My Christmas Card Excuse

So it’s almost Christmas and over the last few months, my side business has really gone crazy and I’ve been rushed off my feet and working two full time jobs, or at least it feels that way.

[*Yes, my side gig got in the way again and I started this post before Christmas and got side tracked*]

Obviously when you have paying customers (which has been quite rare in the past, to be honest), you can’t let them down at the last minute, so my own home life has been put on the back burner.  Needless to say, I have not yet got around to sending Christmas cards.  Ooopsie, and sorry to all my family if you are reading this – doesn’t look like you will be getting anything in the mail from me this year!

Except… well hello Paperlesspost.com.

I was recently introduced to this website and asked if I would give it a try.   Do you remember back in the early 90’s there was a website that was all the rage where you could send invitations and funny cards to your email list?  It was free, but the recipients basically got a GIF in an email… very un-classy [is that a word?]

Paperless Post is so much more.  You can send cards, invitations, save the dates and flyers, to name a few things.  There is something on there for pretty much any occasion and the best bit?  They are so upscale looking and can be personalized!!  (Who doesn’t want a picture of you and your dog in matching jumpers?)

You choose your card, add pictures and/or text, choose your font for your envelope address and even get to choose a fancy stamp.  You add your email addresses and then send it off.  When it’s delivered the recipient has an opportunity to write a note back to you.  Probably something like “Thank you, I forgot to send cards too – Happy Christmas!!” 

To get started, you buy ‘coins’ which come in different sized packages and depending on what type of card you pick and what options, you pay by using your coins.  There are actually quite a lot of free cards too.  Here's a couple of examples of different styles.

Clearly me on New Years Eve!

Did you spot the smoking reindeer?

You're probably thinking it's a bit late to send cards now, but you know what, I could send a New Year's Eve card instead.  Who wouldn't like that?

And that's me covered for the year.... cards for everyone!

Oh, and if you were wondering what my side business is - you can find it right here....:  www.gobbybritdesigns.com

HAPPY CHRISTMAS and a VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR everyone!

Diamonds - Always a Girl's Best Friend

If you’ve ever read any of this blog, you will know that I actually quite like a tipple every now and then.  Not that I’m always drinking, mind you.  But when I do…..well....  [that sounds a bit bad really, doesn’t it?]

Aside from that, I also have a bit of a problem with glasses.  No, not eye glasses, but any funky, cute or original kind of drink glass.  I probably shouldn’t be admitting this, but if you serve me a drink in a lovely glass, you will most likely not get it back.  It will be in my bag and end up in my kitchen cupboard.  I love those tiny little sake glasses and any kind of beer glass that has the name of the beer on it – if it’s an English beer, then it truly is destined to go home with me.

Talking of unique glasses, I was recently asked to review the Thumbs Up Diamond Glasses and oh my goodness, these are exactly the kind of thing I cannot resist.  A glass - shaped like a diamond!

First of all, let me say, the box they come in is lovely.  It looks so classy and is definitely something you could give as a gift and have the recipient think you spent a bundle.  It’s decorated nicely and is really good quality.  I got mine in the mail and there would have been no problem had my postman drop-kicked it to my front door from the street.  I’m actually hoping he didn’t, or I will need a word with him, to be honest. 

Their tagline is:

Be the diamond in the rough with this set of diamond style glasses.
Fashioned to look like a diamond; these glasses stand at an angle which allows you to rotate the glass to enjoy the full bodied flavor of your favorite whiskey!
relax, top-up and drink a diamond!.

I’m not really a whiskey drinker, but why should these be limited to whiskey?  I’ve tried them with vodka, gin and rum – and they all work [*smile*]

The first time you use them, you notice that they feel really light and there’s a fear that they might break with the tiniest knock.  But the fact is, they are made of borosilicate glass which, according to thomasnet.com “is far more durable than traditional glass so they can withstand accidents that would break other glassware.”  Think Pyrex dishes.

The only problem I found, is that you have to remember when pouring a drink, you shouldn’t pour all the way to the top because as the glass sits at an angle, you will spill half the contents when you put the glass down.  (No, I am not talking from experience here, really, I'm not.)  They are actually designed for sipping from i.e. whiskey or some other after dinner drink and hold approximately 2 oz of liquid.  All very classy.

What's also nice is that they fit in your hand perfectly.  I managed to take a pretty good representation picture, which is quite hard to do with one hand, but it will give you an idea of the side and shape.

The glasses are available on Amazon for only $25 for a pair and would make a fantastic wedding or wedding shower gift – because all brides want diamonds, don't they?  So be that person and be the diamond in the rough (and also very thoughtful).

As they say, diamonds are a girl's best friend, and these are definitely my go-to drink glasses at the moment.  So cheers!!


This post was sponsored by Thumbsupuk.com  The opinions are completely based on my own experience

The Joshua Tree

It was 1994, it was August and it was one million degrees (which may be a slight exaggeration, but not much).  I don’t think you could get more of a difference in landscapes between south London and the southern California high desert.  Summer in London - probably either miserably hot and humid (low 70’s) or raining.  Summer in southern California - dry, extremely hot (low 100’s) and very dusty.

But it wasn’t only the weather that was different.  It was the whole lifestyle.  There wasn’t (and still isn’t) any public transportation whatsoever so we had to drive everywhere.  The biggest problem we found, apart from not knowing where anything was or where we were going, was the music.  The only stations we could get on the radio were country music (ugh!).  Can you imagine?  You’re driving around unfamiliar roads in the desert, the sun is blazing down and you’re listening to country music?  I half expected Clint Eastwood to come riding by on his flippin’ horse!

It turned out that we had a couple of tapes with us (yes, actual cassette tapes!) so we spent our drives playing them.  The problem was, we only had the two and they were both U2, the Joshua Tree being the one we played most – over and over and over…because, you know, California’s a big place.  That album became sort of our anthem.  Words in “Where the Streets Have No Name” had a relevance to our lives at that time

          “I want to run, I want to hide…..
          We're beaten and blown by the wind, trampled in dust,
          I'll show you a place high on a desert plain,
          Where the streets have no name”

It basically summed up how I was feeling then, sad, lonely and lost (literally).

Fast forward twenty odd years and I recently had the opportunity to see U2 live at the Rose Bowl (because let’s face it, seeing them dead at the Rose Bowl wouldn’t have been as exciting). Ironically, it was the Joshua Tree tour, so how could I not go and listen to that album …. Again? 

It didn’t take long for me to be transported back to 1994.  The images they were projecting were exactly those images that I remember so well.  Bleak desert roads with Joshua trees along each side.  Apart from the fact that Bono is way too political and ruined a great concert, it was a good night.

Bleak roads

But those videos, oh my goodness… they brought a tear to my eye.  Those days should have been exciting and the beginning of a new adventure and I suppose, in a way they were.  But I hadn’t wanted to come to America and those first few months were torturous.  I missed everybody and everything about home and not even having  familiar songs on the radio made it seem worse.  Two young children were with us on those drives, wondering what had happened and how their lives had changed and where their friends were.  I often wonder what went through their minds at that time.  

Joshua Trees

It all came flooding back to me as I listened to those songs and I cried.  I didn’t just sniffle a bit, I literally cried like a baby.  Trying to explain what was going on to my hubby didn’t help, it just made me cry more.  Of course, I tried to laugh it off, but who ever believes that??  Memories are like that, they have a knack of sneaking up on you and getting you all emotional, don’t they?

***

And on a different note altogether, I was once told that Joshua trees only grow in southern California and apparently there's a law that if you are going to build a house and there is a Joshua tree in the way you are not, under any circumstances, allowed to cut it down.  You either have to build around the tree, which is a bit inconvenient, or dig it up and move it.  I’m not sure how true this is, but I do know those things are everywhere!  [although there doesn't seem to be many in this photo I took]