Well, seeing as I recorded my birthday celebrations last year, it must now be deemed a blogging tradition! I think that's how traditions start anyway...
Last year was my 40th birthday! hehee. This year it's the year of my 2012 birthday!
I storify'd some of the few days of celebration. Thanks to my BFF for a fab day in Manchester and my awesome Mum for an adventure in Liverpool. And thanks to all my friends for joining in with the celebrations online too! :) x
Showing posts with label 40th Birthday. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 40th Birthday. Show all posts
Wednesday, 17 October 2012
Tuesday, 18 October 2011
My 40th Birthday
40.
Forty.
FOUR ZERO.
I still can't quite believe it!
My 30's were better than my 20's, and my 20's better than my teens, so going by that trend my 40's should be pretty damn great.
I'm resolving not to grow up and take advantage of the excuse to have a mid-life crisis ;)
Three days into my 40's, and it's so far so good, and I'm looking forward to what the next decade will bring!
I spent my birthday with my bestest friend in the whole wide world and my wonderful mum, my two favourite people. It was a perfect day beginning with present opening, a gorgeous lunch, a matinee at the theatre, dinner, cocktails and ended at a party at Nicky's.
Of course I had a hash tag for the day #ks40 so I could Storify it all. I've tried to capture as many tweets as possible. Hopefully you will get a good idea of the day.
Thank you to everyone who was part of my special birthday and for all the birthday tweets too - they really made my day. And special thank you's to my mum and best friend for making my day extra special.
Forty.
FOUR ZERO.
I still can't quite believe it!
My 30's were better than my 20's, and my 20's better than my teens, so going by that trend my 40's should be pretty damn great.
I'm resolving not to grow up and take advantage of the excuse to have a mid-life crisis ;)
Three days into my 40's, and it's so far so good, and I'm looking forward to what the next decade will bring!
I spent my birthday with my bestest friend in the whole wide world and my wonderful mum, my two favourite people. It was a perfect day beginning with present opening, a gorgeous lunch, a matinee at the theatre, dinner, cocktails and ended at a party at Nicky's.
Of course I had a hash tag for the day #ks40 so I could Storify it all. I've tried to capture as many tweets as possible. Hopefully you will get a good idea of the day.
Thank you to everyone who was part of my special birthday and for all the birthday tweets too - they really made my day. And special thank you's to my mum and best friend for making my day extra special.
Wednesday, 5 October 2011
September reviewed - Part 2
Part 1 is here....!
What else did I get up to in September....
Birmingham Mail's Your Communties Day
I was invited to the Birmingham Mail's Your Communities day along with some other local bloggers. The Birmingham Mail have been working along side community bloggers in Birmingham for a while now. They have established a good working relationship with the bloggers and feature the hyper local blog updates on their Your Communities page, and weekly in the Tuesday edition of their newspaper.
The event was held the the Birmingham Mail's offices in Fort Dunlop (where I cut my teeth as a photographer), and we were given a tour, got to meet some of the staff behind the paper and swap some hyper local blogging social media tips.
A worthwhile day and it was great to meet the people behind some of the other hyper local bloggers in Birmingham!
Millennium Point's 10th Birthday Party
I got an invitation to Millennium Point's 10th Birthday party! I've never been to a building's birthday party before! Of course MP is more than just a building, it is home to a huuuge cinema, and the Birmingham Science Museum and Think Tank.
I felt like I was 10 again! There were clowns, and cakes, and birthday cards and candy floss, and food and drinks, and clever science experiments involving flames.
Birmingham Vintage Festival
Career interview
Sharon Howard from the 'Day in the life of a busy girl blog' asked to interview me about my creative career, and you can read all about it here!
I answered questions such as:
How did you get into your career? What are the challenges? What's you favourite thing about your work? What advice you would give to others? I hope you enjoy the read!
Last, but not least! The best meal in a restaurant this year
And that's brought the best of September to a close! Whew!
What else did I get up to in September....
Birmingham Mail's Your Communties Day
I was invited to the Birmingham Mail's Your Communities day along with some other local bloggers. The Birmingham Mail have been working along side community bloggers in Birmingham for a while now. They have established a good working relationship with the bloggers and feature the hyper local blog updates on their Your Communities page, and weekly in the Tuesday edition of their newspaper.
The event was held the the Birmingham Mail's offices in Fort Dunlop (where I cut my teeth as a photographer), and we were given a tour, got to meet some of the staff behind the paper and swap some hyper local blogging social media tips.
A worthwhile day and it was great to meet the people behind some of the other hyper local bloggers in Birmingham!
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| Imagining I'm at the Empire State Building's Observation Deck :) |
Millennium Point's 10th Birthday Party
I got an invitation to Millennium Point's 10th Birthday party! I've never been to a building's birthday party before! Of course MP is more than just a building, it is home to a huuuge cinema, and the Birmingham Science Museum and Think Tank.
I felt like I was 10 again! There were clowns, and cakes, and birthday cards and candy floss, and food and drinks, and clever science experiments involving flames.
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| The Weasley Twins from Harry Potter made an appearance. |
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| Tall, colourful people! |
I missed the first Bham Vintage Festival so was keen to make it along to the second one. It didn't disappoint with some fabulous stalls selling all sorts of delicious vintageness. I wish I had taken more photos, but you can check out their website and see who there's and what's on offer. There's going to be another event coming up, so if vintage is your thing, you'll love it!
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| I picked up a vintage lady in red broach |
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| Debra gave me a 'tattoo'! Red of course. It stayed on for nearly a week! |
Social Media Training
St Basil's is a Birmingham charity that help young homeless people and they needed some guidance on how to make the best use out of free social media tools to help the people they work with, and engage with communities online as well as raise their profile.
I did a fair bit of research before me and Nicky held the workshop on how other charity and homeless groups are using social media and found some outstanding examples, but my overall observation is that the USA is really embracing social media to talk about what they are doing, sharing stories, making connections, offering help and resources, more so than the UK.
I'm not going to say too much hear as I've written a really lengthy blog post about the day for the talk about local blog which will be published on Friday, so do keep your eye's peeled over there!
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| St Basil's head office is actually in an old church! |
Career interview
Sharon Howard from the 'Day in the life of a busy girl blog' asked to interview me about my creative career, and you can read all about it here!
I answered questions such as:
How did you get into your career? What are the challenges? What's you favourite thing about your work? What advice you would give to others? I hope you enjoy the read!
BBC WM interview
One morning last week, I had barely woken up properly and the phone rang. "Can you come and comment live for BBC WM on Lonely Planet's comment that the Selfridges building in Birmingham looks like a peanut with acne?"
It was for Joanne Malin's breakfast show. Lonely Planet likened the store to a peanut with acne and the news ran with that. Lonely Planet also recommended it as a must-see building, so it wasn't all bad!
I've taken quite a few photos of the Selfridges building over the years (the one below is my personal fav) and so I was asked about what I thought about Lonely Planet's comment (it was a bit silly) and what do I think of the building (I like it). Well, I said a bit more than that, but you get the gist!
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| The 'peanut with acne' - much more beautiful that that in reality! |
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| With James Bovill, BBC WM reporter |
Birmingham Social Media Cafe
It was a fab event! (And I'm not just saying that because I organise it!). It was the BSMC's 3rd birthday and there was a great turn out from Birmingham's creatives and business and some Birmingham City University's student who are just embarking on their MA in Social Media!
talk about local kindly sponsored coffee, and birthday cakes were provided by BAKE.
Dave Harte made a brilliant video (mixing photos with audio) and captured people's thoughts on why they come to the social media cafe. It's really worth a watch.
The next event (it's FREE!) is on Friday 28th October at Birmingham Town Hall. I hope you can make it!
I've got to rave about this place. After a lot of moans this year about eating out and gluten free choices I have finally found somewhere that has wowed me!
After the social media cafe, we (some of the talk about local crew and twitter friends) went to Bodega, a south American restaurant on Bennett's Hill.
They had a really great gluten free menu. I chose the slow cooked pork, sweet potato fries and spicy coleslaw. I haven't enjoyed a meal out so much for a long time! It's really made me want to go back (and it very rare that a restaurant will make me want to do that!), and I've booked a table for my birthday (I can't wait!)
And that's brought the best of September to a close! Whew!
What's in store of October?
I'm glad you asked!
Last weekend I went to Ludlow to Storycamp. It was a day long event organised by Nicky that was based around digital story telling. Why tell stories, how to tell stories, what social media tools can be used, the fun, the ethics, it was all covered! There's a brilliant round up of the day over on the Storycamp blog. Thank you for a great day Nicky!
This weekend I'm off to the Women's Institute's Tech Fest day with talk about local to do some social reporting. This will be my first encounter with the WI, so I'm looking forward to meeting some of the ladies.
AND...
...in case I haven't mentioned it before.... ;)
It's going to be my 40TH Birthday soon! On the 15th October. I wanted to have a party, but I haven't had the chance to really think about it properly or plan anything. I should have started working on it bit by bit at the beginning on the year. But I will be spending the day with my two favourite people in the whole wide world, my mum and my best friend and I know it's going to be a good one!
Do I have to grow up when I'm 40? I hope not. I have absolutely no intention of that! :)
Say hello on twitter @karenstunks
Monday, 5 September 2011
The countdown begins - In forty days I will be 40!
*gulp*
This is the first time I've given my age out anywhere online. Strange you may think, seeing as I put a lot of stuff about myself and my life out there for the world to see.
But with a landmark birthday coming up, I thought it was time to mark the occasion.
In forty days time, I will be 40! That's quite a biggie isn't it? I mean, I could be potentially half way through my life at this stage!
It's given me pause for thought. It's not so much that I feel like I'm getting old (no way!), or I feel that much about actually being 40, it's more about life and experiences, how much I have done, and how much I still want to do!
I've enjoyed my thirties so much, and I feel that's when I've jumped on a springboard and launched myself into different things, and taken bolder and braver steps, more so than I did in my 20's.
So I'm looking forward to seeing what my 40's will bring and what I'll make of the next decade. Where do I want to be? Where do I want to go? What else can I experience? How much can I pack in?!
I dug out some pictures of a younger me. Those where the days when I didn't think much further ahead than going out to play!
This is the first time I've given my age out anywhere online. Strange you may think, seeing as I put a lot of stuff about myself and my life out there for the world to see.
But with a landmark birthday coming up, I thought it was time to mark the occasion.
In forty days time, I will be 40! That's quite a biggie isn't it? I mean, I could be potentially half way through my life at this stage!
It's given me pause for thought. It's not so much that I feel like I'm getting old (no way!), or I feel that much about actually being 40, it's more about life and experiences, how much I have done, and how much I still want to do!
I've enjoyed my thirties so much, and I feel that's when I've jumped on a springboard and launched myself into different things, and taken bolder and braver steps, more so than I did in my 20's.
So I'm looking forward to seeing what my 40's will bring and what I'll make of the next decade. Where do I want to be? Where do I want to go? What else can I experience? How much can I pack in?!
I dug out some pictures of a younger me. Those where the days when I didn't think much further ahead than going out to play!
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| My 1st Birthday |
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| About 3 years old I'm guessing. At London Zoo enjoying a pork pie and cup of tea |
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| My 5th Birthday |
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| About 7 years old. My mum made my dress and flowers for my hair |
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| Ages 7 again. In the school library. Rocking RED as I still do now! ;) |
All those photos were taken in London. I moved to N.Ireland when I was eight. Then to Birmingham when I was 15. Then to Scotland. Then back to Ireland. Then Plymouth, Portsmouth and back to Birmingham again. I attended about 6 different schools (including a convent school!) so was always the 'new girl' finding my feet and making new friends.
And I'm still making plenty of new friends now. You know how much I love the online world! And thanks to that I'm meeting lots of amazing people who I can call my friends.
During the next 40 days I'll probably stop by here and reminisce about something or other....things I've learnt (you can't get to this age and not learn anything I hope!), and the best times so far, but of course I'm hoping that the best is yet to come! :)
Say hello on twitter @karenstrunks
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