unaboutique

Another year is ending – these “year in reviews” are always joyful for me.  Do you enjoy the feeling of a fresh new year ahead? I know I do.  Usually before the New Year I do some blog housekeeping – including updating my bio and navigation bar.  You’ll notice the themed days-of-the-week nav buttons got a make-over.  Since I moved my motivational/inspirational posts over to my personal blog, they don’t need a home in the navigation here anymore. Of course, Twitter posts, Facebook tips and my step-by-step tutorials still have a home here.  “Twitter Tuesday” is now called “Twitter Tips” and “Facebook Friday” is called “Facebook posts”.  Same great content, just a new name. If you’re looking for some of your old favorite motivation/inspiration posts, you’ll find them over on my personal blog, LauraCatherine.co .   Now, Let’s have a look at 2011! 2011 Blog Highlights: Twitter tips galore on this blog – it was the year of Twitter for me -  includi...

Today's "Twitter Tuesday" post is a bit of a stretch, but it was just too much fun not to share! I learned of the Charleston Craft Bee ( @chscraftbee ) through Twitter, so that's the connection I'm using to make this post work here (smile).  For those of you that read my jewelry blog , this was posted there last night. I s hared photos recently from the Charleston Craft Bee event I attended with Kelly and Elizabeth . The project Kelly & I chose was the tile coaster project.  I SO enjoyed making drink coasters that I decided it could be a fun handmade holiday gift project.  I love that these can be personalized and are rather inexpensive.  I’m sharing instructions below for those who would like to make coasters. I wouldn't have known how to make these fun coasters if it weren't for the Charleston Craft Bee ...please check their site out if you are in the area!  I made 9 more sets this past weekend and love how they turned out (photos below).  fun coast...

It’s a special “Be Inspired” Wednesday for us.  The timing is wonderful, given that Thanksgiving is tomorrow! I’ve been very lucky to have surrounded myself with talented, creative, artistic, and just all-around amazing friends.  Many I found through Twitter, the e-course I took, local networking events, and friends-of-friends.  I talked a little about this on Monday (on meeting new people/making new friends). I continue to be inspired by you all.  You are always turning out great blog posts, ideas, and tweets, and these past few days have been no exception.  There have been so many wonderful Thanksgiving-inspired creative posts that it’s difficult for me to decide which few to highlight here today.  If I missed you today, it was intentional.  I’m saving your feature for an upcoming “Be Inspired Wednesday” and will be in touch soon! Kelly Thiel ( her FB , her blog , her twitter ) is a sculptor and dear friend here in Charleston .  She surprised ...

A post from my heart today. ..ready to make things a bit more official regarding this blog and my freelance work. Excited and scared, am hoping you can relate. Here goes.... I'm creating a logo for this blog, and launching a new website for my freelance work. In the past, I felt a bit silly about this. Maybe I still do, just a little. It's quite ironic, actually, because if I were my own client, I would have told myself to do this long ago! There's that thing called self-doubt that nags away at me, and I'm ready to push forward and stop listening to those fears! Why now? Well, it's the first time I've felt that I can officially accept most freelance work without it being a conflict of interest with my employer. When I worked in tourism, it would have been a bit of a conflict of interest to seek out freelance work from our area partners. The same goes for my time in internet sales. I also have more time to manage clients and balance my time, thanks to a w...

I tweeted for the 900 th time today and thought it was a good time to reflect on my twitter journey. Has my time been well spent on Twitter? Have I made any real connections or friendships? YES and YES! I’ve written about how to get plugged into Twitter before…this post instead serves as a recap of what Twitter has meant for to over the past year, living in new place. Let me set the stage to last summer…say July of 2009. I joined Twitter many months before (actually in 2007) but last summer stands out to me as a time when I really harnessed the power of Twitter to “work” for me. My reason? I was moving to a new place (Charleston, SC) and didn’t know *anyone* - very scary, indeed. Not many people (at the time) would friend a complete stranger on Facebook, and I didn’t go that route anyway. Instead, I began looking for marketers in Charleston , SC who shared similar interests with me. There are plenty of tools that will help you target a particular geographic reg...

Heads up to those who want to learn more about managing/monitoring your mobile website! Gomez is hosting a free webinar about “7 Common Mobile Web Experience Mistakes…And How to Fix Them” on Wednesday, August 18, 2010 1:00 pm EST. Here is a brief rundown in their words: Join mobile experts Vidya Drego, Senior Analyst, Forrester Research and Matt Poepsel, VP of Performance Strategies, Compuware Gomez to learn: • Common mistakes that prohibit companies from capitalizing on the mobile opportunity • What growing mobile Web adoption and rising customer expectations mean for mobile service owners • How to identify and resolve mobile service experience issues - before customers are impacted • Best practices to deliver quality mobile Web experiences to all end-users I’m going to register for this free webinar (you can, too!) and look forward to sharing a bit of what I learn with you here. Have a great rest of your week! Laura

I came across an article on Twitter this morning (thanks @guykawasaki)about " 29 Ways to Force a Change of Habit ". What bad habits have you resolved to change? For many of us, we spend a significant time online each day. This time is often split between sending and receiving work-related emails, staying up-to-date on industry news, spending time researching online, and staying connected. Since such a significant amount of time is spent with our coworkers, changing habits at the workplace could be a good starting point for new behaviors/abolishing bad habits. Personally, I have noticed that when my workspace is in harmony, I come home a happier person! This leads to a more productive evening with family. Here are my personal goals to increase my workplace productivity and grow client relationships: 1. Send an email the same day thanking a client for their time on the day that we met, followed by a handwritten note and helpful article specific to their industry and the web...