Bloom

No more working for a week or two (or six)

Bloom is on summer holiday.

Back in September (maybe).

Have you heard of WindowSox?

It's absolutely sweltering today and I'm kicking myself for still not having bought one of these for the car.

I first heard of WindowSox a couple of years ago. They're mesh screens that fit over the window of your car, block out 80% of the sun's UV rays and are custom made for each vehicle. They cost £27 a pair from here.

I'm so fed up with this weather (already) that I'd like to get them for all my car windows and my house windows too. Sigh.

TV REVIEW: Waybuloo, CBeebies

When I read that the Daily Mail was outraged by new CBeebies show, Waybuloo, I had to give it a watch.

Apparently "imbued with a hippy philosophy", Waybuloo features four "Piplings" named De Li, Lau Lau, Nok Tok and Yojojo and each representing a different emotion: love, imagination, wisdom and happiness. Glossing over the fact that "imagination" isn't an emotion, it sounds sweet, no? No.

"God save us from the BBC political correctness machine and why do all childrens characters in these programmes not have normal names? It's no wonder children cannot speak or write properly," says Les from Southport.

"The same yoga loving hippies who grew up to be politically correct adults and have slowly ruined a once proud nation," blusters David in the Faroe Islands.

And a stroke of genius from a total nutjob: "Soon children will reject their parents as they will be unable to recognise what a real human being looks like."

So what's Waybuloo actually like?

Losing weight after pregnancy... read all about it

I was planning to review Mimi Spencer's 101 Things to do Before You Diet, but instead I found myself wondering how many weightloss books I've read over the years.

Off the top of my head, there was Liz Earle's Bikini Diet (which I was on in 1996 when I weighed eight and a half stone - ha!), a food combining book which I forget the title of, Martha Beck's The Four Day Win, Susan Powter's Stop the Insanity, Make the Connection by Oprah and Bob Greene, Dr Phil's The Ultimate Weight Solution, Lighten Up by Pete Cohen (I bought the audio tape too), Beyond Chocolate by Audrey & Sophie Boss, I Can Make You Thin by Paul McKenna, Susie Orbach on Eating, The GI Diet, The Food Doctor...

That's not even including memoirs like Thin Is the New Happy by Valerie Frankel, Jen Lancaster's Such A Pretty Fat, When You Eat At the Refrigerator, Pull Up A Chair by Geneen Roth, The Amazing Adventures of Dietgirl by Shauna Reid, Hungry by Allen Zadoff, Stephanie Klein's Moose, Confessions of a Reformed Dieter by AJ Rochester...

On the other Lovely Blogs this week...

Gorgeous Danish homewares discovered by Hygge Nook.

Pretty Vintage is making crocheted granny blankets.

Teen It considers a Buffy movie with no Willow, Xander or Giles, Sarah Michelle Gellar *or* Joss Whedon. (In other words - not a Buffy movie!)

Another wonderful Eloisa James book at Five Minutes Peace.

Simply Bake is making red velvet cupcakes (and my mouth water!)

Enjoying a tree that trumps (sort of) at Have A Lovely Time.

Bridal Express has another fantastical Frocktastrophe.

Vintage children's ride-on cars from Habitat

Aren't these vintage cars so utterly charming? Plastic ride-ons don't have a patch on them (and I have two such plastic models for my little ones). They're made from metal and the black version comes in at £75. However, if you want the pink you're in for a serious saving as it's up for £37.50, both from Habitat. [via Hygge Nook]

Sarah Jessica Parker's nursery plans

I must admit to being intrigued by the news that Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick are expecting twin girls with a surrogate, but I hadn't given a thought about all the style opportunities the pair will present. Luckily for us, Grazia magazine has...

Last week's issue featured a page full of details of SJP's "£10,000 baby blow-out" which included the revelation that the couple have shelled out on a Duetta Crib Mate (above left) together with Louis XIV bedding (above right).

Now I know SJP has made some brave and startling fashion choices in the past, but surely this monstrosity is way too tacky for her. Without the bedding, it's not bad. I think it would look gorgeous with a  twinkly fairy light canopy, for example. But the bedding? Holy eyesore, batman!

Next week is National Family Week

National Family Week is Britain's first ever national celebration of families.

There are all sorts of discounts, special offers, competitions and events on the website and the week kicks off with an attempt at the Guinness World Record for the largest ever picnic.

Register online and then turn up at your nearest venue (London's is taking place in Regent's Park) with at least two courses (i.e. sandwiches and cake), a drink and a rug or blanket. Or you could even host your own. More details here.

I'm obsessed with camper vans

I am. Totally obsessed. We know that we're going to holiday in the UK this year (if you don't count next month's trip to Disneyland Paris, which I don't since that's less of a holiday and more of a pilgrimage) and I have a hankering for a camper van. I spend a ridiculous amount of time looking at them online and while I love vintage VWs and Airstreams, there's something about the above trailer that I really love.

Partly it's the name: T@DA. You see, it's the "Dad" of the smaller, original T@B. But also, it's just so cute.

But are camper vans practical with a 5-year-old and a baby under 1? Anyone done it? Anyone as obsessed as me?

For more family travel, see our sister site, Go.

Losing weight after pregnancy... balance

One thing I've learned over the years of trying to lose weight is that, for me, it's a balancing act. A very specific balancing act: plate-spinning. I know, from experience, that if I can get my diet a bit healthier, drink a bit more water, take care of myself a bit better and do a bit more exercise then I start to feel better and the weight starts to come off. But if any one of those plates starts to wobble? The whole lot comes crashing down. And the thing is, it's hard to get them all up there at the same time. But it's just as hard to get them up one by one. Does that make any sense at all? I'll  just assume it does and move on...

My point is that, in the past month, I've started to get my plates up. They're not spinning, but they're up and that's all I can ask right now.