HARLEM LOVES » The Announcement

The Announcement: I’m baa-aaack with a little makeover too!

Harlem — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 18:24:33 +0000

So, if James Brown can sing Papa’s got a brand new bag I don’t see why I can’t sing Mama’s got a brand new blog… No? Really? Not even a little bit? Ah well.

In other news, it’s been a little while and I’ve missed you. I’ve been working overtime through the holidays on both Love Harlem and the new look for Harlem Loves. Still got a bit on my checklist for the former but in the meantime the blog makeover is more-or-less complete (still need to tweak a few of the older posts) and my tumblr’s updated to.

What’s nice is that it hopefully makes it easier to browse through the various topics I cover in my random postings. What’s not so nice is that it also shows where I’ve been slacking… Really need to get up to speed on some book, show and movie reviews.

All that aside, it’s here and I hope you like it, if not you can still let me know… I won’t take it personally… much

Here’s to exciting things for the year ahead!

*virtual hugs*

H x

The Announcement: A’s for Anaemia, B’s for Blogging, C’s for Comic Book Heroes!

Harlem — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 11:07:40 +0000

Comic Book Heroes? I’ll explain later firstly though I’d like to apologise for the unexplained absence. I’ve been unwell for a little while and have had to take some time off more recently with strict instructions to rest.

What’s the matter? Iron Deficiency Anaemia.Which if you’re unfamiliar, the NHS simply describes as:

Iron deficiency anaemia occurs when there is a reduced number of red blood cells because the body does not have enough iron to produce them. The main symptoms are tiredness and lethargy (lack of energy).

I’d probably expand on those symptoms a little and describe it as feeling like my body’s constantly trying to wade through molasses whilst my mind sputters like the fatigued engine of an old sports car. Then there are the headaches and dizzy spells and so on.

I won’t bore you with the details except to say it’s a strange thing to battle when you’re a bit of a fun junkie like myself. It’s like I’m hard-wired to look on the brighter side of things so at times even I’m in denial at how exhausted I am.

So for the past week and some I’ve been paying attention. Truly I’ve had little choice with the way I’ve been feeling. So I’m resting. Indoors. Barely left my house except a few quiet breaks out to relieve my growing cabin fever but I’m not complaining. I’m on a whole plan of action to kick it in the butt.

I’ve been anaemic for so long my doctor actually told me “You deserve to know what it’s like to have a normal level of energy”. Imagine that! I have untapped energy people! I feel like Wonder Woman! All I need is bed rest, iron supplements and a slightly revised diet and I’ll be flying.

It’s still early days and apparently it takes a while to kick in but in the meantime I might share a few of my favourite iron-rich munchies I’m feasting on to help my recovery.

Question: Anyone else anaemic? Would be great to hear your experiences…

The Announcement: New & Improved Email Updates! Yay!

Harlem — Sun, 30 Jan 2011 23:48:34 +0000

I just want to say a special thank you to all you wonderfully gorgeous readers who subscribe to receive Harlem Loves updates by email. It means a lot… Seriously. So…

…as a small thank you I’ve spent most of this weekend working on a new shinier email. Hopefully this’ll bring a little more Harlem Loves sunshine to your inbox. Hope you like but if you have any comments please do get in touch and let me know.

Thanks,

H xx

PS: If you’re not currently subscribed to Harlem Loves but would like to be sign up here:

The Announcement: I’m A Blogger Of The Year Finalist!

Harlem — Mon, 11 Oct 2010 16:48:51 +0000

Today I was notified that I’m a finalist for the Precious Award’s blogger of the year! To give you a hint of how excited I am right now I thought I’d share the following:

So now that you know how I’ll be spending my evening I thought I’d share a little bit about the Previous Awards

“The PRECIOUS Awards was founded to celebrate the achievements of inspirational entrepreneurial women of colour who are running businesses in the UK.

The Awards are about recognising success and inspiring other women of colour to launch their own business. We also recognise women in the workplace with the PRECIOUS Leadership within the Workplace Award.

We are proud to applaud and highlight enterprise and innovation amongst some of the brightest stars contributing to UK plc.”

Thanks to the lovely team at Precious Awards for the privilege of being a finalist and details of how to vote for me (if you don’t mind ) are coming soon… *super happy sigh*

The Competition: If you have a mo…

Harlem — Thu, 07 Jan 2010 07:00:00 +0000

The lovely Ondo Lady was kind of enough to let me know that the annual Weblog Awards aka Bloggies are upon us *bites nails*…

Given that 2009 was my first full year as a blogger I hadn’t quite had the opportunity to participate before but now seems like as good as time as any.

So I thought I’d kindly ask that should you consider Harlem Loves worthy of nominating then do skiddadle over to the site for the 2010 bloggies to place your vote before the January 12 deadline.

Apparently you can nominate up to three blogs and you can enter each blog into however many categories you like.

There are several categories available. Having had a quick browse I think Harlem Loves may fit into the best kept secret or best european blog categories but if you spot any others feel free to nominate for those too.

They say one good turn deserves another so I’m off to place my nominations now as well. I’ve spotted some great blogs in the past year so I hope they do well. All the best bloggers

H x

The Announcement: Merry Christmas!!!

Harlem — Fri, 25 Dec 2009 16:36:00 +0000

Merry Christmas! Hugs! Kisses! Blessings! and Love!

I’m sooo late sending this and it’s a very short announcement but I couldn’t let the day pass without sending a special seasons greeting to you all and sharing some gorgeous christmassy photos I came across.

Much love and may your day be fun and festive!

H x

The Competition: Our Very First Give-Away Winner!

Harlem — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 15:09:00 +0000

I was so excited about picking the winner for our very first give-away that I thought I’d share the experience with you in full motion picture.

So without further ado, press play to discover the winner of our competition…

Alternatively in true mystery mode, highlight the following text to reveal the names of our winner and runner-up…

Congratulations CoCoCosmopolitan!!!! Claim your prize by emailing your postage details to harlem @loveharlem.com and a Penny Big Heart T-shirt will be making its way to you.

To Angelina and D, I salute you both and encourage everybody to pay a visit to their respective blogs for a good insightful read.

Thanks to you all for taking part, and hopefully there’ll be more competitions in future for the rest of you to enjoy so watch this space

H x

The Competition: Our Very First Give-away!

Harlem — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:30:00 +0000

So here it is…*drum roll* Harlem Loves is absolutely thrilled to launch our very first competition! Whoop Whoop!

In celebration of our first anniversary we would love to give one of you a free Penny Big Heart t-shirt courtesy of Harlem Tees. This is a gorgeous form-fitting American Apparel t-shirt featuring an exclusive Gingerland for Harlem Tees design.

Harlem Tees – Penny Big Heart – Look 1 by Harlem Loves…

Harlem Tees – Penny Big Heart – Look 2 by Harlem Loves…

So, you can enter our giveaway in just three easy steps:

1: Post a comment below sharing three fun facts about you.

2: If you’re not doing so already, you sign up to follow Harlem Loves, either by joining our fab followers or by email subscription.

3: Tweet a link to your favourite Harlem Loves post. Include the following text: “Read my favourite article by @harlemloves”. Alternatively, if you’re not on Twitter, post this competition on your blog and include the link to your posting when you leave a comment below.

And voila it’s as easy as that! Any questions and you can email me at harlem {at} loveharlem.com I really can’t wait to announce the winner! Did I mention you get the t-shirt completely free!

This competition closes on Wednesday November 7, 2009.

As a bonus point and because I love a bit of a treasure hunt I thought I’d throw one in too so here it is…

I once blogged about dreaming of a pair of shoes and then in reality I spotted them on a designer’s website. You get a special gold star if you can describe the shoe and tell me the name of the designer. As a clue you may find it useful to browse articles by a shoe-related tag beginning with F!

Have fun!

H x

The Announcement: I’ve been interviewed… Twice!

Harlem — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 20:29:00 +0000

It’s been a pretty exciting week this week, not only in terms of celebrating Harlem Loves’ first anniversary but I’ve actually been featured on not one but *two* great blogs…

Firstly the lovely Ronke invited me to take part in her My Space series on bloggers and their favourite blogging spots.

Read the Harlem Loves interview in full on Ronke’s blog, The Musings Of Ondo Lady.

Secondly the equally lovely Gabrielle (who also harbours an amazing talent for graphic design) gave me the privilege of including me on her blog too.

Read this Harlem Loves interview in full on Gabrielle’s blog, The Nu Black.

What an absolute privilege! Thanks to both ladies for considering me for a mention and I do encourage you to check out their blogs in general, they’re a great read by two very talented writers.

Speaking of interviews and blog appreciation… Some of you may have noticed the absence of the Hot Blog Of The Month feature. Well the plan is to relaunch it in the new year with an interview with the chosen winner included.

So, I’m looking forward to getting to know more about the genius minds behind some of these great blogs I’ve come to follow and then being able to share that with you all.

Ooh and before I forget in case you were wondering if this was the exciting news I hinted about in my last post… it isn’t… I have something even better to announce shortly

The Announcement: Harlem Loves’ First Anniversary!!! YAY!

Harlem — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:48:00 +0000

Does time fly when you’re having fun? You betcha! I can’t believe it’s been a year already since I wrote my first post on that all-important historical event… the finale of Project Runway season 5 featuring the fab Korto Momolu.
Back in October 29, 2008 I was so excited with finally finding a space to share all the random things that add a little sparkle to my days. Today I can honestly say not much has changed in that regard. Thinking back, I have many great memories of starting this blog and all the eager anticipation that came with it, such as:

Wondering if I’d ever have people following Harlem Loves then being completely over-the-moon when the first ten of you chose to do just that. When we reached a hundred I very nearly fell off my chair.
Excitedly blogging the fact that Harlem Loves was just two weeks old.
Discovering other great blogs and bloggers it’d be ridiculous for me to even attempt to list them all. Just know that if I’m following you’re blog, it’s for a reason. There are so many characters I’ve met on here and on Twitter that have inspired me in one way or another.

Anyway I just wanted to thank you…again… for all your support and encouragement and in celebration of this wonderful milestone not only have we given the blog a bit of a makeover (what do you think?) but we have some exciting news for you too… coming very, VERY soon so watch this space *grinning excitedly*.

The Music: 702 – Star

Harlem — Thu, 15 Oct 2009 22:17:00 +0000

I was just driving home from a friend’s birthday tonight when this song came on the radio. I used to looooove this tune when it first came out, it’s just so fun and cute. Oh the memories….

702 – Star

I also have to apologise… again… as I promised I’d be back on track with daily blogging but it obviously hasn’t been the case. I’m currently doing a large piece of freelance writing for a charity which is practically inhaling all my free time.

Things will be pretty busy till December so I can’t promise daily blogging but definitely weekly updates until my schedule settles down. In the meantime I appreciate you’re patience and do still share your thoughts on my random postings. They’re always a gem to read (you’re thoughts that is, not my postings).

Speaking of December someone recently mentioned to me that there are 70 something days till Christmas! Already? I’m in total shock!

The Announcement: I’m Such A Tees…

Harlem — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 17:11:00 +0000

See what I did there… Tees instead of tease… Oh kooky clever me… though probably more kooky than clever… ummm moving on swiftly… I have exciting news!!!

Harlem Loves is proud and super, SUPER excited to launch Harlem Tees! Woo Hoo *doing a little dance and wishing you could see the ridiculous grin on my face*…

For once rather than staring green-eyed at my sister as she produces amazing design work for other people, I stared green-eyed as she produced some gorgeous designs for our new T-shirt venture.

Given Harlem Loves’ first anniversary is fast approaching (October 27 Whoop! Whoop!) I thought it time to do something exciting and voila… we have Harlem Tees.

To start with we have two designs available the The Penelope Tee and Betty Loves Biro Tee. I went a bit crazy on Polyvore and did three different looks for each (did I say I was excited?)… I hope you like!!!

View ‘Harlem Tees – Penelope Tee’ on Polyvore

View ‘Harlem Tees – Betty Loves Biro Tee’ on Polyvore

Order your tee now from Harlem Tees

In other news:

Harlem Loves is now www.harlemloves.com so please update your bookmarks

The Announcement: Not Sure What To Say…

Harlem — Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:42:00 +0000

Just wanted to let you all know there’ll be no blog posts for this week at least. My family has just experienced the loss of a loved one and I can’t seem to focus on any one thing at the moment…

We’re still in shock but remaining prayerful. I thought I’d share this with you as I’ve appreciated all your support and encouragement to date.

Thank you so very much,

H x

[image via Flickr]

The Announcement: The Birthday Countdown Begins!

Harlem — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 09:59:00 +0000

So my birthday is on August 22nd and as of today there are ten days until the big day arrives. It is the beginning of the official countdown and I’m so excited.

My family usually celebrate our birthdays for the entire month so I’ve already been enjoying some treats this August. The actual weekend of my birthday though looks like a whole lot of fun but I’ll share the details of that when it happens.

In the meantime, to coincide with the countdown I thought I’d share 10 random things about moi from one of those interview apps I did on Facebook.

1: If you were in a band what would you call it?
Trix and Stix – There’d be a lot of attitude and a lot of drums.

2: A sitcom about your life would be called…?
A spoonful of sugar – It’d be about finding something to smile about after all the crazy stuff life throws at us.

3: I’m allergic to…
People who spit in the street and Akon. Used to be allergic to Ne-yo to but then he sang ‘Closer’ and I was cured.

4: I’d describe my sense of humour as…
Easy to ignite

5: What would your superhero name be?
Whisper – Wielding much power with little effort. I’d wear a stealth suit invisible to the naked eye and undetectably silent.

6: Who would play you in the movie version of your life?
Sanaa Lathan – She’s already got the journo bit down from Brownsugar but she’d need to loosen up a bit for the part where I discovered karaoke.

7: What’s the most embarrassing song you’ve done karaoke to?
Under the Sea from Little Mermaid but only because I liked the ‘hotter under the water’ line.

8: When they write my obituary I hope they mention…
She loved much and loved well.

9: I love the scent of…
Dior Addict. It’s amaaaaaaazing and seriously addictive.

10: The older I get the more I don’t care about…
Singing badly and dancing wildly.

So now that you know me a little better I also wanted to take the oppportunity to say how tremendously blessed I feel having you guys who have choose to follow Harlem Loves and give me a huge dose of happy each time you have commented or emailed me.

I love doing these announcement posts just so I can thank you and also give a special welcome to new followers. Yep I see you guys and you’re truly appreciated!

Big Squeezy Hugs

H x

The Announcement: Happy Father’s Day!

Harlem — Sun, 21 Jun 2009 09:08:00 +0000

The Announcement: I’m Back & The Big 100!!!

Harlem — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 19:59:00 +0000

Aww you guys! All your messages were soooo lovely and it’s especially amazing to return from my break and be greeted by the landmark moment of 100 people publicly following Harlem Loves (I know there’s an additional number of secret followers too but we won’t tell)….

But here we are, a cherished 100 of you have made me the happiest girl in the world and for that you are truly valued. Anything else I say will only fall short of how I feel right now so instead I’ll let Michael Jackson do the talking because truly “you make me feel like WHOOOOOOO!”

Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop Till You Get Enough

The Harlem Loves Original Hot 100

Please do help me to mark this momentous occassion by posting a comment with your signature and sharing your blog address if you have one, you can even share a few words if you want to.

It’d be great to have all 100 of you make a comment to mark the arrival of the group I’d like to call the Harlem Loves Original Hot 100.

Much love to you all

xHx

PS: A few holiday snaps and blog posts coming soon. I have sooo much to share with you. Can’t wait!

The Announcement: Harlem Loves on Holiday

Harlem — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 07:53:00 +0000

So the not so great news is that there’ll be no post from me this week *sniffle sniffle*, but the superbly fantastically great news is that I am about to embark on an extremely overdue holiday *fan fair, applause and fireworks*.

Of course I will have to spend some time managing my blogging withdrawal symptoms but I will mostly be enjoying a very relaxing break in Wales.

In the meantime, do have a nose around through the archives, leave more of those comments I love and tell a friend.

Actually whilst I’m here can I applaud all 95 of my current followers you are truly cherished and it’s an absolute privilege to have you all sharing in this fun little blog with me. I’d give you all a great big squeezy hug if I could.

Much love to you all and I’ll see you in a little over a week.

H x

The Announcement: I’ve Been Interviewed!

Harlem — Thu, 28 May 2009 08:19:00 +0000

The lovely Melinda on the gorgeous Get Togetha Blog invited little old me to do an interview and it was a true pleasure.

I’ve been following her blog for a while myself and am a great admirer of her taste in interiors and art so watch this space… she’ll be making my Hot Blog Of The Month fairly soon.

See the Harlem Loves interview in full on her blog www.gettogethablog.com

(Melinda you’re a true star!)

The Announcement: May’s Hot Blog Of The Month

Harlem — Fri, 01 May 2009 11:07:00 +0000

And the Hot Blog Of The Month for May is…(drum rolls)… Make Fetch Happen! Wooohoo

Make Fetch Happen is always a pleasure to read. Mostly because Brigitte, the genius behind it, has superb taste, writes great commentary and is always super speedy with providing scans of the latest hot magazine covers. Be sure to check her out when you can.

The Announcement: Happy Easter Weekend

Harlem — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 16:58:00 +0000

I was just reminded of this video as the music has been used in the new Toyota car advert but I thought this cartoon for Paul Frank seemed much more Easter appropriate and completely adorable overall. Enjoy

Paul Frank: Julius and Friends – I Love You

Happy Easter Weekend!