Category Archives: cats

The Purrfect Treat for your pet (with a discount!)

21st January 2017
Regular readers will know that Mae and I have received quite a few Purrfectboxes* over the last year or so and have very much enjoyed exploring them and reviewing them as a little team.

Today I thought I would go back to basics a bit so that anyone new around here or anyone who is interested but not entirely sure how Purrfectbox works can find out exactly what’s what!

Purrfectbox (and it’s canine equivalent Pawsomebox) is a monthly subscription box for your pet. Designed and developed by a dedicated team of pet lovers each box contains 5-6 items from top brands and typically includes toys, treats and food. Each box costs £14.50 inclusive of p&p which represents excellent value as if you were to buy each product individually you’d be spending far more, it also gives you a great chance to try out new things and discover new favourite toys and treats.
There are various sign up options available- 1 month, 3 months or a 6 month subscription and when you sign up you’ll be asked a few questions about your furry friend to ensure they get a box that is curated to their needs. For every two boxes that get delivered a £1 donation is made to dedicated animal charities so you’re helping to give something back too!
This month Mae was especially taken with the toys although the catnip monkey lost an arm almost straight away as she got a little bit over-excited! The little pet blanket was probably the greatest success- you’ll now often find Mae draped possessively over it, or under it during one of her frequent nap times.
The food inclusions in the boxes are often things we’ve never tried before- this month for example there was a bag of roast chicken cubes which Mae devoured eagerly as well as some sachets of wet food which included chicken and papaya which was wolfed down so fast my feline friend gave herself hiccups!

If you’ve been considering a pet subscription box or I’ve swayed you with one of our many reviews then now is a pretty good time to sign up- use the discount code ukb10oii at the checkout and get a £5 discount off of your first box making it even more of a bargain at £9.50.

Be sure to let me know if you do sign up, I’d love to know what your pet makes of it.

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Posted in cats, Mae, review

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Life Lately (in Instagram form)

03rd January 2017
Once upon a time Instagram posts used to be a monthly thing on this blog. Then life happened, or I suppose didn’t happen and I felt there was nothing to share. I thought I’d kick off 2017 (Happy New Year by the way) by getting back in to the swing of these round-ups. I’m a nosey soul who loves to browse other blogger’s Insta-posts so why not get back in to sharing my own? Here’s a little selection of recent happenings…give me a follow to see the full story.
Finally got my hands on this Kate Spade travel mug (thanks Grandad!)
Pretty new piece from Bumble & Moss
I love frosty mornings, the redeeming feature of Winter
This little minx makes me smile every day
Unicorn slippers!
Getting this in the post from a friend made my month! I’m all about the retro toys right now.
Gorgeous Christmas gift from the folks at Vendula London
My work Secret Santa got it spot on, despite me still not being back at work. I love my colleagues.
How I started Christmas Eve- Prosecco for breakfast should be a thing.
More frosty morning strolling.
Possibly my favourite sales purchase.
When your loved ones enable your crazy cat lady self.
Only the second Margaret Atwood book I’ve read, I need more!
Cat print dress of dreams courtesy of the Zara sale
Obsessed with this ginger kitty, anyone else smile the entire way through the film?
Gingerbread cheesecake (somewhat rustic looking) I knocked up for New Years Day
Just hover over the pictures to read my captioning skills or give them a click to view full size. Do I need to make this a monthly thing again? Let me know if you’ve done an Instagram post recently and I’ll check it out- and give you a follow on there if I don’t already!

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Posted in blogging, cats, friends, instagram, life, shopping, social life

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Mae (Kind of) reviews the latest Purrfectbox

06th December 2016
“Never work with children or animals” the saying goes- and although I can’t speak for the children side of things I’ve never had a problem getting Mae to cooperate when it comes to getting photos of her for the blog. That is until last week when we set aside a morning to explore the latest Purrfectbox*. Despite getting really excited upon first spying the box and trying her hardest to get in to it, as soon as the camera came out my feline fiend went on strike and refused to anything remotely interesting or cute. That’s the thing with my Mae, she is very much her own cat and no amount of coaxing, bribery with treats or offers of human food will get her to do anything unless she wants to.
Eventually we managed to get together enough photos to construct this post and despite her reluctance to show any form of enthusiasm for the most part she really did love this box- the toys in particular which have been carried, chased and thrown all over the house often turning up in the most random of places.
We’ve been lucky enough to receive a few Purrfectboxes now and despite turning her nose up at most of the toys I buy for her somehow they always manage to pack in a selection that become her new favourite things ever. This month Mae was particularly taken with a little pirate creature (which happens to be my favourite too) as well as the selection of catnip filled mice which I keep finding strewn all over the house.

It’s not just toys that you get in Purrfect box though, there were a couple of bags of treats which were swiftly devoured- the cheese chicken cubes from Trixie went down especially well! The deodorising litter crystals were also a nice touch, Mae doesn’t have a litter tray but I used these when I lived in my flat with Tobias and they really do make a massive difference.

Chances are if you’ve read my blog for any length of time you’ll know a bit about Purrfectbox but just incase you don’t then For those that don’t yet know the Purrfect Box is a monthly subscription which costs £19.90 a month with options to subscribe for longer periods of time which will reduce the monthly cost slightly. The contents of the box are guaranteed to be worth at least £30 with 4-6 premium products inside so it’s a pretty sweet deal, especially as each box is catered to your feline’s needs and preferences. Let me know if you decide to treat your feline friend to a box- we’ve had a few of these boxes now and are yet to receive one that hasn’t been well worth the money and Mae has amassed a huge collection of favourite toys- most memorably a dolphin that we frequently find in the bath. At the moment you can also order a Christmas box for £29.90 which contains a massive 8 products and would make for the perfect gift for any well behaved pet (which I have to say Mae really isn’t, but I can’t resist spoiling her regardless!)

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Posted in cats, christmas, gifts, review

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Gift Inspiration: Hello Harriet

26th November 2016
Today’s gifting inspiration post is one that combines some of my very favourite things- accessories, supporting a small business and CATS! I you’ve all been wondering when a purely cat themed gift guide would crop up…well, it’s here and it’s a good one!
Hello Harriet belongs to artist Harriet Gray and was set up in 2012 mainly as an excuse to create cute accessories for herself! Harriet’s products are inspired by the internet, half hearted feelings and all things cute- something I can really get behind! I first found Hello Harriet via Instagram, wonderful platform that it is for enabling endless wish lists and my interest peaked further when I found out it was also a fairly local brand to me (all of Harriet’s work comes direct from her home studio in Bath). Actually, after writing this post I’ve since popped along to a Bristol Etsy sellers pop-up shop where Hello Harriet products were for sale. I can confirm they are every bit as covetable in real life and I couldn’t resist a cheeky purchase of a rather sweet cat pin.

I’ve popped together just a small selection of some of my favourite wares in the image above (and they all feature cats, of course) but even if felines aren’t your thing then be sure to check out her shop for cuteness and sass galore!

A couple of my favourite products from Hello Harriet have to be the advent calendar (although you must order it this weekend to get it in time for December 1st) and the super quirky cat collar tags and matching necklaces. I’ve asked Santa for a necklace for myself and I did briefly consider getting a tag for Mae until she lost her second collar in the space of a fortnight, complete with tags and I realised she just couldn’t be trusted with something so cool!

Price wise you’ll find everything very purse friendly and the temporary tattoos and nail decals especially would make amazing stocking fillers for any cat lady (dog ladies too for that matter).

I strongly suggest dropping some serious hints by leaving laptop screens open on the Hello Harriet shop, I don’t think there’s anything on the site that I wouldn’t be delighted to receive and I know I won’t be the only one who feels that way…

Which items have caught your eye?

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Posted in brands I love, cats, christmas, gifts, inspiration, shopping

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My Purrfect Gift Box- the October edition

01st November 2016
Last month I had the super exciting opportunity to review My Purrfect Giftbox (see my post here) and was beyond impressed with both the concept and the execution. When I heard that the next box was going to be baking themed in honour of GBBO I was a little bit gutted as money is so tight for me at the moment I couldn’t justify treating myself to the box no matter how much I wanted to. Someone was clearly smiling down on me though as the wonderful Kim got in touch just before the boxes were sent out asking if I would like one- it took me all of half a second to fire off my excited response!
If you read my last post then you’ll already know this but before I get in to my review I just want to recap what My Purrfect Gift Box is all about:

Firstly you select which size box you would like, there are four sizes available (standard, lite, lite + gifts for kitty and standard + gifts for kitty) and it was the latter box that I was sent. Price wise the standard box + gifts for kitty costs £29.95 on a month to month basis, £86.95 for a three month subscription and £167.95 for a six month subscription. The standard and lite boxes are obviously lower priced with the same kind of discounts for longer term subscriptions. Now, on paper this might seem like quite a pricey option but I think when you see what is actually inside you’ll see that actually you’re getting a bloomin’ bargain!

My hopes were high for the October box based purely on the quality of the last one. As soon as I opened up the October box I knew those expectations had been well and truly smashed…

Firstly (because Mae is impatient and won’t wait for me) I’ll touch upon the gifts for cats- the first item out of the box was some luxury venison slices from The Innocent Cat Company (www.theinnocentcat.co.uk). Mae wasn’t sure about these at first, they have quite a pungent aroma which I think scared her a little, wimp that she is. Once she got past that issue she wolfed some down happily. At £14.95 for 3 x 100g packs these wouldn’t be an every day treat and we’re rationing these carefully but it’s lovely to be able to treat her to something so luxurious and wholesome! Equally popular with my feline friend was the tin of cat food from Applaws, these tins barely get a chance to touch her bowl when we give her one! Last up was a lovely cat nip filled mouse from KraftyKatsUK (find them on Etsy!) complete with baking themed fabric. This is Mae’s new BFF and at £3 each and a whole range of seasonal designs available she might find one or two in her Christmas stocking this year- if she behaves enough to deserve one, looking unlikely!

On to the human goodies and the first thing I opened up was this amazing oven mitt and tea towel from TextilesHomeDecor (on Etsy) which retails at £19.99 inc shipping from Germany. I absolutely love this and have stashed it safely away for when I move out of my parents place sometime next year- I’m 100% going with a cat themed kitchen this time!

Next up were these adorable cookie cutters. I already had some mini sized cat cutters which were good for well, mini treats but these are a really good size and perfect for making cookies and biscuits that you can then have amazing fun decorating, I can’t wait to get baking! If you fancy these for yourself then you can buy them for £10.00 from the My Purrfect Gift Box shop. Also pictured is the sweetest little set of cat themed cupcake cases from TheRandomBaker (on Etsy or available from the My Purrfect Gift Box site) as well as 12 rice paper cat toppers from LabelAmour. These only cost £1.50 and I’ll be using the recipe included in this months box to create some cat themed pumpkin cupcakes in the VERY near future.

And now, saving the best for last, my day was made when I saw these amazing ceramic cat shaped measuring spoons nestled in the box. These have been on my wish list for SO LONG along with measuring cups and are just the cutest kitchen accessory in the world. At the moment this set can be found at www.worldmarket.com and costs £9.99 with shipping from the USA. I’m still not over the joy of receiving these and I’ve been showing them off to anyone and everyone (I am that annoying cat person, sorry!).

As you can probably tell by now I was genuinely blown away by the October My Purrfect Gift Box and although I was sent one free of charge I 100% plan to treat myself and Mae to the occasional box once I’m back at work with a steady income coming in!

Still think My Purrfect Gift Box is expensive? Once you add up the value of all of the gifts included, not to metnion the time and care involved I think you’ll agree it’s a real bargain. A one off box would make an incredible gift for any cat lady- I can’t wait to see future themes.

If you’ve seen anything that’s really caught your eye there is the added bonus of the My Purrfect Gift Box online shop where you can purchase items from past boxes so there is no FOMO.

Let me know if you treat yourself to a box or any of the goodies from the shop- it’s the purrfect pick me up and treat for both yourself and your favourite feline companion.

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Posted in cats, Mae, review

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