Fourth of July is coming up soon!  USA’s Independence Day comes up this Friday and in its honor, I thought it would be fun to share some interesting facts, courtesy of MSN Encarta.  Enjoy!

1. Independence Day commemorates the formal adoption of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776. However, it was not declared a legal holiday until 1941.

2. Fireworks were made in China as early as the 11th century. The Chinese used their pyrotechnic mixtures for war rockets and explosives.

3. Uncle Sam was first popularized during the War of 1812, when the term appeared on supply containers. Believe it or not, the U. S. Congress didn’t adopt him as a national symbol until 1961.

4. There are many precise rules for taking care of the American flag. And speaking of flag traditions, we’re sorry to report that contrary to legend, historical research has failed to confirm that Betsy Ross sewed the first flag.

5. Not all members of the Continental Congress supported a formal Declaration of Independence, but those who did were passionate about it. One representative rode 80 miles by horseback to reach Philadelphia and break a tie in support of independence.

6. The first two versions of the Liberty Bell were defective and had to be melted down and recast. The third version rang every Fourth of July from 1778 to 1835, when, according to tradition, it cracked as it was being tolled for the death of Chief Justice John Marshall.

7. The American national anthem, the “Star-Spangled Banner,” is set to the tune of an English drinking song (”To Anacreon in Heaven”).

8. The iron framework of the Statue of Liberty was devised by French engineer Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel, who also built the Eiffel Tower in Paris.

In the hit Broadway musical “Into the Woods,” the Baker’s Wife (yes, that is her name in the show) has a wild tryst with a Prince in the woods.  Afterwards, she can’t get over the shock of the amazing thing that just occured to her and she gets caught up in the magic of the moment.  She sings,

“Just a moment,
One peculiar passing moment…
Oh, if life were made of moments,
Even now and then a bad one-!
But if life were only moments,
Then you’d never know you had one…”

I love the second a good moment hits you.  You have this flash of realization and suddenly whatever you just heard, saw, touched, tasted or smelled sent a lightning bolt of joy throughout your body.  It only lasts a second and then it’s gone, but in that fleeting moment, you are truly happy.

I wanted to share a list of some of the moments in my life that make me happy.  This is a little different from the “Whee!” posts we all know and love - these are not specific things I’ve recently experienced, but things that have come up frequently over time.

So in no particular order, here are my moments:

• When a Spice Girls song randomly comes onto my iPod that I forgot was even on the playlist
• Receiving a Starbucks gift card
• Walking out of South Station in the morning and being warmed with a sudden burst of sunshine
• The look on the face of someone the minute they win something - sport team players (ahem, Celtics!), American Idol winners (love that David Cook), any of the numerous dance shows on TV…
• When I walk out of a bookstore with a brand new book
• When my cell phone beeps with a random text from Mark
• Waking up on a Friday morning with plans for the evening
• When I finally relax in the midst of a manicure or pedicure
• Laughing at an old joke with Kate, or Abby, or Di, or Cess, or Dan, or Katie…
• My birthday, all moments, all day, each year
• That moment during my annual holiday cookie baking party when I look around and realize everyone is laughing and talking and singing and having a fabulous time
• When I find someone on Facebook and realize we haven’t spoken in ages
• Opening the mailbox and finding an unexpected card or a new magazine
• When I scan the local upcoming concert list on Pollstar and find my favorite band just booked a gig in town
• When someone makes me laugh
• When I look out the train window and the landscape naturally forms a perfect photograph for that brief moment
• When I get a rush of affection for my family or Mark
• The moment I look in the mirror on a good day and realize those hours on the treadmill do pay off
• Taking the first bite of a piece of chocolate or a cookie after I’ve been craving it all day
• The moment at a friend’s wedding when they both say I do and realizing how truly in love they are
• When an old favorite tune comes on at a restaurant or at the food store and I realize how incomplete my life would be without music  

What’s your moment?

Today I got to live the life of a celebrity!

Well, ok, that’s a little bit of an exaggeration . . . ok, a lot of an exaggeration.  But I at least got to experience my 15 minutes of fame, and as a true Leo, I soaked up each minute.

I was in a major newspaper!

Yup, that’s my book review in the Boston Metro today.  I joined the Metro Life Panel’s Book Club about a month ago.  I picked my top choice out of their 5 selections for June.  I was one of the readers chosen, so they sent me a copy of my book (too cool! yea for free books!), which arrived really fast.  I read the book, The Sugar Queen, which was-thank goodness-a great book.

Then, I got an email last week.  If I wanted to be published in the paper today, I simply had to send in a quick review with a photo.  Whoo hoo!  So I wrote up a brief review, sent in a photo (courtesy of the Schneider Associates holiday photo shoot of 2007), and anxiously waited.

This morning I practically ran to the Metro box at the train station and frantically flipped through the pages.  And there it was, on page 12.  I almost turned to the woman next to me to shout, “It’s me!” but I (thankfully) held back.

The rest of the day I got emails and comments from friends and colleagues who had seen the article.  “You’re famous!”  “You’re a star!”  “I turned to my boyfriend and said, ‘I know her!’”  It’s really amazing what a few pixels on a piece of newsprint can do.

So let that be a lesson, kids - it DOES pay off to be a bookworm!  This is to all the naysayers who say reading is nerdy and stupid. :)  First stop, Metro Boston.  Next stop, Hollywood here I come!

The internet is the new library.  You’ll find reading material about everything and anything you can imagine, and it’s free. 

Now, don’t get me wrong, I love the classic brick and mortar library.  I think it is incredible that you can walk into a library and you can borrow any book you want.  For free!  However, the library isn’t open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.  Luckily (unless you are still dialing up the old modem) you can still read new materials at any hour, on any day, online.

I am constantly amazed and excited when I find another book lover like myself.  Reading has always been on the back burner of cool, regarded as a nerdy activity most enjoyed by four-eyed geeks who wear socks with sandals and run from social interaction.  Therefore, it’s been almost a secret addiction of mine.  However, over the years, I’ve learned that in reality, the majority of the population loves reading.  And none of these people fit the nerd stereotype.  In fact, they’re pretty darn cool.  I just found out tonight that one of my fantastic co-workers, Anna, is a fellow book lover.  Anna and I even discussed starting a book exchange in our office with Charlotte, another reader/co-worker.  This was inspired by my friend Jennie, who already has a book exchange set up at work.  Book lovers, rejoice - you are not alone!

Okay, so it’s late.  The library is closed, and you just finished the last hardcover from the stack of new books next to your bed.  You’re looking for something online to read.  Websites and blogs can offer fresh reading material, and I’ve got a few suggestions. 

If you check out my blogroll to the right, you’ll see some of my own personal favorites.  You can also check out my Delicious page, which links to articles, pages and websites I’ve bookmarked as worthy of sharing with others as I’ve come across them. 

Here are some other favorites that I’ve been enjoying recently:

• Friday Playdate - Mommy blogger Susan Wagner writes about life, shoes & booze.  She’s a funny woman and a really cool person.  Yes, she’s in my blogroll, too.  But I had to point her out here, too.  Even if you’re not a Mom, you will enjoy her writing.  She also writes for Parent Dish.
• E! Online - The Soup! - I absolutely love this show.  It makes me laugh out loud every single week, guaranteed.  The blog is almost as good, but at least it fills my craving until a new episode. 
• New Brahmin - Also in my blogroll but worthy of extra promoting.  My co-worker Lindsey’s roommate and her friends blog about fashion, shopping and style in Boston.  A must read for Boston area ladies, but enjoyable by everyone.
• Sarah Lacy - She is a BusinessWeek blogger who also is an active member of the social media world and provides some entertaining and intriguing insight.
• Yahoo! Buzz Log - A new service by Yahoo!, which basically is an interesting summary of what’s hot on the Web.  The links within the page are cool and the writing is easy to understand.
• Word Wise - Edelman and PR professional in Chicago who writes about, well, words.  If you’re a fan of Lynne Truss, you’ll love his writing, too.
• Chowhound - Want to see what local foodies are chatting about in your town?  Check out this bulletin board out of Chow.com.  Fascinating and funny discussions abound!
• Alltop - Fairly new blog aggregate site from social media influencer Guy Kawasaki.  Basically, pick the topic you want to read about, and it provides some of the top blogs, with links to recent posts.  Hours of entertainment!

This is just a small smattering of what’s out there.  If you search deep enough you can find E-books as well (do a Google search - it’s amazing what you’ll find), which are brief online publications shared typically for free and normally in a PDF format.  There’s news sites, communities, bulletin boards, and more.  Go exploring! 

And interact, too!  The web is wonderful because it is a world of give and take.  Post comments on blogs, start an account on Facebook and add friends and post on their wall, start your own blog, or join the Twitter conversations.  Start your own Delicious or Digg or StumbleUpon or Clipmarks account and share your favorite sites, too.  Add RSS feeds (the little orange square with the white stripes you see on websites) to your Google Reader, which will update once a new post is up.  (Shameless plug: add my site, too!)

You’ll be surprised what you can find or accomplish with a little turn of a page, whether it’s paper or electronic.  What are some of your favorite things to read online?

Oy, it’s been a while since I’ve written.  But I’ve been busy.  Here’s a quick recap of where I was for some time this month:

We started off May in Newport, RI, to watch Jo and Darrell tie the knot on the water.  It was cold out, but once we all got dancing inside, it was anything but!

Then it’s off to Florida one week later.  Tim and Jennie became Mr. and Mrs. Harris on the Carnival Victory cruise in port in Miami.  Then we were off into the Caribbean!

Tim and Jennie cut the cake in the fastest ceremony in history!

We arrived in San Juan first:

Mark and me in front of the ship in Puerto Rico

Not a huge fan of the area, but I did get some of my favorite shots while we were there:

Group shot! Brenda, Ben, Tim, Jennie, Mark and me get cozy in a courtyard restaurant

Then we were St. Thomas bound.  They drive on the left side of the road there, but the steering wheels are on the right side.  Go figure, mon.

This made us not miss the dirty water that us Bostonites love so much

Then we were whisked off to St. Maarten, where we took a bumpy cab ride from the Dutch side over to the beaches of the French side.  Mark and I went for a ride on a jet ski (!), and then it was time for lunch on the beach with the rest of the group.

The colors were fantastic! Note - this is only a few feet from the nude beach…

Back at port, we were up against a larger Royal Caribbean ship to see who would leave first.  They won, but I scored with this awesome pic:

Back into the bluest water you’ve ever seen!

Then we headed back to Miami.  Along the way there was a lot of karaoke, some hot sun, a few rocky hours, multiple slices of 3 AM pizza, 2 sets of live music in the casino which both included “Sexbomb,” way too much live calypso, a surprise bouquet of roses delivered to me by Mark (awww), 6 soft serve cones, 2 monkey cocount drinks that convert into banks, a dash of Gloria Estefan shimmying, and too many rolls to count delivered by Bagus and Jose.

We got dressed up one night - man, we clean up good!

 
Looking down from Deck 7 (our floor) onto the bar on the 3rd deck…where’s Mrs. Mac?!

So there’s the trip in a nutshell.  I think we knew the moment we were on vacation was when Mark and I were paying for lunch on St. Thomas with a traveler’s check.  We had to put the date on the check, and he looked at me and said, “Um, do you know what today’s date is?”  And I went to answer . . . but I couldn’t even remember which day of the week it was.  So that was a nice moment.

A special wedding congratulations to Jo and Darrell on their May 3rd nuptials!  And congrats to Jennie and Tim for their happy moment on May 11th.  A thanks to the crew of the Victory ship, especially Jose, Bagus, our room stewardess, Malcolm Barnes (whoohoo!), and my masseuse, for keeping us all sane so far from dry land.  And a VERY special thanks to the 26 people in our Carnival group who made the trip so awesome, especially Jennie, Tim, Ben, Brenda, Tim B, Stacy, Chris ([ahem!] Goat), and Kelly. 

Which photo is your favorite? 

My friend Abby and I were recently discussing the fact that so far, neither of us have received friend requests from people we don’t know on Facebook.  Myspace is notorious for strangers adding “friends” to increase their friend count or have more people they can send spam to.  However, Facebook still has maintained its innocence as a way to add friends and colleagues from the past and present, rather than to randomly search out new friends.

That night, I got home and checked my Facebook account as part of my nightly ritual.  Lo and behold, there in my inbox is a message from “Becky Smith” (name changed to protect the sender).  I don’t know a Becky Smith, but I read the message anyway.  Maybe it’s a friend of someone I do know, or a fellow UMASS graduate whose name I don’t recognize.

And then I laughed.

Basically, Becky is writing to tell me about a contest for assistants working in the Boston area.  I can nominate myself for this contest by writing in to a website to tell them why I am the best assistant in the Boston area, and if I win, there’s a whole package of “pampering” prizes. 

Oh the irony - I’ve been pitched!

Becky, it becomes clear, works for the PR firm that represents company running the contest.  She probably did a search on the social networking site for all members with “Boston” and “assistant” in their profile.  Since my Facebook account states my job as the assistant at our office, and I work in Boston, my profile must’ve popped up.  

What’s funny is that as a PR professional, I know the drill all too well.  In fact, lately I have spending a good chunk of my workday pitching to bloggers and other social media writers.  So I cut Becky some slack and decide to check out the client site.  Who knows, maybe it will actually be worthwhile for me.

The client is a local limo company.  They have a link to the contest page on their homepage, so I go to the page to read the details of the contest.  Unfortunately, here’s where they lose me:

• To prove that I’m the best assistant in town, I simply have to send in a short essay to explain why.  First of all, this is such a tired and dreary method of contest entry.  What about a video clip showing me at my finest?  Or some kind of photo op?  An essay contest is so stale and tired.  Second, there’s the glaringly obvious point that if I am such a fantastic assistant, I am going to be way too busy supporting my boss to have time to sit down and write a paper.
• The prizes include a free limo ride to a spa in Boston’s Back Bay, plus a free stay at the Langham Hotel in Boston.  Well, I work in Boston, and I’m there on the weekends, so it’s not really a getaway destination.  Plus, what building is located directly across the street from my office?  Oh yeah, the Langham Hotel.  Nothing says take a break from your crazy workday with a stay at a hotel where you can see your office from your room.
• But this one was the killer: according to the prize list, you get to enjoy the sights of “Boton.”  That’s right, Boton.  Unless Mumbles Menino recently enacted a city name change that I didn’t catch in the Globe, the last time I checked, the city was called Boston.

So all of the factors above, combined with the fact that it was pitched to me from someone that I don’t know on Facebook (such a no-no according to social media etiquette), made the entire contest and company lose all credibility.

What hurts the most is the typo on the client website.  From my experience at our office, at least 5 people proof everything before it even gets sent to the client, never mind posted on the web for the world to see.  Please, Becky Smith’s firm, run spellcheck!  Any Word program would instantly red flag that typo, especially there is no other similar word it would confuse with it.  Affect and effect is one thing.  Boton and Boston is a whole ‘nother.

This is not the first time I’ve seen such a glaring typo.  I recently was invited to a webinar by a well-known and highly credible organization in the PR world.   The subject was simply “Your invited!”  I was probably one of oh, I don’t know, at least a thousand recipients.  I actually had to share the priceless email with my coworkers as a “hey, let’s never do this” suggestion.  (For those of you who are not as nerdy about grammar as I am, the form of “your” that they used is possessive, so it’s showing that “invited” belongs to me.  The correct word would be “you’re,” which is the contraction of “you are.”)

Bad Pitch Blog is a great source of typos and other blatant errors that journalists and bloggers receive from various PR pitches.  My favorite was one that wrote “public relations” and forgot the “L” in the first word.  Yum, hairy interaction!

So what’s the point of all this? 

• First, know your audience.  Hip and fantastic assistants in a trendy city like Boston don’t have the interest or time to write a contest about why they’re awesome from the suggestion of someone they don’t know on Facebook. 
• Second, check your spelling!  In this day and age of texting and Tweeting, shorthand is becoming increasingly accepted in more places than ever.  However, if you’re trying to make a client look good, the classic rules of spelling and grammar still apply.  No wha I’m sayin? 

 *NOTE: I apologize if this post contains any typos. :)  Photo credit: www.typolover.com

I updated the format to a brighter, cleaner look for spring.

Thoughts?  Suggestions?

Also, I added subscription links to the right hand side of the blog so you can subscribe via Google Reader, My Yahoo, or any other RSS subscriptions service that you may use.  You can also click the orange button next to the blog name on the right side to add it to your web browser favorites.

And thanks to everyone for reading, following, and commenting!  It means a lot to me and I hope this continues to be an exciting and entertaining resource (or midday distraction!) for you. 

It’s April, and that means spring is here.  That also means the weather is getting warmer, the snow is finally going away, and the world is coming out of winter hibernation.  It’s a great time to spring clean our houses, closets, and bodies (have you noticed how popular the gym is again suddenly?).  Makeover specials are popping up all over reality shows and magazine covers, encouraging us to go out and remake ourselves into a fresh person for the new season.

But what about remaking ourselves on the inside?  Spring should also be a time to clean out our hearts of grime and gunk and fill them with the warmth of the season.  They say beauty comes from the inside, and the most beautiful people are the ones who are filled with goodness.

Looking for an easy way to start?  Try doing something kind for someone else, once a day.  It doesn’t have to be a major life change - even little things like letting someone merge in front of you in rush hour traffic, holding the door the person behind you, smiling at your usual Starbucks barista, or saying hi to a coworker who looks like they could use a distraction. 

Still stuck?  Try donating.  Four of my friends are involved with three very important fundraising drives.  With a few clicks of the mouse, you can help them, as well as the causes they are supporting.  Check out their efforts below:

1. Leukemia and Lymphoma Society - Team in Training
My friends Dan and Katie have BOTH been training for months to run a full marathon in Alaska (!) this summer.  Talk about sacrifice to help out others.
See Dan’s full story and donate here.
See Katie’s full story and donate here.
Or take your support one step further and head out to the Greyhound Pub in Worcester on May 16th.  For a small cover charge, you can check out a cool band, participate in drawings for great prizes (including Red Sox tickets), and hang out with some awesome people.  Both the cover charge and drawing cash goes to their cause.  Details can be found here.

2. Project Bread/Walk for Hunger
On May 4th, my friend Abby will be covering quite some ground across Boston on foot when she participates in the Walk for Hunger.  This is a great cause that she is a long-time supporter of.  Help Abby out with her walk by donating here.

3. National Multiple Sclerosis Society - MS Bike Tour
From Damien Gaudet:
“I will be riding 150 miles on a bicycle over two days in June of this year, from Quincy to Provincetown, to support the MS Society, but even more important to me is supporting my mother. She was diagnosed with MS over ten years ago and has gone through some very tough times, but always manages to come out the other side staying positive and looking ahead.”
Help out Damien and his cause by clicking here.

So the next time you hit up the mall for a cute new pair of wedge sandals or a new pair of khaki shorts, make sure to put some cash aside first for a great foundation like one of the few mentioned above.  Your adorable new top may last you until the fall season, but a dollar towards a cause can last a lot longer.

Inspired by the March Madness frenzy currently going on, I thought it would be fun to think about some of the top four items in my life.  So, in no particular order, here is a little peek into what’s making me laugh, cry, ponder, dance, and smile. 

My Top Four:

Easter is this Sunday, April 23, and it’s not too late to plan a party!  Whether you want to celebrate Easter, or the arrival of spring, or just want an excuse for hosting a gala, here are some theme ideas to help you throw the event of the year:

March-ing and Spring-ing Into Party Planning, Part II-B
Easter Party Themes:

• (Playboy) Bunny Bash: When you think Easter, you think bunnies, and what bunnies are more iconic than the Playboy ladies?  Have guests come dressed as Playboy bunnies.  Purchase large pom-poms and safety pins so you have spare “tails” available.  Guys can come as Hugh Hefner in their bathrobes and slippers if they don’t want to wear a bunny suit.  Rent episodes of Girls Next Door and play for inspiration. 
• Easter Cooking and Baking Themes:
  • Easter cookies - Pick up Pillsbury sugar cookies with Easter designs and pink frosting for a baking party
  • Chocolate lollipops - Buy chocolate lollipop molds from iParty or a craft store, sticks, and dark and white baking chocolate pieces.  Melt the chocolate according to the directions on the package, and use a few drops of red or yellow food dye to color the white chocolate pink or yellow (or both!).  Pair with wine for a fun twist on the typical wine and chocolate gatherings.
  • Easter egg dyeing - Hard boil white eggs and host some friends over for Sunday brunch to decorate them.  Use crayons to decorate before dyeing the eggs.  You can find ingredients and fun decorating suggestions here.
• Rebirth of YOU!: One of the reasons Easter is celebrated is to acknowledge the rebirth of Jesus.  But what about your own rebirth?  Nothing says spring cleaning like a makeover.  Stock up on makeup samples from Macy’s and sale products from CVS and host a makeover bash.  Go to a spa with a few friends.  Or throw a standard party and have wigs, masks and eyeglasses of all shapes and colors for guests to try on.
• Easter Egg Hunt: Purchase cheap, plastic eggs and host an egg hunt!  Be creative - fill the eggs with candies, nips, fortunes pulled from fortune cookies, coins, rolled up dollar bills, little plastic prizes from iParty . . .
• Funny Bunny: Host a bunny-themed movie marathon.  Suggestions?  “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Donnie Darko,” “Harvey,” “Wallace & Gromit: Curse of the Were-Rabbit,” “Watership Down,” “Velveteen Rabbit,” and “Who Framed Roger Rabbit.”
• April Fool’s: It’s a little early for April Fool’s Day, but then maybe therein lies the prank.  Hire an X-Rated hypnotist to entertain your party.  Or a kids’ magician, but on the stipulation that he must pull a rabbit out of a hat.
• Spring (But Don’t) Break: Go for anything and everything springy and bouncy.  Set out Slinkys and miniature trampolines for guests to play with (or rent a large one if you have a big yard).  Prepare foods like spring rolls and curly fries, and adorn drinks with curly straws.  Play ska music (bouncy tunes), Bruce Springsteen, and theme-friendly songs like Vanessa Carlton’s “Spring Street,” Tori Amos’ “Spring Haze,” or Nina Simone’s “Another Spring.”
• Surprise Egg Drop Contest: If you’re looking for a totally different idea, throw an egg drop contest but don’t tell your guests about it until they arrive.  Ask them to bring 5 - 10 items they own but don’t want anymore, such as empty cereal boxes, mismatched socks, old textbooks, etc. (and have tape on hand to help them out).  Break them into teams of two to build creative holders for a raw egg.  Pick a high spot like a ledge, top of the fridge, or table, and take turns dropping the contraptions onto the ground.  Whichever holder keeps the egg from breaking is the winner!  Give out chocolate bunnies or Peeps for prizes.

I hope these ideas help you throw the ultimate party.  But remember the golden rule of parties - a great party is best defined by its guests.  If you’ve got the right mix of people, you can turn any event into the highlight of the (spring) season.  Happy hosting!