so my advice is just enjoy the ride. If you’re a working Mum like me and need to be firing on all cylinders 100% 24-7, you might find these ideas useful.

There’s a well worn phrase which was pretty popular back in the day…’Behind every successful man there’s a woman/wife at home…’ And when I say back in the day, it’s probably back in the day when men thought they could still get away with saying it. Because it really is an old fashioned belief. Now [...]

I feel truly awful about this…and it serves me right. I signed up for London Bloggers Secret Santa and I was hoping for a great present. That said, I had a bit of an evil moment while shopping online for a present for my ex boyfriend. He’s a big Elvis fan, which makes present buying [...]

I really wanted our Christmas day to be different, and it certainly was. I had booked lunch at my favourite hotel in Soho so all we had to do was get up, open presents, throw on something festive to wear and roll into a taxi – bliss, bliss and triple bliss. We got a taxi [...]

Isn’t it funny when something big happens where you’ve been on holiday? I mean like a movie. A big huge, blockbuster packed with A-listers and glamour that makes you drool. So for me, it was great to see The Beach because I’d spent time in Thailand, and it’s always good to watch movies about LA [...]

This image might look a bit familiar – it’s not quite the original from my banner. Those are my almost but not quite really all time favourite Miu Miu shoes and my daughter’s gorgeous tiny red ballet shoes which I hand sewed sequins on for her when she was three. And there they are, large [...]

Thanks to all you lovely people who dropped by and left congratulations on my bloggy birthday. It has been quite a year and it was nice to make a fuss about it. And now it’s my turn to give some of you an early christmas pressie back. So without further ado, here are the recipients [...]

When I told my friends and family that I was taking my daughter with me on a trip across Morocco I was met with two reactions. One was ‘Wow!’ and the other was ‘You’re kidding!’ Armed with backpacks, sleeping bags, cameras and sunglasses, we headed off from Heathrow and from the moment we left our [...]

Here’s a tiny little tip from me. Don’t ever, ever turn your nose up at recycling anything – you could really be missing out. Just check these fab Vivienne Westwood shoes – a seat on the tube has never looked so good has it? Ahem, sorry, let me get back on track…I’m actually writing this [...]

It does tickle me as I wonder how the conversation went with the organisers as they planned this brilliant get together last week. ‘Ok kids, we’ve got a launch on. We have to connect with the mumosphere – let’s brainstorm – I’ll bring the chocolates and flip chart you bring your brilliant minds’ ‘How shall [...]

If you haven’t noticed by now, I’ve been reminiscing on my year in the mumosphere and I’m feeling incredibly sentimental – in fact, I’m feeling a tad bit generous and want to share some happiness with you all, but how? While I’d love to buy a drink for each and every single of the one [...]

I suppose this is a bit of a love letter to all the members of British Mummy Bloggers and also a curtsey and a bow to Susanna – you know who you are! The theme of these posts is what has really happened, and this little adventure was the one that made the blogosphere a [...]

Along came January – there was an adjustment period to this new situation. It lasted about a day or so. I was free! And so, so glad to escape the glass towers where I had worked. Once a bustling enterprise, it was haunted by glum, grey, despondent suits wailing over share prices and school fees. [...]

I’ve been catching up on the Corduroy Mansions. There’s a lot going on, the pace has quickened, adventures are afoot and some of them leaving bigger footprints than others. Barbara is heading to the country and lashings of clean air but she is having doubts. Does “you are so very welcome to our family” really [...]

I can’t quite believe that it’s just short of two weeks until my blog is a year old. Simply put, it’s been an incredulous and fabulous year. November 29 2008 was the day I clicked ‘publish’ on my first wordpress post. I was amazed I’d even managed to work out how to set up a [...]

Thanks to the Royal Mail strike, my review samples from Simple Human are still sitting in a depot somewhere but the company has kindly sent me an extra 2 of their stackable recycling units. From the photos on their web site which I’ve used above, they looked like they would fit nicely in my Ikea [...]

I love a film screening, especially when it materialises out of the ether via twitter. Earlier this week Annie Mole, one of my favourite bloggers, posted a link to the invitation so I nabbed a couple of tickets. So off to the Courthouse in Soho I went with a friend last night. I made a [...]

I stepped out into my London garden (that description should surely sum up my a) lack of vast space b) lack of desire to truly be a gardener and c) total lack of understanding about how to truly create a herb garden) and couldn’t believe my eyes. A wine bottle lay strewn on the decking. [...]

I’m a trifle bemused to see that all my friends on twitter are trending on the X Factor – I never watch the show in the later stages, I just catch the early ones, perhaps two at the most for the pure entertainment of the no hopers. Does that make me a bad person? I’m [...]

It’s been quite a week. Next week will also be quite a week. And the week after. I can feel the walls closing in a bit – the routine is starting to bite hard – the Summer evenings are long gone, the mornings are dark and while Autumn brings it’s own sweet and ruddy colours, [...]

This is one of the most poignant photos I’ve ever captured of Miniminx and it makes me want to cry just looking at it. Sadly, for the last few days, this is the face I have seen at home. She has been acting out of character and then I asked her on Tuesday before bedtime, [...]

The radio goes on in the morning when I get up which is anything between 6am and 7.30am. That’s after I go into Miniminx’s room, give her a kiss, tuck her in and tell her she can have a few more zzzzzs before getting up. She always gives me a lovely smile. It’s worth getting [...]

I received these latest chapters on Friday for my sneak preview of Corduroy Mansions. In this tranche, we travel across town with Caroline, who discovers that her would be lover James bears all the hallmarks of OCD – so kissing is off the cards. While they begin a journey into a the West End to [...]

Just because I blog, doesn’t mean I’m a trainspotter but perhaps it’s seeping into my existence. Only a month ago I took a steam train up to Corfe Castle and loved it. And then we got invited to see Thomas the Tank Engine & Friends. We popped in to see at the Vue Leicester Square [...]

This post of Susanna’s really made me think of times long gone and the games we used to play, so I’ve created my first meme and yes, it’s a nostalgia trip but it’s also a nod to invention and imagination. 1. The game I loved? British Bulldog – loud, brash, dangerous but great fun, knock [...]

A little trip down memory lane for me is always a jaunt around South Ken to see the museums. I love them dearly, and when we were kids, we went there all the time. My favourite was always the Natural History Museum. The Victorian architecture is, even now, quite scary but there are so many [...]

Sometimes, we are all on the verge. Of something new, perhaps a love affair, perhaps something really exciting or sometimes, just the inevitable – you know, like boredom and existential angst. It’s been two years since I headed out on the road to seek my career nirvana. I couldn’t look in the mirror any longer [...]

I’m surrounded by lovely flowers. It’s no special occasion but it does seem to mark a change of season. I bought these as a last ditch attempt at keeping the Summer spirit alive and these poor drooping sunflowers are really trying to hold their own aren’t they? What is it about them that’s so beautiful [...]

Sh*t what the hell is wrong with me? All weekend I’ve had sweaty palms, butterflies and insomnia. I’m sure I’ve developed a twitch under my left eye (people have been winking back at me all weekend – it’s unnerving). I’ve been clenching my jaws, chewing my nails and I’m so jumpy I feel like, like [...]

If you can’t quite get the slant on my little pun, well let me explain. I may be able to cook and sew, change a fuse and put up shelves but when it comes to day to day drudgery barefoot in the kitchen streamlined housekeeping I’m severely lacking. I think Nomestic is the new nom [...]

Yes, in typical Nixdminx style, I‘m overworked, half crazy, don’t have a moment to spare and work 36 hours a day having crammed everything I could possibly do into my last few days in London before we went on holiday. In fact, even more true to style, everything fell through at the last minute dont’ [...]

Ooh la la, la la. Tara, Tara, Tara, just blame her for this Mamma of Memes – she’s even become a TweetMeme topic today so she must be good!

I’m a great fan of Gormley and managed to snap this man blowing bubbles on the plinth last Friday. I was in a cab heading to Lucky Voice to do some drunken screeching singing. ‘Wow – look it’s the plinth’ I gasped as we bumbled our way around Trafalgar Square in rush hour traffic. ‘Gnnnnnnnnnnnnnn’ [...]

You know I love a giggle and it’s always the sparkly things that catch my eye. But seeing as it’s Summer – I’m more caught up with the floral aspect of the season. It’s hard not to be a bit cheeky here. And I have to say the comparison of central London and the countryside [...]

I don’t know about you but I’m off to the British Mummy Bloggers meet up next Sunday. I’ve just checked the RSVP list and I nearly squealed – I’m going to meet my fellow Mummy bloggers – yihaa, I can’t wait! I just got an email from Susanna asking me to email some lovely lady who is organising the event and she’s going to send me a menu so I can preorder lunch for me and Miniminx. Even better, it’s at The Rainforest Cafe which Miniminx adores…wow – as my favourite neighbour says in her American drawl – that’s a class act!

I’m really looking forward to this weekend.
I need some rest.
I’ve been working hard.
Here is my walk to the station from work…

I can’t find this story on the News of the World web site. So I wonder if there was some edict that this Swine Flu Cover Up story is barred from being online. I’m looking at it again and it just doesn’t feel right. Hidden away on page 13 is this big story, while Garry Glitter and Kate Winselt hog the front page (pardon the pun). But hang on a minute – 1,500 people exposed to an infected person – how far can this disease go? Very far apparently, it’s exponential – 1 person meets 10 people and then it spreads and those 10 people meet another 10 people, that’s how disease spreads.

If travel doesn’t broaden the mind, it certainly widens the eyes. This has been a great and adventurous Easter holiday. We went to visit friends in Brighton for a couple of days and then, after deciding it was time to make a longheld dream of mine come true, we went to Florence. Arriving at Pisa [...]

So I believe that Britain has a huge wealth of creative talent. Who cares where we find it, how it embodies itself and why we love it. It’s just a people thing, we don’t need to explain ourselves. So critics, savants, moguls, svengalis; save the bitching for backstage and get the performance right and we may, once more, appear on the world stage, if not just the UK.

Ladies and gents, if your Easter Sunday gets too much don’t worry. When everyone hits the chocolate high from too many eggs, you may start to feel the exasperation of being chained to the kitchen and that irksome feeling when the champagne runs dry. Fear not, just remember this clip from Women on the Verge of A Nervous Breakdown.

Hello you thrifters and penny pinchers, welcome to the Credit Crunchista Carnival.

This surely is frugaletarianism at it’s absolute best, happy reading.

Raise your eyebrows (if you can) this isn’t one of those too proud/too scared ‘botox’ diatribes. But it is fuelled by the tiniest bit of envy, plenty of fear and loathing and more than a touch of outright morbid curiosity.

It’s a sign of the times, I’ve given up the ghost and I’ve had enough of shopping!!! There are two things I still need in my credit crunch arsenal; a good le Creuset set and a giant pasta saucepan (hopefully for cooking and not pan handling). Otherwise, I’m in the market for nothing; nada, nil, [...]

Miniminx and I have both got cricked necks from too much Wii Fit and sleeping at funny angles – oh ha ha not. I’ve learned the true meaning of a pain in the neck. Oh yes, kids do say the funniest things don’t they. My reputation is in tatters thanks to Miniminx and her salacious gossip…

…okay, okay, I’ve been lax and not posting recently, I needed to get Christmas out of the way and all the rest. I’d gone into the Christmas break with a flu and unemployment pending so it didn’t feel great and was dreading the whole thing as Miniminx was spending it with her Dad – boo [...]