Proof That Times Have Changed

We all know that things aren't the same as they always have been.  The records I used to listen to as a child have never been seen by the we ones.  They'll never know the pleasure of untangling telephone cords, either.  And a life without cable television?  What an odd thought.

But every once in awhile, something else strikes you to let you know that time really has moved on without your realization.  Last month, I cleaned out the office of everything.  That included the entertainment center we'd replaced shortly after we moved into our house.  It had become the receptacle of papers that didn't have a home and other items.  Until I had cleared it out, I couldn't get rid of it, and that took a good long time.

Finally, I was ready for the entertainment center to find a new home.  I called our local church resale shop to ask when they could come pick it up.  After confirming with me that this was something meant to hold a tube television, they kindly explained that they didn't take these items anymore.

Oh.  Wait, I couldn't even donate this to charity?

I asked friends if anyone wanted it or if they knew anyone who did.  There was no response.  When my mom saw it, she said it was interesting timing, as just that week, four of her friends at bridge had asked her about wanting an entertainment center.  Even the old biddies at bridge were getting rid of theirs.

Fortunately, there's always the fallback.  In our neighborhood, there are scavengers.  You put something out at night before garbage day, and it disappears into the loaded down, decrepit pickup trucks that patrol our area on the lookout for anything they can use.  They will take old toilets, broken water heaters, carpeting, grills, children's toys, anything.

So we put out the entertainment center the night before garbage day.  My husband even made a little sign indicating that it was free (including the gratis if the scavengers were only Spanish speaking and couldn't figure out that the piece of furniture by the curb was available for the taking).

The next morning, it was still there.  That's ok, the scavengers come by on garbage day, too.  We saw more than one truck slow down to look at the entertainment center before speeding up in rejection.  And so it sat.  My husband was sure that someone would take it, that it would find a new home.  I finally made him drag it into our garage after a few days.  I'm not going to be the neighbor with an eyesore sitting there.

And now it lives in my garage until we can disassemble it to place parts small enough to fit into our garbage bin out on garbage day.  An era has passed, and I'm now acknowledging it.  No one uses entertainment centers like this anymore.  The day of the tube television has gone.

Do you know anyone who might want a perfectly good entertainment center?  Gratis?

BlogHer '12 McDonalds Breakfast

I wrote yesterday an overall recap of BlogHer in New York, the good, the bad and the ugly.  There were highlights, and I did come away with some interesting interactions.  On Friday morning, I was invited to the McDonalds breakfast where we tried some of the new menu items and heard from a panel of McDonalds executives

Personally, I adored the blueberry pomegranate smoothie we ate.  The oatmeal wasn't my favorite, primarily because it's instant oatmeal and I like my oatmeal big and chewy.  We also sampled some apple and yogurt dippers that were pretty tasty, and I really enjoyed the smoothie - did I mention that yet?

The real draw of the day was the panel of senior McDonalds executives from McDonalds US President Jan Fields, Senior Director of Nutrition Dr. Cindy Goody, and Nutrition and Culinary Director Chef Jessica Foust R.D.  The session was fairly open ended, with the McDonalds team looking for ideas and suggestions from bloggers in attendance.  While not all the answers were the ones I was hoping to hear - and the vast majority of the questions submitted by Family Arches members (including me) prior to the event weren't addressed, I'm hoping they still will be in the weeks to come.

This is strictly a transcript of the question and answer session, and I am placing no judgements on it.  I would like to know what you think of some of the information shared and the questions asked.  Where do you stand on McDonalds as a restaurant?

McDonalds Breakfast Q&A

At McDonalds, we Have done a lot - the 400 and under calorie favorites, adding more dairy and whole grains to menu, and more.

In terms of the new menu options, the nutrition information and access to it, what else can you do in local communities to make get the word out about how you can make more informed choices?

Question - As an adult, my mom had to be told to go on cholesterol medication and specifically told to not go to McDonalds, an aunt lost a foot to diabetes.  I'm now a vegetarian in response to a lot of heart disease.  What are you doing for vegetarians?

Jan - You can always ask for options with no meat.  That's a vegetarian option.  One of the things people ask me all the time is why you don't have a veggie burger. We never sell any, though we've offered it before.  We did it in Southern California, and it has been a real challenge.  We do continue to look at it,but if you don't sell enough of something in a given amount of time, you can't sell it.  It can't hold.  They can get everything from a grilled cheese to a Big Mac with no meat.

Jan - Can you talk about food causing one thing versus another reason for the health issues?

Cindy - We talk about heart disease and diabetes.  I love the ability to customize.  We have my meal builder on the website are hoping to build it out to the mobile app.  That way you can build a fish sandwich with or without tartar sauce, a two patty burger or not.  It will recalculate the nutritional values for you.

Question: I worked at McDonalds when I was 15.  I've seen a lot of the changes that McDonalds has gone through.  I've noticed the aspect of training people, and the issue of people are not thrilled about the new changes that are coming.  It's a big problem when I ask for no fries and they put them in the Happy Meal anyway.  Is there going to be more employee training?  I get that many are 15 years old, but is there a process to help relieve the frustration of parents?

Jan - I think that there is always an opportunity from a training standpoint, and we're working on it.  It's about customer satisfaction overall and that you're giving the customer what they're asking for overall.  I hear what you're saying.  We've gotten that feedback before, so thank you for that.

Question:  I do enjoy the new Happy Meals.  My son is autistic, so he rejects anything in sandwich form.  This can make things a challenge when we eat out.  Gradually, I'm seeing grilled or baked chicken bites for kids.  Is McDonalds looking at this for the future?

Jan - Chef Jessica is looking.  We are looking at grilled chicken nuggets.  Stay tuned.

Question:  There is a great campaign in Canada on twitter and elsewhere showing the process behind the food.  Is that something that will come here?

Jan - We love the campaign.  We are keeping a big eye on it, and things often move over borders.

Jessica - Social media is borderless.  You'll see that.  We may bring something in.  It's something where my boss Chef Dan showed how to make the sauce in his home. I love that you're seeing it.

Question: I have a son who is almost 3 who has celiac disease.  What is McDonalds doing to provide gluten free options?  I encourage McDonalds to be a leader in gluten free options.  People will follow you.

Jan - I met two nights ago with a mother and father.  It was about celiac disease.  Their doctor told them that the fries at McDonalds are safe, so they started going there.  I've been working on the food allergy issue.  There is a huge need for it.  You've got to be careful.  It's amazing how careful you have to be, and I learned so much about what you have to do.  That is definitely being brought up, and we're looking at it.  I was touched by it when you have a child who wants to do something and isn't able . We'll get there.

Question:  I have a son with food allergies.  I want to thank McDonalds because I know the food is reasonably safe, know what I can order thanks to the website, and I like to be able to customize the meals.  When I go to restaurants, especially the teenagers, they frequently say "I don't think so" when I ask if there is a nut in it.  Is there training for employees around food allergies?

Jan - Probably not enough.  This is being brought up to us.  The parent is always in control, and I know how they are about watching everything.  Over the past couple weeks, it's come to light even more to us about how we need to train more on the ingredient side.  When you hear a theme, it's there.  Half the room will probably give the same feedback.  How many people in this room have the same concern?  That's the beauty of doing something like this.  You have a room with 100 people and so many who are doing this.  There is so much pressure and demand.  I get it.

Question: I am the McMayor of my McDonalds.  My school does chicken nugget Wednesday and pizza Friday.  The parents revolted when they heard about it.  I think it's an education issue.  I was perturbed that they were bothered by it, but I would love to see a side by side comparison to campaign through parents to schools so they can see the results that this is actually better than the greasy cafeteria meals they get every day.  How do you reach schools or parents or communities that way?

Jan - Why we're doing the campaigns like we're doing now is that we are really proud to go side by side from a nutritional standpoint because we believe we'll win.  It's a perception thing.  People say, "Can you give me a Kleenex?" when they mean tissue.  Because of the size and scope, they say McDonalds, but they mean a term and not McDonalds specifically.  We're doing a number of campaigns. It's people like you who can help because it's people like you who are helping to educate and the campaigns we're running that are important.  In grocery stores, it's common to look at labels. I don't know that we do enough of this outside McDonalds.  When you start to ask the same question you ask now at other restaurants, you'll start to be surprised.  Not everything fits everyone's diet.  Then there is the whole activity component that schools need to get on.  It's about moving, too.

Jessica - What has shocked some people, if you look at our menu, 80% of our menu is 400 calories or less.  To Jan's point, people are surprised by this.  It causes people to look at our menu and think differently.

Question:  You brought up labels.  I have 4 children, 3 boys, 1 girl.  They all want the same toy.  They always assume we want 3 boy toys and 1 girl, but the boy toy  is the more fun one.  They feel horrible that they have to ask for the boy toy.  Any choice of taking that label away?

Jan - They are trained to say what the toy is to ask and not to say boy/girl.  It's a stereotype thing, but it doesn't always happen.  I feel your pain.

Jessica - As a parent, my son the other day acted like he was eating dirt when I tried to get him to eat a red pepper.  What thoughts or ideas do you have around fruits and vegetables?  We'd like to offer additional choices.

Fadra - I would really like to see a burger that some of the other brands where they have a lot of good lettuce, tomato, onion.  I don't mean a little sliver of lettuce.  It helps you fill up, too.  I know that there have been a lot of those type of burgers over the years.  As far as kids eating veggies, good luck with that.  I really love the Asian chicken salad and would love to see that as a regular menu item.  There was something I used to get called that All American Meal.  It was just a cheeseburger, small fry, and drink.  It's great for portion control.  I know people who do Weight Watchers can have that as an acceptable meal.  I can get it in one nice package.

Audience: I have kind of picky eaters.  One daughter would not touch yogurt.  Hummus and vegetables are good, especially if you package them like you do yogurt in a cup so it is less likely to spill in a car.  Do it with carrots, cucumbers, red peppers.  That would totally fly.

Audience: I'm a public school teacher in Philly.  We did the hummus and veggies in my school on a healthy foods trial. They didn't go for it.  What did work, I found if people bought the celery and raisins and made ant logs, they ate it.  When they're playing with it, they ate it.  Maybe advertise it with a picture of the logs and then they play with the food to make it (the picture on the ad).  They like to play with their food.  If they don't realize it's healthy, they'll eat it.

Audience: My kids love the fruit and snacks in the happy meals.  Could you make the package more like a cup so when you're driving, they can dip it more easily so they don't have to try to peel it back and not spill it?

Audience: I'm also a big fan of the Asian chicken salad.  My kids all take the edamame.  I would pay extra for a side of edamame.  My kids also love the baby cucumbers.  

Jan - We're actively testing different options. Whether it be kiwi, pineapple, or something else, we're looking at a number of different things.  I will tell you that the Asian salad is seasonal.  If there are ingredients that are only seasonally available, it's hard to do them in the numbers we need.  It's hard to say we want edamame all year when it isn't available in the quantities we need.  We rotate the southwest salad and Asian salad.  The southwest sells 5:1, so it gets to stay all year.  The unique ingredients - corn - are not as hard to get all year as edamame.

Kelby - Have you thought of yogurt parfaits as an option as a side for kids or adults?  I'm not that big of a fan of fries, but my kids won't give up a happy meal for a parfait if we have to build it out.  Have you thought about doing premium sides?  It's great that there are apples.  My kids will eat veggies and dip.  It would be great to offer 4 premium healthy sides for an adult or kid.  You may not have the volume, but I would pay more to have a good side.

Jan - We are testing right now where they have extra value meals where you can put together your own sides.  We haven't done it from a Happy Meal perspective, but we are clearly looking at what other options we can have besides an apple.  The choices are very involved in testing.

Jessica - We've heard a lot about edamame and seasonal.  We're looking at can we have blueberry as a side for happy meals when we have the blueberry oatmeal seasonal item.

Question: My kids love salads.  Buying a $6 salad when they can only eat half of it, I don't do.  Is it possible to make a half size salad even if they don't want a full one to go with a cheeseburger?  The side salads don't have meat, and my kids are meat eaters.

Jan - You can ask for a side salad and ask for meat.  You can ask, "Can I get a fish no bun?"  They'll charge for it, but you can do it.  Along that line, I am one who is very interested in portion control.  That's something we're doing - we lowered the size of McFlurries, we took away the large on them and on the shakes.  We're looking at more smaller portions available, and we feel like that's a good route to go.  Just go smaller.

Question: I didn't like a salad as a kid.  I loved the salad shakers.  I loved shaking it up - it was exciting to me. That's how my dad got me to eat salad.  

Jan - The salad shaker went down in history as one of our big failures.  Unfortunately it didn't shake well.  Either it didn't shake well or people felt we were cheating them because it wasn't very full.

Question:  In the 70s and 80s, my family did the regional advertising for McDonalds.  I have three kids and am a working mom.  I'm from a farm.  Thank you for telling the stories about farmers in your advertising this year.  In the fruits and veggies, it's important to tell where it comes from, and don't feel bad about it.  If you say that it's from California, say that.  If you're supporting the apple farmers in the States, tell us. People have a huge interest in where our food comes from . I would love to connect our farms with our food.  There's a great story to tell with the farm to McDonalds.

Jan - We're really proud of that campaign.  America is farmers.  Those are real farmers who produce food for us out of this country.

Question: Talking about options, both my kids have given up Happy Meals because they love the chicken wrap.  I would love to see that as a happy meal option.

Jan - I think we're going into a test with that....

Jessica - Yes, we are.

Question: I do like knowing where my fruits and veggie are coming form.  A grilled fish sandwich would be good instead of just fried.  I'd like to have bacon added.  I'd love to see, "You bought a burger or happy meal, here are some exercises you can do to burn off the calories."  It encourages not just healthy eating but healthy living.

Cindy - We've committed that 100% of our messages on Happy Meals will be positive where they talk about exercise or nutritional information.  There is something with the Olympics talking about jumping jacks and how to do it.

Jessica - What do you see as McDonalds' role in bringing awareness of the balance of activities.  Do we have a role in bringing that with 14,000 restaurants?

Question: I blog about tweens.  It's a hangout for kids and want to commend you for investing in a lot of space for a hangout with basketball and place for kids to play in the restaurant. It's not just the babies playing in the play spaces. They can go shoot hoops or ride the exercise bike, and that's awesome.  I'd love to see you do more of that, knowing that it's a space issue.  You recognize that this is a hangout, especially where there's space to do so.

Question: I know McDonalds does a lot of sports funding.  There's a backlash for it, because there's the perception that McDonalds is unhealthy but now you just funded this sports field.  I'd love to see more education around "Yes, we're giving a football field, but we're also doing more for nutrition for the football players."  I have a 3 year old and a 6 week old, and we're starting to get into McDonalds now.  I am big into BPA free plastic.  Can you address that issue, too?

Jessica - I know that is something that we have to go back to confirm, but most of our packaging is BPA free.  We'll get back to you on it.  We have looked at it, and we're continuing to look at it.  We're trying to make it more recyclable in our packaging.

Question: My kids will eat anything with dip.  Since you took the caramel away, they throw the apples away now.  They would eat the apples but not the fries; now that you took the caramel away, they don't eat the apples.  I would be happy to pay more and order it on the side.  I'd be happy to pay extra for ranch or caramel.

Jan - I've heard that before.  I know it is a challenge.

Question:  In a slightly different direction, not only does McDonalds get a bad rap for nutrition, but another thing my friends express concern to me about McDonalds is the environmental concerns and animal welfare.  Can you talk a bit about this?

Jan - They can add the technical stuff. We've been involved in the World Wildlife Fund.  We do a good job.  For some, there are infrastructures that cause a problem. We just made an  announcement for the sows to not be in gestation stalls.  Within the industry, there are people on both sides who think that this is not safe.  We continue to do research and worked with industry organizations.  We've been working with PETA from an animal welfare standpoint. We want to do the right thing, and there's no question that we can change an industry.  We can't do everything.

Cindy - We have an animal welfare council, a longstanding council at McDonalds.  We hire a lot, including partnering with Dr. Temple Grandin and continue to discuss these concerns.

Jan - We would be happy to share the sustainability reports.  I think you'd be very proud of what we've done.  I'm not doing justice to this, but I can get you the information.

Jessica - We do have an opportunity to share more about what we're doing.  We put out the reports, but it's not reaching our customers in the ways we're engaging.

Jan - You're a powerful group out there.  If someone has a bias or a slant on something, well now all of a sudden it's real.  We've got to do more to get credible information out there, but some people just don't want to believe.  Sometimes the things I get called and asked about, I can't believe.  We're in a position where everyone looks at everything we do.  If we aren't honest about it and don't look at it, people will find out.  We don't take any risk at all.  We're very careful and conservative in food safety and everything. It disappoints me when I see what someone has said and it's not factual.  That's why we come out and do listening tours.  We have people who go out and talk about everything.  We use outside experts to help us.  We're always looking to do better, but we are proud of what we do.

Cindy - The My Plate, USDA, FDA, etc.  My counterparts in industry are coming to us to talk about what we're doing.

Question:  I lived on a dairy farm, and unfortunately we were really small and sold out in 2009 because you have to go big or you can't feed your family.  Some of the decisions that McDonalds has made about the sow crates, etc are devastating to us.  We feel like people who don't know anything about a farm animal are now making us do things that are devastating for the animals.  We as farmers would love to help educate people on how you really raise a pig or what it's like to raise the vegetables.  It becomes emotional for us, but then we feel like we've been slapped in the face and don't want to go to McDonalds.

Jan -I can't tell you how much I appreciate your comment.  The industry has worked very closely with us, the farm bureaus and pork and beef producers.  There are two sides to everything.  No one cares more about the animals than the farmers.  That's their living.  They want them to be healthy and grow well.  We can't go down a highway without my husband telling me that's a John Deere 210.  He has it in his blood, too.

Question: My son was born missing half his heart.  I'm also a dairy farmer.  I was terrified when we flew to Seattle, and he's been in and out of hospitals.  I had no one to support me in these cities.  It was the Ronald McDonald Charities that were there for us.  In all the places he's had surgery, we have been able to stay in those houses. It was so comforting knowing that those houses were there for me.  We never want to forget where we came from.  We talk about the charities on my blog.  We try to do donation drops, simple things like fruits and veggies so the families can go spend time with their loved ones.  We don't eat at McDonalds that often, but I would love to be able to have a small drop box at McDonalds for the Ronald McDonald charities.  So many people would love to support your charity.  I would love to support it more, but I can't do the long drive to the closest house as often as I'd like.

Jan - I'm thrilled to hear about your son.  We have over 300 Ronald McDonald Houses around the world.  We just opened the largest one in Chicago.  We do the collection box in every restaurant where you can leave money, but I'll take that back to them.  If there's another type of donation that they can handle, I'd love that.  A lot of them do the bottle caps, too.

Question from Family Arches: What does the future of the McDonalds brand look like?

Jan - It's making sure that we are America's favorite, safest, and most reliable place to feed your families everyday. I want you to feel good about eating at McDonalds daily if you want to.  You can rely on, trust, and feel really good about eating here.  We need to change the perception that it's not good food.

Thank you guys so much.  We've enjoyed the dialogue.  It's not ending here today.  You can join the Family Arches community.  We wish you all the best.

BlogHer '12: The Good, The Bad, And The Ugly

I finally arrived home from BlogHer on Monday afternoon.  Sadly, my luggage has still not arrived.  Apparently it had a little too much fun in New York and got lost on the way back to Chicago.  I am holding out hope that it will appear somewhere, but in the meantime, I'm making a list of everything I remember being in there - from the several outfits I'd worn first the first time in New York to my bloggy business cards.

BlogHer this year?  It wasn't what I was expecting from the time I arrived in the Big Apple to the time I set feet back in the Windy City.  

The Good

I enjoyed it... most of it.  I love BlogHer for the people, as I think most who attend do.  It's an awesome chance to catch up with the people we don't see very often - or ever - and meet some of the people we've been longing to connect with.  And that was awesome.

The parties?  Way fun.  Incredibly loud for my ever-aging ears, but fun fun fun until I headed up to my hotel room and my feet explained what they'd been trying to scream at me amidst the rockin' DJs: ouch.  I love dancing, and dancing with friends is always more fun than dancing at home.

The food in New York was a blast, too, from the Stand4 milkshakes recommended by Connie Burke - the toasted marshmallow is to die for, and the pumpkin spice is pretty awesome, too - to the halal truck we decided to try.  Street food in New York is awesome, and we so enjoyed the truck we chose based on the line halfway down the block.

"We are different."  Nope, not better, not awesome, just... different.  We ate elsewhere.

And oh did we have fun with Flat Sue.  Flat Sue was created by a friend who couldn't make it to BlogHer this year.  We were so sad not to have Sue with us, but this made it fun.  Sue went everywhere.  She danced with the Elvis Blue M&M in M&M World.  She ate too many cheeseburgers at CheeseBurgHer.  She visited Times Square, the 9/11 Memorial, and Rockefeller Center.  It was beyond hilarious when Flat Sue got left behind at Social Fiesta, and a tweet-a-thon was begun to find her.  We did find her, and she even made it to the traditional party in Room L where she blew the bubbles we bring every year.

The brands I was able to connect with were amazing.  I had the most awesome talk with the Wholly Guacamole folks (you've seen my addiction to guacamole before, right?) about what they're aiming to do and ideas of how to do it.  The connection I made with the school lists folks was worth the trip alone for the benefits I'll be able to share with the rest of my exec board at the wee ones' school's PTO.  I learned about new products that I simply must have from the Sifteo - which is a really cool set of six cubes you can use to play all sorts of games - to TRIA - an at home laser hair removal and blue light systems - to how an adjustable bed really works and what you need to do to purchase one from the Leggett & Platt folks to Neato Robotics - a laser sighting robotic vacuum that I must have.  I had some wonderful conversations with brands that I will be following up on over the next several weeks, and I hope that some of them turn into relationships that benefit us both going forward.

The Bad
I'll be honest.  I don't think all the brands who attended BlogHer were there for the right reason, nor did they all have the right people there.  There were so many brands I approached to learn more about the products because of what I was interested in learning - for myself selfishly and for potential work with my blog - who were checked out.  Either they weren't able to answer my questions ("How much does this product sell for at retail?") or they blatantly had no interest in talking to anyone.  At all.  And those experiences leave a bad taste in my mouth about the brand.  I get the pressure to be there.  And I understand the expense of setting up the booth.  I get how exhausting it must be to stand there chatting day after day.  But Thursday afternoon before everything really starts?  It's hard.  I'll name no names, but there are some products I don't like as much anymore.

I have no suitcase.  I could care less about the swag that didn't make it home - a bottle of alcohol and some books, among other things.  It's my special electric toothbrush that I miss.  And my makeup.  And the clothes that I had bought just before BlogHer that I'm afraid I'll never see again.  It's "still being traced" - which isn't a good sign more than 48 hours after my flight landed.

I raved about the food I ate in New York.  I ate not a bite of the official breakfasts or lunches at BlogHer.  I either skipped the meals or ate elsewhere.  Why?  Oh my holy cats.  There were 5,000 people trying to eat at once.  And that's just a nightmare.  The nightmare was compounded by other factors, but suffice it to say that it wasn't pretty.  I'm glad I had other options.

And speaking of 5,000 people, that was also part of the bad for me.  My first BlogHer was in 2009 when it was held in my hometown of Chicago.  There were about 2,400 people there, if I recall correctly.  It was big, but it was manageable.  It's gotten bigger every year.  I thought 3,000 in New York in 2010 was too big.  3,500 in San Diego last year?  Yeah, that was starting to get unmanageable.  I couldn't get through the entire expo and missed connecting with some brands I really wanted to see and meet.  This year, there were 5,000 people.  And 5,000 people trying to do something isn't pretty, especially when they aren't always polite.  I heard quite a bit of cattiness and saw a lot of line cutting and other disrespectful behavior.

The Ugly
The line cutting and cattiness isn't pretty.  The grabbing things from brand reps' hands?  The saying "Oh, there's nothing good in here, let's go" or "they aren't handing out anything; it isn't worth it" is just ugly.  I know there are a lot of bloggers who do their best to be professional and learn and grow when they attend conferences.  And it's just a minority of people who are in it to get as much stuff as they possibly can.  That saying about a few rotten apples?  It's true.  Seeing a hotel luggage cart literally filled from top to bottom with swag that one person - one person - is taking home makes me feel a little ill.  Yes, I brought some things home, but I visited only those sponsors who I felt would be a good fit.  And I took only a) that which was offered to me and b) that which I knew I would use once I arrived home.  I feel like it's one step forward, two steps backwards in getting bloggers taken seriously.

And I do take what I do seriously.  I went to BlogHer not just to have fun with friends and connect with brands that will help pay bills for the next 12 months, but I also wanted to learn.  I marked sessions on my calendar that I felt would be interesting to me.  I had five sessions I wanted to attend, aside from the keynotes and such.  Five.  I would have loved to attend one or two of the Geek Bar sessions, specifically on coding and on moving to WordPress.  Those were completely filled up almost instantaneously (back to the "5,000 is too big" mantra), only for me to see people saying "Oh, I didn't know what these were.  Does anyone want this session or that session?  I signed up for all of them not knowing what I was signing up for."

Want to know how many sessions I attended?  Zero.  I didn't attend a single session that allowed me to learn.  I tried.  The first session I wanted to attend I failed to get there because I couldn't figure out where the sessions were being held.  Signage could have been improved, although I know I should have taken it upon myself to figure out the session locations more specifically myself.  The others?  I was turned away at the door - even when I arrived early - because the sessions were full and they couldn't allow anyone else in.  I paid how much more for my conference pass to attend these sessions?

So yes, I had a blast.  Most of the time.  My flight getting canceled on Sunday and rebooked to Monday due to a) mechanical failure, b) a security breach at Newark "shutting down all airports from White Plains to New Jersey and New York" so I couldn't be rebooked on another airline, and c) horrible storms in New York canceling many other flights later in the day - well, that wasn't all bad.  It allowed me to catch up with a friend who lived three doors down from me growing up.  I spent the night at her apartment, and we had a hoot catching up.

But next year?  Next year BlogHer is in my hometown of Chicago.  I live here.  I don't have to pay for an airline ticket.  Potentially I could not even pay for a hotel.  But I don't know that I'm going to attend.  The conference I'm sure won't be any smaller than it was this year.  And it's being held at McCormick Place during the day (Expo and sessions), while the evening events and official hotel is the Sheraton on Michigan, miles away.  You can't walk from one to the other.  There's no easy public transportation from one to the other.  Instead, there will be shuttles running.  Yep, shuttles to get 5,000 people from one place to the other. Picture that during Chicago rush hour.

Right now, the picture of the bad and the ugly is looming large.  Perhaps this is why BlogHer tickets aren't going on sale until September 1 this year.  Maybe by then it will be like childbirth, and I will have forgotten that part just to remember the good - the fun with friends, the sights I saw, and the people and brands I connected with.  Your thoughts?

Watermelon Granita - Tasty Tuesday!

There are some things I love about summer.  The fresh produce, spending time outside, grilling almost all our meals - those are the things that I love.  Of course sometimes I get a little carried away.  I'll buy a dozen mangoes and realize we can't eat quite that many.  Or I'll buy out the avocado section because they're really good and cheap, but then I need to do something with all of them.  Or I'll buy a huge watermelon that we can't eat fast enough.

Fortunately, there's always a solution.  I'll make my mango custard.  Or I'll freeze the sliced avocado (yes, it works - or I'll make guac and freeze that, which actually works better).  And for watermelon?  That's easy.  I make watermelon granita.

What?  You've never had it?  It's super easy, it's just about completely allergen free, and it tastes amazing on a hot day.  It's sweet and crunchy and frozen.  I've posted before about my mojito granita, but watermelon is pretty awesome, too.

Watermelon Granita

Ingredients:
10 pound watermelon (or so), flesh only and cubed-ish
2 limes
1/2 t salt
1/2 c water*
1/2 c sugar*

*Taste your watermelon before you start.  If it's bland, you may need more of the simple syrup you'll make.  My watermelon this time was blah, so I ended up doubling the sugar content.  Usually this is plenty.

Directions:
Make a simple syrup.  Place the water and sugar in a small pot, and bring to a boil.  Let it boil for two to three minutes, then remove it from the heat.  The sugar will be completely dissolved in the water, so nothing will be crunchy when you eat it.  Super simple, right?

While you're making the simple syrup, cut up your watermelon so you have chunks of the pink flesh.  Place them in a blender and liquefy them.  If there are any seeds, make sure you remove them first.  Pour the watermelon - made in batches, depending on the size of your blender - into a metal 13x9 pan (because it conducts the cold better, trust me).

Pour your simple syrup (which is fine cooled and actually better that way) into the pan with the watermelon, along with the salt.  Zest the limes into the watermelon mixture, and then juice them into it.  Try one lime juiced first and do a taste test after you've gently stirred the mixture.  If it needs more sugar at this point, make some more simple syrup.  If it needs the second lime (mine usually does), add it.

The next part is the hardest of the whole thing.  Get the pan into your freezer without spilling anything.  And yes, I have succeeded at this before.  Let it freeze for a half hour or so.  Pull it from the freezer, and you'll see where it's started to freeze at the top and around the edges.  Use a fork to scrape across the frozen parts to separate the ice crystals.  Place it in the freezer, and continue doing this until the granita is completely frozen and it is made up of little bits of icy chunks.  If you're anything like me, set a timer so you remember to scrape it each time.  If you forget, you can melt it and start over - not that I've ever had to do this before - and it's just fine.

Once it's ready, place all of it in a sealed container and serve frozen.  It will stay good for a couple weeks, but it's so good and so healthy, it will never last that long, right?

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.

Amplify Your Brand

The last speaker of the day was fitness guru Andrea Metcalf who has made herself into a brand.  From personal training to writing a book to now producing television shows, Andrea doesn't let anything stop her.  She had a ton of advice - and energy - for all of us.  What can you gain from it?

Amplify your brand. Gain strength in distribution.

There are a few things that will probably sound crazy and out of the box. People ask me where I get my confidence. You just go do it. They'll ask, "Aren't you worried that people will say no?" People say no a lot, and that's ok.

I am a fitness instructor and wrote a book called Naked Fitness last year about feeling good in your skin. I'm a media personality. In the 6am news, we will be doing stand up paddle. I'm also a social media addict. I don't think I'm that bad until people ask me if I can put my phone now because it's not a breathing apparatus.

I decided I wanted to do my own tv show and got $98,000 in funding for a quarter. I didn't have a pilot. I got $48,000 to buy airtime. My sponsors were not the sponsors I thought I was going to ask. When it came down to it, it was McDonalds, an orthopedic hospital, and Meijer. If you own your stuff, you really have to own your stuff. CLTV wanted to change the name and have me host with someone else for a second go around, but that's not who I am. I made a lot of mistakes, but it was my first time around.

I owned a fitness studio and was writing for little local magazines, and I didn't realize I was a brand. How many of you own your brand and accept it and know what it is? A brand needs these pieces to go to the next step. The first thing is mission. You have to know where it's going. What is your mission? Target audience. If you don't have a type or niche, your marketing is never going to work. We have moms who just want to be pretty. We have people who are just normal, and normal is ok. My demographics is 35-55. How many of you need to have money to buy food? How many need money to pay rent to drive here? The further you can get this marketing off the ground, the easier it is to make money at this.

I was a fitness director for a club, and my goal was to get more people in the door. I partnered, and that same thing works today. I went to my local Dominick's and said, "I'll tell my members to go buy their turkeys at Dominick's, and I said I needed two 6 pound turkey breasts. I'm going to bring them into the fitness class and use them as medicine balls on Thanksgiving morning and then play hot potato. Whoever has the turkey takes it home."  It was hugely successful. Now we have social media, and you can still partner. Guest blog. Tweet other people's stuff.

I wanted to make it really fun at my fitness studio. On Fridays, they knew that anytime I blew the whistle, it was going to be a contest. They would get 5 sessions of personal training - singing or whistling or pushups or other competitions. What can you do that is free and costs you just your time?

If you have enough desire and persistence and you have a good mentor, you'll move forward. I emailed the Today Show every day for 3 months before I got a spot. I wanted to do it, and I was as good as those who were on there. I looked in the credits for the executive producers. I asked a client which one to contact. I've now done the Today Show over 17 times. There is no one who is out of your range of asking. How often are you told that you have to talk to a certain person, even if you know they aren't the ones who make the decisions?

My mentors are key. I wanted to a do a tv show, and the chamber of commerce where I live had lessons for four Saturdays from 8-12. That's where I learned how to do a tv show. If you have enough content, you can get them to distribute it, then you can get someone to pay for it, and you make money from the middle. I cold called the president of NBC. You can't be afraid; what's the worst thing that can happen?

My life changed getting on tv and being a credible fitness expert. The woman who introduced me - Beth Rosen - changed my life where I roomed with her at a spa in Mexico. I had just gotten hired as a blogger for Oprah.com. They told me about social media like I'd never known about it before. Through more mentors and connections, I meant the person who helped me launch my book. Those are my people.

The only person not on that list who is my mentor is Madonna. When I was 18, she had a brand. And she's continued to reinvent herself every 3-5 years. I am so impressed by what she does. I'm not just a health and fitness expert. I've moved into tv and production and other places. You have to have more than just this. Try remember what these little sparkles are that you love.

Cold calling - that's what I'm talking about. If you love a brand and now you have some distribution, you can't just have 100 people who listen to you unless those 100 people want to buy the same product you're talking about. It's not always about the numbers but how you influence these people. What do they love about your blog? I look at Lori Moreno and her 245,000 followers, and I only have a percentage of that, and I'm still using social media as my main way to get paid. I've worked with a lot of brands. Cold calling and knowing who I want to work with is how I get there.

Knowing who to call is important. You don't have to call the social media person at the company necessarily. Take the product name and press release and google it. See who is at the bottom. Tweet them, then email, but tweet first. I can call and email and have no response, and in 15 minutes get a response on Twitter. If it's from your heart and someone you really want to work with, and you talk the right way, you'll find that they want to work with you, too. It's a win win situation.

Distribution used to be just tv and magazines and newspapers. It's expanded now. The web and social media are new levels of marketing that you need to use. If I have content with video and a blog and I create a partnership to share content on their pages, I have an exponential reach of eyeballs seeing my content. I'm now distributing my tv show on Facebook TV. There are 400 channels that I'm sharing on.

Don't think of others are your competition. They're peers. you all have different likes and appeal to different people because you are different under here (your heart). When you can start to see that and start to figure it out that partnerships are the biggest win wins, that's how you make money.

You need to have strategic alliances that make lists. That's what allows you to gather followers. Then you need to figure out what they want, and that's how you make money. You have to know what they have and talk about them. You need to know what they want. When you go through your Twitter followers, how many look at what the person does and then put them into a list? I do that so strategically on LinkedIn. Those are things you have to own because those are relationships.

You have to love what you're doing in order for it to work. If you hate it, it's going to suck in the car driving, and you're not going to want to keep doing it. When you have passion about something, people really understand it. You have to tell people why it's good. When my kids didn't want to eat asparagus or broccoli, I told them that's what dinosaurs ate.

You have to know how to sell and overdeliver. I will oversell things because I get so excited, and then I realize there is only one of me. Be very clear as to what you can really get done, and then don't tell them everything you're actually going to do. How cool is it that you have a sundae waiting for your kids when they finish their dinners and you didn't tell them?

How many don't have an agent selling for you? I said that I'm going to launch my book and bring in 10 bloggers to help sell the book based on their experience. Beth Rosen told me to value myself, we can sell 1,000 books, more than that. There are times when we knew what everything was worth. Now, it's hard to figure out what everything is worth. Start believing it. And most importantly, build the relationship and figure out why it matters to them.

Here are the secrets to success:
1) If you are going to get anything done, you need a schedule. I do this for me as a PR brand, a marketing brand, and a fitness brand. I need a schedule for when I'm talking about each of these things. If we don't know when these conversations are happening, then I can't play the game. We can't Tivo them.

2) You need a marketing plan that is seasonal. It isn't just the same all 12 months of the year. It isn't California. How many of you have a product outside your blog? I learned this in personal training. There are only 67 hours I can personal train, plus 26 hour to teach class. I still did corporate fitness, had 3 kids, did payroll, etc. I was done by 9pm. You can't function at that, but I needed to make money. 

We all know that we have certain things that we want in our lives. You have to have things that make money while you're sleeping. You're probably all experts at something, so figure out how to package it and where it can be a freebie, what can be the buy-in, and what's the subscription model. Brands will start using you for your blog, but you all have something good you can share. I used to draw stick figures so people could do exercises on their own. I then made flip cards, then DVDs, and more. We need to use our blogs not to just worry about the blogs, because when we build it, they will come. Is it the story of your life? Is it how you can inspire someone else? Is it the little tips?

3) You need timelines and goals. These are the same things I do for clients to help people lose weight. I have timelines a lot in my life now. I have 30 minutes to do Twitter, and then I'm done. I used to do this with my kids to clean the house, and it was a great incentive. I have 30 days to complete the next project... I have the worst running week of my life for running because of the marathon training. I know I have to do the marathon so I have to do the running. That could be that I have a Plan B in mind in case what you need to do doesn't work out.

4) You go for results. Please keep in mind that Twitter only keeps their data for about 5 days. I'll put together a great hashtag and forget to monitor it. Understand how to count it before you do it. Have your Google Analytics set up for your blog. Get somebody else's opinion - ask them what you think of this post. Create those alliances. Get your brutal answers from your family and friends.

5) Review. In January, I launched a reality weight loss show. We taped almost every single weekend that went into an hour long show due on Wednesday for 12 weeks. I will never do this again. I thought I was going to kill myself, and I finally started to feel ok by week 5 because I knew I only had 7 more weeks. Figure out if something is worth doing again. Will we ever do 6am to 10pm with bloggers again? No. Keep coming up with new ideas. After that didn't work for me, I thought why produce one show when you can produce 12? So we did it. Come up with a new strategic plan, and move forward.

I sometimes think it's funny where I'm standing and where I've been. I've failed at a lot of things, but it still feels great to be able to stand in front of you and know I did a few things right.

Zucchini Bread - Tasty Tuesday!

So a friend of mine gave me a zucchini bigger than my arm.  I'm not joking.  I now understand why people joke about leaving zucchini on neighbors' doorsteps and then running.  Holy cats.  There was nothing to do but make zucchini bread, right?

So... 15 eggs later, I have 7 loaves of zucchini bread, and 96 mini muffins.  Or I did.  One loaf has been completely demolished.  Two loaves went home with a friend.  And another loaf has been started, plus several of the mini muffins have disappeared mysteriously.  It still is as good and as loved as it was when my mom used to make this for me as a kid.

The good news?  The wee ones love it.  And I don't think I need to make zucchini bread again for awhile.  Oh, and I'll be bringing some of those muffins with me to BlogHer, so hit me up if you see me!

Zucchini Bread

Ingredients:
2 eggs
1 1/2 c sugar
1 c oil
1 t baking powder
1 t baking soda
1 T cinnamon
1/2 t nutmeg
1 t salt
3 1/2 c flour
3 c shredded zucchini

Directions:
Peel your zucchini (or if you're my mom, don't, but I find the skin a little tough).  Cut it in half, and then use a spoon to scrape out the seeds and the spongy middle.  Use a food processor to shred the zucchini, or go old school and use a grater - just watch your knuckles!

My huge zucchini made this extremely large bowl of shredded zucchini.  You don't need nearly this much.  I like to shred my zucchini first so that some of the liquid in the zucchini can start to drain, as you don't need any extra moisture in the bread.  If you want to get fancy, put it in a colander, but I forgot, and this works just fine.

Preheat your oven to 325 degrees.  Add the eggs to your bowl, and beat until the yolks and whites are mixed thoroughly.  Add the sugar and beat until it is light and fluffy.  While the mixer is still going (but not too high), slowly add the oil.  You want it to incorporate as you're pouring and not have a big glop of oil you have to incorporate later.

Add the cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and nutmeg.  Mix thoroughly to combine, then add the flour in two batches, stirring gently between each addition.  Add the zucchini, stirring just until it's incorporated.

Grease two loaf pans, and pour half the batter into each pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 50-60 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.  Cool for ten minutes in the pans, then turn out onto cooling racks.  Cool thoroughly, then slice.  The bread freezes beautifully (I remember how much I used to love eating the bread straight from the freezer), and it will keep for several days tightly wrapped.  If it lasts that long.

Enjoy this and more with Blessed With Grace and Tempt My Tummy Tuesday.