A Nation of Animal Lovers

If you read my blog last week you will know that Wilfie, our black cat, has a Christmas present of the pet grooming gloves coming his way, but something tells me he might not be as impressed with those as he is with the new pet bed he has been trying out. It is from Silentnight and is going to be a Big Deal next week.

He’s not usually a fan of pet beds, preferring to sleep on chairs or window sills above radiators (or the radiators themselves) but he got in this one straight away and absolutely LOVES it. Who knew that you could get orthopaedic pet beds to evenly distribute their weight and reduce pressure points!?! I suppose our pets get sore joints just like us, particularly as they get older. The beds come in different sizes (Wilfie’s is small) and also have a removable machine washable cover. Great idea for your pet for Christmas and the price is amazing compared with Silentnight’s own price. I’m actually tempted to get him another one for a different room in the house… too much???

So hopefully you will be pampering your pet, but how about treating yourself this coming weekend? I am a massive fan of the Dyson Supersonic Hairdryer. I’ll be honest with you and say that when it first came out I wondered what could be so good about it to justify the price. I am now a total convert and my hair says thank you.

My previous dryer was really good at giving me smooth silky hair but I had started to worry about breakage because of the temperature it reached while I dried my naturally curly hair smooth. The Dyson is temperature controlled. It has three setting to choose from and I always use it on the middle setting for heat, but the highest setting for airflow. We did this video in the make-up room yesterday with me using the Philip Kingsley radial brush, which is fabulous for blow drying.

My hair takes between eight and ten minutes to dry, depending how wet it is, and is left with a beautiful shine without having to spray shine products on afterwards, which I don’t like doing. I know it’s expensive, but we’ve got the red dryer with the red storage box as our TSV tomorrow at a discounted price of £274.98 and it’s on six Easy Pay interest-free instalments – already available on our website. We all have to live within our means, and it won’t be for everyone, but you might want to consider it as a shared present… it really is that good, in my opinion.

By the way, we are also running a prize draw this week to win £2000 worth of Dyson products – check our website for the full terms and conditions but in basic terms, if you make a qualifying Dyson purchase before midnight on Saturday 23rd November, you will be entered into the prize draw – good luck.

Speaking of winning things, if you sign up to receive my bookish newsletter on my website, link in my bio on Twitter, before midnight tonight, you could win yourself a signed copy of my latest book – three to give away. And if you are unsuccessful, but live close enough to Egham in Surrey to pop into a Charity Christmas Fayre, I’ll be there on Monday with signed books – details on my JuliaRobertsTV Facebook page.

Speaking of my books, I had a really exciting day on Wednesday when Little Girl Missing reached the lofty heights of #71 in the UK Kindle chart – there are millions of books out there – I was totally delighted, so thank you if you bought it!

It was slightly tempered by the fact that my lovely dad saw none of my writing success. It was the twelfth anniversary of his death yesterday. He died suddenly, six days before my son’s 21st birthday. It was a really difficult time as you can imagine, but I was determined that my son should enjoy his coming of age and, thanks in part to Simon Wilson (from Butler & Wilson), he did. Simon was able to get us booked into a very well-known Italian restaurant in Knightsbridge, San Lorenzo, because he was a regular there along with many other famous faces. I have never forgotten his kindness and the consideration of my friends and colleagues at QVC when I returned to work a few days later… my way of dealing with our huge loss.

Actually, I have a Butler & Wilson show this coming Sunday at 3 p.m., one of his last shows of the year, and directly after an hour of Gatineau featuring our TSV. Gatineau have been with us as a brand for over twenty-five years and in all that time I have never known them sell a Shower Gelee. Well, there is one in this TSV and, having tried it, I’m wondering why they waited so long. It is one part of the five piece collection, which has gone on pre-sell today: Transforming Cream Cleanser in supersize, Age Benefit Eye Contour, Defilift Neck and Decollete Gel, 400ml Shower Gelee and your choice of moisturiser… Age Benefit, DefiLift or Perfection Ultime – it’s a good one and comes in a make-up bag.

Just before I finish, how funny is this – on Wednesday my husband went to the shops with Price’s Reed Diffusers on his shopping list.

I’ve had them before and think they are very good, but I didn’t know we sold them – I do now, and we do them at a better price than my local supermarket so I ordered some more – two sets in fact.

Right, I’m heading into Q Towers for an hour of Lakeland at 3 p.m. and lots of Quacker Factory fun in Fashion on Friday today, with Patrick Hoy. And do remember, Prue Leith debuts her collaboration collection of Lola Rose directly after that with the lovely Miceal.

Enjoy your weekend.
Much love,
Julia xx