Cityline Celebrates Tracy Moore's 1000th Show - My View From The Front Row

A Little Twitter Told Me

I am often asked how I find out about the great events we get to attend.  My answer is almost always "I found out about it online!" The same is true for this fabulous occasion!  A while back I saw a tweet about applying for a commemorative Cityline episode so I immediately let Diane know.  She is a big Cityline fan and I knew she would be able to create the perfect writeup for the application.

Soon after she found out that we did make the cut and we would be in the audience for Tracy Moore's 1000th Show on Cityline!  We knew it would be big once we were asked our t-shirt size and that they would be worn during the taping, but we had no idea about all the fanastic gifts we would receive along the way!

Blackberry Z10's, Cadbury Chocolate, Pandora Bracelets, Modern Muse Perfume and get this a Swatch watch (doesn't that take you back?)

Before all the gift giving and show recording began, Tracy was wonderful enough to come out and greet the audience and made a point of talking about how she had been tweeting with us (mostly Diane who suddenly found her voice on twitter) since the annoucement we had been selected to attend.  When she realized that we were the "tiara girls" she started to tell the audience members that she has met us at many other social media events (hence the I found it online statement that I am best known for).

Being part of Tracy's special day was wonderful and we can't wait to run into her again, but for now you can catch us tweeting with the always fabulous Tracy Moore!

Congratulations Tracy!

Post by Lisa McDonald.

Four Great Kitchen Hacks

Be A Little Crafty In The Kitchen

Are you on the look out for tips and tricks to make your life easier? Try these four How To's for your kitchen and see if they help you take charge of your kitchen.


1. Cook Chicken Breasts In Your Steamer
The easiest way to cook chicken breasts are by putting them in your steamer.  No more dried out chicken with this simple switch.  Need a recipe to that uses steamed chicken? Learn how by reading the make a meal in about 20 minutes with chicken that has been steamed.

2. Make A Bread Basket From A Cloth Napkin
Take a look at this video demonstration of a napkin being folded into a basket in less than 30 seconds!



3. Open A Jar Using A Butter Knife
I remember being amazed the first time I saw someone do this.  Perhaps I am not the only one who didn't know how simple it is to use a butter knife to open a tightly sealed jar.



4. Tie A Tenderloin Roast Before Grilling
A tied tenderloin helps when grilling. The roast cooks evenly and will not break apart. For instructions on how to properly prepare a tenderloin roast for grilling what the video demo below



Now I'm not sure if I can do that last one in under 3 minutes yet, but I know practice makes perfect!


Do you have a great Kitchen Tip? Let me know in the comments below!

How To Make A Sock Cupcake - With Demo

Easy Fuzzy Sock Craft

Looking for an EASY CRAFT? Look no further. I'm not crafty but was able to make Fuzzy Socks look like cupcakes.

As you know from my earlier video, crafting does not come easy to me. I lack in the coordination department which is a skill that is required for most crafts......

..... except this one!

Great Gift Topper

I needed a great gift topper and by searching Pinterest I was able to find an easy craft called a Sock Cupcake.  Below I have a quick recap of how it was made, along with the steps I took and the video that I based them on.

 

 

My Sock Cupcake Assembly Steps

1. Everything you need = 2 pairs of fuzzy socks, 2 Elastic Hair Accessories with flowers attached, and cupcake holders
2. Mismatch the pairs of socks, this adds to the cupcake look
3. Roll the first mismatched pair. See video below (it took a few attempts for the first pair)
4. Wrap hair accessory elastic around rolled socks
5. Separate the layers by pulling some up & pushing some down
6. Place in half of the paper cupcake holders (paper baking cups)
7. Repeat with the 2nd pair of socks

After you watch the video on how to make these, see below about my improvisations and what I will do differently next time. (this is not my video but how I first learned to create these)




As you can see I managed to skip the need for tape, ribbon and plastic flowers just by using the hair accessory with the flower attached.  This also adds to the gift as they end up with 2 pairs of socks and 2 hair accessories!

Because my paper cups were smaller they did fit the sock cupcake, but did not stand up and immediately flattened when I put it in one paper cupcake baking cup.  In order to make the baking cups stable enough to hold the sock cupcakes I ended up using half of the package of paper cupcake holders for each pair of socks.

Next time I think I may try those silicone baking cups instead of the paper ones to see if that makes this even easier!

Here's the final result!

How Hashtags Work On Facebook

Web How To - Easy Explanation Of Hashtags

In 2011 I wrote a post about how hashtags work called Twitter Hashtags & Twitter Parties! Are you in the LOOP? It was to get people to understand twitter parties and how they can participate.

Now that Facebook has added click-able hashtag capabilities I thought I should write an update.

A hashtag which is essentially the number sign # and it makes whatever is right beside it searchable.
On Facebook if you click on the hashtag, a screen pops up & lists every post with that hashtag in it. 

Give it a try. Copy and paste this to your status bar

Ok I'm getting the hang of this hashtag thing thanks to the post http://ow.ly/m16xq Go #TiaraARMY

After you click post on the status you should see the #TiaraARMY characters turn blue. Now you can click where it says #TiaraARMY and as more and more people start to use this hashtag, the pop up screen will have more and more facebook peeps on it. 

It shows you who you have common interests with and perhaps you will make a new connection and you know I'm all about that!

Hashtags are became popular through Twitter but are now also used a lot on Instagram and Pinterest.  How will you use hashtags?

Manageable Mondays

How To Make Mondays More Manageable

Monday.
That dreaded day of the week.




When it comes to managing my Mondays I take the "keener" approach and start tackling it on Friday.

I look at my work pile Friday morning and do my best to get it all done.  While most are celebrating the end of the week, I have my nose to the grindstone pushing through the paperwork pile.  I do this to give myself a rest over the weekend.  You see if I leave anything left undone at work, then I spend all weekend knowing that the unfinished paperwork will be haunting my desk Monday Morning. By completing all my tasks Friday I know that I'll have a fresh start to my work week. I'll be prepared for whatever comes my way.

Wait did I say prepared? Ok I will be realistic I am a procrastinator when it comes to Monday mornings. I stay in bed as long as I can and then rush to get ready.




That may be why I implemented NO MAKEUP MONDAY. Basically Mondays involve no makeup and my hair in a ponytail (there are exceptions to the rule, but for the most part this is my Monday look).  I don't want to look disheveled but I have lowered the bar for the beginning of the week. Think of it as casual Friday moved to a different time slot.  I appreciate the relaxed look more so on a Monday than a Friday so that is what works best for me.

I posed the questions to those on Facebook about how they make manage Mondays and here are the responses.

Great Ways To Start Manage Monday

Bruce Barone have a monthly and weekly and daily goal sheet
Rebecca Palmer Get the small stuff out of the way early.
Sandra Kennedy Prepare mentally as well as a to do list Sunday night so you are starting off in the right direction and with focus
Darleen Witmer New start. Eat good breakfast. Dress in fab outfit. Kickass shoes or boots. Don't stay up late Sunday. Have clothes and lunch ready to go night before. Schedule in calendar for your week's goals. Suppers made ahead or have slow cooker prepped
Marianne Wales lots of coffee when I wake up,...then watch out here I come
Ian Archibald Believe that today is the best day ever, and make it happen.
Frankie Leclair Kekes Plan ahead the night before. Put out your outfit, make your lunch, plan what supper will be, pack kids
Backpacks (if applicable). Basically do as much as you can the night before. Some even set the breakfast table the night before.
Jennifer Rebecca Fallis What's Monday? Just another day of the week like all the others. Rest on Sunday, and then Monday doesn't seem so bad after all.

Plus a few that will have you grinning!

Suzy McNeil Sleep till Tuesday

Elaine Jasvins Only work 1/2 days. I don't mind Mondays at all.

Jennifer Van Huss Pray it is a Stat holiday!

Blanche Gillis take a nap after work

 

I think I'll take a few ideas from both lists for more Manageable Mondays!
I would love to hear what you do make it through Monday.  Leave a comment with your best tips and tricks!
 

 

Influence Marketing And How I Participate

Disclaimer Sponsored by http://innetwork.net

I began blogging years ago as an extension of twitter and facebook.  It was a way to stay connected with my audience back when a facebook status had a maximum length and I needed more characters to express my thoughts. Most days I can sum up my thoughts in 140 characters, but to get a broader picture of my ideas I wanted to bring in several media sources (such as images and youtube videos) into my posts and blogging allows for that as well as links to other resources for my readers to learn more about my topic.

I enjoy fruitful conversations and have helped many people connect with my experience in networking both on and offline.  One of the best examples of this is the Tweetstock franchise out of Brantford Ontario.

Several years back I had the opportunity to be quoted in Scott Stratten's UnMarketing book and I attended the launch of his book in Oakville Ontario.  There, Lindsey Jacobs (who I had met via twitter) introduced me to Trevor Cherewka, who had started holding meetups/tweetups in Brantford Ontario.  With a mutual like for networking Trevor invited me to speak at Tweetstock 3.  A few months later I found myself gathered with about thirty Brantford residents explaining how important twitter was to businesses and how it would become the next level of networking.  I really enjoyed the event and quickly connected with the majority of the people in the room (many of which I am thrilled to have as my friends today).  After the event I let Trevor know how impressed I was by what was happening in Brantford and would do my best to support his next event. When he announced the Tweetstock 4 event I went to work spreading the word about Tweetstock to my audience.  Because of my posts Tweetstock 4 had several out of town attendees and the audience quickly grew. Each event after came with it's own unique twist and I would find ways to incorporate what was happening into my online conversations and blog posts.  Coupon codes that were spread through my network became very popular and helped persuade readers to buy tickets for the event.  Several Tweetstocks later the Tweetstock franchise has grown from a meetup to an event to an all day conference.  This is just one example of how word of mouth advertising through online networks can evolve something that started out small to something much bigger. Influence marketing was used to amplify awareness of an event that takes place in Brantford Ontario but has attendees that drive several hours just to be in that room.  This then turns the conference into a room full of influencers broadcasting their messages to their networks and continuing the topics of discussion for days following Tweetstock.

Connection is key.  You never know where it may take you (perhaps to Brantford Ontario for the next Tweetstock Conference!)

Is Somebody Singing With Col. Chris Hadfield On #MusicMonday

Social Media In Space

If you follow any of my feeds you know that I am fascinated by Col. Chris Hadfield's tweets from the International Space Station.  Everyday you get to learn about the earth from the perspective of an astronaut by watching his @Cmdr_Hadfield twitter account.  Of course I was very excited when he tweeted our pics of Kitchener-Waterloo and Southwestern Ontario.  Another great moment was when he spoke to University Of Waterloo Students from space but my favorite moment was when he sang a duet with the Barenaked Ladies.



Watching this video always gives me chills!

Yesterday Commander Hadfield added to my enjoyment of this the I.S.S. watching with a rendition of ISS - Is Somebody Singing by participating in #MusicMonday.  #MusicMonday is the first Monday in May and celebrates music in Canadian schools.
This year #MusicMonday was extra special with schools from coast to coast singing along with Col. Chris Hadfield through a livestream from the I.S.S
(if the video below doesn't work you can watch it here http://www.cbc.ca/player/News/ID/2383654893/ )





Now that is cool!  If only they celebrated #MusicMonday when I went to school. 
It looks like I would have participated! Here's the scene from the elementary school I went to A.R. Kaufman Public school with their school celebration.

http://kitchener.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=920769&binId=1.1147261&playlistPageNum=1