Weekly Vlog; Friends, Cocktails, Molly & A Meetup

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Girlwalk Allday - I dare you not to dance!

Since Girl Talk All Day released their mashup, I have been addicted to it. Listen to it online and download it here.

If I need to boost my mood, I play it. When I do any exercise, it's on my headphones. It's helped power me through the miles when running. Every track hits a button.

And now, in case you have missed it, it's been turned into a film - Girl Walk All Day

The most inspiring and crazy and happy film I've seen. And it's set on the city streets of New York, my favourite city in the world!

The creator of the film, Jacob Krupnick, is interviewed in The Gothamist, and tells of how whole the whole project was funded by Kickstarter and how he went about filming dancers in the streets of NYC. The film received $24,817 from 577 Kickstarter backers!

The tantalising thing about the film's release is that it's been broken down into episodes over the last month. And today, the final chapter went live on The Gothamist (who have been supporting the project) website.

I can't tell you how much I have LOVED every second of every video. I've laughed, and danced and even cried!! It's also made my hunger for NYC even stronger (if that's possible!).

So, get off your chair and watch the story unfold from the Ferry beginning! ;)



Girl Walk // All Day: Chapter 1 from Girl Walk // All Day on Vimeo.

And now go here to watch the rest of the videos! 

Thank you Girl Talk and Girl Walk! You have made me a very happy and dancey girl! :))

Say hello on twitter: @karenstrunks

A weekend in York with my mum!

Wow, November has been a bit hectic. All good, but pretty non-stop. I'll try and catch up with events of this month, but to kick things off, here's the story of a weekend in York with my mum from the beginning of the month.

For my birthday present (which was in October) my mum arrange a weekend away for us. We hadn't been away since our trip to Palma, and it's always so much fun hanging out with my mum.

She had it all organised and booked us into a little B&B about 10 minutes walk from the city centre. She also bought a 2 day Yorkshire Pass. You use it to get into all the attractions and it works out great value for money. We did a quick calculation and reckon we saved about £80 between us by using the pass rather than paying to go into each attraction individually.

I was SO impressed with York! I hadn't a clue what to expect really. Normally I try and do a bit of research before I visit a new place, but hadn't got the chance this time. But that made everything even more of a surprise when I got there!

So what did we get up to?!

LOTS!

York Dungeons

Get your scares here! A fab hour long terrifying experience with chilling tales of York and you'll meet plenty of interesting characters along the way.

 The Viking Museum

York was the Viking capital of the world once. I think. History isn't my strong point, but viking definitely lived in York at some point and this museum can prove it! There's lots of old viking relics here (pots and jewellry and swords etc) but the bit I enjoyed the most was travelling back in time and journeying through a viking village and seeing how they used to live. They even re-created the smell of the vikings!

Betty's Tea Room

Step back to the 1930's at Betty's Tea Room. It's divine there! And very, very busy. We went late on a Sunday afternoon and just managed to get a table. When we walked passed it at other times, people were queuing around the block to get in. I'm not sure if you can book ahead, but I would definitely recommend doing so. It's well worth the visit.

My mum took the opportunity to read her own tea leaves.  (I'm sure she made half of it up!)



York Minster

I'm not really into old churches (or even new ones), but this is impressive just by it's stature alone. It was built between 1220 and 1470, in fact there's building work going on there now. There's actually a lot to see and do when you are inside including a guided tour, plus some vaults downstairs too. And my mum told me that this is where my step Dad proposed to her! So on that fact alone, it make the Minster special to me :)

Haunted House

I love a good ghost story and couldn't wait to visit the Haunted House on Stonegate. You go into it through a magic shop. We went early in the day and had the place to ourselves. The building is 700 years old and an audio story guides you from room to room (9 altogether), and up and down crooked wooden stair cases whilst telling you the stories of the house's past and it's sad tales of it's former residents. It's very atmospheric which is heightened when you are plunged into darkness at times too!

Clifford's Tower

We marched right up to the top of the hill. Then marched back down again. It was closed. It's only open for 2 days a week (weekends I think). Built by William the Conqueror in 1068, it's got quite the horrible history.

York Castle Museum

We visited the museum over two days! There's so much to see. I really liked the recreated Victorian Street and the prison. They also had a street dedicated to the 60's. My mum loved it and she told me lots of stories about her memories of that era. A great place to spend an afternoon.

I was quite taken with this little coin operated machine.




Grand Opera House

We had an even free so booked some last minute tickets to see a show here. We were quite in luck I think, as Fascinating Adia were performing! I remember them from years ago, but didn't know they were still on the go. They've been on the go for 27 years in fact. It was a great night and their song wickedly funny. Here's one of my favs from the evening...




I'm sure I've left something out.

Oh yes! A ghost walk. There's quite a few to chose from in the city. There's the ghost walk, the ghost trail, the original ghost walk, the ghost hunt... take your pick!

And I managed to fit in a hair cut...

And FINALLY I got some new boots! I've been searching high and low for new boots since last winter.

I must have tried on nearly 100 pairs in the last year. There are so many essentials needed for the right boot.

They must be leather, they must be knee high, they must have a little (but not too little) heel, they must have good souls (for gripping on icy streets), they must fit snugly on my calves, they must fit snugly around my ankle, they must be black....

I found them. And I loved them. And then after all that, I nearly didn't buy them as the sales girl was so moody! :D

If you would like the condensed version of the York trip, you I've also handily Storify'd it for you!


A big THANK YOU to my Mum for the best weekend away! Love you lots. You are the best!

Say hello on twitter! @karenstrunks

Last night I went to The Sporton Inaugural Professorial Lecture and Performance

Academic believes that the digital revolution has helped de-rail global economy.

Well, this lecture sounded interesting. As someone who practically lives via the digital world, as do many others, I wanted to hear about this and how it affected the economy.

It was Gregory Sporton's inaugural lecture. When someone is a new professor, they have to give their first lecture.

I haven't been to many lectures (though did give one at BCU about the 4am Project), but this one was pretty different. With a background in dance, the lecture kicked off with the Dance Of The Little Swans (video) which was choreographed by Gregory.

Gregory then took to the stage. He asked questions and raised points such as:

Are we replacing things (tangible items) for bits powered by the revolution in this digital age? Are we able to measure these bits in the same way as things? We can't see them. How do we know their value?

Is creativity being redifined by technology. 100 years a go, or so, a 'creative' would make something, such as artwork, or sculptures for example, and it wasn't a label people applied to themselves as quickly and easily as they do now.

Are we losing out on real life contact and connections by using tech tools such as Skype, twitter, Facebook etc, which may give the impression of closeness? Does it give us an excuse not to meet up with friends/family etc in real life? Is that healthy?

I was most saddened to hear about care robots for the elderly. How about this for replacing human contact with tech?

But it was not all doom and gloom. Gregory's lecture was sprinkled with humour throughout, and ended the way it started with a dance, (in the dark with coloured balls) in which Gregory himself performed! How often do you see a lecturer dancing? Not often I'd guess.



I'd say the next Professor who has an inaugural lecture will have to come up with something pretty imaginative to make it as memorable as Gregory's! ;)

I made a Storify of some of the tweets from last if you would like to check it out.

Say Hello on Twitter! @karenstrunks

A chat with my mum - Pets and farm animals from childhood farm life in rural Donegal

It's for my lovely mum Margaret, aka @createdineire, to make another guest appearance.

Taken on my mum's first day at school. She didn't want to go and said she had a sore foot. Her mum put a bandage on it and sent her off!

In this video my Mum talks about all the pets they had and all the farm animals. Milking the cows was one of her duties and they would sell the milk. Her dog was allowed to come to school with her and sit in the classroom. There was a naughty donkey, and find out what happened to my Granddad's watch when a pig ate it! :D



If you want to find out more about storytelling - digital or otherwise - check out Nicky Getgood's Storycamp event on 1st of October and grab your free ticket! Hope to see you there :)

Say hello on twitter! @karenstrunks 

Are you sitting comfortably? Storycamp!

What:

StoryCamp is a time and picturesque space for storytellers (digital or otherwise), independent publishers, those in local government, hyperlocal-land and beyond to meet, share stories and ways and means of telling them.

When: 

Saturday 1st October at 11.00am-6.00pm

Where: Who:

Ludlow Conference Centre, Lower Galdeford, LudlowSY8 1RZ Shropshire

If you can see the importance of telling a powerful story to communicate and would like to think, discuss and learn more about how to do this effectively, or share examples of storytelling that has had a real impact, then StoryCamp is for you!

Interested:

Visit the Storycamp website for more information

and

Get your free ticket to Storycamp on Eventbrite

My friend and Talk About Local colleague Nicky Getgood is the brains behind Storycamp.

I'm really looking forward to the event. I guess you could say that anyone who uses any social media platform tells their own stories in way, but I'm looking forward to learning more about digital story telling and getting some inspiration and having a better personal definition of story telling, and the varied ways to share those stories.

I've tried my hand at story telling with my Mum as the subject and asked her about her childhood living on a farm in rural Ireland.






Roll on Storycamp! :)

Video. I've been meme'd! Answering questions on life, love, death and more!

I was meme'd by Kathryn Ashcroft, (who had been meme'd) so here I am answering the big and little questions about life, death and love!

I thought I would do it in a video form, just for quickness really. And yes, I know I've pronounced meme wrong! ;D



Some of the questions that I answered....

Which living person do you most admire, and why?
When were you happiest?
What was your most embarrassing moment?
Aside from property, what's the most expensive thing you've bought?
What's your favourite smell?
What is your most treasured possession?
Where would you like to live?
Who would play you in the film of your life?
What is your favourite book?
What is your most unappealing habit?
What would be your fancy dress costume of choice?
What do you owe your parents?
What is your guiltiest pleasure?
To whom would you most like to say sorry, and why?
What or who is the greatest love of your life
What was the best kiss of your life?
What does love feel like?
What is the worst job you've done?
Which words or phrases do you most overuse?
If you could change one thing from your past, what would you change?

And more....!

So, there you have it. A bit more about Karen. How apt! :)

My Cairo Experience

Sponsored by

Where to start?!

When I had a call asking me if I wanted to go to Cairo last weekend it was all systems go with just a few days to get my work up to date and pack, but this was an opportunity I couldn't turn down, and the promise of Business Class travel with Flybmi AND 5* treatment at a Four Seasons hotel was irresistible! I'm going to blog about my first time in business class and the luxury of the hotel in my next blog posts. What an amazing experience!

In the meantime, this is all about Cairo. With the offer of bringing a +1, I asked my friend and work colleague Nicky Getgood if she would like to go - and she said YES! We had 3 nights and two days in the city.

Our journey began at Digbeth coach station on a 5am coach to London Heathrow Airport.

By around 6pm that evening we had arrived in Cairo, and checked into our hotel suites that were to be our home for the next 3 nights, grabbed some dinner and a couple of drinks nearby and had a great nights sleep.

Day 1.

Getting lost!

We were on a mission! As part of the trip to Cairo I had said I would write a travel article for Flybmi. I chose an ancient street called El Moez Street housed in the ancient heart of the city. (You can read my piece on Flybmi's website)

We told the hotel concierge where we wanted to go, who in turn told the taxi driver. Sorted! Or so we thought. The taxi driver had other ideas! He decided that what we really needed was a tour of the city instead. With the language barrier, (we spoke no Arabic, and the taxi driver spoke limited English), we just managed to wave a map at him and repeated "El Moez Street!" to him. Eventually he pulled up the taxi. "Is this El Moez Street?" "Yes, yes. But it's miles away". Hmmm.... "Come on Nicky, let's just get out."

And so we stepped out into a narrow street and headed in the direction we thought we should go. It was total guess work at this point. We continued down the narrow street which was lined with market fare, fruit, vegetables, spices, herbs, meat, and live chickens, duck and rabbits.

As you can probably tell from the photographs, the sun was very strong. Me and Nicky had done our best to protect ourselves from the heat.

Buying my first maxi dress and a big floppy had was one of the best ideas I've had! Oh, and wearing factor 50 sun lotion! 

Nicky, cool in pink cotton!

But there is adventure in getting lost, and despite not being in the right street, it was certainly an experience. Being the only tourists on the street (well, I spotted two others who looked equally lost!), I felt we really got a taste of life in Cairo.

With the heat getting the better of us at around midday, we decided to head back to the hotel to cool down. We walked to a main road and stepped into the chaotic traffic.

We managed to flag down a taxi, who this time, took as straight to where we wanted to go.

I've got so much to tell you about the Four Seasons, but I want to save it deserves a separate blog post!

Nicky threw herself in the coolness of the pool and I joined her poolside for some time to chill out and relax.

A little nap in our beautiful rooms had us set for a night out in the city!

Nicky had managed to find a restaurant online. It's called the Estoril and gets rave reviews on Trip Advisor. A short taxi driver over the rivers Giza, and Nile and past Tahrir Square and we had arrived. (BTW, taxi's in Cairo are super cheap, but I would advise agreeing a price with the driver first).

We received such a warm welcome there. The staff were attentive, and there was a great choice on the menu. It was busy with music playing, but not too loudly.

I seeee you Nickyyyyy! ;)

Homous with lamb! Delicious.

After dinner we walked through the streets looking for a bar that Nicky had found online. I think it's called the Hoyeka Bar. We got a little lost but eventually Nicky spotted it. I just stared at the outside. It seemed all boarded up, but there was light coming from the inside. I peered through the cracks in the boarding. It was packed in there!

When we walked in we were guided to a couple of spare chairs and a little table. They only seem to sell beer (but I opted for water). It was hot, noisy, smokey with only a few ceiling fans acting as air conditioning. It was a real hang-out kinda place. Lots of animated chat. A real mix of people, from Cairo residents to tourists. It all got a bit too much for me! I was tired, hot and started to feel a bit closed in.

We met an English couple who were living in Cairo and we talked about life in the city, then we headed back to the calmness of the hotel and had a night cap in the Library Bar before a good night's sleep.

Day 2

The pyramids!

The night before we managed to book a tour of the pyramids online with Memphis Tours. Again, they got good reviews on Trip Advisor. We loved that they had a 'live chat' option, so we were able to ask a few questions before placing the booking online. It cost around £40 and included the pyramids and the Sphinx.

The tour was scheduled from 8.30 to 1.30 and we were to be picked up from the Four Seasons. I was expecting a coach with about 20 other tourists on board so I was delighted and surprised when we met our tour guide Tarek and a driver in a large car. It was just going to be me and Nicky with our tour guide! 

It took around an hour, maybe less, to get to the Pyramids. Although, with hindsight, you could just get a taxi to the pyramids and pay the entry fee (about £5 I think), it was a real bonus to have Tarek with us. He gave us hints and tips, dissuaded the keen postcard sellers and camel riding people and of course gave us a full run down on the history and stories of the pyramids. Plus we had the air conditioned car to travel between the pyramids. It was SO hot there and I would not have relished the walk (or camel ride!) between the pyramids.

It was well worth the visit and I'm so happy I got to see these iconic structures!

With Tarek, our tour guide

Me and Nicky

Obligatory tourist shot! ;)

I hope you enjoy my little video tour of the pyramids! :)

After our tour Tarek took us to a few shops, so I took the chance to make a video.

This guy demonstrated how papyrus was made.

We arrived back to the hotel at around 1.30, and promptly had a couple of hours snoozing! I can't tell you how comfortable the bed was. Heaven!

The Street - Attempt Number Two!

I still had to get to El Moez Street after our failed attempt the day before. This time I left nothing to chance. The concierge at the Four Seasons were so helpful. They printed off a map and wrote instructions in Arabic for the taxi driver. The door man made sure the driver knew that where we must go and that we MUST get there!

The drive took about an hour. Now is a good time to mention the traffic in Cairo. It's something else!

Nicky sums it up really well in this tweet.

I was struck by the lack of lane discipline that we are so used to in the UK. The cars get so close to one another. There is a constant sound of horns sounding. Each horn sound has a different meaning: get out of the way, after you, I'm coming through!

I made this short video to give you a little taster of typical Cairo traffic.

We finally made it to El Moez Street! It was nearing sunset, and it was still lively and busy. The stall holders were vying for our attention and engaging us in conversation. El Moez is based in the ancient heart of Cairo and as well as selling things like rugs, gold and silver jewellery, clothes, hookah pipes, bags, shoes...it is lined with mosques

After walking along the market street for a while we decided to go into a mosque. As we were taking our shoes off we were greet by a little old man. He was pointing up to the roof and asking for fifty Egyptian pounds. Now it IS free to go into any mosque. You do not have to pay. However, I was too tired to argue with him and a little curious about the pointing finger! We were escorted through a little wooden door and immediately faced a narrow flight of stairs. Up and up we went until (a little out of breath) we reached the roof top.

It was SO worth it. Stepping out of the bustling city and onto the serenity that the rooftop offered, it just felt so special. The sun was setting over the 360 view we had of Cairo.

It's one of my favourite moments from my Cairo experience. Enjoy the video!

In the evening we arranged to meet Noha Atef for dinner. Noah is studying at Birmingham City University and lives in Cairo and she will be returning to Birmingham next month. We first made contact earlier this year when she asked me to speak at her We Are What We Tweet Event which I wasn't able to attend unfortunately.

We met Noha at the reception of the hotel and we took a walk along the main street and arrived at a restaurant. I wish I had taken some photographs of us! I can't believe I didn't get my camera out. I really enjoyed Noha's company and she shared with us stories about life in Cairo. Thank you for a wonderful evening Noha!

After such a full day, we were ready for sleep. I had a little night cap and had another great night's sleep. Me and Nicky agreed to just enjoy a lesuirely morning at the hotel before our flight back to Birmingham in the afternoon.

We allowed ourselves a lie in, and a long, hearty breakfast. We explored the hotel and took some more photographs.

Then it was time to check out and say our goodbyes. Just as the hotel had picked us up from the airport, we had a driver for our return journey.

I was feeling quite sad at leaving the city and didn't feel quite ready to go home. There was still so much of the city to explore and although we packed a lot into a couple of day, I felt I only just scratched the surface. 

Thank you to Flybmi, Four Seasons and Cairo! And thank you to Nicky for being such a great travel companion!

My next blog posts wil be about my first busines class flight and the luxury of the hotel! :)

Say hello on Twitter! @karenstrunks