chloesart / Kisses That Count.

Hey girls!

Heather tells me you check this out - so a huge 'Kiss' to you both - we hope to see you very very soon!
And you can get all the scoop then too!

And another photo - the above picture is Jamie, our director catching up with whom we've been talking to during the event, which was held off Broadway, in the Puck Building.
We were having a great time - if a little nerve-wracking.

Much love, to Cornish Mermaids and all...
Chloe.
xoxo

Hello at last!

Well, we are back - it feels like we've been away for months!

We have loved our time in New York - we had Jamie and Sian from the BBC with us, to see if we actually could do what we planned, for Kisses That Count.

Well, we did it! At the wonderful Ubuntu Fundraising Gala, we met heaps of fantastic, generous and interesting people. We learned even more about Ubuntu, met South African's and are determined to go to the country and see what they are achieving firsthand. You really must go to www.ubuntufund.org and check them out for yourself - they are doing amazing things with every single penny donated. Jacob Lief is an amazing guy and even younger than we are!!!

Among the great people we met was our long-term hero, Archbishop Desmond Tutu, who was absolutely charming and great fun: he gave both Heather and I a 'Kiss That Counts' - and then proceeded to giggle and dance his way through the event. During the Banquet, his speech was moving and to the point - he had a standing ovation. And after the South African Banquet, went Angelique Kidjo sang, he had everyone on their feet dancing! What a great guy.

We were also delighted to meet Kevin Bacon; who was very gracious and great fun to chat to. He gave us both a 'Kiss' for the cameras too.

And I was delighted to meet Iman and chat to her about Kisses That Count and collect a 'Kiss' from her also.

What a great night - we were so lucky and grateful to be invited and to meet a whole bunch of people who care enough to support a great charity.

Ok - the first picture is Archbishop Tutu, Ubuntu's Patron, giving Heather a 'Kiss' - we both got a great kiss and he was charming!
In the next picture, the Archbishop is teasing the BBC crew and our photographer, chuckling away.
In the thid picture, Kevin Bacon is 'Kissing' Heather - I wasn't quick or tall enough to reach, for this shot!!
Then Angelique Kidjo and Iman share a hug.
For the next shot Iman very kindly recieved a 'Kiss' from Chloe.
And finally, a fun picture of us teasing with Kevin Bacon. Hope you enjoy!

We are absolutely delighted and exhausted!
So we must now plan what is next: we are meeting PR companies in London this week, to see what can be done to start getting 'Kisses'out there in the public domain.

Well, I'm shattered, so must go!

Love
Chloe
xoxox

Hey guys!
We promised we had been busy and had some great news!
Well, now its all official & we can tell all of you - WE'RE OFF TO NEW YORK to meet NOBEL PEACE PRIZE WINNER, ARCHBISHOP DESMOND TUTU!!!:

How cool is that?!
We will be attending a Gala evening at the Puck Building on the 6th, which is a Fundraising evening hosted by Kevin Bacon as Master of Ceremonies, a speech by Archbishop Tutu, and music by Angelic Kidjo, Grammy nominee. Tables cost up to $50,000 (all to help give a future to kids!) and guests will be served an South African banquet. Heather and I are to be Ubuntu's guests for the evening.

Not bad, eh?

For pre-event cocktails, we will be situated in the VIP lounge, and hope to get a loving 'Kiss' from Archbishop Tutu, to help us launch our new web-site, Kisses That Count. Each 'Kiss' collected in the VIP lounge will consist of a great photo of and a personal message about something the celebrity passionately loves!

Archbishop Tutu is the Patron of Ubuntu, one of our selected charities and this is why we have made this fabulous link with him.
Kisses That Count will donate 5% of revenue to Ubuntu and therefore help thousands of fantastic kids in South Africa gain education and learn how to keep healthy.

Kisses will donate a further 15% of revenue between three other chosen charities, one of which is the Welsh Centre for Alternative Technology - as sustainable development is key to our beliefs.

We set off on the 1st June and come back on the 9th June. Keep your fingers crossed for us!

So, thanks for waiting and we'll keep you posted,
Love

Chloe

Hey,
today has been one of the busiest days of our lives - we are so tired!
Heather is working full-time and trying to run an ever-growing, many-limbed company with me!

Anyway, I needed to look at something to stop me sitting in a heap and howling.
Here were the two thoughts that have kept me sane today:

1) Reality is based on perception: if I take today to be a hundred steps forward, then today has been a great day and our exhaustion can be filled with pride.

2) Failure cannot exist unless we allow it - its only ever the result of giving up - when you are still moving, your project is still growing.

Hope you are all having a calmer day than we have had - but a productive one! Got loads more to do - got to go.

Good vibes
Chloe

Hi again.
We are ten steps closer to sorting and announcing our news!
I'm sure its character-building for me to restrain my exhuberance and excitement and wait...

Heather is in bed - we seem to have a lot of 18 and 20 hour days. I am a night-owl and she is definitely a morning person, so sometimes it seems we will never meet when one of us isn't half asleep.
(Reminds me of 'Half aslepp in Frog Pyjamas' - by Tim Robbins; if you haven't read him, you must! He follows no rules and his books are a great romp)

Now, I don't know about you, but more and more people are working from home - full or part-time. And being at home can be incredibly distracting: sometimes we collude with any shape or form of time-wasting procrastination, sometimes we're driven mad by external pressures we cannot ignore. Sound familiar?!

Using grit, determination and willpower to keep working can be mind-numbing and energy-zapping. Try some of these... they might just work for you:

1. Set yourself deadlines. If you don't get it done on time, you refuse yourself something you really want.

2. Set daily goals. This might be a written list, in your diary, or on a post-it. Achieving small daily goals = a great sense of achievement. You turn into a person who gets it done, not a person who feels overwhelmed.

3. Do whatever scares the crap out of you FIRST (you know, that important thing you'd give ar arm or leg to avoid..) - then its not hanging over you like a dark cloud all day. You'll feel fantastic too. It's like giving the finger to your fears.

4. Get someone you trust to ask you tough, but fair questions about how you're doing. Another person can help you stay focused.

5. If you thrive on routine, stick to one: but not everybody does - so recognise what suits you and work accordingly.

6. A simple (and scary!) thing to do is ask yourself 'Do I love what I do?' If yes, you're motivated naturally - if no, then you might want to think about changing things to make work something you actually like to spend time at / on.

7. Does everyone else in the house respect that 'work' time is WORK? Train them to leave you alone and let you have the space and quiet you need. Make them understand & value what you do, whether its making curtains, or run a multi-national!

8. Don't get hungry, cold, or thirsty! It sounds silly, but to be dehydrated wrecks concentration & = headaches. To be hungry = low bloodsugar and causes the same unproductive lows. And everybody hates being cold! Also, it helps to keep your coffees / juices / snacks somewhere in your office - so you don't get distracted by forays into the kitchen.

9. Make you office gorgeous! Make it pretty, or stark - whatever turns you on. A good environment = a positive frame of mind.

10. Get you filing sorted! Mess is not worth the amount of mental energy it gobbles up. Take 10 mins at the end of every work session and put things away.

11. Start the day in a way that pleases you - walk out the front door and come in the back - as if you're 'going to work'; or read a paper for 15 mins, or start with a prayer - do something that rocks your boat at the start of every day.

Lastly (you can tell I could go on for pages!) leave you desk with a nice task to start off tomorrow! A call to a person you like, or an email to say 'yes' to something positive. Its like a little pat on the back for the next work session. You can always leave a message to thank someone - its a great and hardly ever done thing these days! Everyone loves to be recognised and getting a thanks can be like gold-dust.

Well, goodnight, all you night-owls! Happy working!
Love
C

Morning all!
Until we can share our fab news, I thought I'd share some of our tips & a little of what we've been reading: stuff that has helped us on journey over the last year - to step outside your comfort zone means you need to be constantly inspired and reinspired. Busy/creative people know the crucial value of recharging their batteries. So here's what has helped us and taught us how to function in more positive and productive ways.

First of all, friends and family suport is invaluable. Love like this you simply can't buy! Make sure you make time to spend with people who are important to you: it keeps your feet on the ground and there's no-one like f & f to tell you what they really think!

Second, if you are running a business, it is crucial to network. When you network, be bold and be genuine. People trust you and connect to you before they buy into your business. Also, of course, all business deals need to be reciprocal: how can you both add value to each others businesses? In what ways can you think out of the box in order to do this? This entails knowing your product and knowing where and how to place it; this is what Rene Carayol has really challenged us about. Create a strong, must-have product and keep investing all your creative thinking into it, to make it evolve and improve.

And thirdly, for now, here's some great reading.
Heather got me onto having a look at the Enneagram - an ancient sort of descriptive process, which basically sets people into one of 9 types. I rolled my eyes, thinking, 'yeah, whatever', but actually, its pretty amazing, once you start reading! Have a look at Helen Palmer's The Enneagram & The Enneagram in Love and Work. The latter is just so helpful in understanding collegues at work and means you can get a huge rise in how productive and enjoyable your work environment is - for you & your downline!

Another great help to us has been The One Minute Millionaire, by Mark Victor Hansen and Robert Allen. These guys founded the Enlightened Millionaires- an organisation dedicated to making a million millionaires who are all donating 10% to charities/sustainablity; therefore changing the ethos of business. Its a book and organisation really are worth checking out.

Try the fab little book Polar Bear Pirates, for a UK financial motivation too!
And finally, because its so interesting and because he writes so enjoyably, read Malcolm Gladwell's two great books, Blink & The Tipping Point.

Do tell us what you think, and if you have tips to share on how to run a successful business, let us know!

Happy hunting!
Chloe

Hi Guys!

We mave potentially massive news for Kisses That Count!! Heather says if I go public with it yet, she will kill me....

Can't wait to blab it all!
Rene is a superstar - we've been doing our best to get to a certain icon of ours: a person who commands world respect, to help us launch Kisses That Count. Well, Rene was doing a businees gig iwth him in London and has also pitched our company and what we're about and he got a very positive, affirmative big delicious 'Yes'!!! Well, our hero has agreed to help us get Kisses out there!!!

Just a flurry of e-mails to confirm everything 100%, then I'll be able to tell you all what's in the pipeline - all I can say that is the next month is going to be manic!!

But we promise to keep you up to date. Send us good vibes this month - we are having to do stuff we'd've never imagined a year ago!!!

Oh and welcome to Charmaine and Felice and Meadow! Its great to have blog-mates!

Much love
Chloe

Hope you are all OK /safe/ inside warm while this awful wind and rain blows over us, over the next few days.
Isn't it strange just how much opening the curtains and being confronted with a crappy day makes us feel a little or Oh well, at least Heather is an ace cook and in our house, food is always the answer!

And hey, I have a 'new friend' - welcome, Judgejon! So that makes life a bit nicer. I really need to get to grips with how to invite friends to this page...

Not much has happened today, apart from trying to find out all the intracies of gaming law! Yes, to offer nice goodies on a web-site, you have to make sure you are doing everything 100% kosher; so we will need to make sure any cool celeb giveaways / sponsorships are given out in the most appeopriate manner. All these endless laws can give one a headache.

I have sold a picture this week - well I will have when the cheque arrives... It always feels like letting a small child go off out into the huge world...

What else - H & I were saying tonight that we really must update the holding page everyfew days and perhaps add a countdown, an e-mail invitation list and this blog address. We are having to learn every day how to promote our new in-creation business & think of things we've never dreamed of thinking of before! A new business is a multi-faceted challenge. We feel like balloons who are getting more and more puffs stretching them ever further!

Oh yes, this blog is being copied into a new blog on myspace as well! Trying to maximise readership.

All the best and keep snug!
Love Chloe

Greetings and a happy acceptance of chaos to all our readers!
We are absolutely shattered. Tonight, we've been catching up with Cynthia, our fab business mentor (Business Mental, she probably feels like!). Thankfully, she has a wicked sense of humour and has no qualms about kicking our butts on a weekly basis! We spent tonight getting all the past 10 days changes, developments etc into our action plans.

Someimes we feel like we'd like to sleep, enchanted, like all the knaves and household of Sleeping Beauty's Palace, for a lovely, long, silent 100 years

Old joke: One business woman to another, 'This super bug is causing havoc with my employees - half of them aren't turning up...'
Agrees the other, 'Yes, even the self-employed are getting hit!'

So, the advice is if you like skivving, don't be self-employed. Conversly,if you're an absolute adrenaline junkie, be an entrepreneur - forget bungie-jumping and croc-baiting!

I've been working on our site-map and design all this week. So that 8-wire, our Design company can dive straight into in on Monday and that Adrian, our web-builder knows where to attach all the programming to... Talk about learning to run before you can toddle - that's been us for 15 months!

If you ever get to do a two year documentary, be warned it is not a walk in the park - but it just might change your life completely! Go for it!

Now, a plea for helpful expertise! Does anyone work in Christian, Muslim and Jewish (or any other faith) magazines , current-affair papers, like The Tablet, for instance? We really want to promote Kisses That Count in these fields as well as the mainstream media and would be delighted to send pre-written articles / do interviews / send our Press Pack to interested publications.
Our slant is that we are covering the world in Kisses and donating 20% of revenue to our 4 sustainable-development charities: we argue that if all business did this, world poverty would disappear. If all people who profess a faith bought such products - hey presto! Now is the time for ethical and ecologically fuelled trading, if we are to save our planet - the time for pure greed is past. We all need to think and act with & about our finances responsibly, or we're all screwed!

We'd love all 'shades' of religious leaders / spokespeople to send celebrity Kisses That Count& give a message about what matters to them - like Rowan Williams, etc.
And we want to have politician, musicians, sportsmen and women, TV people, film stars - supporters from all fields to send Kisses That Count as special messages to their fans. Love really can make a difference!

Well, I'd better think about going to bed - I'm sure my first grey hair will be poking out soon, to remind me that non of us are invincible etc, etc.

Every blessing (whatever that is to you) to all.

Night!
Love Chloe.

Greetings!

A quickie to mention Dan Harding's uber-cool Hotpods: think friendly-Dalek, with gorgeous low-centre of gravity and deliciously enticing chromey knobs begging to be fiddled with...
Think a great bottle of wine, sofa and someone you really love snuggling up with; feed the Hotpod fuel and you have the perfect night in.
We definitely have to get one before the limited edition runs out! I'll stick a pic in my media, but do see for yourselves @ www.hot-pod.co.uk

Sleep well, dream fluidly.
Love
C.