Over the next week I'm going to share various posts about this fantastic event M&S brought me over to London for. There's a lot to get through, so I'm going to break it down into starters & savoury snacks, main meal items, desserts and sweets, drinks, and finally gifts.
Until then here is a little video tour of the event, and a quick look at some of the products I'll be featuring in the coming week.
One of my favourite 1970s' interior design trends was photographic wall murals. Huge, feature walls decorated with mountain scenes, or a wooden glen, or even an exotic beach. I'm going to blog about them soon, as it's another one of my childhood memories that's inspired my taste today.
Whilst photographic walls haven't yet made a comeback, one trend that is flourishing is photo realistic flooring design. Advances in printing technology has allowed high quality images to be blown up and printed on vinyl to be used on floors.
The leading brand using this technology is Atrafloor. They offer custom made vinyl flooring, cut exactly to your measurements, and easy to install. They have dozens upon dozens of prints to choose from. The photographic floor murals are joined by a selection of beautiful geometric patterns, kids' rooms designs and more.
Atrafloor sent us two samples, to feel the quality for ourselves. The initial impression I had was of how thick the vinyl was. This isn't some flimsy plastic, it's great quality, thick flooring.
The colours are vivid and the print is sharp. The town print flooring would even be excellent to purchase as a play mat for a nursery to protect your carpeting from toys. All designs are £59 a metre.
Here are some of my top picks of prints from the Atrafloor online store, but this is only a small selection, so click on through to browse the entire catalogue. You can also draw inspiration from the Atrafloor Instagram account.
Asda's Christmas bedding is now legendary, with so many designs each year to choose from, and fun designs in single, double and king size. This year is even better, I want the vintage Santa caravan, retro kitties AND the snow globe offerings. How on earth will I choose? Luckily prices start at £10, with cushions at £5 and £6 so maybe I can narrow it down to two purchases!
When I was expecting my son, oh goodness, ten years ago now, I was buying all sorts of stuff in preparation and excitement about becoming a new mum. One of the things I bought which isn't an obvious item at the top of most expectant mothers' lists, is a mini fridge.
Why on earth, you might wonder. A baby isn't going to be desiring an ice cold Red Bull on hand in the nursery, even if us mums might yearn for one the fifth time we are up during the night.
Well, here's the thing. Those cute little mini fridges don't just make things cold. Nope, they also have a switch that turns the unit into a box that keeps things warm. I was planning on bottle feeding, and realised I could keep bottles warm in between close feeds, but there's another feature of these mini fridges that you might not be aware of that's even handier for new parents.
IceQ fridges from www.minifridge.co.uk come with three adaptors, one of which is your standard home plug, but another one is an adaptor to plug your fridge into the car's socket lighter. This meant I could make a bottle before leaving on a journey, keep it warm in the car and not have to try to find somewhere later on to wrangle with powder and water and bottles. Later on you can use the fridge to keep your sprouting toddler's water or juice, or even snacks cool, just switch to the cooling feature.
That was many moons ago, and my old mini fridge got misplaced on one of the two house moves in the last ten years. So I was delighted to receive this gloriously fuchsia IceQ model to see me through the next ten years, and most likely beyond.
Obviously I'm no longer a new mum, but there's a personal reason why I now need a mini fridge, again, it's probably not one very obvious to most people. I suffer from M.E. which leaves me exhausted daily just dealing with single parenting. It's a known fact I blog from my bed on my iPad Pro. So I'm what is known on the internet as a 'Spoonie', someone who has a chronic illness which has an aspect of very limited energy.
Where does a mini fridge fit into this? Well three years ago I moved from a bungalow to a two storey house, and boy do I feel the difference some days.
Having a mini fridge in my bedroom means I can bring drinks, snacks etc. upstairs in one run, rather than having to go up and down stairs a few times during the day or evening. This may seem like a small issue, but for other chronic fatigue sufferers you may be having an 'a-ha!' moment, and deciding which colour of mini fridge you want to buy for your own bedroom!
Mini fridges are also excellent if you have certain medications that need stored at a certain temperature. If you've an elderly relative who might struggle to get up and down stairs, again they might benefit from a bedroom fridge unit. The IceQ fridges also are asethically pleasing to have sitting in your bedroom, with many different designs and sizes on www.minifridge.co.uk
If you are a student, or a parent of a new student heading away this autumn, who might have to share a kitchen, a mini fridge to store their stuff they definitely don't want to share with everyone else in halls, would be an excellent and actually useful going away present.
Ditto if you are in a big office and people keep 'sharing' your lunch or snacks. They are also a great idea for taxi drivers, or for on boats, should you be so lucky to have one, and remember, the unit can keep food or drink warm for you also, not just keep things chilled.
Lastly, okay, admittedly having a mini fridge is also pretty darn cool. Snazzy for your computer work station, home bar, or a Christmas presents for a teenager's bedroom.
www.minifridge.co.uk has a sale right now, with it being the end of the summer, and free next day shipping. I've also an exclusive voucher code for you- 'save5' to take £5 off orders over £50
I'm in London this morning at the M&S Christmas 2017 launch. Lots of blog posts ahead in the different food ranges, gifts, decorations, but for now a couple of snaps to get you in the festive mood. It's never too early for me!
Last Christmas I spent Christmas Eve driving all over the country trying to find an Asda with the earlier bluer version of these jammies with Dan TDM on them. I never did find them, but picked up a different Tube Heroes pair with different Youtubers on them.
I managed to get the older DanTDM design pyjamas in the spring, but I was already thinking of what kind of design I might pick for Michael's Christmas Eve night nightwear this year, and spotted a set of DanTDM pyjamas again on Asda.
Its the same brand, so I know they wash well, and prices range between £9 and £11 or so, depending on age and size you buy. So not bad!
I'm tipping you lot off so you can rush and buy some too before they sell out again. Keep an eye on www.TheWorldofKitsch.com for a very exciting Christmas Launch from London next week.
Marks & Spencer's £10 Pizza Deals are legendary, second only to their Dine In weekend meals which should go down in history as one of the best ideas they ever came up with.
Their pizza deal for autumn 2017 is beyond a bargain and should feed a whole family easily. You can choose two pizzas, and two sides for £10.
The pizzas can be from their classic selection, but it's worth noting you can try their brand new Detroit style pizzas, which have just hit stores this week, in the offer also.
The Detroit Style pizzas are thin based and fully loaded. The Philly Steak has Colby cheese, green peppers, house sauce, mozzarella, mature cheddar and comes with American mustard mayo for drizzling once cooked. Three cheeses on one pizza!
All Fired Up is a classic American Hot, with pepperoni and red hot chilli sauce for drizzling. The Whole Hog is a pork lovers dream and the Meatball Marinara combines your two favourite Italian dishes in one delicious handheld snack.
With two sides to choose from, there's coleslaw, potato salad & fresh side salads, or for a real treat you can pick from Mac N Cheese Bites, Cheesy Pizza Fries & Spicy Chicken & Rice Bites. These can really bulk the meal up if there are more than three of you.
The offer is on in stores now, so the choice is really up to you. Any two pizzas, and any two sides for £10.
I will update with some cooked pizza shots over the next few days as we work our way through these beasts!
It's the record breaking music video everyone's talking about, with over 100 million views in just a couple of days, and almost as many articles about all the hidden messages contained in it.
However I think everyone has missed some glaringly obvious references in the video, which I've shown in the following presentation:
Remember, she dated Calvin Harris for months, and he's a confirmed Limmy fan. THE SIGNS ARE THERE PEOPLE!!!
As heard on BBC Radio 6's Lauren Laverne Show.
Winner of Highly Commended Blog in the Cosmopolitan Magazine Blog Awards 2010
Hop on over to Cosmopolitan to read my guest blogs on all sorts of vintage bits & pieces.
