Amanda Daniels

Birthday Holiday

2008-07-22T16:25:00.001+01:00

Im now back in work after being off for 6 days for my Brithday. Im now 31!

Today I went along to the Everyman for lunch, which is where I usually go for a treat. I got a Wild Rice and Chickory Salad to take out and I walked along and sat on the steps at the top of Mount Pleasant opposite Blackbure House.
The sun was shining and the two different salads were fantastic! It was a nice peaceful lunch.

On the way to the steps I walked past a lamb Banana which you can see to the left..

Getting Motivated

2007-08-20T14:57:00.000+01:00

http://www.alistapart.com/articles/stayingmotivated

Found this great little article that I found very useful and will probably go back and look at a few more times in the future.

Weight Loss

2007-08-04T19:41:00.000+01:00

Well, I made it.
I started a meal replacement program at the end of March 2007 with the intention of loosing 4 stone in 4 months. The meal replacement program was 3 shakes a day along with 4 litres of water, this includes no "real food" what so ever! No milk, chewing gum, mints, absolutely NOTHING and I will say it was the second hardest thing I have done in my life. The first hardest being giving up smoking.

The reason why I undertook this challenge is because Andy and I are getting married next year (August 2008) and I didn't want to walk down the isle feeling uncomfortable and not looking my best. I now weigh the same as I did when Andy and I got together and I must say I'm very pleased with my achievement!

I have now been on the maintenance plan for a week where I have been introducing "real food" back into my life and I will be on it for another 2 weeks. After the two weeks I will be full time eating food.

I received 12 sessions with a personal trainer of my birthday which will help me tone up and get into shape.

I would just like to say thank you to Pat (www.higginpharmacy.co.uk) for pointing me in the direction of Lipotrim and recommend it to anyone who wants to loose that extra weight they dont want.

Staying Creative

2007-06-15T12:06:00.001+01:00

http://www.graphicdefine.org/issue2/stayingcreative#comment-326

I found this article from the boagworld site and found it very interesting. As I am currently in a role where creativity and design is no longer required I had to do something about it.
I am a designer not a programmer and need to be creative.. THis article has just helped me realise what steps I need to make to staying creative and recommend that you read it if you having blocks of creatvity..

What have I been doing?

2007-05-16T16:02:00.000+01:00

Well, I have been rather busy lately!
With starting up Koogar (www.koogar.co.uk) and decorating the house and just general life I haven't really stopped!

Koogar seems to be kicking off quiet well. I have been doing a lot of work for my sisters businesses Wicked Wicker (www.wicked-wicker.co.uk) and Wicked Way (www.wicked-way.co.uk - TO BE LAUNCHED SOON), part of her Wicked Empire or (www.wicked-group.co.uk). Bless her she is working hard and putting me to the test with the work she wants me to complete. But this is what I wanted! to do more design work.
You can see some of the work I have been doing for her at: http://www.koogar.co.uk/portfolio.php. Let me know what you think..

Since being at CDL the design work has dwindled away and I have become more of a developer, which isn't a problem as I now have a new way of thinking, but what I really miss is the design process and coming up with new ideas.

I have recently bought some "ZIG KURECOLOR" markers that should help me get back into drawing and sketching. I haven't yet used them but I'm excited about getting back into the swing of things.

Soon I will be launching a proper "Amanda Daniels" (www.amandadaniels.co.uk) web site. I haven't ever really had one and have decided that as a designer I really need one, not only to challenge me to create something original but to show off who I am by trying out new code and design techniques. So keep your eye out for the new site.

www.koogar.co.uk

2007-03-01T22:45:00.000Z

I have been so busy lately its un-true.
Setting up a company is a lot harder than I thought it would be. I knew it was going to be hard but you have to be committed to work probably every night of the week to stay on top of the everyday things like reading emails and replying to them.
It might not sound like much but even just reading emails takes a lot of your time up. Once you have replied to them, then that's when you can start the work which usually takes me to midnight or even one o'clock in the morning.

Last weekend I attened the Business Startup Fair in Birmigham N.E.C. I went by myself which was a little daunting but I did it and Im really glad I went. I sat in on a lot of seminars and talked to some good companies.

What I will say is that its really exciting doing it, wondering if its going to work what else can I do to get noticed....
If you would like to take a look at my site its www.koogar.co.uk. Let me know what you think. I appreciate any feedback as long as its constructive.. ;)

Christmas/New Year and Broadband

2007-01-04T00:47:00.000Z

Well.. We have had a problem with our broadband provider in terms of they stopped supplying their users with broadband in November without any warning. We were with V21/Biscuit and one morning we had a message pop up through Internet Explorer explaining that we would not be receiving broadband from V21 any more as they had not been conducting business correctly. But you can read the full story here..

http://news.zdnet.co.uk/communications/0,1000000085,39285135,00.htm

Anyway, how are you supposed to run a web design company when you haven't got access to the Internet? That's right!, you cant. So we have been offline for a total of 1 month. We saw a great offer by Sky who we are now with which have been OK so far.

Christmas and New Year 2006/207 has been a good one and quiet one this year. Andy and I painted our new kitchen and put down the floor while we were off and it looks fantastic!
In the New Year we will be looking into getting a kitchen to put into our new area, which I'm quiet excited about. But before we do that we have decided to re-decorate the dining room so it has the same type of look as the kitchen as the rooms run into each other. The steaming of the dining room started on New Years Eve. According to Andy there's no time like the present..

So I am very sorry for not writing any blogs, but I'm now back on the Internet and have no excuse any more.

On Hold

2006-10-09T23:12:00.000+01:00

I'm sorry, but lately I haven't had time to update my blog. Everything somehow has gone on hold. Things have happened recently in work where lots of things changed at once and it made me take a step back and think who am I and what is it that I want.

I came across a great article a while ago that helped me a little and gave me a laugh when I needed one, so I recommend this for Designer/Developers of the web. Everything you wanted to know about designers

I am at the stage now where I'm still not too sure of what I want and in which direction I should go in, but what I do know is that I need to have a good hard think about how I want to progress as a designer/developer. So I promise from now on at least once a week I shall let you guys know what I have been up to, whether its about re-designing my kitchen, stripping the garden ready for winter or that I have done a good design for my portfolio..

Podcasting

2006-08-23T23:19:00.000+01:00

Well, I have discovered the greatness of podcasting!
Recently I found a site called boagworld.com which I have found quite useful, so while I was there I decided to try downloading some podcasts to my ipod mini as I haven't done this before and wanted to experience a podcast.

As it takes me an hour or so to get to work, listening while driving seems like a good idea as we are not allowed headphones in work any more, (yes I know, ridiculous!) . Any way Tuesday morning was the first time I listened to a podcast and it was surprisingly good. Its a great way of finding out opinions, what people think of certain programs and having your fears/thoughts confirmed.
I now know that I'm not the only one who feels that way about certain issues and now I wonder why I haven't done this before.. I am the only designer in my team at work which means I haven't got anyone to bounce ideas or thoughts off which is sometimes difficult.

So now, instead of wasting my precious time listening to Radio1 for a little over 12 hours a week, I can now learn something new. I'm actually looking for a good Photoshop podcast so if anyone has any suggestions or knows of any other podcasts that would interest me, please feel free to let me know which ones you are listening to..

1st LIVE website : www.perfectstudios.co.uk

2006-08-05T22:23:00.000+01:00

Just so you know, I have put my first website I have done in a while LIVE. You can view it at http://www.perfectstudios.co.uk. It was a long slog to get this web site done as it was a re-design, which I now realise take longer than creating a brand new website.
Please let me know what you think..

Sagrada Familia & Casa Batllo

2006-08-02T22:30:00.000+01:00

Well today is the day I have been waiting for, for over 10 years.
We are going to see Sagrada Familia! I really cant explain what this actually means to me, but I couldn't hold my excitement. We took the bus to our destination and got off a little too early, so we figured if we looked into the air we would be able to see the church and would be able to find our way, but we had actually lost it momentarily. Considering how big the building is we just couldn't see it, we turned the last corner and still couldn't see it.. Until we looked up! Then we wondered where it had come from.

We got into the long queue and waited our turn to get through the gates. Well what can I say, this building is breath taking and I have never in my life seen anything as beautiful. For the next 3 hours we took pictures of nearly everything we saw. We decided to get the lift up as the stairs were closed due to the amount of tourists and the view was fantastic!

Once we had finished the tour of Sagrada Familia we where hungry and needed a small something to tide us over till we got back into town. On the same road was a McDonald's, so we went in and got some burgers to take out. We sat on the bench outside to eat and if I was told over ten years ago that I would be sat outside the Sagrada Familia eating a Maci D's on a bench I would have never believed you!

We got on a train to take us back to La Rambla which would take us to our next destination, Casa Batllo. Now this building inside and outside was as good, even better than what I saw in the books at college all those years ago.. Taking the tour of this building topped off our holiday.. Fantastic! If your into art and architecture, I suggest you go to Barcelona and see as much as you possibly can. The last two days have been amazing!

I can say that this holiday reminded me about being in college, being into art and art history, creating lithoprints and how wrong they went but also how great they went when you got it right. This holiday has brought back that passion I had when I was in college as a young artist/designer. I love it so much! I need to design and be creative because if I don't and am not there is no point in being me...

Girona & Dali Museum

2006-08-01T23:45:00.000+01:00

Today we had to be up early to get on our coach to Dali's city, Figueres. So we got up at 6:00am to make sure we where there for 8:00am in Placa de Catalunya which is at the top of La Rambla.

Our first stop was at Girona where we had a walking tour which lasted 1 and a 1/2 hours, after it we had 2 hours free time, so we decided to go and see the Museu de Cinema which was really good. By the time we walked round the museum it was time to get back to the coach for the second leg of our day trip.

It took another hour on the coach to get to Figueres which is where Dali was born. Andy had a little sleep while I watched the country side go by.
We arrived at the car park just behind the Dali museum and all you could see were gold figures which looked like they were waving or dancing almost. Once we got nearer to the museum you could see the red castle part of the museum with the eggs lining the top of the turret. Fantastic! By this point Andy had already taken 8 photos as Dali is Andy's favorite artist.
On entry to the museum you were greeted by a large naked brass woman standing on top of a black Cadillac, and one of his famous paintings was behind it and it was enormous!

The whole gallery was very different to an normal gallery, parts of it where not what you expected them to be. For some reason you were only allowed to stay in the gallery for 2 hours and 15 minutes, I don't know how they monitor that but we left after 2 and a bit hours to visit the Dali jewellery museum which was equally fantastic. We didn't have enough time to have a good look round as we needed to get back to the coach. This was another great day had in Barcelona!

Once we got home we went in search for tapas. I remembered a flyer handed to us earlier in the week so we went there. Its a restaurant called "Sinatra" and the food was fantastic! So if you ever go to Barcelona you need to go to find this restaurant for some GOOD food..

Miro Museum

2006-07-31T22:51:00.000+01:00

Today we went to see the Miro Museum, which is on the other side of town, the side we haven't yet been to. We went to the information desk at the top of La Rambla to ask which bus to take and they advised that it was best to get on a train, so we did. Once we got to our first stop we had to get a bus to get to our final destination. The girl at the information desk there was very helpful and pointed us in the right direction.

We got onto bus #50 and carried onto our destination and the museum was closed! I was not impressed at all! And proceeded to get adjitated. Both people at the information desk told us where to go and we successfully arrived at our destination but you would have thought they would know when the museums where open. They are NOT open on Mondays.

Not a good day really, not impressed with Spanish customers services. As the rest of our days in Barcelona, they are planned and filled with the things we haven't yet seen, which means we wont be able to go back to see the Miro museum. It isn't the most important things on our list of things to see but since we where in the area of Spain it was a great opportunity to see something you wouldn't be able to see everyday.

So we went home and walked round the area in the city centre looking in the shops we hadn't seen before and we had an ice cream. We got to the end of La Rambla and Andy bought some tickets to go into the wax museum, which was horrible. All the way round I was convinced that one of them was going to move and touch me..

Parc Guell and Casa Mila

2006-07-30T20:32:00.000+01:00

Today we went to Parc Guell. A park made by Antonio Gaudi for Eusebi Guell. I have actually dreampt about seeing this park. As I have said previously Gaudi was my main influence in college so I have only ever seen his work on TV or paper.
We got bus #30 to our destination and we walked around the park taking lots of pictures of all of Gaudi's work, we then turned a corner after following a path and at the end where the two little cottages with the tiled roofs. Fantastic! Couldn't believe what I was seeing! After all the years of studying his work I was now stood inside it. I cannot put into words how I felt while walking around the park, so I wont..

We got back to the bus stop to go onto our next destination, Casa Mila. Again I was stood outside the building and I couldn't believe I was there! We got some tickets to go inside to see more of his work and to get onto the roof. Some building/restoration work was going on, so we couldn't see inside the building from the roof top.

On our way back towards home we found Casa Batllo, which in my opinion is one of Gaudi's best buildings EVER! But we had a long day and where hungry, so we walked back into town in search of pizza, which tasted great by the way.

Today has been the best so of our holiday so far. Made my dreams come true..

Zoo de Barcelona

2006-07-27T20:11:00.000+01:00

This morning we looked through the books we had brought with us and decided to go to the zoo, which we walked to, following our little map. We arrived and it seemed to be an OK looking zoo. We walked around it for the next 2 hours to see all the animals. A few of them had a little hair loss and some looked board but they are common traits of a zoo. They had dolphins in a big tank, 4 adults and 2 babies and next door they had a little show which two of the adult dolphins did tricks to amuse the audience.

They also had a gorilla enclosure which seemed to have wood over parts of the glass and the seats in front of the glass were cornered off, you couldn't sit down to watch these animals play. We noticed a large silver back running towards other gorillas telling them who was boss and at that point noticed that the glass was broken, which looked like the silver back runs at the glass if people get too close. On most of the enclosures it had a sticker saying NO FLASH, but most of the people visiting the zoo that day either couldn't read or just ignored the signs. Just so you know, Barcelona Zoo was the home of the Albino Gorilla called "Snowflake", who died from skin cancer in 2003.

Once we had finished our little tour of the zoo, we carried onto see the Arch de Triumph and took some more photographs. Today is over cast and started spitting but as it was so hot we were not bothered.

Barcelona

2006-07-26T17:51:00.000+01:00

We left for our holiday at 4:00am from our house to get our plane at John Lennon airport in Liverpool. I was quite excited as Antonio Gaudi was one of my main influences in school and college. I couldn't believe that I was actually going to see the work that I re-created and studied for most of my education years.
The flight was good and we arrived at Barcelona airport where we had to ring Salem who we had to meet at the apartment so he could explain where everything was and give us a set of keys. The apartment was ok, the bed was raised in the air and you could only enter it by climbing six stairs which lent against the wall. It's quite hard to explain about the bed but basically it was a very compact apartment. Most rooms were very small but just enough for us for the next week and a half.
Over the next couple of days we took it slow and just walked round to find out where everything was that we needed and to just have a look around.

Updating One's Self

2006-07-17T18:27:00.000+01:00

This seems to be a lot harder than I thought it was going to be..
There is so much I want to learn about but just don't know where to start. So I wrote a list of all the stuff I wanted to learn about and the list became huge! I realised I needed to worked out what was most important to me as a Designer. I also realised that to keep updated you need to read those magazines that you buy (don't just leave them on the side and get to them when you have time, make time!) and the newsletters that you subscribe to as these help a lot. You don't have to read everything, just the things that are relevant to you and what you want to do.

I also found an article that helped me along with my decision.
Basically the article told me that I shouldn't become OK at everything, but become the best at a few things. If you take everything on board your not going to be able to give enough time to it to become any good at it.

So I have chosen three main things that I want to excel in. They are: Accessibility/Usability, Design/Photoshop, CSS. But I realise that I also need to start learning a new language. PHP is appealing and there are a few tutorials in these magazines that I buy so when I have a minute I'm going to have a go at some of these tutorials and see where it takes me..
Wish me luck and let me know what you think of PHP if you use it..

No Time

2006-07-12T18:03:00.000+01:00

I'm really sorry! Lately I have had no time to do anything on my own sites. I have been doing some good stuff, so I shall let you know what I have been doing over the next few days as people keep saying to me why haven't you updated! So below this post, I will now inflict my last months worth of life on you and have a read about what you guys have been up to..

Red Hot Chilli Peppers

2006-07-11T07:09:00.000+01:00

Tuesday 11th July 2006
Manchester M.E.N

Red Hot Chilli Peppers : Stadium Arcadium Tour

Met Angela and Pat again in Manchester City Centre where we had a subway for our tea before we went in to see the Chilli's. Angela and Pat bought me a ticket for my birthday which was very nice of them! Thank you..

I have been waiting to see these guys for the last ten years and now I finally get to see them. Some people say they are not good live or have a bad attitude when they are on stage, but this gig was BOSS! and the rocked! They played the majority of their new album which is really good and the final song was "Give It Away". Over all they where a.m.a.z.i.n.g!! and I will definitely go to see them again and would recommend anyone to go and see them.

We had a great time! And got the T-Shirt..

Engagement Party

2006-07-01T02:16:00.000+01:00

Our engagement party was held at our house in the garden as well as in the front room for the football match. It went well I think. I was too busy running round making sure everyone else was ok. During the day I think I had 1 glass of wine and a spoon full of spinach and pine nut pasta, but that's what happens when you have these things at your house. I was still cooking up to 2:00pm in the afternoon and guests started arriving at 3:00pm so they could save their place in the front room to watch the match.

When I went to pick my sister up she had a big surprise waiting in the kitchen for me. The surprise was my Mum who had arrived from Corfu the night before to make sure she was here on our special day! There were a few tears all round but it made my day and I'm so pleased that she came.

We got some good photographs and the little guest book was signed by most of the people who came, so all in all I think it was a success. We ate the left overs for the next few days which was good because I had been cooking for the last two days and didn't really want to do any more cooking for a while. I took some food into work for my team who seemed to enjoy the cheese and pineapple sticks and the engagement cake.

So I would just like to say a big "Thank You!" to everybody who helped out, the people who was able to make it and for the presents we received.

Accessibility and PAS78

2006-06-26T18:14:00.000+01:00

My god! Where are you supposed to start? There is sooo much information on this subject that you could just get lost in printing off all the documents you should read about it.

I have started to read the PAS 78 document to begin with and I'm glad I started with that (Thanks Degsy..) because it has cleared a lot of things up for me. Throughout the document it refers to other documents that have more information or are specifications that have been written by the W3c. So once I have finished the PAS78 I am going to start on the W3C documents and see which way they are going to take me.

My problem is that I get overwhelmed with the amount of information that is available and am not sure where to start looking or which document should be read first. I'm also not too confident in the new world of technology as I haven't kept myself updated which I am trying to remedy by learning about Accessibility. I have learned a lot just by reading this document and would recommend it to anyone as it has given me ideas and pointed me in the right direction for the web sites I create in work and at home.

Black Eyed Peas

2006-06-14T18:26:00.000+01:00

Tuesday 14th June 2006
Manchester M.E.N

Black Eyed Peas : Monkey Business Tour

Me, my sister and Pat went to see the B.E.P's with the Pussy Cat Dolls as support. I met up with them after leaving work early in Manchester city centre and we went to a restaurant for something to eat before we went to the gig. The food was fantastic!

When we walked in the Pussy Cat Dolls had already started but they where a lot better than I thought they would be. The lead singer was really good, but the Black Eyed Peas where amazing! At first the sound was a little off, we couldn't hear them very well but the sound people sorted that out straight away and they sounded amazing!
Taboo is my favorite out of all of them but I was pleasantly surprised by Will-I-Am too. Even though it was a good gig I don't think I will go and see them again, not too sure if it was the screaming kids that put me off..

All work and no play

2006-06-07T07:03:00.000+01:00

Working 60 miles away from home has some disadvantages. As a developer, if you want to run your own business in your own time the last thing you want to do when you get home is sit on your computer for another 2-3 hours. But when needs must! I just need some more hours in the day, I'm not asking for much.. I have all these great ideas and things that I would like to do.. I will get round to doing them all, but do you know what I mean?
At the moment I'm currently working on setting up my own business as a Graphics and Web Design/Development Company, working through what I need to do, who to speak to, what I will need to start the business. Its actually quite a lot of work that needs to be done in preparation for your business and its a new learning curve, which is quite exciting..

Special News!

2006-06-03T06:57:00.000+01:00

Right! For some reason its taking me ages to update my blog, so I now have time to tell you the special news I had before I went away. Andy and I are now engaged!
It happened on Friday 19th May 2006, just before I went on holiday to Corfu. It was a big surprise that I didn't expect.. So there you go.. We will be having a BBQ at our house to celebrate on Saturday July 1st..

Corfu : Day Five

2006-05-24T22:31:00.000+01:00

Today we booked ourselves onto a day trip. A cruise that will take us to Parga and Paxos. Parga is mainland Greece and Paxos is a small island off the south coast of Corfu.
Well, we went on the cruise thinking that it was going to be an hour and a half max to the islands but we were sooooo wrong. The trip ended up taking 4hrs to get to the first island, where the only thing to do was to get on a coach for an hour to see around the island. Great! we thought, more traveling.
We then got on the boat again for another hour to the main land and it was a nightmare. While on this boat full of old aged Germans we were constantly being starred at.. Anyway, we got to the second island and the only thing to do was to sit on the beach, which we did for half an hour before we started burning to a crisp. So we went and had a drink in the shade, then got on the boat early to get a good seat to start the 3-4 hour journey back.

While on this long and most boring day trip I decided I'm going to start up my own business. More information on this will come soon.. It was an awful day! so we recommend if you do book that particular day trip, make sure you take a book or something..