CBS Sunday Morning

 

My favorite thing to do when I wake up on Sunday morning is to watch the television program CBS Sunday Morning with Charles Osgood. This program is always full of “feel good” stories and there’s always a story that brings a tear to my eye. These tears come straight from the heart. With all the shootings and bad things you hear every day going on all over the world, this hour and a half show proves that there are still really good people out there. 

Every week there’s a commentary segment and a couple Sundays ago, I found this commentary from Paula Poundstone to be very interesting. It’s called ‘Electronics and kids’ brains don’t mix’. She talked about an addiction to smartphones, tablets and video games being no good for developing brains and asks, “Are we all spending too much time looking at screens?”

While she’s only a comedienne and not a doctor or a psychologist with the credentials to support this fact, she still brings up some very interesting comments. I guess I support her points of view because I don’t consider myself “addicted” to electronics. In this day and age, I believe there are more people addicted to electronics than those who are not. Read or view her commentary and decide for yourself. Let us know what you think in the comments!

Summer Recipes

It’s officially summer. Hurray!
And a perfect time to share some of my favorite summer recipes.

Black Bean and Couscous Salad
A fellow Eire-ite turned me on to this salad years ago and I can’t get enough of it once summer hits.  It’s healthy, refreshing, and a real crowd pleaser.

Chipotle Turkey Burgers
One day I happened to overhear Oprah (on television, not in real life!) bragging about these turkey burgers. They really are the very best. The chipotle heats them up and the chutney rounds them out with sweetness. My husband would eat these 3 days a week if I let him!

Strawberry Lemonade Bars
Anyone who knows me knows I don’t believe in cooked fruit. This recipe uses strawberry jam and I can live with that! I’m thinking about whipping up a batch for my daughter’s next lemonade stand. Show her how to enhance the customer experience and build loyalty!

Champagne Sangria
There are so many great summer coolers out there, it’s hard to pick just one. But champagne sangria is simple and bubbly and festive. Cheers!

Eire's in the Holiday Spirit!

This past weekend I was looking at emails and ran across a video of a man walking up to people on the street and asking them for a hug. I have included the short video below, but you will see every person he encountered on the street walked out of their way way to get around him. The video then cut to a shot of the same man asking to hug a homeless person. Each homeless person he encountered gladly hugged him back. At first I didn’t think much of the video but later that afternoon I was laying around the house not doing anything in particular.

I am part of a parish teen group and each year at Christmas we participate in an annual Christmas Carol and Gift Exchange with a group of developmentally challenged women from St. Mary of Providence, www.smopchicago.org.

I just didn’t feel like getting off the couch, but I ended up driving down to the facility located on the Northwest side of the city. Each year I supply the Santa outfit for one of the teen boys to wear and hand out the gifts. This year I forgot the beard, belt and boots and as I arrived the teens said that I had to wear the outfit because I was the only one with a grey beard – I fit the part.

Well, as I walked out into the gym I had over 90 woman wanting to see me. Some talked very softly about what they wanted, a couple dropped off letters, but every person came up to me and hugged me. I was grinning from ear to ear. What a gift! And just hours before I was acting like those people in the video not wanting to engage. A simple smile or a simple hug is such any easy thing to do and that small act gives so much joy to those giving – and those receiving – the HUG. 

As you can tell from the photos I had a great afternoon. What a great way to get into the Christmas season!

The Orphaned Sea Otter Pup 681

Who knew a baby otter can be so fluffy and adorable!  The story of Pup 681 has gone viral so if you haven’t heard about this heartwarming story of rescuing an abandoned baby otter, this is one you’ll want check out.

Curious how they came up with the name for the Pup 681, her story begins with being abandoned at just a week old on September 30. She weighed less than 2 ½ pounds, apparently small for a baby otter, and had been separated from her mom for more than 16 hours. The Monterey Bay Aquarium found her alone on a California beach where they quickly started rehabilitation.  It was critical she started consuming calories as quickly as possible in order for her survival. 

Pup 681 made it to her new home at Chicago’s Shedd Aquarium on October 28, where staff makes sure she has round-the-clock care to learn necessary otter life skills of grooming, foraging and feeding. Normally, sea otter pups stay with their mother as long as eight months so this little pup has a lot to learn.

The tiny pup – now 5 weeks old and weighs a healthy six pounds — is also learning how to regulate her body temperature by moving to a dry towel when she’s done swimming. She’s reaching new milestones every day like taking formula from a bottle and eating shrimp and clams.

Sea otters were listed as threatened under the U. S. Endangered Species Act in 1977, and have made a slow recovery in California. In 2014, the population was 2,944, a growth of five (that's right FIVE) from 2013, according to the United States Geological Survey. 

For now, Pup 681 is still behind the scenes at the aquarium as she continues to grow. You can see her in action in the video above. Her squeaking sounds will simply melt your heart.

AirBnB vs. HomeAway

I'm sure all of you have heard of AirBnB and some of you may know HomeAway/VRBO. These websites offer options to booking a hotel room that are generally cheaper, more unique and more personal. You can rent a spot on a couch or a chateau.

Overall, AirBnB seems the better option for solo or coupled travelers to big cities who are on a budget and don't mind sharing a condo or townhouse with the homeowner or other travelers. There are many options for private accommodations on AirBnB, but the savings are not as significant. A million years ago I shared a "flat" in London with 3 other travelers and saved a bunch of money. I pretty much just slept and showered there so "the others" didn't bug me.

AirBnB gets a lot of press (good and bad) and they have done a great job creating awareness of the whole vacation rental industry. In reaction to the bad press, they have developed a whole battery of safeguards that protect both the guest and the homeowner. Reservations and online payments are easy and the review system works both ways – both the homeowner and guest get reviewed.

HomeAway is geared more to families or groups of friends looking to rent a single-family home in a resort area, although there are great number of condos and homes available in big cities. Guests and homeowners are usually older than AirBnB users and the accommodations are generally more expensive. But for the money, you get a lot more space (multiple bedrooms/baths, plus kitchen and living areas) and privacy. Online reservations and payments are also easy and there are reviews for each property (homeowners don't review guests). HomeAway also has safeguards for both the guest and homeowner and they are constantly improving the guest experience.

There is a lot of debate in the comments sections of articles about AirBnB and HomeAway and which one is better. The bigger differences are on the owner-side about things like fee percentages and payment timing. A slight difference for the guests on HomeAway is that you can be put in direct contact with the homeowner before you actually book, allowing you to ask more questions and get a better read on the homeowner. AirBnB's system allows for anonymous e-mailing between both parties. Both sites have lovers and haters that boil down personal experiences and preferences. And just like Yelp reviews, you have to use your best judgement to determine if the property is right for you.

There are a few other sites that do vacation rentals, but these are the two biggest for their respective categories. Here is a link to an article that gives a nice comparison.

Oh, and if you need a weekend out of the city before, during or after the holidays, I happen to know of two:

The Hollywoods, South Haven, MI
The Prairie Wood, South Haven, MI

Top 10 Made in America Products.

TOP 10 Made in America Products:

I recently read an article by Alex Brokaw that appeared on my MSN Money page titled “10 Products America Makes Best." A very catchy title that caught my interest; before I read the article I ventured a guess as to the companies that I thought would be on the list. The following were my thoughts on the types of companies that came to mind. I initially thought of General Electric, Motorola, Nike, Microsoft, Apple, Ford, GM, Tiffany’s etc.  

I was quite surprised to see the list which is outlined below.

1. Harley Davidson Motorcycles – Made in Milwaukee Wisconsin since 1903.  
2. Blockbuster Movies – US remains the number one position in terms of box-office receipts. 87 of the top 100 grossing films of all time were made in the United States.   
3. Weapons – Really? Lockheed Martin, Northrup Grumman and Boeing are the top of a long list of companies making technology, weaponry and vehicles deployed by armed forces. 
4. Lighters – Zippo Lighters are still made in the United States and have been sold for over 70 years. On June 5th Zippo rolled out its 500 millionth lighter.
5. Luxury Kitchen Appliances – Viking Range and Sub Zero refrigerators are made in the US; Viking in Mississippi and Sub Zero in Madison, Wisconsin.  
6. Software – Seven of the top 10 highest grossing software and programming companies are found in the US. Oracle, Symantec, Adobe and Intuit lead the field.
7. Craft beers – US craft beer industry is booming. According to the Brewers Association there were 1,945 craft beer breweries operating in the US in 2011. The industry is currently growing at 15% per year.
8. Guitars and pianos – The US is the home to the manufacturers of some of the world’s best musical equipment. Gibson’s Guitars, Nashville, Tennessee and Steinway Pianos, New York, NY.  
9. Office Chairs – Aeron made by Herman Miller in Zeeland, Michigan is the only office chair brand people recognize by name.  They estimate that an Aeron chair is built every 17 seconds.  
10. Billionaires – The US is home to more billionaires than any other nation according to Forbes Magazine.  The US boasts more than 425 out of 1,226 around the world.

I was pleasantly surprised by the list and have to admit that I have never driven a Harley, made or been in a movie, fired a weapon, light a cigarette or cigar with a Zippo lighter, played a piano or guitar or met a billionaire. But, I do have a Sub Zero refrigerator, use adobe software, sit in an Aeron Chair and invest in a craft beer company (Mad Tree Brewery, Cincinnati, Ohio) so I am feeling a little better about made in the USA this 236th anniversary of the United States of America.  

Happy 4th of July!

Summer

I'm a Chicago girl through and through, and with that comes a real appreciation for summer.  Even this year, with our relatively mild winter, we've earned our summer, as always.  The Chicago lakefront. Light until almost 9pm. Dining al fresco, backyard BBQs, beaches, pools, and being barefoot. Reading outdoors. Riding a bike. Thinking about summer also got me thinking about summer music.  Here's Billboards list of summer's top 30 songs.  Whether it surprises or disappoints, it will get you thinking about your favorite summer music.

The Right Combination

 

One of the most enjoyable aspects of being a designer is having the opportunity to create and work with different color palettes. The majority of our clients have style guides, with specific primary, secondary, and sometimes tertiary color schemes used in different combinations to reinforce their brand.

Occasionally we will have the welcome challenge of having to generate a color palette or scheme for a new branding or collateral project. I love working with color and I especially love finding different color combinations that compliant each other and might also be visually surprising when their unique relationship works.

Years ago I came across a website that created color palettes from an image uploaded to the system. I thought it was so cool to see what colors and accents the generator picked out of any given image. Whether you're designing marketing creative, or just trying to pick out some new accent pillows for your living room, playing around with a palette generator might be a unique and fun way to get some inspiration.

When I did a search to see if I could find the site again, I noticed there are many sites doing this now. There's also a website that will take the color codes from a palette generator and turn them into commercial paint color codes!

I used Color Explorer to create mine, but click here for a list of palette generators. Have fun exploring!

Pinterest Phenomenon

By now, most everyone has heard of Pinterest and the phrase “Oh, I found this on Pinterest” is becoming as popular as “I saw on Facebook…”. It’s hard to believe that Pinterest was actually launched almost two years ago, but it wasn’t until the last six months that it started getting noticed. According to an article on cnn.com, unique visitors to the site grew 400% from September to December 2011 (I was one of those unique visitors during that time, and have since turned many of my friends on to the site).

I will admit that at first, I didn’t understand the hype or the concept, but now, I love Pinterest. I wonder what I did with all of my time on the weekends before I was baking and crafting things that I’ve found on the site. Pinterest is an online network of virtual pinboards. Pinboards can be created by “pinning” images you’ve found on the web to your Pinterest account or by browsing other users’ pinboards and re-pinning items that are interesting to you.

At a New Year’s Eve party at my house, the food table was covered in multiple Pinterest recipes (brought by different guests), and my centerpiece on the table was designed from an idea I saw on Pinterest. I recently got engaged, and I’m not sure how people planned weddings before Pinterest. I visit the site at least once a day to get ideas on colors, flowers, bridesmaid dresses, menus – you name it, someone has pinned it.

I wonder how Pinterest will hold up in the future with so many social networking sites out there – will it become a Facebook with extreme staying power? Or will it be one of those sites that someone mentions in a few years that you think “oh yeah, I vaguely remember when that was popular”? For me, I hope it’s the later, because I just cannot get enough of it.

Poetry Foundation in River North.

There have been many changes in our River North neighborhood over the past six years, condo developments, new restaurants (one which hosted a dinner for none other than President Obama), and we finally got a Walgreens just around the corner. Yet the most remarkable addition has been the Poetry Foundation down the street at 61 W. Superior. 

The history of how the building came to life is classic story book stuff. In 2002 Ruth Lilly, granddaughter of pharmaceutical czar Eli Lilly, left an endowment of stock worth $100 million to the Poetry Foundation, the publisher of Poetry Magazine. In her youth Ms. Lilly, an aspiring poet, sent numerous poems to the magazine, all were rejected.  She was touched by the spirit of the rejection letters which urged her to continue her writing, and with that, decided to bequeath the gift (kind of puts failure in whole different light).

At the time, Poetry Mag had a staff of four, no permanent home, and a meager subscriber base. In August 2011, the foundation moved into its’ new building designed by John Ronan Architects. You must walk past, a view from a cab or website visit does not invoke the serenity felt from the garden that is described in PF’s brochure as “conceived of as an urban sanctuary, a space that could mediate between the street and the building, blurring the distinction between public and private”. It invites you to enter and take a look, it invites you to think about poetry. So I finally checked it out. The first floor is open to the public, offering exhibit space, theatre for open readings, a 30,000 volume library and a library listening room.

Poetry Magazine celebrates its’ 100th anniversary in 2012.  I will be there.

Oh, do not ask, “What is it?” / Let us go and make our visit. – T.S. Eliot

Photos also courtesy of Marcia!

It’s in the Numbers.

Anyone who knows me knows that I’m not much of a numbers person. I think they’re kind of scary. But when I stumbled across these, I thought, hmmm, kind of interesting. (And scary, too!)

That’s the amount of landfill waste (in tons) that could be avoided if half the kids in America traded Halloween costumes instead of buying new ones. There’s even a day dedicated to costume-swapping – National Costume Swap Day (this year it was October 8th). And as expected in this wonderful world of online technology, there’s a website to visit if you want to join the efforts: Greenhalloween.org

This is how many more calories American workers burned in one day on the job in 1960 than they do today. (And imagine, that was before Grande Iced Caramel Lattes!) Granted, back then more than half of all jobs required physical labor compared to today when less than 1/5th do. But hey, why not get up and take a lap around the office every hour? And head out for a stroll at lunch. You’ll burn a few calories, and (gasp!), have the chance to say hello to co-workers… in person!

(This is my favorite – finally, an excuse!) 9% is the average amount a person’s pelvis expands between the ages of 20 and 80, even without weight gain. So if you can’t fit into those jeans from high school, give yourself a break. You’re normal, and you’ve earned it! It’s ‘hip’ to age gracefully.

What makes a good website, to YOU?

Time magazine just published its 50 Best Websites of 2011, which covers websites from varying topics, including entertainment, business, education, news, etc. I’ve never heard of most of them, and it made me think about what criteria Time used to identify these 50 as the best out of the millions of sites that must be on the web.

The common threads seem to be a website’s ability to connect people with similar interests, provide content that users are looking for on demand, or featuring something that anyone can relate to in their own way. One of my favorites was Dear Photograph, a site where users share memories in the form of an old photograph held up against the same background in present day. Although the people in the photographs are total strangers, I like that it feels like you were there, or maybe that you know the person in the photograph.