Swanny Swan Swan...

Reflecting and Refocusing after Loss

I lost one of my longest and best friends to Cancer last week. It was a huge shock as she didn’t tell anyone other than close family… I’m heartbroken. She meant so much to me and it was just a couple of weeks ago she messaged me with a picture of her granddaughter and we were talking about meeting up. She had told me she was ‘ill’ but I had no idea how ill.

Shock

We hadn’t seen each other…

Wireless Headphones: M4U 8

PSB M4U 8

The catchily named M4U 8’s are the newest noise-cancelling headphones from Canadian manufacturer PSB and follow the well-received M4U 1 and M4U 2 models. Unlike previous iterations, these are wireless, connecting to devices over standard Bluetooth or the new fangled aptX.

The M4Us aren’t going win awards for visual appeal, but they do have a certain understated style, with headband and…

The Misfit Mum – Beating the ‘Mum’ Anxiety

Tough Week

The Misfit Mum: So the past week or so has been very busy. Emotionally it’s been a bit of a roller-coaster. Boo is having a ball at his new school, but this week had an altercation which has completely set off my anxiety.

I’ve always had a bit of a complex when it comes to school and school mums. Everyone seems so lovely at this new school, but like any new social situation it’s really…

Women in Tech – Battling the Bias

The ‘ick’

I’ve been running Girls ‘n Gadgets for over nine years now. I’ve always aimed to be a voice within women in tech and make tech fun and understandable. However, it never fails to amaze me how gender biased and narrow minded technology companies and their PR’s can be. Nine years ago, I guess youcould argue that it wasn’t a surprise but that things were ‘changing’. Almost a decade on, I…

Premier League, Primary Stars

A couple of weeks ago I was invited celebrate a year of the Premier League Primary Stars programme. The event was so inspiring and until that evening, I wasn’t aware of how much went on behind the scenes. I had seen a few tweets about the programme when it first launched in March 2017, but was gobsmacked at how many schools are taking part!

The Premier League Trophy Primary Stars The programme…

The Road to TestBash Brighton

Around two months ago, almost exactly to the day, I found myself head in hands wondering what to do with my life. As someone who worked their entire life until having my son, the past few years have been incredible, but have left me wondering where the ‘real’ me went. Whilst you know, as a ‘mum to be’, that your life is about to change massively, I don’t think anyone can prepare you for exactly…

World Book Day with Pizza Express and Scribblers HQ

A couple of weeks ago, Boo and I were invited to Pizza Express in Holborn to take part in their World Book Day workshop, where he got to learn the secrets of story telling. Now, Boo is superb at reading and recently read his story to the entire school in assembly – proud mummy moment. He has a very active imagination, so as you can imagine, we jumped at the opportunity to flex his story telling…

Following my last post, I’ve decided to stop procrastinating and stop thinking ‘what if?’.  It’s time for positivity! It’s time to do!!! I’ve actually made a decision to just go for it and get back into the working world.

The thought of going back to work…

As a mum to two boys, I find this so daunting. There are so many insecurities that emerge when you’re a stay at home mum that hasn’t been to…

Education – Why must it be so difficult?!

Education

Education! Only one of the biggest decisions you’ll make for your child right?! So why is it so bloody difficult?

Now we are doing okay by anyone’s standards. My husband has a good enough job that I don’t have to work. When my son was two, I stopped working to spend more time with him before he went to school. I felt this was so important for his development and I wantedto be there with…

Happy New Year every one. 2017 has definitely been a challenging one. Not all bad, but not all great either. Just as I started to get on a roll and things started to look up, it’s the end of the bloody year!!! But that’s not a bad thing, it just means that I’m in a better place to start 2018, right?!

Happy New Year

I’ve had to dig really deep the past year to get where I am today. It’s been a…

Another year is up and I have to say, as far as the mobile world goes, I was captivated by the mid range. Everyone is always talking about the flagships and how they’ve managed to push technology, once again. However, for me, I feel that if it wasn’t for the emerging mid-range, the flagships wouldn’t have to up their game so much. In the past year, the stand out brand for me has been Honor. Owned…

So, I have spent the last 2 months searching frantically for my nearly new Honor 9. It was only a few months old and I had become *really* attached to it. The last I remembered, I had given it to my 6 year old son to ‘keep him quiet’ whilst I got on with chores, at least, this was my understanding. As anyone one would do when they lose their phone, I looked up my where my phone was on the Google…

Mobile company Honor put on a spectacular event last week at the The Mermaid, London. There was much buzz before the event about whether they were revealing one or two phones. I’d heard on the grapevine that it was two, so I was really excited to hear what they had to share with us!

Over the past year, I’ve been watching Honor progress. The mid market phone industry has had me hooked of late.…

The biggest, most positive news I have to tell after my break, is that I have started up my jewellery business, Swanny & Boo, again. I’ve tried out various things to keep me busy and earn me some pocket money, but nothing gives me more joy than making beautiful jewellery that means something to someone. This time round, I’m not just doing stamped pieces, I’ve expanded into the stone setting side of things and I have some beautiful pieces that I don’t really want to part with! But, to get the name out there more, I’ve opened an Etsy shop as well as my own website. It’s going to be a hard graft, but with the right amount of effort, I think I could have a good Christmas order list.

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Rose Drop Necklance

Mystical Rainbow Pendant and Chain

Personalised Hand Stamped necklace

Mermaid Rings

Mystical Rainbow Range

Dark Princess Mermaid Ring

As a lot of you know, my background is social and digital media and over the past few months I’ve been really pushing my profile and started taking on ambassadorships. Those of you who follow me on Twitter and Instagram will see my beautiful Ju Ju Be bags. I was over the moon to be named the Content Creator for Europe and I’ve met some lovely people along the way! There have been so many exciting launches and one of the most exciting is still to come – World of Warcraft! Please make sure you’re following me on Instagram and Twitter to see the latest styles before they’re released!

Who else have I been working with?

Other ambassadorships/ Design Teams and PR Teams include: Tea Tourist Subscription Box, Mama Makes Stamps, Thompson Craft Supplies, The Punk Planner Stationery Shop, Savy Moo Designs, Three Little Buhos, Sticky Acorn, Glam & Co Gift Shop and today I got the amazing news that I’ve been accepted onto another stamp company I love, Skull and Cross Buns! It’s been a super busy time, but I really couldn’t be happier at the moment. If you are a company and would like more info on working with me, please click the ‘About Me’ tab and navigate to the ‘work with me link and download my media pack for more information.

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All photography by me (except ‘Annabelle’ pic. Courtesy of Three Little Buhos).

Fitness with MyZone – Making you work harder!

With so many fitness gadgets on the market, it’s a nightmare to know which ones to buy.  I recently came across a very interesting concept and my husband and I have been testing it out for a little while now. It’s called MyZone and is a heart rate tracker with a twist!

As with most fitness/ heart rate trackers, there’s an app that displays your facts and figures, but with My Zone, there is an…