I’m thinking of re-opening this little corner of my life but before I do I figured a few little update posts are probably wise…so here goes nothing:

Twenties Hacker

If you’ve been hiding under a rock you might not have heard of Twenties Hacker, in essence an online magazine covering anything and everything that relates to twenty-something’s.  We’ve been going strong since last September and every week brings something new and fabulous.  I’m so excited for our newly rejuvenated craft section because I love making stuff that I’ll never use (usage most definitely isn’t the point of making stuff!).

Caffeinated Designs

So Caffeinated has been pretty busy working on a large amount of web and print designs.  I’ll be bringing some updates of the most recent fabulous designs Cheryl has put together shortly.  We’ve also been supporting a blogger conference (in a round-about kind of way) and have spent many a delightful hour creating designs for magnet, postcard and calendar printing to promote different businesses.  We’ve used 3 different well known online printing companies in the past but this latest one, overnightprints.com, is definitely the best so far.  We’ve also been thinking up great products that we can use for these promotions without going down the expensive route of corporate marketing materials.  It’s been interesting…but awesome!  Hopefully I can share all of these with you soon!

Next update:  Brandating, Web Design & This Little Thing Called Life

Ok, so I’m not a massive gambler (online or offline – thankfully because my bank balance could not cope with that!).  But the one thing I do quite like occasionally is a little bingo.  There’s a huge bingo place (I refuse to say “bingo hall” because I think it makes me sound older than I feel) in the town I live in.  I’ve been maybe 10 times over the last few years – each time, we turned up late, got glares as we walked in from the 500+ somewhat older people, went straight to the bar and then sat down completely confused.  The one thing we could guarantee was that we’d have a fun night filled with laughter, being asked to be quiet, never winning anything and getting anxiety over who was going to shout “bingo” if we ever kept up enough to mark the lines.

One of my friends suggested that we try online bingo – that way we might get more of an idea about what we’re doing when we turn up late.  So that’s exactly what we did.  There are the most irritating commercials on TV for a bingo site called Foxy Bingo…so obviously that’s the one we went for, mostly because it was the only one we could remember.

As first impressions go, it wasn’t really a good one.  The site is bright purple and a little offensive to look at.  But once you get behind the bravado it’s actually a great place to play and meet like-minded people (who are just simply scared of the possessive older generations in the bingo ‘place’) – I think the community side of things for Foxy is very important – for a start it’s obvious that they’re catering for ladies (if you can’t tell that you must be blind – see the purple velour tracksuit-wearing fox prancing around on the TV commercials) and they have they’re own small-scale social network of sorts built into the community.  Player support, which we quite obviously needed, was great and friendly and the site wasn’t too difficult to navigate.

Ok, so to the important stuff.  Overall we won about £30 ($45)….but obviously lost it all again.  That’s the problem with having an borderline addictive personality.  I’m confident it’s put us in good stead to win big the next time we turn up late to the bingo though….maybe.

This is a sponsored post – but conveniently the story is true….or why the hell would I write it!?

I went and did my grocery shopping (hahah) in my parents garden, came home and decided I wanted to bake something.  The only thing I had all the ingredients for were apple flapjacks:

Ingredients

250g (8oz) butter
250g (8oz) caster sugar
175g (6oz) golden syrup
425g (14oz) porridge oats
2 apples, peeled and chopped

Preheat oven to Gas 4, 180°C, 350°F.

Grease and line base a 20x30cm (8x12in) cake tin with baking parchment.

Melt butter, caster sugar and golden syrup together in a pan, stirring until sugar has dissolved.

Remove from heat and stir in oats and apples.

Spread mixture in tin and bake for 20-25 minutes. Cut into 12-14 bars; allow to cool before turning out of the tin.

So, that’s how I might like you to think it happened, but in all honesty, I’m not that great.  ….

So I want to be a better blogger.  Good plan, right?  Well sometimes I struggle.  Ok, ok, maybe we should just scrap that first bit because to be a better blogger I probably shouldn’t admit that I’m bad at it whilst I’m trying to entertain you with a post, right?

Let’s re-start.

Hi, I’m Jen and I’m awesome.  Wait….what?  Too much ego in that sentence?  You’re right, that will not make me a good blogger.  People do not like to hear about how awesome I am…when it’s probably not true (well it is true, I just maybe shouldn’t say it outright) – the writing should speak for itself – she says).

Let’s re-start.

:::go get coffee:::

Let’s re-start.

I was struggling for a topic for this blog post and so Google told me to write about my favourite Christmas memory… You have got to be sh*tting me!?  Really!?  Is this REALLY the best you could come up with? Jen,  If you’re going to write about your favourite Christmas memory please do not tell the internet it’s because Google told you too?  You’re not in school and this isn’t an essay – you do not need to buffer to make it 1,500 words!

Let’s re-start.

I was staring at the screen for 5.43 hours and… STOP!  This is just not working.  People who read your blog do not want to read about how long you’ve been procrastinating for.  For reals!  Pull yourself together Jen, if you’ve got that long to procrastinate about thinking of something to write GO OUT and find something to write about.  You probably have nothing to say because you’ve done nothing.  This will not be interesting for ANYONE!

Let’s re-start….tomorrow.

Today we’ve learnt:

Rule #1 – we should not whine on about how bad we are at blogging – feel free to tell the people who read your blog that you’re taking a hiatus (people will be glad to know you didn’t die…in most cases), but please do not drop of the planet for 3 months (I’m very much using myself as an awesome example) then come back with a “sorry I’ve not blogged…I’ve just been doing…well…nothing”.  If you come back it needs to be all guns blazing and no apologies.  “Hi everyone, I’ve been having an awesome time scuba diving in the South of France…”.

Rule #2 – let’s not overdo the self praise – if you’re really that amazing show it, don’t say it.  Actions speak louder than words (that’s what my mum says anyway!).

Rule #3 – adding in extra words to ‘pad-out’ a post will not score you any points.

Rule #4 – oh look, another rule about whining! Do not whine about procrastinating – we all do it, but no-one really wants to read about it.

Rule #5 – If you’re struggling for post ideas why not ask your audience??

Expect to learn from more of my mistakes very soon!!

Listening to:  Doctor P feat Jenna G – Neon

I shall let the email talk for itself

I am freely available for all your emailing needs!

You’re welcome.

Disclaimer:  We most definitely do not make a habit of this kind of email, and this one was in fact the first to a client.  If you need a new web design, but I’ve made you think twice about using us, we can provide excellent references.

Footnote:  I was on my 3rd glass of wine as I wrote this.

“If there is magic on this planet, it is contained in water.”

-Loran Eisley

http://instagr.am/p/GDpWw/

[Show as slideshow]

More coming soon…

Do you ever wake up the morning after the night before and struggle to understand where you left your hangover?

This has been happening often lately.  I got out of bed this morning to find 3 empty bottles of wine, an empty Malibu bottle and several other bottles scattered around my kitchen.  Along with 4 empty pizza boxes.  So it figures that I should be hungover, right?  I mean, I almost (almost!) feel ripped off.  What is the point of getting so drunk you know you’re going to feel rough the next day?  Having a hangover gives you a bonafide reason to stay in your PJs all day and watch trashy TV.

I feel cheated.  CHEAT I TELL YOU.  Not that I’d complain too much as in all honesty I’m pretty sure I’d be borderline miserable if I actually had a hangover.

So I got up, put on some clean PJs and settled in for a day on the internet making plans, eating a whole bag of cookies and wasting time…because what else do you do when you’d planned for a hangover?

What did you do last night?

- that you realise just how lucky you are

- that you appreciate everyone around you

- that you stop whining about all the inconsequential bullsh*t

- that you remember just because something isn’t happening on your doorstep that it still has an effect on you

- that you realise there are massive drawbacks to having such a wide community of friends

- that you realise how much those people mean to you

- that you send the most important ones messages telling them that under no circumstances can they travel anywhere that isn’t inland

- that you realise you live on an island

- that you’re reminded that your town is surrounded by water on 3 sides

- that you’re country can only just about cope with a spontaneous tea party (it’s less likely if there are scones involved)

- that you remind yourself to appreciate how luck you are

What happened to you today?

Listening to:  Loick Essien – Love Drunk