Do one thing every day that scares you

Posted on November 1, 2012 by admin

Do one thing every day that scares you. - Eleanor Roosevelt

It’s that simple – and that hard.

For the month of November, try something new every day. Big, small, tiny and gigantic – but challenge yourself to not hesitate, to say yes, to do more or maybe do less? But do.

Write all of your accomplishments down – no matter how insignificant they might seem in the moment. If you decide to post about your adventures on your blog, or via Twitter, Instagram or the like use the hashtag #OpEleanor.

You can read more about OpEleanor here and here and even here.

Ready, set, go.

A give-and-you-shall-receive giveaway

Posted on November 24, 2011 by admin

If you follow me on The Twitter you might have noticed that I got all philanthropist on you lately in the name of an organization called Feeding America which is doing ridiculously amazing things to help feed families in America. I came across them in Real Simple magazine and while the cause is worthy all on its own, what really struck me was how such a small donation could have such a profound effect on so many.

A $1 donation will help feed 8 families. Eight.

Then I read some of the sickening facts on hunger in America on their site. It was startling. I looked up my local food bank in my area (you can too on the website) and saw just how many pounds of food per year – more than 16 million in my supposedly cozy suburban So. Cal community – are being served thanks to Feeding America and its partners.

Knowing what I know now, I couldn’t not donate.

I have a hard enough time explaining to my boys each year why we donate toys to Toys For Tots and Spark of Love. Why there are some kids who wake up on Christmas morning and don’t have gifts – nevermind families who don’t have food to eat… Right here in our own community. Right here in America.

So today, as we sit down with our families on Thanksgiving, thankful for all we have today and everyday, I’m going to urge you to consider donating $5 to Feeding America so that 40 families who don’t have enough food to eat on any given day, let alone a feast on Thanksgiving, might have something to eat tomorrow because of your generosity.

If just 5 of you donated $5 to Feeding America, that would equal 200 meals for families.

If 20 of you donated $5 to Feeding America that would equal 800 meals for families.

I understand money is tight for so many this year. It’s no different for me. But I know that I can give up a venti holiday drink at Starbucks one time and there is my $5 donation.

To up the ante, ~~I am going to give away a $25~~ my good friend Emmie and I are giving away a $50 Starbucks gift card to one random person who donates to Feeding America between now and this Sunday, November 27, 2011 ending at 9:00 pm PST. For every $5 donation you make to Feeding America, please leave one comment on this post as an entry. (For example, for a $20 donation, please leave 4 separate comments, etc.)

Please be sure to also visit the fabulous Jett Superior who is my partner-in-crime in this giveaway-goodness, hosting a giveaway all her own on her blog in the name of this fantastic cause.

If you decide to also blog about this cause or if you do a giveaway, please link up below. You can follow Feeding America on Twitter here, following along and re-tweeting by using the hashtag #giveameal.

And if you and your family need help this year, that’s what Feeding America is for. You can find out how they can help you here.

Wishing you a very happy Thanksgiving.

{Megan}
__________

UPDATED:

First, a huge thank you to everyone who donated, shared this post, tweeted/re-tweeted, Facebooked and more… Remember that Feeding America needs donations year-round, not just Thanksgiving time, so if you’re looking for worthy causes to support, check them out.

Just from the comments on this post, we surpassed my goal of donating enough money to provide 4,000 meals… donating $530 which provides 4,240 meals to hungry families in America. Additionally, people have tweeted and emailed me without commenting, so who knows just how much we’ve really accomplished. I do know one blogger, who wishes to remain anonymous, donated $700 though her company who then matched her donation ($1400), providing another 11,200 meals alone. Donations big and small, they all count so thank you so much.

I used Random.org to find a winner of the $50 Starbucks gift card…

And the winner is…

Congrats Nicole Elizabeth!

And thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who was so very generous!

Marching for Maddie – Photos

Posted on May 1, 2011 by admin

Couldn't be prouder to be a part of this amazing group of people who showed up early on a Saturday morning to march for Maddie and for babies like her in the Los Angeles March of Dimes Walk.

No one complained about what time it was. Or about how warm it was. Or how far it was. Everyone was spirited and grateful and humble.

Even Annie was in the marching mood, ready to take on the pavement.

And I'm super proud of this dude – my oldest – who is a March of Dimes baby himself; who asked me if he could come along and walk the three miles with me.

—

You can see all the March for Maddie photos here.

Prints for sale

Posted on February 15, 2011 by admin

I've been asked if I ever sell my non-portraity, non-weddingish photographs a number of times and I keep thinking "I ought to" but then again, there's a lot of things I "ought" to do like scrub that crockpot that's been, um, soaking for a couple of days now.

But! Years later, I have finally put up a link to where you can buy a variety of my photographs in varying sizes and even on gifts like mugs or mousepads (do people still use those?) so there's hope for the crockpot yet.

You can buy prints here, however there is a new link sitting pretty (ugly) at the top of this blog where you can always access these photographs and of course others as I add them.

A few samples from the website (my lovely signature not included in the price of purchase, sorry) that you can buy:

Yes, there are other, non-flowery photographs up on the site like Times Square in NYC and a pier at a local beach I have hanging in my own hallway. I will also be adding more photos in the days to come and as I take them.

Aaaand the shameless self-promotion ends here. For now.

Eight

Posted on January 25, 2011 by admin

I specifically remember the day we had this discussion – the one where you and I discussed staying 7 years old and not turning eight (or nine or ten or…) – in great detail. I suggested taping a brick to your head the way my grandpa used to promise to do to me and you just rolled your big brown eyes, crossed your arms and said defiantly "Mom, I'm turning eight whether you like it or not."

And today you are. Whether I like it or not.

You've never been one to listen; a quality that has been both a challenge and a secret admiration of mine. Your stubborness makes for some difficult headbutting but also makes me intensely proud of you as you are never a follower, never one to do what's easiest and you are always adamant about doing things your way, even if it means doing it by yourself. You have courage and bravery within you that you're not even aware of and I wish that at your age I could have been half as strong-willed and independent as you are now.

You are a young man (sigh) in an old man's body with the soul of someone who has been here many times before; wise beyond not just your years, but mine too. Your brain is constantly on; the gears consistently turning and you're humorously wise about holding back just how much you know until the right moment.

You hide from the camera and warn me "this is not for Facebook" when I am lucky enough to capture you in a snapshot. Yet your sense of humor is profoundly funny when you turn it on - usually when you're getting in trouble. "Oh c'mon Mom! You know you're laughing on the inside!" I almost always am.

The world around you as you know it is changing and while I attempt to only expose you to the very minimum, you know better. You haven't simply adjusted – you have stepped up and become the biggest help. At eight years old. I don't know how you know so much at such a young age but what I do know is I couldn't be prouder of you.

E, you are awesome, talented, intelligent and the coolest eight year old I know. Right now, coming from your mom, that probably doesn't mean a whole lot. But hopefully someday it will.

I love you, dude.

Happy Birthday!

Love,
Mom

Winner of the Tassimo T20. Welcome to your new life.

Posted on December 28, 2010 by admin

I have used my Tassimo T20 so much I've already had to buy T Disc refills for it. No joke. And I was happy to see that my Target sells them – right there in the coffee aisle – and they happened to be on sale so DOUBLE WIN!

Anyway, you don't give a damn about me or my refills, you just want to know if you one the Tassimo T20 so let me get straight to it.

Although I would just like to say if I had Oprah's money, I'd buy ALL of you one. (AND YOU! AND YOU! AND YOU!) But I don't so that was just cruel to put that out that there.

Again, I digress.

I used Random.org to find a winner…

and comment #45 happens to be…

So congrats to Carmen and WELCOME TO YOUR NEW LIFE! Email me at undomesticdiva(at)gmail(dot)com so I can get all your pertinent information so Tassimo can mail your Tassimo T20 directly to you!

Thank you to everyone who entered.

Also? Oprah, please send me money because I feel bad for the others who didn't win. Kthx.

Updated with video clip: Watch me make an ass of myself. Maybe.

Posted on December 26, 2010 by admin

To see the clip on today's Rachael Ray, click HERE.

Tune in Monday (Dec 27) to the Rachael Ray Show [check here for your local times/listings] to see me make an ass of myself… if they didn't cut me from the segment entirely. Which, you know, they just might have.

Rachael Ray you ask? That's what I said to the producer who called and asked me to tape while I was at BlogHer in NYC this past August. I think I responded with something like, "Um, have you read up on me? Seen my blog? I can't cook…" Then the very peppy producer was like "YES! That's what we love about you!" when really, I think she was hoping I'd burn down the Hilton and grab them some extra publicity because you know what they say – there's no such thing as bad publicity…?

I don't know.

Anyway… Let me know if I make it on there and if you manage to find a clip of it if I do, send me a link because chances are a) I'll forget to watch and b) I still don't know how to work that fancy DVR machine and c) then I can analyze over-and-over again just how awful I look on camera 'cause you know THAT'S ALWAYS FUN.

Come back here later today when I announce the winner of the super awesome Tassimo T20.

The one-button, no bra required Tassimo T20 – It can be yours

Posted on December 23, 2010 by admin

If you could have a cappuccino (or coffee or latte, WHATEVER) within one minute from start to finish without ever leaving your house, putting on a bra, pants or shoes, finding car keys, standing in line or doling out $2.65 plus would you complain?

OK, you probably would, but not about that, right? Because oh my god I fear for the rest of ya'll because I now have access to round-the-clock cappuccinos (coughCAFFEINEcough) thanks to this sleek, handsome, I may just be a little too into it, Tassimo T20 humdinger of a machine. I don't even want to call it a coffee maker because it out does your normal every day messy filters-and-grounds routines on so many levels, trumping the average coffee maker with its one-button operation and no mess T Discs and that leave you with nothing to clean up. Tassimo is so speaking my language with this bad boy.

On top of all the features the Tassimo T20 claims on its box, it proudly wears the Starbucks symbol which had me tearing open the box quicker than a kid demolishing a present on Christmas morning. BUT, I knew better than to just trust the Starbucks symbol – I mean, c'mon, we've all witnessed Starbucks at Target and know full-well that it is not the same thing as a real, certified Starbucks store. So, I had to give it a try for myself.

Trying the Tassimo T20 was the ultimate test. It doesn't matter how great the coffee is – if I can't work the machine then forget it, the thing is useless. And with an attention span the size of an ant, Tassimo (Bosch) was really working against all odds. I photographed each step so a) you could see for yourself what the T20 is like and b) just in case I managed to cause a small kitchen fire like I've been known to do in the past.

Here's what Tassimo sent me in the mail (for free, I might add!) to try out…

Um, Hello Starbucks Cappuccino T Discs…

Isn't she pretty?

I followed the 5 very simple instructions to get her going. I even re-read the instructions a few times because it seemed a little too… easy?

Pure. Excitement. when this bad boy came to life. (Note: No caffeine had been consumed. Yet.)

I picked one of my favorite mugs from the RV/Meg Exclusive Mug Collection (TM) and might have squee'd a little in excitment.

Like I was going to go for anything other than the cappuccino. C'mon now.

So how on earth do you make a cappuccino in a disc-oriented coffee machine you ask? Well, let me tell you. See these T Discs? The one on the right is milk creamer and the one on the left is espresso. Guess what? You use one after the other AND THAT'S AS DIFFICULT AS IT GETS.

First, the milk creamer T Disc. Maybe 30 seconds to steam? Then… foam!

I own a full-blown fancy schmancy espresso machine and I have to say, this is waaaay easier than steaming milk to create cappuccino-worthy foam on that thing.

Then? Just change the T Disc to the espresso one…

NO, THERE WAS NO FIRE. Just steam. Lovely, hot steam. And espresso. In under 30 seconds. It's like a love story for the coffee addicts across the world.

And this, my friends, is the extent of the mess. No more spilling coffee grinds all over the counter or outside of the filter or having them end up in your actual coffee. Just an empty container to toss in the trash. I am so on board with the no mess thing.

And luckily, this story has a happy ending… It's true. It was delightful. It tasted awesome (and you know I'm hella picky about my cappuccinos), it was easy to operate (and you know I require easy) and there was no mess to deal with (and you know I am all about keeping it clean) (well).

But the best part is? Well, besides the fact that I can now be highly caffeinated at all times of the day without having to put a bra on? It's that I get to give away one of these fancy change-your-life Tassimo T20's to YOU.

How to enter:

To enter to win, leave a comment on this post telling me why coffee is your best friend (and be creative! Not because it's required but because it's boring to read "because it tastes good.") Each comment = one entry. You may enter as many times as you want beginning now through Sunday, December 26, 2010 at 8:00 PM Pacific Time. Winner will be chosen at random. Sorry, this item can only be shipped to U.S. residents at this time.

*Tassimo/Bosch sent me the brewer and coffee products at no cost for review and all opinions are mine and do not reflect that of the company's.

Spooning

Posted on December 12, 2010 by admin

Let me ask you one little question: If you could do something to make a person feel better – a person you could otherwise not help in her situation of unfortunate circumstance beyond her or your control – would you?

Think about it. We've all been there. We've all had someone in our life – whether a close family member or friend or perhaps it's just someone we know through the blogosphere or Twitter world or maybe even it's someone whose story we heard from someone who heard it from someone else… but somehow, it touched us, it haunted us, it made us feel helpless and it kept us scratching our heads and wondering What can I do? leaving us helpless because sometimes, in this life, we don't always have the chance to fix things for others. No matter how badly we want to.

So again, If you could do something to make a person feel better – a person you could otherwise not help in her situation of unfortunate circumstance beyond her or your control – would you?

:::

I have a friend (and chances are, she's your friend too – or at least acquaintance) who could use a little cheer. She's had multiple surgeries recently (she lost 13 inches of her colon, her gall bladder, her uterus, her ovaries and cervix) and finally after several emergency hospitals stays was diagnosed with Lupus.

I can't fix her. I would LOVE to be able to fix her. The next best option is to try and bring her happiness in any way I can. And I'm not talking in the form of money or food or CLICK MY PAYPAL BUTTON RIGHT HERE sort of way. This idea, my friends, is far more creative and unique and I hope you'll help me help her make this happen.

In an effort to keep this as low-key and not-so-obvious to my friend I'm not naming or linking you to her blog but instead I'm sending you HERE to read the back story, to help this friend of ours, through the giving of spoons.

Yes, spoons. (The full story is here – a bit lengthy but worth the read.) A spoon from your kitchen drawer, a spoon from a gift shop, a spoon from anywhere, it doesn't matter. That's all. It's rather simple, really.

I'm asking you to:

- Send a spoon (address information here)

- Pass along this information on your blog (you can copy/paste this if you would like)

- Tweet/RT this post to pass along the message

And you will have spread the cheer I was talking about. We can't cure diseases. Sometimes, it's hard (at least for me) to even convey the right sentiments in a tweet or email to the ones we're thinking good healing thoughts for. But this? This is a start.

xoxo

(And if you have questions about who we're helping, feel free to email me or leave a comment and I would be happy to reply back.)

We (Wii) Party. And so can you.

Posted on December 7, 2010 by admin

Talk about perfect timing, the most amazing (and fun!) package arrived via FedEx today and it could not have come at a better moment for the boys and I.

Now I'm not one of those bloggers who gets invited to every (any) Big Name Brand Event or is on every (any) Cool Pitch List, that's for certain. But for whatever reason, a couple of weeks ago Nintendo sent me an email telling me (not asking me, not pitching to me, not requesting anything from me) that they were sending me a Wii Party Party Package in the mail so that my family and I could have a Wii Party Party Night. They didn't ask me to blog about it or review it or to do anything in return; all they wanted was my address and to know if we had enough Wii-motes.

Then today, in a cake-sized box wrapped in a bright pink bow came the Wii Party game, the Mii faces on sticks for the kids, an extra Wii-mote with the new motion sense technology, a $25 gift certificate to Domino's pizza and ten $5 off coupons for the Wii Party game on Amazon.com to pass along to my friends. (Hey, that's you.) (More details on that at the end of this post.)

The boys were ECSTATIC.

"Why'd they send us this, Mom?"

"Did they know we were bein' good?"

"You mean, the people who make the Wii sent it? How did they do that??"

And that was before they even played. There are so many games on the Wii Party game that the boys haven't even had a chance to check them all out but an instant favorite was Board Game Island. The mini games were a big hit with them also. (I can see this being a fun game to break out with a group of adults as well.) And you know something is a homerun when it's bedtime and you warn misbehaving kids to "go to bed or there won't be any Wii Party tomorrow" and they listen. THEY LISTEN.

But, I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.

I'm giving away the ten $5 off coupons for Wii Party on Amazon.com. To enter, leave a comment on this post telling me your favorite Wii game. Each comment = one entry. Enter as many times as you would like. Enter through Sunday, December 12, 2010 until 8:00 PM Pacific Time for a chance to win.

And many thanks to Nintendo!

Undomestic Diva

Doin' the best I can… When I feel like it

Category Archives: The Bidness End