A quick note about the redesign...

Apple releases the iPad, we release BCE 2.0...but at least we're not the subject of period jokes.

I (Mr Couch) promised myself I would get this thing out, and lo and behold I did! Sort of.

It's been a long time coming, but finally the blog redesign is here. In all its new, shiny and things-aren't-quite-completely-working-so-please-be-patient-y'all troubled state.

We're working hard on making this a thing that really works, and looks good, and is functional, and we're getting there. And holding an event at the same time. And one of our two computers has packed up and disappeared (see my earlier rants here and here. And never buy an HP) but we're ploughing through.

I also want to point your attention to the sidebar to the right. It's essentially going to be used to update you to whatever is happening with the blog that doesn't require a full post. Kind of, tweet-length updates. You'll see them happen periodically as I make changes to the blog and want to let you know, especially if it affects you, our wonderful visitors.

Please as always, feel free to let us know what you think about our new design or anything else connected with BCE - we love hearing from you!

We're Back! Sort of...

Nothing says "We're back! Sort of..." like cartoon dinosaurs.

Hello, and welcome to Brown Couch Events, where crazy nonsense is our middle name (Brown Couch "Crazy Nonsense" Events?)

As previously reported by our irate on-the-scene reporter Mr Couch, our computer blew up in a maelstrom of smoke and mild swearing (dagnabbit all! Golly gosh! Etc) and we invoked the extended warranty clause...when we asked the good man at our electrical retailer about when we'd have the computer back, he decided ambiguity was going to be his watchword. Basically this is what he said:

"well you know, the repair guys are always busy, and Christmas is coming up, and you know, they have a backlog, and the recession and everything, and one of their mothers is in hospital, and the football's on tv, and it's summer so the beach is calling, and you know, one of them has tai chi classes...so, maybe you'll have the computer back in...oh and Jimmy's son's best friend just made the soccer team so Jimmy will have to drive him to games I think...oh, you might have the computer back in 2012. But, hey don't quote me!"

In the end we threw our hands in the air and just bought a laptop.

In the meantime we got our old computer back, which is great. Double the BCE! I (Mr Couch) have been working on a redesign for the blog for some time now, which I hope to achieve soon, so there's that. Also, we had planned a Christmas event, but seeing we were electronically thrown back to the stone ages until not long before the event was due to start, it may be less elaborate than we had planned! But we still hope to go ahead with it.

In the meantime I would like to thank the on average, thirteen people a day who kept coming to our blog...we love you too! And we're still working hard on this thing.

So check back often and see if you can win some more stuff. We want you to! Oh, and feel free to write us if you have any questions or concerns.

The kaboom in our living room

Our computer is fine, just fine...oh, wait...

We have a $2000 paperweight in our living room, right now.

It's big and black and has a 22" screen diagonally and it died this morning, refusing to restart despite my verbal threats and histrionics (try and guess whether Mr Couch or Mrs Couch is writing this post?)

After two hard drive reformats - twice the fun! - it has decided to get back in the game, but we are invoking Article 14, Section VII, Paragraph (b)...the dreaded extended warranty. Cue ominous music!

So tomorrow we cart our huge black poorly-constructed, over-priced, overhyped, immensely-low-quality, bits-and-pieces-constantly-breaking, obviously-made-by-poor-Thai-peasants-"earning"-forty-cents-an-hour-waiting-for-their-socialist-revolution-which-will-never-come Hewlett-Packard computer back to the mall from whence it emerged with such excitement 18 months ago, which means, Brown Couch Events will be, shall we say, offline for a bit.

How long? The length of time it takes them to beat our computer senseless with a large object Not sure, unfortunately.

But bear with us! We here at BCE love you guys, and we want you to come back. We do. So if the cobwebs start to pile up a bit and dust gathers here and there, feel free to brush it aside for us while we're gone, and look forward to a bright new day when once again we offer more and wonderful giveaways and reviews!

And in the meantime, as always feel free to drop us a line. We love hearing from you!

And when we get our $2000 paperweight back, we might even respond.

Winners and buttons...

For those of you who won something during the massive close off of giveaways on the 31st October, just want to let you all know that your details have been passed on to the sponsors, and you should be receiving your loot soon :)

Of course if you have any problems e-mail us. We're happy to help.

Mrs Couch has been bugging me for a while now, to give all you winners something to put on your blogs if you like...a button that says, "you know what? I won something at BCE and I want to share it with the world". And I finally got around it after tussling for a few hours with GIMP.

It's that little picture you see up there...here's the code for it: (right click, "select all", then copy)

<a href="http://browncouchevents.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/adb7379/iwon.png" /></a>

So, y'know...if you feel like adding it, we love you very much. And if you don't...well, we love you anyway.

Have a fantastic day!

We pop and we don't stop...

The other day I posted an update saying that we had removed the word verification thingy from our comments, and that if anyone had any other suggestions, that we'd take 'em on board.

Well, we got an e-mail from someone wanting us to use a comment box that pops up, rather than the one that embeds. That way, said the person, when she clicked comment, she wouldn't lose her place on the page - an especially useful tool for those who respond to a lot of our giveaway posts.

So let it not be said that we do not listen! And, we now have comments that pop up in a box. However, I'd like feedback on this if anyone feels strongly about it. Do you love the idea? Do you hate it? Let us know by e-mailing us or by leaving a comment here.

Ask and ye shall receive........

Word verification: an evil, evil invention.

It was recently suggested by someone *cough* HI XENIA!!!!!!!! *cough* that it might be a good idea to ditch the whole word verification thing for comments, because it just adds to the time it takes to write comments. Especially if you earn extra entries.

So, we've disabled them, with a small caveat. If we see loads of this kind of thing:

bUy V1@gr@ onl!ne cheap $30/12 specal offr now

...then we might enable word verification again. But hopefully, this will make it easier for all you guys.

Also, we do want you all to feel free to contact us if there is something about the site you think can be improved/changed/added/etc. We take your comments seriously and we want to make this as good an experience for YOU as we can! So, if you have anything to say about the site, you know, drop us a line. We're nice 40% - 45% of the time.

To all 10,000 of you...

We're just...*sniff*...overcome with *sob*....emotion...

Noticed today, that we're comin' up on 10,000 unique hits in a couple days! Wow...seems like just yesterday I (Mr Couch) was pounding my head against the wall trying to design this blog just right.

But here we are, our baby is past 250 followers and just growing and growing...yes, he's even had his first catastrophic Photobucket outage. Good times.

Anyway, I don't want to get too emotional. I do want to say thanks to everyone who drops by, who enters giveaways, who reads reviews, who clicks links (32,000 times in total) and who is always so appreciative when I send a little e-mail saying you've won this or that.

BCE is growing...thanks for being here.

We're Back!

This was me yesterday upon seeing that our blog had returned to normal.

Yes no longer was the 'Matchy-Matchy' look, as Xenia put it, dominating our page. Gone was Photobucket's "you're straining our servers and we hate you" wallpaper. Now, it's back to normal. Yay!

A specially warm and nice round of thanks to everyone who showed their support.

And, believe it or not, we are actually coming to the end of the Back to School Thingy soon. I know! It's almost Christmas and the kids are absolutely BACK to school already. But we promised to get this done and we will!

Also, the Chaotic Kristy Baby Shower is...ongoing. We're getting through the posts and bringing you more giveaways to enter and fun to have! Naturally.

So, welcome back, thanks for comin', and let us know if you want to drop us a line!

Harvest of Friends Blog Party!

Mrs. Couch decided to join in the Harvest of Friends Blog Party hosted by Lynette of Dancing Barefoot. Let's play 20 Questions.

1. What is your favorite thing to snack on while you're blogging?

Chips & Salsa

2. What is one thing you wouldn't want to live without?

French Vanilla Coffee

3. Beach, Mountains or Farm? Where would you live if you had a choice?

On a farm in the mountains near the beach.

4. What's your least favorite chore/household duty?

Cleaning the bathroom.

5. Who do people say you remind them of?



6. Prefer parties and socializing or staying at home with the fam?

Me, Mrs. Couch, I'm the social butterfly.

7. What's your all time favorite movie?

It's A Wonderful Life

8. Do you sleep in your make up or remove it like a good girl every night?

Sleep

9. Do you have a hidden talent or a deep desire to learn something that you've never had a chance to learn? What is it?

Sign Language

10. What's one strange thing you're really good at?

not sure

11. What first attracted you to your spouse?

His smile.

12. What is something you love to smell?

Lilacs

13. Tell something about you that you know irritates people.

not sure

14. When you have extra money (HA!) what's the first thing you think to do with it?

Save it.

15. Are you a silent laugher or a loud laugher? What makes you laugh the hardest?

Loud. Myself.

16. Where is your favorite place to shop?

Old Navy

17. What's one thing you'd do more often if you had more time?

Sit in the sun by a pool reading an Agatha Christie mystery and drinking ice cold sweet tea.

18. Are you a big spender or frugal?

Frugal

19. Who is your favorite character of all time (from a movie or book)? (Can't be real)

Joe in Little Women

20. Would you want to be famous?

No.

Link up and join the fun - - - I hear there are prizes!

Our blog looks funny.......

This was me when I woke up this morning and checked our blog ----->

Yes, I wax my hair, 50's style.

It seems our blog has grown and grown and grown and grown and...well, grown some more. And our Photobucket account doesn't like that. PB gives us 10gb monthly of free bandwidth, and it seems we have gone past that limit. And thus, our blog has blown up.

So, until the 20th, you're going to see all those Photobucket things everywhere we're hosting on their site. It resets on the 20th, at which point I'll be able to see what I need to change (even I can't see my own images).

Now, if anyone wants to, you know, help us out here to stop our blog looking ridiculous for the next four days, then *cough* 24.95 *cough* that would be awesome. As always we're available here.

Thanks for your patience...and remember kids, when it comes to waxing your hair...just say no.

Encouragement

Perspective has always been a problem for me (Mr Couch). I tend to focus too sharply on things of little importance, often to my detriment. I'll sit here agonising over one little detail on this blog, and obsess endlessly until I get it right (in other words, until I win. Mr Couch=typical male).

Then, Mrs Couch will come over and tell me that it's alright, that the blog looks fine, and that I don't need to furrow my brow until thirty parallel lines appear on my forehead, just because the border is 3px when maybe 2px is fine? Of course, I'll go right back to taking care of that 1px. I'm stubborn like that.

But she has the ability to perk me right up. She gives me validation and assurance that things are fine, and though my pixel obsession might remain, it will be less of a burden than it was. Perhaps that is the most pressing form of encouragement - lightening someone else's load now and then.

And though Mrs Couch is the most amazing wife I could imagine, we all have the ability to encourage others and inspire. Just smiling at your barista in the morning, and giving a generous tip, can put that person's day on a whole other trajectory. Little things. You know.

We're starting our first event soon, the Back to School thingy. And it's going to be huge. I hope, (along with building up our little infant blog) that it serves to encourage everyone who participates, because there's nothing more gratifying than sending out that "you've won!" e-mail. It's good to encourage someone else.

Who can you encourage right now?

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

You know what I dislike more than anything...you go to a new blog, and then you come back a week later and it looks completely different. And you're saying to yourself, "is this even the same blog?" I just hate it when blogs do that.

Sort of like we just did.

Yes, folks, hark Brown Couch Events' "blue" phase. No, we're not traversing all the colours of the spectrum and no, there will be no fuschia phase! But Mr Couch has a problem with never being satisfied with what he's designed. And you know how it is, you're in the mall and you spot a blog background colour that you just HAVE to have...I mean, we've all been there.

Anyway, whatever colour background, the Back to School Thingy starts in about three weeks, and it's getting exciting. Thank you to all our sponsors (check out the ever-expanding list on the right) for the great prizes we will be giving away, and to everyone who has stopped by and commented. We are feverishly building some superduperfun games and other competitions and things, so that you get to win prizes and have fun at the same time!

Lastly, I want to remind everyone about the post below. We're offering you a chance to win an event! Which means we design an event for you, with buttons, a banner and the chance to review and keep lots of good stuff! All you have to do is comment on the post below, and tell us what fun/crazy event you would like to have!

Three things you don't know about us

Mr Couch is Australian - born in Adelaide, raised in Adelaide, Brisbane, and England. Mrs Couch is from Michigan, USA. I believe she's referred to as a Yankee. She's very Yankee-like. We were married in 2007 and have been living in Australia ever since!

Mrs Couch does a lot of the behind-the-scenes stuff with BCE: she contacts sponsors, organises competitions, she'll be posting a lot of the stuff to do with winners and updates for events...things like that. If you receive an e-mail from BCE, chances are it's her.

Mr Couch has the easy part does the graphic design for the blog. It's pretty much done, as you can see, but everything visible has been designed by Mr Couch. He's still learning CSS and HTML and the blog potentially took years off his life. But it seems to have worked out pretty well!

Well, that's more than three things. But anyway, Mr and Mrs Couch say hello!

This Twitter thing

Well, our Twitter Page is finally done. More than the lonely empty shell it used to be, without mirth or flavour, it now sparkles with the fresh-faced anticipation of a little kid on his first trip to the zoo.

Well, maybe it's not that exciting, but my somewhat improved skills with GIMP lead me to believe it may actually be alright to look at. Follow us by clicking the picture or the blue bird on the left of the page!

The Launch...and a bit about us

Hello, and welcome to brown couch events!

This is probably your first time visiting this page...so let us introduce you to what we do.

We are a husband and wife team, who in the jetsream of the brilliant Mommie Daze Virtual Baby Shower, decided to set up a blog dedicated to online events. Everyone celebrates events in their lives, from the significant (birthdays, weddings, housewarmings) to the mundane (getting audited)...what we're here for is to help you celebrate them! We bring people together, in a warm and fuzzy non-corporate way, so that you can participate in World Coffee Day meaningfully and socially, without leaving the comfort of your wifi. (Does anyone know if there is such a thing as World Coffee Day? There should be.) So, if throwing an event party sounds good to you, check out our event packages, introductorily-priced!

We also want to issue a shout also to all those in business, looking for an innovative and organic way of reaching your target. Sponsors are always welcome to contact us, either to provide products for an upcoming event (check our front page regularly to see what's coming) or to schedule a new event. Alternatively, if you are looking for a dynamic site on which to place your logo/button, we are growing and offer competitive advertising packages. We work well with those in business, because we know what's important to you. We're efficient, polite and we always respond promptly to e-mails.

Our first two events coming are the Back to School Thingy, and the Chaotic Kristy Baby Shower, both of which promise to be hugely fun. Check back for updates!

So that's a bit about who we are. If you'd like a bit more information, click away! - or visit some of the other links off to the left, too. And, if you need to contact us, go right ahead. We're usually nice. After that first coffee.

Earn Extra Entries!

PLEASE DON'T COMMENT HERE. TO ADD EXTRA ENTRIES PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS AT THE POST OF THE GIVEAWAY YOU ARE ENTERING!

For those of you entering our randomly-drawn giveaways, extra entries will be granted if you:

1. follow us on Twitter
2. subscribe to our RSS feed
3. Become our friend on Facebook
   
4. follow our blog (look to the left sidebar)
5. make a purchase from any of our sponsors for the event
6. blog about the giveaway you are entering
7. tweet about the giveaway you are entering
8. follow the sponsor of the giveaway you are entering, on Twitter (if applicable)
   
9. become a friend of the sponsor of the giveaway you are entering, on Facebook (if applicable)
10. leave a comment telling us how you got to our site (which site did you click from to get to us?)

So, if you enter a giveaway and do all of the above, you receive ten (count 'em!) more entries! Gosh, we're nice! I get dizzy just thinking about it.

Remember, you need to leave a separate comment for each of the above that you choose. So if you blog about the giveaway, subscribe to our RSS and make a purchase from a sponsor in that event, then you need to leave three comments.

If you enter more than one giveaway, make sure you tell us in each one, if you're doing any of the above ten things. Eg if you follow us on Twitter, tell us in each giveaway you enter.

Look for the above logo on our randomly-drawn giveaways for chances to earn extra entries to win, WIN, WIN!!!!!!

If you have any questions or concerns, please contact us!

PLEASE DON'T COMMENT HERE. TO ADD EXTRA ENTRIES PLEASE LEAVE YOUR COMMENTS AT THE POST OF THE GIVEAWAY YOU ARE ENTERING!

Our Event Buttons

To get our event buttons (below our logo), just right click below the image in the text box, click "Select All", and click "copy". Then simply paste to your blog/site!

Winners' Button 150x150px

<a href="http://browncouchevents.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/adb7379/iwon.png" /></a>

Christmas Event

<a href="http://browncouchevents.blogspot.com" target="_blank"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjiDIqybuCp0VOrAtnOSUIFUIUXwawNsI3mRJWlFOjoub1sWHc9ADv-kYiAyGpbTeXHtA8kj8XafmeXOmZRTSKzyKgCrDku1htNTGtNXFURtm3Icx6ousyumBhz68jRrIWy1-7Bndf5KQaS/s320/xmasbutton.png" /></a>

Our Logo - 200x200px

<a href="http://browncouchevents.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/adb7379/bce-200logo.jpg" /></a>

Our Logo - 200x160px

<a href="http://browncouchevents.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/adb7379/bce-160logo.jpg" /></a>

Our Logo - 125x125px

<a href="http://browncouchevents.blogspot.com/"><img src="http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/adb7379/bce-125logo.jpg" /></a>

The Back to School Thingy Promotional Video 2

<img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/object_element.gif" style="height: 200px; width: 410px; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="BLOGGER_object_1" />

The Back to School Thingy Promotional Video 1

<img src="http://www.blogger.com/img/object_element.gif" style="height: 168px; width: 207px; " class="BLOGGER-object-element tr_noresize tr_placeholder" id="BLOGGER_object_3" />

The Housewarming Teaser 1

<a href="http://browncouchevents.blogspot.com/2005/07/housewarming.html"><img src="http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/adb7379/hwp-teaser-1.jpg" /></a>

The Chaotic Kristy Baby Shower Teaser 2

<a href="http://browncouchevents.blogspot.com/2009/07/chaotic-kristy-baby-shower.html?zx=8d191b50b99eff32"><img src="http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/adb7379/kbs-teaser-2.jpg" /></a>

Back to School Teaser 2a (Side 2)

<a href="http://browncouchevents.blogspot.com/2009/07/back-to-school-thingy.html"><img src="http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/adb7379/bts-bce-2.png" /></a>

Back to School Teaser 2a (Side 1)

<a href="http://browncouchevents.blogspot.com/2009/07/back-to-school-thingy.html"><img src="http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/adb7379/bts-2sidelogo-3.png" /></a>

Back to School Teaser 2

<a href="http://browncouchevents.blogspot.com/2009/07/back-to-school-thingy.html"><img src="http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/adb7379/back2school-teaser2.png" /></a>

Back to School Teaser 1

<a href="http://browncouchevents.blogspot.com/2009/07/back-to-school-thingy.html"><img src="http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/adb7379/schoolthing.png" /></a>

The Chaotic Kristy Baby Shower Teaser 1

<a href="http://browncouchevents.blogspot.com/2009/07/chaotic-kristy-baby-shower.html"><img src="http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/vv276/adb7379/kbs-teaser1-2.jpg" /></a>

Contact Us

E-Mail address: browncouchevents@gmail.com
Twitter page: https://twitter.com/thebrowncouch
Facebook Page: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Brisbane-Queensland-Australia/Brown-Couch-Events/102466279146

Please note we endeavour to answer all e-mails within twenty-four hours. Feel free to contact us with questions, comments, suggestions, anything at all. Talk to us!

If you wish to contact us regarding scheduling an event, becoming a sponsor in an event, or advertising, please see our respective pages first. But feel free to contact us if you require further assistance.

P.R.

We welcome contact from P.R. personnel - please e-mail us and we will respond as soon as possible.

If you wish to contact us regarding a current or upcoming event, please include the name of the event in the subject line. We welcome suggestions for upcoming events, and the opportunities to work with corporate sponsors.

If you feel that your communication with us relates strictly to becoming a sponsor in an event or scheduling a new event, please see the respective pages.

Please note that any products submitted for review are non-returnable, but appreciated!

For Sponsors

To become a sponsor of an event or single item giveaway, please e-mail us the following:

• whether you are sponsoring an event (and which one) or single item giveaway
• your logo (in jpeg or png format)*, to feature in a post and the sidebar (please note 200 x 200px limit)
• an image of the giveaway item (in jpeg or png format)
• any restrictions on product shipping (eg USA only, USA/Canada only, worldwide, etc)
• Twitter ID/Facebook profile link if applicable
  

Participating as a sponsor in an event or single item giveaway is easy and can boost traffic to your site or blog, and increase awareness of your product.

BCE offers two main channels through which you can engage the blogosphere.

Being a Sponsor in an Event: BCE hosts themed events of many kinds; some events have been scheduled by third parties, whereas others are hosted by BCE topically (eg Christmas, Back to School). BCE is always seeking sponsors to contribute products related to events, to be used in the format of a giveaway or a review**. Sponsors have their logo featured in a post with a short spiel about their product/business, and their logo/button on a BCE sidebar for the length of the event.

Sponsoring a Single Item Giveaway: Have a single product you would like featured? We would be happy to promote your product in a post and organise a giveaway, outside of any events going on at BCE.

Either way, your product and company will receive fantastic exposure and help grow your business!



* BCE reserves the right to decline the use on its site of any sponsor logos, content or products it may deem offensive.
** Any products submitted for review are non-returnable.