Posts Tagged ‘Spring’

Instant Fold-away Balcony

Wednesday, April 22nd, 2009

With Spring here, and the past few days promising the (hopefully) long hot days of Summer ahead it’s surely time to think about lounging in the garden with a cold drink and some friends or maybe a just enjoying a good book in the sunshine? But what happens if you are stuck in a small flat with no garden, and the thoughtless architect has neglected a functional balcony, or one that sits on the wrong side of the building in the shade all day?

Thankfully some Dutch designers have the solution with the Bloomframe.





Shown being deployed in the video above, the Bloom Frame is basically a window that opens and folds out into a balcony. It might look and seem a bit silly, but I can’t help but feel this would give a definite futuristic look to any new buildings they were installed in as standard. The designers envisage the Bloomframe could be a particular boon to metropolitan dwellings where space is at a premium, and indeed every inhabitable inch counts.

Get Through the Working Week with P.M.A. (Positive Mental Attitude)

Tuesday, March 24th, 2009

Hi everyone

I know the weekend is well and truly over and the next one seems a mere dot in the distance but lets get positive

Its almost officially Spring and you know what that means….

No more nights as dark as the mornings! Warmer weather at last so you can start packing those winter clothes away …OK well maybe I’m getting a bit ahead of myself there!

However it’s a known fact that people are more positive in the sunnier weather than Winter. So let your hair down this week! Just because your stuck in work who’s to say you still cant have some fun. Whether it be treating yourself to a new office toy or simply sharing a comical chat with colleges.

One thing that made me giggle this weekend was the Jonathon Ross show. My (should-be future husband) Vin Diesel was on this show in his almighty deep masculine form. Jonathon Ross decided to make the star speak with helium from a balloon transforming his normal husky voice. Silly and just plain childish I know but non the less kept me chuckling for hours. Take a look for yourself here.

So I’m on a mission this week to keep positive, have a giggle every day, and I encourage everyone else to do so too!

Feel free to write in and let me know how you get on and share your antics with the rest of us.

Happy working everyone!

Spring is Sprung

Friday, April 4th, 2008

On my way to Gadgets Towers this morning I couldn’t help but notice the sun shining, the flowers shooting out from the ground, the blossom on and birds singing in the trees. Well, maybe not the birds singing over my iPod, but you get the idea. Spring appears to have finally been sprung.

Now I’m not the most green fingered individual. I personally have never seen the attraction gardening holds. Crawling around on your hands and knees in the mud pulling up what you hope are weeds and aren’t plants that you want to keep, only to do it again a couple of weeks later.

Having said that, at this time of year I do find myself thinking that it might be nice to have a bit of plant life around the place. Not high maintenance plant life, not something that’ll die if I forget to water it for a few days, and not something that will wilt or shrivel if I put it in the wrong window. Something nevertheless to demonstrate that amid all the great gadgets and technological wonders around us there are also some amazing things occurring in nature that maybe sometimes we don’t take enough time to think about because we are all too excited about the newest gizmo or technological advancement.

Of course there are plenty of ‘Easy Grow’ plant kits out there such as our own Grow It Starter Kit, and Botanicals Indoor Greenhouse Kit. However although these are easy enough to set up, for me personally I would begin to forget about them after a while and they would inevitably go the way of the Dodo as it were.

I then thought that maybe our Pet Plants might be more the thing for me. The Pet Plants are all various forms of plant that don’t require a lot of care and watering. Thinking about this a bit further I came to the conclusion that this was not ideal for me either, I can see that as the plant only needs watering every two months or so I’ll doubtless forget to water it.

Finally I stumbled upon something called the “Dinosaur Plant”, which is also known as the “Resurrection Plant”, or “Rose of Jericho”. This plant comes as what resembles a tumbleweed, but once watered it will transform within hours to a vibrant evergreen. Should you forget to water it the plant will merely shrivel into a kind of hibernation state waiting for water, perfect for those of us who lose interest in these things after a while!