Circus Mums

Pebble Watch – Tech Lust

With over 150,000 of these gorgeous time saving (pun TOTALLY intended) watches being produced and shipped every week, I’m at a loss as to how I don’t already own one or why I only came across this gem of a watch yesterday! The Pebble SmartWatch from Pebble Technology is a tech lovers wet dream. Released earlier this year, the Pebble goes far beyond simply telling the time (though it makes even that simple feat remarkably fun and fashionable). I love that there is a host of interchangeable watch faces to choose from and colourful watch straps, meaning Pebble can be configured to match your personality.

What makes Pebble so interesting is that it is basically an App on your wrist. Want to know how fast you’re running? Well Pebble can tell you. Yes there are a host of cool, traditional GPS watches out on the market already but can they also tell you who is calling or allow you to read your text messages, right there on the watch face? Nope? Well on Pebble, that’s a no brainer. Linked via Bluetooth to your Android or iPhone, Pebble can notify you of SMS alerts, emails, incoming phone calls, Facebook alerts, control your music and so on.

You can attach it to your bike, which is certainly something I can see myself doing once I get a new bike! I had an iPone holder on my last bike but I was always super petrified of it coming loose from the cage and smashing during a ride.

With a retail price of $150, it isn’t bad going as far as a watch goes. With a fair choice of colours and an ever growing list of notifications to push through to it, the Pebble is on my favourites tab, I only wish I’d seen this earlier as it would have made a lovely Father’s Day present for the King. I may still buy one for him too and blame it on international delivery as to why it will be like a week too later!

To order your watch or for more information, check out http://getpebble.com

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Monster’s University Review

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Having never watched Monster’s Inc, my daughter being too young for a cinema trip at the time, we weren’t sure what to expect from Disney Pixar’s newest addition to their children’s film family. Monster’s University seemed an odd choice for a childrens’ film but we went with the flow, knowing that the studio hardly ever disappoints.

Mike and Sully are two first year university students, both enrolled into the prestigious ‘scare programme’ at MU (Monsters University…) with an almost instant mutual dislike for each other, to say the pair do not get along is an understatement. When one of their arguments gets out of hand they find themselves kicked out of the course and having to work together with a humorous group of ‘odd balls’ in order to earn their places back onto the programme.

I was surprised at just how much of the film plot my four year old was able to grasp. Monsters University made the adults chuckle and the kids hide behind their eyes in that skin tingling excitement that borders fear whenever the monsters were on their ‘scares’ or the terrifying Dean of the University (voiced over by Dame Helen Mirren) appeared on the screen. The Dean looked like the love child of a dragon and centipede, making even my skin crawl.

All in all, the film was very enjoyable and will be making it into our children’s DVD collection. I took eleven year old girls with me too and they thoroughly enjoyed the film also, so a good family classic whatever the age. Well done Disney Pixar, now for me to catch up and watch the first one!

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Circus Mums All Star – Michelle

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Name: Michelle

Blog Name:Bod for tea

Blog URL:www.bodfortea.co.uk

Kids

Curly Girl is almost 4, Little Man is 6 months

What’s your day job?

Nose wiper, chef, chauffeur, trampoline, milk maid, blogger, reviewer, freelance writer, member of Rosetta Stone blog team and web co-ordinator for local toddler group. I occasionally find time to drink coffee.

Hobbies?

Writing, painting, exercise, learning Spanish. When I get the time… which I hope will be at some point in the next 5 years.

Wine/Water/Green Smoothie?

Wine. A glass a day is good for you. Luckily I’ve never been good at maths!

Heels or flats?

Dreams of heels, wears flats.

What do you consider to be your biggest achievements outside of giving birth and raising cool kids?

Leaving behind everything and everyone and packing up our lives into two suitcases for a 3 year adventure in China. Oh and riding my motorbike to Spain.

What is your benchmark for success and balance?

Achieving my goals without losing myself or my sanity in the process. There’s only so much you can get done with two small children under foot, the trick is to learn that the journey is as important as the destination. It’s a work in progress for me.

Tell us one random fact about you!

I can wiggle my ears *wiggle*

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Kahalia Cafe, Brick Lane

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You know you’re off to a good start when you arrange an interview and the interviewee suggests a cake shop in Shoreditch! I had never been to Kahaila before but after quickly scanning through their website and zeroing in on an image of a massive red velvet cake, I quickly agreed that it would be the perfect place to host an informal interview/ cake eating session!

Kahaila is situated at 135 Brick Lane and is quite possibly one of the most unique little treasures I’ve had the pleasures of visiting during my working day! It is a non profit charity, ploughing proceeds of their sales into local community projects. They describe themselves as a coffee shop with a conscience and it totally felt that way.

Interestingly enough, they also have a church meeting every Wednesday at 7.30pm. They are non denominational, seeing themselves as relational rather than religious. I’m actually rather interested in turning up for a service.

Not yet even a whole year old (their birthday celebrations are this weekend, 15th June) I hope Kahaila becomes a long standing member of Brick Lane. The ambience was so relaxed and welcoming, we didn’t feel rushed to clear out, in fact the layout is such that there seems to be enough space for everyone even when its a busy lunch time.

website: http://kahaila.com

address:

135 Brick Lane
E1 6SB
London

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Circusmums All Star – Natalie Bea

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Name: Natalie Bea

Blog Name:The Accidental Mogul

Blog URL:www.accidentalmogul.blogspot.co.uk

Kids?

I have three bundles of joy. My eldest daughter is, five and a half, my youngest daughter is four and my little boy is two in a few weeks.

What’s your day job?

Juggling raising my children and running my newly launched online and mobile natural hair and beauty store. www.NaturallyNourishing.co.uk

Hobbies?

Reading, writing, social media, singing, dancing, praising God and enjoying life….

Wine/Water/Green Smoothie?

Water, although I am keen to purchase a Vitamix blender so I can embark on the world of fresh fruit and vegetable smoothies.

Heels or flats?

Flats, although there are times I wish I’d trained myself to walk elegantly in heels.

What do you consider to be your biggest achievements outside of giving birth and raising cool kids?

Taking my Christian walk seriously is one of the greatest achievements I believe I have made. For many years I failed to realise I could have a one on one personal relationship with my saviour Jesus Christ. That revelation alone has turned my life around in ways I never thought were possible. I used to struggle a lot with questions about my purpose in life, feelings of inadequacy and unfulfillment, since drawing closer to God all those doubts have gone. I know who I am in Christ, He has filled my life with joy and gladness. Although I do not have everything I want, He provides me with everything I need and for that I am thankful and blessed.

What is your benchmark for success and balance?

I have learnt that you can not compare yourself to other people. We are all unique with our own skills and talents. It took me a while to truly grasp this fact, but there is such freedom when you run your own race and do what only you have been graced to do.

Tell us one random fact about you!

I have the memory of an elephant. I recognise people from my primary school days and when I say ‘Hi’, they have long forgotten who I am, but I know who they are. Quite embarassing when I’m grinning and ready for a full on convo and all I get in response is a blank stare. I’m also very good at remembering birthday’s.

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Catch Up – A Weekend By The Water

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Sorry I haven’t been showing the blog much attention lately. Its really odd, when I was working in my old job, I would leave work gagging to go home and update my blog, but now I don’t ever ‘leave’ work. I love my blog though, and giving it up would be like abandoning my child so here I am! Finding the time to let you know how my weekend went!

This weekend was lovely, after a lazy start which saw us missing our early morning swimming lesson, we chilled out at home until the weather warmed up and headed over to walk the Lea Valley walk, in the Lee Valley park. It was a gorgeous day to walk along the canals and explore some of the hidden side to London. Who would think that a couple of bus stops away from a massive IKEA and retail park so much serenity existed? It was a brilliant walk, full of great sites and sounds, I would tell you more but you’ll have to wait for my article to come out on oninonline.com as I wrote about it there already and would hate to spoil the experience!

I had an impromptu tea break and chin wag with one of my favourite people and her little girl, it was great as we hadn’t seen them in months and they live a stone’s throw from the canals we had walked along. What I love about my friend is I always leave her with a million ideas buzzing around my head!

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Light and guilt free banana icecream

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Guilt free banana ice cream

2013-06-03 12:20:50

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Ingredients

one cup of bananas

one teaspoon of vanilla extract

3 tablespoons of milk

Step one

Peel, chop and zip-lock your bananas then put them in the freezer.

Step two

When you fancy a nice dessert, simply chuck the frozen pre-cut bananas into the blender, along with milk and vanilla essence.

Notes

Princess smothered hers in chocolate sauce, I left some half defrosted, chunks of bananas in mine, both of us wanted seconds!

By Circusmum

Circus Mums http://circusmums.com/

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Counting The Pennies

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I was made redundant in 2008 when I was pregnant with Princess, talk about the worst timing ever!In 2013, the aftermath of the 2008 credit crisis can still be felt by many businesses regardless of whether they are SMEs or massive multi nationals. People were tightening their belts during and after the ‘credit crunch’ and the company I was working for were feeling it acutely with less clients coming back for repeat business and many of them taking longer to pay their invoices. I understood that cutting staff saves you a lot of money but invoice discounting could also be a solution to helping with cash flow. This is something I have only become aware of recently, now I work for an entrepreneurship magazine but would like to share with you now, rather than having to find out too late.

Business banking is key to keeping afloat. I had a great business manager when I opened up my limited company many years ago when I was temping in Canary Wharf. He made all the difference in making what seemed like a daunting leap into the world of business ownership, painless and stress free. He also gave me lots of advice on the benefits of my business bank account and ways to make it work for me with the littlest amount of input, something I appreciated as a busy working mum with little spare time on my hands as it was.

Many of the mums I know have started working for themselves, opening their own niche businesses and working hours to suit their family. For many, they saved up what they could from working full time (or even from blogging!) whilst others applied for commercial finance or long term loans from family and friends to help take their business to the next level. It is amazing and makes me feel so proud and in awe to see so many people striking it out on their own into the world of entrepreneurship. It isn’t an easy leap but one that is full of rewards, especially so if you manage to get your finances in good order from early on.

Do you work for yourself? How did you fund your start up or business expansion? It would be great to hear your story.