Find us on Google+ Geek is the new chic: June 2012

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Friday, 29 June 2012

Manage your Instagram feed from Hootsuite dashboard

It's been a long time coming but thanks to Hootsuite there's now a decent, quick loading Instagram web app that makes light work of managing your Instagram stream from the comfort of your Hootsuite dashboard.

Hootsuite Instagram App
Multiple Instagram streams on the Hootsuite dashboard

Of course this isn't the first third party online Instagram app but I've always found Webstagram and Statigram to be slow and glitchy. 
First impressions of the Hootsuite app are pretty good I'm disappointed that it doest have a multi account function, Now that would have been something to shout about.

Key features include:
Share Instagram photos to your social networks
View feeds for: Your photos, users you follow, popular pics and your likes
View and post comments and likes
View user information

Come on Hootsuite, not having to log in and out of my personal and work Instagram accounts would make me very, very happy and I'm sure I'm not the only one.

You can download the Hootsuite Instagram app via the Hootsuite App Directory and it's FREE!



Wednesday, 27 June 2012

WIWW : The Cybher Girls Edition

This post may well be a bit of a cheat as I'm sure both Claire and Ryan will have used it too but hey it's a great pic and we all love it!

We live about as far away from each other that the UK allows and don't get to spend a lot of time together in the flesh but last weekend we had a really special treat in the form of three days together in London.

We were there to attend a conference but also to hang out and have fun. If the photo is anything to go by it looks like we managed it pretty well! 

I'm wearing a fluro pink jumper from H&M and a big smile!
I'm also wearing a a rather special skirt that my beloved, Yan To made for me but that will get its own dedicated post really soon.
Tucked inside my jumper you may catch my favourite Cybher pink Freya bra, which brings me neatly on to their awesome new Blog Star competition!

Freya are searching for fabulous, new blogging talent to contribute to their Fitting Talk blog. You need to be creative, stylish, sassy, fashionable and love, love lingerie. So if that sounds like you pop over to their site to find out how to enter. You never know you could be the lucky blogger that bags all of the cool prizes!

For What I Wore Wednesday over on Transatlantic Blonde

Tuesday, 19 June 2012

What I Wore Today : The Girls Weekend

I'm heading down to London this weekend to spend the weekend with my best buddies Ryan and Claire. We'll be relaxing, laughing and knocking back too many cocktails as well as brainstorming for Cybher 2013 and celebrating Ryan's birthday.

I have a couple outfits in the pipeline. One is being made for me by Yan and the other possible is this.
Geekisnewchic what I wore today
Dress :  Vivienne Westwood 
Boots :  Dr Martens Darcie from Cloggs
Bag : My new 11" chocolate brown satchel from Leather Satchel Co

What do you think? Geek or chic?

Monday, 18 June 2012

The MAD Cybher Ticket Giveaway

It's been a big week for me personally with Cybher hitting the coveted top spot in the Tots100 May Brand Index and to celebrate I'm having a little old giveaway.
But first I want to say thank you to everyone who has supported me through this last year. You all made Cybher the amazing experience that it was.
Twitter was awash with the #Cybher hashtag and it clocked up a reach of over 5 million in just 48 hours!
So this is my way of thanking you for every single tweet and blog post. To have had more mentions than the likes of NEXT, X Box, Tesco, Volvo & Lego quite frankly blows me away.
Cybher was the most talked about blogger event that the UK has ever seen. 300 of the most influential female bloggers (and a couple of guys too) proved just how powerful their words can be.

Cybher 2012
Cybher photograph by Candy Pop Images
So to the giveaway...
I have to say that it's pretty epic prize consisting of;
  • A coveted Cybher 12 bag, handmade by The Leather Satchel Co.
  • A ticket to the other must attend blogger event of 2012, the MAD Blog Awards final.
  • A ticket to Cybher 13.

The third annual Mum and Dad Blog Awards aka the MAD's, in association with Parentdish.co.uk are the UK's biggest and most exciting awards for parent bloggers. This year they received more than 100,000 nominations and votes which is quite frankly, amazing.



Even more amazing is that I'm a finalist so I'll be there at the finals on Friday 28th September too! Entry is by invitation only and I can't thank Sally enough for donating this prize.

Cybher 13 will take place on 1st June 2013, at 8 Northumberland Avenue, London, so save the date now. 
Not surprisingly following the buzz around this years event, over half of the early bird tickets have already been sold.

Please enter using the Rafflecopter widget below (please note that widget doesn't always work on a mobile device).
Don't forget you can use the Tweet to enter option every day to boost your chances of winning!



The MAD's award ceremony takes place on the evening of Friday 28th September in central London. Cybher 13 takes place on Saturday 1st June 2013 in central London. 



Tuesday, 12 June 2012

The Clubbing Years : Goodbye Cruel World

It started out as a regular Monday night, I ran the kids around, took part in #commschat and then fell into a regular Skype with Claire and Ryan. Our conversations are often random but always entertaining and tonights theme of 90's clubbing anthems sent Claire and I into a frenzy and Ryan off to bed...
What can we say? She didn't live in England in the 90's but we did and we were clubbers!

We banded tracks back and forth for a while before deciding we needed an ultimate playlist. We fought over a few and ended up sharing more than we should but that cements our friendship even more. It's all about the music...

Make the world go round - Sandy B


Take Me Away - True Faith


Move Your Body - Xpansions


Shine On - Degrees of Motion


Don't You Want Me? - Felix


Take Me Away - True Faith


Made in Two Minutes - Bug Kann and the Plastic Jam


Temperature Rising - PKA


Professional Widow - Tori Amos (Van Heldon Mix)


This post is to my 90's crew. You know who you are.... Julie, Robin, Beckley, Mav, Fi, Ali, Kaim, Ann, Naomi... to long weekends... Goodbye Cruel World, Vague, Back to Basics, Gift from the Gods & whatever John's club in Derby was called!
Happy days!
Claire has a linky over on Bad Fiction. Indulge yourself!

I know that there are many more tracks that I should have included here. Keeping it to 10 is tough but I leave you with a 'Quality Josh Wink Moment' that will always remind me of a certain lady who I met at the best 90's club round these parts... Goodbye Cruel World.


Higher State of Consciousness - Josh Wink


If you have any suggestions of track I should have included please do comment and I'll add it to our Spotify playlist.

Sunday, 10 June 2012

English National Ballet & Flawless

I've had a wonderful day today. A little out of the ordinary for a Sunday but totally awesome...

By 9am I was standing outside the stage door at the Royal Concert Hall in Nottingham where Biba, along with other Dance Activate pupils was taking part in a workshop with the English National Ballet cast of Against Time.
If you haven't heard about it, Against Time is an innovative English National Ballet collaboration  with the street crew Flawless, that is simply amazing.

So our day began with a workshop led by some of the company dancers.

English National Ballet Workshop
Leicestershire Dance Activate at the ENB workshop
Biba at ENB workshop
Biba in the ENB workshop
The workshop was a great experience for all of the children. I used to love these company workshops when I was a teenager. There's nothing more exciting for an aspiring dancer to see how the professionals roll and following the workshop we got to sit in company class. I'll let my photographs do the talking...




Then it was time to meet the guys from Flawless and I have to say that they were exactly that. They signed autographs for all 35 of our children, posed for photos and were just fab.

Dance Activate & Flawless

But what about Against Time?
It's breathtaking in it's innovation. A simple fusion of modern and traditional styles come together to produce something that's actually so far out of a traditional ballet realm that it should crash and burn, but it doesn't. Instead it results in something spectacular, exciting, thrilling and modern. The whole cast steps up to the mark, the ENB girls get low down and dirty and respect to the Flawless guys for their partnering skills.
I do have a slight niggle to an otherwise perfect show though and that comes in the form of one of my fave all time tracks, House of Pain's Jump Around... 
I really do think that in a show that's going to be seen by a LOT of underage kids then the radio edit of a track with the F word in it really should be used.
A small niggle because English National Ballet's collaboration with Flawless really is exactly that... Flawless.
Go see it.
For information on Leicestershire Dance Activate classes see here.

Thanks to @FlawlessUK for giving me a RT on the above pic. It made my day!

Friday, 8 June 2012

Awesome new Dr Martens Boots from Cloggs

I was over the moon when I was approached by Cloggs to ask if I would like to write a review of their store and as I regular to their site I was eager to oblige. 

My shoe of choice? A pair of Dr Martens obviously but not just any old Dr Martens, no the beautiful new super soft chalky colours that I blogged about a couple of months ago... in Blackcurrant...


I've bought many pairs of shoes from Cloggs over the years and I subscribe to their newsletter so that I can take advantage of their great offers. 
Now that the girls feet are getting big they are my favourite choice for school shoes (Dr Martens of course) and their service is swift, efficient and you can even pay by Paypal. It doesn't really get any better.

Now to my beautiful Blackcurrant Cartegena Boots... what can I say?

Dr Martens Blackcurrant Pascal Boots

I LOVE them...

Dr Martens Girls

Pictured, me left : Blackcurrant Dr Martens Pascal boots : £84.99 from Cloggs.co.uk
Betty, top : 3/4 length Dr Martens boots (a hand me down!)
Biba, bottom right : Pink patent Dr Martens boots as worn at Cybher £72.99 from Cloggs.co.uk

*Disclosure* I was sent the Blackcurrant Dr Martens boots by Cloggs. I bought the patent pink boots with my own cash:)


Monday, 4 June 2012

Cybher : Silent Sunday

For Silent Sunday!
Cybher 2012
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad