Hi everyone, and happy Sunday! I am spending mine firmly in Lazy Land, having felt on the verge of a nervous breakdown for the last seven days. What a week! As well as us all fighting off illnesses, and me starting work in an office (which entailed lots of childcare juggling as I rushed back and forth to central London), Oscar turned one on Thursday. Instead of sitting back and quietly taking stock of all that has happened over the past 12 months, I went into celebration overdrive and spent all of my scant spare time preparing food for a totally unnecessary (but fun, I have to admit) party. Since Oscar really likes pigeons, I also told everyone I would be making him a pigeon cake (you can see the result above) – something I cursed myself for when I found myself stirring 50 shades of grey into different bowls of buttercream just hours before the party…
Having exhausted myself all week, I was looking forward to Friday night, because Juan and I had booked ourselves into a hotel sans Oscar (he stayed at home with his grandparents). If you can do this, I thoroughly recommend it – having your meals cooked for you, someone to clean up after you, and nothing pressing to do for just one night (plus a lie-in the next morning) is a wonderful antidote to modern parenthood. We still found ourselves creeping around the bedroom like we do at home, however, because old habits die hard.
Anyway, here are a few bits and bobs that sustained me during my manic week:
1. I couldn’t stop showing this send-up of the middle classes to people – it’s toe-curlingly funny. I even recognise the shop window number five was taken in (come to think of it, most of the pictures were probably taken in and around Dulwich…).
2. ES Magazine‘s recent spoof of the Christmas expectations of famous kids – including one North Kardashian West – is also well worth a read. I’m linking to it here as an early Christmas present to Rose, in case she missed it. My favourite North-ism was definitely: ‘They sat me on some woman’s knee. She didn’t smell as good as Nanny Juanita. ‘Who dat?’ I asked Daddy. ‘That’s your mommy,’ he said.’
3. This alternative Christmas jumper should have made my present wishlist – it’s the one that got away (much like Mr Gosling himself).
4. This ad featuring old forgotten toys (what it was plugging I have no idea) had me singing along like an old pro to one of my signature karaoke tunes.
5. It’s been an emotional week for me, and this heartwarming Aussie announcement got me sniffling all over again. Aaaahhhh….
6. This male take on girls’ Instagram posts made me giggle – I’m now waiting for the ‘girls on men’ counter-attack. Just as an aside, though: any time I see pics like this I feel a surge of relief that social media wasn’t invented until I was a proper adult. Is it just me?
7. The apparent popularity of these amongst hipster types got me wondering whether anyone has ever tried to find a gap in the market for bib baubles. No? OK then, sign me up for the next series of The Apprentice…
8. Oh, and talking of TV, I made time to watch the finale of The Fall. I liked how it ended – what did you think?
Back on the blog, Rose had some inspiration for last-minute Christmas shopping, Rachel talked about hosting Christmas for the first time, and I shared my experience of giving birth. What do you tell people who ask you what giving birth is really like?
We’re going to take a break now for Christmas fun and games – but we’ll be back on 29th December with suggestions for essential post-Christmas TV viewing, a delectable cocktail recipe for New Year’s Eve, and much more. Have a great Christmas and thanks for reading our posts this year! Xx
No Comments