Arbonne - is it really as bad as it sounds?

To many, Arbonne - a premium health, cosmetics and skin care brand, is suspicious and untrustworthy.   You only have to type Arbonne into the internet and there's so many people wanting to bad mouth this company so what have they done that's so wrong? 

I was first told about Arbonne by some friends. Genuine friends at that, who would never mug me off or try to commit a daylight robbery. My husband and I have known them for years and we are as close as family members so I had and still have no reason to doubt a word they say. A couple of members of their family and their friends had signed up to become what is known as an 'Independant Consultant' as a side-line that would hopefully perhaps become a lucrative earner whilst they carried on with their normal lives and therefore didn't jeopardise anything they were already doing. These people had put some money into this but only out of choice and as you would any serious business opportunity. When they told me about it, the main thing I was interested in was the make up range. Which girl wouldn't be?  I thought I'd give it a whirl and support them, perhaps in the same way people buy Avon from their friends/family and collagues. The mascara and lip gloss I bought were some of the best products I've ever purchased - the lip gloss was a beautiful, strongly pigmented berry colour and the mascara was hands down the best mascara I've ever used. I'll hopefully do a proper product review on them soon so you can see them for yourselves if you so wish.

Back to the point...

Whilst I was happily using these products I googled Arbonne, just to learn a bit more about the brand, its history and to see more products that I would fancy trying. What I found by looking at links other than the Arbonne site itself, was a lot of vitriolic, knee-jerk reactions from some people that didn't seem to grasp the concept  properly or had been tricked by less than trustworthy people into signing up to be a Consultant when they didn't understand the full picture of the business. From the get-go, my friends had been transparent about their involvement and what you did or did not have to do. My understanding at the end or it was that it was a premium Avon, with the incentives it offered 25 years ago...lavish gifts, holidays, good money and a less saturated market. Oh and no door-knocking. Having actually looked at being an Avon Rep myself last year, the lady who rang (repeatedly) to give me more information and then turned up at my door one night with brochures was passive aggressively coercing me into joining. Nobody seems to be on the same witch hunt about Avon, even though it's the same kind of package. Maybe because it is a familiar name to people so they are less intimidated by it? Of course I was guilty of reading all these reviews on forums but my conclusion was still the same - that irresponsible people are misselling what could actually be a perfectly good opportunity. It shouldn't be sold as a get rich quick scheme but sadly that's what some people are doing and even if you could get people involved under those sketchy terms, that is a shaky and not very sustainable way to grow a business, no matter how seductive at the outset.

Because I'm so obsessed with  the mascara and lippy I'm considering signing up myself, but rather than do the approach that people are recommended to do, I've decided that I'll take the slow and steady approach if I do opt in, and order things I'll use rather than lots of expensive stock. Anything else is a bonus really?  After all, business is something you need to invest in if you want to make big money quickly, but it's not the only way. 

What's in a name?

We're now half way through the pregnancy and have started looking at names for the little baba we've been calling 'Titch' whilst he or she is in my tummy. The scan is next week and we've chosen not to find out the answer to the question everyone seems to want to know - pink or blue?

The approach we've taken isn't everyone's approach it seems. Some people have loved particular names all their lives and some put it to public vote using social media. A dangerous game if you stick to the public choice which is no doubt something crazy!? There was a chap who did exactly that and at last check, he was going to have to name his child Optimus Prime or something from Transformers. I wonder if he followed through with it?

As I've probably said before, we're that couple who didn't have any elements of our wedding pre-chosen and it's the same with baby names. We've never had any favourites that we've always wanted to call a little bundle of joy, so we've been pouring over name books and websites to give us inspiration. We've managed to shortlist a few, but we're keeping those under wraps until we meet the little guy or gal to see what suits them. The biggest struggle choosing names has been associating the name with someone else or even a pet. In most cases it's been realising we know someone with the same name who is irritating or has negative connotations in some respect, whether that's a celebrity or a person we know or have met in our lives. The next hurdle was choosing a name one of our friends or colleagues hasn't already chosen. I know it's not a pre-requisite, but I didn't want our baby to have the same name as all the other kids belonging to people we know. There are plenty of names to choose from in the world and we're not choosing really random names, but since we don't have our hearts set on any it just made sense to us to do it this way. The next check we needed to do is to write what the initials would be, say the names out aloud and check that the most torturous nicknames aren't going to be painfully obvious. A woman at work suggested 'Belle' until another collegue followed it wih the word 'end'. School is hard enough without targeting your kids for abuse! Having done all that we're happy with our traditional choices and have managed to tick everything off our list to do the best we can for Titch.

Only approximately 20 weeks to find out now! 

Are you a High Achiever?

I met up with an old school friend at Christmas. We only manage to see each other once or twice a year as he lives in London and I still live on good old Teesside where we grew up together. A conversation we had really got me thinking and after seeing a related article in a magazine and having a change or circumstances in my own life I mulled over about what we'd discussed.


The day that we had met up, my friend had already visited another friend and they'd been discussing who the 'high achievers' were from school. I found it interesting that every person mentioned had moved to the city and now worked as a freelance writer,  was in a good position for ITV or was jet-setting around the globe. Admittedly these are fantastic achievements, especially when you consider how competitive the job market is these days, but when I thought about the other things in their lives (I only know because of Facebook) then the rest of their lives didn't seem quite as well-rounded. Again, I'm not saying that you need a partner to be happy, but I know at least one of them had a failed engagement so I figured that at least one of them did want more from that aspect of their lives. I suppose what I'm asking is: How do you classify a High Achiever?


Career -wise, I've hopped around a bit. Now at age 30 I've still never settled on one thing I've always wanted to do. I'm more a 'Mr Ben' type who would like to have lots of experiences until maybe one day I've found something I LOVE. I've worked in retail, pharmacy, admin and I've been self-employed and I've loved most of them for different aspect of each role. I must say at times I've been very envious of people who have always known what they've wanted to do, they've focused on getting there and they'll do this job until they retire. I suppose by 30 I expected to be on more money and a bit more settled than I am, but then every other aspect of my life is perfect and this year I'll be taking on my most challenging role yet - being a mammy! I've heard the pay is rubbish but the rewards are second to none ;)


I class myself as wage poor but experience and love rich and so I would class myself as a high achiever. Of course I'd love to be on more money but I wouldn't swap it for anything that I have in my life. I was lucky enough to meet my husband when I was 19 and we'll have been together 11 years this year. We're blessed enough to have a baby on the way and we work hard to have nice experiences and a beautiful home and are lucky enough to have amazing relationships with our families and friends. That's something all the promotions and money in the world can't earn you. So if I had that conversation again, I might argue that myself and other people in a similar position to me are also 'High Achievers' and need adding to that hallowed list for less obvious but equally as important success.

Missing a friend today

This time ten years ago I lost one of my very close friends. I was just twenty years old, and I'm not sure even at thirty, that I've ever really come to terms with it properly. We were good friends in and out of college and I can honestly say he was one of the kindest and most considerate people I've ever met. This was proven to me and witnessed by me repeatedly in the few short years I had the honour to have him in my life.

It has however taught me a few very important lessons, more so than any other death that has taken place in my lifetime. Maybe because he was so young and has made me be thankful for any birthday I've had since. When family, friends and randoms have said "Oh, it's just another day" or "uurrrghh, I don't want to turn thirty..." I want to give them a shake. Age, in most cases, is a privilege that is regularly taken for granted. I'm sure you'll agree on days when you're ill, or something awful has happened, there's nothing you would wish for more than 'a bit of normality'/feeling 'normal' again and the same goes for the gift of life. This attitude has encouraged me to try things that I wouldn't have pushed myself to do and take chances to improve my life and have lots of experiences I might not have had the confidence or the drive to pursue

Maybe because it threatened my own mortality? Let's face it, we expect older people to die, and that's not harsh, it's a fact of life. But when a lad of twenty dies in a tragic road accident, you begin to realise, especially at the point in your life when you feel like you're invincible and can take on the world single handedly, that you're not invincible and all the risk taking, careless behaviours people indulge in need to be replaced by more respectful ones.

Lastly, his death has been a contributing factor in me being less of a doormat. A combination of this and growing older has made me less tolerant of toxic situations and relationships. I'm now only an advocate of trying to nurture something worth trying for whether that's a friendship, romance, work situation or general day to day occurrence.

So, thank you, Jim. I miss him more than anyone will ever realise, but his impact on my life will never be unappreciated or forgotten and neither will he.  

Fun at work - is it a sin or should it be encouraged?

I happen to have the best work colleagues in the entire world. They're the hardest working bunch of people but at the same time, even under immense pressure, we still all have a laugh.

Recently, we were 'advised' that the fun should maybe not be so visible which I was a bit cross about. After all, if you're still working hard whilst chatting or laughing why should it matter? I would understand if we were stood chatting and doing nothing productive...

The point of all this is that I would much rather go into a workplace where people enjoyed themselves and where work got done rather than seeing people looking down-trodden and demoralised. Morale counts for a lot in any workplace, but especially in a high-pressure environment! Just look at google headquarters for instance?! When did the fun police make smiling and laughing illegal? 

Changing priorities

My big birthday is quickly approaching and just before that is the ten year anniversary of my Mr and I's togetherness. It has flown and it has made me think about the last decade, how I've stayed the same and how I've  changed. 

Thankfully, I've managed to stay looking virtually the same in this time - probably in the most part due to having exactly the same hair do and not beefing up much. Attitude and priorities on the other hand seem to have changed. 

Ten years ago I was living with my parents, studying for my degree and most income was spent on new shoes, clothes and nights out. I wanted to move to a big city, drink cocktails and be with my friends all the time in a big bubble of hedonism. I wanted a house or flat to rent with a yard because I hated gardening and wanted to just have space for deck chairs and a BBQ. 

Today I sit outside a house I have bought with my husband in our garden in my suburban hometown. We have mostly spent the bank holiday gardening and planning a vegetable patch and trying to figure out time to see our friends who are all busy with similar grown up people decisions. Unbelievably, I couldn't be happier, despite all the things I wanted being so far from what I want now. I'm not sure I could convince my 19 year old self of that though!

Business Sense vs COMMON SENSE?

I've been watching the series by Mary Portas about saving the British High Street. It's been a very interesting and sobering watch, viewing evidence of the state of the country and realising it's not just 'Up North' that's being hit this hard.

Stockton - a nearby town to where I live - is one of the Portas Pilot Towns and as I understand it, it wasn't worth her while coming and using this as one of the examples for the series because it's currently like a building site. It's a shame because I would have liked to see her wave her magic wand over somewhere closer to home so we would be able to personally appreciate the benefits of all this sooner than expected.

If I were to have a conversation with anyone about what I thought we could do try and boost our declining localities, I think the first step would have to be in the direction of landlords. Since everywhere you go and look, you seem to see empty shop units and offices, it makes a lot of sense to me for rent to be reduced to give small business a sporting chance. Things are hard enough in this climate without rocketing/high rent costs. The responsibility also falls with the government and local councils to reduce business rates. Both these things don't have to be a permanent reduction but maybe on a common sense basis depending on the economic circumstances at the time. After all, are units not better being used and bringing in some money than derelict and earning nothing? Encouraging small to medium enterprises into unused buildings will kick start the funds for the council and the landlords and will also help surrounding businesses by increasing footfall. When I've read some information about the Portas Pilots, in fairness, these seem to already be recommendations or guidelines which is a good sign.

There are plenty of unemployed people in this country, and I imagine there's a healthy proportion where they do want to work. Our local uni, Teesside University, offers a scheme for small businesses to have a graduate work for them for 'free' where they are actually paid by the university, therefore they get paid experience and you get a worker for a temporary period. If more voluntary posts/subsidised posts were advertised, I'm sure it would help people get confident and get back into work and would also take pressure off small business, who can ill afford staff, in potentially busy periods (e.g. Christmas).

If people used a bit more common sense, perhaps things would gradually get better. We just all need to look out for one another and become a community again. Traditional values and attitudes need to make a comeback and then we might catch a glimpse of the glory days we all seem to look back on so fondly.