Haul Ass to... The Vintage Emporium @ Pear Mill

Whilst Teddy had his first solo session at nursery earlier this week I decided to pop into a nearby Vintage Emporium I had seen advertised, which is located within one of Stockport's many old cotton mills. This one is Pear Mill, which also houses the kid's play centre Run of the Mill. I am pretty glad that I did!

Who knew that there was such a huge collection of some (incredibly cheap) vintage clothes, accessories and furniture so close?! I was surprised by how vast the space is, covering two floors and with empty space for more sellers to come along and display their gems. I took a few sneaky snaps but if retro is your thing then you should definitely get down there and see for yourself.  

I have been after some vintage suitcases for ages, to store on top of our wardrobes, and picked up two blue ones for £10 and £12 each. Much cheaper than the ebay alternatives I had been looking at! Pablo took a shine to one immediately! I could have spent a lot longer there browsing the clothes but didn't think it was the done thing to be late for nursery collection on the first day! It just means I have an excuse to go back and check out the amazing 80s slouch ankle boots I spotted on the way out :-)

Happy weekend one and all! 

ps anyone else have one of these at primary school? Imagine having one in your house!!

Our Trip to Tallinn

Around eight weeks ago Chris and I took Teddy on his first holiday, a 3 day break to Tallinn, Estonia. I'll be honest with you, the destination choice was wholly governed by money. As we were travelling in a school holiday (the perks of being married to a teacher) flights to most of the places we fancied, including Madrid, Barcelona and Dubrovnik, were all pretty damn expensive. I had almost written the city break idea off altogether when I did a skyscanner search along the lines of 'Manchester to Anywhere' for our dates and discovered that Tallinn was a much cheaper alternative.

Cue a read of the Lonely Planet guide and some general internet research, from which I learnt that Tallinn looked very attractive indeed, aesthectically and on the bank balance. So a short text to Chris ("Do you want to go to Tallinn? It looks nice and has cheap beer") followed by an even shorter response ("Yes") later and we were booked to fly with Ryanair. The next step was to find a hotel, and this was a very pleasant experience because there actually isn't a huge amount of choice (compared to other European cities), especially if you want to stay inside the Old Town itself.  We chose the Merchants House Hotel because of its location, its individuality and the free standing baths! I may have a bit of an obsession with them.

This choice turned out to be a great one, as we absolutely loved the hotel. As Tallinn accommodation prices are generally very reasonable, again especially when you compare them to other capital cities, we could afford to stay in this type of boutique hotel and even upgrade to a suite. We decided that as we were travelling with a 9 month old in tow we wouldn't be out partying every night so it made sense to spend the money on a nice room which we would be spending a significant amount of time in. I contacted the hotel directly to ask about the size of the rooms and fitting in a travel cot, and they offered me a great deal (cheaper than the website price) for the suite which sealed the deal.

So off we went... we decided to borrow a buggy rather than take Teddy's pram/car seat combination which worked out fine for us. We drove to the airport and parked there meaning he was in his car seat for that part of the journey, and I checked out the taxi laws in Tallinn which confirmed he could go on one of our knees for the 10 minute journey from airport to hotel. Teddy stayed in his buggy at the airport and we didn't have to hand it over until we boarded the plane. I found the majority of the travelling process with Teddy to be fine. Luckily the flights were at decent times and we managed to keep Teddy awake for a good while beforehand so for both journeys he was tired by the point of take off. As soon as we boarded he had a bottle which sent him off, and he then slept for about 1.5 hours, leaving us with about an hour and twenty minutes to entertain him. We did so by dragging out giving him a meal, reading to him and letting him bang the fold down tray with his toy hammer (hi there fellow passengers!). Although it wasn't bad, I wouldn't want to go on a budget flight for much longer as there was a serious shortage of space. Maybe it would be ok if we paid for extra legroom or a first row though I guess.

One more bit of baby chat before I talk about the actual destination. Food and milk wise for Teddy we took two large ready made aptamil bottles which we put in the checked in bag and stored in the fridge in his room, then 6 small 7oz bottles for when we were out and about. We took two pouches per day and the same in fruit pots. For sterilising we took 4 bottles and purchased these disposable sterilising bags from boots which were great. Teddy tried a fair bit of food when we ate out, and had breakfast every day from the hotel buffet, but it was good to have the pouches for ease of use and to make sure he was eating enough.

Tallinn is split into the Old Town and the surrounding areas, the latter of which are often frequented by stag (and the occasional hen) dos but we didn't come across any once we were there. Full of cobbled streets and picturesque churches the Old Town is really beautiful and is really easy to navigate. I would say that three days was enough as it isn't very big, but then again you could spend much more time there if you wanted to visit all of the museums and galleries on offer. We aren't always museum people, and less so with Teddy, so we spent most of our time wandering the town's shops, bars and restaurants. We visited the main tourist attractions like St Katherine's passage, where we booked into a great Italian restaurant that did the best carbonara I have ever tasted, and the famous hot chocolate cafe Pierre Chocolaterie with its candlelit velvet interior.

We also spent one day visiting the zoo, which was fairly impressive given the next to nothing admission fee. It was really big and although some sections were under construction it was definitely worth the bus ride and we spent about 3 hours walking round.  That evening we walked out of the old town and round the back of the train station to an area called Telliskivi which is apparently where the cool kids hang out. We followed a recommendation from the app I had downloaded, Live Like a Local (which is really good) and went to F-Hoone for food and drinks. Despite it being a trendy hang out, no surprise was shown at us rocking up with a baby at 8pm and it was very child friendly.  The same goes for all of the bars and restaurants we went to to be honest, it is definitely a place that embraces young families. 

Weather wise it was a bit hit and miss; the first two days it was fairly chilly and coats were definitely needed. On our last day however the sun came out and as we sat outside having a few beers in the main square it felt pretty damn hot! The main square itself is very colourful and picturesque, evidenced by the amount of people posing for snaps there. I expected the prices in the bars which surround the square to be high (hello Rome) but was pleasantly surprised to find that there was no real difference between here and the backstreet bars. 

One final reason why I would recommend Tallinn is the time difference. They are two hours ahead and Teddy stuck to his loose routine based on UK time, meaning that he would wake at 9-10ish Tallinn time, making for a nice couple of lie ins! Similarly he wouldn't need to eat tea until 8pm in Tallinn which meant we weren't back in the hotel room too early. We hadn't planned to keep Teddy to UK time for naps and eating, it just naturally happened. 

It was so nice to go away and I think that we definitely did it at the right time. It seems that in the couple of months since we went Teddy's mobility has soared, and I can't see him being as happy now to spend as long being pushed around or sat in high chairs. He is all about the exploring right now! Having said that he did get to see lots of new things, and tasted numerous beer mats and restaurant menus. You stay classy child! 

I imagine that is enough for now :-) All in all it was a great trip and a lovely place for Teddy's first city break. Get it on your travel wish list! 

Haul Ass to... Tobias and the Bear

It's Friday again folks! Today's treat is for the little people in your life, especially the ones who like to look super cool :-) I found these Tobias and the Bear leggings on instagram and the only reason it took me a while to order a pair for Teddy was because I couldn't decide which ones to go for! 

I eventually picked Storm Boy in White which I love, although I definitely have my eye on the foxes when these no longer fit. Foxes are kind of Teddy's signature thing! They wash well and are true to size. At £15 a pair they are more expensive than standard kids leggings but I think they are worth it as a special purchase or as a gift. 

Which are your favourite?  

Teddy makes a great model. He doesn't pull ridiculous faces at all.

Haul Ass to...Breakout Manchester

Hi folks, bit of a different one this week as I am not encouraging you to go shopping but instead to spend your hard earned cash on getting locked in a room for 60 minutes. Bear with me!

Breakout Manchester is a fairly recent phenomenon, and one I stumbled across on twitter. Described as a real life crystal maze I was intrigued! In a nutshell you play in teams of between 3 and 5 and work together to solve a number of clues hidden in the room (which lead to more clues, that then point to more clues and so on) in order to get out of the locked room before the time is up. 

There are 7 different rooms to choose from when you book to play Breakout, each with a different theme and difficulty rating. Two of the rooms are the same, Classified 1 and 2, and these were the rooms we chose to play, purely because there were too many of us for one room. If you have a group bigger than 5 then I would definitely recommend booking these rooms (at the same time slot) as battling against a team of your friends only adds to the experience (not that we were competitive. Not at all). 

I won't say much about being inside the actual room in case any of you decide to go, other than the time flies by, especially the last few minutes, and that you get really into it! We managed to breakout with about 15 seconds to spare! The other team broke out too, a few seconds later. Tense times. 

So if you fancy something different then get yourself booked, I think the price depends on how many players you have but for us it worked out about £16pp which was definitely worth it. It is in the centre of town too so perfect for pre or post drinks, although I would not recommend doing this drunk! You need to be on your A Game! 

Happy weekend guys! 

Monthly Milestones... 9-10 Months

I am not sure how another month has passed already and that Teddy is now 10 months old. Time is flying by! The past month has been as amazing as ever but if I am being honest it has probably also been the most testing one so far.

Teddy's crawling has taken back seat to more of a bum shuffle, which sees him whizzing around our wooden floors at a scary speed. His favourite activities now including chasing Pablo into corners, trying to put his hands in cat food and messing with any exposed wires. A Health Visitor's dream!  Now that Teddy can move around freely, he is understandably less interested in sitting in one spot and playing with his toys and books. Consequently I spend a lot of time following him around, especially to and from his toy box as he contemplates what he would like to play with for all of two minutes. It looks like he is as indecisive as his Mother!

Teddy has started to pull himself up on the sofa, or on us, and if we hold his hands he can also manage a few wobbly steps. He gets very excited by this, although to be fair so do we! He especially likes to pull himself up if we are eating on the sofas, as demonstrated below. A minute after that picture was taken he pinched my Yorkshire pudding! At least we know he has good taste :-).  I don't think walking will be too far off, which terrifies and pleases me in equal measure. Chris started walking at 10 months so this plus the fact that Teddy has always seemed to have strong legs makes me think he may be an early starter too. I'll probably be proved completely wrong about this! Either way I really should tick off the 'buy stair gates' item which has been on my to do list for a good few weeks now. 

Sleeping has been... interesting this month. I know that we are still very lucky to have a child that sleeps through the night for the vast majority of the time but it is the actual getting Teddy to sleep which is the problem. For his day time naps I used to put Teddy down awake and leave him to drift off unaided. Now that he can sit up this has gone out of the window! Once I put him down and leave him, unless he is completely shattered, he immediately sits up to either play with his cot toys (writing this one obvious step seems to be to remove those!), throw his dummy across the room and either cry or sing! Consequently I now rock Teddy to sleep on the rocking chair in the nursery and, whilst this isn't setting a great precedent, I must admit I love those moments especially with my return to work looming closely on the horizon. 

Bedtime is fairly similar, once we have got Teddy into his Grobag (a mission and a half) cue numerous trips upstairs to retrieve his dummy or lie him back down. Eventully he will get so sleepy that he will fall asleep, and not too infrequently this will be sat up! I think it is just his age and realisation that we are in the room one minute and gone the next. Perhaps we should see it as a good thing that he wants to be near us! If I stand next to him and stroke his cheek he will happily lie still for eternity, but I am keen for him to realise he has to go to sleep by himself. Plus that wrecks my back!

I am sure the textbooks would be screaming 'controlled crying' to me at this point and berating us for going upstairs whenever he cries. Don't get me wrong, we don't go in immediately but I just dont think the controlled crying is for us. Teddy seems too young to be left alone upset for any significant period of time, plus all the running up and down the stairs will hopefully help me to fit back into my work wardrobe! I am treating this as just as phase which will hopefully pass like the rest, and as I say it's not all bad given once he is asleep he is generally out for the count until 8am. He is not going to be happy when nursery calls for a much earlier start!

This past month has also seen Teddy master the art of waving (usually the double hander), throwing his arms into the air when we say "how big is Teddy?" which my Mum can take credit for, and a very cute squint as he tries to copy us when we blink at him. It is ridiculous how proud each of these developments makes me. The little things hey!

That's all for now, roll on 11 months! x

VSH Book Club #3: All The Light We Cannot See

Well I promised that the next book would be something you can get your teeth into, and I am certainly hoping that's the case with this month's choice, winner of the 2015 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction and New York Times bestseller All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. 

I first came across this book on the Waterstones website under the bookseller recommendation section. Having done a little more research, more than one source has said that fans of The Book Thief should enjoy this, and I LOVE that book. I guess the two are being linked because of the similar backdrop of World War II. In All The Light We Cannot See two children cross paths in occupied France; Marie-Laure a blind French girl and Werner, a German orphan. From what I can gather (I don't like reading too many reviews in case of spoilers) we follow their journeys over a 10 year period intertwined with a mystery connected to a cursed jewel. 

Amazon reviewers have given the book 4.5 out of 5 and you can buy the kindle or paperback edition here. Or head on over to Waterstones, where it gets 4 out of 5 from the solo reviewer, who describes it as "Magnificent. An all time great."

So there we go. Who's in? 

VSH Book Club... The Girl on the Train Review

Look away now if you haven't finished the book or want to avoid spoilers!

If I had to sum up this month's book I would say that it is an easy read thriller, enjoyable but not ground breaking. Overall I liked it despite it not setting the world alight; it was well written and engaging, and I can understand why it is currently so popular. Like with last month's book however I wasn't overly enamoured with the characters, and this wasn't a read which I kept thinking about afterwards.  If asked for a score out of 10 I would go for 6 (in a very far reaching and general book category) or 7 (in its genre). Here's why:

The biggest plus point of the book is that it hooks you in immediately. No slow build up here, the reader is introduced to the main character Rachel and all her flaws from the outset, as well as the couple she has become somewhat obsessed with as her daily commute (which we soon learn is contrived) passes the back of their house each day. A few doors down lives Rachel's ex and his new wife and daughter, who add to the intrigue. There is no arguing that the writing leaves you wanting to know more, this is the kind of book that you will stay up late for even when you don't think it's worth it!

The array of characters' secrets adds to the overall success of the book and keeps you fairly on your toes for the majority of the story as to how things will pan out. I say the majority as I suspect many people will have guessed the twist and/or outcome around 3/4 of the way in which is when I did. This didn't ruin the book for me though, as I thought the conclusion of the story was well handled and didn't feel as rushed as some thrillers do. It also made sense and didn't leave me wanting to punch the author in the face like a certain similar title did. Most of the characters (Rachel's housemate aside) had a hint of darkness about them, and the story flowed well from one narrator to another as well as from one timeframe to the next. 

I also thought that having such a flawed main character was a bold move and one which made the book more interesting than many of its counterparts. Obviously towards the end we learn that many of Rachel's shortcomings are the after-effect of an abusive relationship, but for the most part we are dealing with a character whose lonlieness and excessive drinking are described in all their (anti) glory and which appear at times to be self inflicted. I found that I did engage with Rachel and was willing her not to open that bottle of wine at 10am in the morning. Equally I was cringing for her when she wakes to her housemate discovering the pile of vomit at the bottom of the stairs, which I put down to the effective writing and refreshingly realistic descriptions of how bleak living in such circumstances must be. 

On the downside, I found there was some repetition within the story and that it lacked depth. I guess it doesn't set out to be the sort of book that will change your life though so can't complain too much about that! The character of Scott, Megan's husband was an obvious cliche for me, and I found it pretty hard to believe that he and Rachel would have struck up the shortlived friendship that they did without him asking a few more questions about her relationship with Megan. There were also a number of characters introduced but not explored fully enough for me, like Anna and Dr Abdic. 

I am trying to think of other shortcomings of the book given that I only think it is a 6/7 but am actually finding it difficult so maybe I have been a bit harsh! My main issue is simply that it's not a book that will stay with you or effect you emotionally, but for a thriller read which keeps you guessing and makes you want to race to the end (which isn't a difficult task) you can't go too far wrong with The Girl on the Train. 

What did you think folks?! Please share your thoughts! They are probably more insightful than mine!

Come back tomorrow for May's book club choice x