As further proof that a) I have awesome friends and b) the ones I've met on Twitter are extra awesome, I am very lucky to be joining the super-chic-geek Emma Cossey in my first ever trip to Cybher in a couple of weeks. 

Emma won the tickets through The High Tea Cast, and knowing that I too was a bit of an online addict, invited me along for the big day. It's basically an all-female, all-blogger geekfest where we get to listen to some talented speakers, learn something, network and say things like 'What's your Twitter handle?' and 'Ooh, nice iPad'. 

Cybher are just so obsessed with the web that they even suggest we do our little 'meet and greet' on our sites as an ice-breaker - so here's a little about me...

Name: Judy Johnson. Not Judy Jay, which I thought was a clever Twitter name which was created by spelling out the initial of my surname. Now people just think it's my actual name, but I'm happy with both. 

Blogs: Obviously I am here on my own site, which is part blog, part portfolio. I also blog every week for Dollymix, and for Wahanda as part of my day job as their Site Editor. Beauty and TV seem to be my favourite subjects but I cover anything that's lifestyle related.

Twitter ID: @judy_jay

Height: 5'10 last time I checked. I don't like to check. Probably 5'11 but that's a scary thought. 

Hair: Rubbish. Natural blonde. Should have been curly, so thank god for tongs. 

Five things you should know about me:

1. I'm 26 and it terrifies me. I'm one of those idiots who grew up thinking somehow I won't really get old, or that if I have to, The Plan will all work out and I'll be married with kids by the age of 30. Turns out I was wrong on both counts! I fully blame Disney, FYI.

2. The nineties rock my world. Boybands, Dreamphone, Clueless... what's not to love?

3. Ibiza is my second home, or so I like to think. I work hard but party hard too. 

4. I hate shoes. Which kind of kills my Carrie Bradshaw image, but hey, the money I'll save can go towards those Ibiza trips. 

5. I am quite well known for my headbands (see crap hair comment). I'm rarely seen without one and I don't think it's a phase I will ever grow out of, much like my love for green eyeshadow which has been going strong since 2002.

Thanks for e-meeting and e-greeting me and I hope to see you at Cybher!

I hate shoes. You know what shoes are? They're prisons for the feet, that's what they are. They're tight and uncomfortable and they dig into your ankles, rub your toes until they bleed and make walking painful. If I could live in slippers all day, I would. 

This isn't a new thing for me but after a recent event where I had to wear actual shoes instead of my preferred boots, as well as one shopping trip too many that made me miserable due to the lack of choice, I felt the need to rant. You've been warned...

Size matters

Most girls love shoes. Apparently this stems from the fact that your shoe size doesn't change no matter how much weight you put on over Christmas or how many Easter eggs you eat. But for me, size is part of the issue. Being tall, I am a size eight (in shoe, sadly not dress size) - have you ever tried to find shoes in the sale that are a size eight? The ones that are left are usually ugly, loafer-type shoes or huge wedges that I wouldn't be seen dead in. Screw you, size fives.

Heels are hell

Then there's the heel issue. I can't walk in heels. Hell, I can't even stand in them. Recently someone advised me not to go to a black tie event unless I was going to wear heels (I ignored them, and it was fine, apart from then having to wear flat shoes that cut my feet) which, had they been right, would have really made me angry - talk about discrimination! Of course, men also like women in heels, and therefore I feel less attractive than my stiletto-loving friends. How is it fair that pain-inducing accessories should make me feel like less of a woman? It isn't, is it?

Stilettos aren't everything

None of the above would really be a problem if only there was enough choice out there, but as every dreaded shoe shopping trip has taught me, it's near impossible to find feminine, non-bulky flat boots. In the summer it's fine - open toe gladiators and sandals are lifesavers, but for the rest of the year, and for clubbing (no idiot wears open toe shoes clubbing) I have to look like the odd one out. Is it so much to ask that the people who design these beautiful looking high heels spare a few hours to design a boot that's light and girly,  pretty and elegant, without a high heel? And don't even get me started on shoe boots...

So that's why I hate shoes. In fact, their only redeeming feature is that they cover my other hate: feet. More on that later...

P.S. Sorry Charley :)

Less than an hour ago I was saying how I could do with some more time to do all the little ideas racing around my head. Then I opened my Emerald Street email that I'd flagged in my inbox earlier and made my life a little more difficult by checking out Incredibox. Goodbye, productivity! Hello, new toy!

Incredibox is an app which, as far as I can see, has no real use other than to entertain. Just what I need - another site to get hooked on. But this is so much fun -  all you do is create your own little boyband (sadly no early Take That-style dance moves here) by dragging and dropping the various options in beats, melodies, effects and vocals onto the animated men and there you have it, you're creating your own music. You can record what you create, share it and play their bonus clips which so far I've found are songs that they've made themselves. 

Pointless? Yes. Entertaining? Double yes. No matter what you mix together, whether it's mostly beats or one of each of the categories, nothing sounds bad. I love the little touches such as the men's eyes following the mouse on both the homepage and the composing section, and the different hats and costumes each character is wearing. Definitely one to bookmark!

What sites do you use for a bit of time out?

I didn't write any New Year's resolutions this year - at least, not here - because the ones from 2011 pretty much still stand and were well worth keeping up. But, 2012 has been hectic so far and it doesn't look like it will slow down anytime soon, so I thought I'd share what I've been up to...

Ticking the 'Over 25' box

In January I turned 26, which is terrifying for obvious reasons. I'm closer to 30 than 20. I should probably start using eye cream. I still haven't accomplished any of what in my mind I would by the time I reached this age, and still feel 21 at heart. So naturally, I was dreading this birthday a little - but funnily enough, it was quite possibly my best ever. OK, so in all the Christmas rush I forgot to take the day off work for it (muppet), but I planned a night out at LVPO and invited pretty much everyone I know in the hope that maybe a handful would show up, and was overwhelmed by how many friends came along. I danced like a moron (see previous 21-at-heart comment), saw people I hadn't seen in 6 months or more and generally had a brilliant night. Yay!

Learning some moves

I've been moaning about getting fit for a while now, and while I wait for WaterCrew classes to return to London (or until someone buys me a WaterRower - those things are SO expensive!), I've been getting fit the fun way with Zumba. Now, I know that this word is everywhere, together with quite irritating pictures of people looking like they're laughing AND exercising (freaks) but it actually is brilliant. And you will laugh. As a lover of all things Shakira, the music is right up my street and even if I am wearing a sports bra and lame trainers, I love the moves and little shimmies that are involved. It's fun, energetic and not too expensive - fitness win. (Plus, Wahanda have offers on Zumba pretty often. And you can use JJ21 for 10% off anything. You're welcome.)

Blogging, blogging, blogging

I know I'm not the most dedicated of bloggers when it comes to this site - but the thing is, I'm writing for lots of other sites too! In February I was very happy to start writing for the brilliant folks at Aigua Media - they have such a great range of sites and I'm proud to be part of it. So, tune in to sites like Dollymix and Kiss and Makeup to see me writing about television, break-up songs and much much more. And of course check out their other sites such as Catwalk Queen, Shoewawa and The Bag Lady. You won't be disappointed!

Continuing to not understand men

Yep, I still don't get them. After countless chats with my ever-patient girlfriends about one guy who, despite me liking him (and him displaying signs of liking me but then disappearing again), I have had to put in the Never Going To Happen file, and very little else going on, I am still very single and a bit bored of it - last year I enjoyed it, but now it just seems so 2011. Add to that a very, very random bunch of flowers landing on my desk on Valentine's Day, with nothing but a weird quote from Keates (thanks Twitter for telling me), and I'm as baffled as ever. (Please, can someone own up? Thanks!)

Plotting and planning

This year, I promised myself I would see more and do more (yeah, maybe I did make a little resolution after all) - so I've been planning my getaways. Fingers crossed they happen; I've got my ticket secured for Hideout Festival in Croatia (aka the new Ibiza, although frankly, who needs a new Ibiza when you already have awesome original Ibiza?), plans to visit my friend in Dubai, tickets for Blood Brothers, and the lineup for Lovebox is looking pretty good too. This year is going to fly by, isn't it?

Did you start any New Year's resolutions this year? How are they going?

It's not like I needed a new social network to take up more of my time. Twitter is already a way of life for me now - I probably tweet even more than I text - and Facebook, despite my general dislike for it, is something I visit daily even if it is just to spy. So when my boss told me about Pinterest I wasn't in a rush to get involved - but then I pinned my first thing and it got a little out of control...

Pinterest is essentially an online scrapbook, or mood board, of the pictures, photos, illustrations, whatever, that you love. Whoever came up with it is an utter genius. It is so simple; all you need do is drag the 'Pin it' button into your browser and you can pin anything, wherever you are on the web. A little like Tumblr, I guess, but faster, simpler, easier.

What I can't get over (and the reason I was on it until 1am midweek) is that there is just no reason to stop. I can pin for hours. Unlike Twitter or Facebook where once everyone's in bed or starting to talk utter rubbish it's time to close the laptop and stop, Pinterest doesn't require other people. They just make it better. So there I was last week, Googling my favourite David Downton illustrations so I could have them in one place; finding screenshots of Friends scenes that make me cry with laughter; looking up inspirational quotes and my favourite artists. I could have kept going, but the impending shrill of my alarm clock made me stop.

Of course, it is about being social, and other people's pins just make it even more addictive. Your homepage will be filled with the images that your fellow pinners have been discovering, liking and commenting on - a wealth of inspiration all in one place, all on different subjects which you can search within if you're looking for more of a certain topic. Follow people, follow specific boards - use it however you want to.

As much as I love writing, and I love tweeting, the problem with having a Tumblr or a Twitter account is that so many of the great things you link to get lost, as newer posts knock them back down the timeline. With Pinterest, it's all images - brilliant for those photos that speak for themselves, and more effective, with more immediate an impact, than reading something; and you can keep going back to it, admiring all those dreamy pictures you've found with ease. Like I said, genius.

Spoken like a true addict, eh? See my pins over at http://pinterest.com/judy_jay/ - and feel free to leave your username in the comments so I can follow yours.

I have to say, I did not see this one coming. I admit, I obsess over things quite easily, whether it's a place (Ibiza), a person (Ryan Gosling, obvs) or a mascara (currently Max Factor's Masterpiece Max). But after the crackle nail craze, which I eventually grew bored of, I really wasn't sure the next gimmick would live up to the hype - magnetic nails.

I'm sure everyone who paints their nails has heard of this by now but in case you haven't, it was 2011's way of jazzing up nails at home. Gone are the days of French manicures and single colours - it's all about nail art made easy these days. The polishes have fine metal particles which, when you hover a magnet over the top of them (when still wet), create a shape or design.

One of my lovely besties bought me my first magnetic polish for part of my birthday gift earlier this month, and it wasn't one of the brands I've seen on any of the beauty blogs I follow. The polish is by FashionistA in collaboration with girl group The Saturdays, a range called Magnetism. The shade is perfect; I have the 'Ego Green' which in the bottle looks like a gorgeous dark jewel-like colour and I couldn't wait to give it a go. The magnet that you need is sold separately (which thankfully the bestie thought to buy, as I am told a regular fridge magnet doesn't work. Baffling.) but fits nicely on top of the lid of the varnish bottle so that you don't lose it. 

I painted my nails with one coat, and adored the colour - I'd happily wear it even without the magnetic pattern. Then, after applying a second coat, while it was still wet I hovered the magnet over the top. It has a useful ridge which you can use to keep it steady and close without touching the polish. After just 10 seconds, I took it away and hey presto - I had a really pretty 'wave' design on the nail. With no extra work!

Because of the way the polish moves with the magnet, it pushes that top coat into a shape, so the waves are a darker green than the first layer. I added a clear top coat to make it extra shiny and chip-proof and loved its almost tortoiseshell look - so much smoother and glossier than the shatter polishes, which despite looking cool always looked a little messy. Even better, it lasted a good four days which for me and my nails is not bad at all. Will definitely be buying some more colours and exhausting this trend... 

Have you tried magnetic polish? Any brands you'd recommend I try to satisfy my new-found obsession?

 

My mouth has got me into trouble quite a few times. From telling my sister when I was 8 that I saw a ghost in our room (sorry, not true) to saying a bit too much on what would otherwise have been the best date ever (still gutted, and pretty sure that’s the reason it ended there!), I tend to be a bit too honest for my own good. 

When I was little, I generally agreed with anything my sister said, even if it meant lying; but then I got older, realised I had an opinion and kind of lost sight of what was helpful and honest and what was just better left unsaid. I'm not talking just the little things, like whether or not you like the wooly jumper your nan got you for Christmas (a white lie never hurt anyone, as they say), but also the bigger things. Do you stand up for yourself if you think someone's done you wrong? Do you tell someone if you think they're wasting their time on someone or something? I seem to lack that filter of when to keep it buttoned and while I LOVE honesty in other people and see it as part of having a backbone, I'm not sure I should always spill the beans.

Recently I’ve either said too much to someone and regretted it (like round the dinner table this Christmas, telling my sister she’s blatantly the tougher, meaner one in her relationship – oops) or heard people moaning about in-laws or friends who just need to keep their thoughts to themselves, even if they do mean well. I’m glad it’s not just me that has honestitis, but at what point do you hold back? I seem to be surrounded by people with strong opinions, which I think is great (far better than an ignorant drip round the dinner table) but sometimes it seems no one wants to hear mine…

Whether it’s about babies (don’t do it like that), men (he’s clearly a prick), family (you’ve made the wrong decision), or work (that’s not how I’d do it), it’s really hard to get the balance right between getting your voice heard and giving good advice, and hurting someone’s feelings – or just making them plain angry.

When do you keep your lips sealed and when do you speak up?

Yes, it’s the obligatory look-back-at-the-year post that everyone does but it’s been quite a year so it deserves it, don't you think? There haven’t been as many changes as I’d hoped for but I’ve ticked off a few things from the to-do list, more so than I have in any other year. There have been a decent number of ups, a few too many downs but it was a huge improvement on 2010… so, 2012, can you do better than this? 

In 2011, I:

Learned Spanish

Ok, so I haven’t learned ALL the Spanish there is to learn, but I made a start, which is fairly impressive for me – I’m generally all talk when it comes to aspirations. I did level one and two with Cactus language and am hoping I can stretch some pennies to cover level three in the new year so I can get further than just ‘I’m from England’ and ‘walk straight on’. Seriously.

Revisited Ibiza

...and had the best holiday of my life. I may say this every time I go to another country (I love to travel, in case you’d missed that) but seriously, this really was the best.  I discovered Flower Power at Pacha, I partied every single night, I forgot all about home troubles and really, well and truly had fun. I also met some great people and one who I still think about a little too often, but that's another story...

Got my second nephew! 

Brandon is quite possibly the cutest baby ever (don’t tell the other nephew) and is also the easiest to look after – having spent the last week with him I have been dubbed by my family as ‘good with kids’ a ‘natural mum’ and if Brandon could speak I am sure he would say I am pretty goddamn funny, because he smiles a LOT.

Had my first ever feature published in print 

I freelance whenever I can and this year I was lucky enough to write for Expert Beauty, for their special issue during Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Writing all about boobs and what the risks are when it comes to this horrid disease, not only did I learn a lot, but I learned more about the ways of freelancing and felt more like a journalist than ever. More to come next year!

Went to my first UK festival

Yes, I donned my boots (I never have owned wellies) and went down to Brighton for the Shakedown festival and partied in the rain like a true music-loving Brit. Ed Sheeran and Example were brilliant, the toilet queues were not so brilliant, but all in all I loved it and can't wait to do some more festivals next year, funding-dependent.

Sadly, it wasn't all good in 2011 - there was plenty of bad stuff going on too. From supporting my parents as they put their all into setting up a business, having it pretty much sabotaged by an evil woman who shall have to remain nameless and then comforting them when it went horribly wrong and left them both ill, to then saying goodbye to my hometown, officially, after they had to move due to business/job changes/landlord changes, I stressed myself out way too much with their problems as well as mine. Plus I discovered that being single is often tough; being single when none of your friends are is tougher. Booo. 

But, all is not lost - 2011 was better than 2010 by miles, and though I am about to turn 26 (holy crapola) I am planning a pretty fantastic and travel-tastic 2012 already. Wish me luck!

Everyone always asks what you got for Christmas, but we don’t really do presents for myself and my sisters now, and rightfully so (though I did get a perfume, thanks mum and dad, you rock). We treat my over-excited nephews instead, and as I am the single one with no mouths to feed other than my own Malteser-loving one I tend to buy for parents too, with something small for the sisters. So instead of telling you what I got for Christmas, which to be honest I hate hearing from people (er, boasting much?!), I thought I’d share what I gave - you never know, it might help you when shopping next year...

For mum: 

My mum is beauty-obsessed, and clearly where I got my passion for makeup from. I always treat her to something beauty related as well as giving her freebies throughout the year (very lucky I can do that thanks to my job, occasionally) so this year I gave a mixture. First up was Divaderme brush-on lashes (on a Wahanda deal, of course), and she absolutely loves them. I have to say I am impressed she puts them on so well, as I had Twitter feedback that it was fiddly, but she seems to have got the hang of it very quickly and won't stop talking about them. Tick! 

Next up was Benefit’s Foam Cleanser, which she loves after trying out their new range when I got her a sample set in the summer. For a woman who won’t step away from her Clinique, Estee Lauder and Clarins creams, this is an achievement for  me – I've got her hooked on affordable yet lovely skincare! I also got her the latest Nicholas Sparks book, a makeup bag for all those cosmetics and a perfume called Tous that came from a beauty journalist friend and that smelt fresh and dewy. Double tick!

For dad: 

My dad hates sport, doesn’t do much gardening and rejects most new helpful gadgets so can be tricky to buy for, so this year I went for tried and trusted presents. A cord shirt from Marks and Sparks’ Blue Harbour range, a book on motorbikes, and an Amazon voucher all went down very well to start with, and then I gave a meditation CD from Meditainment (thanks Twitter for the recommendation) because I want him and my mum to learn how to relax in 2012... it's about time they put their feet up and stopped worrying so I'm showing them how it's done!

For the 2 year old nephew:

A jacket with detachable sleeves from Matalan, aka the queen of affordable baby clothes - I love that place and always find something good for the kids in there. I also found bathtub crayons on the almighty Amazon so he can draw in the bath ( I want some too!) and a Fireman Sam backpack. Smiles all round.

For the 3 month old nephew: 

A very very very cute outfit, also from Matalan, and some nursery cube thingies that were Winnie the Pooh branded from M&S – overpriced but supersoft and will look lovely in his new nursery, even if he has no idea what to do with them...

For the grandparents:

My dear grandparents needed cheering up so I used Interflora to send them a hamper this year - I'd never done it before as I worried they were too fussy to like much in any of them but they were so happy with it (I heard how amazing the basket was about ten times, anyway) that I think I'll be doing that every year from now on. Easy!

I couldn't leave out my two older sisters and their partners, so they got an Amazon voucher (seriously, isn’t Amazon just amazing?) and chocolate coins. Can’t go wrong!

The best bit about this Christmas was having all the family around - cheesy, but true - but I do love knowing that I've got someone a gift that they really love. What did you give this year that you’re a bit proud of? Go on, give me ideas for next year…