June Newsletter

• Editorial
  - Happiness without a credit limit,
• A Book Look!
  - Perfect for Father’s Day,
• The Power of Promotion
  - Attracting the Right Sort of Attention
• Enhancing the Home
  - Homeware & decor style and colour trends.
• Designer Dress and Desk
  - desktop items for the NOW generation
• Imagination Movers
  - Spring And Summer Toy And Game Trends To Inspire The Imaginations Of Young Artists.

Happiness without a credit limit

We are now at the middle of the year. Time hasn’t dragged its feet – if anything it has sculled too many V drinks and powered through the months like nobody’s business.

Whilst time slows down for no man, I still managed to take some time-out over Easter – which was such a blessing! Thanks to my lovely mother and mother-in-law, my son and I were shipped down to Whangamata for a few days where we slept, swam and ate (way too much of course). It was also a great opportunity to visit a few of the local gift stores in the Coromandel; there were plenty of smiling faces and intrinsically laid-out giftwares to entice holiday goers. I especially enjoyed ducking into Bella and The Bach in Whangamata – having written a story about both stores last year – and it was delightful to pop in on them once again.

Much to my surprise, it was also pure bliss having neither a computer nor mobile phone at my ear for a few days (I thought I’d get itchy fingers). However, technology did play on my mind, not because of my laptop abstinence, but because I began to take heed of other people's electronic usage. For example, when out window shopping I watched someone approaching wearing a huge smile – looking down at a text they’d received. When visiting an old family friend at her home right on the beach, I was ushered into her office to watch a clip on YouTube that was “so hilarious you just have to see it right now”. I passed a runner on a morning jog, humming away to herself; unfortunately the iPod at her ear prevented her from hearing my good morning greeting. When waiting in line for the local ATM (albeit it was extremely slow) I witnessed a very sour look from one guy as he ejected his card from the machine – obviously his bank balance wasn’t playing in his favour. My final technological squirreling involved overhearing a young girl telling her mother she ‘needed’ an iPod Touch for her 12th birthday.

All the holiday tech-talk got to me – it was the only sour note of Easter. It was thus refreshing to come home and find a card sent from my greatgrandparents. It is the perfect card: handwritten across three whole sides, slightly illegible in places, a few words crossed out and a few extras added in, topped off with a newspaper clipping pasted on the back – not to mention countless hugs and kisses symbols. It truly did bring the biggest smile to my face, one far greater than any text, iPod tune or YouTube clip has ever brought.

Whilst I don’t begrudge the fact that technology does send forth its own little joys – the royal wedding coverage was nothing less than amazing – nothing beats receiving or giving something the old-fashioned way, not to mention lessening the risk of deleting texts, losing files or virus contamination if you keep technology out of the equation once in a while.

Till next time,
Dyani