The always amazing Jill Martin had a great Today Show segment on Hot Trends for 2013, and included loads of eye-popping printed tableware from GiveSimple.com. She has a great eye! I love this stuff…especially the floral cake platters and serving pieces!
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You wake up. You read emails. You answer emails. You slam coffee. You check Facebook, Twitter, you like, post, RT and Tumble. You slam more coffee and get on with tasks for the day. Three hours later, you haven’t tweeted in a while and a cold sweat of panic and guilt washes over you. More coffee. Then on to Instagram. You like and comment and wonder how you’ll find time to snap great pics of your hectic life. You get back to the “real” work of making sure your business is running smoothly…phone calls, meetings, coffee, more phone, spreadsheets, email email email. Oh phooey. You forgot about Pinterest. You switch over (after checking Facebook and Twitter) and as the cascade of bright and shiny images loads on your screen, you do all you can not to jump out the window. It’s just. Too. Much.
Ok, now that you’re in your fifth panic attack for the week (you may want to cut back the coffee just a wee bit 
let’s take a deep breath and figure out what you can do to take some things off your plate.
The truth is, Pinterest isn’t hard to manage. In fact, it’s so darn pretty, it’s rather fun. But it does take time, and if not kept in check an hour can turn into four spent pinning and re-pinning and that just can’t happen during your crazy work days. However, if you have a brand that is: visual, product based, creative, graphic, or female-focused, you really should have a solid presence on Pinterest.
Here’s how I can help. Beyond my normal consulting services, it has become very apparent that this new social media channel is sometimes just too much for a small business to handle. I have been managing many, many Pinterest campaigns over the past two years, and understand fully what it takes to keep your brand alive and well on this channel; thus the creation of my Pinterest Management Program. It’s simple:
Cost: $300/month – 3 month minimum
Includes:
- A minimum of 5 pins per day (typical pins range between 8-15) – equally divided between your brand’s original content + strategic pinning and repinning of other content. We’ll keep things in your voice and with your aesthetic so it feels genuine and on-brand.
- Mapped out strategy plan for creating boards, and following key influencers.
- “Likes” of every trackable pinner who has pinned something from your brand.
- Liason with your web programmer to make sure you have a visible Pinterest presence on your own site, including “Pin it” buttons, “Follow me” etc.
- Analytics presented at the end of each month.
Cost Compare: A grande latte + snack at Starbucks can run you between $9-$11. For $10 a day you will have guaranteed visibility in the fastest growing social network on the planet. It’s calorie fee, locally grown and supports small business.
Interested? Let’s chat and get started! There’s no where to go but up!
email: traceyteeATmacDOTcom
*image by Ashley Goldberg
My family tries to have dinner together every Sunday if we can. That’s 6 adults and 3 kids (and often 3 dogs) getting together every week for dinner. Sometimes you have to will yourself to do it, but in the end it’s always worth it. My mom, mother-in-law, sister and I all cook and the boys clean up. We have extraordinarily fantastic husbands.
This past Sunday was my turn to host, and we were also celebrating my sister’s birthday so I decided to go all out with a big al fresco Italian spread, and for drinks…oh my goodness…I made Lavender St. Germain Cocktails.
Let’s just say it was a pretty rowdy dinner.
Naturally, The Hus and I had to test out the cocktails before everyone arrived, and very early on (the lavender simple syrup smelled soooo good) I knew I wanted to share the deliciousness, so I snapped up some photos. This officially THE drink for summer. Lord help us.
Lavender St. Germain Cocktail
rocks glass filled with ice
1/2 shot* Lavender Simple Syrup (recipe below)
1 shot St. Germain
top with Prosecco
*these drinks are strong, and also I used this very large (but very awesome) shot glass, so my proportions might be a bit…ahem…larger than yours. At any rate, make one, taste it, then refine to suit your needs.
Lavender Simple Syrup
large handful of fresh lavender buds
2 cups sugar
2 cups water
Add sugar and water to a large sauce pan over medium/high heat. Bring to a boil while stirring often. Drop lavender into the mixture as soon as it starts to boil, and continue to boiling for 2 minutes.
Remove from heat and let lavender steep in the sugar water for a minimum of one hour, and then continue longer according to taste (I like at least 2 hours).
Strain buds from the syrup, pour into a glass or porcelain container, cover tightly till ready to serve. Can keep refrigerated for oh – I don’t know a couple weeks at least.
Beyond the obviously large amount of fresh broccoli, there is absolutely nothing else about this dish that is remotely good for you. Candied cashews, bacon, mayonnaise and sugar set the backdrop for a ridiculously delish side salad that is designed for the most gluttonous of all outdoor activities: the BBQ. It’s the kind of salad you secretly re-spoon to your dish two or three times, right after you had that second burger and waaay too much beer. It’s ok, these days are good and easily off-set by an earnest workout and nothing but miso soup the next day.
I guess what I am saying is don’t feel guilty about this one. It’s a treat. Enjoy it!
I created this version from the dozens of variations out there, and I hacked my local Whole Foods’ version as well. I have to admit, I’ve been buying their Broccoli Crunch for years at $9.99 a pound quite happily until I realized that I could in fact make it on my own quite easily.
To this point, I’ve made quite an abundant recipe. Because despite what I said above, I see no reason why this can’t be eaten over the following week, as a single dish with a big glass of ice water or iced tea for lunch. All weekday cravings should be satisfied (sweet, salt, bacon) and you’ll still have had a healthy serving of broccoli which always does a body good.
Broccoli Crunch Crunch Salad (or as we prefer to call it, Broccoli Crack Salad…you get the reference…and no I’ve never done any kind of hard drug.)
Total cook time: 1 hour
Servings: 8-12
Ingredients:
3 1/2 pounds fresh organic broccoli, cut into bite size pieces
1 cup raisins, packed
1/2 red onion, chopped
2 cups candied, honey roasted or almond toffee cashews, broken up a bit
1 pack of bacon (I prefer Applewood Organics)
2 cups mayonnaise (I prefer Hellman’s)
1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
4 tablespoons white sugar
2 tablespoons of honey
1/4-1/2 teaspoon fresh ground pepper
Directions:
1. Place bacon in a large skillet. Cook over medium high heat until crispy (but not burned). Set aside on paper towel to drain and cool. Crumble into small pieces when cooled.
2. In a large salad bowl toss together broccoli, raisins and red onion.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together mayo, white sugar, vinegar and honey. Add ground pepper to taste after the mixture has been evenly blended. Pour over broccoli mixture, toss and coat.
4. Place cashews in a large sealed bag, spread into a single layer on the counter, cover with a towel and pound a few times with the flat side of a meat tenderizer or mallet. It’s ok to leave some bigger pieces, you just want quite a lot of little bits so they can nestle up inside the broccoli and mix throughout the whole salad. Add to salad, toss once more to mix everything evenly, cover tightly and refrigerate for at least two hours.
Notes/Variations:
Normally, because I’m sort of psycho about what I feed my kid, I would omit the sugar and honey all-together and sub for agave. Don’t do this. The salad needs the deeper, stronger flavor of honey and the white sugar makes it the kind of sweet we need here. Also, don’t even think about using turkey bacon or low fat/vegan mayonnaise.
For those wanting even more flavor explosion, I could see adding a squeeze or two of fresh lemon juice into the dressing. I’d also try sprinkling some really great French fleur de sel over the top right before you dive in to really blast out the sweet/savory mix.
Are you shopping on Cargoh? Oh you should dear friends, you really, really should. Cargoh is a social marketplace for independent art, design + culture. An easy to use e-commerce solution for independent creatives to buy and sell the things they create. The site is interactive, highly curated but with loads of variety and beautifully designed. For handmade goodies created by insanely talented people, I just love this site!
Lucky for me I got to curate a collection and have a little interview with co-founder Cariann Burger (who might literally be the nicest gal ever.) Have a look them go and check out the other curated collections by loads of online notables who are waaaay cooler than me like Ampersand Design Studio, Hollye Jacobs, Rue Amandine, Natalie Holbrook and Erin Loechner, just to name a few.
Happy Shopping!
Well this is absolutely genius. Leave it to Vanity Fair to pair with comic artist Chad Thomas and devise snarky, hilarious, perfectly witty Downton Abbey Trading Cards!
Below are two of my favorites, but do check out the whole set and start trading!
As I gear more and more clients towards an active Pinterest presence, I thought it would be fun to whip up a graphic for those of you getting started with this Pin-Phenomina; and also provide something to share for those of us who are starting to see both good and bad Pinterest trends come to pass.
Do you agree with my 10 Commandments? Did I leave anything out? Let’s discuss!
{and please join the fun and follow me!}
I’ve been away from my blog for a bit, mainly because I’ve been super busy with clients but also, I must confess, I have been Pinning. Are you on Pinterest yet? At first glance I looked around and almost had an anxiety attack, but then like most social media integrations, once I let it wash over me and fell into the rhythm of pinning and being pinned I quickly realized how this is such a goldmine both for the user and for just about anyone with an online presence.
As an experiment, I used Pinterest to plan my daughter’s 1st Birthday Party. I created a Board where I dumped Etsy finds, recipes and inspirational ideas for my “Glittery Winter Wonderland” theme. It was such a help to see all the imagry in one place, and I loved that others started repinning my lovely Etsy finds…giving these hard-working and super creative designers another platform to showcase their wares. I loved the way Evie’s party turned out, and from there I officially became a Pinning Junkie.
So why should you join Pinterest and waste even MORE of your time on yet ANOTHER social media platform? I consider Pinterest, like Twitter, to actually be a daily enhancement. If used wisely (i.e. not obsessively) you will find a great way to categorize your daily web chaos into specific, totally visual Boards. Trying to decide on what color to paint your dining room (my next project!). Make a Board with color and room inspirations! Looking for easy weeknight recipes? Pin your fave blog posts and emails to a board for quick reference in a pinch. Want to keep gift ideas from multiple sites in one place? Create a Gifts Board and boom. You’ll have all those great finds in one spot.
And therein lies the benefit for retailers. We are a searching generation, and if your stuff in out there in a place where people are actively seeking new gems they can buy, it stands to reason you will benefit with conversions. In addition, Pinterest has a nifty Gifts category where anything with a price added into the description is segmented in incremental dollar amounts. That means not only do your followers see your newest wares, but with the price added, so does EVERYONE else. And by everyone, were talking about an estimated 7.5 MILLION users and counting. In addition, Pinterest is highly searchable in Google – giving your SEO more sticking power with loads on inbound links.
There’s so much more to discuss here, nuances and etiquette being two points that warrant their own posts. But in the meantime, I’ve officially added Pinterest management to my Consulting services, however – PLEASE NOTE: Just as I stress to all my clients with regards to EVERY social media endeavor, a “commercial” Pinterest account MUST remain authentic and transparent. Too much “buy this buy this buy this now” will not gain you any new followers. This is another opportunity to showcase your brands personality, and therefore must be considered an integral and highly visible part of your digital identity. I can help with this. Either to get your mind around the concept and train you to manage it yourself, or show you how I can elegantly manage it for you to take some weight off your shoulders.
I’ll leave you with my three most urgent words of Pinterest advice, and a fab infographic from Mashable:
1) Don’t blow off Pinterest right now. With brands like West Elm, HGTV, Anthropologie and Kate Spade already pinning up a storm, you do not want to be left behind.
2) Don’t let Pinterest take over your life. Find balance and work it into your daily marketing routine.
3) Never forget to stay true to your brand.
oh – and be sure to follow me! 
This was so much fun! Have you checked out the newly revamped Kirsty? It’s streamlined, curated, and a visual treat for anyone who loves thematic roundups. While I do love Pinterest, it sometimes gives me anxiety. Kirtsy is cleaned up, designed with restraint and organized with a great eye. I was so glad to participate!
Many thanks to Gabrielle of DesignMom (a blog I hold in the highest respect and read daily and she’s also Co-Founder of Kirtsy) for allowing me to indulge my current neon obsession.
If there were ever a more applicable scenario where “the feeling is mutual” could be so completely true, I’d like to see it. Because I have so much awe and respect for the gals of Ampersand Design Studio, that it’s funny almost, that they’d turn around and write such a lovely thing about me. But write they did, and even though I’m slightly embarrassed at the niceties, I’m even more proud that some peers whom I admire think that what I’m doing is good.
Please read their blog. You will be inspired daily. HIRE THEM if you need gorgeous graphic work. And if you’re considering joining a few issues of NewNOW, let this be an outside opinion for you to noodle.
