Can it be Christmas already?

It seems that Christmas is upon us - the parties have started, carol services enjoyed, most presents bought and wrapped, Christmas cards ... well, still being written - one day I'll actually get them written in time to post and get there in the right year! Reflecting on the mad financial whirl that the end of 2008 has been, I for one am looking forward to 2009 - even if it is tough. I was talking to friends yesterday about previous recessions and if there is one sure thing - it has to get better, maybe not today, or tomorrow or next month, but people still need to live, to work, to eat. I'm looking forward to a few days off, long walks, too much eating and drinking, enjoying my family and friends. Here's to a Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year!

Web 2.0 and using the social web for business

This morning I set aside some time to go to a seminar about Web 2.0 and using the social web for business. It was interesting to understand how some of these networks are built and friends of friends become your contacts and so on. I'm a social animal and have friends all over the world but my biggest worry is that with two young children, a business to run and a puppy, I barely have time to keep in touch with the friends that I already have, let alone whole new communities. I received a Christmas card from a friend last week who's announced that it's the last year she's sending out cards - in future she'll be making a charity donation instead. In her case, I see her regularly anyway, so it's not a great problem to me, but I know that if I didn't send Christmas cards to many of my friends, years would go past without them hearing so much as a squeak from me - not because I don't want to be in touch, just that I have no time ... I live in hope that as the children become older and more self-sufficient and I learn to delegate more at work, I might actually get to pay some attention to more of my friends again. I'd hate them to think that I don't value their friendships, because I do, very much.

Meet Freddie!

Meet Freddie, he is the newest member of the family, moved in on Sunday and is entertaining us all with his antics and his adorable face. Freddie is an English springer spaniel puppy of eight weeks old, with all the bounce and fun you'd expect. We're getting to know him and starting his training now!

Keeeep dancing!

Surely I must have blogged at some time between August and now? Where has the time gone to? Credit crunch or not, things are very busy at Nicky Stephen Marketing and my forward thinking clients are certainly not battening down the hatches and doing nothing - quite the opposite - they're looking for innovative solutions to drive their businesses forward (with some budget consciousness of course!). Children are back at school, nights are longer, Halloween and fireworks have passed by without disasters here and we're on the hectic run through to Christmas! Apart from work, the fabulous new Highcross centre has opened in Leicester, so some retail therapy has been a must, we've done a great village fund-raiser to renovate the church and its war memorial and of course Saturday and Sunday evenings have had to involve a bit of cheering on Austin Healey and his dance partner Erin on Strictly Come Dancing. My youngest child announced that he wanted to marry Austin's oldest daughter when he was 3 so loyalty still prevails even though he's not so keen on the idea of marriage to anyone now. We all try to watch at the weekend, keeeeeep on dancing Austin!

Las Vegas Market

Just back from sunny Las Vegas for this Summer's amazing furniture and furnishings market. World Market Center certainly knows how to treat its visitors, glorious weather, great shuttle transport service from the hotels, amazing parties and our very own Rod Stewart show - live. Rod was fantastic - made me proud to be a Brit and is it just me or has he improved with age?! What a showman, what a show - visitors from all around the world had a great time. If you have to work whilst abroad, Las Vegas Market makes it very pleasurable - beats any other furniture show I've been to hands down. Practised my Italian too, thanks to the team at Fiera Milano - buongiorno to you all!

Fabulous Weather

Glorious weather and I'm writing about Air Conditioning Systems and Ventilation Systems from one of my clients Vortice which has a whole range of eco-friendly products. It's only in recent years that I've felt the need to even consider an air-conditioning system, but on days like this my office would definitely benefit - time to investigate I think!

Good experience at Terminal 5

Just had to blog about my experience at Heathrow Terminal 5 on Tuesday. I wasn't flying anywhere, but my client had flown in from the States the day before and was off to Milan that afternoon so meeting at the airport seemed like a good plan. Having watched all the scenes on television about how chaotic it was and how everything was going wrong, the calm, serene terminal that awaited me was a huge surprise ...

Naturally everything's new, so it hasn't really had time to look tired or battered unlike some of those people trying to travel in the first couple of days, but it really did look 'the business'! The staff to visitors ratio was huge, there was someone to greet you when you came out of the car park looking for the lift, there was someone in the lift to press the button, there was someone to tell you which way to go from there and numerous people to ask about those minor questions like where you might get a wireless connection. All in all, my clients checked into their flight, joined me in Carluccios for lunch, where we also had great service and the whole experience was a delight. Don't think I've read anything else positive about Terminal 5 yet, so thought I'd do my bit!

Stormy North Yorkshire

This morning as I reflect on a great weekend with the 'Working Mums', I just want to say - The Magpie in Whitby is still the very best fish restaurant I have ever visited and well worth the snowy, sleety, rainy walk across the cliffs we chose to get there. If you get the chance and you love fresh, simply cooked, delicious fish, don't miss it. On our journey back we stopped at Harrogate for a bit of shopping, wandering and of course a visit to Betty's for tea. What more can a girl ask for? Don't answer that!

Waste not want not

It's humbling sometimes to appreciate how simple the world seems from the perspective of children. The Easter weekend was spent in Wales where I hail from (well done Wales for a fab Grand Slam result!) and it's quite some journey from Leicestershire, particularly with children in the car. As we drove down the motorways the children noticed just how much litter and rubbish, particularly plastic carrier bags are wound around trees and hedgerows en-route and were asking pertinent questions about why. They remembered that in Corsica for example, there simply were no plastic carrier bags - it was paper bags or re-usable long life ones in every supermarket. That led to more discussion about our consumerist society, recycling, re-use and rubbish dumps... My oldest had just returned from a school trip to a recycling plant, so had some strong views on the subject.

I explained that I have been doing some very interesting work with community waste organisations over the last couple of years and that the objective was to encourage businesses and consumers to think before they send things straight to landfill. The children regard this as just sensible - why does it take some companies so long to see it in such a simple way? Have a look at Resource Saver - this scheme acts as a marriage broker between businesses and community groups that can re-use or recycle their unwanted materials/goods. Established in the East of England, it's now operating in the North West too, www.resourcesaver.org.uk worth looking at ...

The wonders of technology

I don't often get the chance to do this, but today I set aside a few hours to help some girlfriends with the wonders of modern technology. Now I've worked with all of these girls in the past when they've been high flying executives in various high brow roles in industry and each are now either 'retired' or 'semi-retired', so unlike me they aren't in a position to keep abreast of new web developments. So I found myself being 'the expert' in buying and selling on e-bay - something I rarely do incidentally! It was quite a frightening proposition being 'the expert' but we had a hilarious time and did actually manage to achieve our objective of listing at least one item to sell. One of the funniest things was starting out with a selection of potential items to sell, but then working out that many of the girls actually didn't want to part with half of them (or at least not for the money that it looked like they'd get on e-bay)! The moral of the story however, was that all of us agreed we should take some 'time-out' more often not just to learn new skills, but to keep in touch with old friends ... it was fun!

Well the earth moved for me!

Well the earth certainly moved for me last night, Leicestershire appears to be right where it all happens on the Richter scale - and it wasn't just because I was sleeping on my wonderful new Sleepflex Coolwave bed! http://www.sleepflexcoolwave.co.uk/ Who does know what you're supposed to do when an earthquake strikes? I listened to fascinating ideas like 'stand underneath a doorframe,' 'hide under the stairs' or even 'hide in the bath' - not sure if there's any science behind any of it! All I know is that it sounded like my chimney had collapsed so I hid under the duvet and went back to sleep on the basis that I'd be better able to do something about it in the morning!

Eating at The Belmont

Well one thing I've learnt, is that you may set out to write a regular blog, but life seems to get in the way ... my weekly blog is already one that appears once every three weeks instead ... This week I've had to come down to earth after a glorious 7 days in sunny Austria on the slopes, gazing at blue skies and wondering why I didn't think about getting fit before setting off on a skiing holiday! I've been working on an exciting project this week, the rebranding and relaunch of one of Leicester's favourite hotels, The Belmont. When I moved to Leicester in the early 1980's, The Belmont was the place to meet for an 'early doors' drink after work and I've spent many a happy evening there over the years. As I now live and work outside the environs of the city centre, I don't have many opportunities to pop-in for a swift glass of wine, but it is somewhere I'd recommend for excellent food and great service. The hotel interiors have obviously changed somewhat from the frilly blinds of the 1980's - today's contemporary interiors - modern leather seating in the lounge and bar areas, smart black and metallic for banqueting rooms all bring a fresh new look. You should try it http://www.belmonthotel.co.uk/ !

Blogging and beds

It's been an interesting week, not least because it began with my birthday, which was fun, but also because I'm trying to keep up to date with what's new on the digital media scene - pretty vital for someone whose day job is marketing and PR - http://www.nickystephenmarketing.co.uk/ However, speaking as someone who can't even programme the video without referring to my 8 year old son for guidance, this blogging stuff is new for me! I went to a workshop yesterday where Microsoft's Eileen Brown http://blogs.technet.com/eileen_brown/ persuaded us that blogging's simply something we should do, so it's Friday and I thought I'd have a go.



More importantly, I've really enjoyed the projects I've worked on this week, many and varied ... the first is a fantastic new bed called Sleepflex Coolwave - http://www.sleepflexcoolwave.co.uk/ which I'm promoting - so good that I've put my money where my mouth is and I'm expecting delivery of one in the next couple of weeks. It is over ten years since I last bought a new bed and my other half is constantly complaining of back ache, so I guess it was time to do something about it. I was at the country's biggest furniture trade show last week Interiors 2008 http://www.thefurnitureshow.co.uk/intfurn08/show_highlights.html, so there was plenty of opportunity to try out a few beds - this one's different, because it incorporates memory foam which is incredibly supportive and comfortable, but it doesn't get hot ( a regular complaint about memory foam beds) because it incorporates a plaited foam system that allows air to circulate freely through it. You'll soon see the product advertised in home interest magazines and you can already try it out at Furniture Village stores http://www.furniturevillage.co.uk/ and other leading independent furniture stores around the UK. Do I sound convinced? I am! Well, my first blog done, I'll now work out how to publish and you never know, I might manage to wax lyrical again soon!