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...

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!