Although New Years Eve 2012 has come and gone we have developed a tradition in our home that I wanted to share. It is a tradition that would be fun to incorporate any time of the year and I hope you can find something useful in this post.
In our house New Years Eve is all about the finger foods! Every year we get together with our good friends, play games and EAT! We cover the kitchen table with all kinds of delicious finger foods, sweets and punch. There are a few must-have foods on the list but each year we always try to throw in something new. The great thing about finger foods is that many things can be made in advance, you don’t have to make a lot of anything, and everyone can find at least a few things they love.
Over the years our selection has grown from a few items (pictured below) to a big selection which this year included pigs-in-a-blanket, potato skins, Duck nuggets, spicy crescent cheese poppers, a cheese platter, veggies and dip, shrimp cocktail, cheese dip and chips, mushroom wellington cups, Christmas Punch, and chocolate mousse! The trick is to include some old favorites (pigs-in-a-blanket and potato skins) and swap in a few new things each year. Pinterest is a great place to search for new things to make.
The Super Bowl is coming up as is Valentine’s Day. This would be a great time to get together with a few friends you enjoy spending time with and have a finger foods party. Ask each family you invite to bring 2-3 favorite finger foods. Lay them all out on the table and dig in buffet style. Gather around the living room with your plates and enjoy spending time together. Playing games is also another great addition to a Finger Foods party. Some of our favorites include Mexican Train Dominoes, Taboo, Catch-Phrase and Funglish.
One of our goals is to help women bloggers in Arkansas Connect with one another. Soooo, Here’s a listing of ARWB members who gave us their blog’s facebook link when they registered with us. Go ahead, click them all and give them a “like”! You’ll be adding some great content to your facebook newsfeed and getting to know your fellow Arkansas Women Bloggers too!
Please note that these are all Facebook pages, not profiles (so you can “like” them – no friend request needed). If you would like to have your blog’s facebook page included in future “ARWB Facebook Love” posts, please head over and register as a member of our site (it’s FREE!). If you’ve already registered but would like to add your facebook page, please email fawn@arkansaswomenbloggers.com with your name, blog name, and facebook page URL.
If you’re considering starting a facebook page for your blog, here’s a post from Fawn on why you should.
Whether you make or break your resolutions or resolve not to make any in the first place, these bloggers will certainly give you pause for thought as they share their hopes, goals, dreams and intentions for the New Year.
Did you have a 2011 Review Post or a Resolution post that we missed? Send us a link to julie@arkansaswomenbloggers and we will add it later this month.
Do you have a post on your blog that you would love to share with our readers? Each Wednesday we are featuring several posts from our archives as well as your archives. If you would like to submit a post for our Retro Wednesday feature please email a short excerpt (300 characters or less) along with a link to the post, your name, and blog title to Julie@arkansaswomenbloggers.com with “Retro Wednesday” in the subject line. Please note that we will keep an ongoing list of Retro Wednesday posts and may not be able to notify you regarding the specific day on which your link will appear. Additionally, if you are interested in submitting original content for our site, check out our Posting Guidelines.
As this new year broadcasts its frantic message of resolutions and fervent hopes for tomorrow, twitter and the blogosphere is abuzz with diet tips, calorie counters, and an overall confusion of diet, diet, diet, and denial.
A healthy diet doesn’t have to mean denial.
A healthy diet should mean eating for pleasure.
First, let’s talk about the word “pleasure.” Webster defines “pleasure” as desire, inclination; a state of gratification; sensual gratification; frivolous amusement; a source of delight or joy.
These are strong and healthy phrases. Pause and dwell on them.
When we talk about eating for pleasure, it means that we should not focus on the guilt of eating. Eating is a privilege and should be a source of delight or joy for us.
It’s all about mindset.
Sometimes we just need a little tweak or reminder of our priorities!
The RIGHT mindset when eating
1) Slow down.
2) Engage all of your senses.
3) Consume half of what is on your plate.
4) Savor by taking time to chew.
5) Give thanks.
The WRONG mindset when eating
1) Fret about calories.
2) Fret about fat grams.
3) Don’t pay attention to what just went into your mouth.
4) Shove.
5) Regret another dissatisfied meal.
Let’s face it. We all have gone down the wrong mindset path a time or two. But that’s okay because that was yesterday. Today we start anew…
Which would you rather choose?
Eat well, my friends. Eat well.
Lyndi
Lyndi of NWAFoodie is a girl who just happens to live in beautiful Northwest Arkansas. Much of her blogging inspiration comes from this gem of a place which she refers to as the proverbial land of milk-and-honey.
A lot of you probably have set new goals for your blog with the new year, right? Maybe you want a new layout, or you’re going to participate in a new meme, or you want to expand the reach of your blog. Each of these goals takes time and effort, so you’ll want to see the payoff of all your hard work. But, how do you measure the results?
Alongside your own level of personal satisfaction, understanding your blog stats can be a great way to measure the impact of improvements you make to your blog. But, stats can be difficult to decipher, and culling out the valuable information is sometimes a chore. Here’s a quick primer on blog stats.
How Do I see My Stats?
If you are running on a free platform like WordPress.com or Blogspot (aka Blogger), your stats are built into your blog dashboard. If you are running a self-hosted site, your host provider likely provides a stat interface like AWstats or Webalizer. Probably the most commonly used site stats tool for self-hosted blogs is Google Analytics, which is what I primarily use.
The Main Dashboard for Google Analytics
Unfortunately, each of these methods breaks stats down in different ways and formats, so we won’t give a specific tutorial on moving through your stats interface here, BUT, let’s talk about some of the most standard statistics that you’ll want to track on your site.
Daily Visits – This is usually the easiest stat to see when you get into your stats interface. It’s useful because you can see which days had more visitors, and hopefully, correlate an increase in visitors with something you did on your blog, like writing a fantastic post, or linking to your blog from Facebook.
Unique Visitors – This is the number of different people (computers) that access your site. Usually we track this on a monthly basis. If your number of “uniques” is going up, you’re getting more people coming to your site! You can increase your unique visitors every month by utilizing SEO techniques and/or by promoting your blog on social networking platforms.
Visits – This is different from unique visits in that it counts the number of times that your site has been accessed. So, if your Mama visits your site every day for a month, she counts as one unique visitor, but she’s given you 30 ticks on your visits stat. Ultimately, you want your “uniques” to come back to your site over and over. The best way to do that is to give them a reason to come back!
Page Views – This is how many pages have been viewed by your visitors. So, if your mom comes to your site and just looks at the newest post, that’s one page view. But, if she clicks around on your archives, topics, bio, etc…your page views will go up. Easy ways to up your page views are to put links by post category in your sidebar, or to link to your own related posts in each post you write (Like I just did in the two bullet points above).
Bounce Rate – The bounce rate is the percent of visitors who come into your site and then leave your site without clicking on anything. For bloggers, this number is usually pretty high because our newest content is usually on the first page that visitors get to, so they don’t need to go anywhere else to find what they are looking for. However, a lower bounce rate means that your visitors are interacting more with your site, and that’s definitely a good thing!
What About that Alexa Chick?
You may or may not have heard of Alexa, which is another form of site ranking. Alexa ranks websites based on a number of components, including number of visitors, geographic reach, and the number of websites that link in to your blog. You can get your site’s Alexa rank at Alexa.com. Or, you can download the Alexa tool bar, which enables you to not only see your own site’s Alexa rank, but also the ranking of every site you visit.
Why Do I Care?
As I mentioned, stats are a good way to get feedback on how the work you do on your blog is paying off. If you want to work with companies or other PR efforts, the folks you will be working with will likely want to know the key components I listed above.
That said, don’t get too tied up in your stats. Spend some time in your stats interface to learn how it works and where to find the data that is important to you, and then mark your calendar to check it every week or two. Unless you are in the middle of a major campaign or change on your blog, there’s no reason to check your stats daily, and you’ll end up wasting a lot of time. Also, unless you are trying to make a business out of your blog, don’t put too much weight in your stats. Remember what your purpose for blogging is in the first place, and use your blog stats to help you meet your goals.
If you have specific questions about anything related to blog statistics, please leave them in the comments and we will do our best to answer them! (If you’re wondering about something, there are probably several other bloggers who are too!)
This post was written by Fawn, ARWB Managing Editor and blogger at Instead of the Dishes.
Sometimes writing blog posts can seem challenging because we aren’t sure what to write. I’m not talking about writer’s block (that is a whole other post someday), but am instead talking about what kinds of posts to write. Sure, you can just use it like a Hello Kitty diary and write whatever hoops in your heart, but maybe you are trying to mix it up a bit and want to add a different spin to your blog. Not only that, there is some science that folks click on different kinds of blog posts. So your chances of gaining more clicks improve when you mix it up a bit. Here are 5 types of blog posts that you can start interspersing into your blog:
1. How To’s
The number one kind of post that is searched on is how to do something. Really, anything. People look up how to hem pants, how to cook omelets, how to fix the dripping sink, how to dance like Brittany Spears, and on and on. There are a few ways to do the How To post that draw attention. First, you can do it straight like a recipe and just spell it out in text. That works for some people and if you are doing your first how to it might be where you start. Second, you can do a detailed photo post. This has step by step instructions. Pioneer Woman is famous for these and the visuals really draw you in and convince you that you can make that amazing Moroccan Meat Loaf. Third, step into the land of video. Video is, hands down, the most searched vehicle on the web. Show people how you do something and you will draw hits over and over. Your videos do not have to be perfect. They don’t have to have TV studio production values… in fact, it might be better if they don’t. Just shoot it and post. You will see magic numbers happen.
2. Reviews
Sure, there are a million reviews out there, but if I read your blog and I am getting to know you I want to know what you like. I am building a relationship with you and I want to know what kind of toothpaste you are into. Seriously, you might think that your reviews or ideas about products are only useful if you are getting paid to post them, but the blogosphere has allowed us all into your supply closets. So, tell me about the sheets you have, the restaurant you went to, the new spice you are using – anything that you love/hate and I will be interested. Just remember if you are or are not compensated tell me that too. I want to know if this is an unvarnished opinion.
3. Show & Tell
One of my favorite things is show and tell. I am just a grown up kindergartener. I know that. But really, if you go shopping at Sephora, unpack your little bag on video and show me what you got. I love it. Did you just redecorate a corner of your house? Show me. I love to see what people are doing. Are you working on a new work project? Show me that too. I can’t be with all the bloggers I read, but I love to peek into their lives. And the more you show the more interested I am – well, keep your pants on. I don’t want to see that.
4. A Rant
Yep. Get personal. Get loud. Get passionate. If you rant about something, anything, people will read it. Get on your soap box and tell me about what you love, hate, want to fix, think someone else should fix and you will get hits. People love to watch a hissy fit from a distance. Rant away.
5. Projects
Involve your readers in your projects that you are tackling. This especially works with projects that you do every day. “30 Days of Drawings”, “40 Kinds of Soups”, “30 Days of Photos”, etc. Whatever you are doing make a project out of it and invite other people to participate. One way to do that is to create Flickr group that allows them to post their photos which creates a community around your project. You can also link back to posts that participants are doing – creating a lot of link love!
There are hundreds of kinds of posts, but I encourage you to try one of these and see what results you get. I know that one thing that will happen is that you will post more frequently when you commit to trying something different, experience some kind of rise in blog hits, and start to find your niche. Don’t ever feel like you are stuck doing one kind of post – it is your blog and you can mix it up anyway that you want to. That is the beauty of self publishing. Now go write posts!
Jacqueline Wolven blogs at MoxieWorks: Real Life Marketing for Small Buisiness and Small Towns and MoxieLife where she explores the beauty of living in the South and being in her 40’s. Her passions are doing good work, zen business, gtd and living the life you create. She left a successful career in San Francisco as the director of marketing to build her own, personalized, studio dedicated to helping small business. What she left behind were pointless meetings, red tape, and budgets that were astronomical. What she gained was a sense of living my life on my own terms, the ability to help clients have real success, and the joy of saying yes or no when she needed to.
My name is Dana, and I am the author and creator of Gluten Freedom. I am a student at the University of Arkansas, a substitute teacher, a wife, a blogger, and will soon be a certified early childhood educator. I live in Fayetteville, and you can find me calling the hogs at football, basketball, and baseball games! PIG SOOIE!
As I think back to this time last year, when 2011 was fresh and new, I realize how much my life has changed. I have lost thirty pounds. I have started a new blog. And I have been diagnosed with celiac disease. So bring it on, 2012! I am ready for anything!
For those of you not familiar with celiac disease, I will give you the basics:
Celiac disease – an autoimmune digestive disease that damages the villi of the small intestine and interferes with absorption of nutrients from food. What does this mean? Essentially the body is attacking itself every time a person with celiac consumes gluten (National Foundation for Celiac Awareness)
Cooking, eating out, traveling, and holiday get-togethers are just a few of the things that I used to love doing and have had to completely overhaul. I was diagnosed two days before Thanksgiving, and with no time to learn or prepare, I found myself eating only turkey, turkey, and more turkey. I even had to check the label on the bird!
Here are some of the symptoms of celiac disease, but please be aware that the symptoms are a mile long, and this is just a list of some of the common complaints:
abdominal pain and bloating
diarrhea
anemia
gastric ulcers
Crohns disease
skin rash
muscle cramps
osteoperosis
depression
malabsorption
bruising
I also have some great resources for you to check out if you have, or think you might have, celiac disease!
I have found, through blogging, that there are people everywhere facing this, and although it can be frustrating, resources, friends, and supporters are around every corner! If you or someone you know is going through life changes due to celiac disease, or a gluten or wheat allergy, come by and visit me in my gluten free world! In the meantime, here is a recipe that I have embraced in my gluten free lifestyle!
GLUTEN FREE HAM AND CHEESE QUICHES
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup milk
4 ounces shredded cheese
1 tbsp minced dry onion
1/4 tsp thyme
1/8 tsp salt
1/4 tsp pepper
3/4 cups diced ham
*AS ALWAYS, CHECK INDIVIDUAL PRODUCT LABELS TO ENSURE EACH INGREDIENT IS GLUTEN FREE*
1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray muffin tin with non-stick canola oil spray.
2) Combine all ingredients besides ham.
3) Spoon 1-2 tablespoons into each muffin cup.
4) Sprinkle ham evenly on top of each muffin cup of mixture.
5) Bake for 25-30 minutes, or until knife inserted comes out clean.
6) Broil for 2-4 minutes to brown tops of quiches.
7) Serve and enjoy!
New Year, New You is the Arkansas Women Bloggers topic of the month for January 2012. If you have a story to share with our readers please check out our Guest Post Guidelines and contact julie@arkansaswomenbloggers.com.
One of the great things about the group of women known as the Arkansas Women Bloggers is that we are such a diverse group. We have different jobs, some of us have children, some of us do not, we write about cooking, family, money, kids and myriad topics. We each spend our days doing different things, in different places and in different ways. 2011 was a great year for some of us while some of us were touched with saddness and loss. Many of us have used our blogs to reflect on and review 2011 and we want to share many of them with you today. Each women has a unique prespective and presentation. Enjoy!
Did you have a 2011 Review Post we missed? Send us a link to julie@arkansaswomenbloggers and we will add it later this month.
Do you have a post on your blog that you would love to share with our readers? Each Wednesday we are featuring several posts from our archives as well as your archives. If you would like to submit a post for our Retro Wednesday feature please email a short excerpt (300 characters or less) along with a link to the post, your name, and blog title to Julie@arkansaswomenbloggers.com with “Retro Wednesday” in the subject line. Please note that we will keep an ongoing list of Retro Wednesday posts and may not be able to notify you regarding the specific day on which your link will appear. Additionally, if you are interested in submitting original content for our site, check out our Posting Guidelines.
There’s a scene in the 80’s classic movie, Beaches, where a fledgling theater company opens a show and has a post-show party. Mid-party, someone runs into the theater with a pile of newspapers, just hot off the presses, and everyone devours the reviews. Lines from the reviews are quoted, and they include lofty philosophical posturing and big words designed to make eloquent cultural statements. The reviews are good, so everyone is happy, and the star actress goes on to a successful career on Broadway.
When I entered the arts administration world a few (ok, 11) years ago, the tradition of the theatrical review was still more common than not. The Beaches scene wasn’t actually that far from the truth. A show opened a multiple week run, and on opening night, a reviewer or critic came to the show and wrote a review that was published the next day. If it was good, sales went up, and if it was bad, the marketers buckled down and designed a plan to convince everyone that the critic/reviewer was wrong.
Much has changed since then. In most places, including Northwest Arkansas, where I live and work, reviews in the newspaper are a thing of the past. Our dogged arts reporters try to keep the tradition alive by posting online reviews and blog entries, but they certainly don’t have the influence of vaunted arts critics like Ben Brantley of the NY Times or Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times, and even those legendary reviewers are becoming less important in the average consumer’s decision to attend an arts event.
Opinions vary on if this is a good thing or not. Here’s an emotional article from someone who believes the latter, but many believe that in the age of facebook and instant (and often anonymous) comments, audience feedback is the most powerful tool marketers can harness (here’s an example of what I’d call “extreme patron reviews”).
The debate about the demise of the theatrical review will likely continue, but what does this mean for the average blogger? It actually means great things, because marketing types like me are always searching for new ways to connect to our potential customers, and popular blogs can be an excellent way to meet this goal. At Walton Arts Center, we’ve enjoyed some fun partnerships with blogs and bloggers over the past few years, to the point where creating a promotional giveaway for certain very high traffic blogs is just a regular part of our marketing efforts.
So, if you’re a blogger with a pretty good following (ie, more than just your parents and close friends), and you have a love of the arts, you might consider blogging about the art that you see and experience. Depending on the philosophy and marketing tactics of the arts organization, you might find yourself with opportunities to get free tickets or early access to shows, or have your blog featured on the social media platforms of those organizations.
Here are some tips about how to form a partnership with an arts organization:
1. Don’t be afraid to call us or email us; we’re pretty busy, and it might take a time or two for us to be convinced you’re the real deal (see #2), but if you are, we’ll definitely get back to you.
2. Know your statistics, and who’s reading your blog, and try to determine if they match the organization’s target demographic
3. Offer to blog about a show, or host a giveaway, in advance of the performance date
4. If it’s a show with multiple nights, offer to come on “press night” and post a “review” the following day
5. Put a link to the organization’s main site, and their blog site, on your blog (simple, but valuable!)
If you do decide to do a “review”, you’ll endear yourself to the arts organization if you:
1. Do your homework; know the kinds of shows you like and can talk intelligently about, and read reviews from other critics
2. Be professional in both your praise and your criticism, and don’t make it personal if you disagree or dislike something you see or experience
3. Try to say more than “I liked it,” or “I hated it.” Try to reflect on the audience and the context in which the performance happens (ie, did the audience seem to engage with the content, did it speak to larger issues in the community and society?)
4. Ask lots of questions of the marketing staff; we love to talk to you and brainstorm with you.
Most of all, have fun and be open to new ideas. Marketers are really interested in the audiences you are speaking to, especially if you’re a trusted voice in your readers/subscribers lives.
Jodi is a former actress/producer turned arts administrator who looks to blogging as a creative outlet since she’s no longer on or backstage. Originally from New England, she came to Arkansas by way of Wisconsin, collecting a master’s degree in business (and an appreciation for mild winters) along the way. She currently lives in Fayetteville with her shelter dog, Sadie. She spends her days as Vice President of the communications department at Walton Arts Center in downtown Fayetteville. You can hear Jodi Thursdays during the noon edition of Ozarks at Large on KUAF 91.3FM and can check out her personal blog at http://carominus.blogspot.com/.
It is quite possible that indeed we have sometime over twitter, facebook, meet-ups, tweet-ups, or the Arkansas Women Bloggers (ARWB) Unplugged conference last summer.
I fondly remember my first meet-up with Beth Stephens and together fervently declaring: “the ARWB website is a goldmine! It could be so much more!”
And more, it is. The goldmine of ARWB is the discovery journey. Simply because of the ARWB resource, I am enjoying getting to know… you.
When the ladies of ARWB approached me about writing a bio for the “Miss January” slot, I thought okay, no problem, I can do that. Then I thought about my ‘about’ page on my blog, nwafoodie, and pondered, well, what else is there to say that I haven’t already said?
Silly me.
We’re bloggers and we love to over-share.
For those of us who haven’t met yet, let me introduce myself…from my refrigerator’s perspective.
15 things my refrigerator reveals about me
1.I am an organizer and a planner. It is a powerful feeling to be one step ahead. Why not have a lemon sliced up and ready-to-go? Or, why not buy Parmesan cheese or nuts in bulk and store the excess?
2.I like adding that extra touch. Why store your cherries in a pre-packaged container? Why not wash them for easy snacking and store them in a beautiful colander?
3.I never stray far from the egg. Quite possibly the most perfect ingredient in the world (we can debate that later). Besides the practicality of the multitude of uses that an egg presents, eggs were the first cooking experiment I conquered as a wee child. Sick of waking up early in the morning to runny scrambled eggs, I quickly learned that if I took over the skillet, I could prepare it any way I would like. I introduce to you master omelet maker, circa age 5.
4.I like being prepared. It doesn’t cost anything to have (reusable) bottled waters waiting for when you need it. It makes me feel, well, pulled-together.
5.I love thinking of others. Me? Red wine drinker, all the way. However, I will always have a bottle of white wine chilled and waiting for my family and friends who don’t see red.
6.I believe that quality counts (sometimes quantity, too)! My husband and I love chicken tortilla soup. This time of the year it is a repeat visitor several times a week. There is nothing easier than SmartChicken™ chicken pieces slow-cooked during the day and then stripped and ready for several meals. It’s inexpensive and the flavor will blow you away. How easy is that?
7.I wasn’t born a chef. Eating out is one of the extreme joys of life. I relish in what a chef can do. If there are leftovers, score!
8.I like to splurge. Ingredients like horseradish and olives are everyday. But what about oil-brined olives from France? Or, plum sauce from the Asian supermarket, or Indian green-curry sauce? You may not use these everyday, but they are there, waiting. I know that I am just fingertips away from an amazing food event.
9.I am impressed when an ingredient serves double-duty. Remember that slow-cooker chicken? Guess what happens when you strip the meat off the bones? Put the bones back in the cooker and add water and make broth. Viola! Store them in reusable spaghetti sauce jars.
10.I know how to seduce with food. Our house is currently for sale. When a potential buyer is scheduled for a showing, I heat up apple cider vinegar to scent the air. As we head out the door, we have a tasty treat.
11.I am always on the lookout for the unexpected. See that Gerbers™ pear juice? It is not for a baby, it is for me. Besides its tastiness, it has health benefits (new-year/new-you tip, you’re welcome).
12. I love to make the ordinary less ordinary. Glass containers rock. You can take something ordinary that comes in a plastic shrink-wrap package and transform it. Each time I open my crisper, it is extra special to pull out a block of parmesan cheese or gruyere that is in a pretty container. It makes me feel like I’m on a Food Network television set. Like Giadia.
13.I am constantly on the search for long-term healthy improvements. Several months ago my doctor informed me that I had high levels of styrene (aka plastic) in my body. One of the first improvements was to replace the plastic produce bags with breathable and reusable vegetable bags for storage. Just like glass containers, each time I open my vegetable crisper, it is an extra special (and healthier) event.
14.There are essentials, as a foodie that I will always have on hand. Buttermilk? Check. Olive tapenade? Check. Capers? Check. Heavy cream? Check. Balsamic glaze? Check.
15.There are essentials, like everyone else that I will always have on hand. Mustard? Check. Mayo? Check. Lemon juice? Check. Simple syrup? Check. The moral of this point? Being a foodie does not mean snobby gourmand. It just means you have a love of all things food related: ingredients, gadgets, dinnerware, spices, restaurants, and an overwhelming urge to talk about it.
So there you have it.
I’m a foodie who just happens to live in beautiful Northwest Arkansas. It’s a gem of a place, overflowing with the proverbial milk-and-honey abundance that is begging me to share what I have learned. Pop on over and check out my blog, nwafoodie, and drop by.
