Emerging...

Woah. Being ill isn't good. Being ill with 2 children to look after? Even worse.

For the last 2 weeks I've had some random virus. It felt like flu but I don't think it is as I've managed to infect people who've had the flu jab (sorry, Mum). To say I felt like I'd been hit my a truck would be a massive understatement. I couln't get out of bed for 5 days. Again, not ideal when you have kids and your husband is out for 16 hours a day.

Then Max got sick too, that's when I really got pissed off with these germs 'take me but don't take my baby'. So there were 2 of us, curled up in bed whilst poor little Finn has been watching 'I Can Cook' on repeat. Hey, don't judge, he's been having a BALL.

Today is my birthday, I still feel like crud and I'm totally OVER this now. But I have lost half a stone. Every cloud and all that...

An exhausted lady's make-up bag

In Days Gone By I would think nothing of casually leaving the house without a scrap of make up on. These days have sadly passed for a number of reasons

a) 'Casually' leaving the house? Oh, come on.

b) I am 33 in 2 weeks time. This didn't bother me until I got a new camera. Like seeing yourself in HD all your crinkly glory in EVERY PHOTOGRAPH YOU OWN

c) In the last 5 years I've been through 2 pregnancies, childbirth (twice, obvs) and now am keeper to 2 small people who don't rate sleep as highly as I do. Turns out this takes its toll on your face. Who knew??

So these days there is at the very least a slick of mascara and liberal slather of foundation before I start my day.

I've experimented with many a product promising concealing, brightening, tightening and lifting over the last few years and these, my friends are my failsafe exhaustion-busters...

1. Bourjois Healthy Mix Serum

2. No. 7 Instant Radiance Beauty Lotion

3. Rimmel Lash Accelerator

4. Clinique Shimmering Tones Powder

5. Benefit Boi-ing concealer

And this is the result. Alot less scary than the original version

A little insight

This is lots of fun. I was tagged by Charlotte, now it's my turn...

THE RULES

1. Post these rules

2. Post 11 random things about yourself

3. Answer the questions provided by the one who tagged you

4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag

5. Go to their blog and tell them they've been tagged!

11 Random things...

1. I want a horse so badly
2. My favourite song is 'Romeo and Juliet' by Dire Straits
3. Until I had children I had never changed a nappy
4. I can play the flute (badly)
5. I lived in Dubai for 2 years when I was 18
6. I have a massive crush on Jon Bon Jovi
7. I can touch my nose with my tongue
8. I'm terrified of earwigs
9. I can't whistle
10. I wanted to be a vet until I did my work experience at a vet hospital and watched a post-mortem on a dog
11. I never drink a cup of tea straight away, it has to be lukewarm

Now for my questions from Charlotte...

1. What is your favourite book?
The Lovely Bones or The Memory Keepers Daughter. Both read years before the films came out and both tainted by the films

2. Who would you have play you in your life story?
Natalie Portman. I look nothing like her but I adore everything she does

3. Heels or flats?
Flats. Unless I'm out without my (5ft 5) husband when I slip on my highest pair of heels. Then fall over.

4. Describe yourself in six words before becoming a Mama.
Ambitious, materialistic, carefree, sociable, impatient, tidy (3 of these still hold true)

5. Do you have any religious beliefs?
Nope.

6. If you could be anything, what would you be?
A cat. They sleep all day for crying out loud!

7. What makes you cringe?
Grown-ups talking baby talk. To grown-ups.

8. Do you have a quote you live by?
Follow your dreams. Not a quote so much as a philosophy I live by. Nothing is out of reach.

9. What is your biggest fear?
Losing my children, and flying. Let's not talk about what the thought of getting on a plane with my children does to me.

10. Your favourite place in the world is?
Wow, that's hard. Don't know if it's my ultimate favourite but Aviemore in Scotland is up there. Although the landscape is stunning, it's the memories which make it beautiful.

11. What makes your heart flutter?
A spontaneous kiss from someone I love.

Now my questions for Born in 2011, More Than Toast, and Red Boots

1. If you hadn't given your child(ren) the names you did, what would they have been called?
2. What's the funniest thing you've done whilst drunk?
3. What's your guilty pleasure?
4. What did you want to be when you were little?
5. What's your favourite feature about yourself?
6. When was the last time you cried?
7. What were you doing when you were 20?
8. If you won the lottery, what would be your first 3 purchases?
9. What's the best present you've ever received?
10. What's the most embarrassing thing that's happened to you?
11. What was your best job?