Post Comment Love and Blogger Showcase 20 - 22 October 2017

October 20, 2017

Hello there and welcome to another Friday and another #PoCoLo - you'll know I was away last week and I had a great week away in Porto and the Douro Valley. If you linked up last week, thank you, I am so behind I can't even begin to tell you. If you're new here this week, it's great to see you.

During our Portugal trip we experienced a mini-heatwave, especially in Pinhao, with temperatures reaching as high as thirty four degrees. And boy was it hot, by the time we returned to Porto and the fog, I thought I was close to melting.

This week has been a bit crazy at work with plenty of long days and that's not helped with either my blog reading, or my pile of holiday washing. There was a clue at the start of the week of how my week might go, when I made my first cup of tea and got back to my desk, the fire alarm went off. Eventually I remembered to make another cup of tea, but I'm sure it was a sign!

It's not been a bad week, just busy.

My photo this week is from our trip and from a wander around Pinhao, one of the prettiest small towns I think I've been to for a while. Plenty of the properties were full of this kind of character and I couldn't help but wonder how they would have been in their heyday.

Blogger Showcase: Elisha from Mom On The Blog

1. Who are you?

Hi Im Elisha Suarez and I am a mother wife preschool teacher and blog at Mom On The Blog.

2. How did you discover blogging?

I have been reading blogs for about three years now it started with Its Judys Life.

3. Why did you start blogging?

The same reason I think a lot of people or a least mothers do - for a creative outlet.

4. What do you find most challenging?

Figuring out the website, ugh...!

5. What is your favorite topic to write about?

Children , activities and child development.

6. Are you blogging for fun or do you have goals?

I have goals I want to reach with my blog, but I also just love the content that I am putting out.

7. Have you ever attended a blogging conference?

No.

8. What are your three best posts?

Well granted I have only been blogging for a short while, my three favorites are Circle Time Tips, Top Eight Books for picky readers not Eaters and Regio Inspired Preschool.

9. Describe yourself in three words?

Energetic, Loving, Humble.

10. Are you a tea and biscuit or coffee and cake?

I am coffee and pie but cake works!

11. What's your idea of a perfect night out?

Laying on the beach at night :)

12. And your perfect night in?

Relaxing watching a movie with my husband.

13. What would your mom say your best quality is?

Big heart and honest too honest sometimes.

Thanks Elisha, I am loving your perfect night out - that sounds fab. Please do grab your "I was featured" badge.

Before you link up don't forget to connect with Elisha on Twitter and Instagram. If you'd like to be featured in a future Bloggers Showcase then please do get in touch with Morgan or I, we have a waiting list at the moment but we're more than happy to add you to that.

An InLinkz Link-up

The summer bedding is hanging on

October 19, 2017

Actually it's more than hanging on, it seems to be absolutely blooming. And that's quite odd as there's autumn leaves about too. Checking on the garden when I get back from holiday is one of my coming home rituals. This Sunday though I was quite surprised with what I found. The pinks were finally flowering, and I've since cut these and brought them inside to enjoy.

The begonias which I moved to the patio so we could enjoy their colour, are still flowering - but now they're joined by autumn leaves on the ground. A job we have for the weekend is to start collecting the leaves, especially those on the slate so the worms aren't tempted up to them and leaving soil in the slate, which in turn will encourage weeds to grow there. It's one of the jobs MOH tackles regularly, but when the garden is full of leaves we both can collect black sackfuls of leaves at a time.

The sedums are even more vibrant than before we left for Portugal and usually are the things to add colour to the garden, but this year they've got competition!

As the cosmos is continuing to flower. It's looking a bit straggly now, but the flowers are still perfect aren't they?

I discovered a pear outside the greenhouse with a small nibble out of it. Squirrels. I wish they'd take more than a few nibbles before discarding their bounty. I was quite impressed with the size of the pears we've grown this year, easily a fist and a half in size, but equally as rock hard as usual. Perhaps they're baking pears as they're definitely not eating pears. I'm hoping the squirrel will remember he wasn't so keen before he picks any more, but I doubt it...

And yes that is a petunia nestled amongst the lavender. In October.

The sunflowers that I randomly dotted around the garden have flowered too. They're mostly spindly, unlike the ones on the allotment which had more sturdy stems, but they are much taller. As the wind blew I caught this one and had a closer look.

And yes, I let it go again.

In the greenhouse my Lords and Ladies from Dad are really taking off. I've been trying to grow these from roots from Dad's garden for a while so it's nice to finally see them grow. They're destined for the area by the gabion baskets, which seems to welcome woodland plants.

in the greenhouse my lords and ladies plant is finally growing

I've plenty of new succulent plants on the way too - thanks to the squirrel again. He seems to have taken a liking to my succulent trough and is picking the leaves, and then remembering he's not so keen. So I've been gathering them up and waiting for them to start growing again. And it seems to be working.

Plenty of new succulent plants on the way, thanks to the squirrels

Outside the greenhouse the Mind Your Own Business has gone a bit bonkers too much to MOH's disgust. He's not a fan, but I am and well, once you've got MYOB it's not easily got rid of. I like how it creeps along paving and edges and softens the hard landscaping.

even the mind your own business has gone a bit bonkers

Nearer the house the fatsia is starting to do its thing, the bauble like "flowers" look great at this time of year, and I'm looking forward to seeing these develop into berries again.

How's your garden coping with this peculiar weather at the moment? Surely mine isn't the only one that's showing two seasons at once?

There's no shower like home

October 17, 2017

A few weeks before my trip to Portugal I met up with the people from Mira Showers to learn more about how by spoiling my senses I could enhance my everyday routine. Sounds too good to be true, doesn't it? But after a week away and trying out three different bathrooms (none of them bad) I've come to realise that there really is no shower like home!

But can you really make the most of your senses in your own bathroom?

I think you can, whether you're a shower or a bath person, whether that's a morning blast or a relaxing evening routine. For me, it depends on my mood, and more often than not the state of my hair. Most mornings I wake up to discover my hair must have been having its own party on my pillow and needs taming before I can call myself anywhere near presentable.

But back to those senses. Mira Showers challenged me to see, if by putting their tips and tricks into practice how I could make little changes and if they'd affect my mood and senses. So how do our senses - touch, taste, smell, sight and sound - play their part?

Here for me touch is all about my bathrobe, and soft luxurious towels. Thinking about it now my bathrobe is one of my favourite items of clothing but one I'm sure i don't spend anywhere near enough time in! More time relaxing is something I should build into my day, and something that I'm hoping I can put into practice more often after our week away. Mornings are usually a rush. A rush to get up - I wouldn't call myself a natural morning person - to have breakfast, to make lunch and to get out the door.

I say I'm not a natural morning person but since I've started having my weekly veg box delivered, usually around 7am, I've found it's nice to have some time in the quiet of the house, and in my dressing gown. I'm hoping that the veg box delivery man doesn't mind that part of my routine too much, and I know having that extra bit of morning means I get to enjoy rather than rush through my shower!

And afterwards, not forgetting taste, sitting down with a cuppa in my hand to either catch up with my emails, a quick check on social media or a glance at the paper feels indulgent and my reward for being up earlier. I think I should do this more often, at least a couple of times a week, and maybe I will.

At the bloggers event I got to make some natural and organic beauty products for the first time. They smell amazing and I amazed it's something I've not tried before. Using many store cupboard ingredients, like oats and coconut oil, they were easy to make too, and at risk of using a word too many times in one paragraph, they do make my skin feel amazing.

I arrived at the event with a bit of a sore neck, nothing major, I think I'd slept on it funny. Or perhaps my neck joined in the party that my hair has on the pillow and ended up worse off, who knows. But I've never been more pleased to see a mobile massaging station. And when one became free, I didn't need asking twice.

We all know the advantages of relaxing, but I'd never really thought about how a knotty neck might feel to someone else. I was surprised to find that almost immediately hands were gently working on the spot that felt tight and even after a short massage my neck felt less tense and more relaxed.

There was also some great food and drink at the event which were both a feast for our eyes and to eat and drink. I couldn't not share a couple of photos of them, the cocktails and the bacon "jammy dodgers" - yum!

I've not touched on sight or sound in this post, and while baths are so much better with a scented candle I'm still not convinced that with a shower they'd have the same effect. It's something I'll have to try. And as for sound, sometimes it's nice to escape the sounds of everyday life and just be, so for me, depending on my mood sound can be an intrusion.

At the start of this post I said there's no shower like home, and you may be wondering why. That's down to the Mira Switch, which is a showerhead that switches easily - quite literally at the press of a button - between saturate, stimulate, soothe and soak. In the short time I've been using this shower head I've realised how useful it is, and being away for a week emphasised this.

It's funny the things you quickly take for granted isn't it? And the things that you look forward to when coming back from a trip away.

* This is a collaborative post but all views and opinions are my own.