Blog Nosh Magazine

We'll Take that to Go!

Originally Published on Blue Yonder

You know, I really try very hard to keep our lives simple.

I think long and hard before I sign us up for something new, because things just pile up so quickly, and I really don't want my kids' childhoods wasted away in an over-scheduled, hurry up and wait blur. I want them to have the time to explore, to linger, to lay in the grass and watch ants go about their busy lives - time to breathe. I want them to take full advantage of this one time, this short time, in their lives when they get to just be.

But, try as I might, there are times when there are complications and jam packed days that just can't be avoided.

Now and again we have to visit the doctor's office, or wait for the car to be inspected, busy ourselves between lifeguard breaks or wait for a brother to finish his music lesson.

That's how the "Go Boxes" came to be.

Woe Canada: Patriotism and Political Correctness in the great White North

Originally Published on Blue Like You: Conservative Musings

Today on Canada Day,  the Toronto Sun features a debate between Lorrie Goldstein and Paul Berton titled Whoa Canada, which discusses possible reasons for a supposed lack of patriotism among some Canadian demographics.

However, a recent Harris-Decima poll found that a clear majority of Canadians are very proud of their country:

The Canadian Press Harris-Decima survey asking Canadians to rank their pride in Canada on a scale of one to 10 found 57 per cent gave it the highest mark.

Another 25 per cent gave it an eight or a nine, while just 3 per cent ranked their pride lower than a five.

Personally, I can’t think of a country I’d rather live in. However, there are concerns bubbling under the surface that require our attention. Jeffrey Simpson’s Globe editorial hones in on some issues that seem to be taboo in Canadian society today:

…Is it boredom, political correctness, entrenched self-interest, self-satisfaction or moral superiority that creates so many no-fly zones for debate in this curious country?

From Deep Fryer to Slow Cooker

Never go grocery shopping while you are hungry. 

I'm almost sure I've heard that before...  Then I get home, unload the car, and think, "Why did I buy seven boxes of cereal bars again?  Who here eats jalapeno hush puppies?"

In the excitement to get Blog Nosh Magazine's pantry stocked and satisfy your appetites for fresh voices, I think we may have overstuffed ourselves just a tiny little bit.  Time to sit back, loosen our belts, and digest all we have placed on the table and then immediately gobbled up.

Our initial plan was to publish one post from each channel, once a week.  That's just about 15 posts a week.  Now, three posts a day isn't that bad when you are covering such diverse topics, but 15 posts a week is a lot if you miss a day or two. 

As publisher and editor-in-chief, I actually expected our readers to simply skim the day's posts for a channel they liked (hence those easy-to-identify channel  graphics at the beginning of each post), cherry-picking more than reading.  Come to find out, you are reading all of the posts in all of the channels.  You are surpassing our initial goals and embracing the challenge of opening up to new genres and different perspectives. 

Better, yet?  You are then clicking through to the authors' blogs.  You are clicking through to our editors' blogs.  You are clicking through to blogs they reference on their blogs.  You are, in effect, taking the road less traveled and finding yourselves there, as well.

Blog Nosh Magazine is evolving.  We will always be evolving.  That means that we are open to change, despite how brilliant the bossy editor here thinks her ideas are.  So, for the time being, we are going to cut back to 9 posts a week, which means that the entire week's features will remain on the front page for a full seven days.  Appropriately enough. 

Instead of deep frying our fare, we are going to try the slow cooker approach and see how you like it.  How will we know if you are satisfied?  Why, we will know because you will speak up!  Ask to speak with the chef, so to speak.  She devours the comments as though they were covered in nacho cheese.  ;) 

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The 5 Levels of Competitiveness in Social Media

Originally published on Social Impressions

As you become increasingly active in social media, you will find a wide variety of competitiveness across the board. Some want to be regarded as A-list bloggers, to reach a top status on social bookmarking sites, and to have the most number of friends on Facebook. While some can maintain genuine relationships with people, others see them as part of their massive network. Competition is usually healthy, depending on the amount of competitiveness involved.

Although there are many gray areas between each level, I have observed roughly five main levels of social media competitiveness and involvement.

Lurker

Lurkers exist online; they just aren’t visible. These people don’t actually participate. They quietly watch the activity on their favorite sites. They may identify core sites and users that they admire or enjoy and follow them religiously. Even the most offensive of posts won’t incite a comment from them. Although these lurkers might sign up for an account on a social site, they are usually the users without an avatar. Their activity on these sites is minimal, and their contribution is non-existent.

The Endurance of Courage

Originally published on Family Clay, Smushed Together and titled Koson's Lesson.

This is a long one, but stick with it. It’ll be worth it. I promise.

It was a Thursday night in the fall of 1982; I was fourteen years old. I remember the day of the week because in our soccer league, Thursday nights were game nights. My father was our coach, and on this night we’d just lost to a bigger, more skilled team. After the loss I was walking back to the parking lot with my teammates (dad was trailing far behind, talking with some of the other parents) when somebody from our team must’ve said something to some members of the other team about how hard they sucked or how big their mommas were. The three largest guys on their team were pretty sure I’d said it and wanted to show me how much they didn’t appreciate it. As I turned to see what was going on (at this point I had no clue), I saw the three (much) larger kids coming my way.

At the time I stood about 5′10″ and was pretty skinny. But I had a big mouth, and it sometimes got me into more trouble than my 160 pound body could get me out of. And while I hadn’t said anything to these guys, I wasn’t planning on backing down.

Weight Loss Tips - Maximum Muscle Stimulation for Fat Loss

Originally posted on Former Fat Guy Blog.

Today’s weight loss tips are about exercise and how to best use your time in the gym to get more work done, stimulate more muscle and burn more fat. They say that building muscle while burning fat can’t be done, and that you should focus on one or the other, never both. That said, what if you just wanted to burn fat as efficiently as possible, end workout boredom make your time in the gym as quick as possible. These three weight loss tips are the very thing to take you in that direction.

Weight Loss Tips

1 Focus your training on the largest muscle groups:
The largest muscle groups of the body are the legs, back and chest. By working the largest muscle groups, primarily, you end up putting a larger demand on your body for energy and nutrition. Then a larger demand on your body for repair of that muscle tissue. You burn fat twice, first when you’re actually training and secondly when your body is busy rebuilding the muscles.

Arms (tricep and bicep) are smaller muscles, and where training certainly makes them look good and allows you to work harder on pushing and pulling movements, they don’t burn as much fat as the larger muscles.

As my trainer says, even if you don’t specifically train arms, they still get worked when you’re doing chest and back movements.

Mamapreneurs, you ARE your brand.

Originally published on Mamapreneurs, Inc.

-I have insomnia and I’m tired.
-I work 7 days a week but Mondays and Fridays are my FT kid days during the summer.
-E-mail is the best way to communicate for me; if you leave me a voice mail, you honestly might not get a call back. If you leave me an e-mail, you will definitely get a response.

I tell you all this not because you are my friends, my family, my colleagues or my clients (although you may be one or all of these things): I tell you this because being transparent about who I am as the owner of three companies and as mama to two kids is essential to the success of my businesses and peace in my personal life.

Being a mamapreneur means that my businesses don’t just rely on the products or the services, they rely on the entire brand package—and that includes me as the owner. As mamapreneurs, like it or not, we ARE the brand.

 

The pros and cons of being human

Originally published at Flutter - Dark and Divine

We are all set upon this earth with our own set challenges. Some of us have it more difficult than others, some are blessed, some are damned. Some are equal tinctures of both.

Some persevere and blossom, others flicker and fade. To which end, is not predetermined, rather guided by the decisions we make. Every one thing effects every one other. From the minute to the grand, our daily pro and con list steers us in one direction or another. As fragrant petals in a windstorm, yet guided by a hand of our making.

Our experiences are not always ours to control, but how we react to them is. I have been mired in a sickly sweet cloud of terror for the better part of 15 years. Until recently, there was a sense of continual fleeing. A sense of having to watch over my shoulder, as I ran forward. Fear, panic, fear, panic.

The truth? Until recently I thought it was all my fault.

The [b] School - All Time Favourite Wedding Images

Originally posted at [b]ecker's Blog.

I was recently chatting with some friends at a party, and I was asked if I knew what my favorite wedding image was. I laughed at the notion that I could ever narrow it down to a single frame, but it did get me thinking of some of the more memorable images I've captured over the years, and today I'd like to share with you 20 of my all time favorite wedding photographs. Of course, if you ask me tomorrow, I may have a completely different set of images. I am always striving to create better images that capture moments in time that the subjects will cherish forever.

I define my style of photography, as capturing relaxed portraits, amazing details and real moments. I feel these images do a good job representing my abilities in doing just that.

These first few images are scans from back in the film days... the 90's!

I absolutely still love this portraits of a bride from July of 1999. Her expression was real, and she was just a gorgeous person inside and out.

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