30.4.13

Little Jones Style: Diane von Furstenberg at BabyGap


Last week London finally saw a little bit of sun, and it actually felt a quite toasty. Well at 29 weeks pregnant, anything over 16 degrees feels boiling to me right now. Anyhow, little E and I decided to embark on a trip to the Kings Road to stock up on some summer goodies for her. We stepped in to Gap Kids and to our delight, DVF's limited edition explorer collection had quite literally just landed on the shelves.




Now I'm a huge DVF fan myself, her dresses are completely timeless, exquisitely cut and on top of all that, you can throw them in a suitcase and they still come out looking pristine when you arrive at your destination. So, last year, I was very excited about DVF's first gap collaboration but in reality I preferred the collection for older girls and couldn't really find anything that suited little E. This time around, I found the selection more appropriate for her age, we were quite literally spoiled for choice and although little E is only 20 months, she already knows what she does and doesn't like when it comes to clothes. Apparently it's payback time, my mother tells me when I was little E's age, I too would pick out clothes and especially shoes for myself when taken shopping, refusing to compromise on anything my parents chose for me! Anyhow, here's what we came away with:








E adores the wrap dress, which comes with little shorts worn underneath and we had trouble getting her to take it off at bath time. She also has a fondness for lions and tigers so the leggings were also a big hit!

23.4.13

The Double Buggy Debate

What's the deal with double buggies? There are heaps of stylish AND practical strollers around for 1 child but when you move on to the doubles it seems you have to compromise between something ugly but practical or something that looks great but is like pushing a tank around.
With Baby Jones 2.0 due in under 3 months, Mr Jones and I have been doing some serious research in to double pushchairs, yet we can't seem to find the perfect one. These are our top 3 so far.....

1. The Bugaboo donkey- we visited Peppermint in Chiswick who very kindly allowed us to take the Donkey home with us to check that it fit in our boot and importantly, through our front door! We just managed to fit it in the boot of our BMW 1 series, in the Duo formation ( i.e. 1 cot and 1 seat) . As with all Bugaboos it is a super cool ride, E loved sitting in it, it's relatively easy to collapse, especially if you are already familiar with the Bugaboo Chameleon. Most of all, I love that both siblings travel first class, I'm not a fan of the tandem buggies where one child can only see the back of the seat in front although I totally understand their practicality from a parent's point of view. My main problem with this stroller, and this could be the deal breaker, is that it feels very very wide. The shop assistant told me that in the Duo configuration, the donkey measures 74cms which is less than the width of an average door and roughly only 10cms bigger than the Chameleon. It did fit through our front door although I'm not sure how long our newly painted hallway will remain pristine with this baby being carted around.



2. Mima Kobi- from an aesthetic point of view, this is my absolute favourite. The Kobi is a beauty, I totally fell for it just like I did with our Stokke Xplory. It's a piece of cake to collapse, it's a dream to push around, I love the clever design and the way that when not in use the carrycot can be conveniently stored in the back of the regular seat.  Even though this is a tandem stroller, there is quite a large gap between both seats so both children get a good view. As with the Xplory,  child at the top has the advantage of close contact with the parent although obviously the child underneath cannot benefit from this. At 20 months, little E ( or not so little as it seems) is apparently rather tall for her age, her head already touches the top of the canopy when seated in the Kobi so I wonder how long she would be able to sit comfortably in this seat. For this reason, even the sales assistant admitted that the Donkey was the better option. I was heart broken!





3. Orbit double Helix- This has yet to be released in the UK so I can't really comment on this but from the images on their website, what I like about this stroller is that both children have great seats and as it's an in line stroller, I wouldn't have to worry about it being too wide. For the techno geeks among us it even comes with a built in iPad holder!!!! I contacted Orbit via their Facebook page and they told me that the double Helix should be available in the UK from July. As little bean is due mid July, I'm wondering if this is cutting things a little too fine if on closer inspection, we don't actually like this pushchair.



All in all I can't actually find anything that makes me willing to part with my beloved Stokke Xplory. Yes, Stokke have introduced a sibling seat for their new Crusi stroller but it is apparently only designed for occasional use. I have seen the Crusi in person and sibling seat really does seem like an afterthought, placed in the middle of the shopping basket, the seat only seemed to have one position so I don't think this is an option for us, why Stokke why?????

Writing out the pros and cons for this blog post I can see that the Donkey probably makes the most sense for us, and I do quite like the look of the new all black chassis.  What do you think, are there any other models of double strollers that I should investigate? 

15.4.13

Bits n Bobs




1. Like a good (1/2) Greek girl, I love my Feta! THIS recipe for Feta dip from The Londoner, is so easy that even I can make it!!

2. I have recently discovered THIS fantastic 30 minute prenatal yoga clip with Lara Dutta on YouTube, it helps to me to wake up in the morning, which is becoming increasingly difficult as I head towards 28 weeks.

3. I'm coveting THESE monogram studs from Anthropologie, I would of course have the letter E.

4. THIS tutorial for winged eyeliner from The Beauty Department is foolproof and works fantastically well.


9.4.13

Nails of the Week- Sensationail Fuzzy Navel

This week's nails of the week is Sensationail's Fuzzy Navel, a neutral pink shade. In case you don't remember, Sensationail is a gel polish which I reviewed a while ago here
Checking out Sensationail's website a few weeks ago I noticed they had added a few new shades to their collection and I let out a little squeal of excitement when I saw a swatch that looked like it could be the illusive peach gel polish that I have been searching for.....



Well as you can see, it's not quite what I was looking for and the actual shade is far pinker than the swatch shown on their website. It is also quite sheer so I applied three coats to achieve opacity. Whilst it's quite a pretty shade, it's still rather tame for my tastes so I added a little love heart to make things a little more interesting.
To achieve the heart, I used Gelish Tiger Blossum gel polish. Using a cocktail stick I placed three tiny circles of polish in a triangle shape and then joined them together to create a heart shape and filled it out slightly.


If you have any suggestions for a peach gel polish then please, pretty please, let me know!!!

7.4.13

My Mama Makeover- Sneak Peak

A few weeks ago, I was suuuuppper excited to find out that I had been selected for a mama makeover with Keungzai and Juno Mum magazine!!!! So yesterday, our home was turned in to girlie heaven as Michelle arrived from Keungzai with a suitcase full of fabulous maternity clothes with makeup artists Remy and hair stylist Mickie of Face Addict Hair Junkie in tow followed by the fantastic photographer Diane Betties and her assistant Justin ( the only guy as Mr Jones did a runner as soon as he saw all the make-up appear!)







I was very paranoid that Michelle wouldn't be able to find any clothes to fit me as I hadn't lost all my baby weight from little E before getting pregnant again. I needn't have worried though as not only did Michelle have plenty of outfits that fit but they were all absolutely beautiful, chic and made of the softest, comfiest fabrics.
Now I'm a bit of a shopaholic, but even I begrudge forking out $$$ for maternity clothes that will only be worn for a few months. The Keungzai range is has all been very cleverly designed so that it can be worn both during and after pregnancy, genius! 



I got to wear some fabulous accessories and jewellery but my favourite had to be this gorgeous leather handbag from Pitterpac, which is actually....... a changing bag!! Can you believe it??? I want!!



Luckily the sun popped out to say hi for the first time this year!! It was still a little chilly though.





I'm so excited to see the final results which should be in the first ever issue of Juno Mum magazine, out this summer.
Throughout both pregnancies, I haven't really let anyone take any photos of me. Mainly because I've felt so uncomfortable with myself and how I look, but yesterday I was made to feel like a superstar and everyone was SO lovely. Wouldn't it be great if all mamas could get pampered like that once in a while?
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