Viveca Stone-Berry and I connected by chance through one social network or another. Neither one of us can remember which. But what I remember is catching on immediately with the title of one of her blogs “Fatigue Be Gone”. I recently emerged from iron-deficiency anemia so, anything sporting the words “fatigue” and “gone” immediately gets my attention. I had fallen victim to extreme fatigue and it took me almost a year to figure it out. What was this inexorable fatigue? Was I depressed (it felt like it but didn’t really…)? Was I overwhelmed, overtaxed, overstressed? Was I sleep-deprived? Not likely, [...]

Well, when you put it that way…
I always wondered why, after a getaway with my good friend Audrey, a few glasses of wine later, the jeans are so much tighter…. Actually, I always knew why, but now that I am faced with such visual evidence, it will be easier to say “No thank you, Dahhhlin’. I’m still sipping on this one”.  Ughhh.
You can find this darned clever Alcohol Experiment Widget on the BBC website, right HERE. Geeez, BBC, thanks a lot.

Via Iconoculture.

Should you ever find yourself angry, stressed and/or frustrated while in San Diego, I thought that you’d like to know about this useful little place: Sarah’s Smash Shack is a unique shop that houses two “break rooms” where you can legally, freely and uninhibitedly go in and break stuff.
There is, in fact, a whole menu of things to break. Among them, you can get the House Special for $35 or bring your own breakables for a “corkage fee”. You can also  bring your own music to smash to your own rhythms.

I think that every major metropolitan area deserves one of [...]

Launched just this past October by notable editor Tina Brown, The Daily Beast is my favorite new way to get my news fix. It is a news aggregator, but this one uniquely presents cheeky and clever editorial summaries on the top news stories and issues.
I get my Daily Beast through a daily email that covers top & breaking stories (which is all I need to get my news – under 3 minutes, thankyouverymuch). When you have time, it’s worth clicking through and reading other stories and articles from The Daily Beast’s fabulous and diverse array of contributors. My favorite of [...]

We are having our office Christmas sendoff party tomorrow. With the economy in its present lamentable state and its nagging determination to bring down our holiday spirit, we decided to have a White Elephant Gift Exchange to inject a little humor and fun in our party. As I was presenting the idea to the group, I realized that many did not know what this was. So here is how we have done a White Elephant Gift Exchange in the past, with a few simple rules:
For the gift:

One gift per attendee
The gift cannot be purchased
It must be in serviceable condition, [...]

One of my favorite branding author and guru, Martin Lindstrom (his latest book is “Buyology, Truth and Lies About Why We Buy”. See it in my Amazon favorites in the right column) has written a short & sweet article in Parade Magazine about the vagaries of shopping. The 5 tips that Lindstrom proposes in the article are derived from all the research performed in writing Buy*ology. Some of these points we “knew” subconsciously, others are fair warning for the vulnerable shopper:

Leave the Kids at Home: Yeah, you’ll end up putting stuff in your basket just to make them or keep [...]

The Nat-2 convertible “two-in-one” sneakers, pretty cool, huh? And excellent for traveling. Now, if only they made these in heels…

Available online through CoilexStore.com

I’m loving this color palette-generation program by Paletteman.com. It’s geared towards web designers but I guess that the CMYK crowd can always extrapolate … It might be a little basic, but that’s also what makes it so simple and thus so delightful to use. Personally, I love the “rotate” effect that allows me to see the color layout variations. Changes the whole look and intent of the “picture”.  I think that I’m liking this little color scheme that I just cooked up for this exercise…

Have fun!

Forwarded by a friend of mine. Anyone who ever spends any time in the kitchen and puts even a single drop of oil in a saucepan needs to know about this:

Still in beta & dubbed as the Pandora for Recipes, I’m indeed craving this new recipe-finding website. Cookthink.com. Users enter search terms based on their craving of the moment… or planned craving. In my case, it would be more often a case of “what do I have to work with in my fridge and pantry” but it would work the same way.

I entered sundried tomatoes as my first keyword. Then added chicken and olive as two additional keywords. I got a wonderful Pan-Seared Chicken With Two Olive Tapenade And Sundried Tomato Cream recipe. Don’t know that I would have all [...]

I love this new service & website launched by Shannon Davis. How clever and how needed! Her cute and functional website, www.beyondmotherhood.com, creates a network that brings together talented applicants and in-need-of-help employers. Having had a foot in both worlds I certainly appreciate the potential for such a network.
In Shannon’s own words:
“Beyondmotherhood.com is a new niche job board that connects employers with the “untapped” workforce, stay at home moms. There are thousands of educated and experienced moms nationwide looking for flexible/part-time opportunities, and Beyondmotherhood.com wants to connect them with employers.  Some moms are looking to get out of the house [...]

TheBeautyBrains.com. This is one of the few blogs that I subscribe too and read faithfully. It always contains useful, well researched and trustworthy information, presented in a readable way and infused with humor.
I like that The Beauty Brains (the people who write this blog) have real clinical experience. They are a group of cosmetic scientists who understand what the chemicals used in cosmetics really do, how products are
tested, and what all the advertising means. Their expertise covers the latest development in science and technology as it pertains to the beauty industry, human interest and advertising claim stories and aesthetic considerations [...]