Isn't it better when the sun shines?

It's positively balmy after the cold month we've had, there's a definate sense of Spring cheer in the air and there's a glimmer of extra flesh in the office for 'dress down Friday' with some of us forgetting the polo necks, and donning the t-shirts. OK so I may be jumping the gun a bit, but after a week of dark sky's hanging over us, the site of clear blue skys and a glimmer of sunshine naturally brings a cheer. And it's Friday which means two luxurious days off to look forward to!

Have a happy, sunny weekend!
x

How many did you eat?

Pancakes - they were the talk of the office yesterday and some of our head office team have very kindly captured the moment to share with you ...


I think Damian may have lost his pancake in this photo - try the ceiling?









Quite a fancy entry from Chris here ... possibly worthy of Masterchef?












And Yvonne is giving it maximum concentration (she's reassured me she doesn't normally paint a beach scene on her daughter's face - it was for a school event!)

Happy pancake day!

Yum! We've got pancakes on the brain today. I've laid down the gauntlet to find out who can make the best pancake and hopefully we'll have some photo's to share tomorrow. In the meantime here's a recipe for the perfect pancake mixture, to tickle your tastebuds.

Ingredients
125g plain flour
1 medium egg, beaten
275ml-300ml semi-skimmed milk
Vegetable or sunflower oil, for frying

Method
To make the batter, sift the flour with a pinch of salt into a large bowl. Make a well in the centre, pour in the egg and slowly whisk in enough milk to make a smooth batter (the consistency of pouring cream) Allow to rest for at least 20 minutes.

Heat your frying pan over a medium heat. When hot, dip some kitchen paper in the oil and wipe across the surface of the pan. Add a small ladleful of batter and tilt the pan to swirl the batter evenly and thinly. Cook for 1-2 minutes, until the pancake is golden underneath.

Loosen around the pancake with a palette knife. Flip over and cook for a further minute, until golden. Slide out onto a plate and repeat to finish up the batter - oil the pan between each pancake.

Serve the pancakes with lemon wedges and sprinkle with caster sugar.

Delicious! Happy pancake day.

Cool Britannia

Hurrah for the Brits winning big at last night's Oscars ceremony - it seems like it's cool to be British again with our recent successes at The Grammy's, The Golden Globes and naturally The Brits. But with no wardrobe malfunctions last night I don't feel as though I have too much to report on ...

As always the Jewellery dazzled - possibly enough carats there to single handedly kick start the economy? I noticed Angelina was wearing bright green earrings with her LBD - a possible future fashion statement? (If you fancy a similar look try Peppermint Cream Earrings - not guaranteed to tempt Brad your way, but never say never). Other than that things were pretty tame - not a Bjork style Swan outfit in sight - which is very disappointing.

Have a good Monday and don't forget that it's pancake day tomorrow.

What are you wearing for the Oscars?

I don't know about you, but I'm getting a little bit tired about hearing all about the film communities preparation work for the Oscars. Quite frankly, it sounds like hard work, it's not something that I will ever experience (...well you never know!) and it takes the magic away from the glamour (who would have thought botox could go in the balls of your feet?)

However big the occasion, I'm pretty sure I would never resort to the needle (not when I've got so many fantastic skin care products at my disposal!) I'm more interested in seeing what they actually wear on the night and what their make up looks like. This is a night that dictates future fashion trends and can make or break a career so for many actors and actresses Sunday night/Monday morning is a big deal.

So I'll leave you to ponder on who wears what (not what surgery they're all having!) Let's meet back and discuss on Monday!

It's been a while ...

Sorry for the lack of communication over the past couple of days. It's been very busy here post weekend and the office is a hive of activity!

We've been very excited because we won an award in the Sunday Mirror Magazine for best Premium Eye Care for our Wrinkle Decreasing Eye Treatment. We were particularly pleased with some of the test panel comments, my favourite being "there was a difference to the fine lines and by the end of the trial they had become less noticeable. It was the best eye cream I had ever used!"

Hmmm maybe we should ship some over to Hollywood in preparation for the weekend's Oscars?

It's nearly Valentine's Day

Love is in the air (part 2), so today I've handed the blog over to my colleagues to send their Valentine's messages.

Have a look - one of the messages could be for you!

Love is in the air ...

Romance is blossoming at VVAH Head Office in preparation for Valentine's Day - always one's to spread the love, our Customer Services teams are injecting a bit of romance into the office with their Valentine's themed displays, walk this way as I take you on a virtual tour of the office ...

Start by walking through the heart smothered office door of Customer Services Director, Chris Parkin.

Here's Kim & Kat, two lovely ladies who answer queries about the website (oh and Howard, Kim asked me to wish you a Happy Birthday today - have a great day!)

Turn the corner and the competition heats up!

What a romantic bunch!

It's VIP day at Head Office!

We've got a VIP visiting our office today. Her name's Gillian Cargill, she's one of our Consultants and in 2008 she competed against some stiff competition to win the DSA Personal Sales Award (step aside Kate Winslet and your Bafta's!)

So we're rolling out the red carpet at Head Office today - we're all under strict instructions to tidy up our desks (you wouldn't believe how messy they can get).

And the final flourish, to make sure our VIP feels really important - our lovely lady who's in charge of the kitchen, Carolyn, has made sure they're not getting just any biscuits ... she's laid out the chocolate one's! We know how to treat our VIPs!

Why's Andrew looking so happy?

Andrew our CRM Manager (no we're not sure what CRM stands for either) is enjoying his last day in the office, before he departs the UK and takes the mammoth flight to New Zealand ... we all know this because he's been counting down the weeks/days/hours, so we might actually be glad to see the back of him by 5.30pm.

The lucky chap has got the added bonus of flying for free on Virgin Atlantic. That's because he's been with Virgin Vie At Home for 10 years (practically the start) and as a reward for his long service he gets two free flights. Now we've all worked the charm and tried to bag the extra seat, but to no avail as he's decided he'd rather take his girlfriend.

So in the meantime some of us are going to attempt to pick up his workload - my own personal contribution will be to hit the 'send' button when we send out our weekly email to hundreds of thousands of customers - no pressure! I'm sure we'll muddle through, but we will miss our CRM boy!

Bon voyage Andrew ... how long till you're back?

Mother says ...

This is Susan, she's in charge of organising all of our Conferences and Business events. You might recognise her from yesterday's photo - today's picture makes her look terribly official because she's speaking at one of our recent Leadership Conferences (that she of course organised).

Naturally Susan is incredibly well organised, so when she gives us an insight into how to keep organised we always sit up and listen. Ever the girl guide she prepared some advice for our colleagues who are travelling to events over the coming days ... there's some good ideas, so we thought we'd share them with you;

"Mother says … do make sure that:

· Your car has a full tank of petrol.
· There is plenty of screen wash.

Make sure you've packed
· A torch.
· A map.
· Boots and/or wellies.
· You have some extra warm clothing (hat, gloves, overcoats).
· Have a flask of hot water/tea or coffee.
· Drinking water.
· Some chocolate and/or biscuits.
· And if things are very bad, a spade but as I am a townie I don’t possess a spade!"

So now you now! Wise words for the weekend.

I blame the toaster ...

King Alfred burnt the cakes ... at Virgin Vie we like to burn the toast.

The result is about 80 of us standing outside whilst the fire alarm gloriously rings in full 65 decibel glory. Luckily we do have some of our throws hanging round the office, so a few of our more astute colleagues grabbed them as we walked in an orderly fashion out of the door.

Which begs the question - why do these things never happen when the sun is shining?

We believe the below is our main suspect ...

Check out our snowmen!

Well we had to leave a little bit early yesterday because rumour was we were going to face a snow blizzard. Luckily for us our MD, Ros gave us full permission to use this extra time to enjoy the snow. Here's some of the fruits of our labour ...

Oh and good news - Chris the designer made it in this morning. Hurray!

It's snow joke ...

Terrible pun I know ...

We're on skeleton staff at VVAH HQ today, the car park is nearly empty and only those who live close by have braved the snow to make it in. Even Andrew (who just lives down the road) has finally left his car in the garage, braved the elements and made the 5 minute walk into work (we're very proud of him). I think I've nailed the key to keeping warm ... 3 cups of caffeine fuel later and I think we can pretty much tackle anything!

Have a good day in the snow, keep warm (wear a vest) and drive safely!

P.S - Chris (our web designer): We hope you make it in tomorrow, your desk looks very empty without you.