Smart Women at the Helm!

I saw a tweet about Dianna Huff's B2B blog today... 25 Smart Women in Social Media to Follow on Twitter. Having met some amazing people already through social networks, about social media, I just had to take a look. Some I knew of, or I was already following and most I did not know at all. But I want to.

These women have many common threads... they are all go-getters, they are entrepreneuers, some are Chiefs of Marketing and Content and some are VP's or Directors of Social Media. One is a wardrobe consultant, a few are best selling authors, some are in public relations while others are doing analysis for companies... but one thing they all do is... BLOG. Not blogs about trying products companies paid them to write about for them... but blogs about us. Blogs about the perspective of consumers, like us, navigating our way through this new technology. Blogs about businesses trying to manuever with us and somehow get ahead of the game. No fear though... we consumers are in the drivers seat and we're steering the reactions of business for the first time... maybe ever. It's nice to know so many thoughtful women are at the helm on the business side... listening. I mean really listening and nurturing these relationships between the hard cold business world and the real world now.

Please click the link above and give these women a quick read... then read more if you so desire. They are what I think we all want to be associated with: They are clever, well spoken, enthusiastic, passionate, educated, compassionate and pioneers with a boat load of moxy. What's not to love about that?

I was thinking HOME style versus MY style...

Bwahahaha! Saw this and laughed so hard I pee'd a little.

In Light of My Last Blog

Are you a TREASURE hunter like moi'? Exciting news for you then... 20th Century Props is closing their doors after 40 years! They've supplied props to countless movies and television shows... holy cow! Check out their SALE pdf by clicking THIS and take a gander at the "treasures" they've stockpiled for yeeeeearrrs! I've got my eye on the maritime stuff... goes with the whole STEAMPUNK style I apparently am. I hope you find something fun to fantasize bidding for. It's all going to be via AUCTION.

The auction starts July 28th through the beginning weeks of Aug. Here's more information:

The Contra Costa Times reports this afternoon that 20th Century Props has decided to close its business. With an inventory of over 91,000 pieces, items are expected to be auctioned off in late July.
Tony Castro of The Times reports that founder and owner Harvey Schwartz this week made the decision to close the company, suffering from the recession as well as the Screen Actors Guild labor dispute which was resolved. Items from the 200,000 square foot warehouse will be offered at auction in the last four days of July. The collection is insured at $8 million but valued as high as $30 million. Included is the 20th Century Fox Studio prop department purchased by Mr. Schwartz in 1994.

Happy shopping!

Too Distracted to Watch the Movie...

Are you one of those people who go to a movie and find yourself completely caught up in something other than the actors or the plot or the dialogue... but rather, the set design? I am. To a fault. I recently saw Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince, and I know I've missed some key scenes in the movie because of three sets that made my jaw drop, my eyes bug and my brain buzz with thoughts of how I could recreate what I was seeing.

I have been tweeting about this and posting some comments on facebook, as we've discussed Harry Potter and it's release in the recent week or so. A long time friend, Patricia Shackelford... aka: Mrs. Blandings, recently posted about the same kind of musings on her site, about Nora Ephron's upcoming movie, Julie & Julia and their fabulous kitchen set designs. I was relieved to see I wasn't alone.

The movie Vanity Fair, had some of the most beautiful colors I've seen in a long time on film... Beautiful flocks in velvet plum colors... yellow toiles... pinks and light blues... it was fabulous! Another favorite is Pride & Prejudice... with the milk paint dark blue walls in the dining room of the Bennett household. In Harry Potter and The Half Blood Prince , there is a new professor of potions with his own room. I adore his room... with it's dusty viles and large apothecary jars. The room is dark with greys and browns and the jars make me sooooo curious as to what is in them. (see photo) Another room in the Hogwarts school, appears to be an attic or storage room. It had a large pile of old Smith & Corona and Blickensderfer typewriters discarded in a corner. I have a Blickensderfer #5 (made in 1892) on my mantel now so imagine my surprise at seeing these! I type messages (on my computer of course, because God forbid I break my typewriter) for different holidays. I put messages like "I told you I was sick" in the roller for Halloween and "Dear Santa" letters in it for Christmas. You get the idea. Back to the movie... There is a large gold gilded cabinet with hundreds of tiny viles containing swirling blue-ish misty "memories". What a lovely idea and the cabinet, glowing from the gold, makes them even more special. Another area of this attic, had tarnished silver, as in pitchers and candleabras, on old tables and dusty crystal chandeliers hanging from the high ceilings... all it needed to be a dream room for me, would be shells. LOL! Much of this type of style I am drawn to, can be found locally, in Prairie Village, KS, at The Curious Sofa, an amazing store bragging "Less than serious surroundings". Owner, Debbie Dusenberry, pulled from her photo stylist background with photographers and film makers, to create some of the most amazing, interesting and inviting displays I've ever seen. Her clientele come from all over the nation. It's easy to love the store.

Next time you find yourself at the cinema... and something delightful catches your eye on the set... take note. Send me a message... I'd love to know I'm not alone in my wandering eye search for all that is beautiful.

Another FIRST ...

Despite several unexpected snafu's, our first float/camping trip as a family, was interesting... and shorter than expected.

Despite a $132 speeding ticket before leaving city limits, 2 hours inflating an air mattress with a bike pump, RAIN coming down for 15 hours straight, despite rain pouring in on the sides and top of the tent, and even though we had rain soaked clothing and bedding, throw in a tornado siren wake up call and not to mention the 6.5 hours of paddling our asses off down the 14 mile run of lower than normal and dead calm river... we had a LOT of laughs!!!!!!!! As my motto goes... If it's not fun, it's funny.

I love the fourth of July when you have down home good ol' traditional festivities. Hat tip to all the folks and their friends and families who came to the Round Hill celebration this year. Good times... good tiimes.

Cheers to Patti Greenbaum, right, who was the only female to participate in the Belly Flop contest! You go girl!

What's Your Cyber Curb Appeal?

Immediately after my first child was born I developed a little ritual. My husband would walk in the door at 5:34PM and I would cheerfully hand him our son and say "I need to get out of here". I would then drive up and down my favorite Kansas City streets for about an hour in search of one thing: Checking out beautiful entrances to homes.

I appreciate all the thought and inspiration that go into a beautiful entrance. I wanted to see what color doors are painted. Are the doors full length glass paneled so I can sneak a quick peek inside to help me better fantasize about the lives happening inside? Or are they solid doors and very private leaving me guessing even more? God forbid, are there metal bars keeping people out... or in? What flowers or other plants were in the containers flanking the entrance to the home? Were they in urns or something else? Was it reflecting a season, a holiday, the person(s) inside effectively? Was it symetrical or not? Are they using unusual materials to create this entrance-scape? I couldn't help but wonder if some entrances were done by someone other than the home owner. If so... that makes me sad. It seems like false advertising... not-so-very authentic. As I type this, my Rosemary topiaries are half dead from the insane heat we've endured the last two weeks... meh!

This summer my dear designer friend, Susann, created a bold splash of color with some whimsy and a little French country chic flair, to her homes entrance. She used two old kitchen chairs she had thought she would throw out some day... painted them robins egg blue and took out the seating. She plopped in plastic flower pots painted to match the dark grey stained concrete sidewalk and stairs leading to her red front doors. She then filled them with lime green Creeping Jenny, variagated vincas, blue Lobelia and red begonias, etc... to make them pop with color! (see pic) Every time I come to her house, I smile at this beautiful arrangement. In fact, drivers turn their heads to look at this entrance as they whiz down her street, slowing down momentarily to enjoy the view to her front doors. Each season she puts out something unique and different from the same seasons of years past. I appreciate the effort so much. It doesn't even have to be anything fancy... just a reflection of who we are. Knowing Susann and her family, I feel her entrances are a true depiction of the people inside.

This made me think about other ways we present ourselves to those who pass by our cyber domains, much like our homes, each day. With profile photos we say a lot about who we are, at a glance. With that split second of someone seeing our profile photo (whatever it may be) they will decide if they want to come in and get to know us better or if they will drive on by. It's our "curb appeal". Our invitation to the world ... some are private, some are public, some bold, others funny, some fake, some making political statements, some rejoicing in the celebrations of the successes of those inside... they are all different and that's the beauty of it. Remember to think about your own Universal Identity... it's already happening.

What does your curb appeal say about you?

How Everyone Will Know You

There's an idea that's been thrown around now for a few years and now more than ever, it seems to be coming to fruition. We all have a "universal identity". With the help of the internet and social networks & clubs and blogging... we're in the outersphere for all to meet and see. We can use our universal identity on our resumes, our social networks, our emails... our everything. It will be YOUR identity throughout the world. It will be consistent. It will be as personal or as private as you want it to be. What is yours going to be? How will it look? If you haven't already, start thinking about it now.

Once thought many years away, you can now have your own URL, for free. Facebook is rolling out their opportunity for you, today, June 12th at 11:01PM (your time zone). SocialToo Vs Facebook Vanity URLs is a great article about how you, the average Joe or Jane, can get stats from your Facebook page. It will help you be a social network power user... there will similarities with Twitter's TweetStats to see a person/club/company's statistics in various forms. Or... use Twitterholic to see how the most avid users are shaping up, like Ashton Kutcher's Twitter account, which is @aplusk . It's a slick, at the surface glance at how progress is being made on social networks. Especially if you a have someone else tweeting on behalf of you for your business. Personally, I am very excited about the availability of statistics. Numbers are measurable... and now, all of us can get the numbers.

ROI (return on investment) is still being discussed at great length. Recently, thanks to Brian Solis for posting this information... Dell's Outlet Store is attributing over $2 Million Dollars of their computer sales to TWITTER! Wow... How Tweet It Is, indeed! It's a great case study and hits on something every business is talking about and wanting via social networks... the ROI.

Every day, I find myself trying to wrap my head around this ever changing industry... my mind is swimming and I find it completely exhilarating!

Enjoy the traditions of summer... posting again soon.

Alexis

The "Firsts" of Many Firsts

Aaahhhh... mid 80's, pure sunshine, bright blue sky, slight breeze out of the West... it's summer time baby and I couldn't be more happy. We heralded in this season in style, at Round Hill Bath & Tennis Club in Overland Park, KS. The doors opened at 11AM and the stream of smiling faces and pasty white bodies poured in.

We could smell grills being fired up right away and the amount of floaties, colorful inner tubes and rafts in the water would make any Macy's Day coordinator smile. As the morning progress, my main goal was to get a photo of the first person in the pool. Turns out, there were two who had a long standing bet as to who would get that bragging right. I don't know if they worked this out or not, but rumor has it, they entered the pool at the same time. That was sweet. So hat tip to Gabe and Isabel for our season's "first".

Then more "firsts" started being noticed. At 11:15AM, Bill cracked open the first beer of the season. Proud moment for all of us Bill... Congrats! Then we had the first member with crutches enter the facility... Michelle's crutches because of her torn ACL during running... well, that's a FIRST of the season. (there's always someone on crutches... a tennis player, a mom showing off her cheerleading skills from 15 years ago, bicycle accident... LOL!) Then we had the first birthday boy come in to celebrate with this family. 44 Year old Gordon! Happy Birthday Gordo!

At one point, I looked around the packed pool decks, courts, in the pool and I thought "Wow... I know everyone here." That brought a huge smile to my face... because I like all of these people and for what they bring to the club. I am on the Board of Directors VP representing the lifeguards and the pool facility itself. It is waaaaay more than the membership I am reimbursed for... and for the first time, I'm thinking "I am tired". I've been frustrated and disappointed by fellow volunteers. I feel... if you're going to volunteer for something, do it because you are an advocate and an evangelist for the not-for-profit you believe in. Not to get a free membership or to have a title. If you're going to volunteer... actually volunteer! Yet, as I watched all of these people yesterday, it made me again excited for the season. Thank God for summers.

I need a beer, grilled kabobs and do a flip off the diving board. All would be my firsts for the season.

WEAR SUNSCREEN!

Measuring You on Twitter ... It's Easy!

I attended a really great workshop today called "Extreme Social Media". It was hosted and conducted by Giovanni Gallucci. http://www.gallucci.net/ His Twitter name @giovanni He is a "thought leader in social media and online buzz marketing." He didn't look as nearly as Italian as his name would imply. LOL!

He was very charming, witty, smarter than sh*t and an excellent story teller. He knows all the in's and out's of how to make a business or brand succeed on the web. It was mind numbing and exciting at the same time. I'm grateful to have had the opportunity to spend the day with him.

We hit on several tools within the social networks to help you measure your success (or failure) to increase your presence on the web and increase your web ecosystem. Here are a few:

http://www.twhirl.com/ for to manage your open tools for several accounts

http://www.tweetdeck/ to tie into Facebook and any other social networks you're on, at the same time! One update and the all update. Cool.

http://www.brightkite.com/ for uploading phone pics.

http://www.huitter.com/ for mutuality and so you can automatically unfollow anyone who is not following you on twitter, with the click of a button. Brilliant. Because you really do want to follow everyone who is following you... even steven. It sends the right message.

http://www.tweetstats.com/ You can gather your twitter stats here! How many tweets per hour, per month, get a timeline and reply statistics and so much more. Great for a work from home business to help you measure your progress and hitting of your goals or if you have someone else doing your tweets on behalf of your company. This is how you check what they are doing and when.

http://www.twitalyzer.com/ This is another tool for measuring on Twitter, your Influence, Signal, Generosity, Velocity and Clout. It's interesting.

http://www.twitterholic.com/ Show the 100 top Twitterers. Right now, Ashton Kutcher is number 1, with the most followers. Then CNN, The Ellen Degeneres Show... you get the idea. You can also type in their name and get a graph of their trend.

http://www.tweetgrid.com/ allows you to SEARCH multiple search words on several screens at the same time! Any business would love this... looking at REAL TIME tweets about key words they are searching for. You can even send a message to a tweeter as you see the message and not have to get out of the screen. Brilliant.

Giovanni focused on search engine optimization as well as blogging so the most people can see it. I'll post more about that shortly. I'm trying out the other sites tonight so I can post more soon. Stay tuned!

Happy Twittering and searching for cool ways to measure your awesomeness! LOL!

For some fun... go to http://www.faceinhole.com/ and put your face on the cover of a magazine like this one! Hilarious fun!