Commenter of the Week

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One of the very best things about this blogging lark has been coming across so many interesting and talented people in my comments box, many of whom have blogs of their own. So I have decided to instigate the hugely prestigious mirror mirror ‘Commenter of the Week’ awards.

The very first recipient of this coveted award is the highly talented Michelle Caplan, who makes the most wonderful collages from old photographs, old printed materials and other ephemera. She has a lovely blog and website and makes insightful comments about Marmite. I am thinking of commissioning a big collage from her when we move to Seattle, possibly using a photograph of my grandmother, and hope one day to be able to feature her notecards on mirror mirror.

To be considered as a ‘Commenter of the Week’ you need to be hugely interesting and talented, have a blog of your own and have commented at least once on the mirror mirror blog. Your prize will be an all-expenses paid trip to the Maldives the prestige, and a showcase in front of the mirror mirror blog’s vast readership.

I am hoping that Michelle herself will pop into the comments box to give us her winner’s speech and also tell us what she will be wearing on the red carpet.

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Pulse

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Ruth Cross chair

I went to the Pulse trade show this afternoon at Earl’s Court.

I went to my first trade show, together with my then business partner, just over two years ago. I felt like a complete charlatan then, as at that stage we didn’t even have a company, our little shop was just a dream and I had no idea even what questions we should ask. I remember thinking that no supplier in their right mind would give us the time of day, let alone agree to associate their brand with ours. Instead people were super-friendly and helpful and many came on board before they ever saw the finished website.

It was such a different experience today. Now when I go to trade shows many of our suppliers are there, so I get to have a good gossip with them all. When I’m talking to potential new suppliers I have a much better idea of what I’m looking for, what jives with the mirror mirror brand and what will sell well online. I am unfazed by talk of minimum orders and pro-forma invoices and can talk with authority about future trends. In short I appear to have become a shopkeeper. And very nice it feels too.

Current trends include masses of lime green and turquoise for late summer; graphic swirly patterns; vintage fabrics and black and white. And it looks like there’s going to be lots of rich burgundy, purple and grey around for winter.

I also got to see in person the gorgeous knitted chair by Ruth Cross which has recently featured on both Cally’s blog and Decor8.

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Child’s play

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I’m very excited by kiddley.com – the new blog from Claire Robertson who also writes the award-winning loobylu. It’s full of craft projects and other great ideas to keep kids entertained and I’m sure will be an invaluable resource when the Minx gets a little bit older (currently her idea of a good time is to festoon the bathroom with unravelled toilet rolls, which is not necessarily the sort of creativity that I’m keen to encourage). I have no idea how Claire finds the time to maintain both blogs, particularly as she is currently thirty eight weeks pregnant and should by rights be lounging on a chaise longue eating chocolate and complaining about her swollen ankles.

While we’re on the subject of kids’ stuff, Holly at Decor8 has just written a fab article listing some cool new products for babies and children. It is still really difficult nowadays to find beautifully-designed products for children that aren’t either made of primary-coloured plastic or smothered with cutesy pictures of rabbits and bears. I’ve been thinking for a long time of getting wonderfully-designed babies and childrens’ products onto mirror mirror, but I think that will have to wait until after we’ve launched the catalogue, moved to Seattle, started making money etc.

I am especially in love with the wonderful chairs by Jennifer DeLonge. The Minx is definitely getting one when we move to Seattle. The vintage patterns are fab – wonderful to find things which are bright and colourful but will happily fit into the most grown-up room.

Jennifer DeLonge chairs
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Poll

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Thanks to all who voted in the poll. I thought it was interesting that 40% (it sounds better than 4) of you actually run your own businesses and 50% (er, 5) would love to do so if you could. I’ve been thinking of talking more about issues to do with running your own business on the blog, particularly as there seem to be so few women blogging about business and even fewer blogging about business in the UK.

If you know of any good resources/blogs for women in business then please let me know and I’ll try to incorporate them somewhere on the site.

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Eurovision

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Nigella’s brownies

Feeling somewhat the worse for wear today, following our Eurovision Song Contest dinner party last night.

For those of you not in the UK, Eurovision is a Europe-wide institution. Nearly every European country chooses a song and singer to represent them in the competition and each country then votes for the best song, usually following televoting in that country.

It all started fifty years ago – and was taken completely seriously in those days – but nowadays it has descended into a riot of kitsch, beloved by gay men and parents of young children who need something to do on a Saturday night.

So last night we printed off our scorecards and dutifully gave each entry marks for the song, performance, outfit and dance routine. We drank too much champagne in honour of our glamorous friend Inge (freelance beauty editor and sometime mirror mirror model)’s birthday; ate too much cheese fondue and salad nicoise (suitably Continental, yet cheesy, we thought); booed when Cyprus gave Greece its douze points as per usual; and cheered when Finnish ‘horror rock’ band Lordi (think Meatloaf meets the Lord of the Rings) emerged as winners.

For pudding I made a heap of Green & Black’s scrummy Chocolate and Dried Cherry Brownies and copied Nigella‘s idea to pile them up on a plate and cover them with birthday candles. We were too drunk to take a proper picture of the finished result, so instead I’ve scanned in the picture from How To Be A Domestic Goddess so you get the idea. (Don’t bother with Nigella’s brownies, though, which came out rather cake-y when I made them.)

On the subject of proper brownies, do any brownie experts out there know how I can achieve a proper chewy crust? The Green & Black’s brownies, while absolutely delicious, are quite soft and a bit short on chewiness.

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Gorgeous

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The film may be shit (hasn’t stopped my buying my hyped up tickets though), but the dress rocked. Somehow Audrey makes everyone else look cheap.

Editing to say that Hilary Alexander has written an interesting post about the dress, designed by Balmain, on her new blog for the Telegraph, which includes what appears to be the original design sketch.

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Memories

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Was just sorting through my ‘Favourites’ list and found something I’d come across when Sex and the City came to an end. It’s without a shadow of a doubt (tee hee!) my favourite TV show of all time – I even managed to watch most of Season 3 while in the early stages of labour – and I suspect there might be a few SATC fans reading. So here it is. You need to have sound on. Enjoy!

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Sugar and Martha

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Interesting, though rather superficial, article here discussing women in business, whether Martha is nice and whether Ruth would have won the Apprentice if she’d been a bit more girly (found via BrocanteHome).

The article ends up concluding that so many women are now setting up their own businesses a la Martha because they don’t fit into the stereotype of what corporate senior management (still mostly men) expects from women.

In my case I think that was true to an extent, but mostly I only got so far in corporate-land because I’m just not a big corporation type of person, and wouldn’t have been if I were a man either. What I find really interesting is the sheer number of women who are giving up traditional corporate careers. At the moment I’m hanging out with a whole bunch of absolutely delightful women (found via a post-natal NCT class) who have babies the same age as the Minx and who all, with very few exceptions, are in the process of rethinking their careers. These women all had what sound like glamorous and high-powered jobs but were either unable to fathom how they could combine said jobs with motherhood, or else have had to acknowledge that they were actually quite unhappy in their jobs and didn’t really want to go back.

So many women have told me that they too would love to start up their own business. I think it still represents for many that Holy Grail of flexibility and freedom from male-dominated office politics – though I’m not sure how many would still want to if they saw how little I’m earning at the moment and how often I’m up packing up orders after midnight.

Ugh. Not sure what point I’m making here. Best read the article for yourselves and let me know what you think.

Have been feeling rather grotty the last day or so. A hacking cough that seems to have taken up permanent residence in my extremely sore throat coupled with a really nauseous, churning stomach – have no idea how the two can be related. So apologies for recent lack of inspired bloggery.

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