Happy Christmas!

Can it really be a month since I last blogged? I've linked this blog to my client The Belmont Hotel, Leicester, because they're looking particularly Christmassy at the moment as you can see from the photo! They're booked up with Christmas parties, Christmas Day and New Year's Eve activities so lots happening. There's something special about having snow at Christmas - children sledging, parents slithering and sliding along pavements. My colleague Jane and I took our children to Peter Pan at Curve theatre on Saturday - it had a slating from the critics, but we had a wonderful time - sets were great, acting and flying fun and music first class. Yesterday I went on an advanced search engine optimisation course, the third 'tecky' course I've been on recently - so important to keep up to date because everything moves so fast in the virtual world. I'd just like to wish all my clients and friends a very Merry Christmas and let's hope for a Happy and Prosperous 2010!

Juggling work, children and social life

I met Ben Jackson of BBC Radio Leicester yesterday at a business networking lunch and was interviewed for his breakfast show this morning on the topic of women combining a successful family life with a career and social life. The subject came up because it was reported at the weekend that a private school somewhere in the South of England has decided to teach girls of 10 that they can't have all three things. Two out of the three are possible, but not all three together ...

Ben interviewed three of us attending a BNI business lunch to see what our views are - it's hard to cover such a wide topic in a few minutes on radio, but for me the key has been first and foremost a hugely supportive husband, plus organisation and timing! I built my career during my twenties and early thirties and was lucky to have two wonderful children in my late thirties. It 's not always easy to balance everything and there have been times when I've wondered quite how it would all work out, but somehow it has.

These days after school clubs, breakfast and holiday clubs play a big role in helping working Mums to manage their time and we're very lucky that our children's school has a fantastic out of hours club. As far as social life is concerned, in our case much revolves around the children and the local community and whilst there are friends who we don't see as often as we'd like, we recognise that this is just for a short phase whilst our children are young.

So, should young girls be taught that they can't have all three things? No! At the age of 10 I believe that all children should be encouraged to aim high, believe in themselves and work hard towards whatever goals they aspire to. There's plenty of time for them to prioritise and decide what's important to them when they're older.

Well done Design Leicestershire member!

Just been reading today's Marketing magazine and fellow Design Leicestershire member Checkland Kindleysides has won the Marketing Design Excellence Award for 2009 for its fabulous retail design for Timberland at Westfield London. Well done!

For those who don't know, Leicestershire and Rutland are home to the largest design cluster outside London, with award winning retail, textile, product, graphic, architectural and web designers. The Design Leicestershire website is currently being updated and soon anyone looking for cutting edge design from an agency that happens to be based outside London can search the database within one click.http://www.designleicestershire.com

HOW TO BOOST THE COFFERS FOR CHRISTMAS!

After a few months of development, my client Eyewun has just relaunched its fabulous reverse auction website with lots of opportunities to win cash prizes between now and the end of January 2010. In these recession hit times what better to cheer you up than having a go at a fun reverse auction, it might even boost your coffers for Christmas - have a look! http://www.eyewun.co.uk

London Fashion Week

Well done to Mark Fast who caused a stir at London Fashion Week by using a few curvier models (size 12-14) to show his knitwear. There's been a lot of talk about body image, great to see some action and not only did this result in a brilliant PR coup for Mark Fast, but it's also a celebration for 'real women'!

Hotels of distinction!

Staying at Las Vegas Hotels is something else! Over the years working with my client there I've been lucky to stay at a variety of great hotels - this year it's the Palazzo, last year it was Mandalay Bay and before that a couple of times at the Paris and Caesar's Palace. It's useful for me to experience first hand how some of these top hotels do things - I work with a lovely independently owned hotel in Leicester which is constantly investing in upgrading their facilities and services - visit http://www.belmonthotel.co.uk/ and there are things I can draw from what I see in the US that come in useful back home.



Las Vegas is incredibly theatrical, it takes a while to appreciate, because first glance for us Brits creates that 'is this for real?' feeling, but these hotels are really very clever. In the middle of the desert what do they have? Sunshine year round, gambling, girls, but also real luxury, designer clothes stores and great shows. No expense is spared and it's all about fun, fun, fun and treating yourself. Apparently the Bellagio Hotel has more Michelin starred chefs than the whole of Paris - quite some accolade.

Viva Las Vegas!

I thought it might be fun to blog from Las Vegas where I've been since the weekend at the fabulous World Market Center for the Las Vegas September market. The doom and gloom that's hit the furniture industry this year appears to have been banished here - there's energy, excitement and glitz and where better to work hard and play hard than Vegas!

The spirit of this city seems to permeate through the business done here - optimism rules. The end of the working day merely heralds the beginning of party time - yesterday, to celebrate Mexican Independence Day there was tequila, Mexican dancers, music and fun, and for me that was just the aperitif. Fabulous dining at the Wynn, followed by dancing at Blush and very little sleep - truly Las Vegas!

Sunny Italy!

Been meaning to blog every since we all got back from sunny Italy! What a delightful two weeks, sunshine, sunshine, sunshine - great food, great wine and more sunshine! La Passione (http://www.lapassionevilla.co.uk/) really is the most wonderful place to rent - glorious house with pool, tennis court and olive grove, in the middle of nowhere in Le Marche where no-one speaks English - tested my pigeon Italian somewhat. Only when you get away do you realise the benefits of switch-off time, only two weeks later and I'm still sitting at my computer at 7.30 p.m. when I really should have a glass of Sauvignon Blanc, oops sorry Prosecco in my hand! My children are having a wonderful summer despite the UK's somewhat tricky weather - this week it's Rutland Water for sailing, windsurfing, kayaking and more high jinks - thank heavens for my husband for sorting it all out for them. Seems a lifetime ago when my summers used to involve lots of sailing, canooing, haymaking and harvesting - suppose it was decades ago - whoops.

Design Leicestershire

Went to the launch of the Design Leicestershire book last night at Athena in Leicester where I bumped into a fellow delegate from the original Microsoft course on blogging that I went on. He asked if I was still musing and I suddenly remembered that actually I haven't blogged for about a month, so it's about time I did!

The book, with its distinctive yellow and black logo, outlines Leicestershire's rich history in design and brings the reader up to date with the movers and shakers in the county's design community today. Why a book in today's internet age? Peter Hogarth, the International Trade Director for UKTI East Midlands got it in a nutshell - yes websites are important, but in his line of work there is still a place for a substantial printed directory with gravitas which international delegations can be shown when they visit the UK and which can be used overseas to generate new business. My copy's on the coffee table in my office and I will be showing it to my overseas clients whenever they visit me.

The design industry contributes a huge amount to the UK economy, as witnessed by the Cox Report. It doesn't just revolve around London, the wealth of great designers and marketers based here in Leicestershire is something we should be shouting about - so I am - consider this shouting!

Google conference

Went to a great google conference called 'Survival of the Fastest' in London this month as part of my striving to keep up to date with what's what in new media! The speakers were really good - the sessions were focussing on adwords and Arjan Dijk of Google started with an overview of the marketplace and an explanation of how google can have a huge impact on trading within a recession. Two case studies from Chemist Direct www.chemistdirect.co.uk and from Big Red Book www.bigredbook.com were fascinating as was a fictitious case study presented by two googlers.

For me, the most valuable lesson was that Google exists and has a presence in the UK and Ireland - so many people cold call our office trying to sell us google related 'expertise' that it was refreshing to find that it's actually quite easy to talk to a real googler! I'll be putting my new found expertise into action very soon ...

What a great foodie week last week!

What a great foodie week it was last week. The Italian Chamber of Commerce had set up a cookery school at Giancarlo and Katie Caldesi's La Cuccina Caldesi on Marylebone Lane and Jane and I joined food journalists and enthusiasts for some lessons in making ravioli, a main course of chicken stuffed with pecorino cheese and wrapped in proscuitto and some melt in the mouth 'pudding'. All used protected status (PDO/PGI) foods from Tuscany and the quality of the ingredients really sang through. As a reward for our hard work cooking all afternoon, we were driven to Bray to Caldesi in Campagna for a mouthwatering meal with the food producers and journalists. (http://www.caldesi.com/)

The next day saw a seminar at the City Inn Hotel where food experts talked to us about the EU scheme of protected status foods and we got to sample the Tuscan PDO/PGI foods in particular. Helen joined Jane and I to welcome the journalists attending and we had a really interesting day, broadening our food industry experience still further.

Love your food?

I'm having a great week, busy but fun - promoting Tuscan pdo/pgi status foods like pecorino cheese, Tuscan ham, honey and chestnuts among others. My client is a consortium of food producers in Tuscany who are introducing their products to the UK market and my job is to help them reach food journalists. There's a cookery school, seminar, in-store tasting and a special menu on offer at restaurants in London for a week of flavour at the end of this month. So if you, like me, enjoy good food and you happen to be in London, why not check out the special Tuscan menu on offer at Caffe Caldesi in Marylebone Lane and at the Metropolitan Group restaurants (Galileo Locanda Toscana in Haymarket, Getti on Marylebone High St and Jermyn St and Zia Teresa in Hans Rd Knightsbridge). It runs from 27th April 2009.

A beautiful Spring morning!

What a difference a bit of sun makes... everyone seems to have more of a spring in their step, including my Springer spaniel puppy. Despite the continuing doom and gloom headlines, most of my clients are looking positively at how to claim and build market share in 2009 and good on 'em. They're the ones who'll come out of this all the stronger.

On Friday night the Leicester Mercury kindly invited me to join them at the East Midlands Women of Achievement Awards in the Walker Stadium - lots of inspiring stories from women who've made a real difference to their communities or their businesses - a great evening. A particular 'well done' to Ellen Bianchini who single handedly set up the Spark Festival in Leicester, a wonderful way of bringing the arts and drama to the children of the region. I became aware of it through The Belmont Hotel which is one of the festival venues and look forward to taking my children to some of the 2009 events.

Just a bit of snow!

This is the view from my office window today!

I for one am enjoying seeing some snow, it reminds me of my childhood - and yes, I have seen snow in the last 25 years, but somehow I'm reliving the excitement of sledging and building snowmen through my children. Despite a couple of recent skiing holidays, seeing your own garden and surroundings bathed in that magical white stuff is slightly different. I'm getting loads of work done because the telephone has been quieter for the last few days as people struggle to get to their various workplaces and I'm able to look out of my office window and watch my boys build an igloo in the field below. What more could I wish for?

This is when it's great having an office within walking distance of my front door, but my sympathies lie with head teachers today, having to make the decision as to whether to open or close the schools. The local news was full of the local director of education trying to keep as many schools open as possible and I applaud the sentiment - it's not easy trying to arrange childcare at half an hour's notice. However, it's never as simple as just clearing the playground so that they break no bones - rather the getting to and from school in the first place. I'm glad I didn't have to dust off my car this morning and slither down the hill to try to get out of the village and I know my children will remember this week for the rest of their lives as a very special time simply having fun with their friends.

Hectic start to 2009!

What a hectic start to 2009! Nearly the end of January and I've not stopped for 5 minutes, or so it seems. Product launch for Vortice during the first week back after the Christmas holiday - that was great - really good to see how the creative work we've been doing has come to fruition and the product is really exciting. I never thought I could get so excited about eco-friendly ventilation products, but I even started lecturing my husband on heat recovery systems last week! This week's been Interiors Birmingham, the UK's biggest furniture exhibition and contrary to the general doom and gloom flooding the newspapers and news channels, my client YP Furniture has had a great launch of several new bedroom and living/dining room products. Those attending the exhibition were serious buyers and it was refreshing to see how enthusiastic they were, despite the realism that this is not going to be the easiest year on record. It's busy too at The Belmont Hotel, we're just finalising plans for the year and there are lots of exciting events happening there - not least that it's one of the venues for Leicester's Comedy Festival. Busy at World Market Center Las Vegas too - the next market is only a couple of weeks away, so it's all systems go getting everything ready for the throngs of visitors and press who will attend.



Don't know about you, but 2009 is pretty good so far...