What have you done today to make you feel proud?

NOT EVERYONE LIKES TO TRICK OR TREAT, BUT EVERYONE CAN LIFT THE LID ON THEIR LOVE... 

...by supporting an alternative Halloween with World Vision, who are once again celebrating Halloween by turning a night of fear into A Night of Hope. 

This year they are asking the public to carve a love heart into a pumpkin in recognition of the children of Syria. Please remember to share your pumpkin pics using the #ANightOfHope

FRAMED - Autumn colour

Generous musings of a 6YO

Esme finishes her dippy eggs with gusto before announcing:

E: Mummy if there was a competition for making the best dippy eggs, and Connor and I were the judges, and there was nobody else in it that was good at making dippy eggs, you would definitely win the prize.

Alien MorphCostume for Halloween - A review

If you thought Morph was purely a little plasticine man who began his career in the 1970/80 art series Take Hart, think again. It is also the name put to fancy dress designs galore, from the highly successful outfit MorphCostumes. Meaning you too can morph into the spirit of the occasion. Well, with Halloween fast approaching, why not? They sent Life As It Is the alien suit to try out for review purposes...

Growing flowers QVC Watch Them Grow Kit (3) Success to temperance

The clocks have fallen. Again. Just.

The wind is whipping up the leaves once more.

But the late summer sun and warmth magically lingered on into October. 

My Manhattan musts

A friend recently asked if I had any tips on where to go and what to see in New York City? Having lived there on and off, I can recommend these as a few of my faves...

43/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year

This is the first time that Fia has ever structured a flower with the obvious detail of stem, petals and pistil. I can't help but wonder if the isometric paper inspired her?

Do you know about this in-car safety & security device for parents?

A device dubbed ‘fred’, aimed at safeguarding children in the car and saving parents and mums-to-be money, has been launched by Zenith Insurance and is being offered exclusively through parenting brand, Bounty.

42/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year

Two tickets to The Baby Show - a giveaway

This time next week I will be attending the The Baby Show, which runs from Fri 24 - Sun 26 October at Olympia, London.

For me, as a freelance writer of parenting/lifestyle mags, it's an exciting event to attend, meeting PRs, Press, Marketing professionals, Business entrepreneurs, Mums and friends, is something I look forward to year on year.

Baby London, one of the magazines I write for (who has a stand there), has kindly provided Life As It Is with two tickets to give away.

To be in with a chance to win them, please leave a comment, either here or on my FB page, telling me your reasons for wanting to attend The Baby Show, and they could be yours.

The winner will be announced on Tuesday 21st October at 8pm.

Good luck!


Wed 22nd Oct...
Congrats to Helen Edwards and Toby (age 5months) who have won the tickets by leaving a really worthwhile comment about gadgets on my FB page! 

Brave musings of a 6YO

Esme at the park yesterday had a little contretemps with another child. I missed it completely. Chances are, the other child did too.

E: It's okay Mummy, I showed them. I put a sycamore seed in the hood of their coat when they weren't looking.

Fighting talk that.

Family roles reversed - a poem

Chatting to my big sister yesterday,

Who is far away.

Britain's newest community: E20 - A place to live, work and stay?

East Village, E20, the newest neighbourhood in London (and the former home to the 2012 Olympic games), may be billed as 'A place to live, work and stay', but the question on my mind when we went to check it out, was, would we want to raise our family here?

Taking into account our Life As It Is, with a six-year-old and a three-year-old, (one at nursery, one at school), and thinking primarily of them, what could living here offer us?

FRAMED - The 2012 Olympic blog post

Parenting is...

...accepting that four nights out in one week, is just not realistic

41/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year



Sofia Faith has excelled this week with a picture of her Daddy, that she made at nursery.

Look Inside Our World - A book review

From the moment you turn the first page, both you and your children will be caught up with looking further into 'Our World' of geography and geology - and this clever book. 

Emma Oliver talks to Maggie Perkins about life, love and hair wax

From Lapland to the Czech Republic, the selection of beers here, are as varied as the eclectic mix drinking them. The atmosphere is funky yet stylish, a lot like the woman herself, when she finally turns up.

Ms Perkin's late arrival is easily forgotten, succeeded by perfume and friendliness. She grins and says, 'Hi, call me Maggie. I hope it's not going to be too noisy for an interview in here, it's just I love this place.' On cue, the whirr of a coffee grinder kicks into action; it hovers above the mellow bluesy back beat.

Sitting, she orders a coffee. 'It's not like I need the caffeine. I'm manic enough without it. So, what can I tell you?' Even her sentences have a hyperactive quality to them. Having requested a cappuccino, she proceeds to secondarily sugar my latte, claiming it subconsciously.

What have you done today to make you feel proud?

Add The Hunger Site to your Bookmarks bar. 

Did you know that for every visit and click received at thehungersite.com, the site’s sponsors will donate a 230g portion of rice to hungry people in one of 74 developing countries? 

Worth a daily click that.

Sudden Infant Death Syndrome - Reducing the risk

I've just completed writing a feature on Sudden Infant Death Syndrome - I will never call it 'cot death' again.

You cannot prevent SIDS but there are safe sleep steps that can reduce the risk. According to the Lullaby Trust (a charity providing specialist support for bereaved families, promoting expert advice on safer baby sleep and raising awareness on sudden infant death), these are:

40/52 The GraceFaith year long art project

Choosing a favourite piece of art, each week of the year

Face to face with 'X Factor' star's unborn baby

A few weeks ago, the 'X Factor' cog began to turn again, heralding the Autumn and therefore fires, curries, vino, and snuggles on the Saturday sofa for many couples. Si and I included; we love it! 

Around the same time, 37 year-old Sam Bailey, the 2013 'X Factor' winner, gave birth to her third child Miley Beau, a baby sister to Brooke, age nine, and Tommy age five.

As an 'X Factor' super viewer, I predicted Sam would win right from her first appearance, I'm certain I wasn't alone. I could not have predicted however, that the former prison warden, would be giving birth just as the new series kicked off. Nor could I have predicted that I would see the face of Sam's baby girl before pretty much the rest of the world - AND when she was actually still inside her mum. 

My long lost friend...

...is coming to visit this weekend, with her mother and her son in tow.