The legend of Glitter City Sweets is growing, we got a mention on examiner.com! Check out the article.
S'more good reasons to party!
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Hmm, two Marshmallow Holidays in August. Guess we better start celebrating!
Thursday, July 30, 2009
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Baby Daddy's
Since the response to the "Who's the Daddy" game was underwhelming (thanks Maura and Chan for participating!) I'll announce that of the two, Chan is the winner. He got one right. Here are the babies and their respective fathers.
Baby One - Ben Affleck. This should have been an easy choice. Everyone knows my Ben Affleck obsession. But after seeing this kid's picture, well, not so much. I'm sure Ben's actual children are much more attractive.
Baby Two - Owen Wilson. The cutest of the babies has the least conventionally attractive dad, although I love this quirky actor. Anyone who hasn't seen it needs to rent "Bottle Rocket".
Baby Three - Ryan Reynolds. This Canadian actor is hot, hot, hot (as in not only good looking but also starring in some mega-movies. It's about time, I've seen how talented Ryan was since "Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Parlor". He has eclectic taste in women (Alanis Morrisette and Scarlett Johannson seem like polar opposites to me, but hey, whatever.) His baby though is a pasty kid, which I guess you should expect if a Canuck mates with a mayonnaise woman (I'm so white I'm opaque.)
Chan wins marshmallows in his choice of flavors. See, aren't you sad you didn't participate now?
Baby One - Ben Affleck. This should have been an easy choice. Everyone knows my Ben Affleck obsession. But after seeing this kid's picture, well, not so much. I'm sure Ben's actual children are much more attractive.
Baby Two - Owen Wilson. The cutest of the babies has the least conventionally attractive dad, although I love this quirky actor. Anyone who hasn't seen it needs to rent "Bottle Rocket".
Baby Three - Ryan Reynolds. This Canadian actor is hot, hot, hot (as in not only good looking but also starring in some mega-movies. It's about time, I've seen how talented Ryan was since "Two Guys, A Girl and a Pizza Parlor". He has eclectic taste in women (Alanis Morrisette and Scarlett Johannson seem like polar opposites to me, but hey, whatever.) His baby though is a pasty kid, which I guess you should expect if a Canuck mates with a mayonnaise woman (I'm so white I'm opaque.)
Chan wins marshmallows in his choice of flavors. See, aren't you sad you didn't participate now?
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Who's the Daddy?
Okay, my biological clock doesn't tick very loud (I'd rather borrow than own) but sometimes I wonder what my fictional offspring would look like. Well, VW has an answer with it's Routon Babymaker. You scan your picture and the picture of the 'dad' in and it shows you what your baby would look like. Since I'm not seeing any potential sperm donors at the moment, I went with my fantasy crushes. I wanted to see which celebrity I would make the cutest kid with so I could then stalk with confidence (just kidding, I don't have the time to devote to being a really good stalker, and if you can't do something right you shouldn't do it at all.)
Now, I know that this program just computer generates a picture based on two sets of facial features, which is not a good way to determine genetic compatibility. But based on these pictures, I should probably not reproduce. I've always suspected that any fruit of my loins might be less than preternaturally attractive, but this makes me frightened. I matched myself with very good looking mates and this is what happened.
Baby #1
Is it just me or does this kid look a lot like Rumer Willis? No, the 'father' isn't Bruce. Can you guess what celebrity helped me make this kid? It's enough to make me refill my birth control.
Baby #2
In my opinion, this is the cutest of my 'children', which is strange because of my celebrity crushes, this 'dad' is the least conventionally attractive. Hmmm, maybe two wrongs make a right? Can you guess the celebrity?
Baby #3
This baby's 'daddy' is Canadian. I think this celeb is hot, but the baby is not. Sigh. Name that daddy!
Okay, while I go and contemplate the expiration date of my eggs, you need to guess the celebrity daddy's and match them to the correct offspring. Put your guesses in a comment and I will tell you the correct answers and who wins the contest (prize to be determined.)
Now, I know that this program just computer generates a picture based on two sets of facial features, which is not a good way to determine genetic compatibility. But based on these pictures, I should probably not reproduce. I've always suspected that any fruit of my loins might be less than preternaturally attractive, but this makes me frightened. I matched myself with very good looking mates and this is what happened.
Baby #1
Is it just me or does this kid look a lot like Rumer Willis? No, the 'father' isn't Bruce. Can you guess what celebrity helped me make this kid? It's enough to make me refill my birth control.
Baby #2
In my opinion, this is the cutest of my 'children', which is strange because of my celebrity crushes, this 'dad' is the least conventionally attractive. Hmmm, maybe two wrongs make a right? Can you guess the celebrity?
Baby #3
This baby's 'daddy' is Canadian. I think this celeb is hot, but the baby is not. Sigh. Name that daddy!
Okay, while I go and contemplate the expiration date of my eggs, you need to guess the celebrity daddy's and match them to the correct offspring. Put your guesses in a comment and I will tell you the correct answers and who wins the contest (prize to be determined.)
Friday, July 17, 2009
Bless the Girl Scouts
They have great cookies, but I'm not grateful for the Thin Mints today. I'm grateful for the training I got as a Girl Scout.
Yes, I was a Girl Scout. From second grade until I was a sophomore in high school. I even earned the highest honor you could at the time, the First Class award (equivalent to an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts.) I learned many things in scouting and I will never, ever go camping again (unless "camping" involves a large, luxurious fully equipped motor home with satellite TV.)
One of the things I learned in scouting was first aid. I can bandage wounds, make a stretcher from campsite materials and diagnose heatstroke. And I kept up on my first aid training even after my scouting years were through, keeping up my CPR certification (I never want to do it, but I could if I had to.) So all of that training kicked in last night when The Graminator started choking.
Now you have to understand that The Graminator coughs a lot. She has allergies that cause her to cough until she sneezes. Plus she and I have a tendency to have things "go down the wrong tube" and you just have to "cough it out" which has led me to major embarrassment many times (somehow this almost always happens to me when I'm in public, rarely when I'm alone.)It isn't really choking, even though it sounds terrible.
So I night not have noticed right away when she started making a strange sound when I gave her dinner last night. Except that it wasn't a cough, it was a weird noise like someone trying to suck in air but being unable to. It only took me a couple of seconds to react and I got her up to a standing position. When a few whacks on the back failed to dislodge the food (I was concerned with hitting her too hard, she is 88 after all) I performed the Heimlich maneuver. I had to do it twice but got the food out and she was able to breathe normally again. My mother was grateful, since she doesn't know the Heimlich and since she is too small to have gotten The Graminator up and her arms around her. I was just glad I didn't have to sit there helplessly watching my grandmother choke.
My mom says I saved her life. I don't know about that, she might have been able to dislodge it herself, or maybe there was enough air going around the food that she wasn't in any real danger. But I do know that I really appreciate the first aid training I got so many years ago. And I never want to do it again. So please, people, chew your food!
Yes, I was a Girl Scout. From second grade until I was a sophomore in high school. I even earned the highest honor you could at the time, the First Class award (equivalent to an Eagle Scout in the Boy Scouts.) I learned many things in scouting and I will never, ever go camping again (unless "camping" involves a large, luxurious fully equipped motor home with satellite TV.)
One of the things I learned in scouting was first aid. I can bandage wounds, make a stretcher from campsite materials and diagnose heatstroke. And I kept up on my first aid training even after my scouting years were through, keeping up my CPR certification (I never want to do it, but I could if I had to.) So all of that training kicked in last night when The Graminator started choking.
Now you have to understand that The Graminator coughs a lot. She has allergies that cause her to cough until she sneezes. Plus she and I have a tendency to have things "go down the wrong tube" and you just have to "cough it out" which has led me to major embarrassment many times (somehow this almost always happens to me when I'm in public, rarely when I'm alone.)It isn't really choking, even though it sounds terrible.
So I night not have noticed right away when she started making a strange sound when I gave her dinner last night. Except that it wasn't a cough, it was a weird noise like someone trying to suck in air but being unable to. It only took me a couple of seconds to react and I got her up to a standing position. When a few whacks on the back failed to dislodge the food (I was concerned with hitting her too hard, she is 88 after all) I performed the Heimlich maneuver. I had to do it twice but got the food out and she was able to breathe normally again. My mother was grateful, since she doesn't know the Heimlich and since she is too small to have gotten The Graminator up and her arms around her. I was just glad I didn't have to sit there helplessly watching my grandmother choke.
My mom says I saved her life. I don't know about that, she might have been able to dislodge it herself, or maybe there was enough air going around the food that she wasn't in any real danger. But I do know that I really appreciate the first aid training I got so many years ago. And I never want to do it again. So please, people, chew your food!
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Advice
A good friend, Dyann, is thinking about starting her own business. She sent me an email saying she wanted to pick my brain for advice. While I'm pretty sure I'm NOT the person you want that kind of advice from, here are a few random thoughts that someone may be able to glean a tiny nugget of inspiration from.
Just do it - There are lots of people who will tell you that you need to do copious amounts of research and develop a well thought out "business plan". There are also lots of people who have 'business plans' and no business. I myself have several 'business plans' that never came to fruition. Yes, you need to know what you are going to sell and who you are going to sell it to (so you don't open an "All Pork" restaurant in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood for example) but you can spend years and years making plans and never actually do any of it. Many entrepreneurs just went out there and did it. They had an idea and they went for it. Sometimes all the planning can lead to fear and discouragement before you even get started. In today's "marketplace" thing are less traditional and structured than they were before so you can go about things less conventionally than before, like making your business plan up as you go along. (Note: If you need loans and investors, you do need a business plan in hand.)
It's okay to fail - Sometimes you can have a great product and it still doesn't work out. For example, years ago my Uncle told us about this company he was investing in that had a machine you could dump your change into and it would count the change and spit out a voucher you would redeem for 'folding money'. They would put these machines in grocery stores. My parents thought the idea was weird (because it would cost you to use these machines instead of just rolling your change and taking it to the bank like people had done for years) but I thought it was genius. And it was. There are Coinstar machines in grocery stores around the country. The problem is that the company my uncle created wasn't Coinstar. It was a rival company and Coinstar was able to get their machine to market first. So my uncle's company died and someone else got rich. Now please don't feel too bad for him, he has a place on the beach in Hermosa, a Porche that's paid for and he travels the world whenever he wants. Because he understands that not everything is going to work out every time. He acknowledged his loss and he moved on to his next idea. It is okay to fail, as long as you get past it.
Don't underestimate the power of the Internet - Because my start-up costs were so low for my business (since I bake on-demand I don't have inventory to go bad, I just have the rent at the bakery I rent space from and my Internet costs for the website and marketing) I could take a chance and see what happened. So I thought it could be months before I got my first order. Well, it wasn't months, it was actually before we opened. But it was the second order that surprised me. It was from someone in New Jersey. And the third was from someone in Kentucky. The Internet has literally made it a small world after all. So use the tools that the market has to offer (I can't say enough good things about Google Adwords!)
Be prepared to give up your 'free time' and your brain - I am thinking, constantly. It's always been that way but now my brain is focused on baking all of the time. What should I change, what should I do next, how can I do more? It invades my every waking thought and my dreams as well. And the little Internet business that I thought would take up no time has consumed my life. That's going to happen, especially when you are a sole proprietor. You're it. But when (see, I said when, not if) your business takes off, you get to reap the rewards (see beach house, Porche and travel above)
Don't stop there - Be ahead of the curve. Plan for success and what you are going to do next. My uncle (yes, he is my inspiration for business models since he has owned many a company and made many of them incredibly successful, to the tune of money that most of us can only dream about) doesn't just stop when he has a great business venture happening, he looks and sees how to improve, expand or even move on to the next big thing. Bill Gates didn't just stop when he sold his first PC, did he? I'm looking at how to grow my business and to do so I have a second entrepreneurial idea. Will it work? We'll see...
Surround yourself with great people - I have an incredible lawyer. Honestly, she is wonderful. She specializes in business formation. I'll give you her number. I have a terrific accountant. I use a great web hosting provider. I have great inspiration and advice from my uncle. I have an incredibly supportive network of friends and family. Honestly, I couldn't do it without them.
So what does it all come down to? Be bold, be brave, believe.
Just do it - There are lots of people who will tell you that you need to do copious amounts of research and develop a well thought out "business plan". There are also lots of people who have 'business plans' and no business. I myself have several 'business plans' that never came to fruition. Yes, you need to know what you are going to sell and who you are going to sell it to (so you don't open an "All Pork" restaurant in an Orthodox Jewish neighborhood for example) but you can spend years and years making plans and never actually do any of it. Many entrepreneurs just went out there and did it. They had an idea and they went for it. Sometimes all the planning can lead to fear and discouragement before you even get started. In today's "marketplace" thing are less traditional and structured than they were before so you can go about things less conventionally than before, like making your business plan up as you go along. (Note: If you need loans and investors, you do need a business plan in hand.)
It's okay to fail - Sometimes you can have a great product and it still doesn't work out. For example, years ago my Uncle told us about this company he was investing in that had a machine you could dump your change into and it would count the change and spit out a voucher you would redeem for 'folding money'. They would put these machines in grocery stores. My parents thought the idea was weird (because it would cost you to use these machines instead of just rolling your change and taking it to the bank like people had done for years) but I thought it was genius. And it was. There are Coinstar machines in grocery stores around the country. The problem is that the company my uncle created wasn't Coinstar. It was a rival company and Coinstar was able to get their machine to market first. So my uncle's company died and someone else got rich. Now please don't feel too bad for him, he has a place on the beach in Hermosa, a Porche that's paid for and he travels the world whenever he wants. Because he understands that not everything is going to work out every time. He acknowledged his loss and he moved on to his next idea. It is okay to fail, as long as you get past it.
Don't underestimate the power of the Internet - Because my start-up costs were so low for my business (since I bake on-demand I don't have inventory to go bad, I just have the rent at the bakery I rent space from and my Internet costs for the website and marketing) I could take a chance and see what happened. So I thought it could be months before I got my first order. Well, it wasn't months, it was actually before we opened. But it was the second order that surprised me. It was from someone in New Jersey. And the third was from someone in Kentucky. The Internet has literally made it a small world after all. So use the tools that the market has to offer (I can't say enough good things about Google Adwords!)
Be prepared to give up your 'free time' and your brain - I am thinking, constantly. It's always been that way but now my brain is focused on baking all of the time. What should I change, what should I do next, how can I do more? It invades my every waking thought and my dreams as well. And the little Internet business that I thought would take up no time has consumed my life. That's going to happen, especially when you are a sole proprietor. You're it. But when (see, I said when, not if) your business takes off, you get to reap the rewards (see beach house, Porche and travel above)
Don't stop there - Be ahead of the curve. Plan for success and what you are going to do next. My uncle (yes, he is my inspiration for business models since he has owned many a company and made many of them incredibly successful, to the tune of money that most of us can only dream about) doesn't just stop when he has a great business venture happening, he looks and sees how to improve, expand or even move on to the next big thing. Bill Gates didn't just stop when he sold his first PC, did he? I'm looking at how to grow my business and to do so I have a second entrepreneurial idea. Will it work? We'll see...
Surround yourself with great people - I have an incredible lawyer. Honestly, she is wonderful. She specializes in business formation. I'll give you her number. I have a terrific accountant. I use a great web hosting provider. I have great inspiration and advice from my uncle. I have an incredibly supportive network of friends and family. Honestly, I couldn't do it without them.
So what does it all come down to? Be bold, be brave, believe.
Tuesday, July 07, 2009
Hot Days of Summer
When it is hot (and it's pretty hot now) I just want to stay inside with the air conditioner and do nothing. Ah, that would be lovely. Of course, real life intrudes on the fantasy so you just do the best you can. But until October or so, when it finally cools off around here, this is what I fantasize about.
Hope that it helps you cool off too!
Hope that it helps you cool off too!
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