Yearly Archives

2018

hire car driving past stonehenge at sunset

Looking for a car rental company in central Somerset? Review of KNW Self Drive in Wells

I’ll be honest, I really wasn’t sure whether to write this blog post. Being negative about local companies is not really the direction I want to take this blog. However, due to its recent anniversary, I looked back at my first posts, and they were mainly reviews designed to be useful to the general public. I like the idea of being useful. If no-one writes mundane reviews of things like car hire companies because they want their blog to look pretty and be a fun positive place (which is really what I want mine to be), then no-one is going to know that it might be worth looking at other places instead of KNW Self Drive to hire a car for the weekend….

age 40 fashion blogger leaning on bridge wearing a pixie jacket

The summer evening jacket. A handmade pixie hem hippy-style coat

I have to admit, although we recently took the photos for this jacket; spring is actually a very difficult season to wear it due to its lack of waterproof-ness and the inclination in England for it to suddenly rain two minutes after the sun is blazing! So that’s why I entitled this as being ideal for summer evenings. It would also be great festival fashion as the pixie hem and unusual woven fabric gives it quite hippy vibes, whilst also being warm when the sun goes down, and perfect for sitting with friends around the bonfire after a night of dancing….

Magnolia flower bud for silence poem

Silence is more beautiful than any song

After the entire restaurant hears a plate crash in the kitchen. When the final and most devastating insult is slung in an argument. When there’s an unexpected pause in traffic during rush hour. When you remember…..

hotel reviews in Stamford, CT

Where to stay in Stamford, Connecticut, USA

Stamford isn’t really a tourist town, but if you’re planning a trip on business or pleasure (or a mix of both, like we were), we’ve now stayed in a couple of completely different hotels and an Air BnB, so I thought I could give you some comparisons and recommendations of where to stay in Stamford….

how to buy jersey dresses

A guide to buying jersey dresses. Styling a Joe Browns floral dress

This jersey dress from Joe Browns made its way into my clothing collection recently, so I thought (for a change) I would share it with you before it goes out of stock! If there’s one item of clothing I’ve been reaching for lately, it’s been a dress made out of lovely comfy stretchy material! Jersey, by the way is what t-shirts are made of; a woven fabric with some stretch, sometimes with added elastane or lycra for extra stretch. Through winter I’ve been wearing them with a snuggly jumper over the top and thick leggings underneath and it meets that elusive requirement of being comfortable to wear, but still looks good enough to leave the house in. However, there are good and bad points that need considering when shopping for a jersey dress…..

Review of Witness for the Prosecution at County Hall, London

A review of Agatha Christie’s play, Witness for the Prosecution, at County Hall, London

It was my birthday last week. And it was a big one. The kind with a zero. The weekend afterwards I celebrated with my family (which was lovely – look out for the vlog coming soon!) and I’m in the process of organising a day my friends are free at the same time to celebrate with them (I am determined to milk this for as long as possible!), but for my actual birthday day, I wanted to do something special. All the time the kids were young, I hardly bothered celebrating my birthday, but although we have had a couple of days out in more recent years, this time I really wanted to make it count. So, I went online to see what theatre productions are on in London at the moment. I’ll be honest, I wavered and nearly didn’t bother with the whole idea because my god, it’s expensive isn’t it? And why can’t they tell you the price of tickets until after you’ve given half your personal details, chosen the date and studied the seating plan?! We were also limited by the type of thing we’d all be interested in. Something we’d all love is of course The Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, but at £1160 for the four of us to see both parts that day, we decided our Harry Potter fan-ship can be shown with Primark mugs and slippers (that wear through in 3 weeks) instead! However, something else we all enjoy watching on the telly together is Agatha Christie adaptations, and when I found out that Witness for the Prosecution was being played in an actual courtroom, that tipped the balance over Mousetrap (which I’m pretty hopeful will still be on for my 50th birthday!) and I booked the tickets….

Derwent Inktense pencils review

Review of the Derwent Inktense ink pencils

Drawing and painting was a hobby of mine that I spent an awful lot of hours on when I was a child. I took GCSE and A-level Art, but since then, I have rarely allowed myself the time to just enjoy it again. You may already know that I have an Etsy shop where I sell my pyrographed items, which often is a form of drawing, but when I’m making something to sell, it’s never quite as fun! I have resolved to stop thinking of time spent drawing and painting as an indulgence, and started allowing myself some free time to enjoy myself and relax. So last year, whilst away in the Lake District, I treated myself to some new art supplies from the Derwent shop in Keswick, and following my discovery of the Derwent Inktense sticks, I put the Derwent Inktense pencils on my wishlist. Chris obliged with them as a gift on our wedding anniversary, and here’s what I think of them so far…

over 40 fashion blog

The jumper dress – perfect spring clothing for chilly dry days

Yes I know these photos were taken in snow, but to be honest, looking out my window at the grey windy day outside with the fan heater blowing on my feet, it doesn’t actually feel far off! It occurred to me that actually the jumper dress is the perfect fashion item for spring; particularly when you’ve had enough of wearing a coat…

Facial piercings

Approaching forty – Is it time to take out my piercings?

It has been on my mind for a while that maybe it’s time to take out some of the piercings in my face, and as I’m turning forty in a couple of days, I thought now would be a good time to do so! Over the years two other piercings have fallen by the wayside – I took out my belly-button ring when I was pregnant with Jude as it was getting in the way, and (rightly so) I felt my days of showing off my tummy in a crop top were over. Then about four years ago the ball on the end of my tongue piercing came off, and as I didn’t know what size to replace it with, I just took it out. Now don’t get me wrong; I’m a firm believer in wearing whatever the f**k you want, regardless of age, but there are a couple of reasons that have led me to think that it’s time for a change….

British lifestyle blogger

Fourteen years of blogging – why do I do it?

Happy Birthday When I Grow Up blog! Yes, if you can be bothered, you can click on the ‘Archives’ button over there on the right and see my first feeble offerings beginning on the 7th April 2004. I don’t know anyone who’s been blogging that long! We didn’t even own a digital camera then, so none of the posts have photos to go with them for a while! Many people talk about needing a creative outlet as their reason why they started a blog. Well fourteen years ago I had recently done my A-level Art and was on my second year of a part-time degree in Creative Writing with a novel about to be published; so I can’t really site that as my reason. My kids were eight and five, but ‘Mummy blogging’ wasn’t yet a thing, let alone a thing that occurred to me to want to do, so talking about parenting wasn’t my impetus either. At the end of the day, I suppose it all boils down to the simple love of writing…..

boho fashion blogger

A boho dress for a boho lifestyle

I am often at my happiest when Chris, (and in the past when they were smaller, the kids as well) and I go off on a road-trip in the camper. We’ve had a few vans over the years, changing the size of them to suit our family, and now that Rain and Jude have had enough of the cramped sleeping conditions and the dog snoring in their ears, we downsized to a Type 25 VW camper van a couple of years ago for just the two of us. When I’m gathering the clothes to take with me on these trips, I tend to choose the more bohemian items from my wardrobe. Apart from at Wilderness festival, can you think of a more fitting time to wear clothes like this dress? With its flowing fabric and button-up style, this maxi dress has a gorgeous print inspired by far-flung lands and evokes a feeling of summer travels….

how to cure insomnia

How to get to sleep – a sure-fire cure for insomnia

I’m sure there are many good things I have inherited from my mother, but the two best ones I can think of are: 1. The ability to make a bloody good cake, and 2. A trick that works when you can’t get to sleep. I’ll be honest, you’re not going to much like it, but trust me, if you follow my rules (they aren’t complicated), then I bet this will work 90% of the time….