Saturday 30 June 2012

Grab a bargain on twitter!

Came back from my holiday (more about that later!) to some exciting news from one of my favourite baby brands. Cuddledry are having a half price twitter sale of their ex-display stock, all good as new just without packaging!

Log on to twitter next Tuesday, 3rd July at 8pm to grab a bargain. Follow the link above for instructions on how it all works - I won't try and write them here because I'm not really a big twitterer (as you can see I don't even know the correct term for that) but I plan to figure it all out before Tuesday as would love to get my hands on some more Cuddledry items for my little monkey.

If you haven't got one already, trust me, the apron towel is the BEST baby towel and should be a fixture in every newborn's bathroom. They've also got loads of other great stuff so I can't wait until Tuesday!

Monday 11 June 2012

Mummy's Day Off!

One of my hubby's many talents is his ability to buy awesome gifts, and it seems Ryan has inherited this talent! On my birthday earlier in the year I got an email from Ryan saying 'as I've been making you really tired lately I thought this might make you feel better' with a voucher for a spa day with full body massage thrown in! (this was a few months back when he was going through his 'I'm going to wake up every 2 hours overnight' phase.)

So last week I decided it was time to redeem my voucher. Leaving hubby with Ryan (and his schedule!) I toddled off to Rookery Hall Hotel and Spa. My massage was booked first thing, so once I'd signed in and had a quick tour I was given a towel, robe and slippers and left to change and asked to wait in the Amber Lounge, where there was free iced water, juice, and herbal teas for guests to enjoy throughout the day.

The massage was amazing. I've never had a professional massage before, and it was heaven to just lie there daydreaming while the therapist worked away my knots! It was 55 minutes in total, and afterwards I was shown to the relaxation room, which is for the use of guests after they've had a treatment. This was very relaxing! It was dimmed lighting, with about 6 beds, and water running down one of the walls. I'd been told to take it easy and drink lots of water for a while after the massage, so I lay in here for nearly an hour reading my book.

The spa day includes full use of the health club facilities, the exercise room, swimming pool, hydrotherapy pool, sauna and steam room. I love swimming, but haven't been on my own since Ryan arrived, so I spent some time in the pool. It is a lovely area, very quiet and clean, and I was able to claim a lounger by the pool side whenever I wanted one. 

I tried out both the sauna and steam room, neither of which I have ever used before. The sauna was way too hot, and I didn't really enjoy it. The steam room overwhelmed me at first as I didn't know what to expect, and struggled to breathe for a minute, but once I got used to it it was lovely, and made me feel really cleansed afterwards. And the hydrotherapy pool was just lovely to lie in amongst the bubbles!

At lunchtime I enjoyed a tuna panini, with a glass of champagne that was included in my voucher, and then went back to chill out by the pool with my book! 

I spent 6 hours there altogether, felt very relaxed, read loads of my book, which I never get to do anymore, and just had a lovely day. The facilities are great, the food was delicious, and I would recommend it to anyone. I'm secretly hoping one of my friends gets married soon so I can suggest a hen do there!

Tuesday 5 June 2012

The Olympic Torch

So here's the view I had last Thursday!

To be honest, I'm not really a fan of the Olympics. The only sports I'm really interested in are football, netball and F1. But when I heard the Torch was coming through nearby Crewe, I decided it was a once in a lifetime thing, so I'd get Ryan and I up at the crack of dawn to go and see what all the fuss was about.

The big issue for me was it was travelling through between 8 and 8.30am, which seemed ridiculous - unfair on commuters and just generally difficult for anyone to get there. The trains aren't very regular but that was the only way, so Ryan and I arrived at our local (small) train station at 7am, to find it packed with fellow Torch spotters! There were maybe 150-200 people waiting for a 3 coach train, and with Ryan in a pushchair I wasn't holding out much hope that we'd all fit on. But we did, and once again I was warmed by how helpful random strangers were in helping us get on and off the train, even one previously mentioned commuter, who must have been a bit flummoxed to find his usual quiet journey to work a noisy squashed one! Thankfully it was only a 7 minute trip!

We arrived and found ourselves a spot outside Crewe station, fed my little monkey an al fresco breakfast (we rarely get up before 8am so he'd only had his milk at home) and proceeded to wait for possibly the most anticlimatic thing ever - a man who no one knew running past holding a torch aloft. A postman trundling down the road with his post truck got more cheers! Oh well, it was a morning out, and like I said, at least I can say we were there!