Better than a takeaway, not as expensive as a personalised dinner party chef ... Cook My Grub is a new food delivery service that is affordable, accessible and delicious.  Championing home chefs and with a massive choice of different cuisines available, they are now delivering their fresh, homemade food nationwide!  And last weekend I was invited to try Cook My Grub for my own dinner party at home.

Cook My Grub started as a local food delivery service in Berkshire before their recent expansion to nationwide delivery.  Founded in 2019 by entrepreneurs Shabbir Mookhtiar and Dinesh Patil, their ambition is to deliver authentic, home-cooked dishes that cannot be found on the high street.  Not only does their service offer easy to order, healthier ready meals, they are also supporting home based chefs to build their own small businesses.  

Cook My Grub have a hygiene promise, every chef is trained in allergy awareness and Hygiene Level 2 as well as conducting it's own regular hygiene audits and supporting them with local council registrations.  All meals are prepared within the guidelines of the Food Standard Agency.

So last weekend I invited our friends Mark and Steve for dinner .... with all the food delivered I could relax, open the wine, lay the table, get dressed up and not worry about what to cook!

​Have you ever dreamt of what you will do in your retirement? I am sure we all have ... I am not a huge fan of early retirement; research suggests that we might actually live longer if we work longer! But I do like the idea of retirement meaning a less pressurised lifestyle, more time off for holidays and relaxation.  Taking time to slow down and enjoy life, family and hobbies.  But still maintaining a sense of purpose maybe with a part-time job or by giving something back in a volunteer role. And of course, most importantly we want a healthy retirement with financial freedom so that we can continue enjoying living life to the full!

On this blog post I am sharing my plans for a fun retirement and some tips on how we can enjoy this more relaxed time in our lives!

This is a sponsored blog post with Pension Buddy.

Guest post from Celine Gaurier-Joubert from the London Piano Institute  | I am delighted to welcome Celine to my blog, Celine is the Founder and Artistic Director of the London Piano Institute which is undoubtedly the most comprehensive piano academy for adults in London and the United Kingdom. Thanks to their unparalleled understanding of adult piano enthusiasts who play the piano for their pleasure and broad experience in adult piano education, they have now established themselves as a reference in London.

I have never been musical, apart from playing the recorder and the violin for a very short time at school, picking up a musical instrument is not a familiar skill to me.  I'd have loved to have tried piano lessons but with no piano at home when I was growing up, it never seemed to be an option.  My son works in the music industry and although his skills are more technical (photography and videography) he has been able to learn piano as an adult, his employer organised adult piano lessons in the office for any employees that were interested.  

I agree it is never too late to do what we want to do, we can always learn new skills, or follow our dreams, no matter what our age. Learning to play the piano is not something I have ever considered but I do feel a little envious of those that can sit down at a piano and start playing, a good old fashioned sing-a-long is so good for the soul and of course a lot of fun!

This is a sponsored blog post.

A few months ago I embarked on a little home upgrade project! With the help of local interior designer Charlotte Minshell from Minshell Designs, I set about updating some of our decor, decluttering (now we have an empty nest) and creating some new colour schemes. I didn't want to complete a full renovation and I didn't need to do much decorating but I did feel we needed to inject a little creativity and tidy up our storage space as well as add some new updated accessories. It has been so much fun to do and I am delighted with the results. Without spending a fortune either. Charlotte came up with new ideas, things I hadn't thought of, and we worked together to make sure I kept to a budget but achieved my goals!

We had a fairly clear blank canvas in as far as the walls were already painted cream and we have good quality furniture items that we didn't want to get rid of but we did need ideas of how to give everything a fresher, more modern look .
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Upstairs had already been done the previous year so this project was focussed on the ground floor - the kitchen, conservatory and utility room, my home office and the living room, hall, stairs and landing! You can read my brief to Charlotte on my blog post, Can I Afford an Interior Designer?

This blog post is part of a gifted collaboration and contains affiliate links.