STOP THAT! Before you rip ALL your hair out.!!

"I don't know what I want to write about!"
A phrase over used by many bloggers.

Why is it so hard to come up with a topic for our blogs? Inspiration is kinda hard to come by.
A blog is sometimes called an online diary, let's face it, anyone who keeps a diary, wouldn't likely post it on the internet without some alterations. We do try for some entertainment value, or at least educational purpose, so sometimes it can be REALLY hard to come up with ideas.
When we write blogs, most people have a subconscious filter that stops them from writing things embarrassing, incriminating, or just plain stupid. ..Because really now, do any of us really want to write bad things about ourselves?

Here's a list, Glenda style, of things I've learned about coming up with a topic to post about.

ONE: DO NOT, I repeat, DO NOT, under any circumstances, GOOGLE for a post idea. Not only will you find a big fat load of nothing, do you really think you're the first person to Google for a blog idea? If it's out there on Google, it's been done to death, and chances are it's been done a lot better than you are gonna do it!

TWO: Read other blogs!! If you read other blogs, you can figure out what sort of topics you like and don't like reading about, it will help a lot when deciding what to write about. You can get a sense for what your style is and what is appealing to you when it comes to reading. If you really know your posting style, the ideas will fall into place. You can take something and mold it if you know what you want your end result feel like.

THREE: Let your mind wander, sans restraint! You might find that you've begun to think about what you want for dinner instead of blog post ideas, but that's how you get ideas! When you think of something and it interests you enough to say 'Hey, I wonder..' post about it! If you find yourself thinking about something excessively, make your internal conversation into a blog! Don't be afraid to think out loud on your blog. Sometimes your posts may take you in a direction you weren't intending on going in, and it might surprise you to see just what your mind comes up with. If it doesn't fit with your theme now, fit it in later, alter it after you've written it! Never fear! You can always go back and edit, so don't put too many boundaries on a post! You make the rules.

FOUR: It's TRUE! If you REALLY don't have anything to blog about, (you're drawing a blank, your mental state at this point is not good, and you have hit delete over 400 times on the first line) STOP TRYING! Guaranteed the minute you give up, a trillion ideas will bombard your brain center. DON'T NOT blog about something because you think other people will find it silly! You'll miss out on a lot or great ideas if you censor them too much. be natural about your blogging. so if something strikes you randomly, write it down for later, don't let ideas get away! A great teacher I once had told me, "Ideas are like fireworks," because it's like there's a great big explosion of light when they first hit you but they disappear so quickly, and then you don't remember them at all, just the fact that they were great, and now they're gone. So don't force it, let it happen, and when it does, WRITE IT DOWN!

FIVE: Don't make blogging a chore. If you have to write a blog for say, a class of some sort.. don't make it a chore! Make it a habit! If you try to force a blog theme, or a post, it's not going to work, and everyone can tell. If your blog feels like a chore, change your theme, change your layout INSPIRE yourself! Everyone has thoughts, opinions, experiences; make your blog an extension of you! You won't ever have a shortage of ideas ten minutes before you have to post, as long as your blog is something you enjoy writing and feel truly connected to. There are things everyday that inspire me in some way, and there are things that drive me bazonkers that I'm really tired of and I choose to write about them. I don't feel strongly about every single one of my posts, but they can't all be golden, or else none of them would be! If you feel passionate about your blog, post ideas will come!

Blog on.

Good luck.

May the force be with you.

Pumpkins, Thriller and Costumes

What is the point?
Without Trick-or-Treating.
After the age of candies, ghouls and goblins, why do we still enjoy Halloween?
I think that even though we get older, we still enjoy a good game of dress-up. ESPECIALLY when everyone we know is playing along with us. Every year we toss and turn and stay up all night thinking about what we're going to be this year!
A witch? no too stereotypical.
A black cat? that is soooo predictable.
A bag of jellybeans?...hmm.. nah come on now, I can't see you wearing that to college parties.
WE spend tons of time coming up with the perfect idea, only to have to be able to follow it up with a great costume so that we aren't answering the question "What ARE you?" over and over again.

Maybe it's just me but I'm certainly not tired of Halloween!
I'm not against having a day to wear a costume either!

Buyers Beware!

Consumers be scared?




This post is part of an assignment in advertising class. We have been asked to post our findings after some very intriguing research.

How much are we really thinking about what we eat everyday?
I know that I try to put in some thought, but I'm really not thinking about it as much as I would like to say I am.

SO my buyer beware team decided to find out if frozen or fresh foods would be more beneficial to us average students, based on the following four criteria; price, taste, health, and convenience

We surveyed 80 students to find out what's the most important thing on their minds when shopping for food.

We asked students to rank food,price, taste and health in order of importance with 1 being the most and 4 being the least important.

Taste came in 1st with 53% of the number one votes!
Price pulled second with a solid 30%
Health came in third with 11%
and convenience ranked last with only 6%

We were surprised with the results of our surveys, as we were expecting price to rank number one, seeing as a large amount of students are living on a budget and what not. We had also expected convenience to pull more than 6% of the number one votes, we thought that with students being so busy that time efficient meals would be more of a priority.

We also held a taste test to find out if students preferred fresh or frozen meals.
Our test consisted of a homemade vegetable lasagna, a frozen vegetable lasagna which was Bassili's Best 6 Vegetable Lasagna, homemade chicken alfredo, and frozen chicken alfredo which was Stouffer's Skillet Sensations Chicken Alfredo. Our frozen entrées were chosen because they were marked with the Heart and Stroke Foundation's Health Check and were the cheapest choices with that mark. Students were not aware that one of the dishes was frozen, however most were asking after they had tried both.

The results of that test threw us for a bit of a loop. While the homemade lasagna beat the frozen on by an overwhelming amount of the vote (76%), the homemade chicken alfredo lost to the frozen alfredo only capturing 47% of the votes. We had fully expected our homemade versions to win both taste tests, which may have just been our egos..

The results showed us that good frozen dinners could be purchased at a decent price and tasted, in some cases, better than the homemade alternative.

It took us a long time to prepare both of these meals, and even though we were making double than both recipes called for, our times would not have been cut down by much. The homemade lasagna for example required a good half hour to prep and put together as well as another half an hour in the oven. This was with five people cooking it!

We were slightly surprised with some of the ingredients in frozen dinners. It's important to know what you're eating when you buy a frozen dinner as we found out some actually contained preservatives and chemicals EXTREMELY bad for you in larger doses.

We felt that the answer to our question of fresh or frozen could be broken down to answer for each person's individual needs.

If you're looking for a cheap meal..
We reccommend purchasing frozen dinners, they are actually less expensive than making them at home in most cases and they won't rot or go bad!

If you're looking to stay healthy...
You should probably opt for more home cooked meals. You have much more control over the amount of fats and unhealthy things in your food when you prepare it, as well as you lose a ton of preservatives and chemicals. Healthy options are available in frozen foods, but a healthy frozen dinner doesn't necessarily measure up. If you find you can't help throwing in too much butter when you cook, there are good frozen dinners out there if you look.

If you're looking for a time saver...
Your best is probably a frozen dinner. They're quick, and require very little attention and effort to cook! However if you really want to eat homecooked, prepare a meal like a lasagna on sunday night, it keeps well and will last you a while and even though it might take some time on Sunday, it won't take any on Monday, or Tuesday, or Wednesday...

If you're just looking for the best tasting meal out there...
Well that's all up to you. Some people prefer the taste of a frozen meal, and some people prefer home cooking. If you're not the best chef, there's definitely a frozen dinner out there for you. If you are a good chef, we say take the plunge and go for it at home! You can also control how your food tastes when you cook it and can alter things to the way you'd like it!

If you're looking for a good time..
haha just kidding!
But really, we had a great time cooking together and it can be a fun way to spend time with your roommates or to get that lazy boyfriend to do some cooking!

Mary-Kate and Ashley were on to something..

There's just something about a good movie.

You know, the ones that take you away on a complete vacation of the mind. Those movies with those nice scenic shots lasting a good ten seconds that make you feel like you've transported to another place. I LIVE for those movies.

But what is it about these movies that really gets us hooked?

Is it the soft yellow tinge of lighting cast over the scene to enhance a sunny setting?Is it the light hearted music that plays in the background trying to spirit us away?
I think the truth is that sometimes, we really just want an escape from our lives.

A movie is like a cheap, although short, escape from reality.
You're offered another life, you can imagine you're someone else, living in different circumstances, experiencing things that you might never really get to experience. AND you get to choose your own adventure... feeling romantic girls? How about Under the Tuscan Sun? The Holiday? you can choose what you want to feel almost down to the last detail.

Now this isn't to say that you have to hate your life to enjoy a good movie, it's just that sometimes, we need the thrill of an action movie, or we need the excitement of watching someone race against time.

I remember watching the Olsen twins travel the world, and how it left me feeling like I'd been on vacation. It's inspiring watching a good movie that makes you feel a little something for life. Sometimes, we all need a little getaway.

I think I'm going to go watch Passport to Paris.