Early Mother's Day Fun with notonthehighstreet.com #BYOM

When Mumsnet.com sent an email saying they were looking for ten bloggers to attend a pre-mother's day event hosted by notonthehighstreet.com, I thought how much fun it would be to take my Mum along and I applied to take part.



Dressing up fun !

 

My Mum is a cancer survivor and has been through so much over the years, with a full masectomy, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and then the most awful reconstruction surgery. I really don't know how we got through those times, but we did, and I suppose it's only when I look back at those days, now that they are thankfully past, I realise just how damned awful they were. And .. just how much I love my Mum...

 As it happens, my Mum was unable to come along, so I took along my great friend Alice, who is herself a Mum, a Grandmother and still looking after her own Mum !

The event was hosted by notonthehighstreet.com at no. 5 Cavendish Square in central London - and we were handed champagne and cocktails on arrival, which went down very nicely indeed.

We wrote our 'what you would tell your pre-Mum self' on little wooden hearts which we placed on a wooden family tree.  I wrote that motherhood is hardwork, but worth it..

There was a fantastic photo booth where we were able to use some of the accessories available from notonthehighstreet.com, take some amusing photos and I had these great photos taken to send to my Mum - I totally love that hat !

 

Alice and I also particuarly liked this umbrella, and with the weather that we have had lately it would certainly come in handy ! It was decorated with lovely white flowers.

This umbrella is on my wish-list

There were the most beautiful, unusual and stylish accessories from notonthehighstreet.com dotted around the place, and Alice and I admired them, and constructed a mental wish-list ! I think the necklace on the right was our favourite.





So many lovely things to choose from..



Holly Tucker, one of the founders of notonthehighstreet.com did a heart-warming speech about her Mum and all the support she has given over the years,  and Odette Toilette who offers unique fragrance experiences did a really interesting presentation about perfumes through the ages. Feathers dipped in perfumes were passed around and Alice and I loved the White Musk one, but we were not so keen on the others!!



Later we were entertained by Shappi Khorsandi, who told some really funny jokes about what it means to be a mum - that we could all totally related to - well most of them anyway, I'm not so sure about the one concerning the Harry Potter 'game' and being locked in a cupboard !! Shappi went down a storm ! It was very funny when she asked me if I was recording the event.. I wasn't ..and you can see from this photograph that Sheppi is looking straight at me - love it !             

A telling-off from Sheppi !

A totally glamorous photo of Alice #BYOM (Bring Your Own Mum)

At Notonthehighstreet.com you will find unusual gifts and many personalised gifts too.  They have a wide range of lovely gifts for your Mum, Mother In Law, Second Mum or the person that is like a Mum to you for Mother's Day that they will love.

 

Here are a few of my favourite things .. (I'll be buying a gift for myself, as you know I have already been bought 2 pairs of trainers for Mother's day for my Half Ironman training !)

 



I want my keys on this...

 

.. and this on my wall ....

 

.. and this round my neck ...

  All too soon it was time to leave the lovely people from notonthehighstreet.com . Alice and I had a great time - and thank you for the lovely goody bag.










"I am a member of the Mumsnet Bloggers Network Panel, a group of parent bloggers who have volunteered to review products, services, events and brands for Mumsnet. I have not paid for the product or to attend an event. I have editorial control and retain full editorial integrity."







 

  

 

What is a Mom ?

If you look at a dictionary, the definition of the word Mom or Mother is: 'A woman in relation to a child or children to whom she has given birth', that's pretty dull isn't it ? Another definition says: 'Bring up (a child) with care and affection'. I think that's more like it..

But what about those of us that have second mums ? People that become so close to us that they, over the years, become like a second mother, and probably that you to them become a second daughter..

Not my Mum

When Mumsnet sent me an email to say that they were looking for some bloggers to take their Mum along to a special event hosted by Not On The High Street @NotOnTheHighStreet, I applied and thought nothing more of it.. you had to say why you wanted to take your Mum and I said that after her cancer battle and everything she has been through it would be nice to spoil my Mum to a lovely night out of entertainment. Just for me and my Mum. There didn't seem much point mentioning it to my Mum as I was pretty sure that we wouldn't be selected, I mean, what are the chances ... ?

Well, you could have blown me down with a feather duster, when an email arrived inviting me and my Mum along ! I called her and told her all about it.. bearing in mind that she lives over 100 miles away, I guess it was a long shot to expect her to jump on a train, or to ask my Dad to bring her down to London..'I'll call you back'.. was her response. She called back and said that my Dad had work to attend to and that the next day they would be looking after my sister's children, so the journey would be too tiring .. she said that she 'looked forward to seeing the pictures'... I tried hard to not be too disappointed..I guess she was doing that Mum thing and looking after my sister's children, so there you have it..

I guessed that I could potentially take another friend so I called my 'second Mum' . I met A when I first started working in London more than 17 years ago, and although we no longer work together and she is retired, she is still one of my best friends. We last met a couple of weeks ago for afternoon tea at The Wallace Collection in London. It was a great day out, and we renamed 'The Laughing Cavalier' to 'The Smug Cavalier' because, if you look, he does have rather a smug smile.. Otherwise, it's not really my kind of art - I prefer Kandinsky, Klimt and Tate Modern but there you have it ...

'A' checked with her parter that they had nothing planned for the evening, and A said that she would love to come with me. I'm really looking forward to spending the evening with A and I know we're going to have a great time, because, if I'm honest, we could have fun in a phone box.

Above is a photo of me and  A - we really did have a great time, watch out for a post over ther weekend with more information about exactly what we got  up to, and why.  #ItsAMumThing.

Team Just The Two of Us

BB and I entered the Human Race Duathlon series for the first time this year, having entered numerous Human Race events over the years.

 Let me think which races we have completed from Human Race, here goes, right off the top of my head.. Kingston Wholefoods Breakfast run (8 or 16 miles) March and October (several times), Banaman triathlon, Wild man running race, Tuff man running race, Ice man running race and Windsor triathlon. I'm sure there are more too..

I can barely remember the first two races, they were so long ago now - before Christmas. The penultimate race I recall well, as BB came off his bike and bruised his ribs and I recall the absolutely hellish hills.

Although this last race was probably the toughest. It was at Eridge Park, it is situated in an elevated position and the wind just blows hard up there, so although you leave home in warm clothes, once there you wish you had a hat and a long-sleeved top.

The run was also the toughest of the 4, im my opinion... although the race had been rescheduled from February due to wet weather, the ground was still really wet and muddy. At one point I was heading downhill through mud at speed unable to stop myself - Scary !

I'm not sure if we will do the races again this year.. It's not a lot of fun sitting around in your kit whilst someone else does the bike... maybe I should cycle this year.. (or maybe not...)

It was great to get a write up on South London Harriers triathlon web site: here it is:

 

 

Have you completed any races as part of a team recently ? 

Triathlon show 2014

 

We didn't make it to the annual  2013 triathlon show held at Sandown race course in Surrey, so it was great to be back there today for the 2014 show - it's been on my calendar for quite a while..

 

We got up nice and early so we could get there as soon as it opened.

Here are some reasons to go next year:

 

1) You can enter the 10km race. I entered a couple of years ago and really enjoyed it.

 

2) You can see some new cool products. I bought a cool, innovative display for race medals. Our race medals were hung over a picture frame in the kitchen, which contains race photos. They looked ok, but sometimes they fell off. They look much better now, see the photo below. The slogan says 'Runner's kitchen' . I will put the sign up properly (at some point) but that's an improvement already if you ask me ! You can also get these signs custom-made with your own slogan. The owner is a lovely chap who has had this family business running for a year and  the web site is here: http://www.runnerswall.co.uk/index.php

 

 



 

 

2) New nutritional products 

 

I've always struggled with nutrition. Before, after and during a race, nutrition is very important. Jack Oat bar is a new product by an inspiration, innovative, new company.

The sample that I tasted at the Jack Oat Bar stand, was nice and moist and I mentioned that it tasted like a homemade flapjack, that's because it's made with only 5 ingredients, I was told. I've seen from the web site that I can buy the product on-line, and it is also available from some UK-based stockists. too. I wish them well with the new product, and I am looking forward to trying it before I head out for a run tomorrow.

 

Check out the web site here: http://www.jackoatbar.com It's available in cranberry, original and chocolate-chip flavours.

  

3) Discounted products
You can get some great show-only discounts. Many vendors offer end-of-line products and some genuine special offers are also available. We bought 3 pairs of trainers.

4) Training information
There are various seminars running over the course of the show. Today, we listened to a motivating informative talk by Joe Beer. If you don't know who Joe Beer is I suggest you take a look at 220 Triathlon magazine where Joe writes a regular column. Here's the link : http://www.220triathlon.com/

One thing I found amusing today was the assumption that it was BB that was interested in sport, rather than the female next to him - e.g. me ! I was also surprised that some of the vendors were unaware that triathlon is a growing sport amongst youths. CC did her first race at the age of 8 so nearly five years ago now.

Most disappointing was the chap at CompressSport who was not the least bit interested in why I might want to buy the product - the funny thing is that I was probably one of their first customers, and I have promoted the product ever since. I tried on various other Compress - type products today, but, it has to be said, that they are not as good as my CompressSport calf guards, but I didn't buy a new pair today..

All I would say is that you can never assume who your customer base might be...

Let's hope that everything that I saw, bought or learned today takes me one step closer to achieving my 2014 goal - Hever Castle half ironman http://www.castletriathlonseries.co.uk/gauntlet/.

If you are interested in triathlon, I would highly recommend the show.