Hope and Change

I spent the evening among hundreds of rabid Obama supporters, many African American. And all night long the streets rang with honks, screams, horns, helicopters, and jubilation like I’d never heard in the US before.

What more can I say about Obama than the press and other political bloggers, as well as Oprah, have stated about this man. We all know he isn’t the most experienced person. But we all agree he is smart. And in his speech (video) when he rallied Americans to feel we are in “this” together with him, that was perhaps the smartest thing he could have said. (BBC has an interesting story analyzing why Obama won.)

Oh yes, we all know he has an epic challenge ahead of him. But much like with hope you can change your own life, the fact that he has presented a challenge for us to create change to make the US and the world a better place, well, why shouldn’t we be celebrating in the streets? Yes it all sounds good in theory and it will take many years to fix bad things that have happened.

But hopefully people and businesses will start to take ownership of both the good and devastating effects of their choices and with Obama’s leadership make the country and our lives better and stronger. And that is all. Go party.

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It’s NaBloPoMo Too - National Blog Posting Month

Is it cheating if I post this as one of my blog posts for National Blog Posting Month? Oh well…I found out about it a little late!

If you’re looking for a nudge to start blogging, seize National Blog Posting Month. It’s not a serious contest but a way to get you writing one post per day.

Once you join their online community you’ll instantly connect with passionate bloggers who will surely guide you.

Ideas for a blog:

• Look at your life list, choose your top goals to pursue, and share info about your progress.
• Change a habit and write every day what your goal is and how it went.
• Choose to experience something new every day and write about it.
• Blog on your favorite social network, or if you’re a woman on Blogher. You’ll get instant comments from your friends and other networks…probably.

How to Set Up a Blog

Wordpress is an awesome free service and has lots of templates and tutorials to get started. Blogger is great too, a key benefit being you can ad Google AdWords and make money from your blog.

If you want more control over your blog design and functionality, managing your own Wordpress blog (vs. one that they host) is the answer. I’m having great success with Bluehost. If you end up signing up for them by clicking from one of these ads (which will make money for SuperViva) I will personally give you some tips to get started if you like:
Bluehost offers easy web hosting for $6.95 along with a free domain. They also make it easy to set up a blog or a social network like Drupal and Joomla with “1 click.”

Happy writing!

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Do’s and Don’ts for October’s National Cookie Month

Every month is national something or other. But this month it’s a good one. Coooookies!

DO

…try the “mock” Doubletree Hotel Chocolate Chip Cookies recipe. As someone who’s favorite thing in the world is making, and trying to perfect, my chocolate chip cookie recipe, I must say these cookies are near perfection. The Neiman Marcus / Mrs Fields urban legend recipe is mighty fine as well.

…throw a cookie exchange party. Why wait for the holidays to start fattening up? I mean, to start having fun.

…make some fun cookie life list goals like “Make perfect cookies and have a midnight baked good feast with friends” or “bake cookies for a neighbor” (a good excuse in itself!)

Some cookie recipes to get you started on Recipezaar.

DON’T…

…shut down an iconic cookie company suddenly, leaving the world hanging without the chance to stockpile animal shaped sugar blobs that remind us of our childhood.

My more optimistic friends think that someone will take over Mother’s Cookies and bring it back to life. If not, well, take plenty of photos. For who can forget the texture and flavor of the sprinkles crunching, the thick layer of hard icing, and the cookie crunch?

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Babar the Elephant Museum Exhibit in New York till January 4

The guard at the JP Morgan library agreed: We’d never seen so many happy people milling around a museum exhibit as at this Drawing Babar: Early Drafts and Watercolors show.

I’m so glad that “in 2004 the Morgan acquired the working drafts and printer-ready watercolors for Histoire de Babar, le petit éléphant (1931), the first book by Jean de Brunhoff (1899–1937), and Babar et ce coquin d’Arthur (1946), the first book by Laurent de Brunhoff (b. 1925).” They took a lot of care to pay homage to this lovely children’s book series.

Ooohs, ahhs. The four baby elephants. Zephyr the monkey. The story of how Babar became king. Seeing the evolution of the stories and illustrations over time.

All in all, it was the most wonderful museum exhibit I’ve seen in New York. Yes, that’s a tall statement. And obviously part of this relates to all the childhood memories streaming back.

Admission is free on Fridays from 7 p.m. to 9 p.m.

It wasn’t on my list but I’m glad it’s now on my list of great things I did in 2008!

Learn More About Babar

View the watercolor illustrations interactively.

A New Yorker article takes an intellectual look into the Babar stories and history.

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