NIVEA are celebrating their 100 year birthday at the moment and as part of the celebrations have launched 'A Million Moments of Closeness' campaign where you are invited to help prove Britain is now closer than ever before. You are invited to upload photos of beautiful shared moments of closeness with your loved ones at facebook.com/niveauk. They will also be holding road shows across the UK that you can pop along to. Every day a lucky winning photo will be chosen and awarded a £100 prize.

There is a great video that features psychologist Geoff Beattie who was always my favourite 'behavioural expert' on Big Brother, he used to appear on Little Brother often as well as Big Brother's Big Brain which was a whole show dedicated to looking at the emotional issues of the housemates. In it he tries to show that Britain is now closer than ever thanks to the Internet and social media outlets. A lot of people criticise the Internet and say that it's actually making us all further apart, how can a virtual smiley face ever really compare to seeing a gorgeous toothy grin up close and personal? Isn't a text message just lazy and impersonal? I definitely see their point – while social media can do a lot there's nothing in this world that can compete with a real life squeeze from a loved one when you are feeling down – but think of all the positives and the million moments of closeness sites like Facebook have made happen, that otherwise simply wouldn't have done.

There are families who live apart who can now be kept constantly up to date on each other's lives, share photos almost instantly from the big events in their lives (and the smaller ones, too) or even really feel like they are there thanks to free video messaging. Think of all the old school friends or even lovers that have reconnected that simply never would have found each other again.

Research has shown that communicating via the Internet as we do these days can help us Feel Closer in our relationships as we are much more likely to be open and honest with our emotions online – and it's true, since moving away from home and doing most of my communication with my brother via Facebook and Skype we have become a lot closer, we have always got on well but were not close for the last several years since he moved out of our family home. Now we chat daily and always know what is going on in each other's lives.

I have also recently discovered an amazing weight loss community site called MyFitnessPal – it's like Facebook for people looking to lose weight where you can make friends, do status updates, comment on each others walls as well as track your food, exercise and weight. It's the most supportive community I have ever been a part of, every time I log a work out I have done I get several comments telling me 'well done' or if I am having a bad day they will rally around to tell me to keep my chin up – up until a few years ago I wouldn't even tell my fiance my weight but I feel so comfortable on MyFitnessPal that I am happy to share every facet of my weight loss journey and body with people who are essentially complete strangers.

So how do you feel about it all? Why not enter the competition yourself and join in the debate

Sponsored Post

Viral video by ebuzzing

Well the good news is that I am back on the dieting wagon after falling off it a few months ago. I’m eating healthily having cut out the naughty snacks like chocolate and sausage rolls and exercising daily.

At the moment I am only doing around 30 minutes a day most days as we have been spending all out spare time working on the house and I am sure that burns plenty of calories, more so than I usually do sitting around all day on the computer all day any way.

Today’s task is to fit the stainless steel kitchen sinks in the bathroom and kitchen. We took a long time picking out the sinks and faucets we wanted and finally settled on a lovely stainless steel kitchen sink set that fits both our tastes which is pretty rare, it was also a bargain as we picked it up in the sale.

It’s a good day to be stuck inside doing DIY as it’s cold, rainy and windy out there – brrr.

The 30 minutes of exercise I have been doing recently is the Jillian Michael’s 30 day shred, it’s an absolute killer which is why you can get away with only doing 30 minutes. So far I am only on level one (of three) so still have a way to go but so far I am enjoying it and hope to start seeing some benefits soon

I was just on itunes looking for new apps for my iPad, it seems like ages since I got any thing new for it and with a long journey coming up I wanted something new to tickle my fancy. I'd much rather spend the time working out than sitting down but I don't think that's really possible within the confines of a coach

I came across an interesting new iPad application from Ringier called 'The Collection' and it sounds promising.

It's a monthly appazine that will take an entertaining and unique look at the most talked about global topics, so there will always be new content available which is a great way to keep your readers interested. The first edition which is already out and available to grab right now from the appstore cover the Royal Family – of course, how could it be about any thing else? The amount of global attention last months Royal Wedding got was quite amazing to me – I obviously knew it was going to be a big deal here in the UK what with it being an official bank holiday and all but I didn't realise that the Americans and Australians would embrace it quite as much as they did also.

What I like so far about 'The Collection' is that it's not just your run of the mil articles, it has loads of pictures, takes a more interesting look at things and even offers some interactive features as well like the ability to send a message to the happy couple and play with the crown jewels. I already can't wait to see what the next edition will bring

Sponsored Post

Sharing propelled by ebuzzing

This is a Sponsored post written by me on behalf of Toms of Maine. All opinions are 100% mine.

Have you heard of Tom's Of Maine? They are a company selling all natural and eco-friendly personal care products that have been in business for almost 40 years now. They have a great new range of dental products known as Wicked Fresh!™ – these products include things like mouthwash and toothpaste.

They have recently asked for people to share their favourite personal 'Wicked Fresh' moments and it reminded me of a couple of weeks ago when we had two foot of snow – I jumped into a massive pile of it and started to make snow angels. My fiance wanted to take photos so I was down there for a while – it certainly was a lot of fun and it certainly was fresh – but I was not quite so pleased with myself after getting home a while later and having a very sore frost bitten bottom

If you have a Wicked Fresh moment you'd like to share why not visit the That's Wicked Fresh contest page where by sharing your story you will be in with the chance of winning a pretty 'wicked' prize. Having previously given away an eco-friendly trip to The Big Apple and with a $500 Target giftcard currently on offer it's definitely worth a punt!

For all the latest news and information from Tom's Of Maine please visit their Facebook page and follow them on Twitter @tomsofmaine.

At the moment you can Win £40000 thanks to Paypal. That's the equivalent of a years salary – can you imagine that, winning an entire years earnings in one fell swoop? Would you be sensible and invest or save it so that you could enjoy the rest of the year knowing your are financially set – or would you splurge and blow the lot on a fancy new car or holiday of  a lifetime? Personally I'd do a bit of both, I would be sensible with half of the money and go wild with the rest – £20k would certainly be enough to pay for the small wedding and long honeymoon in Australia we have planned for January 2012. We have worked out it would cost around £10k but that's on a budget, that's staying in the cheapest hotels and only inviting a handful of guests, with double the budget it really would be a wedding to remember

It's really straight forward to enter too, you don't have to do anything you wouldn't already do – just use Paypal the same way you do every day and each time you purchase something you'll gain an entry to the sweepstake that gets drawn each week. So if you buy 15 items at £1 each throughout the week that's 15 chances you have at scooping the big prize. The competition runs until December 5th so you have plenty of chances to win.

I personally made 3 separate order on Asos.com via paypal a few days ago before I even knew about the competition and am now excited that these small purchases may win me a smooth £40k. I ordered two swimming costumes, two pairs of swimming shorts and a gorgeous necklace and earring set.

So many UK retailers accept paypal as a payment method that it should be really easy to gain entries. Why not head on over to Boots.com and grab yourself some vitamins to keep your body in tip top condition or even pop on over to Superdrug and get some Slim Fast products. I am going to order a new heart rate monitor from Lloyds Pharmacy tomorrow for myself as my current one has been playing up for a while and I have kept saying I am going to treat myself to a new one

Find out more by following the link to your left and be sure to read the full terms and conditions here:

https://www.paypal-marketing.co.uk/win/terms/

Why not Enter now for your chance to win? You'd be mad not to

Sponsored Post

Have you seen the HP- Be A Star interactive video? I came across it a few days ago now and it's a lot of fun. You basically create a video where you are the star and get a taste of what it must be like to live a celebrity lifestyle. Take a look at the one I created myself to get an idea of what it's all about

Isn't it funny? That's a picture of me in the video! It was really simple to create as well, I just connected it to my Facebook account and it gave me the choice of which of my already uploaded photos to use and filled in the details such as my name. But even if you don't have a Facebook account it's still really simple as all you do is upload a photo of yourself, enter your name and select the lovely HP laptop that most represents your personal style.

If you create a video for yourself be sure to share it with all your friends via Facebook and Twitter and once you have grab the provided bit.ly URL and send it my way – there's a competition going on where the person who sends in the most can win a HP laptop and I would love that prize to be mine. Can you believe I have never actually owned a laptop before?

And keep up to date with all the latest HP news by liking them on Facebook:

http://www.facebook.com/HPUK

Sponsored Post

Share hosted by Wikio

So I was on youtube earlier looking up boxing videos and came across this, watch it from start to finish.

The first thing I thought was how random was that? My second thought was that I was sure I recognised the guy getting boxed in the third thing I thought was – hmm Daim, that looks like a Dime bar used to.

Sure enough after reading the description I realised said guy getting boxed was Kavana, random few-hit-wonder from the mid 90s and indeed Daim is the new name for the Dime bar – realising these two things answered my first query about what the heck the video was all about – it’s about the fact the dime bar is back!

Glorious, more delicious chocolate I need to avoid

How’s this for amusing – my fiance and I are trying to set up a joint bank account ready for when we move in together in a few months time, but despite the fact I have three accounts with my bank already they won’t let us get a joint account until I can prove my home address. Simple for most people, but since I don’t drive or claim benefits or pay the utility bills here I don’t have any thing. I have had to sign up for a new credit card with a different bank just so I can get a statement from them. It’s ridiculous.

Well I finally got my first statement from that credit card today and I now need to scan it and send it to my fiance so he can take it to the bank down there – but I was a little nervous about doing this as obviously it’s not safe to have all those details floating around online.

So I did a search and quickly found iSigned – secure online storage for legal and other important documents – it seems just the ticket. All you have to do is register and upload the important document then give whoever you want to have permission to view it the right to – they will be able to access it but no one else will, perfect!

iSigned can be used by individuals for reasons like the one above but can also be suitable for business use. You can sign up for a free trial and then if you like what you see you can pay a monthly fee to use the full service

I am always on the look out for new weight loss and general health communities to join online, I have found them really useful over the last three years that I have been on this weight loss journey.

The first one I discovered was pretty basic, just allowing you to track your weight, have a profile and blog – then around a year later I found another one that was much bigger and had so much information, as well as food logs, exercise logs, tools to help you find out what calories you should be consuming each day and some really active forums.

I recently came across another one as well at www.wellnessdaily.com and it seems like it’s going to suit me down to the ground. They have so many articles covering many subjects from how to lose weight to how to keep it off once you reach your goals – this is something I need to start thinking about looking into myself.

They also have loads of videos, including one from Jillian Michaels on how to get the best out of a Kettlebell which I am watching right now, I have wanted to have a go with Kettlebells ever since I saw them on the first UK series of The Biggest Loser.

Wellnessdaily.com also have a contest going on at the moment via Twitter where you can win gym memberships and a years supply of Jennie-o turkey among other things – you can read all the information about how to enter that by following this link.

I don’t think Wellnessdaily is going to take over from my favourite community just yet as they don’t have many interactive features but with so many articles and constantly updating content it’s definitely going into my bookmarks folder

I have often thought that I should write ebooks with my tips in them, but who’d buy them? There is so much information out there already why would someone buy something from a ‘no one’ like me?

Well I came across missupload.com a few days ago and it looks like it might be the perfect solution – it’s a Free File Hosting site but you can earn money when people download one of your files. You get 25mbs of space for free which would be plenty of space to house a few short ebooks – then when your file has been downloaded 1000 times you get $10 sent to your paypal account. They also have a premium service where you can get up to 500mbs of space, faster downloads and no adverts.

It isn’t going to cost me any thing except some of my free time to write the book so I am definitely going to give it a go and see how long it would take me to get 1000 downloads

If it works out I will definitely consider going for a premium account.