What I Wore Wednesday: Jord Wood Watches Giveaway

I'm the first to admit I'm not really a watch person; I tend to look at my phone for the time but I love how chunky watches look as an accessory. Jord Wood Watches use natural materials to offer a unique fashion flare. Their wood watches are one of a kind, premium quality time pieces, hand-crafted with sustainable materials from all over the world. 

The watches are stylish but also sustainable and definitely stand out in the sea of metal and rubber watches out there. I personally fell in love with the black and maple Sully. I love the mix of dark and light wood and the large face. If I'm going to wear a watch I prefer it chunky rather than delicate. The Sully is technically in the men's range but I love the oversized look and feel.

Maybe it's just me but I love a large, masculine watch against more delicate, feminine bracelets.  The watch itself is so well crafted and doesn't feel mass produced. So many watches look identical regardless of brand but Jord watches really stand out as being unique and since the wood grain will vary from piece to piece each one truly is one of a kind.

The team at Jord are giving you a chance to win your very own Jord wood watch! Choose a Sully like mine or any watch up to the value of $139! Jord ship their amazing watches worldwide so the competition is open to all of my readers around the globe!

Leave a blog comment with what watch you'd choose and follow the Rafflecopter instructions to enter. Competition ends Friday, August 22nd at 5pm BST (see widget for hours remaining). See Rafflecopter widget for full Terms and Conditions--only valid entries will be counted.

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What I Wore Wednesday: Hotter Handbag Giveaway!

Remember my new cute boat shoes from Hotter? Not only do Hotter have cute and comfortable shoes but they also have a carefully co-ordinated range of super soft leather and suede women's handbags to match their comfortable formal women's shoes and casual women's shoes.

The fabulous team at Hotter are giving you the chance to win a bag from their newest range!

The competition is open to residents of the United Kingdom AND the USA! Leave a blog comment with what bag you'd choose and follow the Rafflecopter instructions to enter. Competition ends Monday, June 16th at 5pm BST (see widget for hours remaining). See Rafflecopter widget for full Terms and Conditions--only valid entries will be counted.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

An InLinkz Link-up

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5 Year Blogoversary £100 Voucher Giveaway!

It's been five years since I started rambling away about randomness here on Transatlantic Blonde. I've blogged on and off for years so when I started I never imagined I'd actually stick with it this long or that y'all would actually read it! I'm still continuously shocked that I have an audience outside of my friends and family who have to listen to me :)

To celebrate my blogoversary I think it makes the most sense to give a present not to myself but to my amazing readers--I wouldn't have accomplished all of this without your support! The traditional fifth anniversary gift is wood; no offence to trees but that's kinda boring. So instead I'm giving y'all the chance to choose your present! You could win your choice of £100 vouchers in my blogoversary giveaway!

If you read my blog you'll know I have a lot of different interests and cover a lot of different topics so I couldn't just choose one prize! All of the prize options give you a chance to win some of my favourite things! When you enter my 5th blogoversary giveaway you are entering for a chance to win your choice of:

£100 of Amazon vouchers or

£100 of ASOS vouchers or

£100 of SpaFinder vouchers or

£100 of Starbucks vouchers!

I dare you to tell me there isn't something there for everyone! What is there on Amazon you can't buy? I'm in love with all their American grocery items personally but then I also would love a mini shopping spree on ASOS or treat myself to some pampering with SpaFinder or feed my Frappuccino addiction with Starbucks. No matter what you choose I'll be jealous!

To enter leave a blog comment with which option you'd choose and what you'd buy with your vouchers and follow the instuctions on Rafflecopter. Competition ends Friday, July 19th (see widget for hours remaining). See Rafflecopter widget for full Terms and Conditions. OPEN WORLDWIDE! Vouchers will be issued to equivalent of £100 if you live outside of the UK.

Thank you to the friendly folks at Appliances Online for donating the prize! Good luck!

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Sodastream Review and Giveaway!

This post is brought to you by NotBlondeHusband. I wish Blogger made it easier to tell who the author of a post was! I love our SodaStream Drinks Maker but NBH is the one with fizzy history.

To me SodaStream conjures up memories of childhood. I never had one but I remember friends who did and I also remember greatly coveting one, although never quite managing to get my parents to succumb and get “busy with the fizzy”. I was slightly worried that admitting to remembering it may show my age but given I also remember when most people in Scotland had fizzy drinks delivered to their door on a milk float so I decided SodaStream is probably the least of my worries.

Despite the fact that I considered it somewhat of a sevnties/ eighties throwback SodaStream never really went away. It’s always been popular in Europe where apparently more than 1 in 5 households in Sweden own a machine, but it seems to have somewhat reappeared in the UK recently, so when we were offered a chance to test one out I was keen not only to right my childhood wrongs but also to see where the growing move back to SodaStream had come from.

First off I was surprised how easy it is. We tried the “pure” drinks maker. It doesn’t need plugged in, just a work surface to sit on. Initial set up was a doddle and afterwards it’s just a case of screwing on a plastic bottle and pulling a lever. You then add your syrup of choice and hey presto, 1l of fizzy goodness. A 500ml bottle of syrup costs around £3.49 and makes 12 litres, so the savings that can be made on even supermarket own label soft drinks are pretty good.

Aside from fiscally, SodaStream also makes sense environmentally. The bottle used in the machine is reusable, so instead of piling up mountains of empty 2 litre bottles and throwing away drinks cans that we intended to recycle but just never got round to, the SodaStream has reduced the amount of rubbish we create, which can’t be a bad thing.

My main concern about SodaStream was the flavours. When it comes to soft drinks I’m a label whore, supermarket brands are not an option. First time around I remember SodaStream having name brand flavours like Vimto, Tizer and Irn Bru, now it’s all made in house. I needn’t have really worried, the fruit flavours are great and there’s a surprisingly large range of other drinks, clear flavoured waters, natural options and even energy drinks (I found the Red Bull-esque Xstream particularly good). I’m not going to lie though, for me the cola flavours don’t stack up to the name brand equivalents. We started with a sample pack which let us try without buying a full bottle of the syrups. The root beer in particular was a huge success. We’re all root beer fans in our house and as it’s generally imported into the UK it tends to be expensive. £3.49 for 12 litres with SodaStream is a bargain. It’s not hard to find the syrups either. We’ve bought some in both Tesco and Asda, as well as ordering from the full selection on the SodaStream website.

I think the main reason my parents were anti-SodaStream in the eighties was that they were worried that it somewhat relied on a novelty factor, that we’d all be excited to make our own fizzy drink once or twice and then we’d put it in the back of a cupboard and forget about it. So far that’s not been a problem for it: three months on it’s still in the kitchen and we still use it, both for knocking together soft drinks and soda water. In fact we like it so much that I’m pretty sure that it’s a permanent feature.

The SodaStream Drinks Makers are available to buy at most major grocery stores or online via the SodaStream online store starting from £55.99.

The fabulous people at SodaStream are giving you the chance to win a SodaStream Drinks Maker! If you live in the UK leave a blog comment and follow the Rafflecopter instructions to enter.  Competition ends Friday, January 11th at 4am (see widget for hours remaining). See Rafflecopter widget for full Terms and Conditions.
GOOD LUCK! Competition CLOSED.

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Transatlantic Blonde was provided a SodaStream Drinks Maker for review and one for a prize but all opinions and stories are our own. I don't know about yours but my husband only does and says things he wants to say!

Our Olympic Experience plus Win a Panasonic Lumix Olympic Edition Digital Camera!

We love the Olympics in our house. LOVED. I seriously don't think our television was ever off the BBC during the games while events were being televised (if you aren't in the UK there were 18 different Olympic channels during the games that were live 7am-11pm every day). It was really cool watching Blondie Boy pretend to run really fast or do a pommel horse routine (I wish I'd taken a video!) and we even went to see Sweden play France in the Women's Football/Soccer Quarter Finals.

While getting a toddler to sit through a whole 90 minutes of football/soccer isn't the easiest task in the world he had a great time and really, really, REALLY love doing "The Wave" or as it is apparently called in the UK "The Mexican Wave."

We went and saw the giant Olympic rings on George Square in Glasgow and also took a picture with the Olympic mascot (is it Wenlock or Mandeville?!?) after the game. I really feel between our day out at the football and seeing the torch earlier this summer we really did everything possible to take part in the games in Glasgow.

So when it came time for the final day of London 2012 I decided to try and let Blondie Boy show his enthusiasm for the Olympics through the medium of face paint. He'd already perfected his "USA! USA! USA!" chant and cheered "Go Handy Murray" during the tennis finals so I knew he was split equally with his support.

The Union Jack didn't turn out too bad since I had a stencil but his USA cheek, well it was pretty lacking. Luckily there is a fab Flag Tag Facebook app by Panasonic that lets you show your support with faux facepaint!

Instant patriotism and no messy clean-up! To celebrate Panasonic's role in the Olympics I have a limited Olympic edition Lumix Digital Camera to give away to one of you!

To enter you must comment which country you'd support and your favourite Olympic sport on this blog post and try the Panasonic Flag Tag app and use the Rafflecopter widget below. You can earn extra entries per Rafflecopter, too. This competition is open WORLDWIDE (if you live outside the UK you'll be sent an Amazon voucher to get the camera; if you live in the UK you'll get the camera shipped to your door!) 
COMPETITION CLOSED a Rafflecopter giveaway

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR WINNER!!!

Transatlantic Blonde was compensated and provided the prize for this post but all opinions and stories are my own. Our tickets to the Olympics were paid for by me ages ago when tickets were released. It would be pretty weird if I made up going to the Olympics don't you think?

Win a Blurb Photobook for Father's Day with Dropgifts

When it comes to buying presents for NotBlondeHusband I almost always struggle. He's crazy tough to buy for so with Father's Day just around the corner I'm starting to consider what I might get him. If you're like me and not sure what to get the Dad in your life I've got a competition to win a custom Blurb Photobook in time for Father's Day from the lovely people at DropGifts!

DropGifts is a new social gifting app and website that lets you send digital giftcards to your friends via Facebook. They make it quick and easy for people to send gifts from where ever they are in the world and have partnered with some great brands such as amazon, John Lewis and tastecard so there is something for everyone!

To enter use the Rafflecopter widget and answer this question in the comments: 
Share you favourite memory or funny story of a Dad in your life!


There are extra entries available for tweeting, liking on Facebook and you'll get THREE extra entries for sending a free card to a friend using DropGifts! Competition is now CLOSED. The winner has until June 6th to get in touch and claim their prize. a Rafflecopter giveaway
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What I Wore Wednesday: Valentine's Day Date Night

For Valentine's Day NotBlondeHusband and I went to see opening night of Zack Braff's new play "All New People" at the Kings Theatre here in Glasgow. Blondie Boy's Auntie Jefy very kindly came to watch him so we could take in the show and a cheeky meal afterwards.

We had amazing seats (front row, grand circle) and while at times I felt the play was trying a bit too hard we both enjoyed it. I love going to the theatre and hadn't been in ages. We grabbed dinner at Bath Street Pony after the show and all in all I'd say it was a great Valentine's Day.  Did you see what NBH got me? Yea awesome Valentine's Day.

So I decided to wear an outfit combining some of my favourite trends from the outfits y'all link up each week: leggings, blazers and leopard print. The leggings are amazing shapewear from Hold Your Haunches that utilize medical grade compression under super stylish leggings. 

As someone with a c-section tummy I love these pants; it noticeably minimized my middle and smoothed out that dreaded c-section overhang. NBH said my butt looked higher too; I don't check out my own ass so I will take his word for it!

Cropped Blazer- HM

Ruffled Top- HM

Boot Cut Leggings- Hold Your Haunches

Studded Bag- Versace for HM

Leopard Print Heels- Dune (TK Maxx)

Sparkly Drop Earrings- Etsy

I finally used my Versace for HM bag! I have no idea why one leg looks shorter than the other; I think NBH needs to let me look at pictures after he takes them next time! 

I originally bought a black and white polka dot top to wear but I thought it felt to business-like so I went with the low cut, ruffle top instead. I was super comfortable and hopefully super cute, too!

The awesome ladies behind Hold Your Haunches are giving y'all a chance to win a pair (boot cut or straight leg) of your own! Use the Rafflecopter widget below (if you are on a mobile you'll need to use a computer-sorry) to enter! Competition closes 28/2 at midnight.

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Transatlantic Blonde was provided leggings for review and giveaway but all opinions are our own.

Most Deserved Motors Competition

Do you know someone who never gets rewarded for all of their hard work and efforts? Motors.co.uk has just launched a brand new competition to give the most deserving person in the UK a fantastic prize.  I think we can agree a lot of people's hard work and good deeds go unnoticed so Motors.co.uk want to give the winner £10,000 to spend on a used car of their choice from the Motors website, and they will also donate £2,500 to the winner’s chosen charity!

The competition will take place in two stages:

Stage one is where anyone can nominate an individual

Stage two the Most Deserving Panel at Motors will decide on the semi-finalists before inviting the general public to vote. This will whittle it down to 3 finalists from whom the Most Deserving Panel will examine and decide a winner.

So what do you need to do? 

Write up to 500 words saying why your nominee is so special. It could be for any reason- maybe you know someone who spends a lot of their free time helping out at special projects or charities, or maybe it’s someone who has done something amazing to change someone’s life. Whatever the reason, if you know someone who you think deserves to win this fantastic prize and that deserves a big thank you, then this is the perfect opportunity!

Please read all the terms and conditions and good luck!

This is a sponsored post but who doesn't want to win a car?

What I Wore Wednesday & Merci Maman Giveaway

This week NBH has been working on essays so Blondie Boy and I have been living in pajamas all week. I know I'm an amazing Mom right? I did pop out and got a top to wear with my Versace leggings but when I tried it on at home it didn't work so I've got nothing to show. As much as I'm sure y'all want to see my jim-jams I will live vicariously through your outfits this week!


To make up for my lame lack of outfit this week I'm giving away something that is decidedly NOT lame! How gorgeous is this Merci Maman charm bracelet? The heart is charmingly hand engraved with Blondie Boy's name on one side and his birthday on the other. I love how simple and classic it is and that I can wear it everyday or dress it up!

The charms are strung on leather cord (you can choose from over 16 colours) and packaged in a gorgeous orange box tied up with a white bow. It really would be the perfect gift for that stylish someone in your life and lucky you I'm giving you the chance to win one!


Win a Merci Maman charm bracelet with one charm for each of your children (or if you prefer something else engraved let us know!) The first entry (sign-up for the Merci Maman newsletter and leave a comment) is mandatory but the rest are all for extra entries. The contest is open worldwide so good luck!









Transatlantic Blonde was provided a bracelet for review and giveaway but all opinions are her own.

Win the new Kindle with Transatlantic Blonde and Capital One!

For most of us, usinga credit card is mostly associated with special or larger purchases. I did not even own a credit card until we got engaged and I got one to pay for our hotel, flights and other big purchases. Most people use credit cards for one offitems like holidays, presents, gig tickets and festivals and purchase every day essentials like groceries and takeaways using cash or debit cards. It’seasier for those of us who are particularly budget conscious to keep an eye onwhat’s coming in and (most importantly) going out of our accounts.

However, did you know that many credit cards offer cashback on products that you purchase? This isn’t like getting cashback on your debit card – it’s normally a small percentage of your purchases credited to your account on a regular basis. Obviously it’s not a good idea to put lots more purchases on your credit card – if you don’t pay off the full amount each month, the money you are getting back is going to be instantly wasted on interest payments! That said, for spending that you’ve already got planned, it’s a good way to put your credit card to good use. You need make doubly sure that you pay off your balance every month. 

The lovely people at Capital One want to know what YOU think about Cash Back Cards and in return one of you will win a brand new Kindle! How's that for an early Christmas present? 


To enter answer the survey questions and follow the rules below! 

Good luck!

 This is a sponsored post.

Fruity Freaks and Vegetable Monsters

The fab people at Innocent, who's smoothies are yumtastic by the way, sent us over a fruity freak and vegetable monster making kit so Blondie Boy could enter a creation in  their new Halloween competition.

Blondie Boy is a bit young for carving but he love art projects so we broke out some permanent markers and let him make his very own monster!

An abstract masterpiece right? He had so much fun making it and in case you were wondering his monster is made up, according to him, of stars, hearts, ovals and eyes. You can create your own fruity freak or vegetable monster, too!

Here are the instructions for the competition:

1) Make your fruity freak or vegetable monster from the spookiest looking fruit or veg you can find

2) Give it a name and use your innocent magnets to spell it out (how about 'Terry Able' or 'Aaaaaaaaaalan')

3) Take a picture of your spooky creation and post it in our scary Halloween gallery www.innocentdrinks.co.uk/fruityfreaks and email myfruitandvegmonster@innocentdrinks.co.uk with your flickr name and a postal address.

4) The first 1,000 entries win a set of limited edition glow-in-the-dark Halloween 0-9 number magnets (the perfect addition to our alphabet set)

5) When you're done with your monster why not use any leftover veg to make a soup or whizz any fruit up into a smoothie?

We were sent a box with fruit and veg to take part in this challenge but all opinions are our own!

GOSH Nail Glitter Giveaway!

It's been a while since I've had a giveaway and with Halloween coming up this one couldn't be better timed! GOSH cosmetics have come out with Nail Glitter which isn't only on trend (did you see Kelly's Rowland's glitter nails on X-Factor?) but also is perfect for fancy dress/Halloween costumes at the end of this month.

Click to Enlarge

I gave myself one glittery toe last night and it was really easy and I love how the glitter is matte but sparkly at the same time. I have two pots for two winners of GOSH Nail Glitter. To enter follow the rules as below! Competition closes October 14th.

Transatlantic Blonde was provided GOSH Nail Glitter for the purpose of review and giveaway but all opinions are our own.