I guess I can count myself as the lucky few that was given a rare opportunity to start my own business. With an entrepreneur blood, it was a natural career path for me. Of all my business enterprises, Nuffnang has been above all my favourite. Growing it from me to now a team of 7 has been a gratifying experience. But above all else is the family culture we have here in the office.

My friends often talk about their daily grinds at work whilst I’m proud to say for me, Nuffnang is like my second family. I’m the Papa Smurf in this little blue Nuffnang office village! And I thought I’d share my Top 5 favourites…

1. Kruppy – “Ooh, I haven’t had brown cheese before!” … Someone – “It’s quince Kruppy”

2. Our very own sign on our office! Believe it or not, it took us 2+ years before we eventually got a sign on our office… felt like a real achievement!

3. The fun we have! V our OH&S in a box is one example of many!

4. Holly for introducing us to the Black friend… it mysteriously appears in different parts of the office.

5. Of all.. the journey I’ve had with each and everyone one of the team here. Thanks to Kruppy, Lynda, V, Holly, Tim & Jess for making this place so special!

Check out the album of all the old photos I could quickly gather… :)

Last night I was at a friend’s house for dinner and I still didn’t know what to write for this post and I was freaking out a little bit…seriously just a little bit. I asked my friends for their opinions and one of them said Melbourne. Melbourne is such an amazing city and although it can get so cold in winter that nothing motivates you, the summer time is just so great that nothing can beat it, maybe apart from being on a Greek Island with a gorgeous man that wants to buy you everything!

In summer time Melbourne opens up all its doors and there is so much to do, I definitely do not use this to my advantage and really never go exploring – but not many people do in their own city.

Melbourne Beaches

We really do have nice beaches. People who like to play in the waves and who like to surf would think otherwise but I am so happy with our no waves, calm water! Ever summer it is such a treat to jump into that water, go on jet ski’s and go out into the middle of the bay on the boat and not have to worry about big waves coming to get me!

This photo is taken of the Beach Boxes in Brighton, one of my friends has a box and it really is the best thing you can have on a beach. There are tables and chairs, kayaks, fridge and the most important thing on a hot day…shade! We have had so many nights sitting outside her beach box, listening to music and having some drinks!

Australian Open

These couple of weeks the Australian Open is one is always fun! I love going to watch some tennis. I usually go with friends, we sometimes have centre court tickets but sometimes we like to just walk around and potter in and out of courts. It is usually such hot days when the Aus Open is on that we always have a few drinks and really make a day of it, If you are ever in Melbourne when this is on… get down there, tickets for general are not expensive – around $20 – $30. Dates for the Aus Open is always in Jan but the start date varies.

St Kilda

St Kilda is right on the beach and in the middle of it all. In summer time this place is heaving with people and for good reason. The bars and restaurants that St Kilda boasts are definitely something worth checking out. There are amazing bars that stay out in the sun until the last rays goes down, the atmosphere is just incredible and you are always up for a fantastic night if you are with all your friends!

Melbourne Fringe Festival

Unique, intriguing, exciting and enticing. Melbourne Fringe is guaranteed to deliver the newest and most inspiration art in the country. The Melbourne Fringe Festival boasts hundreds of shows in venues across Melbourne from late September until around mid October. As I said before I really don’t utilise what Melbourne has to over as I have never been to one show or ever really thought about it. Some of my friends are big fans and even this week one of my friends is going to see 3 shows! I really recommend going to a show and maybe you will see me next year trying it out for the first time!

I could go on forever about things to do in Melbourne  – maybe my next post could be Melbourne Part 2!! I hope if you live here that you try out new things to do whenever you can and I hope when ever you are visiting us, get out there and explore because there is so much more than just fed square! Ha!

What is your favourite thing about your city in the Summer time?

Peace xx Holly

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A happy and productive office is a wonderful thing. It takes a number of things to come together to get the right balance that sees employees happy at work and enjoying what they do. An open environment, a bit of music (always a touchy point but all important!), fun people and remembering to have a good laugh yourself all help in making your work place somewhere you enjoy rocking up to each day.

After 5 weeks at Nuffnang I’ve realised that our office has all of the above and is one of best environments I’ve had a chance to work in.  It’s the little things that make it such an awesome place. Like the little pranks we’re always playing on one another. In particular how a little office friend keeps making his way into people’s bags and in drawers.

Our little mate is from Bali, black, made of wood and opens bottles. If you’ve been to Bali before you would have seen them sold everywhere and know exactly what I’m talking about. Unfortunately I can’t put a picture of our little friend up (we’ll lose our G rating), however hiding him in our colleagues’ bags, drawers, chairs, laptops, jumpers or under their dog, never gets tiring! (yes we have dogs in the office sometimes).

The office prank never seems to get tired, and as long as they’re creative enough without causing anyone harm or offence I think the office prank is a brilliant icebreaker to the day to day of office life.

We’ve all been a victim of the office prank at one stage or another. A friend of mine recently returned to work after 4 weeks in Europe to find his desk completely covered in K-Mart catalogues.

His drawers got a nice work out to, being filled with several weeks’ worth of disposable coffee cups. Yuk!

He fared slightly better than the infamous ‘Al-foil Office’ which has been seen in many forms.

Some of the best efforts I’ve seen before or found are below:

The best prank IMHO however, has to be seen to be believed. The perpetrators named if the ‘Meditation Wine Bar Cubicle Prank’. Have a look and judge for yourself. Guessing the guys at this office have a bit of time up their sleeves

What’s the best office prank you’ve encountered or seen online? Have you been behind or the victim of a great office prank? Let us know in comments below.

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 Hi my name is Lynda and I’ll be your guide,
Please fasten your seat belts to begin your joy ride.
We’re going back in time, to when shoulder pads were cool,
And big hair and perms made all the boys drool.

Please sit back and relax, but before we leave,
See that photo above? Yeah the one that made you heave.
That is my Nuffnang family, and although it may not seem,
We were once very cute with faces that didn’t make you scream…

First stop, ’82, where Marvin Gaye’s Sexual Healing sent the ladies wild,
Little did the world know, so would the birth of this one child.
With a full head of golden curls, cheeky smile and blue eyes,
I present to you baby Kruppy, what a cute little guy!

 Fast forward to ’85 where Ms. Houston ruled the charts,
And baby Tim has cuteness down to a fine art.
With shaggy hair you just want to scruff up and pinch-able cheeks,
His baby photos will leave you awww’ing for weeks…

Berlin’s Take My Breathe Away perfectly encapsulates the year of ’86,
Other babies proved no competition for this one little chick.
Angelic-like behaviour and a crown on Lynda’s head,
“The cutest baby ever,” I believe the doctor said…

Onto ’88 we go with Bette’s The Wind Beneath My Wings,
We welcome yet another Nuffie cute enough to pull at your heartstrings.
Please don’t let that innocent, trusting smile fool you though,
Holly very much is the cheekiest of cheeky, I’ll have you know…

Jump forward one year; we’re jammin’ to B-52s Love Shack in ’89,
And I’m starting to wish I never made this thing rhyme.
Enter baby V, who wears cuteness like it’s going out of fashion,
With a crooked little smile and deep, dark eyes full of passion…

And to make us all feel old, let’s jump to ’92,
Where Baby Got Back was the hottest radio tune.
Here we welcome Jess, the newest Nuffie to our shores,
She fits right in ’cause she be partyin’ since she was four!

So as you can see, us Nuffie’s were once a good looking bunch,
I’d love to keep going but I need to get me some lunch.
So that concludes our journey back through time,
And I hope you enjoyed my super awesome rhyme.

The End!

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The Melbourne premier for Steve Carell’s new film Crazy Stupid Love was held at the beautiful Rivoli Theatre in Hawthorn East on Monday night.

The Nuffie crew (minus Kruppy & Tim), as well as some Nuffnang bloggers where lucky enough to get to go!

Not only did we get to skip the lines and walk the red carpet, but we also rubbed shoulders with the likes of Chrissie Swan, Peter Helliar, Jordy Lucas (Summer from Neighbours) and Josh Thomas.

After doing a bit of celebrity spotting on the balcony, we made our way into the gorgeous theatre, and settled down with our buckets of ridiculously expensive but oh-so-good popcorn.

Once everyone was seated, Steve Carell  entered the theatre to a round of applause, undeniably the star of both the night and the film. After introducing the movie, and throwing out a few funny one-liners in true Steve Carell style, the film began!

There was lots laughs and a tinkering of applause when the females (and probably some males) in the audience first coped an eyeful of Ryan Gosling’s ‘photo shopped’ abs.  Mmmmm……

While I am not usually a big comedy fan, I would highly recommend the film. It was certainly funny, and even if it wasn’t, seeing Ryan Gosling with his shirt off is enough to make it worthwhile!

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As most would know I am a HUGE footy buff. Every week I trudge along to see my beloved Carlton football club play. It’s emotional and exciting, it’s disheartening and disappointing and yet after 23 years of this tumultuous relationship I am still here. I have never waivered in my love, have never held a grudge and never had feelings for any other team. The relationship with one’s football club is surely the strongest relationship one can have – No chance of lying, no chance of deception and no chance that getting older together will do anything else other than strengthen the resolve.

And like with the birth of a child, the birth of a finals series is when a supporter is closest with his beloved. But like when a child is born, the heightened feelings of love, excitement, nerves and the daunting prospect of whether you are good enough to take on the challenge makes the time even more memorable. And here we are on the cusp of another finals series, uncertain of what the following weeks will bring but understanding that love will get you through whatever the future tosses up.

This week end Carlton plays Essendon. It’s 5th on the ladder vs 8th on the ladder. A game my Carlton should win but a rivaly that makes this game so unpredictable. Anything could happen. Anyone can win. There will be 90,000 + lovers at the MCG this Sunday that will start the game off with a stirring rendition of the national anthem and sweaty palms, but after 120 minutes of shouting, clapping, high fiving, hugging and head in hands I know my love will still be there, win or lose. They say it’s better to have loved and lost than never to have loved at all….

…Whatever Shakespeare. You also said a lot of other stuff that I never understood.

…Bring on the footy finals. And go go Blues!

I love working here at Nuffnang. Really. I’m not just saying that. You see, not so long ago, I was just another international student in my last term at Uni all bright eyed and hopeful for the future. I didn’t know if I was going to stay on here or just go home. Either was fine with me. I spent my days watching Gossip Girl (..I know), How I Met Your Mother and Survivor (I was bored ok!). I slept most of my days away and spent most of my nights out (Ah! The luxury!).

I gave myself about six months to find myself a job before going home to Mum and Dad. But, one fine day, I was reading Twitter half asleep and I saw a RT from one of my friends for an internship at Nuffnang WINNER WINNER CHICKEN DINNER. I am on my way to growing up… Little did I know the journey I was in for! Fast forward over 15 odd months later, I’m still here with MOAR responsibilities as Ad Ops Manager T_T

When I joined Nuffnang, there were only 3 of us (well 4 but 1 has already left ): ). But now we are an awesome team of 7!

SO..this is how I Met The Nuffies:

David Lee

Dave was at my first interview. I thought he was nice cos he kept saying “interesting” to what I was saying. Like OMGAHZ they think I am interesting! I am fo sho a shoo in! I left with good feelings that day. Until one day, we were talking about filler words or words you say when you don’t know what else better to say. Some people use ummm. Some use ‘like’ or ‘then’. Turns out…Dave uses ‘interesting’. #fail So I wasn’t all that ~interesting~ after all…

David Krupp

This photo is actually of Kruppy fixing up a table for Lynda! I met Kruppy at my second interview. Kruppy is a great Country Manager. He is really passionate about the blogosphere, wine, AFL and the Blues. Just a good bloke all around. BUT…he and technology just don’t seem to get along very well. Many a time, you will hear him in frustration about why his Powerpoint disappeared, how he saved over a file… More often than not, when you hear the sneering beep of the printer, you can be sure Kruppy just tried to print something out. Well, lucky me aka IT Support came into his life :D

Lynda

I met Lynda at her second interview! I was so excited that another girl was joining our little team. And to be my partner in crime! Loved it! I couldn’t really place her accent as I was talking to her. So when I walked her down the stairs, I casually asked, “What’s your accent? Irish?” She never let me off the hook since. We got closer over lots of beer pong, wines and Sunny Boys. In the office, Lynda is always the one LOL-ing IRL over one of our many silly jokes the boys are not privvy to. <3

Holly

After Lynda went on to become Community Manager, Holly become MY partner in crime! (: There are so many stories I could tell about Holly. She is so funny and says the most random things! She would be the one in the office asking “Would Your Rather” questions and giving us tummy aches from laughing too much. We got closer over our recent snow trip. We were the only ones skiing that didn’t need a lesson..except she is a lot better than I am. She tricked me into going all the way down the bottom of the mountain. But I am glad she did if not, we wouldn’t have taken the shot above! (:

Stay tuned for Meet The New Nuffies! (:

Earlier this month Lynda and Kruppy spent some time abroad working from our Philippines office in Manila. The purpose of their trip was to learn what exactly it is that the Filipino Nuffies do so well to service their blogging community. The guys spent their week cooped up in a boardroom putting together a strategy that would implement a strong community focus by enhancing the quality and quantity of Nuffnang events.

We are hoping to roll out our strategy over the coming weeks but to tie you over until then, here’s a taste of what we have in store…

- Exclusive tailored Nuffnang blogging events and no, these wont just be your regular blog meet ups where everyone sits around a table and chats! We want to provide you with value; the opportunity to meet like-minded bloggers and industry specialists who share your passion!

- More events that incorporate not only you and your blogging buddies but your family and friends too!

- More Nuffnang giveaways for you to score yourself some awesome prizes

- And of course, running off the success of our 2011 inaugural Nuffnang Blogopolis, we will continue to host this event annually, switching host cities as we go… We’ll take into consideration all the feedback received from our post-Blogopolis survey to make our next one even bigger and better for you!

Not only do we want to provide a greater sense of community and value to our bloggers but we also want you guys to identify with us by getting to know us on a more personal level, especially now that we have two new additions to our growing Nuffie family (cue: Awwww)!

How will we do this?

- At least one Nuffie (hopefully more!) will be present at all Nuffnang events from now on no matter where in Australia they are being held. We think it is important for our bloggers to hang out with us and see that we’re real people too!

- Every Thursday from here on out one of the Nuffies will guest post right here on our Nuffnang blog. This guest post can be about absolutely anything; life, travel, music, food… whatever they feel like sharing with the world!

- Thursdays at 11am have been declared as Nuffie blog hour. We switch off from our usual work tasks and spend one full hour blogging over on our own personal blogs. Please feel free to stalk us here:

   1. Dave: Meet Dave Lee
   2. Kruppy: Fashion Roast
   3. V: Uh-Oh Daisy
   4. Lynda: Live. Travel. Blog.
   5. Holly: Holly’s Life So Far
   6. Jess: Froot Salad
   7. Tim: Launching Soon!

In conjunction with all of this we will be rolling out some new looks in the coming months. Expect to see…

- A new-look website. At the moment we feel our key messages about who we are and what we do are unclear and the current site is impossible to navigate. We’ll be adding a landing page to our site to make it a whole lot easier to understand.

- Our forum will be receiving a much-needed facelift. We will be moving platforms to make the entire thing user-friendlier to enhance your forum experience.

- Our newsletter will also receive a revamp to highlight different segments of Nuffnang news and be sent out at regular intervals rather than sporadically.

Through all our new community initiatives we’re providing bloggers with even more reasons to join our Nuffnang family!

That’s it from all of us here at Nuffnang HQ!

We leave you with a video Lynda put together of what her and Kruppy got up to during their free time in the Philippines.

WARNING: Some content not advised for the faint hearted!

 

Have you been sparked with a new blog post idea while taking a shower? Perhaps you whip your phone out to take pictures every few minutes, thinking, “This is so going on my blog”? Or you start experiencing withdrawal symptoms if you go even a day without blogging? Well, congratulations! You are officially a blog junkie!

With the love of blogging running deep within all of us, there are of course, blogs out there that inspire us; wouldn’t it be great if we could share those blogs with everyone? That’s the idea behind Blog Day!

Blog Day was created with the belief that bloggers should have one day dedicated to getting to know other bloggers from other countries and areas of interest, and Nuffnang is proud to be celebrating the 6^th Blog Day anniversary on 31^st August 2011!

On Blog Day, bloggers will post a recommendation of 6 new blogs, and this way, everyone will find themselves discovering new, previously unknown blogs thanks to the viral effect of social media. Sounds great, doesn’t it?

Here’s how you can be a part of Blog Day 2011:

1. Spot 6 new blogs that interest you the most, preferably blogs which are different from your own culture, point of view and attitude.
2. In a blog post, share with us why you have recommended those 6 blogs – are they funny? Do they tell unusual stories? Maybe the photos are out of this world?
3. Publish your blog post about your 6 recommendations by 11.59 pm, 31 August 2011.
4. Submit the permalink of your blog post about your recommendations as a comment on this blog post.

The best part about Blog Day? You get rewarded if your recommendations get us raving over new awesome blogs! From all BlogDay 2011 recommendation posts received, one Nuffnanger will be chosen at random to be our Nuffnang Featured Blogger of the Month for the month of October as well as their choice between a $100 Westfield voucher OR a $100 Virgin Australia voucher! Winners will be announced on the 2nd of September.

The deadline for submissions is 11.59pm, 31 August 2011, so hurry, go out and discover blogs now! Happy Blog Day to all! :)

I do not think Melbourne’s Federation Square knew what hit it on Saturday July 30, 2011 when 300 bloggers joined forces at ZINC for Nuffnang Blogopolis!

The day was broken up into seven master classes, each featuring presentations from some of the biggest names in the Australian blogosphere. There was so much content covered throughout the day providing those in attendance with a wave of excitement and inspiration upon conclusion of the event.

SPEAKERS & KEY POINTS

Bree from The Blog Stylist (who may just be the most amazing multi-tasker we have ever seen) managed to not only listen to those presenting but to also live-blog the wealth of knowledge being presented as well as tweet simultaneously – incredible! You can find links to all her recaps below as well as all our speakers twitter accounts if you’re interested in following them!

1. Tools of the Trade – Key Points

Nicole Avery – @planningqueen
Michael Aulia – @michaelaulia + Blogopolis blog post
Arnold Aranez – @mr_gadget

2. Blog Photography – Key Points

Danielle Melnyczenko – @danimezza
Minh Giang – @minhg

3. Improving Blog Content – Key Points

Christie Burnett – @childhood101
Susan Thye – @chocolatesuze
Nikki Parkinson – @stylingyou

4. Working with Brands – Key Points

Andrew Hughes – @y0z2a
Jaclyn Ely – @jaciely

5. Editorial vs. Advertorial – Key Points

Nikki Parkinson – @stylingyou
Phoebe Montague – @ladymelbourne
David Krupp – @davekrupp
Arnold Aranez – @mr_gadget
Jeff Tan – @jeff_iprospect

6. Blog Branding & Marketing – Key Points

Darren Rowse – @problogger

7. The Australian Blogosphere – Key Points

Candice Deville – @superkawaiimama
Darren Rowse – @problogger
Eden Riley – @edenland
Helen Yee – @grabyourfork
Nicole Avery – @planningqueen

Once again, a big thank you to all our Nuffnang Blogopolis speakers, we could not have run such a successful day without you!

NUFFNANG BLOGOPOLIS SLIDES

If you’re interested in checking out the slides from Nuffnang Blogopolis, you can find all of them except one here. Will have a copy of Arnold’s up as soon as possible.

NUFFNANG BLOGOPOLIS PHOTOGRAPHY

Another big thank you needs to go out to the amazing Danielle of danimezza.com. You probably saw her frantically running around the room snapping away like a mad woman. She captured over 4,000 photos of the event and we will have these published to our flickr account within the coming days so sit tight!

HAVE YOU BLOGGED ABOUT BLOGOPOLIS?

Did you attend Nuffnang Blogopolis? Have you blogged about your thoughts and learnings that you took away with you? We would love to read and share your Nuffnang Blogopolis posts so please do share them with us. We’ve already started gathering a list over on our Nuffnang Australia Facebook page so we would love for you to leave your blog post link in a comment over on this status.

NUFFNANG BLOGOPOLIS FEEDBACK

We have put together a short survey about Nuffnang Blogopolis. If you attended the event on Saturday and have a few spare minutes , we would love you to fill it out so we can find out what you liked, what you didn’t liked and where we can improve to bring you an even bigger and better Nuffnang Blogopolis in the future!

You can find the survey here.

WANT TO JOIN NUFFNANG? 

The wonderful Violet LeBeaux has been working together with our team here at Nuffnang to put together for us this amazing video that simplifies what Nuffnang is and what we do – check it out!

BLOGOPOLIS GIVEAWAY

Register your blog with us between Saturday July 30 and Saturday August 13, 2011 and go into the draw to win a $150 Virgin Australia voucher OR entry to ProBlogger’s Melbourne Training Day on Friday October 21 – the choice is yours!