One of the first two QVC presenters seen on screen back in October 1993, Julia combines her TV appearances with voice-over work, writing a book, keeping fit and watching her team Crystal Palace play.

Read Julia Roberts' full biography 
Take a look at Julia's debut book

You can teach an old cat new tricks...

Poppy is my cat and I thought I would tell you a little tale (or should that be tail) about her as she approaches her eighteenth birthday next month, which makes her almost ninety in equivalent human years!

She has always been a fairly slim cat even though she rarely goes outside so she doesn't get a huge amount of exercise, apart from racing up and down the stairs. I always take her to the vet for an annual check-up and he was concerned on our visit in March because she had lost weight and was under 3 kilogrammes, the lightest she has ever been. He decided to run some tests to check for signs of illness, but also suggested giving her an additional meal in the middle of the day to try and help her gain a little weight.

At long last...

If you read my blog regularly you may remember me mentioning the birth of my great nephew, Sam, back in January? At the time I also mentioned that I was knitting him a little hooded jacket and I'm pleased, but also slightly embarrassed, to say I have finally finished it. Four months to knit a baby jacket... what a good job I decided to do the six to twelve months size, otherwise my efforts would all have been in vain.

Sam wasn't available to model for the picture so I improvised! This teddy was in the goody bag I received from the QVC Red Carpet Oscars event two years ago and was a gift from a QVC fashion range. I wonder if you can guess which one - the clue is on his foot! So that baby article is finished, now I need to start one for Carmel's baby... I think I should do it in size 1 - 2 years, just in case!

Brighton Rocks

Well it looks like summer may finally be on the way after a week of sunshine and quite warm temperatures here in the South East. It's a shame it didn't arrive a couple of days earlier in time for my day trip to Brighton last Friday, then I could have worn my TSV Birkenstock sandals - they are selling fast, so I hope you got yours. I shouldn't complain as it wasn't too cold and anyway the weather certainly didn't spoil our fun.

We've always enjoyed trips to Brighton as a family but last week we took Sophie's flatmate Gilly, who is American, with us and it was fun showing her around as she had never been before.

First stop was the pier where we went on the dodgems, which I really enjoyed, and the ghost train, which was not very scary although I did let out a small squeal when one of the 'ghosts' sneezed on us ... ugh!

Singing for our supper

On Sunday, as I mentioned briefly in last week's blog, I was delighted to be invited to a Curry-Oke evening organised by a friend of mine, former Crystal Palace player John Salako, and no, I haven't spelled karaoke incorrectly, it was a karaoke evening with a curry supper.

The evening was to raise money for Leukaemia and Lymphoma Research and the money was raised by paying to have a go on the mic. I love karaoke cos you can have fun singing whilst not being judged on the quality of your performance - just as well in my case! I made sure that I gave my rendition of 'I Will Survive' (yes the family allowed me to do it) before there were too many people there!

John, pictured on the right of the photo, gave a good performance of 'I Believe I Can Fly', and Phil Tufnell gave the Beatles a run for their money with his version of 'Hey Jude'. Tuffers has already raised a huge amount of money for the charity through the charity contributions from the phone calls that helped him win 'I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here' and collectively we raised another £1000 on the night - not a bad effort from the thirty'ish people in attendance.

I will be missing from my Fashion on Friday today as it is the anniversary of my diagnosis and my family wanted to mark the occasion... we're going to Brighton for a bit of fun and laughter! I will be back at work tomorrow though with Pilates at 5pm. Then Sunday is our Beauty Day. Everything is on 4 Easy Pay and the TSV is from Mally... I think you will love it!

I am also with Fiona from Decleor for one of the final airings of the April Beauty Product of the Month. Thanks for all the fabulous quotes you posted on last week's blog and please feel free to post more if you haven't done so already... I love inspirational quotes.

Heading off to the seaside now so see you tomorrow, Julia x

Inspirational

Those of you who have read my book will know that I am a big fan of the quotes of Friedrich Nietzsche. He was responsible for "That which does not kill us makes us stronger", a quote I believe in with every fibre of my being, which forms Chapter 37 in my book as that is the number of letters it has.

He has many other brilliant ones that I know about but until last night, when someone tweeted me during the Veronese show, I was unaware of this one: "And those who were seen dancing were thought to be insane by those who could not hear the music". It was not this person's tweet, it was their biog and I recognised the style of it immediately. It brought a tear to my eye and I think this has to be my second favourite quote of his, which set me wondering whether any of you has a favourite quote or saying? It doesn't have to be Nietzsche, there are some brilliant modern day philosophers, but do share.

I'm looking forward to a couple of days off this weekend, watching Crystal Palace tomorrow, and going to a karaoke charity night on Sunday to raise money for Leukaemia research. We are going en masse as a family, plus Sophie's flatmate Gilly, but I doubt that Chris will get up to sing - too much like a 'busman's holiday'! Unfortunately I have been banned from singing my party piece 'I Will Survive'... probably for the best!!!!

These are a few of my favourite things...

Many of you will already be aware, if you watched Founder's Weekend, that QVC UK will be twenty this coming October. As you can imagine there are lots of things being planned to celebrate this momentous occasion, one of which is to have some of our celebrity guests and some of the presenters choose their favourite fifteen products.

When I was asked, my difficulty was not in finding fifteen products it was how to narrow it down, but I have done my best and here goes.

Gale Hayman Lip Lift - 202671

This is the Home and Away set so that I am never without it, at least that is the plan. I recently was down to my last one which I had inadvertently left at work and I was going to be off for three weeks. No problem I'll just order one, I thought, only to find out it was out of stock. I had to beg our lovely guest Sam to send me one and when it arrived, I texted her, "My lips say thank you!"

Let's celebrate!

Last Tuesday, although I must admit it feels like weeks ago, was the party to celebrate the launch of my book hosted by Simon Wilson at his Butler & Wilson shop on Fulham Road.

Simon had promised me a party when I first told him I was writing a book back in 2011 but I thought he might have forgotten or even changed his mind, so I was thrilled when he insisted that we must do something to mark this fairly momentous occasion for me.

I was not involved in the planning as it was Simon's idea, and anyway I was away on holiday, but our marketing department at QVC joined forces with Simon to plan and execute the party so that everyone who was able to attend would have the best possible experience.

It's Snow Joke

Well I'm back from my holiday and feeling relaxed and rested, but it was touch and go whether the plane actually took off on March 11th for our holiday flight to Mauritius.

It had been an unusual start to the journey anyway with Chris and I making our way to the airport separately as I had been at BBC Radio London doing an interview about my book with Joanne Good, who some of you may have seen guesting on QVC.

It was always going to be a bit tight as my interview was at 4pm and my flight was at 8.30pm but I was fairly confidant the Gatwick Express would get me there on time. There was a moment at the station when I thought my confidence was misplaced as there had been delays on the line all day but despite the snow I arrived with plenty of time to spare.

Thank you so much

I just wanted to say thank you so much for all your messages of support on last week's blog. I did start to reply to you all individually but I became overwhelmed by the number of messages and also what was contained within them. I am truly sorry to those of you who were shocked by my news and my heart goes out to those of you fighting your own health battles... let's hope we can all win in the end. I will keep you up to date with my progress from time to time on here.

One of the most difficult people to tell was my mum, not least because she has her own health problems, and in the beginning I was a little economical with the truth until I knew that the drugs were 'doing their thing'. She has not been properly well since she got the shingles two years ago so I decided to treat her to something a little different this Mothering Sunday.

One of our Production Assistants at QVC, Jacqui, has set up her own business called 'Ruby's Boutique' making personalised jute shopping bags. This is the one she made for my mum with 'Tabby' on it... cute eh? I won't be able to see Mum this Sunday as she is going to a dancing school show but of course I will be speaking to her on the phone.

Closer now than ever

I love being a Mum. I am one of those people who always wanted to have children and I was lucky enough to have my dream fulfilled. I have loved every stage of my children growing up, from tiny babies, through terrible twos, stroppy teenagers to the adults they have become. They are my 'raison d'etre'.

It's funny but down the years they have each asked from time to time who I love more, and my answer has always been, 'I love you both the same'. In some respects this is an inaccurate answer as although I love them both the same amount, the way I love them is probably different.

Daniel was my first born and the overwhelming ache of love I felt for him as I held him in my arms for the first time is a feeling I will never forget. I was so enthralled with this tiny new person that I never closed my eyes at all on the night that he was born, I just lay and looked at him. He is my boy and I have an amazing relationship with him.