Today I am live blogging from Arkansas! How cool is that? I am actually writing this whilst in a talk at SoFabCon from Tami Cannizzaro, Executive Director of Marketing for IBM.

The topic is essentially change. Marketing, advertising, connecting with customers – it has all changed dramatically over the last few years. More and more people are turning to social media for news and information, and individuals are looking online for reviews and recommendations. Expectations are high and companies who fail to adapt their traditional Mad Men style advertising model will find themselves left behind.

According to Tami, there are three things that you have to think about as a brand in order to create that consistently excellent customer experience.

View Post

Follow:

I have no sense of style.

Actually it’s not much of a secret.

As boyfriend said you me recently, looking a little bit afraid in case I hit him, “For quite a lot of the time I have known you you have dressed quite badly.”

He’s such a charmer.

He is right though. I really just have no concept of what looks super stylish and what looks like I have been dressed by a blind tramp. Getting asked by the team at Secret Sales then to style a couple of models in the latest trends was a bit of a challenge to say the least. I was literally given rails of clothes and two beautiful, (if not slightly stick thin), people to hang them on. View Post

Follow:

This is just a little thank you to Mommy.com for sharing one of my Ethiopia posts and helping to spread the word about the Enough Food IF campaign.If you’re not fed up of reading about my trip already, then check me out here.  Mommy.com features practical parenting tips, fitness advice, style trends, how-to videos, coupons and more and you can connect with Mommy.com on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest.
Follow:

Last weekend Belle and I had a little weekend away together in London. With work and school, the weeks get very busy and we really enjoy taking time out every now and again to spend some quality time together.

Quality time. How wholesome I sound!

This time our trip was extra lovely, as we had been offered a room in the Cavendish Hotel, just off Piccadilly Circus. I had already been to the Cavendish once for afternoon tea, so was very excited about getting to spend the whole night there.

Belle has a thing whenever we are away somewhere, of wanting to spend as much time as possible in whatever our accommodation is. If we are at a festival for example, she is always nagging me to let her go back to the tent. I don’t know why, she just seems to like being in something. View Post

Follow:

I’ve got Bee here again today, wearing some lovely new clothes…

Its 2008. I’m 12. My much cooler friend Lauren walks into our geography classroom. Instead of the usual tween gossip mag filled with brand new information about the Jonas Brothers, she’s carrying a catalogue.

“It’s the new Joe Browns catalogue”, she says, “It came in the post this morning.”

“Oh yeah, cool” I say, acting like I know what she’s talking about. I then find out that Joe Browns is a super cool clothes website where Lauren gets most of her clothes. Being 12 and spending most of my money on Maltesers I’m not known for my amazing fashion sense. I stare at the catalogue wistfully as Lauren points out all of the things her Mum has agreed to buy her. I imagine that if I owned a t-shirt or even a hair clip from Joe Browns, I’d immediately be transported to the Cornish coast where I would surf, have long blonde windswept hair and listen to Jack Johnson while drinking coconut smoothies with a group of beautiful friends laughing around a camp fire. View Post

Follow:

Today I’ve got a corker of a competition for you. In conjunction with eHarmony.co.uk, I’m giving away the key to a knock out new look. There will be two prizes – the winner will receive £200 of John Lewis vouchers, with £100 of vouchers for the runner up. Both winners will also receive a trial three month subscription to eHarmony, which you are very welcome to pass on to a friend if you’re already happily attached.

I wrote a post a little while ago about the importance of a first kiss, but first impressions are important even before you meet, let alone get any smooching action. We all know that red is the colour of love and romance, but the evidence suggests that men find women dressed in red more attractive, whether that be in a photo on an online dating profile, or in person.

It works in all kinds of scenarios apparently, so make sure you wear a red t-shirt if you’re ever hitchhiking! View Post

Follow:

When I was about 15, we went on a school trip to see Romeo and Juliet. If you could conjure up an activity as a prelude to a perfect first kiss, surely this would be it? On the way home on the coach, I sat next to a boy from my class, whose name I shall keep to myself just in case.

It was a long journey, and at some point I dozed off. When I woke up, said boy appeared to be stroking my thigh. I kept my eyes closed and hoped that if I could just pretend to be asleep long enough that he would give up. (At 15 I was pretty scared of boys).

I must have drifted off again, because the next time I woke up, it was from a dream that I was having my face licked by a massive, slobbery dog. Except I wasn’t, I was being kissed by the boy. It was such an all-face-consuming kiss, that when he had finished and I was allowed to breathe again, I literally had to wipe my face with my sleeve to dry it. As you can see from the infographic below from e-harmony, men do prefer their kisses moist. View Post

Follow:

“But your life is so boring,” Bee kindly pointed out to me recently, as I was trying to justify why exactly I should fall into the three quarters of people who would describe themselves as ‘medium or very happy’ with their lives.

Hmph.

Well, it’s true that I don’t go out every night ‘clubbing’ or whatever it is that young people do nowadays, but I do do things. Sometimes. If I’m not feeling too sleepy or anything obviously. I’m a Taurus though, and everyone knows that Taurus prefers to stay at home in the warm, bathing in melted chocolate and sipping on a cocktail. I can’t help it you see – it’s fate. View Post

Follow:

Are you a UK blogger?

Do you fancy getting paid to go shopping?

Excellent. Read on…

I’ve started a new job this month working for a US company called Collective Bias. Collective Bias work with brands and bloggers, sending bloggers out on paid shopping missions. Their blogging community is called Social Fabric, and it’s basically the place where their bloggers hang out online, chat, share stories, that sort of thing. My job is to bring Social Fabric to the UK, and I’m looking for UK bloggers to join the community and take part in shopping campaigns. View Post

Follow:

I was listening to the radio in the car this week when a song came on that immediately took me back to being about 19 years old, getting ready to go for a night out in the throbbing heart of Bridgwater – The Palace nightclub. With my straighteners in one hand and a glass of Lambrini in the other, I was getting ready to take on the world.

It was this: View Post

Follow:

We may still be bundling up in our warmest coats, jumpers, scarves, and mittens, but pretty soon it will be time to shove your woolies to the back of the wardrobe and make space for our spring clothes. Well known as I am for my fashion sense, here are some pieces that are trending for spring:

Bermuda Shorts
Yep, you read that right. Bermuda shorts are apparently trending for spring and summer. View Post

Follow:

Not long after we’d met, I regaled Boyfriend with a fascinating tale about Paperchase mugs. It really was a cracking story, involving a detailed analysis of what in my mind makes the perfect mug, and how disappointed I was that Paperchase had reduced the thickness of their rims.

It was almost certainly the moment when Boyfriend realised I was The One.

It did make me wonder though whether it might not be a bad idea to broaden my mug horizons. I drink a lot of tea, so mugs play a large role in my daily life, so it’s normal* that over the years I have developed a Preferred Mug Shape. This is the original Paperchase mug that pretty much encapsulates everything I love about a mug – a good, sturdy shape, not tall and thin, not flaring out at the top into a silly lip, and made of a good chunky china, with a good thick rim.

 "Paperchase mug"

Over the last few months though, I have been experimenting, pushing out my mug boundaries, and now have three new favourites. Talk about living life on the edge.

OK, so what have we got…

Now this is one is a bit of a wild card, as normally I don’t like Emma Bridgewater. This mug though was a gift from a very good friend, and even though it’s shape flies in the face of sensible mug design – (a base wider than the top?? Crazy times) – I do love it, if not least for the message:

"Emma Bridgewater mug"

With this next mug, I am challenging my rim preferences.** Normally I like a mug with thick sides, but this is a finer bone china. I absolutely love the design though. I’m a big fan of waves, and it reminds me of one of my favourite pictures – The Great Wave Off Kanagawa – which I actually have as a laptop cover. This mug comes from My Rosie Lee, a lovely company bringing together British design and manufacturing.

"My Rosie Lee mug"

Last but not least is the newest mug in my collection. This one comes from Ducky Dora and I love its chunkiness. There’s no messing with this mug, it is proper sturdy, hand painted, and made from eco-friendly terracotta. It’s the kind of mug you could wrap your hands around in front of a bonfire on a cool autumn evening.

"Ducky Dora mug"

Now I don’t for a minute believe I’m the only person who is fussy about mugs, so what are your pet mug hates?

*Definitely normal

**Rim preferences are definitely a thing

 

Follow: