Ready for a fabulous weekend? Or feeling a little flat?
Here are 9 inspiration quotes from my favourite style and fashion forward icons to kickstart your weekend and get you feeling like a stiletto in a room full of flats.
The days of the big brand ad seem to be gone, probably due to low budgets and a focus on other marketing strategies. There has been a lot of talk on LinkedIn over the last few days about the John Lewis & Partners Christmas ad.
If you’re not familiar with John Lewis & Partners, it’s a British department store that sells everything from electrical goods to womens clothing. Around this time each year, John Lewis does a much anticipated Christmas ad.
The media are saying that the Christmas ad is broken and that it’s not relevant for today’s audiences. Others say the big brand ad is dead. I disagree.
Yes, you could say that it’s a just big bad department store out to make money (and you’d be right), but it’s still a nice sentiment and I believe it’s a beautiful ad celebrating the magic of Christmas giving.
The Boy and The Piano (John Lewis, 2018)
You can check out the John Lewis ads from previous years on YouTube.
And while we’re on big ads, I’ll share another couple of my favourites.
#SingItKitty (Three UK, 2014)
A girl on a bike, a singing kitten and a Starship Enterprise song all in the one advert. Perfection.
#missadventure (Kate Spade, 2016)
If you’re a Muppets fan, you’ll love this one with Zosia Mamet and Miss Piggy. I’m a huge Kate Spade fan, so this one is a winner for me.
Big Ad (Carlton Draft, 2014)
The ultimate ad that mocks the big ads. So you get the context, it was made around the time of the Lord of the Rings movies.
The last few are not necessarily big, but still noteworthy.
Barbara Lives in Bank World (ANZ, 2010)
Hilariously poor customer service from Barbara.
And finally…
Not Happy, Jan (Telstra, 2000)
An article on big ads and classic advertisements would not be complete without the classic Not Happy, Jan. The ad was so popular that ‘Not happy, Jan’ became the Australian urban phrase for discontentment.
So I guess there are a lot of people who are ‘Not happy, Jan’ about these big ads, but I think they’re marvellous.
If you’re any sort of music fan, Exhibitionism: The Rolling Stones Exhibit will totally rock your world, just as it rocked mine today. I won’t say too much as you need to go and experience for yourself, but I will share a couple of photos from the exhibit.
Of course if you know me, it’s all about the clothes…
There are all sorts of signs – stop signs, shop signs, street signs, warning signs and those ones you get from the universe. I tend to ignore the universal ones and keep trying to open the locked door. Finally after days (sometimes weeks) of hitting my head against the door, I realise that it’s closed because it’s just not my door. Move on dot com.
I’m always looking for the right signs – both universal and physical. Here are some of my favourite signs and adverts that I’ve collected over the years.
It has been known for centuries that doing arts and crafts is good for your mental health. The British Journal of Occupational Therapy conducted a study on knitting and the results showed “a significant relationship between knitting frequency and feeling calm and happy.” It’s not surprising that being crafty enhances your creativity and makes you feel good.
It would be too hard to choose though. Do you want a fireman? An outdoorsman? A superhero? Or a combo? Personally I’m loving the hipster. Hope he comes with a barista machine.
The man you’ve been yarning for
Which one to choose?
If you’re not a knitter, I saw this Mould your own dream boyfriend kit. A bit of clay and a few stickers and you’ll have your dream man. It says on the cover that you can shape him and change him whenever you like. So if you change your mind, you can just make a new one.
This man can play guitar and bring you flowers
Get crafty today and you never know where it may lead. It might even get you a boyfriend. Even if it doesn’t, you can always make your own.
It is said that mixing up your routine can do wonders for your creativity.
I have a meeting over in Manly today, so I thought I’d try blogging on the beach. I’m already feeling more energised and the ideas are flowing.
You may not be able to get to the beach, but maybe you could try leaving the office at lunchtime, walking up a different street or heading to the park. It doesn’t take much to get a fresh perspective.
What are some of the ways you like to mix it up? Do something different today and notice the difference.
Last month I signed up for NaNoWriMo – National November Writing Month . It’s a nonprofit movement that encourages budding novelists to write 50,000 words in November. All you have to do is write 1,667 words every day and at the end of the month you’ll have your first draft. Easy, right?
The concept of breaking a large goal into smaller chunks is something all of the books suggest. Small steps lead to big outcomes and the whole ‘a journey begins with one small step’ thing. Break it down and do something every day.
As November got closer and closer I kept thinking about how I’d signed up for these sort of challenges before and they’ve never stuck. I get super excited at the start and then about a week into the challenge I lose momentum, my energy wanes and I give up. I tell myself that I’ll try again next month. It’s ironic that I wrote an article about living in the moment titled, Why wait until Friday to be happy? Read your own blog Linda Louise !
I’ve always wanted to write a book, but I didn’t know specifically what I wanted to write about. I was telling this to a new friend last week and he said…
“Why don’t you just start writing and see what themes come out. Then you can decide what you like writing about and take it from there”.
It was just the spark I needed to realise that I don’t want to write a novel. I’d rather write smaller thought pieces like this one. I want to write articles like the ones I like to read.
I’d like to introduce my 30 day blog challenge. I’m calling it LiLoNoBloMo – Linda Louise November Blogging Month. I’ve committed to posting a blog a day for the month of November and sharing it with my Facebook friends. You’ll know if I’ve succeeded because you’ll see 30 blog posts on my site this month. Wish me luck !
Do you have something that you’d like to do every day this month? How about committing to drinking lemon water in the morning or taking the stairs instead of the lift? It doesn’t have to be big, it just has to be big for you.
Come up with a crazy acronym for it and make it your own. It could lead to a national movement – or get your Facebook friends to create a movement towards the ‘unfollow’ button. But hey, at least you’re doing something.
My favourite cartoon cat turns 44 years old today. Happy Birthday Hello Kitty. Thank you for bringing so much joy and happiness into the world.
Hello Kitty Con 2014
Fun fact #1
Hello Kitty is five apples tall and three apples wide. Linda is 14 apples tall and more than three apples wide.
Measuring up to Hello Kitty
Fun fact #2
Hello Kitty doesn’t have a mouth. She was drawn to reflect your emotions. If you’re happy, Hello Kitty is happy. If you’re sad, Hello Kitty is sad too. You could never be unhappy when you see her kawaii face.
Fabulous fans at Hello Kitty Con
Fun fact #3
Hello Kitty has been on every sort of merchandise imaginable from toasters and vacuum cleaners to light bulbs and guitars.
“I am an incredibly creative human being. Rank yourself between 1 and 10”.
This is the question Richard Sauerman, The Brand Guy, asked in his #Digitalk titled Brand YOU: Overcome fear & reach your full creative potential. We were asked to rank ourselves between 1 and 10. I’m a pretty creative person but wouldn’t say I was a 10, so I put my hand up for a 7. And this was just the point Richard was making. I had put myself in the comfort zone along with most of the room. The usual psychological conformity. Ironically I’d just posted a #shoesoftheday on conformity on Instagram saying “not something I conform to”.
We settle for mediocrity or a 7 when we could be a 10. We’re already a 10 but we are stifling our greatness through fears or not wanting to stand out and be different. It’s only the voice in our heads that is stopping us from becoming the person we know we could be.
Richard tells us to stop and ask:
What agreements have you made with yourself?
Where have you decided that you’re not good enough or smart enough or creative enough?
What’s your fear? What’s holding you back?
What is your greatness? What makes YOU great?
What do you stand for?
Richard stands for ‘do epic shit’. I stand for ‘making a difference’. How do you want to leave your mark on the world?
And some final advice from The Brand Guy? Stop f@#*king whinging, write down what you want and go for it. Someday is not a day of the week.
Thanks for the kick up the ass Richard. It’s the best hour I’ve spent in a very long time.
