I’ve learned my lesson.  I’ll never do it again.  I had a rebellious moment and made a reckless decision.  I substituted strawberries in place of plums and I will never do it again.  

I decided to start off easy.  I picked a beautiful, colorful salad.  I did and still do feel very confident in my ability to put lettuce in a bowl and will have fun with the challenge of creating the rest of the salad. Done and done. I can handle this.  I chose the Arugula Salad with Roasted Fruit and Panettone Croutons from Giada’s cookbook, Giada at Home.

Challenge:  the grocery store doesn’t have any plums.  Solution: That’s ok I have strawberries at home (NOT OK I found out later).  Challenge: what on earth is panettone?  Solution:  ok I know this…  I’ve seen Giada use it before I think.   And I’m making croutons out of it so I have a feeling it is a type of bread. Thank goodness I had my iphone with me.  I went from being the girl awkwardly looking from her shopping list to the names of the bread on the shelf to the girl awkwardly looking from pictures on her iphone to the bread on the shelf.  And my final conclusion is… I know EXACTLY what panettone is AND they definitely don’t sell that festive and delicious type of Italian bread here. No plums and no panettone?  Fail grocery store.  Epic fail.  So I grabbed a loaf of sweet, fruity Italian bread and called it even (and ate about half of it on my 3 minute drive home from the grocery store- yum!)    read more....

I should start off by admitting that I don’t have kids.  I tell you this because it is entirely possible that I have no idea what I’m talking about when I write this entry on kids television. (Please address in the comments if you feel inclined.)  Still, I’ve never really grown up when it comes to my tastes in media.  I’m a 29-year-old Harry Potter nerd who makes my boyfriend go to kids movies with me and occasionally checks out Disney and Nickelodeon when I get bored with watching the Real Housewives of Wherever.

Last week I was feeling nostalgic for some of the shows I used to watch when I was 12, so I did what any self-respecing internet addict would do and looked up some clips online.  If it weren’t for YouTube it may never have even occurred to me that a lot of kids shows these days feel kind of… well, weak.  From what I can tell we have two main categories of current programming for kids: trouble makers, or pop-star tweens.  Both are annoying, but it’s also kind of sad that kids today don’t seem to have the option to watch something quirky.   read more...

Back in my high school marketing class we had to write down these “thoughts for the day” which consisted of 4 or 5 motivational quotes per day. At the end of the semester we had to go back and type each day’s quotes and turn them in for credit.
It wasn’t until I was in college that I realized how much I missed reading thoughts for the day and the impact it made on my attitude for the day. 
Some examples include:

“Never let the odds keep you from doing what you know in your heart you were meant to do” –H. Jackson Brown Jr.

 “The best way to prepare for life is to begin to live”- 
Elbert Hubbard


“Nothing can stop the man with the right mental attitude from achieving his goal; nothing on earth can help the man with the wrong mental attitude”
-Thomas Jefferson


“When one door of happiness closes, another opens, but often we look so long at the closed door that we do not see the one that has been opened for us.”-Helen Keller

When I read 4 or 5 positive quotes a day it makes me feel like I can conquer the world.  There are so many negative things in the world that can bring you down if you let them. So, if you are ever in need of a little boost read some “thoughts for the day” and see what you can conquer!
www.quotablecards.com

Nicole Klingensmith

Got a headache? Take some Excedrin. Backache? Excedrin. Sore muscles? Excedrin. Bloating? Excedrin. Stuffed up? Excedrin. Fatigue? Excedrin. Migraine? Excedrin. Sinus pain? Excedrin. Cramps? Excedrin. Toothache? Excedrin.
   
No, they’re not paying me for this.

But pay attention the next time you find yourself in King Sooper’s medicine aisle contemplating which Excedrin formula to purchase. You will notice that many of the formulas, although priced differently, are basically the same combination of active ingredients. To make it easy for you (you’re welcome), I summarized the active ingredients in each formula, using Excedrin’s website for reference. http://www.excedrin.com/excedrin-products.shtml
   
Yes, Excedrin Migraine, Extra Strength, and Menstrual Complete are all the same formula.

EXCEDRIN MIGRAINE
Acetaminophen 250 mg                   
Aspirin 250 mg                       
Caffeine 65 mg                       

EXCEDRIN EXTRA STRENGTH
Acetaminophen 250 mg                   
Aspirin 250 mg                       
Caffeine 65 mg                       

EXCEDRIN MENSTRUAL COMPLETE
Acetaminophen 250 mg                   
Aspirin 250 mg                       
Caffeine 65 mg       

EXCEDRIN BACK & BODY
Acetaminophen 250 mg                    
Aspirin 250 mg

EXCEDRIN TENSION HEADACHE
Acetaminophen 500 mg                    
Caffeine 65 mg                       

EXCEDRIN PM
Acetaminophen 500 mg                    
Diphenhydramine Citrate 38 mg                

EXCEDRIN SINUS HEADACHE
Acetaminophen 325 mg                   
Phenylephrine HCI 5 mg

By Emily Kingston

These spots cracked me up...since I am having a baby everyone is trying to convince my husband and I to get a minivan. These commercials are pretty convincing but I still don't think I will jump on the minivan band wagon just yet.
Chrissy

What you didn’t know about the people of Citizen Pictures:

Everyone who has worked for Citizen Pictures from freelancers to executives have really interesting career stories and accomplishments. Talents, awards, sweet gigs, and famous run-ins you would never know about. I’ve decided to flat out ask. Because I don’t have time to sit down and chit-chat for hours on end, I put a short questioner together via e mail. These are some of the responses I got…

Though I was not an early fan of the show, I find myself feeling sad as the series finale of Lost quickly approaches.  The first time I ever saw Lost I was in a hotel room flipping channels and saw some jerks getting chased by a polar bear… on a tropical island.  I quickly dismissed it as ridiculous… but then months later found myself home sick with a terrible flu and nothing to do.  As I lay on the couch, unable to move or sleep,  I noticed my roommate’s DVD collections of Seasons 1 and 2… which I proceeded to watch in immediate succession.  Forty-seven hours later I was hooked.

I think what I love (and will miss) the most is the cultural phenomenon surrounding the show. The show is fun to watch, but once I dubbed myself “a fan”, I realized that a whole new culture was waiting for me.  The day after a good episode is just as fun as watching the show itself.  You find other Lost fans in the room and can discuss theories and insights and small details almost endlessly.  You scour Lostpedia for answers and twiddle your thumbs until Dan Hopper updates his Lost Recap page.  And I haven’t even mentioned the Lost parties...  You see, I’ve become very accustomed to dinner, discussions, and Lost at my friend’s houses on a near weekly basis.  Now I’ll never see them ever again!

This is a big deal.  As a country we’re not only losing an hour of entertainment on Tuesday nights, we are also losing reading material, discussion fodder, and friends…  not to mention the chance to see Frank Lapidus’ eyebrows on a regular basis.

It’s safe to say I never completely understood what was happening on the show, but it didn’t matter.  I was happy being lost with Lost.  And now I have to be lost without it.

Heather Hansen

When people learn that you work in television, usually their next question is, “what’s the most interesting thing you’ve done?”

I am very fortunate that between my first career in TV news and my current career in production, the list is fairly long…and it’s very difficult to choose.

In the interest of narrowing it down for blog’s sake, standing at the edge of an active volcano is tough to beat.

It was 2002, and we were producing a show for Travel Channel called, “World’s Best Places to Brave Mother Nature.”  Anne (my wife and Co-Producer) and I shot several hours of aerials from a helicopter hovering over Kilauea Volcano in Hawaii.  The volcano happened to be active at the time, and had at least 3 vents shooting out geysers of lava.  This alone was worth the trip, although the sulfur smell, and sudden drops in altitude from the extreme conditions, gave us what we used to call an “E-Ticket ride.”  The Blue Hawaiian pilots are the best, and they knew how to maximize the flight to get the best shots, but still maintain a margin of safety for the guy…me…hanging out of the helicopter with a camera.   read more...

Running with my dog tonight, my new shoes didn’t feel right.  My toes felt crowded, and my right knee seems unsatisfied despite any amount of icing it receives while propped on the coffee table.  Years of minor injuries (some athletic, some party-related) give me mild assault, but I’ve never wanted to stop my light mileage habit.  Creaking along, I thought of ways to improve my stride and form, and I thought of someone I will never forget: the girl who used to cheer for me at my indoor track meets.  

She was from another high school – Haverhill or Lowell, maybe, and she kept vigil at my 1,000 yard dashes and, later in the season, my mile races, throughout the ‘92/’93 winter track season.  “Pick up your knees!”  “Lengthen your stride!”  She yelled and clapped every time I passed her.  Maybe this is just my memory of it, but I think she only cheered for me.  “Come on, you can do it!”  She was my personal coach, an embodied “Hang in There” kitten poster in the indoor track arena, and she willed my sour fifteen-year-old personage to achieve something - like ever breaking six minutes in the mile.    read more...