The Old Farmer’s Almanac wants your stories and your recipes that go with them. The selected stories and recipes will appear in the 225th anniversary edition of the publication to be published in 2017.
Recipes must be the property of the submitter, original and unpublished. Entrants who much be amateurs, will be entered in a drawing to win a 2-quart Le Creuset Dutch oven, a $100 gift card, a 6-quart programmable Crock-Pot slow cooker, or a copy of Old Farmer’s Almanac Comfort Food.
Recipes can be submitted online at Almanac.com/favoriterecipe or mailed to The Old Farmer’s Almanac, P.O. Box 520, Dublin, N.H. 03444. Please include the complete recipe and any story behind it or information about its creation and how it is used in your family.
Recently a group of Arkansas Women Bloggers enjoyed a lovely Saturday afternoon at Cajun’s Wharf in Little Rock, where they were treated to wine & whiskey tastings, food, and fun. During lunch, they passed around heaping plates of yummy food and tried every dessert, loudly declaring their favorites.
A highlight of the afternoon was a cooking demonstration by Mary Beth Ringold, the owner, who prepared mussels in tomato broth while simultaneously talking through the proper way to brine a Thanksgiving turkey. Beautiful decks overlooking the Arkansas River were the perfect place to wind down the event as bloggers tried out Cajun’s special holiday cocktails, the Christmas Martini and the Holiday-De-Do.
Sarabeth Jones is a creative at Fellowship North who enjoys all kinds of artistic work; her latest project is bringing the national live-reading show Listen To Your Mother to Little Rock. She lives in Sherwood with her husband, Bryan, and their kids, Elizabeth, Jonathan, and Will. She loves to write about they way they make her laugh on her blog, thedramatic.com.
Earlier this year, Evernote announced that it had reached an astounding 100 million users worldwide. As a point of reference, Twitter has 271 million monthly active users. These numbers are interesting because despite its widespread popularity, Evernote still feels widely unknown and underused. The vast majority of savvy people I interact with are not familiar with Evernote, or they’ve heard about it and don’t really understand the big deal – it’s just another cloud-based note-taking app, right??
The fun upside to Evernote remaining relatively foreign is that discovering another user in a crowd makes it feel like we both know where the fountain of youth is located, and we plan to meet up there later to frolic.
I discovered Evernote in 2009 and became an avid user in 2010, and I still find it ironic that the oldest note I have on file is a Far Side cartoon in which a student asks to be excused from class due to his brain being full. In April 2010, I got tired of looking for that particular cartoon online (apparently I reference it so frequently that this was a huge inconvenience in my life) and filed it in Evernote for easy access:
It actually couldn’t be more appropriate, because that Gary Larson snippet perfectly captures how I feel about Evernote: I use it because my brain feels full, and I simply don’t have the capacity or the desire to try to remember everything. I’d rather save my limited mental space for remembering which book my daughter is currently reading so that I can ask her about it after school, or for brainstorming big ideas and innovative solutions with colleagues and clients.
So, I’m on a mission to spread the Evernote love. Rather than finding that other user in a crowd and feeling smug together about what we’ve discovered, I want everyone to understand why I am so darn passionate about Evernote. Trust me, those around me hear about it ad nauseum, so I’ve had to resort to being an evangelist for unsuspecting crowds and people who aren’t tired of hearing about it.
From training sessions for CPG companies based in Northwest Arkansas to serve Walmart – the world’s largest retailer and their top customer – to classes for small groups and teams to a recent session during the Arkansas Women Bloggers conference, I’ll talk about Evernote to anyone who will listen. Earlier this year I agreed to join the team at Kendal King Group in order to launch a new breed of retail marketing agency called Velocity, and we’ll be making Evernote and Evernote Business training and consultation available to many of our clients.
Shameless plug: We’d love to have you follow the Velocity blog and our social accounts (Instagram, Pinterest & Twitter), and we have many upcoming projects where we will collaborate with bloggers, social media users and freelance writers and designers! We’ll work directly through partners like Stephanie Buckley and The Women Bloggers, so stay tuned to the Arkansas Women Bloggers (and other state sites) for details.
After the recent session at the Arkansas Women Bloggers conference, I agreed to put together a recap post for those who weren’t able to participate in the Evernote session or just wanted a handy reference guide.
However, the thing about Evernote is that it certainly can be a game-changer, but there is a lot of ground to cover! So, following this “Convince You That Evernote Is Amazing” post will be a series of three additional posts to help you a) understand what the heck Evernote is b) cover the basics of using it and c) turbo-charge your Evernote use with pro tips and best practices.
So go ahead, jump on in – the water’s fine. Here’s one more nudge:
I’m accustomed to the look on someone’s face during an Evernote session at the exact moment where they realize what it is capable of and how it is applicable in their lives. At the Arkansas Women Bloggers conference, however, I mistook the perplexed looks on the faces of attendees as an indication that I was missing the mark or doing a poor job of representing the complete fabulousness of Evernote. It turns out all those furrowed brows and the silence in the room were actually indicative of their brains simultaneously exploding.
And hey, what can I say? That’s exactly what I’m looking for when I introduce someone to Evernote.
I want brains to explode.
The rest of this series is on the Magpie Marketing blog. Enjoy!
On behalf of First Security Bank, I am happy to announce the launching of OnlyinArk.com, a site focusing on and celebrating the uniqueness of our state.
The Women Bloggers has been hired to provide five posts per month for this wonderful site through our Arkansas Women Blogger gals.
Go check out some of the wonderful stories already published on the site, such as;
“There’s a lot to celebrate in Arkansas. It’s unique. Southern. Delightfully eccentric. Which is why we love every nook, cranny, cave and corner. In fact, some of our favorite things can’t be found anywhere else. They’re only in Arkansas. So we love them even more. The attractions we visit, the food we crave, the festivals we attend, the mountains we hike, the rivers we float, the stories we tell and the company we keep – it all adds up to one incredible state. And that familiar, meandering silhouette? Looks like home to us.”
Did you know that Arkansas is tied with Mississippi for having the highest rate of food insecure households in the nation? I don’t know about you, but I think that needs to change.
Many children in Arkansas are depending on the free or reduced-cost breakfast and lunch that they are provided at school as their main source of nutrition. That means many go without dinner on a regular basis and are without many meals during the weekends and especially during the summer.
Regardless of your political views on federal assistance programs, I hope we can all agree that children shouldn’t be going hungry. Children can not provide for themselves and we have the opportunity to help provide for them.
The Arkansas Blogger Bake Sale began three years ago as part of the national No Kid Hungry initiative. 100% of the money raised goes to No Kid Hungry who then partners with the Arkansas Hunger Relief Alliance to help distribute these funds statewide through a variety of programs aimed at ending childhood hunger.
This year’s sale is scheduled for Saturday, May 3rd in the Argenta District of North Little Rock and there are several opportunities for you to help out with this event. We have all been blessed by Arkansas and it is time for us to join together and give back.
Arkansas Women Bloggers is the largest statewide group of bloggers, the social media megaphone of Arkansas, and we need to REPRESENT at this event! Let’s do this girls!
Here are several ways you can help!
BAKE
We are in need of baked goods on the day of the bake sale and you don’t even have to be a food blogger! You can even use a boxed mix if you want!
Individual items and small packages of a few items are the most successful. Things like cookies are great, but you can check out our Arkansas Blogger Bake Sale Pinterest Board for all kids of great ideas for bake sale goodies.
Come participate in the tag party on Saturday, April 12th from 3-6 in Little Rock. Details of the exact location will be released later.
We’ll be making tags for the baked goods (our own and for whoever asks us to help) and working on any handmade decor for the event. Folks should bring their own supplies (Cardstock, stamps/ink, etc.) and be willing to share. We’ll have a couple of Sizzix (?) machines and other tools. If someone wants to bring supplies for any craft or card project that could be sold on the auction, that would be great. This is a great opportunity for crafters and anyone who doesn’t bake to participate!
We are hosting a pre-sale online auction. This is perfect for those of you who make stuff or have a business that would like to donate a good or service to be auctioned off. One of our favorite guy bloggers, Kevin Shalin of the Might Rib, is handling the auction which beings April 14 on http://www.32auctions.com/ARFBBS.
We are in need of volunteers to work the bake sale on Saturday, to help with setup and clean up, and to pick up baked goods from professional bakers on Friday afternoon and Saturday morning and deliver them to the bake sale.
NWA Girls: We are in need of someone (or a group of you) that would be willing to collect baked good donations in NWA and bring them to the sale!
Write a blog post to tell others about the bake sale! Help us get the word out!
COME TO THE BAKE SALE
Who doesn’t love sweets? Come to the bake sale and buy something! We will have a large variety of professional and blogger baked items. We will even have vegetarian, gluten free and low sugar offerings.
The bake sale takes place at 6th and Main in NLR on Saturday, May3 beginning at 9AM.
Oh and did I tell you how to sign up yet? I didn’t?!? You can sign up to help HERE!
by Debbie Arnold, Dining With Debbie Disclosure: I have been compensated for this review byMinted.com in the form of some fabulous free business cards. All opinions are mine.
One of my goals this year for my blog was a facelift which is “in process.” It’s rather like giving birth to a baby, ya’ know. Because I’ve been waiting for the new launch, I’ve let my business cards lapse into nonexistence. With AWBU 2013 rapidly approaching (you are registered, aren’t you) and the need for me to contact potential workshop leaders and participating clients for the Foodie Friday pre-conference, I realized quickly that I just couldn’t wait on the new blog face before obtaining those cards. So when Minted.com offered up this opportunity to apply for 100 new business cards as part of their Blogger Outreach Program, I jumped on the chance.
Minted.com makes it so easy for you to apply for participation. Just go to their website and fill out the information required. You should hear back from them fairly soon if you’re accepted into the program. Even if you don’t receive a set of free cards, you’ll find that their prices are exceptionally reasonable.
While you’re at their site, you can explore the options for customizing your own card design from one of the several available preset designs. I’m still working on mine, but I’m looking forward to getting that order off in the next day or two.
In addition to customizable business cards, Minted.com not only offers greeting cards, invitations, baby announcements, wedding paper products and favors, and a wide variety of other paperie goodies. I really like the fact that they use a number of different designers which assures you of something to fit your style.
Remember, the AWBU Conference is coming up, you will want some business cards to hand out to the other gals and the fabulous brands that will be there, go check them out today!
I’m proud to announce that Arkansas Women Bloggers will be an official partner with the Arkansas Food Blogger Bake Sale this year! The event will be held on Saturday, May 4 from 9 a.m. – 2 p.m. adjacent to the Argenta Farmers’ Market in North Little Rock, 6th and Main.
Together, we’ll raise a bunch of money for Share Our Strength’s No Kid Hungry program, which fights childhood hunger in the United States with several innovative programs. And the most exciting part — bloggers all over the country will be doing the exact same thing on the same day!
Here’s how to participate:
Write a blog post. Email me to let me know you’re participating, and I’ll send you some required details to include (basically the what & where, and a logo). We may coordinate a bit on publishing dates. Other than that, it’s all you!You can write about what goodies you’re sending to the sale, a baking memory, or about fighting childhood hunger. Just make sure it reminds people to come to the sale!This year, we also want to test-run some pre-sale auctions in the comments of your post. Give away something you have, something you made or something you got donated! Set an ending date and time, and have the last bidding commenter send their donation to our fundraising site. Email me for help.
Bake something for the sale. We’re looking for at least three dozen baked items per donor, packaged individually in something clear. Smaller items like cookies can be bundled together. Just ask me if you need more ideas. I’ll need the items on Friday, May 3 or brought to the event on Saturday by 8:30 a.m. You don’t have to be a food blogger!
Help at the event itself. We will need hands-on help at the event itself, helping people choose items and handling money as it comes in. This is a great opportunity to show our support for No Kid Hungry and promote our blogs to new audiences. Bring your smiling faces and some business cards!
There’s a bit of friendly competition in the national Food Blogger Bake Sale, as well. Last year, the Arkansas sale raised $1000, which was more than several larger markets. This year, we want to double that to $2000. We can do it!
Email me and let me know you’d like to help. Thanks so much!
Alright Ladies, we have a fun opportunity for you that might help make your lives a little easier in 2013 AND earn you some $$.
Relish!, a weekly meal planning service, is looking for some busy bloggers to review their product. Relish! is aimed to help busy families put wonderful meals on the table every night. No sloppy casseroles or expensive kitchen blunders. Instead look for everyday food…with a gourmet twist. It was founded by two busy moms. If you have a goal of getting organized and enjoying the dinner hour rather than dreading it, Relish! might be what you’re looking for. Fellow Arkansas women bloggers The Park Wife and Minivan Momma (well, she has dual citizenship as she really lives in Oklahoma and is the Oklahoma Women Bloggers gal)have tried and reviewed Relish! (click their blog names to read their reviews).
Basically, you get a weekly menu of 15 simple gourmet recipes (plus a huge searchable database of other dishes). Recipes are separated into categories like low calorie and kid friendly, and you can also search the database by ingredient. You choose the meals you want to make and scale them to fit the needs of your family. Then, Relish! creates a shopping list with all the ingredients you’ll need for the week and an easy PDF of the recipes.
the option to receive a 20% revenue share of each subscription sale referred from your website (based on readers using a unique discount code).
Bloggers will provide:
a review post on your blog of the Relish! menu plan service (preferably within the first few months of beginning their subscription) with links to the Relish! website and social media platforms.
If this sounds like a good fit for you, click the link below to apply to their blogger outreach program:
BlissDom, BlogHer, Blog Sugar, Bloggy Bootcamp, Haven, dot Mom, of course, Arkansas Women Bloggers Unplugged, and oh so many more. How do you decide which Blog conference to go to? Well, that depends on so many factors. But, what we at AWB want to do is help you find other bloggers in our state (oh yea, and our sistahs from Oklahoma) that will be attending conferences in 2013.
When I attended a conference this past Fall with Stephanie McCratic and Amy James, we had a blast! It is so much more fun when you have some girlfriends with you.
So, please post a comment below of the conference/s that you are planning on attending in 2013. We will help you navigate the conference world and could even help you find a bloggity gal that might be wanting to go to a conference but does not want to go alone.
We will be announcing the Arkansas Women Bloggers Unplugged date and location shortly, so make sure that is on your list!
Comments are messing up on this post, WordPress hates me today. Go leave a comment on Facebook!
This is a fun post whether you are joining us in the mountains this weekend for the Arkansas Women Bloggers Unplugged conference (we hope!) OR are completely sick and tired of hearing about the darn conference because you can’t be with us (we miss you)!
Have you spotted ALL YOU magazine in your local Walmart? If you haven’t yet picked up a copy (and how can you not when the cover reads “This magazine pays for itself!”), you are in for a treat. ALL YOU is one of our fabulous AWBU sponsors, and we would like to tell you a little bit about the magazine and share some fun challenges that might even provide some great content for your next blog post.
About ALL YOU
ALL YOU is a brand that is trailblazing the smart shopping movement. From the day ALL YOU launched in 2004, it distinguished itself as a content brand that delivered practical, affordable and accessible shopping advice and shopping strategies. The ALL YOU brand has fostered an engaged community of women who celebrate the brand for understanding their needs and serving them. In the pages of the magazine, on the website and via the daily savings blog, ALL YOU offers her savings tools, shopping lists, and an easy-to-use, go-to guide to help her buy anything she finds within the brand. ALL YOU is published monthly by the Time Inc. Lifestyle Group and is sold exclusively on newsstands at Walmart stores nationwide and by subscription. ALL YOU is available on all tablets.
ALL YOU and Bloggers
There are many ways ALL YOUworks with bloggers: as sources for stories as well as offering opportunities to test products, write about experiences and conduct blog giveaways. ALL YOUhas a community of bloggers with whom the magazine has a close relationship, and these bloggers often post about ALL YOUcontent or tips. Bloggers can even earn money in the ALL YOUaffiliate program!
ALL YOU and You
Here are a few fun things you can do along with us, and they just might fuel your next blog post if you’re up against blogger’s block!
Check out the ALL YOU website– it’s chock full of ways to enjoy life for less, delicious-on-a-dime recipes, special samples and giveaways. We are hooked!
Next, pick up a current issue or read an article below. Post on your blog about the article that speaks most to YOU (with a link back to the ALL YOUwebsite). Trust us – the folks at ALL YOUare listening and love your comments and feedback – this magazine really is ALL about YOU and what matters in your life today.
If you’re joining us for the AWBU conference, you’ll receive the September 21 issue of the magazine and a copy of their Back to School special publication!
By Sarabeth Jones
By Bethany Stephens
BlissDom, BlogHer, Blog Sugar, Bloggy Bootcamp, Haven, dot Mom, of course, Arkansas Women Bloggers Unplugged, and oh so many more. How do you decide which Blog conference to go to? Well, that depends on so many factors. But, what we at AWB want to do is help you find other bloggers in our state (oh yea, and our sistahs from Oklahoma) that will be attending conferences in 2013.
