I am honored to be a featured writer for Boomer Living. Please bookmark this website. This website has a ton of great articles and it is updated weekly.
Betty
Being a featured columnist for Roses-n-Teacups is such an honor. Visit http://roses-and-teacups.com/menu-tea-party-food.php for more recipes and ideas.
My Diva friend Teri passed along these tips. Thank you Teri!
“Enjoy the spirit of the festivities.”
1. Avoid carrot sticks. Anyone who puts carrots on a holiday buffet table knows nothing of the Christmas spirit. In fact, if you see carrots, leave immediately. Go next door, where they’re serving rum balls.
2. Drink as much eggnog as you can. And quickly. It’s rare… you cannot find it any other time of year but now. So drink up! Who cares that it has 10,000 calories in every sip? It’s not as if you’re going to turn into an eggnog-alcoholic or something. It’s a treat. Enjoy it. Have one for me. It’s Christmas!
3. If something comes with gravy, use it. That’s the whole point of gravy. Gravy does not stand alone. Pour it on, make a volcano of your mashed potatoes and fill it with gravy.
4. As for mashed potatoes, always ask if they’re made with skim milk or whole milk. If it’s skim, pass. Why bother? It’s like buying a sports car with an automatic transmission.
5. Do not have a snack before going to a party in an effort to control your eating. The whole point of going to a Christmas party is to eat, drink and be merry.
6. Under no circumstances should you exercise between now and New Year’s. You can do that in January when you have nothing else to do. This is the time for long naps, which you’ll need after circling the buffet table while carrying a 10-pound plate of food and that vat of eggnog.
7. If you come across something really good at a buffet table, like frosted Christmas cookies or pralines, have as many as you can before becoming the center of attention. They’re like a beautiful pair of shoes. If you leave them behind, you’re never going to see them again.
8. Same for pies. Apple, Pumpkin, Mincemeat. Have a slice of each. If you don’t like mincemeat, have two apples and one pumpkin. Always have three. When else do you get to have more than one dessert?
9. Did someone mention fruitcake? Granted, it’s loaded with the mandatory celebratory calories, but avoid it at all cost. I mean, have some standards.
10. One final tip: ENJOY Life should NOT be a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in an attractive well preserved body, but rather to skid in sideways, body thoroughly used up, totally worn out and screaming
“WOO HOO what a ride!”
Have a great holiday season!
Warm regards,
Teri R. Dempski
Valued Service Virtual Assistants ~ What’s Your Time Worth?
http://www.valuedservicevas.
Contact: Allison Costello
Ketchum
allison.costello@ketchum.com
Doug Collister
Foodbuzz
doug@foodbuzz.com
LAUNCH OF GLOBAL FOODBUZZ BLOGGER COMMUNITY
LEVERAGES REAL-PEOPLE, REAL-TIME POWER OF FOOD PUBLISHING
San Francisco – October 13, 2008: Foodbuzz, Inc., officially inaugurates its food blogger community with more than 1,000 blog partners, a global food blogging event and an online platform that captures the real-people, real-time power of food publishing in every corner of the world. At launch, the Foodbuzz community ranks as one of the top-10 Internet destinations for food and dining (Quantcast), with bloggers based in 45 countries and 863 cities serving up daily food content.
“Food bloggers are at the forefront of reality publishing and the dramatic growth of new media has redefined how food enthusiasts access tasty content,” said Doug Collister, Executive Vice President of Foodbuzz, Inc. “Food bloggers are the new breed of local food experts and at any minute of the day, Foodbuzz is there to help capture the immediacy of their hands-on experiences, be it a memorable restaurant meal, a trip to the farmers market, or a special home-cooked meal.”
Foodbuzz is the only online community with content created exclusively by food bloggers and rated by foodies. The site offers more than 20,000 pieces of new food and dining content weekly, including recipes, photos, blog posts, videos and restaurant reviews. Members decide the “tastiness” of each piece of content by voting and “buzz” the most popular posts to the top of the daily menu of submissions. Foodbuzz currently logs over 13 million monthly page views and over three million monthly unique visitors.
“Our goal is to be the number-one online source of quality food and dining content by promoting the talent, enthusiasm and knowledge of food bloggers around the globe,” said Ben Dehan, founder and CEO of Foodbuzz, Inc.
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The Foodbuzz blogger community is growing at a rate of 40 percent per month driven by strong growth in existing partner blogs and the addition of over 100 new blogs per month. “The Foodbuzz.com Web site is like the stock of a great soup. The Web site provides the base or backbone for bloggers to interact as a community, contribute content, and have that content buzzed by their peers,” said Mr. Dehan.
Global Blogging Event
Demonstrating the talent and scope of the Foodbuzz community, 24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs offered online food enthusiasts an international, virtual street festival of food and diversity. The new feature showcased blog posts from 24 Foodbuzz partner bloggers chronicling events occurring around the globe during a 24 hour period and included:
· Mid-Autumn Festival Banquest (New York, NY)
· The “Found on Foodbuzz” 24-Item Tasting Menu (San Francisco, CA)
· Aussie BBQ Bonanza – Celebrating Diversity (Sydney, Australia)
· The Four Corners of Carolina BBQ Road Trip (Charleston, SC)
· Criminal Tastes – An Illegal Supper (Crested Butte, CO)
· From Matambre to Empanadas: An Argentine Dinner (Buenos Aires, Argentina)
· A Sweet Trompe l’oeil (Seattle, WA)
“24 Meals, 24 Hours, 24 Blogs” captures the quality and unique local perspective of our food bloggers and shared it with the world,” said Ryan Stern, Director of the Foodbuzz Publisher Community. “It illustrates exactly what the future of food publishing is all about – real food, experienced by real people, shared real-time.”
About Foodbuzz, Inc.
Based in San Francisco, Foodbuzz, Inc., launched its beta Web site, foodbuzz.com, in 2007. In less than a year, Fooduzz.com and its community of over 1,000 exclusive partner food blogs have grown into an extended online property that reaches more than three million users.
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Did you know October is National Reading Group Month. So, in celebration, I have joined with some other authors and Key Business Partners to help highlight these writers and authors here at “Books to Read” .
This event showcases a variety of wonderful works of writing on different topics:
Rock Star Mommy by Judy Davids
Mindful Marketing by Jenn Givler
The Soccer Mom Myth by Holly Buchanan and Michele Miller
Back to the Table Cookbook by Betty Lynch
Customized Style Guide for Coaches who Write by Linda Dessau
Web Business Success by Susan Daffron
The Celebrity Experience by Donna Cutting
Girl Talk by Gigi Garner
I would like to invite you to spend a few moments on this page (these books will be exhibited for the month of October) to support these great writers and authors.
This event showcases the books in two ways
1) You can receive a free downloadable book excerpt or one chapter of the books
2) You can click the url link to purchase the book
I hope you enjoy the time you spend reading about these books and perhaps you will find your next treasured book.
So if you wish you can go now to Books to Read
A Red Carpet
A full serving of Personal Attention
A dollop of Details
A Smidgen of Special Treatment
A Smattering of Star Power
A Dash of Love for the Entourage
An Ounce of Wrap Around
Preheat your customers by rolling out the Red Carpet – look up when they approach, make eye contact, smile and be the first to speak. Use their name whenever possible. Have a real person answer your telephone. Behave like the King or Queen of First Impressions that you are and let that person know you are glad they came.
Serve a Singular Customer by giving the person in front of you your full attention. Hollywood stars are greeted by adoring fans, attended to by personal escorts, and their every whim is catered to. You can give your customers that kind of Personal Attention by listening well to their questions, owning their problems, and sticking with them until the question is answered or problem is resolved. If you pass them on to someone else who can better help, be sure to follow up!
Celebrities have people who take care of every little detail for them, so they can relax and do what they do best – entertain the rest of us! You can WOW your customers by thinking of every detail ahead of time. Anticipate each question or concern they might have and address it before they ask.
The Tom Hanks and Halle Berry’s of this world get preferential treatment wherever they go. Limo rides, the best seat in any restaurant, free gifts called SWAG! You can make your customer feel like a celebrity by giving them a little special treatment. When they mention they love to eat blood oranges – sneak a few into their hotel room. (Personally experienced by this “cook” at the Gaylord Opryland Resort). If you see an article they might enjoy, send it their way. Name your menu items after your regular customers. Do what you can to make them feel special.
A-list Celebrities have power – they have a voice in the projects they work on. They have influence – one word from Oprah and a book becomes a bestseller. (Oprah, can you hear me?) Add Star Power to your recipe by asking customers for their input and letting them influence the direction your business takes. You can do this by using blogs, twitter, customer surveys, focus groups, or good-old fashioned picking up the phone and talking to them one on one.
Add a dash of love for their entourage by having fun items for their children to play with available, providing treats for their pets, and being sure to address EACH person in the group with a friendly hello and a smile – not just the paying customer.
Remember the Wrap Around experience. Once your customer transaction is complete, send a thank you note or gift or call to ask for their feedback. Keep the relationship going and this customer will “feed” you for a long time to come.
Combine all these ingredients and you’ll have a very happy customer base, and a thriving business.
Calories: 0
© Donna Cutting, 2008
Donna Cutting is the author of The Celebrity Experience: Insider Secrets to Delivering Red-Carpet Customer Service (Wiley, 2008) and a full-time keynote speaker on the topics of customer experience and employee engagement.
Purchase this book here –The Celebrity Experience at Amazon
This guest post is a part of a blog tour for Donna’s book.
You can read more guests posts, interviews and excerpts by visiting the following blogs.
Dr. Sally Witt will conduct a book review on her blog.
Today you can read more about her book here:
Phil Gerbyshak / Make It Great who will run his own interview with Donna.
Becky Wyatt / Becky Wyatt Online where she will showcase Donna Cutting’s book.
Yesterday she visited:
Dr. Sally Witt will conduct a book review on her blog.
Teresa Morrow/ Key Business Partners
And tomorrow, the blog tour will continue:
Wendy Piersall / CEO of Sparkplugging,
Heidi Richards/founder of WECAI and WE Magazine for Women
Carol Deckert will be interviewing Donna LIVE at 7pm on her Ladies In Business Today
If you’re a professional woman with a book or product, give us an
opportunity to purchase from you on Friday, June 20.
This is the day we are celebrating who we are as women—as women who
are on the move and making a difference! June 20 is the 2nd annual
celebration of Baby Boomer Diva Day.
Showcase your product for 15 minutes for the very low price of $10. A
few vendor slots still left.
Also, there will be plenty of prize giveaways with special guest
speaker, Heidi Richards, who will discuss how blogging can turn into
$$$ for your business or product.
It’s going to be the most fun you’ve had online in a LONG time. 10am-3pm
To get more information or to sign up now:
keybusinesspartners
If you ever wanted to be a groupie, here is your chance….follow Judy Davids and read her book, Rock Star Mommy
As a fellow Baby Boomer Diva within the Boomer Diva Nation, I wanted to joined in share about Judy Davids’ book, Rock Star Mommy with my readers. I asked Judy a few questions about her writing journey and here are her answers.
It’s difficult to do it all, so touring with the band doesn’t happen much. Occasionally, we do “road trips” where we’ll do an out of town show, but we’ve never done the bit where you wake up in a different city every night for a month on some stranger’s floor. We’re way too old for that. Plus we don’t want to be known as the “mom band” that leaves their kids!
Who writes your music?
Most of it is written by our lead singer’s husband John Rasmussen. He channels his inner “mommy” who seems to be very angry. He’s very funny. (He used to be a stand up comedian.) He’s written us songs like “Soccer Mom Stomp”, “Take Out the Trash” and “Never Mind the Laundry”. I write lyrics occasionally and he puts them to music.
How did you promote the band in the beginning?
With guerilla marketing! We passed out flyers. Hung posters in grocery stores, day care centers, soccer domes….you name it. We also printed up dozens of t-shirts and had our kids wear them EVERYWHERE!
Where was your first invitation to perform?
The first place we performed was at a club called The End of the Park. They do an open-mic night and bands come in and play 3 songs. We met the host of the event in a bar. He was born in 1978–the same year I graduated from high school so I felt we had a lot in common. (LOL) He convinced us to play even though we only knew two songs. We rose to the challenge, learned a third song, and played. Musically, we were a disaster but we packed the venue. I guess all those posters worked.
What is your greatest moment in life?
Just yesterday my seventh grader said “Mom, they do this thing called Career Day at school and a lot of kids said ‘You should have your mom come in’.” He seemed proud of me and it made me so happy. My real “day job” is a desk job in the world of gray corporate cubeland, so I’m glad I found something exciting to do with my life and, OF COURSE, I’m glad I had my two kids and that I don’t embarass them too much.
What is one thing you wished you had done in your life?
I wish I would have gone to radio broadcasting school and I was a morning drive on-air personality. That job would work for me on so many levels. I’m an early morning person and I love to talk, brag about my kids, laugh, and I love music, and I’m obsessed with pop culture. It’s the only job I can think of that pays you to love all those things and you don’t have to get dressed up and wear makeup because no one sees you!
Do you plan on writing more books?
Yes. My husband, John Davids, is an architect and we have a really funky house. Recently a reporter interviewed me and said “Does your house look like this because you’re in a band?” (My house looks like Pee Wee’s Playhouse.) I and told him “No” that the house came first. It’s an expression of who we are and all the things we love. John and I want to do a book called “Hot Rod Your Home” with some simple DIY projects. (You can see our house on HGTV at http://mydols.com/hgtv.htm.)
Yesterday the Judy Davids’ blog tour was located with Heidi Richards at http://virtualwomensday.blogspot.com
And tomorrow the blog tour continues with Heidi Caswell at http://connectsimply.com/blog
And if you would like to read Judy’s book for yourself, get it at http://www.judydavids.com
A man came home from work late, tired and irritated, to find his 5-year old son waiting for him at the door.
DAD: ‘Yeah sure, what it is?’ replied the man.
DAD: ‘That’s none of your business. Why do you ask such a thing?’ the man said angrily.
DAD: ‘If you must know, I make $50 an hour.’
The father was furious, ‘If the only reason you asked that is so you can borrow some money to buy a silly toy or some other nonsense, then you march yourself straight to your room and go to bed. Think about why you are being so selfish. I don’t work hard everyday for such childish frivolities.’ The little boy quietly went to his room and shut the door.
The man sat down and started to get even angrier about the little boy’s questions. How dare he ask such questions only to get some money? After about an hour or so, the man had calmed down , and started to think: Maybe there was something he really needed to buy with that $25.00 and he really didn’t ask for money very often. The man went to the door of the little boy’s room and opened the door. ‘Are you asleep, son?’ He asked. ‘No daddy, I’m awake,’ replied the boy. ‘I’ve been thinking, maybe I was too hard on you earlier’ said the man. ‘It’s been a long day and I took out my aggravation on you. Here’s the $25 you asked for.’
The little boy sat straight up, smiling. ‘Oh, thank you daddy!’
He yelled. Then, reaching under his pillow he pulled out some crumpled up bills. The man saw that the boy already had money, started to get angry again. The little boy slowly counted out his money, and then looked up at his father. ‘Why do you want more money if you already have some?’ the father grumbled. Because I didn’t have enough, but now I do,’ the little boy replied. ‘Daddy, I have $50 now. Can I buy an hour of your time? Please come home early tomorrow. I would like to have dinner with you.’
The father was crushed. He put his arms around his little son, and he begged for his forgiveness. It’s just a short reminder to all of you working so hard in life. We should not let time slip through our fingers without having spent some time with those who really matter to us, those close to our hearts. Do remember to share that $50 worth of your time with someone you love.
If we die tomorrow, the company that we are working for could easily replace us in a matter of hours. But the family & friends we leave behind will feel the loss for the rest of their lives.
Next week-end the Baby Boomer Diva’s will have their first Girlfriend’s Retreat. I had the chance to talk with Beverly Mahone, founder of the Baby Boomer Divas and asked her a couple of questions.
Betty: Beverly, please tell me what inspired you to bring women together from all over the world?
Betty: What is the first thing you are going to do at the retreat? What is the last thing you are going to do at the retreat?
Beverly: The first thing I will do is make sure I meet all of my fellow “Divas.” I’ve really been looking forward to this. Several of us are coming in early so it will give us an opportunity to hang out for awhile. The last thing I will do is give everyone a big hug—and I’ll probably cry knowing that we finally got to meet and I’ll be thinking about how much I’ll miss everyone until the next time. The very last thing I do before I leave Daytona Beach will be with my husband! 
Betty: What does being a DIVA mean to you?
Beverly: It means I am a woman on the move and making a difference. I am D-ivinely, I-nspired, V-ivacious, A-nointed!
Yesterday the blog tour was hosted at Kathryn’s blog at http://princesstrinkadink.blogspot.com
And there won’t be a place tomorrow because this is the last stop on our Baby Boomer Diva Spring Break Getaway Weekend Retreat Blog tour.
And remember if you would like more information about the retreat please be sure to go to www.enjoyyourmenopause.com and click on the link for the Girlfriend Retreat to get ALL the details.
Have you ever thought about blogging to take your business to a new heights? Whether you are an experienced blogger or a beginner you will not want to miss this Blogging Teleseminar.
Time: 8:00 pm. EST
Date: Thursday, January 24, 2008
Register: http://www.talk2bev.com/
Price: FREE
Panel of Experts:
Heidi Caswell of connectsimply.com/blog
Betty Lynch of mycountrykitchen.wordpress.com
Karlyn of karlyns.com
Kathie Thomas of http://www.vadirectory.net/blog
A few of the topics that will be covered:
You’ve been thinking about blogging but don’t know where to begin.You’re not sure what to “blog” about.
You want to learn more about how to attract more readers.
You don’t quite understand the “technical” aspects
You want to make money from blogging
So don’t delay and register before all the phone lines are taken.
Blessings,
Betty
