The Prosecco Diaries 2014
It's been a mega-hectic year at Prosecco headquarters (a.k.a my lounge from where I blog in my PJs). 2014 has been the year in which I decided to take the plunge and start blogging full time, giving up my teaching job (and whole career) in February. I also dipped my toes into the murky waters of PR and started a new business centered on blogging. And of course I found time to explore London and all the fine things it has to offer creative, cultural types, and those who just love city living. Here's a quick re-cap of what I blogged, click on the links to see the posts:
I kicked off the year in style by throwing a soiree for a group of bloggers at The Painted Lady in Shoreditch. The attendees all got their hair and nails done, and we rated a range of supermarket proseccos kindly provided by Waitrose, the Co-op, Sainsburys, Tesco, and Marks and Spencer's. It was my first time throwing a blogger event, and I impressed myself (if I may be so bold in saying so...) by organising a good night and putting together some awesome goody bags. It was kind of a turning point for me profesionally to see how well I could handle the PR, business development and events organising required to run such a shindig on behalf of a brand. I also enjoyed meeting some of the loveliest blogging ladies in London, including Kristabel from I Want You To Know, Ellie of Pretty Much Penniless, Plum from Plumdiddlyumcious, and getting to catch up with fellow Blogcadettes Holly, Helen, Lucy, and Che. By February I had handed in my notice at my teaching job (not just because of the Painted Lady event!) and I wrote about my decision to end one career and start another here. I celebrated with a cheeky weekend in Cardiff, seeing Helen again.
In March I was finding my freelance feet and doing some business development work for a global company. The amazing Lynsay from Miss West End Girl organised a brunch for some Blogcadettes, and six of us met up at The Breakfast Club - Che and Holly again, plus Fifi Scarlett and Kylie. It was good to talk about where we all felt our blogs (and lives) were going over pancake stacks! I was also invited to an unusual blogger event with Napiers which involved us foraging in the countryside for food, and to a more decadent one with Godiva to watch the finals of their chocolate challenge, awarded by Mark Hix. My writing took a confident stride forward in April and I was asked to review Secret Cinema's showing of Miller's Crossing whilst in the character I was given, and without mentioning the film, the location, or any of the clues. It was a tough assignment, but they liked what they saw and featured my blog post in a national email campaign as well as on their press review page. They also invited me back to see their magical presentation of Back To The Future in the summer.
In May I decided to get to grips with my DSLR camera and went to the Nikon Photography School for a one-day course. I'm still pretty blumming far from being an expert, but I enjoyed learning and was pleased to win a prize for 'best use of aperture' with my green bicycle photo (above). I attended the Blogtacular blogging conference, and I was also busy-busy organising more blogger events for brands. These included the cake, cocktail and hair styling extravaganza that paired House of Cuckoo cupcakes with Taylor Taylor (how gorgeous did Jasiminne look at this event: bottom far right photo), and the night of burlesque excitement which saw me score Cafe de Paris as a venue for bloggers to learn to dance in. Proud of myself much?! In June I was also one of a few bloggers given a VIP pass to the first ever Soho Create Festival and had a truly amazing time listening to so many inspiring speakers. Due to some organisational glitches the festival had some under-attended talks, but this meant I had a weird but very exciting moment being one of a few people at a talk with Giles Deacon and Stephen Jones - more of a cosy chat with fashion legends! Despite not being a member, Nuffnang invited me to their rooftop birthday celebrations where I met some truly lovely bloggers for the first time including Angela, Fran, Diane and Emily Jayne - we all met up again later in the month for the Blognix conference in Birmingham. Speaking of inspiring women, I also met Instagram expert Miss Jess at a Cath Kidston workshop run by style blogger Jazmine from Jazzabelle's Diary, and she taught us how to take the perfect Instagram snap and get more followers. I had a great time with Emma and Alex, and enjoyed one of London's hottest days taking photos with beachballs - in Piccadilly Circus.
I was exhausted by the time summer rolled round, I'd finished my business development day job in July, and I was also getting a bit jaded by my new freelance PR-ing, having had an unfortunate run of being exploited by companies who only wanted to meet me to mine me for blogging industry information. It made me wary of pitching to brands, and I decided to take a bit of a break from events organising - just a small one you understand, you can't keep an entrepreneur down for long. I wrote this piece on blogging training for Cosmopolitan and I did a bit of blogger outreach for The Indytute at the Everyman Power of Summer event at Battersea Power Station. I enjoyed hanging out there a few times with lovely blogging ladies including Jesse, Angela, Sara and Abbie. I ventured out to some other fun events, including some after-hours poetry and prosecco with the penguins at London Zoo, the Blogcademy mixer, and the Company Magazine blogger awards. I visited the infamous Cat Cafe and spent the bank holiday weekend daytrippin' to Brighton. I also went to the new Creator Day at Summer in the City, a YouTube conference with panels of speakers and experts to help people make the most of their channels. At that stage I hadn't started my channel yet, so I sat through talk after talk, hearing about the amazing success of bloggers like Zoella, and tried to ignore the small voice in my head telling me I couldn't possibly 'do' YouTube. Yeah, I ignored that voice - I now have a YouTube channel boom! In August I launched a new blog category called Mission Health in which I tried various ways to get healthy. I started a collab with a diet product company that didn't go quite to plan, mostly because we had no plan. On the plus side, it's made me see that to have a truly effective relationship with a brand you need to sit down together and see what you both want out of it. Too many times I've blindly said yes to a PR and then gotten annoyed that they haven't delivered what they promised in return for promotion from me. This experience has made me a blogger who can now earn a decent living, and I'm enjoying some excellent longterm partnerships with brands.
As September started I couldn't wait to head off to Cornwall and enjoyed some scorching sunshine on a range of pretty beaches. Back in the capital I visited Buckingham Palace for the first time ever, and was also invited to review The Handmade Fair at Hampton Court Palace. I met Rosie Fortescue at a launch party for The Hunt app, and got to chat to her about how she chooses her Made in Chelsea outfits. I had a less successful time meeting Alexa Chung at the V&A Museum, and I'm still cringing about it. In October I launched my YouTube Channel, Twin Geeks, with my sister Jules. We kicked off with some Halloween themed videos, including a sponsored one by Funkin Cocktails (our awesome logo and banner design, pictured above, are by Jasiminne!). For two people who have never presented, filmed, lit or edited anything we are not too doing too badly! We're just amazed each time we manage to upload something, and it's also been a chance for me to vlog from some of the events I go to and embed video content as added value to my blog posts. I've had good feedback from brands; one of them, Crafternoon Cabaret, enjoyed this video we made at their event and contacted me to ask if they could use some of the footage in their website trailer. Pinterest invited me to their Halloween party, which was a Day of the Dead extravaganza, and Heat Magazine invited me to a special screening of The Other Woman where Jules and I grabbed Heat editor Lucie Cave to be interviewed in our vlog (she tweeted to say she liked the vid!). I also got to go to the National Geographic launch screening of DMC Magic where we were told some exciting behind the scenes magic secrets. Probably my favourite event of the month was being asked to review the Zombie Apocalypse by Backyard Cinema. In a warehouse in Hackney, Sarah from The Laughing Medusa and I were chased by Zombies and filmed the whole adrenalin fuelled (and hilarious) thing.
The end of the year was the busiest time for my blog, and I was offered a TONNE of products to review and Christmas shindigs to attend. I was mega excited to get an invite to Boohoo's Christmas dinner party and fangirled (inwardly) to see so many huge bloggers and YouTubers I love. It was also Spring/Summer 2015 fashion press days-a-rama and I went to several a day, including the Boohoo one, and Joy's where I caught up with Miss Jess (afterwards we spent a long ice-cream afternoon in Lick). Still on a fashion note I was delighted to be invited to a fancy hotel blogger breakfast to meet the people behind The Clothes Show (including awesome fashion journalist Hilary Alexander). The following week Olympus took me to Birmingham for the actual Clothes Show and gave me the Olympus Pen to use from the press pit of the main stage. It was quite an experience to have rows of models stomping towards me and making eye contact to get in a shot - any shot! It was a brilliant day and I also got to interview Jamie Laing backstage, and have front row seats for the Olympus catwalk show. It was also the month of unusual blogger events, with Viscount Linley's bespoke furniture company and cosmetic surgery clinic Transform inviting me in for drinks and demonstrations with a difference. Nuffnang threw a blogger workshop and networking event at the Citizen M Hotel, and I got to stay there and review it. After going to A Curious Invitation's 32 Londoners event on the London Eye earlier in the year I was delighted to get an invite to their masked Christmas/Winter Ball. It contained cocktails, burlesque, nudity and hedonism, but was a completely perfect way to toast the last full moon of 2014. Jules and I filmed our review of 2014 talking (and laughing a lot) about our favourite TV shows and movies, and also a couple of the really special things that happened this year - including something MAJOR!
What a year it's been! I haven't been able to include everything I blogged here; there's been so many more events and explorations of London, and also a lot of hauls and product reviews. I've been sent some fab products from beauty and fashion brands like Bourjois, ASOS and Joules, and I've been invited to review facials for Cowshed and Eve Lom, and a Nails Inc manicure. I've been to beauty events for Space NK and got to interview the beauty editor of Elle magazine. Actually, one of my most popular posts this year has been how to treat acne scars, so maybe you'll see me doing even more beauty posts in 2015. I've gone to the press days for several exhibitions, including the brilliant David Bailey retrospective at the National Portrait Gallery, and had press tickets for some new plays. Food and drink PRs have sent me to Ping Pong, Bill's, various cocktail bars all over town, a champagne masterclass at Notes, and the stunning five-star Nozumi in Knightsbridge. I've been very lucky (and busy) and it's all given me food for thought about where I want to take my blog and what it all means to me. I'm very lucky to keep meeting such wonderful people through blogging, and getting great personal and professional opportunities. It's hard to believe that I only met Angela in June, and now we are about to launch a business together in 2015 (blogging workshops and events). I've learnt so much this year, and I'm really excited about the future. I hope 2015 is an excellent year for you too!