Articles by Sandra

Wedding

Interesting Facts About Weddings

Wedding Season

The middle of the summer is wedding season in the U.S. and that means millions of couples across the continent are tying the knot. Whether you’re recently engaged, heading down the aisle soon, or just attending a wedding as a guest, these cool facts about weddings will put you in the nuptial mood. What’s in a name?

According to ‘Wedding Ceremonies: Ethnic Symbols, Costume and Rituals,’ approximately 70 percent of Americans believe that a woman should take her husband’s last name after they’re married, even though there are no laws or religious dictates to set this precedence and have you psyched to celebrate the impending festivities! There may be a solid reason behind this. Many people think if a woman takes her husbands name after wedding she avoids many complexities. And this is also an indicator that you are married now. If we talk about certain cultures, it is a must for woman to take her husband’s name after marriage. They thinks this brings good luck and avoiding that is embodiment of bad luck. So, if you are not superstitious enough you may do as you like.

What Happens in Vegas

Each year, there are more than 100,000 weddings in Las Vegas, Nevada, making it the most popular wedding destination. Hawaii is a not-so-close second at 25,000 weddings in a year. So Las Vegas with its all the attractions is a major attraction for new wedding couples. But it is not popular for couples alone. No one can deny that it is the number one choice for bachelor parties. If you are going to wed soon and you want to throw your friends a cool bachelor party you may want to consider Vegas. But be cautious because much can happen in Las Vegas. You may understand my point easily if you have seen The Hangover.

Concentration

How to Get a Guy Notice You By Being Your Wonderful Self

At the point when you like somebody, it tends to be difficult to concentrate on whatever else. What’s more, what you’re generally worried about is in the event that they like you back. What’s more, on the off chance that you realize they don’t, all you need to do is to realize how to get a person keen on you.

Of course, you can simply continue being you and sitting tight for him to see you, yet why not take it up a score? Fortunately getting a person keen on you isn’t too hard. Folks may not be as straightforward as television and motion pictures portray them, yet standing out enough to be noticed isn’t excessively hard.

Truly, I’m doing an entire segment on certainty. There are numerous things that should be possible to catch his eye and provoke his curiosity, yet the main thing is to ooze certainty.

Certainty isn’t exactly how you fall off to other people, however how you see yourself. At the point when you acknowledge what your identity is and know your value, you will pull eyes from everybody, particularly him.

At the point when you have certainty, not exclusively will that draw consideration from him, yet it will draw consideration from others too which will make him much progressively intrigued. At the point when you are sure, you don’t quantify your value by how others see you.

That vibe pulls in others. Individuals need to associate with individuals that emit that sure vitality. On the off chance that you can do that, you are now most of the way there in figuring out how to get a person keen on you.

There are a lot of approaches to get a person inspired by you. Some are more inconspicuous than others, however they are all effective. Odds are he’s as of now intrigued by you yet doesn’t have the guts to take care of business. Tell him you’re intrigued as well or if nothing else give him the bump to make a move.

1. Put your Best Self Forward to Feel your Best

You don’t have to get spruced up and put on heaps of cosmetics to get his advantage except if that is something you love to do. You put your best self forward when you feel your best. So wear what causes you to feel great.

2. Smell Wonderful

I don’t intend to simply utilize antiperspirant. In the event that you realize you’re going to see him, shower a little spritz of an attractive or musky fragrance. A vanilla aroma likewise goes far with a person.

3. Open Up

At the point when you share things about yourself with him, he won’t simply become acquainted with you, yet will see an alternate side to you. At the point when he realizes you believe in a subject like your preferred diversion, he will be pulled in to it.

4. Support his Interests

At the point when he is conversing with you, urge him to discuss what he adores whether that be his activity or baseball or whatever else. At the point when he is discussing what he adores, he will illuminate and when he does that around you he will connect those nice sentiments with you.

5. Don’t be So Pleasant

Offer your suppositions. In the event that he asks your conclusion on anything from a film to governmental issues, be straightforward. Be strong and certain about your announcements. Any person you need to be keen on you will like somebody that remains steadfast in their convictions.

6. Contact him

Contact him in a suitable manner. Brush his arm when you stroll by. Contact his hand when he makes you snicker. These little non-romantic contacts mean significantly more than you may might suspect.

7. Look

An absence of eye to eye connection shows an absence of association and an absence of certainty. At the point when you investigate his eyes, he will feel a more profound association with you normally.

8. Post a Thirst Trap

You know those days where you take a selfie, and the first is fire and you are feeling hot? All things considered, post it. You’ll be astonished how quick he connects.

9. Don’t be Excessively Energetic

It is energizing when he messages or calls, however don’t hop on it. I’m not encouraging you to act shy, yet remain occupied. Try not to be on your telephone hanging tight for him to connect. Allow him to perspire, only a tad.

10. Don’t Make a Decent Attempt

In case you’re thinking about how to get a person keen on you, don’t imagine you like something since he does. What’s more, don’t act like you know his preferred darken band or are into sports in case you’re most certainly not. He will know whether you’re lying and it will simply be humiliating.

11. Be Intrigued

On the off chance that you don’t have the foggiest idea what he’s discussing, inquire. Be intrigued. You don’t need to have a deep understanding of his preferred golf player, yet asking shows you’re keen on every little thing about him.

12. Keep it Easygoing

Regardless of whether your ultimate objective is to secure him, let it be. Partake in the time you do spend together without agonizing such a great amount over what’s to come. In case you’re on edge about the future, it will influence your time together.

13. Request his Assistance.

Request that he help you with something. It very well may be as basic as conveying something substantial or exhortation on a work issue. Having the option to support you and realize you are tolerating his assist will with helping him to remember what a decent group you are.

14. State his Name

Saying his name so anyone can hear will mentally tell him that he is imperative to you. Easily overlooked details like this help him to remember you and arouse his curiosity, regardless of whether he doesn’t have the foggiest idea why.

15. Continue Carrying On with your Life

Try not to make him the focal point of your life when you’re attempting to make sense of how to get a person intrigued by you. That is not your objective throughout everyday life. Continue spending time with companions and getting a charge out of leisure activities. Realizing you have a full and dynamic life will remind him how pined for you are.

16. Tease

I realize this appears glaringly evident, yet when engrossed with getting a person keen on you, it can cause you to overlook the least demanding things. Being a tease will give him the sign that you like him and let you flaunt your comical inclination.

17. Mirror his Developments

Another mental tip is to reflect his developments. In the event that he folds his legs, cross yours. On the off chance that he reflects your developments first, he is as of now intrigued.

18. Show Restraint

He might be more anxious than you might suspect. Folks are frightened as well. He might be truly intrigued by you however is taking as much time as is needed to stir up the nerve to take care of business.

19. Don’t Discuss your Exes

When you begin dating somebody, it is acceptable to share your past, however in case you’re simply getting him inspired by you, sharing the succulent subtleties on your dating history can be a serious mood killer.

20. Really Become More Acquainted with One Another.

There are bunches of stunts and little subtleties that can assist you with getting a person intrigued by you, yet the best? Take as much time as is needed and truly find out about one another.

21. Ensure you Like him

Before experiencing this push to get a person intrigued by you, ensure you’re really keen on him. You would prefer not to burn through your time on somebody since they are charming.

10 Lessons

10 Lessons Learnt from One Year in Australia

After just over one year in Australia I finally feel like I can part some wisdom to wannabe travellers those planning to flee the nest and see some of this amazing World we live in. 

So Here Goes

1. Whatever you’ve saved it’s not enough – keep saving! It’s a lot more expensive than you think.

2. It won’t be that easy to get a job – especially if you head to a major city first.  The words ‘Working Holiday Visa’ do not appeal to employers offering entry-level (post uni) jobs – I applied for SO MANY marketing jobs, rarely worth your time.  Plus there’s so many others out there competing for them.  But when one comes along be ready –  get your tax file number (TFN) (it can take up to three weeks) and open a bank account.

3. If it seems too good to be true, it probably is – sorry but there’s a reason this is a cliché, it’s true.  And hey, chasing sponsorship?  Ask yourself if it really is what you want.

4. Spiders and snakes won’t be everywhere.  After a year I still haven’t seen a black widow or funnel-web or any snakes! Thank god.  Do get to know what species are in that part of Oz though incase one happens to come along – they aren’t all deadly!

5. Unless you have saved one hell of a lot, the first few weeks won’t be what you imagined.  They will be stressful; you’ll probably be living on mince or baked beans and spending your time sweating, running around with CV’s and blisters from those new sandals you just had to buy before you left home.

6. You really don’t need a new wardrobe to go travelling, I had a HUGE clear-out before I left and I still ended up with a busted suitcase with three wheels – pack less!

7. Hostels – there are good ones and bad ones and you will most likely stay in at least one awful hostel.  Picture this: ants all over the kitchen counters and bathrooms, questionable “clean” sheets, loud music through the night and some very dodgy characters around.

8. On that note – suitcase locks and/or chains essential!  Don’t just assume nobody will steal your stuff, if they can get away with it they will.  Especially in dorm rooms.

9. If you plan on going to rural areas ask what phone network is best, or I’ll just tell you – Telstra has the most coverage in Australia.  Also, be on the lookout for free Wi-Fi hotspots (gold) and maybe even join the local library for going online, printing CV’s etc, it’s very useful.

10. Some of us just aren’t cut out for the backpacker lifestyle (me) they call us ‘flashpackers’ and I’m totally okay with being one.

So those are my 10 lessons learnt from one year in Australia – there’ll probably be 20 next year!  Also, feel free to share your travelling lessons if you have any

Amazing Device

Extremely Essential Camera Skills

Ahead of my birthday for which I asked for all-things-photography-related, I treated myself to the Extremely Essential Photography Skills course from Photography Concentrate and oh my word it’s brilliant.

It’s a very easy-to-follow step by step guide to all the features and shooting modes on your camera with demonstrative videos, exercises and tips for each to make you thoroughly understand it all.  So far I have only worked about half way through taking my time and letting all the information sink in.  But I’m already a lot more confident with my camera and have moved completely away from auto.  Now using at the very least the semi-automatic settings like aperture priority to get that nice blurred background in my photos.

What makes this photography resource great is that it’s been put together by two self-taught photographers who really get that all the tech lingo just doesn’t get you psyched to learn how to get the most out of your amazing device.  I still have a way to go and need to work on my angling and composition but getting all the techy stuff down definitely helps and won’t occupy as much of my thinking when trying to frame a shot.

What’s more is that when I tweeted about having purchased my tutorial I mentioned that the download speed was really slow (as I’m in Outback Queensland) and Rob Lim (co-founder with wife Lauren) personally emailed me an alternative link for faster downloading – talk about customer service?! 

One thing I will say is that if you’re thinking of purchasing (which if like me you’re a little new to DSLRs you totally should check it out – a total bargain at $49.95US) all you need is a little time and patience to work through it.  I purchased on a Sunday morning as I’m often up early and feeling productive (I know weird right?).  I can’t wait to get to the end of the tutorial and know I will refer to it time and time again.  Plus you get a nifty little field guide to keep in your camera bag absolutely free when you purchase this tutorial.  Well worth the tiny investment that’ll save you tonnes of time and effort learning how to get the most out of your camera.  GO CHECK IT OUT.

Pandemic

Project 28

So, recently I was pretty bored at home. This pandemic and lockdown was on my nerves. With working from home you have a little extra time than usual. One day while I was sitting idle I came across this wonderful idea. Why don’t I do something exciting everyday and note it down in my diary. At the end of the month I would share this with you people. So here I am,

Read and Make your Own List

1. I made some healthy whole meal pancakes and shared the recipe
2. Mum always sends me pictures of Alfie being silly and whatnot, here he’s wearing mum’s glasses
3. I felt a little bit like this for some of February
4. And cooked quite a bit, homemade Chicken Curry, not just a pretty face 
5. A little reminder of why I’m here
6. Exercising tee
7. Glenn and I had a little BBQ, no shrimp, just burgers and chicken 
8. Some photography practice, Mount Isa town
9. The sky has been utterly breathtaking lately, I just want to take snap after snap
10. My birthday, 24! No longer in my early twenties. Glenn baked me a Malt ice cream cake, too good!
11. 10 Lessons Learnt from One Year in Australia post
12. Who says I can’t eat cake in the afternoon 
13. Baking valentines cookies!
14. Our little valentines cards to each other
15. My cousin Jordan’s art project, very talented
16. Homemade Caesar Salad by yours truly
17. Mum’s birthday
18. Super happy with my purchase from photography concentrate
19. This is not my photo, it’s from the community Facebook page – awesome!
20. Photography practice
21. I jogged a mile on the treadmill for the first time, slowly yes but I done it! No walking in between #smallfeats
22. Photographing the Peacocks by the lake, the male courtship is extraordinary
23. I’ve been lacking inspiration lately so I wrote about it
24. Very true
25. Smoked cod, yum
26. Baking cookies again (soo bad)
27. I started reading this book to help me with my creative habits and eating/exercise habits
28. Date night outfit

Tech

Get More Views on YouTube

Do you want to get more views on YouTube? YouTube is currently ranked as the third most popular site on the internet! It is a very powerful tool for generating leads online. One of the most important strategies for gaining a YouTube following is producing quality content for your niche market. Some markets are more competitive than others, so it’s important to use the proper strategies to boost your YouTube video views.

Before going into the strategies, I would like to bring up something you should not do: I have noticed that some people are not being congruent in their titles and videos. For example, a title that says that a certain product is a horrible waste of money should NOT be followed by a video stating how great that product is! Sometimes people do this to grab the attention of the viewers, but the video should at least address what the title says. I see that tactic from time to time and it is just aggravating for the viewers out there. YouTube frowns upon this deceptive marketing practice as well. Keep your material congruent.

With that said, here are some technical guidelines that will boost your YouTube views.

Here are Some Technical Guidelines

1. Make sure to include your keyword in the video title, description, and meta tags. It’s a good idea to stick to around 5-10 tags for your video. These strategies will help your rankings with YouTube because you have relevant keywords. It’s a very competitive market out there, so it’s important to know what YouTube is looking for when ranking videos.

2. Comment on high traffic videos or leave a video response to the video. Search YouTube for videos in your market. Find videos that have a lot of views. Comment on these videos because this will increase your visibility on the YouTube network. You can also leave a video response to gain even more visibility if you wish.

3. Be active within the YouTube community. Find relevant videos, comment on them, make new friends, and subscribe to other people’s accounts. This will help to create a community for yourself within YouTube and gather more comments for your videos—which will give you better rankings.

4. Share your video on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook. After posting your video on YouTube, make sure to share your video. There are buttons under your video that allow for sharing. You can post your video to your Facebook profile, your Twitter profile, and many others.

5. Create a blog post that has a link back to your video at YouTube. Make sure you have quality content on your blog. Write an informative blog post and embed your video within the blog post. This technique can funnel viewers from your blog to your videos. This is also a fairly simple action to take—under your YouTube video there is an option for embedding your video. Simply copy the code and paste it into your blog post.

There’s no doubt that YouTube is a great tool to expand your business. It’s also inexpensive to do! I mean, it’s free to have a YouTube account and upload videos. Just make sure that you have a decent video camera and don’t be afraid to put yourself on the internet! People want to see real people, so just be yourself. You can also do presentations on YouTube by recording PowerPoint slides…among other software methods out there. Take advantage of some of these methods and get more views on YouTube.

Tech

Ban of Supposedly Violent and Offensive Games: Game Over!

In the end of February, Bill 170/06 proposed by Congress and which aimed at prohibiting the manufacture, importation and distribution of offensive games in Brazil, was removed from the Senate by its own proponent.

In an official declaration, the Congressman stated that, in reviewing the bill’s content, he concluded that it could end up hurting several fundamental rights, especially freedom of speech, free enterprise and free exercise of an economic activity and that it would even allow potential censorship.

Originally, the bill intended to modify article 20 of Law 7,716 of 1989 – which defines the crimes resulting of prejudice of race or color – by the addition of paragraph 2, which provides that the “manufacture, importation and distribution of videogames which are offensive to the moral; tradition; religion; belief and its symbol would be a crime”. As a penalty, one could be imprisoned from 1 to 3 years plus fine. If the infringing game was made available on the internet or published through any means, the penalty was increased to imprisonment from 2 to 5 years plus fine.

This bill has been very criticized in Brazil as it provides very extreme measures which obviously create a different treatment to videogames in comparison with other similar content. Also, the proposed bill directly hurts freedom of speech and simply disregards all the laws dealing with this matter.

Just as the in the case of audiovisual works, videogames are subject to a rigorous analysis before they are distributed in Brazil. The Ministry of Justice has an important role at this point, as it is the responsible entity for providing rules for the correct age classification of the games. As a matter of fact, a groundbreaking decision about this matter was issued quite recently in Brazil.

All in all, it seems to us that the Congressman’s decision must be applauded.

Application

10 Instagram Accounts You Should Follow Right Now

Because… they’re AWESOME! These Instagram accounts are a dolly mixture. Some make me laugh, some make me think, or want to travel more. Mostly, they’re uplifting, encourage self-love and are ordinary, everyday moments documented – my favorite kind <3.

Disclaimer: I don’t believe in following any IG accounts that make me feel lesser than I am or strike envy. But I can appreciate well put together posts, and know that people represent the best version of themselves on platforms such as these. Take everything in with a grain or two of salt, and remember that it’s totally okay not to have “perfectly-styled” hair every day with makeup that doesn’t budge, or wear designer clothes that cost $$$ all on a size 2 frame whilst jetting off to a different country every week. For most, life isn’t like that, including mine and hey, I wouldn’t have it any other way. Embrace YOU.

1. Winning Me Over

This is a really awesome account for regrams. You can use the hashtag #winningmeover when you gram a shot of your city (or wherever you may be), and they pick the best to share. For us wanderlusters, proceed with caution. It may result in a lengthy travel bucket list.

2. Insta2yearold

This account is hilarious. It’s a NYC based blogger ‘gramming life from the point of view of her two year old daughter Harlow. What really makes this account though, are the captions that go with the images, sheer brilliance!

3. Loveyourlines

This account was created by two anonymous mums to encourage women of all ages, shapes and sizes to love their bodies. Specifically stretch marks and other indicators of weight being lost or gained due to pregnancy, growth spurts during teen years or whatever may have been the cause. They share their followers’ images (with permission of course) and their stories which are often relatable, familiar, confidence boosting, encouraging and heart-warming all at once.

4. The Everygirl

The Every Girl is a site that aims to speak to the masses, hence the name, and discusses various topics including trends, fashion, interiors, food, technology etc. Their IG feed is filled with styled spaces, people and yummy food.

5. kristinrogers

Kristin Rogers is a Photographer based in CA who shares photos of her daily life in all of its quirkiness, home-schooling her two girls. She has a series with her pet frog using the hashtag #ohmygoodnessmrhopkins and pet rabbit with #bitsofbitsy – just adorable!

6. Ashlee Gadd

Ashlee is a Blogger and Photographer living in Sacramento. She blogs about marriage, and life with her two beautiful little boys over at Where My Heart Resides and is the Founder of Coffee and Crumbs, a collaborative blog about Motherhood. Her writing is very moving, I’ve been reading her personal blog for over a year and C+C since it began last year. Her Insta is filled with cute little faces, excursions and beautiful interiors.

7. The Pink Diary

Ever wondered where those perfectly styled photos of folded clothing and accessories come from? It’s most probably this Instagram account. Their images are just that, with everything in the frame arranged perfectly on a clean background. Follow along for image styling info!

8. Elsie Larson/A Beautiful Mess Official

If you’re familiar with ABM at all you’ll know that these girls love color and DIY. Their Insta are always filled to the brim with bold shades, cute poses and homemade goodies, and are very well framed.

9. Danielle Laporte

The brains behind The Desire Map and setting goals based on your feelings, DLP if you don’t already know it, is pretty darn awesome. Danielle shares “Truthbombs” daily which are inspiring word/phrases/mantras to get you through just about anything. She also shares insight into her personal life and daily struggles/triumphs and her fur-baby Christopher Starbeam.

10. Humansofny

It would be pretty hard not to have heard of Humans of New York by now, even if you live under a rock. I LOVE PEOPLE (most days ha!) and I absolutely love what Brandon is doing here, and the fact that people have gotten real opportunities from being featured on HONY. The current story on Mott Hall Bridges Academy is truly inspiring and beautiful; I would be lying if I said it didn’t bring tears to my eyes following along.

Bar

A Memorable Night

For those Soho Revue Bar virgins, the main bar is an intimate room with small stage, with a small dance floor, 3 or 4 rows of seating and the bar area at the back. The room is lavishly decorated with huge chandeliers.

The intimate crowd consisted of a mix of music fans and general partygoers of all ages. The overall feel for the night was one of entertainment, humour and partying in an intimate club.

The Master of Ceremonies for the evening was Mark Jones, truly on form in a pimp daddy style leopard print two-piece. The bands that played from the Wall Of Sound label were excellent.  At times coming offstage to sing in the crowd to give the whole night a special feel of intimacy, which is often lost in bigger venues.

The Shortwave set was a real highlight.  As was Mpho Skeef who’s London sound set the tone.  The lead singer had a distinct husky quality reminiscent of Macy Gray and Corrinne Bailey Rae.

A Human provided the perfect energetic performance to get the party in full swing.  One group that proved very popular was the Infadels. All the acts went together seamlessly and each brought their own individuality; all of which now appear on my iPod playlist.

It was good to see each of the bands staying to watch and support each other’s performances and having a good drink and a dance.  Walking around the venue you had a chance to have a quick chat with all the bands, which again helped create a good vibe.

Marc Almond’s performance was the biggest act of the night, and he didn’t fail to get the crowd going. Like a kid in a sweet shop he was in his element on stage, loving every moment.  This was that time of the night when everyone hit the dance floor.

Marc sang some new material, and after some persuading (chanting from the now tipsy crowd), revisited some old favourites including the big one, Tainted Love.  Everyone was taken back in time and bounced around the room in alcoholic excitement.

Following Marc Almond was a perfect time to introduce Chicago’s DJ Pierre – the legend of House who took control for the post-midnight slot; the Revue bar by this stage was definitely a full-blown club night, making full use of the busy, compact dance floor immediately in front of the stage.

The night was a great success, and the crowd were very enthusiastic, particularly after a few complimentary San Miguels’. There was another bar upstairs, which was far more chilled out. But the action was definitely down in the the main bar all night. An excellent night was had by all.  Now we are massively looking forward to the second of the five /hidden /depth events as the Glimmers play Manchester on 10th July at Joshua Brookes (next to the old Paradise Factory).