Typecast

You know how the intro to a song draws you in? Or sends you spinning back to a specific time and place? Or you know just when the singing starts? As part of a bigger project I'm attempting I did a bit of crowd-sourcing and got a few of my friends to suggest their favourite intro of the 80's. This is just a rough-around-the-edges idea but I have been having a play in Audacity (a sound editing programme) and came up with this. All tracks are in chronological order which possibly doesn't work with the mixing but that's something I can reconsider. The full track listing is further down the page. The best intros of the 80s? by Nickie O'Hara on Mixcloud Full track listing ( hear it on Spotify ): Year Artist Song 1981 Queen Under Pressure 1981 Human League Don't You Want Me Baby 1982 Yazoo Don't Go 1983 The Cure Love Cats 1983 Iron Maiden Where Eagles Dare 1983 New Order Blue Monday 1983 The Smiths This Charming Man 1984 Pet Shop ...

I'm fascinated by the crafts and the cooking pins on Pinterest but know that I'll never ever be able to replicate most of them.  However, these looked fairly easy so I had a go.  I'm not going to change the world with them but at least it's keeping me out of mischief! First of all, I'm using my *mason jars as storage.  Since tackling my spare room to make it more of an office area for me, I realised I needed to tidy up my 'bits and pieces'.  Plus, storing my washi tape in a mason jar seems to make it even more pretty... When I crocheted my first hoard of granny squares I wasn't too sure what style of blanket/throw I was going for.  Then I saw that someone had edged their blanket with black yarn and this really gave more 'pop' to the colours that they had used.  You can read more about this project here .  The blanket is now residing on our spare bed. Cooking from Pinterest is a bit hit and miss - usually more of the latter....

Do you want to fill your Instagram feed with a whole scope of Britishness? I've recently been tidying up my Instagram account so that I've got a feed of inspirational and glorious pictures. Here’s some of the fantastic accounts I now follow. Let's Get British We all love a Union Jack to show patriotism, don’t we? From fashion to furniture, Lets Get British shares anything and everything that has a Union Jack over it. British Things Lots and lots of lovely pictures of London, more Union Jacks, British products, landscapes, red telephone boxes and post boxes. Cool Britannia! Leather Satchel Company Are you loving the satchel trend? Here’s a truly British company showing off what they do best… making satchels in all different shapes, sizes and colours. Waterstones, Oxford Street If you follow Waterstones, Oxford Street on Twitter then you’ll know all about their sense of humour. Who thought pictures of books could be so entertaining? Al...

I saw a random image from the 1920s today somewhere on the interwebs and I'm now thinking that we need a new photo craze for 2014.   Planking is so 2010 and Owling or Batmanning is a boring copy. Cat/Dog Bearding means you need a cat or a dog and if you already have one of these then I'm sure you've participated in Lion King-ing . Using two people and a bit of a clever angle, you can take a photograph that makes it seem that someone has been beheaded (like the Headless Horseman). So, who's up for it?  Upload your results to the comments box, tweet me your photos, tag me on Facebook or email them to me and I'll add them to this post. Image credit : the Horsemanning website

For more Silent Sunday pictures scoot on over here

My mate, Paula, is currently looking for a new job and she's willing to turn her hand to anything, as this tweet from Monday shows.  I was intrigued, as were many others. But then I mentally slapped myself and wondered why I thought this way. In a day and age where we can talk quite openly about sex and equality in that area, why do the words "sex shop" still sound so lewd? So I asked Paula to share her sex shop interview with me once she'd attended. ¨¨ °º©©º°¨¨  I'll start by making it clear that I've only been in three sex shops in my life and this was the third. When I replied to the advert they made it clear what it was for. It stated in big capital letters that the position was as a retail representative in a sex shop.  I suppose they didn't want time wasters - they wanted to lay it all on the table, so to speak.  So I applied, like I apply for every available job as they arise.  I wasn't surprised to get called for intervie...

Recently I have been tracking my sleep pattern after waking up tired. The results were a bit shocking, to say the least. Using a wearable fitness tracker I found that I was awake (or restless) more than I was asleep in a 7-hour period so it was no surprise that I was still tired when it was time to get up. I did a bit of research to see if anything helped and here are my five top tips to help get a good night's sleep . Emptying my head. I write a to-do list for the next day (and we all know how I love a good list). This is a bit of psychobabble that I probably made up but getting rid of the tasks I haven't done - even if I'm putting them off until tomorrow - means that I'm not mulling things over as I'm winding down. A bedtime routine isn't just for babies. Winding down is important. For me this means that I have to switch my laptop off a good half hour before I know I'm going to bed or I get caught up in a(nother) Twitter conversation or B...

I've been attempting to create a capsule wardrobe that I can wear with comfort but that I can add seasonal pieces to brighten it up. When I'm trying to pull together 'a look' I have a play on Polyvore where you can create outfits and home styles. Then I go off to the shop (real or online) and see if I can replicate it.  The first picture is a look I was after for a casual occasion. On the Marisota website I found these geometric print leggings  and this blue kaftan  and already have some blue loafers from Hotter Shoes .  This is a favourite type of outfit for me because it takes me away from my usual weekend uniform of jeans but still lets me be comfortable.  The second picture is more for the office.  There's a gorgeously simple yellow cami , a really affordable tailored black blazer  and some lovely yellow loafers  on the website. I already have a black and white pencil skirt in my wardrobe and a few chunky necklaces t...

We play an icebreaker game on the course I run at work.  That one where you write a famous person's name on a post-it note and stick it to someone's forehead.  They then have five questions to try and guess who they are.  Because of the nature of our clientèle (aged 16-25 and NEET*) we try to pick people who are influential, are good role models and who are currently in the media. It's harder than you think to come up with a list of names that people in this age bracket recognise, respect and admire. (*Not in Employment, Education or Training) Today I was constructing a new example vision board for use on our course (it's another element to it) and I looked at some of the phrases that I'd picked out for my "Future Goals" section.  They were all calls to action such as:  I want to make a difference My success is amazing Inspiring a new generation Break down barriers It might sound a bit contrived but it's all about the law of attracti...

Andy has been mentioned on this blog before - in the post entitled " Screw Fix ". We've been acquainted for a few years now through a web forum and he now amuses me on Facebook with old (embarrassing) photos or stories about people turning up in a light aircraft to buy a bike he sold them on eBay... Over to Andy for his music choices.  Oh, and he's managed to squeeze six in somehow! ¨°º©©º°¨¨  The Beatles - Back in the USSR   It's by no means my favourite Beatles' song, but I vividly remember my dad playing it to me as a child and telling me they were the best band ever. I took it in and spent most of my youth in my own bubble listening to everything from Buddy Holly through to Jimi Hendrix, allowing all contemporary music of the day to pass me by completely. Lenny Kravitz - Let Love Rule Then, as the 80s became the 90s Lenny appeared on the scene as if he'd been delivered by the Hot Tub Time Machine from 1968. Finally I felt like I ...

I am a bit obsessed by London, Union Jacks and my Filofax  - that goes without saying.   You only have to take a look at two of my Pinterest boards to see what I'm on about. Follow Typecast's board London Calling on Pinterest. Follow Typecast's board Manuscription on Pinterest. If you follow me on Twitter ( @nickieohara ) you will have seen me tweeting about my yearning for a London Vintage binder from Paperchase . And then I remembered that I had a bright red Filofax, a few postcards from London hidden away somewhere, some London-themed card, a London Underground pen and an souvenir keyring that I could use as a zipper charm so I set about adapting and customising what I was already using. Here are the results - and if you want to see it in more detail you can have a look at  this mini video  I made.  I'm LOVING it! What do you think?

For a stationery addict like me, National Stationery Week is the one time I can gush about all my pens, pencils, Filofaxes and notebooks and no-one bats an eyelid (or they just put up with me for a change). The National Stationery Week organisers set a theme for each day of this week so rather than write separate blog posts for each day I'll just come back and update this one each day.  So here we go... Monday - Pencil Day My two favourite pencils are both mechanical pencils. They weren't expensive but it's always handy to have one of these as you never need to carry a sharpener with you. The pink one is a Bic with a 0.7mm lead. I have a few of these languishing in my box of stationery tricks (see the video at the end of this post).  It is usually nestled in my Filofax to brighten it up. The black/silver one is from Parker and has a 0.5mm lead.  I went through a phase of using only Parker pens and still have a few nice ones. I love that they aren't expens...