Aimee Horton

I hate the term Girl Power.  It makes me think of overly revealing leopard print catsuits, people sticking their tongues out, lots of shouting and cackling, and also, fashion mistakes been, and thankfully gone.

But the truth is, I do feel like I’m surrounded by girl power at the moment.  I know there has always been a selection of strong women in the world who we have celebrated over the years, but I feel like the internet is giving us the opportunity to see and shout about more fantastic women and what they do.

Two such fantastic women I have the honour of knowing, run successful businesses which sell some bloody fantastic stuff.

First we have Eleanor.  Now, I’ve not known Eleanor that long really.  I bumped into her once before starting school and initially thought “fucckkkkk, she’s cool” then a few other times where she witnesses some special Chunky Monkey moments (school disco where he broke into a room and started trashing a display is a good example…oh and she’s the one who witnessed me tipping him into his pushchair).  We got to talking and actually, my horrendous parenting skills haven’t scared her off – HURRAH!

Anyway, on chatting those few months ago in the craft aisle of The Range (I wasn’t even there for school homework, how impressed are you?!) I discovered she ran ForEva Designs.  I said “ohh, I’ll go and  have a look” and promptly trotted over for a look.  I was a little bit in awe.  I always thought myself as creative, but then I realised that she’s like super doopah creative.  I promptly liked her Facebook page (you should too, she’s rubbish at self promotion and this is where she feels safest).

ANYWAY. When I launched my book (I told you I’d launched one right? ;)), she was really kind, and on the school run presented me with a little present.

My mum was with me at the time, so I stayed cool in the playground, but as soon as we were in the car and driving home I made her open it so I could see, and nearly curbed the car when I clapped my hands, I LOVE IT.  Considering I’m a bit OCD and all my mugs on the wall have to match/sit in a special order, I’ve actually ditched one and replaced it with this.  It makes me smile every day, I love that it’s personal, and I love that it matches my study (and yes, sometimes I do have a gin in it).

Mum hadn’t even noticed the other little surprise in the bag (which is lovely, everything comes wrapped in brown paper with the ForEva stamp on it), it was a little coaster which now is carried from room to room wherever I’m sitting.

Since then I’ve gone and investigated the new site she launched a few weeks ago, and both boys now have fantastic water bottles, which is a lovely idea, because in my wisdom to name my children something that “was a bit different but not stupidly different” there are very few personalised things about for them.

Right now I’m actually perusing through her site trying to work out which Father’s Day products to buy for Mr. Aimee.  I’m struggling between these two:

Go and take a look at her site, the stuff is fantastic quality, she works ridiculously hard yet always manages to make me laugh.

Then there is Jenny.  You’ve all heard of Jenny I bet?  She runs the fantastically successful children’s online fashion store KyNa Boutique.

I don’t even remember when or how I started talking to Jenny on Twitter, but I already knew we were going to be wicked friends.  Then I met her at Cybher last year….and we just clicked.

KyNa isn’t just about selling kids clothes, it’s a whole other story.  Yes the clothes LOOK great.  I mean…check out just two very handsome models….

But it’s about making the kids feel comfortable, and about being kind to their skin.  You can check out more about this here on their website.

The products on the site are bright, bold, unisex and can I just say, without wanting to sound like my mother THEY WASH BLOODY AMAZINGLY.  Honestly, so many things I’ve bought in the past come out faded after a couple of goes, but these clothes just keep going on and on and on.

These are what I’m thinking of getting for the boys this summer…I just have to sneak them in quietly.

Make sure you like the Facebook page too, it gives you a sneaky peak into all the latest products hitting the site, plus show you how fantastic the clothes as little models feature frequently!

NOW.

And this is where I sound a bit soppy, but see, check the time out, even I think it’s too early to have a gin (maybe).  But there are a couple of under frigging amazing girls I’d like to talk about, some you don’t know and don’t venture online really (I KNOW, what’s all that about?!), and some you may have heard of.

There’s my rock, the person who reminds me that nobody cares if there is one weed in a patio slab, then the one who makes my hair look fantastic, the one who looks after my child at nursery and is amazing with him, and the one who is probably the most lovely person in the world who I’ve known my entire life.  I have Jordan who was my chief bridesmaid 10 years ago, who is this incredibly strong, social, no nonsense chatterer, Charlotte who not only kicks the shit out of me mentally but manages to juggle kick ass grades in OU along with looking after my future daughter-in-law (for The Chunky Monkey), and being annoyingly beautiful AND cool.  Kate who actually had a massive part, probably more than she’ll ever realise, in making me realise that actually I’m “OK”, Zoe who I can’t tell you enough about, Chrissie, my favourite editor who makes me positive every day, Vicki the film maker who is probably the most motivational person I know, and make sure you check out the bloody amazing one who is going to be able to probably lift a car soon.

And Fran.  You should all check out Fran.  She is the hero I pretend to be when I play superheros with The Beast. Smart, brave, and bloody hilarious. Plus her son? SO SQUEEEZZZZABLLEEE.

Ok – I’m off for another brew now.