Social Media Week 2011 #SMWBlogOff!

On Monday I headed through to Glasgow for Social Media Week 2011. It was a free event and no invitation was required. I managed to register for four events, one of which was Blog Off! which was by far my favourite event as I felt was really informative and fun.

It was held at the rather fancy Mansion House Bar which has to be one of the fanciest places I've ever been. It has a lovely decor which pink accents and chandeliers. Me likey! I didn't manage to try any of the food so cannot give a full review but the decor was just lovely. I did however take a look at the bar menu and was pleased to see a few vegetarian options which were more exciting than just a cheese salad.

Saskia the Style Fairy telling her blog story.

Some recognisable faces!
The event was hosted by Transatlantic Blonde but also featured appearances from Ellen Arnison and Saskia the Style Fairy, who's blog I have followed for some time. And I can confirm that she is also as lovely in real life! And was dressed amazingly that day in a leopard print top, leather trousers with some henna on her hand. I probably sound like such a creep.

Nice To Tweet You
Something that might sound silly to non-internet people is the idea of a "real life Twitter event". Yes, really. You have to find another person to describe yourself to, and then you move onto someone else but within the new conversation you have to "re-tweet" something about the previous individual. A good way to show how Twitter works and also an exercise in listening! All this time however Transatlantic Blonde was walking around listening in, a reminder that unless you use Direct Mail, anyone can follow the conversation you're having.

A small snapshot of where to add your keywords

SEO
Search Engine Optimisation is something I had yet to learn much about so was really excited to gain some knew knowledge. Whilst I'm not exactly going to cry if mo'adore doesn't display first when you type in "Scottish girl who like open-source softeware, is vegetarian and takes photos of herself" I am in the process of opening up my own professional blog which means SEO is going to be HELLA important.

The presentataion from Addams Design

Design and Video Blogging

These were the other two sections of the day. Whilst informative for other people I personally didn't feel I took much away, but that's maybe because my interest in the internet was design before it was ever blogging.

Other Events I Attended
I also managed to attend Fashion Blogging 101 which certainly had it perks. Was able to meet some bloggers I had come across before such as Les Garcons de Glasgow whilst discovered some new ones, such as Bee. It wasn't so much a workshop but more a bunch of fashion bloggers getting together and discussing blogging, including an interesting perspective from Sarah about why she doesn't advertise on We Shop Therefore We Are. I also stopped by Yomego's "How Clean Is Your Rep?" but sadly I felt they were pitching their company more than informing anyone else on how to manage their reputation themselves. The hashtag for the event was even #SMWYomego rather than #SMWCleanRep. Also took part in a Twitter event (yes, a Twitter event) hosted by SIE about supporting student entrepreneurs.

A Small Bit of Networking

Maybe the biggest benefit I took away from this event was the large amount of networking that took place. Since the event I have gained 15 new Twitter followers (I've also been added to another list) whilst my blog has gained a small amount of new followers. I met some lovely like-minded people with whom I was able to speak Twitter and share our favourite bloggers with.

Thank you Social Media Week and Transatlantic Blonde for a lovely event, which was both friendly and informative. I took away so much in terms of both information and a fuzzy feeling.

Morag x

mòrag

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fancy dress

Popping to the Shops as Wonderwoman

Let's not lie, I'm pretty big on themed parties and fancy dress. I look for excuses to do so and always scoff when I see people dressed up as a school girl (again!). I would wear fancy dress outfits everyday if I could. Wonderwoman for a driving lesson? Batgirl for the local shops? How about some Cleopatra for a trip to your grans?

Maybe not. At least not full throttle. Maybe lady Gaga can get on-board a plane with a lobster on her head, but the rest of really can't. The rest of us have to tone it down a bit and just include elements.

And this is where Polyvore enters. And truthfully this is where I get a lot of my fancy dress inspiration from (you know the long promised fancy dress series where I show you all my outfit glory).

None of these were made by me, btw, I just scour Polyvore constantly.

wOnderwOman! by paris90 featuring a leather shoulder bag

wonderwoman! by madgrace featuring diesel bags

Batgirl! by sarahdreamon featuring silver plated jewelry

Batgirl by cattywolfy featuring a suede satchel

Batgirl! by killakiddy featuring t shirts

I'm a SuperGirl by polystar25 featuring a royal blue shirt

SuperGirl by bmalerba featuring jersey shirts

Rogue by walnutwhale featuring leather jackets

Original Rogue - Revamp by cattyrose featuring green tops

mòrag

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vegetarianism

Why It Took Me 20 Years To Give Up Meat

Most vegetarians will get asked questions about their choice to live meat free. Either out of general curiosity or just plain judgement. One of the ones I get thrown most often is "why so suddenly, we didn't realise you wanted to give up meat?" which can translate to "dude you've been around for two decades, why now?" Which is very much a fair point. I grew up in a meat eating household, my mum and her siblings were raised on a farm that slaughtered animals and I used to be a McDonald's addict. It seemed odd.

I think the part of the story that many of them can't see is that I didn't wake up on my twentieth birthday and discovered a great distaste to meat. It had been along time coming.

I first entertained the idea of vegetarianism back when I was thirteen. Though I had also been slightly fascinated by meat-free diets (and gluten-free diets, and diabetes) for most of my youth. I was quite the little animal-rights activist when I was younger; argumentative essays against wearing fur, refusing to wear leather, you know that kind of thing. We all develop some sort of passionate stance at a young age and that was mine.

I however didn't follow through with it. Between being raised in a meat-eating household, taking Standard Grade Home Economics where meat was all around, very little sand which choice at lunch and not knowing any vegetarians it wasn't easy and I didn't have many roles models.

As I moved on I continued eating meat and my passionate stance swerved more to women's issue's and LGBT rights. I also became a fast food addict at one point when I took classes at a school which was around the corner from a McDonald's. But as I moved on I met more vegetarians. And when I met more my heart sank. It reminded me of what I had once wanted to be and had not fallen through with. They were what I wanted to be. Not because of natural talent or better luck; but because I hadn't stuck to my guns.

September 2008 was when I moved out of my parents house and into student halls. Now I was cooking for myself and could have switched. But this is when I met my first boyfriend. A meat-eater. And he was a real meat-eater. If we went to a restaurant you could bet money he'd take the meatiest thing there (rack of lamb was a favourite) and he dubbed trips to McDonald's a "tradition" within our relationship (I never visited a McDonald's restaurant if he wasn't about).

This relationship ended but not long after that came another (one day I'll speak of the importance of a relationship gap) and he actually said, direct quote: "vegetarianism isn't natural". May I add that this ex was a smoker? My mind stayed on meat.

Still all the time meeting vegetarians and feeling a pang of jealousy.

Come October 2010 I became single for the first time in two years. And this break-up was bad. Public spats. Crying through the night. Banging on doors, being reported to uni and use of the Facebook block function. I was a mess. I spent the rest of the semester trying to get decent grades and living out the "oh-so-awesome-social-life" routine that we hope our exes will spot.

Come New Year I decided to pull myself up. Being at home for Christmas had given me a much needed break from university, the chances of seeing him and the stress it had taken on me. I went back through all the "How To Get Over A Break-Up" articles that had helped me through the initial stages and came across this little gem which, as most of them do, talked about watching your food intake and overall health. However this one talked about reassessing your diet as a whole, suggesting maybe vegetarianism or raw food may be better.

If you feel your current diet isn't working for you, try a new way of approaching food - would vegetarianism or more raw food work for you? Trial a new style of cooking and eating, even if only for one day a week.

It clicked. It was now or never.

I was now for the most part living away from my parents with almost non-existent flatmates. I was also now single. These two factors meant that compromise wasn't a huge part of everyday life. No being offered that extra slice of pepperoni pizza. Or having a big dinner with flatmates. Or romantic meals to McDonald's. Time to go!

I began slowly cutting the meat slowly out of my diet right after January. I finished off the last of my frozen chicken and any bacon I had left (these were the only meat I really ever ate). From that moment on my grocery shopping was strictly meat-free. I danced past the meat isle before twirling down the fruit and vegetable isle. I've always been a big fruit and veg fan and the lack of meat in my diet meant that I had more money to spend on vitamin C induced goodness!

Out and about publicly I was still a meat-eater. Being vegetarian in the real world requires work and I wasn't quite there yet. Though I'm not huge on eating out due to money restrictions which released some pressure. It was just snacks at lunch where therein lay a problem.

Coming up to moving back home for summer I was near enough vegetarian. I decided to go public whilst at home and not in close contact to my social groups.

I'm now publicly vegetarian to anyone who has asked or the conversation of meat has come up. There are still many who maybe don't realise and will seemed confused at why I oh-so-suddenly changed. But it's done now and my decision is final and I have been meat-free for months now.

So there it is, why I so suddenly became vegetarian after being alive for two decades. Which wasn't so sudden when you know my past and the thought process behind it.

Morag x

mòrag

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fancy dress

Themed Parties I'd Like To Throw

I'm a bit nuts when it comes to fancy dress. And by a bit nuts I mean I beg my friends to make their birthday parties a themed event. Even if they're the ones who always turned up to fancy dress parties thinking cats ears alone is an acceptable attempt (which it isn't).

Katy Perry Party

This has pretty much been decided as my 21st birthday theme. Inspired by the fact I'd love to dress up in a dress decorated in sweets and don an purple wig I think a Katy Perry party could be very versatile. If like me you love to look a bit inappropriate in public, wearing cupcakes on your breast would be ideal. But for the more conservative amongst us you could simple wear jeans and a brown loose fitted shirt and be all Teenage Dream. And for the boys there is the obvious choice of Russell Brand but if he isn't your cup of tea (and I'd forgive you if he wasn't) then there's 3OH!3, Kanye West or even Travis McCoy.

Obscure Harry Potter Characters Ball

Due to the fact that Harry Potter is now no more it may raise eyebrows to have a HP themed night. But I really just want an excuse to dress up as Bellatrix Lastrange without the fear that people won't "get it" (this however has not put me off attempting to be her for Halloween 2011). I want it to be obscure characters to avoid seven Harry's turning up due to a lack of HP knowledge. It would make my life if someone came as Nagini.

Sorting Hat Ceremony

Can you tell I like Harry Potter? This one is easier to gather items for (if you know where to look) whilst deciding how to dress up could be hard. Hard is in that us Muggles don't have a worn old hat to tell which house we'd belong to. Yes, for the sorting hat ceremony you are all asked to come in memorabilia or colours of your chosen house. I just want an excuse to spent a £29.00 on a an official Ravenclaw scarf. But we can still have fun in the process.

Jesus Party

So my church-elder of a mum probably wouldn't approve but how about we all grow beards and wear crosses whilst drinking nothing other than red wine (or red wine spritzer if you're working tomorrow) with bread to line our holy stomachs? No? You suck.

ElizaBathany's amazing attempt at a Twitter costume!

Twitter Party

We all come dressed as the cute little blue bird and dangle @signs in front of our names. Plus cupcakes with hashtags and on them. Plus a hashtag for the party obviously. And if anyone has a plasma we can have running updates. And maybe a re-writeable timeline poster. (I did some Googling and can't find this already in existence so I'm calling copywrite!)

The Social Network

As half my IRL friends don't have Twitter then I'll compromise with a generalised social networking party. Though I know I'll end up with 13 Facebooks. You could re-use your twitter bird costume or dress up as Tom Anderson, or get yourself an iPhone costume. You could even come in an outfit which is bright pink and bright blue and call yourself Flickr!

Very sorry, but I have no idea who is this photo.

Portal Party

Where we all have DIY portal guns. 'Cause that's what normal people do! I'll even make sure there's a deep male voiceover running through the chosen venue.

What would your ideal themed party be? Would you keep to normal themes such as Fairytales or a certain decade? Or something even more odd?

Morag x

mòrag

4 Comments

things i love thursday

Things I Love Thursday #14

She was the person who influenced this after all: galadarling.com

Everything is looking very quiet at my blog right now. I haven't really been able to post anything other than TiLT or Sunday Reflections. And I haven't really been commenting elsewhere so that's slowing down the traffic. Once I'm done with learning to driving I should be back into a more stable routine but until then everything will take a back seat! But I am mega-excited about, and mega busy with, my personal life!

Becoming insured on my parents car & extra practice My parents finally found the confidence to take me out driving with them as well as my instructor. Very exciting! I was told back in school that in order to pass your driving test successfully you really do need extra practice outside of your official lessons. My first attempt in my dad's car (a Ford Fiesta - think how old that is!) didn't go so well and I ended up stalling three times before leaving the driveway. But my mum took me out later that night to where I had my very first lesson and let me play with teh car to get used it. And this extra practice really seems to have helped ^_^ I even successfully parked for the first time that night!

Being told "this is your best lesson to date". This was on the lesson today, when my dad took up a position in the back seat. It's not test ready yet, but we're back on track to getting me driving by the end of September. I can be quite the grandma at times with my speed and that was looking like it would be my downfall. I'm not the most practically able of people (I can write killers essays but ask me to use my hands at something and you're asking for trouble!) so being told I can drive was a confidence-boost ^_^.

My own custom Blogger theme. Over at my Test Blog I have been developing my own Blogger template from scratch which for a while was seeming like a right headache! So much code! Blogger is definitely one of the hardest codes to write my designs into but thankfully, through Google, I was able to find some decent tutorials that explained how Blogger worked (if I find the time I'll write a full description of how I went about it). The sidebar is still very messy looking but it's getting closer to what I want (if anyone knows how to get it looking like my previous blog with a split sidebar beneath an about me then please share).

A big pay check that is enough to pay off my overdraft! And leave me with a nice bit left over. This will be spent on finally upgrading/fixing PC parts. Want to know how desperately I need to do this? My PC has been out of sound for over a year. Yes, really. Now hopefully I'll be able to play to 30+ PC games I have but have never been able to play.

Finally putting myself out there! Okay this hasn't quite happened yet. But I have been thinking about it and I am now finally prepared to put together my own domain name blog/site on a particular subject that relates to the career I want. Essentially it will be a portfolio and a collection of my own personal opinions. I'm REALLY excited for this project which should take effect after I re-arrange this place. Time to shine baby, time to shine!

Let's just say I'm a pretty happy person right now!

Hope you all have something to be grateful lovelies!

Morag x

mòrag