#Bloggerweddingalbum

15/03/2012

I have recently started taking part in Tara Cain’s weekly Gallery as it is great to look up old photos every week and post them on here.  The themes have been great so far.   This week however Tara is doing something slightly different.

A bloggers wedding album

Asking bloggers to post a photo from their wedding.   How could I resist?

Mr B and I got married in 2008, at the Elvetham Hotel in Hartley Wintney (where Eammon Holmes and Ruth Langsford got married shortly after, I like to think because they had heard about our fabulous day).    It was second time around for both of us and we wanted it to be the opposite of first time round.  For Mr B that had been a big traditional affair, for me 20 people in Registry Office at three weeks notice as I was off to Saudi and had to be married to get a visa.

We set a date, set a budget and made sure that it was exactly what we both wanted.   A party to celebrate us finally making it down the aisle.   And I think we achieved that.   With bells on.

This picture sums up the day for me:

J in his suit but with his Vans (you want to wear trainers, you wear trainers)

Mrs Cooke, (a teacher so never Jo, always Mrs Cooke) was simply “Matron”

Mr B

Some bird in a posh frock (the back of which was navy blue, much better from the back than the front)

Roger, our best man.   Mr B’s brother.  A simply brilliant man who is no longer with us.

C who doesn’t normally wear a dress but looked stunning

E who loved being able to sprinkle petals up the aisle.

We walked up the aisle after sealing the deal to The Turtles “Happy Together”.    Sort of says it all really.

 

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Sticks n Sushi — A review

14/03/2012

I was thrilled with Vikki at Von Marketing invited Mr B and I along to a preview evening at Sticks n Sushi in Wimbledon.   I must admit that I hadn’t heard of this chain before as their nine restaurants to date have all been in Denmark.    This new one in Wimbledon will be the first in the UK.

The first thing that struck me on arrival was how “understated” it was.   A huge smoked glass window gives nothing away.  Inside it is a huge rectangular space with an open kitchen and bar area to the rear and plenty of tables for either people dining in pairs or large groups.

Cool sprang to mind.   Just cool, dark and slick and really not what I would expect from a sushi restaurant.

But then by their own admission this is:

 a sushi restaurant — even for those who don’t like fish

Which was lucky as Mr B is not a huge fan of sushi.   But I can more than make up for that (just never ask my friend Tasha about our night at Yo Sushi in Westfield.

There was a slight mix up over who our waiter would be so we left for a bit longer than we would have liked before being offered a drink but hey, it was the first service the team had done so we could certainly forgive them.  And the service we received once we did know who our waiter was MORE than made up for it.

There are two menus to chose from.   One full of set menus with beautiful pictures and the other, more simplistic; designed so you can just say “that, that, that and that” please.

If, like Mr B, you are not a sushi lover you can go for the “sticks” which are small skewers of meat.  There lots to choose from, along with a huge variety of sushi.

It was hard to know where to start with so much choice but Tom our waiter talked us through the options and made some great suggestions.

Our beef starter was amazing.  Possibly the best I have ever tasted:

And as for my sushi….. what can I say?  Words fail me.   I am never buying sushi in Tesco again:

The freshest of ingredients, sitting on ice.   Heaven.

Talking of ingredients.   Sticks n Sushi have a policy about sustainability that really needs to be commended.    It is mentioned in the menu and also on their website.   It is a big part of their ethos.   I think it is really important when talking about sushi to know where it is coming from and know it is a sustainable source so it is great that this policy is so transparent.

We weren’t going to have desert.   Really we weren’t.  Until Tom mentioned the espresso fondant:

We didn’t pay for our dinner as we were guinea pigs but it would work out at about £25 a head.   Which is great for dinner in this part of the world.

We will definitely be returning.

58 Wimbledon Hill Road, London, SW19 7PA.   Opening hours here:  Sticks n Sushi

 

Opens today.   GO!!!!!

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Social Media Marketing

12/03/2012

With the boom in online social media such as Facebook and Twitter comes the boom in businesses offering to boost companies presence on the internet.

But do they?  Or are they having the opposite effect and actually turning us off?

I had this debate at 8am on Sunday morning (how sad is my life?) when I saw one of these companies clogging up my timeline with tweets containing lists of Twitter names of companies. They had set a “challenge” for their 17,000 followers to follow ten other people everyday.

I asked why?  This, to me, just seems pointless.   And it seems I am not alone.

These companies claim that by increasing a company’s followers they are increasing business.

Not true said an awful lot of people.   Yes, they were getting more followers, but they had not generated anymore business.

This to me is a marketing fail.   What is the point of this if you are not gaining customers?  And if it means you are losing a potential audience isnt it actually dangerous?

To me, the whole point of social media is to interact.   To learn about companies by them being recommended to me either because I say “Right I need a French polisher” and I am given the name of somebody or because I get chatting to somebody and remember them.

And it seems I am not alone.   After writing my blog on Friday about Follow Friday  I was inundated with people saying “thank God you have written this, I have been thinking it for ages” /  “hate Fridays on Twitter because of this”.

I was bombarded by people on Sunday night saying similar things about various companies doing “Team followback” type stuff.   It was relentless and my mentions column was filled with “ahhh T, please blog about this, it is driving me mad”.

Timelines rammed with these companies endlessly listing other people in meaningless Tweets.   These companies ReTweeting these Tweets.   It was relentless.   From 6pm to 10pm Twitter is like the Bronx.  Other than my mentions column Twitter is now a no go area on a Sunday night.

There were endless companies with their own # .    And not only that, its just boring.  Boring to read and so people don’t pay attention to them.  They flick past at best.  At worst walk away from Twitter completely for the night.

Let me give you two examples.

I had a great conversation with a lovely lady on Sunday who said that she had been one of the people taking part in one of these “follower increaser” exercises.   She has a business yet from her Twitter name you wouldn’t necessarily know that.    This lady had followed me last week and I have to say I didn’t take much notice (sorry lovely lady) .    Her name meant nothing in relation to her business so I didn’t automatically follow her back.   Until we started chatting  and I thought “I like you”, looked at her profile, clicked on her Facebook profile link and learnt more about her.   I now know what her company does and have made that mental note to use her when I need the product she produces.  Or when I see somebody else wanting that product.   Could I have done that simply by being told to follow her?  No.

And that lady freely admits that actually she is now rethinking this strategy.

You will all know of my love and admiration for Kate at Gower Cottage Brownies.   Kate is a shining example of how to do your own social media marketing.   She interacts, her personality comes through.   You feel you know Kate even if you haven’t met her.   Kate has a six figure turnover and whilst she does attend foodie events, a large portion of that revenue comes from Twitter customers.    You want to recommend her to people because you know her.   And I do that regularly.   Recently I have bought from Kate just to take to other people, to help promote her in reality as well as on Twitter.

I have been introduced to hoardes of companies on Twitter by recommendation from others, including Kate.   And I recommend them on to others.  I do all my shopping online and a lot of that money is spent via companies I have met through Twitter.

I don’t think I have ever done that for a company that has taken part in something engineered by a specific marketing company.  And from the Direct Messages, emails and Tweets I am not unique.   These companies are annoying the pants off an awful lot of people.  An awful lot.   All of whom are potential customers.

Marketing is not my thing.  I don’t profess to being an expert, it is not my industry.   However, I do know what makes me buy things.  And this does not. 

And more importantly it is having the opposite effect and I think that is a shame for these businesses who are being shot in the proverbial foot.

I buy from people not rabbits / ladders / dogs. 

What do you think?

 

 

 

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Micro Scooters and the humble apology

11/03/2012

A couple of weeks ago I blogged about a nonsense survey commissioned by Micro Scooters who wanted to find out how stressful the school run was.   I basically said the survey was all made up.

I scoffed.

I mocked.

I basically took the piss.   Sorry to swear but I don’t know how else to say it.

And then two days later I got a tweet from Sara at the PR company saying “Hello. Would you like to try one out?”

I actually covered my face with a cushion and screamed.   And blushed and looked at my feet and tried to shrink into the sofa.   Mortified springs to mind.

But Sara was lovely and said we could have a couple to try out and to see if they might alleviate some of the stress in our life.

How could I refuse such a fabulous offer?  Two days later, two of them duly arrived.   One a child’s size scooter, and one for adults!  I didn’t know adult sized Microscooters even existed!!

We gave the child sized one to our friends, the Saunders, as we though their sons H and G would enjoy it.   And by the looks of it they certainly did.   First sunny day and H was off.

Adjustable handlebars mean that it can be made just the right height.   And the wide foot board means that it is incredibly stable, even if you are only small.

If you are a slightly bigger kid you can still have fun:

At various points of this week either E or J have been whizzing around the house on this MicroScooter, having a ball.   Last night, at around 11.30pm E was scooting round the kitchen table whilst her friends watched her over Skype from her laptop on the kitchen table.   Like it was the most natural thing in the world.

It’s a real shame that E’s school run is a 26 mile round trip and J’s is 60 because otherwise I would seriously be considering using one of these and sending them off with a good shove every morning.

We have had such fun on these, I don’t know if they have alleviated any of my daily stress levels, but honestly we have had a real giggle with them.

I might even go so far as to say that I recommend them 100%.

 

 

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Twitter and the endless FFs

09/03/2012

When I first saw #FFS  I genuinely thought it was a shortened version of “For F*ck Sake” as it was then followed by the name of a fellow Tweeter.    I thought this showed somebody who had really annoyed you that week and that they should be avoided.

Then one day I was on somebody’s #FFs list and it said something like “Lovely Tweeter, go Follow”.

I couldn’t work out how that worked then, I was lovely but had peed somebody off.

But then the penny dropped and I realised that it meant “Follow Friday” and was a suggestion to that person’s fellow followers that I was somebody they might like to follow.   So the exact opposite.   That made me feel all warm and fuzzy inside.   What a lovely idea to suggest somebody who is either witty, famous, has inside info, links to competitions etc to fellow Tweeters who may not be aware of this secret person.

And it worked, I gained a few more followers.   Lovely.   There is no point being on Twitter if you don’t have a few followers.

Recently, however, I have come to dread Fridays and the whole concept of #FFS is making me ranty because it is descending into farce.

So I have come up with the MummyBarrow list of rules for the Follow Friday phenomenon and suggesting my own alternative.

First the rules.   And you better start sticking to these, followers of mine, or I am coming after you with the naughty step:

Make sure YOU are following the person you are suggesting your followers follow.   The times I have seen my name included and I think “ooh you sound interesting, who are you?” and then realise they are not following me.   How can you recommend somebody you don’t follow?   Nonsense.   Stop it.

DO NOT.  I repeat.  DO NOT use an app to do this for you.   There is an app called “Lazy Shout Out” and it can auto generate tweets for you with a heading of something like “Friends this week” and then can send out a tweet like this:

#FF PeopleWhoYouLike @boringperson  @randombloke @randomwoman @someguyimetinabarontuesday (via @LzyShtOut)

Now I don’t want to sound ungrateful at this juncture but I am going to because I BLOODY HATE THIS APP.   If you can’t even be bothered to write the Tweet yourself to recommend people to your fellow Tweeters then what is the point?  You want your followers to follow these people but you can’t even be bothered to type it?   Sod off.

Ditto lists.  Tweets that have no dialogue but just say:

#FF @womanA @blokeB @someguy @thiswoman @anotherrandom @blokeonthetube @womanatbusstop

Why?  Why should I follow them?   It is your job to tell me why I should follow them.   Are they funny?  Are they famous?  Have they got a cure for the common cold?  Will they come round and do my ironing?   You have to tell me why I need to follow them.   Or don’t bother.

Ooh you got on a list YOU DON’T NEED TO THANK EVERYBODY ON IT.   The other downside to these lists is that when @WomanA gets it she will then tweet everybody to say “thanks for the #FF”.   I didn’t send you the bloody thing so what are you thanking me for? I don’t even know who you are.  Just thank the person that sent it to you.

Resist the urge to show off.  So somebody we don’t know has included you on their #FF list.   And?   Why do you need to RT (re-tweet) it and tell us all?  All it says is “ooh look at me.  Look at me”.    I might barely know you (yes, contrary to popular opinion I do not know every single one of the 2000 people I follow, personally).   So why should I care that you have been included on some other person’s list?   Stop it.   Nobody likes a show off.

Keep it simple.  What we want to see is something along the lines of:

Please go follow @mummybarrow.  She makes me smile.  Gives property advice for free if you need it and blogs a bit too. #FFs

There.  Short and to the point.   It tells your followers why they should follow me.   And it shows me that you actually care about me.  And that means that I care about you a little bit more.   And people that I care about get cake.

And so there endeth my list of rules for Friday.

I am now proposing a boycott of #FFs altogether.   I am suggesting an alternative.   I want to start #TTTs instead.   Top Tweeter Thursday.

It will be a one person per tweet on a Thursday.  Because at the moment #FFS really is making me revert to my original thinking.

Who is on board with #TTTs ?

 

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The Gallery — Light

07/03/2012

Tara’s theme for The Gallery this week is Light.  Natural light.  And lots of it.  Inspired by the thought that spring is just around the corner (despite us going out for lunch on Sunday in a blizzard).

I could have so easily picked a photograph from our holiday but didn’t want to bore you with yet another photograph from Barbados.   The light in some of those photos is extraordinary.  But so is the element of “ner ner ner ner”.

So instead, I give you this:

Cheeky Dog asleep in the Saturday-mid-afternoon-sunshine.    Mr B is watching the footie, probably with a beer and Cheeky has decided it is the ideal spot for a bit of a snooze.

Can’t say I blame him really.  Football has the same effect on me.

 

 

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Oh boy, you did all show me yours

07/03/2012

I blogged last week about the contents of my handbag and asked for people to send me theirs.   And send them you did!

A handbag is a handbag isn’t it?

What do we need to carry in it?   A purse and some keys.   Really that is all we really need.   Oh and our phone.   We don’t need to carry the various other assorted debris we drag around with us.   Yet we do, daily.

Here are some of my favourites:

Kirsty’s

My favourite Ted Baker bag (Santa thought I’d been a good girl this year)
which included;

1.My iPad – can’t live without it!
2. My iPhone (which is taking the picture)
3. Purse
4. headphones
5. 2 paying in envelopes with company cheques to take to the bank
6. 2 bills to pay
7.Lip balm
8.My radley mirror my son bought me last year for mother’s day (and then
repeated to everyone ‘do you KNOW how much it COST?’
9. a pile of business cards
10. 2 face cream samples
11. gloves (it’s 13 degrees outside!!)
12. notebook which I’d forgotten was in there
13. money notebook – yes I write what I spend down and then check it against
the online balance
14. company credit card wallet
15. keys to work
16. keys to my parent’s house
17. a ring I’d collected from the jewellers after repair – about 3 weeks
ago; I wondered what I’d done with it!
18. a pencil stolen from a meeting at Gateley UK LLP
19. a pen stolen from a meeting at Mint Hotel (I suspect there’s a theme
here…)
20. a nail file given to me at a corporate event at Aston Villa (I didn’t
steal this)
21. my favourite lipstick
22. 3 empty lighters
24. a voucher for a free meal at Marco Pierre White Birmingham
25. a memory stick – I normally carry two so no idea where the 2nd one is.

***************

Jodie’s:

***************

Claire’s:

Spare knickers and a wand.   Claire never leaves home without them!

***************

Polly’s was the most honest!

****************

Jacqui’s is so neat!

***************

Distinct lack of coffee in the Coffee Wench’s!

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So ordered!  But loose keys?  I would forever be losing those, Debbie

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By her own admission Jane has hidden the sugar free mints from this pic!

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And last, but not least is Carmen’s

1) handbag – ooh pretty birds
2) mini nail file - I frequently break my nails from hammering at my keyboard
3) plaster – for my calamity Carmen moments
4) starbucks card – need my skinny latte fix
5) Biro – because lip liners don’t help with writing essays
6) red pen – for working on my commute
7) sudoku puzzle book – my back up brain game after reading the Metro and the Evening Standard
8.) pink hi-lighter pen – for things I want to remember
9) make up bag – I’m one of those that applies their make up on the train
10) Spotty notepad – for my over active brain
11) Mini Post-it – for when I’m working on my commute
12) Ear Phones – as I listen to my ipod on my commute
13) Hurraw! Lip balm – got to keep my lips kissable
14) Painkillers – I’m a walking pharmacy
15) Purse – because I’m not the queen
16) Travel Card – for my commute
17) Hair Grip – I put my hair up at work and for hot flushes
18) Charger Plug – my iphone battery constantly needs recharging
19) Keys – how else would I open my door?
20) Lighter – yes I’m a nicotine addict
21) tissues – because I hit sniffing if my nose is runny

NB whats missing is my iphone – how else could i take the photo
Also my crackberry as its attached to my hand as opposed to my handbag….

*******************

Thanks Ladies.   These are all fabulous.   Look at how much we all lug around!  It is no wonder we all suffer from bad backs and sore shoulders.

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Silent Sunday – 3rd March

04/03/2012

Silent Sunday mocha beanie mummy
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Sport Relief — The online mile

03/03/2012

 

 

As I sit here laughing at Let’s Dance on BBC1 it is easy to think that is all celebs do for Sport Relief.   A bit of dancing about whilst raising money.

We forget though that these celebs put themselves in the spotlight and out of their comfort zones to raise money for this amazing charity.

And no celeb has been out of their comfort zone more than John Bishop.   John is my favourite comedian, we have seen him twice in the last year, and never fails to make me laugh.   But my utter respect for him has gone to a whole new level this week.

Whilst I was fannying about on this blog, doing some work, moaning at how tired I was just by doing my usual thing he was putting himself through a whole new dimension of hell.

Monday morning he set off on his bike from the Eiffel Tower in Paris to Calais.   As you do.   185 miles.   He fell off after about ten miles but still got back on and carried on cycling for over 18 hours.   18 hours on a bicycle saddle.  I don’t think I have done 18 minutes in the whole of the last 18 years.

After just an hour’s sleep he got in a boat and began rowing across the Channel with Davina McCall, Denise Lewis and legendary (pedalo) rower Freddie Flintoff.   Another six hours of gruelling madness clocked up.

Then he spent three days running three consecutive marathons from Dover to Trafalgar Square.   His last marathon was only completed with the help of his Smurf tape:

John said himself on Friday on being told he had raised £1.6 Million

It’s absolutely staggering. I’ve seen the projects that Sport Relief supports and the great thing is it’s not only going to help people abroad. You can get in your car anywhere in the country and within 15 minutes you will find a Sport Relief funded project.

If you haven’t already donated.  Please do it now.  £1.6 Million is a staggering amount but Sport Relief will always need more to carry on the amazing work they do.

Please please please visit this website and either sponsor John or donate.  Every £1 makes a difference.

 

Best Brit Bloggers are hosting an Online Mile challenge for all non sporty bloggers to do their bit for Sport Relief.   Bloggers taking part are NOT being paid to do this, simply asked to take part to help raise awareness so this is my contribution.

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