I’m a little lost right now, but will have some time to write again soon. There has been a lot of heavy stuff going on in my life right now, you can probably tell by my distinct lack of blogging, tweeting and facebooking. When things get really tough for me I tend to pull away, even from blogging which is an outlet for me.

I’ll be back. Please stick around.

-G

You’ve probably noticed that I haven’t been around much lately.

For good reason!

I am busier than I think I have ever been in my life before, and I’m grappling with a lot of change at the same time. All this adjustment I have to go through is very draining. At the end of the day I just want to go home and go to bed, so blogging has been swept to the side for the time being.

It’s a difficult yet transformative time for me right now. I am playing so many roles and dealing with so many things right now

• trying to do the job of 4 people at work & trying to work with a new boss that I’m not totally sure about
• while simultaneously trying to get a promotion or raise or something that will keep me motivated as I continue to question whether I am really doing the right thing in my life
• supporting 2 separate (yet joined!) friends as they struggle with issues ranging from marital discord to alcoholism and my odd feelings of being left out as they dash full speed ahead into a new friendship
• finding a new roommate now that my old one has given notice (mega stress! I’m really doing well with the applications considering it has only been 2 weeks, but I hate the instability!)
• dealing with the re-emergence of low-grade depression where everything I once loved I now have no interest in
• Feeling generally fatter than normal
• breaking in a new cat while trying not to feel as if I have passed over my other two cats I left with my parents

You see? There is a ton going on that I’m trying my best to deal with right now. I guess I should be thankful at this point that I don’t have a boyfriend, right?

While blogging has always been therapeutic for me (and still is) I just haven’t been able to bring myself to post anything earth-shattering (or slightly amusing!) in a while. Sorry.

To make up for my absence I offer you pictures of my new cat, Sheba (The Queen of):

Looking regal, as always

Pfft! No more photos! It's time for my nap!

Guess what guys?

It’s my birthday!

And my blog’s birthday!

2 years blogging already… can you believe it?  That’s like old-geezer age in teh intrawebs world.

Here’s to at least 2 more! LOL

It seems that when it rains, it pours! Yesterday I was able to attend two interesting events and walk away with quite the haul!

It was really nice to get out & about and be appreciated in a material way! I know I have written before about the parties and swag that come with my career path–but since the recession it has been terrible! Our salaries are frozen and vendor budgets are being cut, which means that parties, gifts and 4-hour “lunches” are scarce. It’s particularly bad for me because what I work on is kind of boring, and for some reason I get overlooked for a lot of freebies Sadness.

Anyway, yesterday the planets aligned: I went to an exclusive preview of the new Converse Spring 2010 footwear lineup (thanks to my blogging efforts), had a half-day vacation and was miraculously gifted (thanks to my job) with a ticket to one of the most-anticipated (and exclusive!) events of the year: Flare Magazine’s 30th anniversary party. There’s a lot to write about so I’m going to split this into two posts so you don’t get bored!

Let’s start with the Converse event.

Converse Spring 2010 Preview

I’ve had the luck of being discovered by a great PR professional. She invited me to an exclusive media preview of the new Converse lines for the spring. I’m pretty sure everyone knows the famous Chuck Taylor All Stars: classic chunky

white rims, the original high-tops, grommet lacing… if you don’t know what I’m talking about, check it out here!

Well, Converse is famous for the Chucks, but that’s not all they do! They’re quite innovative and plugged-in to the fashion and music scenes, and it is reflected in the designs and styles of their footwear. Everything is easily identifiable as a Converse shoe… but there are some pretty new & modern designs now, too.

I was introduced to some really sleek & clean modernized styles that played on the original design as well as other choices that paid homage to classic rock & punk bands of the ’70′s & ’80′s, pop-art culture, and even a revival of 80′s neon! (Should I be scared?)

I’ve got to say I never realized that Converse sneakers could be so fashionably diverse. The rep that was taking me around was trying to sell me on a new version for the ladies: a boot. It just looks like a giant hi-top that goes up to below your knee. Personally I think they’re ugly, but maybe you won’t? They’re available in the US already, but won’t make it to Canada until January.

The collection I personally liked the most were probably what some would consider the most boring. They’re kind of a slim, feminine style in muted colours. They have an ultra-low profile and sport clean lines and just look flirty and fun.

Suitably, they’re called Chuck Taylor “Lights”.

What a cute little flat!

Anyway, enough about the shoes!

It was really fun to check out all the shoes. Obviously I love shoes. I have a bit of a problem with them (they’re taking over my bedroom!) and occasionally indulge in shoe porn. While I prefer the look of the sleek & sophisticated pump, there’s something to be said about having a good, comfy stylish casual shoe. I think the All Stars fit the bill pretty well.

Right right… I was going to stop talking about shoes, wasn’t I? Oops.

So I had my little tour around the “shoe gallery” and learned all kinds of things about Converse that I never would have known. For  me, personally I like the feeling that I was somebody “important”, I got a rep all to myself and had a great conversation about blogging, media in general and what I thought about the shoes. You all know I love sharing my opinion! Otherwise why would I be a blogger? LOL

I feel as though I may have finally “arrived” and like I am now REAL media. Like a newspaper! This feeling was reinforced when I noticed that there was a camera crew from CityTV covering the event as well. Very cool! I’m totally confident in who I am as a blogger, but I really felt like I was validated and legitimized by this event.

Anyway, I know you all want to see what I got! And of course I got photos The lovely people at Converse were kind enough to provide me with my very own (and first!) pair of Chuck Taylor Lights!

…the best part? They ended up being the colour & style I liked the most! AND they matched my dress! w00t!

They threw in a few other goodies too, like a t-shirt, USB stick and a nifty pair of headphones. Check it out:

Shoe Swag!

So that was my experience in a nut shell! It certainly reminded me of when I was a kid and all the cool kids had a pair of these…

Did you ever have a pair of Chucks? What kind of memories of them do you have?

PS. All the shoes featured will be available in-store around February 2010. If you want a pair for yourself & you’re in the GTA, be sure to check out Get Outside on Queen. They have the most awesomesauce collection. (Or, give me your support by commenting and maybe I can wrangle a pair for a giveaway!)

Woohoo! I think I found a layout I finally like… at least enough for me to keep it around for a while!

What do you guys think?

Personally I like the colour scheme (the orange reflects the chipper side of my personality! lol) and that it is clean and simple. I want something minimal, but still with some pizazz. Something that was sort of Ginger-like.

I’m still struggling a little bit with that first dark grey sidebar there…none of my widget titles are showing up because the colour for the text and the bg are the same. I’ve scoured the CSS file but no luck figuring out which hex codes I need to change :S Man, it has been a LONG TIME since I did any webdesign. Looking at this stuff I am just blown away…

To put it in perspective, I was just getting out of webdesign when PHP was just starting to make a big splash. I remember when tables, CSS and XHTML were the hot shit. Now I don’t even know what happened to XHTML or DHTML.

Anyway, another rant for another day I guess. I’m just happy to be back and ready to rock.

And I’ll tease you once again: I’ve got a contest coming up! I just got photos of the prizes and I am jealous! Hang tight!

This week I’ve received two emails of a dubious nature, both wanting to do a “link exchange” with me on my site.

I know it’s a scam. They’re not fooling anyone.

How do I know this? Well check out one of the emails below that I just received this morning:

Its Not a Spam.

—————————-

Well now, despite the mention that “Its Not a Spam” at the bottom, it totally is.

Let me point out the giant FAIL in this email:

• It was sent at an ungodly hour in the morning
• I, a FEMALE named Ginger am addressed by Sir/Admin. Duh, anyone that actually visited the site knows that I am female.
• She wants to do a link exchange but doesn’t provide a link to her site!
• My site is not informative and valuable. Second way to tell they never even visited the site
• Random &trust in there… coupled with crappy English & composition tells me this person is not a native English speaker, and is most likely a foreign scammer. Stereotyping? Yes. But I’m also right.
• Also see: Random Capitalization Of Words
• They assume right off the bat that we will become partners and start a deal. A deal?! Doing what? You never even included your link!
• The whole email reads like it was stolen from a “blogging 101″ post from somewhere and made to sound as if someone actually wrote it. It makes me giggle.

I suppose I could go on and on about this email and the other one I got, but it’s just too much work. I’m sure all bloggers get crap like this from time to time.

My beef is that these people are just fishing for links. If someone approaches me for a genuine link exchange, I’m totally happy to consider it. But it has to be a good fit and a real person writing to me.

I’ll bet dear old Shelly Brown is a real person… but managed to get her gmail account hacked.

So have you received any ridiculous emails like this lately? Emails that don’t include the link for link exchanges, or that want you to “promote” some retarded product that don’t have any benefit for you? Share your funny scammer email stories with us in the comments!

Awww yeahhh, let’s get it ON!

Ahahahahaha! I wish! This single gal has no one to enjoy this prize with, so I’m giving it away!

Have a sexy, sultry summer with a titillating prize pack from K-Y Brand featuring the INTENSE arousal gel and YOURS+MINE lubes. Ooh la la!

Here’s some info on the INTENSE arousal gel for those who are interested:

• K-Y® INTENSE™ Arousal Gel for Her is not a lubricant, but a uniquely formulated arousal gel that has women saying “it makes sex more satisfying”
• 75 percent of women who used K-Y® INTENSE™ Arousal Gel for Her experienced feelings of heightened arousal, sexual pleasure and sensitivity
• K-Y ®INTENSE™ Arousal Gel for Her is safe to use with latex condoms and other personal lubricant products. It is the first intimacy enhancement product from K-Y® BRAND to go beyond lubricants and massage
• Product comes in a sleek, easy-to-use black bottle that can be discreetly stored away in a silky, drawstring Hideaway pouch

And let’s not forget the YOURS+MINE lubes:

• YOURS+MINE is the first and only couples lubricant on the market
• It offers two unique sensations – one for him (blue) and one for her (purple) – that combine to create an exciting reaction
• Expose the YOURS+MINE bottle to light during the day and the words will glow making “yours” and “mine” easy to find in the dark
• Like all K-Y Brand products, YOURS+MINE is safe to use with latex condoms

More information on K-Y Brand stuff can be found on their website: www.traveltocloud10.ca

This is a totally awesome prize that is worth over $100 and includes the following:

• INTENSE arousal gel
• YOURS+MINE personal lubricants
• Godiva Chocolates
• His & Hers terry bath robes
• A copy of My Messy Bedroom; by Canadian intimacy expert Josey Vogels (click here
  to order your own copy and give me a kickback from Amazon!)

If you are a resident of Canada and would like to win this sexy prize pack, see below for the deets!

The winner of this giveaway will receive the aforementioned K-Y prize pack worth over $100.

The entry rules are the same as last week. Please remember to leave a comment for each individual task you completed–those are your entries! (if you only leave one comment, even if it has your tweet, post & comment, you will only get 1 entry!)

There are a maximum of four (4) entries you can receive. For each of the below methods, please leave a separate comment with proof and your email (with spaces so the spiders can’t read it is fine). I will be selecting the winner using random.org.

• 1 Entry: Make a post on your blog about the relaunch of GWS, and/or the celebration prizes I am giving away all month. Leave a URL to your post in your comment.
• 1 Entry: Subscribe to my RSS feed & leave a comment saying you did so (please be honest!)
• 1 Entry: Tweet about my blog relaunch and/or celebration prizes, please list the URL of the Tweet in the comments, and/or @gingercorsair me in it.
• 1 Entry: Leave a comment about something sexy! Anything, really!

Winners will be announced on Wednesday, July 29th.

I’m heading down to South-Western Ontario for a Festival which involves camping… wish me luck!

I’ll be gone from today to Sunday with no internet, and I’ve been too busy to schedule any suitable posts, so I’m afraid there will be no posting til Sunday at the earliest. Sorry!

I’m looking forward to camping but am a little apprehensive… it’s been ages since I’ve done it, and never on my own! I won’t know a lot of people at the festival so I’m a little scared…

I know that I will make friends easily and have a good time, but I’ve still got butterflies! Silly, I know.

Anyway, I’ll report back on where I went and what happened when I get home again!

Til then, please remember that I am still taking entries for both July giveaways right now. You can win yourself an Amazon gift certificate, or a dozen gorgeous custom cupcakes!

See you soon!

It’s that time again!

Time for me to tell you about the next prize up for grabs and to open entries! Remember, you can still enter to win all the previous prizes until July 29th!

This week I am giving away something absolutely beautiful, and duhlicious to boot! Madalina from Duh-Licious is an amazing gal I met at a blogger event a few months ago. She is an incredible baker and makes wonderful custom cupcakes for all occasions! You can check out some of her creations here.

Madalina has supplied me with a gift certificate for one dozen cupcakes to give away; that’s a $40 value! I’m so excited to give this away, it coincides with my half-birthday which is SO much better than my real birthday! Yay for July!

Now, one thing I do have to mention is that: This contest is only open to people residing in the GTA. If you are not part of the Greater Toronto Area, unfortunately you cannot win this prize. The reason comes down to transportation: Madalina is located in Toronto, so the prize must go to a local for pickup.

Now that that is out of the way… let me just say I am SO jealous of the winner! I mean, look at these fantastic cupcakes, they’re veritable works of art! It was tough trying to decide which photos to include in this post because there are so many fantastic examples. I’m drooling as I type this. Apparently Madalina even enters competitions and goes to conventions. 1) There are conventions?!?!? 2) WHERE!?!?!? 3) Nom nom nom nom nom

Anyway, onto the deets…

The entry rules are the same as last week. Please remember to leave a comment for each individual task you completed–those are your entries!

There are a maximum of four (4) entries you can receive. For each of the below methods, please leave a separate comment with proof and your email (with spaces so the spiders can’t read it is fine). I will be selecting the winner using random.org.

• 1 Entry: Make a post on your blog about the relaunch of GWS, and/or the celebration prizes I am giving away all month. Leave a URL to your post in your comment.
• 1 Entry: Subscribe to my RSS feed & leave a comment saying you did so (please be honest!)
• 1 Entry: Tweet about my blog relaunch and/or celebration prizes, please list the URL of the Tweet in the comments, and/or @gingercorsair me in it.
• 1 Entry: Leave a comment telling me about the best cupcake you ever had!

Winners will be announced on Wednesday, July 29th.

This coming weekend is July the 4th, Independence Day for the United States. Most Canadians don’t celebrate this holiday, but I am not most Canadians.

I’m actually half ‘n half; I have Canadian citizenship by birthright, and American citizenship by bloodright. Growing up it was a mix of the two cultures. My dad’s side is really Canadian, whereas my mom’s side is really American. I’ve got some great traditions and also some weird quirks from both sides.

I alternate between saying “zed” and “zee” all the time, and somehow the terms “y’all” and “eh?” work themselves into my speech quite often! I feel at home in both countries and have family in both countries.

Today, (Canada Day) I’ll be celebrating at a BBQ with a good friend. This weekend I’ll be celebrating Independence day with all my American-blooded family with another good old BBQ and family games.

In honour of these occasions, I wanted to be able to offer a prize opportunity to both my Canadian and American readers. (Yes my American friends, I know you get shafted a lot in terms of prizes on here, sorry! Hope this makes it up to ya!)

To that end, I’ve chosen an Amazon gift certificate to give-away; I love love LOVE reading and am on Amazon all the time, so it seemed like a good idea to share something with you that I love.
This is actually the only prize that I am paying for out of pocket, I hope whoever wins it enjoys reading as much as I do!

The winner of this prize will receive either a $10 USD or $15 CAD online gift certificate to Amazon.com or .ca.

There are a maximum of four (4) entries you can receive. For each of the below methods, please leave a separate comment with proof and your email (with spaces so the spiders can’t read it is fine). I will be selecting the winner using random.org.

• 1 Entry: Make a post on your blog about the relaunch of GWS, and/or the celebration prizes I am giving away all month. Leave a URL to your post in your comment.
• 1 Entry: Subscribe to my RSS feed & leave a comment saying you did so (please be honest!)
• 1 Entry: Tweet about my blog relaunch and/or celebration prizes, please list the URL of the Tweet in the comments, and/or @gingercorsair me in it.
• 1 Entry: Leave a comment telling me whether you’re Canadian or American and what you love about your country!

Winners will be announced on Wednesday, July 28th.

GOOD LUCK!