A bit of appreciation for some of you lovely folk. :-)

The title says it all really! The people mentioned below have blogs that I enjoy reading but I think the people behind them are pretty great too. :-)

Bex at I Always Believed In Futures and Crystal at Crystal Says
When I first started my blog I hadn't a clue what I was doing! I had been reading blogs on and off for a few years and felt like I wanted a "go". I reached out to Bex and Crystal on Twitter and both were so friendly and generous with their time. I occasionally catch up with Crystal still and she's one of my favourite Twitter people. She just has this generous nature and wants to help however she can. Plus, she lives in NYC so I get jealous regularly! ;-)

Carol at Flitty Chick Fancies
I met Carol through a beauty swap a few months ago. They couldn't have paired me with a nicer lassie and her blog is always one of the first I catch up with when I get a spare 5 minutes. I'm really enjoying getting to know her and hope to catch a coffee with her one day if I ever find myself in/near Cork.

Michelle at Thou Shalt Not Covet
Michelle's blog is choc full of so many beauty products that I lust after, plus her Twitter feed regularly makes me laugh. Big thumbs up. :-)

Amanda at Amanda Niescior
I got to know Amanda a wee bit when she did my blog design (which I still love, months later). She's a young'un but has such a mature head on her shoulders. Super friendly, super happy and a funny wee lass. :-)

Leighanne at Bump And Beyond
I first "met" Leighanne when her wee baby Darcy was still cooking. :-) Now I love hearing how Darcy is doing and I especially love reading Leighanne's fashion posts. They give me plenty of ideas for my next shopping spree, too many ideas!

Shay at Two Tiny Terrors
Shay is just the sweetest. I love her Growing Your Own and Kids Crafts And Activities posts. I've worked in daycare for more years than I care to mention but its always good to check in with others for new ideas or ways to refresh old ideas.

Lindsay at Newcastle Family Life
I love reading her blog but I'm currently enjoying all the bumpy pics. I miss my bump! Also, on a personal level I feel like that she gets where I currently am to an extent as she was a single mum herself at one point. At some point I'd love to sit down and have a chat with her about it.

Keeley at Dragging Online
Keeley is an online only drag queen. She describes her blog as an outlet for her creativity. I love her fashion/celebrity posts and she has a certain wit that makes me chuckle as I read them. Definitely what you need at the end of a long day.

Tanya at Polka Dots And Cups Of Tea
Tanya has a beauty/parenting blog like myself so I get a good "fix" when I catch up on her posts. She'll often write a post about her children whatever the topic might be and it always strikes a chord with me, I "get" it. Don't tell her but I secretly read to see if Emma has written any more posts. ;-)

There are lots of you but these are the people that come to mind as I'm writing this post. Thanks for the blog posts, the inspiration, your time, your kind words, ta for all of it.

Wee update.

Bet you thought I had fallen off the face of the earth, right? :-)

I had lots of different wee blog posts lined up. I usually write them in "notes" on my iPhone when I have a spare moment. 

Unfortunately I updated my iPhone on Sunday night and during the process it went into recovery mode. I hadn't updated to iCloud in weeks and weeks because I was low on storage so Sod's Law, I lost everything. All the blog posts I was working on, all the blog post photos I had taken. 

The saddest part for me is that I lost all my wee baby videos. I can't explain how upset I've been about it. But I wake up to little O's gorgeous face and that's all that really matters. 

Lesson learned, back up and back! 

It now feels like I'm starting my blog all over again. *sigh*

The Liebster Awards

Lindsay over at Newcastle Family Life recently nominated me and my wee blog, Kid And Capers to take part in the Liebster Awards. Thank you! I had never heard of the Liebster Awards before even though it seems to be all over Twitter once you do a wee search! Basically it seems to be a really fun way to get to know other bloggers a bit more. I spend so much of my free time reading through other people's blogs that its nice to find out more about them on a more personal level.
I hope that Lindsay doesn't mind me stealing the rules from her post! :-)


The rule's to the Liebster award are as follows:

• Promote the person who has nominated you and link their blog in your post.
• Answer the question's giving to you by your nominee, then create a new list of 11 questions for your nominees to answer.
• Nominate your own 5-11 blog's that you feel deserve the award
• Inform them that they have been nominated for The Liebster Award and provide a link to your post so that they can learn about it.

Here are the questions that Lindsay put to me:-


1.) Why did you start to blog?
I had read a few blogs in the past and thought I might enjoy blogging, but I always felt like I never had anything to say that people would want to read. When I fell pregnant I thought about it again but I was going through quite a lot at the time and didn't think I was in the right place. When my baby was 5 months old I decided that I was going to give it a go. I liked the idea of having somewhere to log my parenting journey. I'm also a beauty products fiend so any opportunity to blabber about that and I'm there! ;-)

2.) what gives you the inspiration to write?
I just like having my own wee "space" to talk about whatever takes my fancy. One day it might be dating as a single parent, another day it might be about the latest beauty product that I've fallen in love with.

3.) what do you love about blogging?
I love that I get to meet new people that I would never ever get to know without the blogging community. Its been very slow (and I thought it was pointless a few times) but I'm finally beginning to feel like I have a place in this wee corner of the internet. I've got to know some lovely people and look forward to reading what they're up to every week.

4.) which one place would you love to visit?
I would love to do a safari in South Africa or I would love to go back to New York again. I've been a few times and I'm totally and utterly in love with that city. Any bloggers want to go on an adventure? ;-)

5.) what do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
My absolute favourite thing in the whole world is spending time with my wee boy. He's growing way too fast for my liking but I'm so proud of him. I can't believe I created something so perfect! I also enjoying walking/hiking, cinema, comedy gigs, shopping, spending time with family/friends....not necessarily in that exact order.

6.) what is your greatest achievement in life so far?
It has to be my son. I don't think it matters what else I do in life, it will always pale in comparison.

7.) what has been your most memorable meal?
It was a meal I had in the Grand Central Oyster Bar in NYC. Everything from the location (beautiful old terminal) to the food was just divine and unforgettable.

8.) what is your favourite book?
I couldn't pick just one book. I'm firstly a bit of a Harry Potter fan but some of my other favourite are: The Help, One Day, The Colour Purple, PS I Love You, Pride And Prejudice, A Time To Kill.

9.) where do you see yourself in five years time?
I hope that I'll still be self employed and making enough out of it to save towards my little man's fortune.

10.) your most treasured possessions?
My son and anything to do with him, whether its photos, hospital bands, paintings he's done. He's only just turned one so I'm sure I'm going to pick up a lot more treasured possessions along the way.

11.) describe yourself in five words.
Happy, determined, caring, friendly, emotional (babies bloody break you and I was bad enough to begin with!)


Now its your turn! I nominate:
Amanda at Niescior's Notes
Leighanne at Bump and Beyond
Crystal at Crystal Says
Tanya at Polka Dots and Cups of Tea
Dani at Heavy In The Day
Carol at Flitty Chick
Katy at Modern Mummy
Gemma at Sunshine On A Cloudy Day
Debbie at Super Busy Mum

My 11 questions to you lovely lot are:
1. How long have you been blogging?
2. Do you have any pets?
3. Is there anything that you would like to have achieved by the end of 2014? Doesn't have to be a big thing!
4. If you had to eat one meal for the rest of your life, what would it be?
5. Are you passionate about anything in particular? It can be a topic or hobby, anything!
6. Any there any bloggers that you would love to meet?
7. Do you have a favourite TV show?
8. What is your pet peeve?
9. What do you enjoy most about blogging?
10. Do you have any advice for new bloggers?
11. What was the last book that you read?


Make sure you send me a link so I can read your answers. Have fun, I certainly did!

Blogging Anonymously....for now.

Recently I read a blog post by @amandaniescior on Niescior's Notes. It was about regretting going public with your blog.

It was an interesting read for me because this was something I thought about a lot when I first started Kid And Capers.

Very early on I decided not to "go public" with mine and to stay relatively anonymous. 

My reasons for this? I wanted my blog to be somewhere that I could talk about about anything, but more specifically, my experiences as a single mother. I wanted somewhere to chart my journey. A place where I could return to reminisce.

It's not necessarily something I want my son to read when he's older. Not because I will be saying anything awful! It's just my personal thoughts/feelings and I don't necessarily think that O needs to read those when he's older. He certainly doesn't need to read about his mum thinking about "dating" again. :-) Nor does he need to read that his mum used to worry in the very early days that people would judge her for being a single parent.

There are things I will need to tell him when he's older but I want us to sit down and talk about it all openly. I don't want him to possibly read it all first on here and then draw his own conclusions.

For the same reason I didn't want family and friends to read my blog. I just wanted to be able to talk (or vent!) without judgement...my own wee personal space.

That said, I've got to know some great people through Twitter and blogging. Those people know me, they know my back story. It's not that I don't want people to get to know me (quite the opposite in fact!) I just want to have a wee bit of control over people in my life reading my thoughts. 

I understand that may all sound contradictory - I'm happy for strangers to read whatever I write but I don't want family and friends to. I guess its because if readers or strangers want to judge me, that's ok. I'm indifferent to it.

Maybe one day I'll feel differently....

Did you "go public" with your blog?

Did you ever consider not going public, for what reason(s)?

Empties #1

I've read quite a few of these "Empties" blog posts. I'll admit it, I'm addicted to reading them. Its a novel way to see what products people are using and what they rate/don't rate. I have decided that I'll post a few of my own and see if I enjoy writing them as much as I enjoy reading them. :-) Plus, it will force me to finish products instead of throwing them aside after another shopping spree!
For the first post I have four products:

No7 Intelligent Colour Foundation (Light)
£15.50 in Boots
I am constantly picking up and trying different foundations. I'm naturally quite pale so a lot of foundations can instantly make me look very caked or too dark. For a period of time I went through a love affair with this foundation. Its the perfect shade for me. I love how easily it goes on and how it requires very little blending. As a childminder and mum the less time I have to spend putting my face on, the better! :-) It also has SPF 6 which is a wee added bonus. The only thing I don't like about it and wearing it today reminded me of this, I end up with shiny patches after a few hours of wearing it. It doesn't matter if I wear it with or without primer, the shiny patches still appear.






Batiste Dry Shampoo
£2.99 in Superdrug
I've heard about this for years but I washed my hair daily so never needed it. When I went into hospital last year to have my boy I had no idea how long I would be in there so I popped a mini bottle of this into my hospital bag. The smell of this is amazing! I love all things coconut scented and this is no different. Even on my dark hair it doesn't make it look "powdery". You just need to make you brush/rub it in well.






Neutrogena Visibly Clear Pink Grapefruit Oil Free Moisturiser
Normally £4.99 in Superdrug
This stuff unfortunately doesn't work particularly well for my combination skin. Why did I keep using it? It smells AMAZING! Its the nicest moisturiser I've ever smelled. I won't be buying it again though.






Avon Advance Techniques Moroccan Argan Oil Hot Oil Treatments
Normally £5.50 on the Avon site
I was initially given these because I had used a colour remover which didn't remove the colour! What it did do was destroy the condition of my hair. :-( I have since purchased a second box myself. My hair always feels better after a treatment. Unfortunately my hair is so thick that I have to use two tubes, meaning that a box of four doesn't go very far. I'm sure there are other hot oil treatments out there that are just as good but this is the one I've had the experience of using.

Have any of you used the above products?

What did you think of them?

Much love. xx

Lisa

@latte_fiend on Twitter.

Thou Shalt Not Covet's Big Blog Give Away.

Over at Thou Shalt Not Covet, Michelle is having a big blog give away. She's offering over £575 worth of prizes so as you can imagine, its proving to be a popular competition.


The prizes are as follows:

1. A large ad space on TSNC's blog for the month of April (If you’re a blogger or have a company)
2. NastyGal Weekend Warrior Anorak £42.20 (M)
3. NastyGal Timeless Bracelet £11.17
4. The London Perfume Company Swarovski Aura Perfume Set £18.99
5. Soap & Glory The-Ultimelt™-Deep-Purifying-Hot-Cloth-Cleanser from Cohorted £10.00
6. The Handbag Shop LYDC Rounded Grab Bag £32.99
7. Soap & Glory Bright-Here-Bright-Now™-Instant-Radiance-Energy-Boost-Balm from Cohorted £12.00
8. Hypnotic Loris Silver & Amethyst Necklace from Violet Darkling £85.00
9. Soap & Glory Greatest-Scrub-Of-All from Cohorted £9.00
10. All Eyes on You Brush Set from Crownbrush £19.99
11. Catwalk Glamour Structured Pink Across Body Bag £50
12. NastyGal Dream In Colors Maxi Dress £29.79 (S)
13. Balenciaga Sunglasses from Blaze Sunglasses £35
14. NastyGal Genie byEugenia Kim Corey Wool Cap £37.23
15. NastyGal Shoe Cult Switch Bootie £60.82 (UK5.5)
16. NastyGal The Clear Clutch Set £21.72
17. Soap & Glory Puffy-Eye-Attack™-Turbo-Boost-Hydragel from Cohorted £12.50
18. Chelsea Beautique Eyebrow Kit (Colour of your choice) £35
19. Shoes or boots of your choice from Lasula Boutique £40
20. NastyGal Double Arrow Necklace £12.41
21. And the second prize winner will win a large selection of beauty products from LookFantastic.

If I were to win I would be most excited to try out the Chelsea Boutique Eyebrow Kit and the Balenciaga Sunglasses. Nothing screams "summer is coming!!!" more than a pair of gorgeous sunglasses! Have a nosey, enter & good luck!


Lisa


@latte_fiend on Twitter