Plutonium Sox

Natalie Ray May 1, 2016 Books

Love2Read: a Father’s day gift idea

With Father’s Day just around the corner, I know that there will be people all over the country who find themselves in the same position as me. Trying to find the perfect gift to buy the dad who has everything and wants nothing. My husband’s birthday was last month and you may have read about the birthday present fiasco, which basically left me without a clue what to buy for him. Not only did my husband fail to come up with any ideas or drop any hints as to what he wanted, just before his birthday he also went out and…

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Natalie Ray April 29, 2016 Ethical shopping

Friday Feature #13: Eighteen Rabbit Fair Trade

Ethical purchasing is an issue really close to my heart because I hate the idea of my purchasing decisions having a detrimental effect, whether that be on the people that made the item or on the surrounding environment. Sadly, one of the main offenders when it comes to unethical production practices is the fashion and style industry. Eighteen Rabbit sell gifts, art and craft pieces that are ethical and fair trade. Their focus is on design and style, so as well as being ethically sound, many of their products are unique and all are fabulous. They are also based locally to me in…

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Natalie Ray April 28, 2016 Our Thursday Photos

Thursday Photo #103

This week has been largely focussed around birthdays. My husband’s birthday was over the weekend and nobody was more excited about this than Libby, not least because she was allowed to choose his birthday presents. My husband and I have never been particularly materialistic. If he thought a boat was an option for his birthday present, I’m sure he would have been happy to tell me exactly what he wanted. But with circumstances as they are, he couldn’t come up with anything for us to buy, and quite frankly neither could I. So, it was over to Libby. She decided…

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Natalie Ray April 27, 2016 Lifestyle

Having the confidence to be alone

Yesterday, I took my girls to soft play. It’s something we’ve started to do quite regularly, because I really see the benefit to their development in terms of climbing and running. I believe it is also good for them socially, since every time we go there are different children there, who they will make friends with and play with although they’re only together for an hour. So I found it a little odd when I walked into the soft play centre and realised that I was the only adult there on my own. It seems that everyone else views this…

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Natalie Ray April 26, 2016 Ethical shopping

Palm Oil Free Product Recommendations #3

This month, I haven’t discovered quite so many palm oil free products as usual. This may seem odd, but I see it as a bit of a victory. Because I’m finally starting to settle on the products I love and use regularly, and they have become a staple part of our monthly shop. That said, since my last palm oil free product recommendations post, there have been four products that have really stood out to me as being fantastic and I wanted to share them with you. Candles Until recently, I had no idea that candles generally contained palm oil derivatives,…

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