Sunday, September 30, 2012

Adding a Period Before Your Tweet



Last week, I was able to attend the blogging conference Springboard where I was able to hear great sessions and mingle with some of my favorite blogging friends. One takeaway I learned from a session put on by Ginny and Janet of Shareaholic was the use of a period in tweets. Now I am by no means a Twitter expert so this may be totally common knowledge to all of you but since I didn’t know it (and other people in the session didn’t either) I figured I’d share.

If you start a tweet with an @ the only people who will see the tweet is someone who follows both you and the @ person. Twitter does this in order to minimize the amount of tweets in a person's stream. If you want all of your followers to see the tweet then you need to put a period before the @ OR not start the tweet with the @ symbol.

Example:

@violacay Thanks again for a great party Friday night. You and your adorable apron make you the hostess with the mostess!

In this example, only people who follow both me and @violacay will see this tweet. Now maybe that’s okay, but what if I want all of my followers in the Twittersphere to know how awesome Viola Cay is and how ridiculously cute she looks in her apron? Well then I would need to type it like this…

Example:

.@violacay Thanks again for a great party Friday night. You and your adorable apron make you the hostess with the mostess!

In this case all of my followers will see the tweet. Now the period at the beginning can seem a bit out of place so another easy option is to simply not use the @ in the beginning of the tweet.

Example:

Hey @violacay Thanks again for a great party Friday night. You and your adorable apron make you the hostess with the mostess!

Now everyone will see the tweet and I didn’t even have to mess with a period. The “Hey” goes a long way in this tweet.

So did everyone know this already or were people late to the party with this info like me?

Saturday, September 29, 2012

How to Make Marshmallow Chocolate Split (or Indoor S’mores)


We’ve been looking forward to making S’mores today but Mother Nature delivered us a cool, rainy day. Instead of calling it a bust, we decided to make a version of S’mores in the oven which Isabelle has named “Marshmallow Chocolate Split.” Next time you have a craving for S’mores and the weather doesn’t work out, try out this easy recipe.


Marshmallow Chocolate Split (Indoor S’mores)

Ingredients
6-7 Graham cracker sheets
½ cup butter
½ cup firmly packed brown sugar
2 cups mini marshmallows (or you can quarter large marshmallows like we did if you don’t have mini)
3 bars of Hershey’s Milk Chocolate


Heat oven to 350°F.

Line a 13x9 baking pan with foil leaving a 1 inch overhand on each end. Spray foil with cooking spray.  

Line graham crackers up on foil so that ends touch.

Melt butter and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until mixture is smooth and comes to a boil. Approx. 5 minutes.

Spread butter/sugar mixture evenly over crackers.

Bake 9-12 minutes or until bubbly.

Remove pan from oven. Sprinkle with marshmallows and chocolate. 

Continue to bake until marshmallows begin to soften, approx. 2-3 minutes.

Cool completely before lifting bars from pan using foil.

Cut in to bars, eat, and enter a sugar coma.

You can also use colored marshmallows/candies around different seasons to make it more festive. This dessert is really sweet so you could also try out a semi-sweet chocolate or dark chocolate if that’s more your style. For me, the sweeter the better!

*Hershey's provided me with the supplies for the S'mores. All opinions/recipes are my own.*

Join Me For a #LatteLove Twitter Party!


Americans love their lattes, and with one serving of fat free milk adding nine essential nutrients but only 80 calories and no fat, lattes love you back. Join me on Thursday, October 4th at 1pm EST to talk about getting a nutritious and delicious start to your day with an at home latte and you might even win a cool prize!
 
When: Thursday, October 4, from 1-2pm EST

Where: The party will take place on Twitter, using the #LatteLove hashtag.

Who: @theMotherhood, @CooperMunroe, @EmilyMcKhann will be hosting.

Prizes: We will give away five Latte Lovers Essentials prize packs throughout the Twitter party! Each one will include a Bodum milk frother, Latte Love mug, 8 oz. Lavazza coffee, Torani syrup, McCormick spices, recipe card & coupon.

Twtvite: For more details, and to RSVP, click here! http://www.twtvite.com/lattelove

Want a sneak peek? Enter the Latte Love Sweepstakes on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MilkMustache/app_374172189320016 - now through October 9, for a chance to win a Latte Lovers Essentials kit or Keurig brewing system! You can also find easy tips, recipes & ideas for making lattes, cappuccinos or other coffee drinks at home on The Breakfast Project, https://www.facebook.com/MilkMustache or http://www.milkmustache.com.

For at-home latte recipe ideas and inspiration, check out these links:

Nine-Nutrient Boost: http://www.milkmustache.com/recipes/nine-nutrient-boost/
Morning Pick-Me-Up: http://www.milkmustache.com/recipes/morning-pick-me-up/
Ooh La Latte: http://www.milkmustache.com/recipes/ooh-la-latte/      

Hope to "see" you there!

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Why I Love (and Hate) Pandora


On the rare occasion that I have some time alone where I can listen to music without anyone else around I love to crank Pandora. I turn on the “Diane” station and wonder why I don’t listen to it more often. It plays me songs that I love – songs that I had forgotten about. It plays me songs that bring back great memories. It occasionally throws a new song in the mix and you know what? I end up loving it. It’s because Pandora knows me. We’re friends. We’re maybe even BFFs.

Then some days I turn on the “Kid” station and Pandora quickly becomes my enemy. Now let’s keep in mind that I turn the music on for the kids so that they leave me alone. I envision them playing with their toys while happily listening to some tunes. This is never the case. Instead I hear, “We don’t know this song,” “This is a Mamma song (Note: It’s not),” “This is a Dadda song (Note: It’s not),” “We don’t like this song.” The thing is Pandora doesn’t understand the completely irrational minds of my children. It doesn’t understand that they want to hear the same ten songs on repeat all day long. It doesn’t understand that they will gladly listen to any Disney princess song but if you play Mary Poppins or Hercules they will scream. It doesn’t understand that they want to hear Hakuna Matata but if you play the Broadway version of it a revolution occurs. It doesn’t understand that they do not want ANY variety at all. So every time I make the mistake of putting on Pandora for them I spend the majority of my time yelling at the computer/TV (and the children) while frantically pushing the thumbs down button.  

Oh, Pandora I couldn’t love (or hate) you any more than I do.

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