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Spring male fashion

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My blog has brought in a few very nice items over the last couple of months, especially for Alex, for a change, so it is time I told you all about them.

If you remember, back in winter, he was gifted a winter coat by Scruffs. I wrote all about its practicality for work here, if you want to have a look.

Come spring, the lovely PR company working with Scruffs contacted us again and offered Alex one of their spring-summer lightweight work jackets.

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Last time, he had remarked that the medium jacket was a bit loose as a cut so this time, I ordered a small, to fit him perfectly.

The jacket arrived within a few days and it was exactly what Alex had hoped for in a work jacket. The Pro Softshell is light, warm, waterproof and with reflective detailing which makes his work in the evening so much safer.

Although it is a work jacket it does look quite stylish and its trim is perfect, making working up ladders that tad bit easier.

The price (£49.95) reflects its quality and high finishing and it is quite reasonable for a great quality spring-summer work jacket which will last Alex a few good years.

Back in March and for Mother’s Day too (awww!), the lovely people at Samuel Windsor included Mama’s Haven into their Top 12 Magnificent Mums’ Blogs. They did not stop there with their kindness and got in touch shortly after to offer Alex a choice of shoes or boots from their beautiful and very extensive array of quality products.

Since it was still early spring, Alex decided to go for a pair of Prestige Kensington Boots, which are a classic pair that can be worn with both suits and semi-casual looks.

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The boots arrived and they did certainly look the part: great quality Italian leather boots that according to Alex are very soft and comfortable to wear for the office. Not bad at all for £59.99!

Now that the weather improved and we have had such gorgeous days, I have been having a peek at their summer collection and was left impressed with the large choice of both casual and office footwear and their prices as well! (They currently run this offer, 2 pairs for £75, which would be perfect for upgrading any husband’s less that new looking spring shoe collection).

 Alex is a gym fanatic and uses quite a lot of t-shirts during the week for that purpose. I have come to hate the plastic ones he wears as they can retain the smell for absolute ages so when I was approached and given the chance to review the Vintage Premium t-shirt range for men, I knew I had to say yes!

The t-shirts are supposed to be premium quality, 100% pre-shrunk soft cotton and come in a classic fit. Since we were given a choice of six, I went for two identical sets, one for Alex and one for my brother:

We gifted his set to my brother when we visited at Easter and Alex has been wearing his at the gym since.

What do I think of the t-shirts?

I love the fun logos and the fact that you can buy them as they are and present them as personalised age gifts.

I was not impressed with the quality of the cotton, as although it is supposed to be pre-shrunk, it continued to shrink slightly with every wash, making me worry that they would grow too small after a while. I am also not convinced that the price reflects the quality, I do find the £18.99 price tag a bit too steep for a t-shirt, be it personalised and all.

What would you recommend for spring male fashion, what are your partner’s favourite items at the moment?

Disclosure: we received the items mentioned above for the purpose of this review. All opinions expressed are entirely our own.

Forward

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First of all, my appreciation to all of you who took the time to comment, call or meet up with us after my last blog post.

I wish I could say the contents of that blog post were erroneous and I am now in a much better place. But it would simply not be true.

The last blog post was written out of  deep personal  anguish and a sense of disappointment with life and desperate search for meaning.

Afterwards, I went to see our lovely social worker in the children’s hospice, there is nothing I could say to her to shock, and she simply said:

“It sounds like you are desperately looking for a life purpose.”

And yes, that is what it is: I have been through a lot and at this very moment in time, my life makes very little sense as it stands. It needs to change, I need a direction and a purpose.

I am a visual writer and in that conversation, I did explain that it seems that since Georgie died, I have been in a huge whirlwind, a proper tsunami which has sucked my life out of place . I am trying desperately to pull stuff out from the terrible mess that grief has left my life in and rebuild it to resemble, even in the slightest, the life I once dreamt I would have.

Another metaphor that popped into my head was “circle of trust“.

Grief has made me question absolutely everything I ever believed in and it has been like a trust circle that has been drawing tighter and tighter.

I tossed away the image of a God who cares for little children, I see Him now as the Giver of life simply.

I tossed away the belief in the Church as a Hope place. I see it now as a club, a Sunday club.

I have tossed away the beliefs that in marriage the man in the “head” and the woman needs to submit. I have a head too and I now believe a marriage should be a union of equals, as we both carry equally important responsibilities, be it providing financially or raising a family.

I have also tossed the belief that has sneaked into my head over the past 10 years that I cannot do much. I can and I will. I am still young, only 37 and can still build a beautiful and stable future for my daughter and myself.

So, thank you.

To all of you who have not judged, who have not called me mentally ill, who have not referred me for “help” and who have had the ability to look at my last blog post and see the emotional pain that oozed from my words and the potential for great things that came from such vulnerable and very public ramblings.

For the ones who didn’t all the above mentioned things, never mind.

I know that you come from a place where you have never known great pain and sorrow. Your opinions on life are still shaped by tradition and propriety. You have not had the past two years of sleepless nights to ponder on life and dig so deep for meaning that your bare soul was left exposed.

You have a mind and have used it to form an opinion of me. It is your right, of course. You already had, most likely, already an opinion, all shaped by the neat box in which you had shoved me in when my writing started to get “ugly” and raw, two years ago.

I cannot change your mind nor your opinion. Only you can but these things happen ONLY when your heart and mind open up to see the pain, the anguish, the despair.

Your opinions cannot change me either. I am where I am, on a journey of suffering, self-discovery and maybe, one day, hope. A personal journey on which you choose to travel with me or not. It is of no consequence to me. I have not the luxury of escape from it myself, it is the lot that has been dealt to me and I will have to make the most of it, in any way I can.

What Emma Loved…in March

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Emma got some beautiful toys and books to to play with and review recently and it is time we told you all about them!

First of all, as you know, she is in love at the moment with all things Zootropolis, she loved watching the movie and getting loads of merchandise from Disney Store, as we detailed in our last blog post. She loves them all but she has been having great fun with the Carrot recording pen, pretending to be Officer Hopps, down to a very heavy New York accent and all, hilarious!

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Alex splurged over Easter and got her also the Deluxe Figurine Set which has provided hours of role play fun already!

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Talking of sets, Emma was the envy of her wee friends these Easter holidays with the latest My Little Pony set.

She loves watching My Little Pony on TinyPop and she had already in possession of the My Little Pony Pinky Pie’s Rainbow Helicopter.

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The latest addition, My Little Pony Swan Playset, can also play a little cheerful tune and proved very, very successful, not only with Emma, but with her little friends as well!

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We took the set with us when we went out for lunch with friends and the four little girls at the table patiently took turns to get Pinkie Pie in and out on her rowing boots and play with her and her beautiful little boat. I spotted the set reduced in Tesco yesterday from £20 to £15 and I do recommend it for any My Little Pony fans!

As you well know, Emma loves books and she has been getting one every month now from Parragon, as part of their blogger book buddy program, but I slacked and forgot to tell you about them!

In January, Emma LOVED the Factactivity: Human Body Kit she received; with her daddy, they spent loads of quality time putting the skeleton together and learning about different body parts and functions.

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The book is specially designed with small children with big inquisitive brains in mind. There are plenty of hands on activities to be done, like colouring in, drawing, quizzes and memory games.  Information is presented in a simple yet fun way for children to retain (The Gassy Guts Hotel proved a total hit, with Emma, I wonder why ;-)?). The book also helped Emma understand a bit more about Georgie’s leukaemia and we talked loads about red and white cells and platelets and how Georgie’s body wasn’t able to produce enough of the good cells to keep his body alive.

If you have a small child with a curious mind, like my Emma, who wants to learn more about the human body, I would totally recommend this activity set. Priced at £9.99, it is definitely worth every single penny!

This month, Parragon sent her two of their art therapy colouring books for children: the Disney Princess Art Therapy Colouring Book and the Disney Frozen Art Therapy Colouring Book.

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My Emma is not very much into princess stuff and I was a bit apprehensive upon opening the parcel as I thought she will want to touch them. But since the books offer plenty of colouring activities, which Emma adores and can spend hours on, she took to them immediately and has had loads of great fun with them so far. They are currently sitting on her desk and she periodically goes back to them when she needs a calming and soothing activity.

I was aware of the popularity colouring books have gained recently amongst adults but I never thought intricate patterns could keep a young child focused like that, for absolute hours!

The books retail at £9.99 each and if your child loves colouring in and finds the activity soothing, then I do recommend them, they provide hours of quiet and beautiful creations at the end!

What toys or books have your children been into recently? What would your recommend and what would you tell others to avoid when it comes to kids’ entertainment?

Disclosure: Emma was sent the My Little Pony set and all the Parragon books mentioned for the purpose of this review. All opinions expressed are entirely our own and truthful.

Zootropolis, the new Disney movie

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Emma has been very lucky this season as not only did she get to watch Zootropolis, the latest Disney movie, as soon as it was released, but she also received a whole bunch of beautiful toys, all through mummy’s blog!

We watched the movie as a family, shortly after Easter and we all came away with some real wisdom nuggets.

For Emma, the most important message was to believe in oneself and one’s dreams and never allow the society and other people’s limitations restrict what one can do. She loved officer Judy Hopps, the little bunny with a huge amount of courage, and she came away determined to make her own dream of becoming a scientist true! And speaking in a cute darn American accent as well :-).

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For the grown ups, the movie was all about manipulation of our fears to the detriment of our fellow human beings. The movie cleverly analyses the way in which an isolated incident is used to create panic among the masses, justify discrimination and ultimately, serve the interests of a few scrupulous individuals, rather than the herds they pretended to represent. It did make us think almost automatically about the world’s current affairs and the way we have reacted to them sometimes as isolated groups rather than in harmony and support of each other. Disney does not disappoint in its subtle analysis of current affairs and shedding light on our human strengths and failures.

The movie sheds light, often in a humorous way, on other aspects of our society, like the sloth-paced speed in the public services.On how we accept things as givens and how bunnies get to give parking tickets although they are fully qualified police officers, based on the judgement of their size alone.

Other times, it confronts prejudices like “foxes are the rabbits’ natural enemy” and smashes them by creating the most unlikely police team.

The fast pace, the action packed plot and the presence of gruff police officers and a slim gazelle are all appealing, especially for the daddy viewers ;-).

All in all, Zootropolis is a great movie to watch as a family, with many lessons to be learned by young and old alike, so we wholeheartedly recommend it!

Have you watch Zootropolis yet? What were your impressions and opinions?

Disclosure: we were sent cinema tickets and all the beautiful Zootropolis merchandise for the purpose of this review. All opinions expressed are genuine and entirely our own, as usual on this blog.