Dream home

Over the years I have lived in a number of properties. By the time I reached my teenage years the number of houses I had called home was in the double digits. Some of the houses were ones we owned, others privately rented.

Having lived in numerous houses and experienced the benefits and downsides of both owning and renting a house, I have developed my own views on what makes a good home.

My thoughts of what makes a good home has inspired me to dream of the perfect home. As my life has changed over the years, from being a single 20-something with no responsibilities to a mum in a family of 4 in her early 30’s my dream home has also changed. Before having my own little family my dream home consisted of a spacious, modern apartment. Then I met Lee and settled down and had kids. Now my dream home is a large home fit for a growing family.

Lotto betting with Lottoland

Over the past few years I have found myself playing the lottery on a regular basis. Unintentionally it has become part of our routine and I tend to buy a ticket nearly every week whilst doing the food shop. I always stick to only getting 1 ticket a week.

Sometimes when life is hectic and the task of food shopping has driven me mad and I just want to get out of there I do forget to get a ticket and then wait until the following week and hope that our numbers don’t come up that week I forgot to get a ticket - so far no near misses of our numbers coming up and we could have been multimillionaires if I HAD bought a ticket. PHEW!

Over the years we have won a number of times - £10, £25 and £50 quite a few times - but no big, life changing wins yet. Whilst I would not turn away millions of pounds, a win of a few thousands would be delightful and very welcome, whilst a £100,000 or so win would be life changing for us.

Disney parks - memories and dreams

When I was 12 I was very fortunate to go on a truly memorable, once in a lifetime family holiday to Orlando, Florida in USA. During our stay in Orlando we enjoyed a couple of magical days at Walt Disney World Resort Florida. When we visited the magical resort it was celebrating its 25th Anniversary.

As it was such a memorable and amazing holiday - even to this day I vividly remember the park and meeting Mickey Mouse! - I would love to take my boys on a similar holiday.

Lottery win wishlist.

Like most people, I have dreamed about winning the lottery. Dreaming about what I would do if my numbers came in and I won big.

Whilst I may not play the lottery on a regular basis I do dabble every once in a while in the hope of having a little win, or even better a big win!

When I am feeling a little lucky I will pick up a lottery ticket whilst shopping or buy online lottery tickets, then cross my fingers and hope that lady luck is shining down on me and that my numbers come up.

Admittedly if we won BIG many of my spending dreams would be rather predictable ones such as going on a wonderful family holiday and buying a house. I’d also love to treat loved ones to things they desire the most. Putting money aside for our children’s future and a rainy day would also be top of the list if our numbers came in for a BIG win.

Whilst the idea of a BIG, life-changing win is a wonderful dream; I would be more than happy with a win of a few thousand pounds to help make life that little bit easier and enable us to get a few key things that we want most at the moment.

Second time lucky?

Looking back on my life so far I am awash with memories both good and bad. Sentimental thoughts stir up feelings of happiness, delight and satisfaction about many experiences and events I have been lucky to experience. Similarly nostalgic thoughts of the past also rouse emotions of regret and sadness.

Whilst I have had many moments of happy events and amazing experiences during my 30 years of life, there have been a few times where for varying reasons I have missed out on an amazing life experience or not been able to do what I really want to do.

I wish I had gone on a once in a lifetime holiday abroad where I could have accomplished my dream of swimming with dolphins, experienced a different culture and seen wondrous sights when exploring and going on adventures.

 I regret not going to college to the course I really, really wanted to do.

I dream that things could have been different so that Lee and I could have had our dream wedding a few years ago instead of putting it on hold, a dream wedding that unfortunately has still not happened.

As I am sad and am regretful to have missed out on a few amazing experiences during my life and have been through a very dark period of time when I was suffering from clinical depression, I now try to live life to its fullest and if I am lucky enough to have a second chance at something I try not to waste that chance.

My dream garden for the ultimate garden party.

As I love being outdoors when we moved I was pleased that our new home had a garden where Bug and I can play outdoors, grow plants and admire flowers blooming and where we can have little garden parties with friends and family.  Unfortunately our garden was neglected by the previous tenants so we have been giving our garden some much needed TLC in the hope of transforming it from a barren, unloved garden to a lovely haven with beautiful blooms and luscious grass with space for Bug to play and enjoy outdoors toys as well as a space where we can sit and entertain friends and family.

Sprucing up our garden has sparked thoughts about how I would love my garden to look like and what garden items I would love to have in our little slice of outdoors heaven.  Imagining my dream garden has ignited thoughts about how we will enjoy said dream garden, in particular how we will enjoy partying in the sunshine, enjoying the company of our dearest friends and family at our summer garden parties.

Starting from scratch, with no garden items, limited plants, no garden furniture and only a handful of small outdoor toys, our garden is the perfect canvas to work on so we can create our dream family garden, a garden that we will enjoy as a family and where we will hold fun summer garden parties.  Unfortunately thanks to a lack of funds our dream garden is a slow work in progress and it may well take us a long time to get everything that we want to make our dream garden a reality and make it the perfect garden for hosting ultimate garden parties but that does not stop me from dreaming……

BI-Folding Doors

As I love the outdoors, I would love to have Bi-Folding Doors that will bring elements of the outdoors into our home and create an open airy space indoors whilst seamlessly bringing the indoors and outdoors together in unison.  Another bonus of having Bi-Folding Doors is that the huge, foldable doors will open up the house so that I can keep an eye on Bug and see him enjoying himself when he is playing outdoors with his friends and I have to pop into the house (most probably to stock up on snacks and drinks for the busy little kids).

Not only will having Bi-Folding Doors connect my dream garden to our home it will also be a stunning element to our home that would bring the WOW factor to any garden party.  Having huge open doors will allow party-goers to socialises indoors and outdoors with easy, make it easier to move food and drinks outdoors and provide stunning views of our garden and fun garden party to the guests who are relaxing in the comfort of our living room overlooking the garden.  A big bonus of having Bi-Folding Doors for garden parties is that the guests who decide to sit inside to escape the sun for a while will still feel like they are part of the party.

If I won big and hit the Jackpot with 888Ladies.

I recently played a new game on 888Ladies called Millionaire Genie.  Whilst the game lacked any skill or social interaction with other players and it was a tad confusing how the amount awarded for winning was calculated the game was eye-catching and interesting.  As I am not a frequent online gamer and have not as of yet played any other game on 888Ladies, Millionaire Genie is my favourite 888Ladies game.

One of things I like most about the game Millionaire Genie is the Arabian Night’s theme and the colourful, beautifully designed animated 3D design of the game.  I admire the designs on the tiles and find the game is made more interesting and visually appealing thanks to the game coming alive when a win is achieved.

My Wedding Scrapbook.

Lee and I will have been engaged for 4 years in June this year.  Whilst our wedding may not be planned for the near future it does not stop me dreaming about and planning our big day.

If money was no problem here is what I would love for my wedding day where I would marry my soul mate in front of our loved ones with Bug and maybe if we are lucky other children of ours at our side.

The first thing that I would like to do is get a new engagement ring to replace my beloved yet broken engagement ring.  I would love a vintage inspired ring and if I had the money I would especially love a Vintage engagement ring from Romance Diamond Bridal Collection to sit next to a delicate diamond wedding ring.

* Sponsored video * Dream the Blues campaign - Samsung and Chelsea FC.

Living with a footie fan who is an avid supporter of the beautiful game and both Lee and I being champions of great campaigns aimed at children I had to share about Samsung Electronics’ ‘Dream the Blues’ campaign alongside Chelsea FC.

The Dream the Blues campaign provides children from a number of countries across the globe with a once-in-a-lifetime football experience.  The campaign which covers four continents and eight different countries aims to encourage football-loving children aged 9-13 to develop their football skills and achieve their football dreams with a little help from English Premier League club Chelsea FC.

This year’s Dream the Blues campaign is the second season of the campaign following on from last year’s successful launch of the Samsung Dream the Blues campaign with Chelsea FC.  The campaign is an expansion of the Samsung-Chelsea FC Youth Football Camp programme which has been providing children with the opportunity to be trained for the next generation of football players since 2007 with the initiative having benefited 5,000 children across the World so far.

Should I Snow or Should I Go? - Win a snow or beach holiday with Cosmos Holidays.

After the drab, dreary and very stormy winter we have had in the UK this year with powerful winds, relentless rain and ferocious tides battering the country for weeks on end I am sure many people across the country have been hoping and praying for better weather.  I can imagine for many people the thought of jetting away on a holiday abroad to get some much needed respite from the bad weather has flitted across their minds on numerous occasions.

I for one have found myself daydreaming of a holiday on numerous occasions over the past few weeks, imagining being able to jet away for a long, relaxing and fun filled family holiday abroad, leaving the drab wet and windy weather behind for some much nicer weather.  Unfortunately for us a fun filled family holiday abroad will have to remain but a daydream for now thanks to a meagre looking bank balance.

As our bank balance will not stretch to a family holiday abroad at the moment but the desire to go on holiday is still there, will images of holidaying abroad popping into my head I have been entering competitions where there is a chance of winning a holiday.

Luckily for people like me who dream of a holiday abroad but can’t afford to jet away, Cosmos Holidays are running a competition to win either a snow or sun holiday.  Entering is easy, simply ‘Like’ their Facebook page and take the ‘Should I Snow or Should I Go?’ quiz and answer 7 questions to find out whether you are a ‘Snow’ or ‘Go’ personality to get entered into the prize draw to win either a skiing holiday in Austria or a beach holiday in Sharm el Sheikh.