Blog Relaunch

I’ve decided to relaunch my blog. It’s been a long time coming, so why waste another day, month or year? Instead of boring you with the details in the format of a viciously long text post, I’m gonna do what I do best - talk with pictures! Let’s get started.

I’ll be honest, life can get pretty busy. The simple fact is I got busy and neglected my blog. I wanted to start back up again because I have missed it dearly and wanted to share what I’ve been doing. As someone who works in online and digital marketing space, I wanted to re-establish that online work/life balance again. I’ve gone back to Tweeting more, using Instagram, and getting more active online. Admittedly it’s not the easiest thing to maintain considering I work in it everyday, but it’s a challenge that I think would be worthwhile both professionally and personally. Here are a few things that I have updated and improved on…

1. OPTED FOR A BRAND NEW LAYOUT

This layout is much like the one I had previously with some minor modifications. Moving on to a 2 column format, I have designed new buttons and have created space in which I can show you my sponsors and affiliates. The body however, I wanted to keep the same as possible. I love whitespace, and as you can see, I love it quite literally. I’ve kept everything very clean and minimal, giving an emphasis to the aesthetics and simplicity of my posts.

2. UPDATED MY FOCUS

Gone are the days where I posted about everything from marketing, fashion, art, interesting online reads, to my life in general. It was reasonable when I was posting around 3 to 4 times a week but with a career that is really on the move, it’s just not manageable.

I wanted to simplify and just focus on me and my work as a whole. I’ve taken the focus off of having specific segments and have a more general “me and marketing” focus. I will be aiming to post either once a week or once a fortnight.

And that’s it for now! Let me know what you think about the new layout and such in the comments below.

The Front Lines: Blog Relaunch Coming Soon

As you can see, I’ve been busy with redesigning my blog with a (mostly) new format and most importantly… new buttons! Here’s a sneak peek:

What do you guys think so far?

GENERAL CURIOSITIES #22

I keep saying that I will get back into posting regularly (maybe 3 to 4 times a week is a little excessive) but I haven’t had the time to (maybe I should start doing 1 to 2 times a week instead?).

Anyway, life has been crazy (nothing new). I do however, have a little story to tell. Recently, my dad has been working with closely with Versace to develop high end luxury apartments. A couple of weeks ago, my mother received a package. It was a very light giant box that was sent as a gift from Versace.

What was in the box you ask? See for yourself!

Isn’t it wonderful? My mum was so excited to receive it and a giant thank you goes out to Versace. What’s more is this bag has been modeled by January Jones for Spring 2011.

Maybe if I’m lucky mum will let me borrow her bag :P

GENERAL CURIOSITIES #21

It’s good to be slowly getting back into blogging. As I’ve stated in my previous posts, I’ve been snowed under with work and all other spare time I have had I have been using it to relax. I have been relaxing by watching television, watching movies, eating and shopping! I haven’t been doing anything too riveting but I thought that I would show you with some of the stuff I have purchased this week.

I bought new perfume called Wish by Chopard. It is a parfum that has a very rich vanilla, caramel and sandalwood smell that is overlaid with a light sent of fruit and florals. And of course, being a sucker for packaging I was in love with the bottle as soon as I saw it.

I have started getting sick of lugging around a monstrous hard drive so I decided to buy a tiny 1TB USB 3.0 portable hard drive. It is so nice and light and weighs about one tenth of my other hard drives.

Here are some additional purchases that I couldn’t resist but take photos of. He bought an adjustable mouse that is aesthetically mind boggling. 

This is mechanical keyboard that has no markings on the keys. It is fantastic to use (if you can touch type that is).

It’s good to be getting back into blogging. Hopefully I will have some swoon worthy posts for you soon!

BOOKMARKED #17

This week has been a little bit of a breakfast eat fest. I visited a few cafés in the Brisbane and Fortitude Valley area. Below is a photo of the Eggs Benedict with salmon from Campos.

So on the topic food, I decided to post a few food blogs that really enjoy.

Whenever I go to a restaurant or café I can’t help but notice and admire the menus (if they are well designed that is). Art of the Menu is a fantastic blog that looks at the design of restaurant menus.

If you are looking for blogs that comprise of food, fashion and lifestyle you should check out Luxirare and The Blonde Salad.

Biorequiem (amongst many others) is one of the blogs that has strongly visually inspired my blog. She has a fantastic food segment called Mmmf. Her photography is nothing short of amazing. 

To localise this post a little bit I thought you would be interested in A Table For Two. It is an Australian blog that is fantastically designed and provides reviews, recipes, photography and much more.

And last but not least is a blog by Kaman and friends! Kaman has been a long time friend of mine and one of our main common interests is food. This year, she started a food blog called Takes Two Gluttons. It typically looks at affordable food, recipes and other food related news.

That’s all for now. Happy eating!

THE FRONT LINES #4: KL FAIR IN STOP MOTION

As you all know, I haven’t been frequently posting due to various work commitments. So, you may be seeing a fair few The Front Lines posts over the next few weeks because I want to give you a glimpse of the things I have been working on that has kept me away from my precious blog. 

A few weeks back, I helped my best friend KL on a competition entry to win a free registration to the ALIA 5th New Librarian Symposium. The theme of the entry was metamorphosis, librarianship and how the symposium could help someone become a librarian.

KL had already had a rough idea in mind but because we were working to a strict deadline, I thought that it would be a fantastic idea to make stop motion video. Basically, I took the photos and altered their sizes and she edited it together. Here is what we came up with…

The video isn’t too bad considering we did it in a only few hours. I do however, think that some music would have improved it significantly. Overall, the video did capture her relationship with the library and her metamorphosis as library user to librarian. Although KL didn’t win, the competition board was so impressed by her entry that they want to promote it as part of the symposium. Yay for team work! Yay for free publicity.

I’d love to hear what you think. What do you think of the entry?

THE FRONT LINES #3: HONEY BIRDETTE’S SAUCY SNAPS

So you may have all been wondering where I have disappeared to. Well, I have been keeping busy by working at my full-time job as well as working on some campaigns on the side.

Continuing along the same lines as the Saucy Shorts competition Honey Birdette held last year, I worked closely with the directors of Honey Birdette to formulate another competition called Saucy Snaps. Like Saucy Shorts, Saucy Snaps was designed to allow artists to engage with the Honey Birdette brand. Instead of having a more film focus, Saucy Snaps was seeking to engage photographer, models, makeup artists and stylists.

The competition ran for three months and the brief was to:

1. Shoot something that conveyed the Honey Birdette brand
2. Find the perfect setting and create the perfect mood
3. Have Honey Birdette assist in providing an outfit that was suitable for the shoot

We had over twenty-five entrants which we then shortlisted to ten finalists. Although there were many amazing entries, here are a few of my favourites:

RACHEL AUST

This one was my favourite entry featuring the divine Amelie Lulu. She is a local Brisbane burlesque dancer who is simply stunning.  

CLARISSA BONES

I loved that this model had a tattoo sleeve. It really gave the photographs a different edge.

OLIVER KUO

And of course, how could I not love the winner! Oliver won hearts of the Honey Birdette staff as well as the votes. With over 1,000 votes, his entry won by a landslide.

NOTE: To see the other finalists, visit the the Honey Birdette voting page or the official Honey Birdette Tumblr blog.

Not only did we want artists to engage with the Honey Birdette brand but we also wanted customers and their networks to tell us which snap was their favourite. With this we encouraged both online and offline word-of-mouth and social sharing.

Considering the limited time and resources, I think that overall this competition was a success. What do you guys think?

GENERAL CURIOSITIES #20: THE FUELING OF A CAFFEINE ADDICT

I am still on my blogging hiatus but I thought that I should show you a little something that has been keeping me going for these past few weeks.

That’s right, COFFEE (CAWFEE)! I thought I had rid myself of coffee fueled days when I had finished university but that is clearly not the case. Now I have money to actually buy (more) coffee since I’m not a poor uni student anymore.

You should also know that I generally have my cawfee with malk…

Don’t worry I’ve also been mixing it up buy drinking delicious loose leaf tea (from my favourite local tea store, The Tea Centre) and energy drinks.

That is all for now. *Eye twitches while I sip on coffee*

GENERAL CURIOSITIES #19

I’m not going to lie, this week has been a busy week. Me not posting at all this week is a pretty good indication of how busy I’ve been. This week worked (both at my full-time job and for my dad), saw The Dandy Warhols with a colleague, went to a Mexican themed 21st birthday party, watched a few movies and caught up on some TV shows. Here are my thoughts on this week’s events:

• The Dandy Warhols - They were amazing! I would definitely see them again. The rest of the evening was filled with burger eating, hipster walking/strutting, silly girls doing an assortment of bizarre things.
• Mexican 21st birthday party - A fun evening that involved a Mexican food, Tequila, felt mustaches, handmade ponchos and a Justin Bieber cardboard cutout.

I also went shopping and bought a new pair of Melissa shoes. I think this is my seventh pair?

I believe that I will be going on a brief blogging hiatus until I can get all of the work that I currently on my plate done. Ciao!

GENERAL CURIOSITIES #18

As promised here is a photo of my desk at work. My shelf features a mirror tile, an antler (yes a real one) and a Wolverine bobble head. My desk features the letters I bought from Typo, a pen holder and three different brands of spearmint mint tins (I have been trying to start a collection). There’s not really much to my desk. I have tired to inject it with a bit of personality while keeping it minimal and clean.

The colleague who sits next to me like to add commentary to my decorations. He has added a speech bubble fashioned out of a Post-it note that says “Charlie bit me!!!” (in reference to this video). He also printed the word “MAD” onto a piece of paper and stuck it to the bottom of this shelf (as if I haven’t heard that one before!). I sometimes also find that my letters get rearranged when I step away from my desk…