It’s been a while since I have written a weekly diary post. I spent 3 weeks feeling unwell with one thing and another and now that I am starting to come out the other side I have so many posts to write that I have committed to for others that writing posts for me has had to take a back seat. I’ve had good intentions of catching up with my diary posts and even started them a few times, but as I’m now a month behind I’m going to cover the highlights in this post.
Blog On Toys
On Saturday 21st September I travelled to the Coppid Beech Hotel in Bracknell for the September Blog On conference for bloggers. This was a particular milestone because I left Baby Boy at home with his sisters and Dad for the day. We decided that if things went really badly G would drive to me, but they all got through the day successfully and Baby Boy didn’t miss me (or my boobs) too much. The night was long though as he wanted to catch up and we spent pretty much the whole night together from shortly after I got home until morning. The conference is normally in Manchester and it was great to have it down South so I could make it.
The thing I love most about Blog On is seeing my online Blogger friends in person and this aspect never dissapoints. We would all love to see each other more often, but it takes something like a blogging conference to make it happen. The day is so busy because I try and socialise, attend as many sessions as I can and speak to all the companies in the brand den to find out more about their products and opportunities. I managed to miss some of the PRs in the brand den I would have liked to talk to and I missed one of the sessions I wanted to attend because I was busy talking to some brands.
Blog On is my favourite blogging conference I have been to for the overall experience, but the actual value for me depends so much on picking the right sessions. I went to 3 sessions, 2 of which I learnt something new from, 1 which I didn’t. If I had managed my time keeping better I think I would have gone to a more useful session in the 3rd slot and missed the one in the 4th slot which I didn't get anything out of other than a nice drink.
As a bonus of the day I did particularly well in the raffle with 3 tickets coming up near the beginning meaning I got brilliant toys for each of my children, they have been hidden upstairs in the loft and will be there Christmas presents. The raffle is made up of all the toys entered into the Toy Awards so there were some brilliant options. During the day (and in the epic goody bags) I also received a few small items that my eldest was interested in so they were given to her for her birthday. The cost of the ticket and raffle tickets I purchased were easily covered by the value of the items I received.
Poopsie Surprise Pop Up Boutique - Press Event
The day after Blog On I headed into London with my family to go to an event we had been invited to showcasing the Poopsie Surprise range. We reviewed the original Poopsie Surprise Unicorn last year and there are now lots more products in the range available including some smaller items which the girls had in their goody bags which we will be testing out soon.
At the event the girls made slime, had their faces painted and enjoyed a great buffet (including eating as many sweets as they could get away with). My eldest also waited extremely patiently for a long time to get her hair braided with yarn. It looked awesome and I was so sad that we had to take it out for school. I’m definitely going to try and recreate the look on a day that M and I are both feeling patient.
One of the interesting things for me was seeing all the Tween influencers at the event. The number of children wearing sunglasses on a rainy day was amusing and their clothes made my daughters look positively down to earth. I wonder if this is my future? I'm scared!
 |
| A Poopsie Rainbow Surprise Doll |
 |
| A rainbow buffet |
 |
| Ready to Leave the Pop Up Poopsie Boutique |
Illness Strikes and M turns 8
By the time we got home I was feeling unwell and I needed to go to bed. Unfortunately it wasn’t going to be a quiet week. Monday I had to take the cat to the vets to drain an abscess from a fight (thank you Mittens we really needed that vets bill right now). Then I had to drive for an hour long round trip to pick up M’s birthday cake (we bought her a sweetie cake just made from sweets because we knew she would actually enjoy eating it).
Tuesday I spent the day working none stop to clear the house for M’s birthday party, followed by a food shop for the party food, decorating the house, then an 8th birthday party. You can read more about M's 8th birthday party and some brilliant products I was gifted from Zuru to help.
Wednesday was M’s 8th birthday. We got up, she opened presents, I got her to school and then I went home and crashed feeling absolutely awful and exhausted.
 |
| Happy 8th Birthday M |
ALDI Christmas showcase - Press Event
I didn’t really manage anything else useful for a few days, but on 1st October I headed into a rainy London while Little was at preschool to see what will be on sale at ALDI this Christmas. As usual they have some lovely homewares and wooden toys, but the thing I love most is their food (even if I never find the exciting bits in my store). They have lots of vegan party foods coming up and apparently a vegan food line will be coming out in January so I will be looking out for those every time I’m in store. I really wish they would do more in the way of vegan treats and puddings though because everything exciting they sell (except for apple strudel) seems to have dairy in.
 |
| Aldi Christmas Table Decor Suggestion |
 |
| Wooden Toys Available from Aldi This Christmas |
 |
| Vegan Christmas Party Food At ALDI |
Pumpkin Picking Village Marsh Farm Essex - Press Invite
I continued to not feel great, but on 5th October we went to the Pumpkin Picking Village at Marsh Farm. We were invited to go along and choose a pumpkin from this free and very instagrammable pumpkin patch. They even have an area where you can carve your pumpkin, but we decided we would take ours home whole.
The Pumpkin Picking Village at Marsh Farm, South Woodham Ferrers is open every day from 11am until 5pm until Sunday 27th October CM3 5WP
 |
| A very Instagrammable pumpkin patch in Essex |
 |
| The pumpkin village next to Marsh Farm is free entry and open until 27th October |
Over the weekend I developed a cold and mostly lost my voice too so that was a lot of fun for everyone and I haven’t really done a whole lot since.
I went to the doctors on 8th October because I had been ill for weeks and losing weight too. She sent me for a blood test which I am still waiting on the results of, but I’m starting to feel much more normal again and I have even managed to stay up past 8pm most nights. As a bonus I am starting to catch up on my backlog of posts.
The question is will I manage to catch up fully before half term starts and I get lost again?
No comments
Thanks for your comment (unless it's spam in which case, why?)