An Interview with ...........YOU!

I know many people enjoy the interviews for new bloggers and I thought that whilst I was away from posting I would leave you an opportunity to share your blogging experiences and your tips and tricks for blogging and also give you a chance to learn from others.

There are another 3 posts below each with a different heading - please feel free to contribute to as many or as few as you wish and hopefully we'll all be able to learn from each other :-).

Both Living Etc. images via This is Glamorous

We'll start off this series of posts with.....

Who helped you when you were a new blog?

1. My dear friend who is a graphic designer helped me work out about sizing photos using Word.

2. The trusty guys at Apple Support were very patient with me introducing me to Firefox for a browser (rather than Safari) and the Command shift 4 function (all held down at the same time) on Mac.

Poor fellows, I called them so often in the end someone said - "umm ... ma'am - this is for technical support not for blogging! "

3. Also trusty Blogger Help was a great help though I had to wade through a lot of it to find the right answer sometimes - but bless their hearts for offering help for free.

What makes a blog appeal to you?

Please note these are not in order!

1. Beautiful pictures (I tend to like big pictures too - but don't judge a blog on the size of the pictures - more on the content. Often people don't know how to maximise the size of the photos or the original photo size isn't that big anyway.)

2. Original and pretty content (where possible)

3. The person behind the blog and the "ambiance" that the blog exudes - do I leave that blog inspired & happy?

4. The fact that they are interested in my blog - I'm bound to be interested in them if they come and comment and say hello or link to me;-).

Who helped you when you were a new blog?

or

What makes a blog appeal to you?

or

What are some general tips you would like to share?

Question 2

A Paul William's home interior design by Lynn von Kersting
as featured in Traditional Home 2003 via Stylecourt

What are blogging tips you would give for new bloggers if you were starting your blog all over again?

Tips I would give:

1. Create a special email account named after my blog to sign into Blogger rather than using an existing one.

2. Use Wordpress rather than Blogger or my own domain name (e.g. allthingsbrightandbeautiful.com)

3. Sign up to Bloglines early on - to keep abreast of whats happening in blogland. I personally prefer Bloglines to Google Reader - the information comes through a bit slower but at least it gives bloggers time to correct mistakes if they have hit publish too early.

4. Use Google Alerts to find information on topics (use quotation marks to narrow down the search e.g "All Things Bright and Beautiful") that I am interested in from the start

5. Think about the name of my blog more carefully and try to have the URL (ie the www. portion that you type in to find the blog) the same as my blog name (or similar)

6. I would use Tumblr.com to store those one off images rather than on my computer hard drive.

7. I would tell new bloggers that Blogger wont let you upload photos into a post if the spellcheck is still on in the post in question!!

What are some tips you would give if you were starting your blog all over again?

Question 3

Image: Victoria Magazine January '03

How do you stay inspired?

1. I take a break - a week off is usually enough to recharge and get inspiration.

2. Also, I am always looking for inspiration - when I'm out shopping - I even take the camera and a paper and pen with me in my purse!!

3. I subscribe to Problogger - that fellow is inspirational!

How do you stay inspired?

Question 4

Image via Vogue US

What are 3 blogging faux pas to avoid?

1. Publishing before the post is finished.

Ha! Sigh........ - my readers know I am trigger finger happy and have umpteen times published posts half finished (actually I've hit enter and it publishes!!!). I thank them for their patience with me.

I have tried to overcome this by changing the Post date and time (bottom right hand corner of the post you're working on) to the year '09 rather than '08 - that way if it does publish it now, it goes to scheduled posts rather than out to the entire world!!

Also recently, if I have a long post I have a spare private blog that I copy and paste the post into and publish it there so I can have a look at it first and make changes. But sometimes I still miss things unfortunately.

2. Adding someone to my blog roll but forgetting to hit "save" as well as "add".

As a result it wasn't there and then I was wondering why they'd removed me from their blogroll!! And then having to explain and apologise.

3. Not correctly sourcing my photos and mentioning blogs that I've found it on.

I try as much as possible to do this - it only takes a person to do it to you and you'll never forget to do it again!! :-) - ahh blogging ettiquette :-).

What do you think are blogging faux pas to avoid and how do you try and avoid them?

Embroidered slippers to remind us...

From Dalian in Yunnan province, China

Dear Readers, I will be taking the week off from posting this week.

I chose this photo to leave you with for this week to remind you of China and Burma.

Yunnan, where these handmade slippers are from, is the Chinese province below Sichuan where the earthquake has caused tens of thousands of deaths.

Yunnan also borders Burma where cyclone Nagis has hit and at the time of writing, has left close to 80,000 dead and 50,000 missing.

How to help...

Please spare a thought and a prayer for those still suffering.

Donations can be made here for China and here for Burma through World Vision.

Also, if you have an HSBC bank account, HSBC will match every dollar donated to Red Cross for both disasters.

Click here for details.

Tea Parties

It's a beautiful day here in Hong Kong and the perfect day for a tea party. There's a cool breeze, the sea is blue outside our window and the sun is shining.

What more could one ask for?

It's not that often we have days like this and I'm reveling in it.

All one really needs for a tea party is magnificent weather, a blanket, park bench or table and some snacks and drinks from the cupboard.

Well, that's the way I usually do it!!

My best friend on the other hand and who is The Queen of Afternoon Teas always produces something far more appealing and beautifully elaborate - with home baked goodies and drinks, bunches of overblown bloomsy flowers, lace table cloths, china cake stands, silver teaspoons and chintz teacups.

I think I'm long overdue for one of her tea parties.

Images: Country Living
Photographer: Robin Stubbert

Indian jewellery exhibition

If you enjoy looking at pretty twinkly things and happen to be in Hong Kong, London's Sue Ollemans and Hong Kong's Altfield Gallery are currently showing a rather spectacular antique Indian jewelery exhibition at the Altfield Gallery Showroom, 248-9 Prince's Building, Chater Rd, Central, Hong Kong.

Pictured here is a white sapphire necklace for the Maharaja of Vijaynagur.

I'm hoping to pop in myself, so I'll let you know how the exhibition is :-).