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Instagram post 2192222994959524316_184009684 Caption: He’s not allowed on the bed! 😂

Sorry for being very quiet on here. I’m battling my usual Winter blues. Not much to say really. I’m trying to keep active, to get into the spirit and not let the overwhelm consume me. It’s just one day after all! ❤️ Christmas pjs, their smiley faces and morning bed invading labradors are the things keeping me going. How are you? Are you ok? Tell me happy news if you have any! Or share your woes. Either is allowed here. 💗
Instagram post 2186227808697644879_184009684 AD/Gifted
Rare family photo alert! On Friday night I made Dave finish work early and we headed to @thebreweryquarter in Cheltenham for some incredible ice cream sundaes in the very funky @creamscafecheltenham (I had no idea it was so big inside! Very cool interior design too.) and then onto the @cineworld cinema to see...you guessed it! Frozen 2! I was SO excited. (Never mind the kids!) And we weren’t seeing it in 2D, nor 3D, oh no, we went to 4Dx! It was an incredible experience, the seats moved, there was cold air blown at us in snowy scenes and water sprayed.
In all honesty, I think 3D might have been enough for me though, it was seriously magical, I felt I could reach out and touch things! But the seats moving was a bit unrelaxing!(Bear in mind I don’t like theme park rides so possibly not the right person to ask!) You could also hear the fans quite loudly in certain points where the film went quiet. My kids and husband LOVED it though. 
As for the film, it was AMAZING! I love love loved it. I loved the songs, the answering of questions, the new characters, the strong females. Brilliant!
Missed the after end credits scene though, so make sure you stay until the very end if you haven’t been yet! 😊 ⛄️ Have you seen it? Tell me what you thought! And have you seen a 4Dx film? 
#breweryquarter #cheltenham #cineworld #frozen2 #4dx
Instagram post 2185087374990553502_184009684 About last night! Or yesterday really! I am so so so happy with our @mavenconnex blogger event went yesterday. 4 months in the planning, and our first full day.

We took over the gorgeous orangery and one of the conference rooms at the breathtaking @deveretortworthcourt and @florismartuk sent three of their lovely independent florists @forgetmenots4364 @fiorellaflowers and @stone_roses_florist to make Christmas wreaths with everyone and also to give a talk about buying from your local florist to support small businesses AND get the best deal for your money.

We also had the most incredible talks. Lovely @emmaand3 my fabulous co-organiser shared some of her wealth of blogging knowledge, @sales_academy_adam @ouralteredlife and @spencersarc.mummy gave inspiring motivational talks, Serena from Made 4 U Podcasts talked everyone through the equipment she uses, the supremely talented @amytreasureblog sparked the most amazing creativity with her hands on flatlay workshops and @oliviarnorthcote gave everyone some excellent styling tips, even pulling out one of @mamalifelondon tees to demo an outfit, not realising she was in the audience! I also need to mention the fact we ate and drank delicious food all day. What made it truly lovely though, was the way everyone was so friendly and chatty with each other, it really did make for a happy day and we couldn’t be more thrilled with the way it went! 
Everyone went home with their wreaths and a goody bag stuffed with fab items from @taylors @jimmysicedcoffee @oxouk @arladairyuk @daelmans_stroopwafels @bumboo_uk @yessnacks @vitstix @deenoapp with @getrocketbook for the speakers.

Also our chosen charity @inkinddirect gave a presentation telling everyone about their wonderful work.

Phew! Hope I got everyone. From the bottom of my heart, thank you to everyone involved who helped to make it such a wonderful day. 💗 And to Emma, who has been a pleasure to work with every step of the way!

Photos: @littlelilypadco
Instagram post 2180423902965183886_184009684 If you had told me 5 years ago that one day I would have a successful blog that I’m proud of and would be running amazing events I’d never have believed you. 
Just coming out of the fog of PND with my confidence at rock bottom and yet here we are! This year Emma and I have had two incredible events already with two more to come.
Sunday (24th) is our all day extravaganza featuring talks on podcasting, monetising your blog and how to take your business to the next level, inspiring speakers like Charlie from @ouralteredlife social media workshops, photography flatlay workshops, a tips, tricks and trends styling session with an incredible stylist and wreath making from @florismartuk with a goody bag and your wreath to take home. (Swipe to see it all!)
Sometimes it blows my mind that I’ve helped to put this together. Me! Someone so shy I couldn’t even speak in shops when I was younger and made my Mum order for me in cafes.
I’m so proud of myself. And the absolute icing on the cake was being asked to give a talk on blogging at my daughter’s school. I felt so validated, sometimes it doesn’t feel like a ‘proper’ job, especially when you fill in forms and there’s no check box!
There’s also food and drink all day on Sunday and the hotel is gorgeous. I’m SO excited. There are a couple of tickets left if you wanted to join us still. I’ll pop the link in my bio.
We also have a ‘freelancer/small biz Christmas works do’ happening at @nrsocial_chelt next Thursday (28th) evening so come and join us there too if you too don’t have enough on your staff to warrant going out!
Of all the options they gave me on careers day at school, this wasn’t one of them. Just goes to show you really can create your own job in this day and age!

#pinklinker
Instagram post 2174616944123300730_184009684 AD-gifted/giveaway.

Is it just me who feels the cold so much more now I’m older? 🥶I used to be really warm blooded and my mum would always shudder at me wearing a tee and no jumper but now my hands and feet are always icy and I’m constantly telling the kids to ‘put a jumper on, you’re making me feel cold’! Just like my mum did to me! 😂
The weather seems to have changed dramatically in the last few weeks but I’ve been living in my @tog24official coat and it’s brilliant! Smart enough for town and practical enough for my country dog walks with the lovely @hendrix_our_labrador (isn’t he big now?) it’s fantastically waterproof and has a toasty inner layer for warmth. And it all zips apart to form 2 separate coats. Best of all, I have one adult and one child’s to give away! On the blog now.

Can I just also take a moment to shout out @oliviarnorthcote who has helped me to make much braver fashion choices, like these leopard print trousers! I got so many positive comments that day. I think black boots might be better though. Can’t wait to hear what she tells us during her styling session at the @mavenconnex event in less than two weeks! 🥳

Happy Monday everyone! What’s your week got in store?

#pinklinker #cheltenham
Instagram post 2171709587806260933_184009684 💗 I just wanted to say a heartfelt THANK YOU. 💗 On Tuesday I felt tired and emotional and got very teary on my stories about this (not so!) tiny person’s school anxiety. If you don’t know our journey, it’s all on the blog under the mental health tab but basically we both have anxiety and I’m always (quietly) worrying about whether I’m doing the right thing and she is worrying about everything else. 😢

After a short period of homeschooling we found a small school that she agreed to trial. She loved it and is so well cared for and looked after there and she chose to go and yet every day it’s the same battle. 🤯

Most of the time I can cope with it. Sometimes I can’t. And that was Tuesday. And you all rushed forward to message me, offering sympathy, advice, empathising, telling me you can relate. And that genuinely made me feel so much better. It took me the whole of the next day to get through all those wonderful messages and I hope I managed to reply to everyone! Luckily I had a day at the hairdresser so had time to spare. (Swipe for a better pic of my lovely hair, it was definitely needed to sit and chat to Elliot for a day.)* This community is what makes it all worthwhile. I’m thinking of setting up a Facebook group for parents of anxious children for a place to find a bit of support and tips and ideas. Let me know if you’d be interested. 
Sometimes I worry that she’ll only remember the times I get frustrated with her, I hope she remembers the love too, and realises all I’ve ever done has been for her, sometimes I feel like I get it so wrong but other days I’m not so hard on myself, it’s a fine balance! 💗 *(I paid for my hair myself in full but last time I went for a complimentary appointment for a review, the reason I chose to go back is because Elliot has created a welcoming space for everyone, especially if you don’t feel you fit the usual salon world. Plus it’s beautiful in there and he is a hair magician!) @hileyhairclub 
#mentalhealth #anxiety #motherdaughter #cheltenham
Instagram post 2169204851974693981_184009684 THREE WEEKS TO GO!!! I’m SO excited. Our next @mavenconnex event is 3 weeks today and it’s going to be fabulous with a festive feel. I don’t have enough space in this caption to add everything we have going on but in a nutshell: 🎄Wreath Making
🎙 Podcasting From a top travel journalist.
👗 Styling Session Tips and Tricks
📸 Flatlay Photography
💷 Monetising your Blog
📱 Business Coaching
🎥 Social Media masterclasses
🧁 LOADS of food. Including lunch and TWO cake breaks!
👜 Goody Bag AND your wreath!
🏰 Stunning venue

All for £55 (I know right? Bargain!) We still have some tickets left but we have to give the final numbers to the florist so tickets bought after a certain date won’t include a wreath so be quick! 
Link for full deets in the bio.
Instagram post 2168120284492833508_184009684 Ad -Paid
Before I became a Mum I did so much baking, my cakes were legendary! I remember making my bestie an intricate butterfly cake for her birthday when we were both at school and my cupcakes were detailed works of art. 🧁
Then the kids came along and my time was spent on them and my baking hobby went by the wayside, along with sewing and jewellery making. 
Now they are older, they love watching baking programs and are really keen to learn, but we are still time poor with school and homework and clubs. Luckily, thanks to @princes and their fruit fillings, we can take a step out of these apple crumble cupcakes (recipe on the blog!) by using their delicious apple filling making them super quick and easy. It's nice to be baking again, and watching the kids inherit my passion for cake! I used some of the left overs to make some super simple crumble pots too. Yum! 🍏

#princes #bakingmadeeasy #cake #gbbo #pudding #cupcake #fairycake #applecrumble
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Fun fact! 🍒 Did you know I was almost called Cherry? 🍒 My mum lived in Holland when she was pregnant with me and there were loads of big fat black cherries around and she loved them so much she wanted to name me Cherry. My Dad vetoed it though and I became Louise! I think I’d have made a good Cherry! 
I love them too, and clearly so does this little lady! I’ve been getting my bake on with @princes and making the delicious black cherry cheesecake from their website using the yummy cherry fruit filling. So delicious that I had two offers of help to finish the left overs in the tin. 😂 #princes #bakingmadeeasy
Instagram post 2163010236422570697_184009684 🧳Press Trip🧳
Although we were getting on a plane to go home at this point, (Dave is a whole foot taller than me which makes fitting in a photo nigh on impossible!😆) look how happy we look!

We had such a lovely lovely time. Friendly staff, gorgeous surroundings (swipe to see how we left it), sunshine, warmth and incredible food. ☀️ Although a bout of tonsillitis for my smallest human meant that he and I were confined to the room for the last day, we still got a last swim in the sea before we went. Thank goodness for antibiotics! Couldn’t fault the hotel for helping us when he was poorly, a doctor came straight away to the room, did a swab test on the spot and wrote a prescription and we picked everything we needed up from the pharmacy opposite. 👨🏻‍⚕️ Dave got to take advantage of my massage which he said was excellent and our boat trip had to be cancelled due to weather anyway (see my last post about the waves!) so it all worked out. 🌊 
We’ve not had the easiest year and so some family time in the sunshine was bliss. 💗 Thank you so much for inviting us out! 💗

@kalyvesbeachhotel @seacretehotels #kalyvesbeachhotel #pinklinker #familytravel #greece #crete

Pink Pear Bear

Loves The Great Outdoors.....and Cake!

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Travels In Wilma – Part 3

August 21, 2016      Pink Pear Bear      11 Comments

So, I left you in part two as we were nearing midnight, in the wilds of France, fuel light on in Wilma, and the aire, (free campervan sites), I’d so cheerfully navigated to, nowhere in sight. This was our first attempt at a van trip abroad, with nothing booked. We were feeling pretty worried.

img_4875I whipped out the aires book, (aka our trip bible), and worked out that there was a big town not too far from us that had not one but two Aires in it. Also, a big town would more then likely have a petrol station. (Have I mentioned that there was a fuel strike on and we were unsure of the fuel situation!) We finally arrived in Soissons, weary and more then a little worried. Luckily the kids had fallen asleep a long while ago and so missed all the drama. We started driving through the town, we spotted two potential Aires but couldn’t be sure. There was one directly opposite a municipal campsite, (one that you pay for but is considerably cheaper then the big campsites. You can book these and some have pools etc), we found the campsite with its barriers down preventing entry, but couldn’t see the Aire anywhere. It was so late now, that we decided to pull over by the side of the quiet road and pop the top. Exhausted, and worried that at any minute we’d get moved on by the police, we got the kids into their sleeping bags and upstairs, made up our bed, (the back seat flattens and meets a back board creating a comfortable double sized bed), and fell asleep. We all awoke early and were most surprised that everyone who passed dog walking gave us a friendly nod and smile. It wasn’t like Britain at all, where vanning outside specified areas is so frowned upon! We were right by a nice park and you’ll never guess the first thing we spotted out of our window. Yep, you guessed it, the Aire!

Not long after we woke up, they started emptying the bins and the smell was so bad that without any breakfast options anyway, and no loo, we decided to make like a shepherd! (And get the flock out of here, if you’ve not heard that before!) img_3667We packed Wilma down and headed back into town and found a gorgeous boulangerie, (bakery), and got four pain aux chocolat. We then drove up to a gorgeous square with public toilets, went to the loo, washed our hands and cleaned our teeth and then made a cuppa and ate what was probably the best pain aux chocolat I’ve ever had. Fully refreshed by our breakfast, we had a little bit of fun navigating the slightly confusing one way system, and we were off again!


It was a beautiful sunny day and spirits were high. Unfortunately, the weather had other ideas for us. More on that later!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We were heading for Dijon as our next stop. Along the way, we stopped at the supermarket and loaded up the trolley with all sorts of French goodies. We stopped at an Aire for lunch, we were debating staying on for the night but it was very small and in the middle of nowhere, so we settled on a picnic and a game of football and ploughed on.

It was just idyllic.    IMG_3742IMG_3759

 

 

 

 

 

 

We carried on a little further and found a gorgeous Aire with plenty of green space, a little play area and even a nature pond on the outskirts of a tiny village in the country. It was beautiful and we could let the children play while we set Wilma up, always a bonus. Plus the pond was full of singing frogs which was lovely.

IMG_3768
Watching the noisy frogs!

The best thing about having a playground when you are camping is almost certainly the fact that you can sit and do this while they play…..!!

IMG_3778IMG_3779

 

 

So the children were merrily playing in the sunshine, the cider was open, bbq going nicely and then the clouds started to roll in. Large, black ominous clouds turning the sky black as night. As we ran for the shelter of Wilma, the first fat drops started to fall, landing with a hiss on the hot coals of our only means of cooking dinner!

What would become of us? Would we get our bbq? Were we destined to sit in the van looking at friend’s pictures on facebook of their sunny English holidays while we sat in the dark, cold storm? Would we ever get to Italy?! Find out soon!

Part one can be found by clicking here.

 

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Comments

  1. Nursery Whines says

    August 22, 2016 at 8:44 am

    Things never run smoothly in the adventure of Wilma, but I know she will get you out of any tight spot. #bigpinklink

    Reply
  2. the frenchie mummy says

    August 22, 2016 at 8:57 am

    Beautiful holiday! And croissants fro breakfast! Getting better. I hope you enjoy the rest of it. #bigpinklink

    Reply
  3. Lisa Pomerantz says

    August 22, 2016 at 9:23 am

    WHen a vacation with littles runs smoothly, we are all in trouble. At least, like the pain of childbirth, the pained memepried wear off and the good ones remain! #bigpinklink

    Reply
  4. An imperfect mum (Catie) says

    August 22, 2016 at 3:15 pm

    Ou fiends use the Aires all the time and are coming to stay in Holland soon on one, right near where we live. Exciting. Your trip is amazing, what fabulous memories for your kids! #BigPinkLink

    Reply
  5. Fancy says

    August 22, 2016 at 7:06 pm

    Oh that coffee in the square looks GOOOOD

    Reply
  6. Relentlesslypurple says

    August 22, 2016 at 9:17 pm

    Ah hope you make it! Sounds like such an amazing adventure! #bigpinklink

    Reply
  7. Siena Says says

    August 24, 2016 at 7:02 am

    It sounds and looks as if you are having a real adventure. I am so envious of your Wilma! I am now on tenterhooks awaiting the next instalment, you certainly keep the suspense going!
    #bigpinklink

    Reply
  8. Tammymum says

    August 24, 2016 at 7:15 am

    I love reading this as the OH and I have a trip like his planned when kids are a bit older. It does look fun although a little stressful at times. But you and kiddies get to see and experience so much! Good luck with the next stage…look forward to hearing about that BBQ xx #bigpinklink

    Reply
  9. Agent Spitback says

    August 26, 2016 at 11:52 am

    Lovely pictures. And yum to the pain au chocolat! It must be so fun to be able set up camp with Wilma. I’ve never ever been in a campervan before. Look forward to reading more about your adventures.

    Reply
  10. Hannah G, The 'Ordinary' Mum says

    August 26, 2016 at 6:09 pm

    Each time I read about your travels in Wilma it makes me want a camper van even more. Sounds like an amazing experience for both you and the littles, can’t wait to hear about the BBQ!! #bigpinklink xx

    Reply
  11. The Pramshed says

    August 28, 2016 at 6:46 am

    Ooh fab! Very brave of you going to France without a plan, and I love the sense of adventure you’ve all had. I must go back and read the rest of the adventures. The pain a chocolates look yummy. Claire X #bigpinklink

    Reply

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Hello, I'm Louise, welcome to my blog!

Mother of two, (a son and daughter both in school), married over 10 years and nearing 20 together and owner of a very bouncy labrador called Hendrix and an elderly cat called Pablo.

We love to travel as a family and enjoy nothing more then a weekend exploring or at a festival in our camper Wilma.

Big fan of cheesy detective programs, tea, cake and early nights!

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