I am particularly excited about my most recent essay written for the Creative Freelancer Blog. The topic: Partnering with individuals and businesses to increase your public relations and marketing reach. It can be a very inexpensive and highly satisfying approach to spreading the word.

Point your mouse this way to read (and comment on) “Cross-Promotion and Co-Branding: The new way to party in the PR world.”

Last fall I joined The Weekly Grind radio show as the first female co-host. It has been an exciting and fun few months alongside co-hosts Bryan Mohr and Mike Shearer. We’ve had a variety of talented, funny, and passionate young professionals in our studio and have learned so much about the creative talent in this city that I – and so many others – call home.

This past Saturday was an extra special Saturday, as we welcomed the funniest man on Twitter, @badbanana, on the air as a special c0-host for the entire hour. And gosh by golly, did we have fun! Our topics were varied and the jokes were hilarious. And the random and intermittent quips by Tim Siedell were all the convincing that we (and our listeners) needed: he’s just as funny in person as he is on Twitter. (But he looks nothing like his Twitter photo, the late giant of advertising, David Ogilvy.)

The next time you have an hour or so, download Saturday’s episode and savor the humor that is @badbanana. After hearing his voice, you may never read Tim’s tweets the same way again.

If you’re a young professional (read: anyone under the age of forty) working in a job you love or dreaming of working in a job you love, mark your calendar for Thursday, March 3 to attend the 2011 Young Professionals Summit at the Qwest Center in downtown Omaha.

The daylong event will feature a slew of breakout presentations – me being one of them. At 1:30 p.m., following what is guaranteed to be a motivating and energizing keynote presentation by mayor-of-the-moment Cory Booker (@corybooker) of Newark, New Jersey, I will present “Sharing the Story, Spreading the Love: How Smart Social Media Marketing Nets Followers, Fans and Friends.”

My presentation will discuss in greater detail how I used social media to maximize buzz about Nerdy Thirty, but will also focus on the social media questions and needs of those in the audience. I will likely have a few PowerPoint slides, but the presentation will be very conversational, very engaging, and (I hope) even a little funny.

While I’m extremely excited to present at the Young Professionals Summit in March, I’m even more excited to network with other young professionals – many of whom I chat with via Facebook and Twitter, but never have had the opportunity to meet in person.

This event is the perfect kick-in-the-pants that many of us need, especially during the cold winter months in Nebraska. You’re guaranteed to find motivation, energy, and ideas for your current job, your next job, your dream job, or that side project you’ve sat on for years.

Registration for the luncheon only is $75. Registration for the entire Summit (which includes lunch) is $125. Please note: Registration deadline is Thursday, February 24.

There are two other events happening as part of the Young Professionals Summit. You’ll find me behind the bar at the February 17 event, but I make no promises about the quality of your drink should you order from me.

Documentary Viewing Party
Wednesday, February 2
7 – 9 p.m.
Marcus Theaters at Midtown Crossing
3201 Farnam St.

View the documentary “Street Fight” by Marshall Curry Productions, featuring Summit keynote speaker Cory Booker. The film chronicles the 2002 bare-knuckles race for mayor of Newark, New Jersey. Stick around for an after-the-show panel discussion and cocktails at Glo Lounge.

Cost: $5 in advance, $7 at the door • Register online by Tuesday, February 1

Purely Social: Summit Pre-Party
Thursday, February 17
5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Nomad Lounge
1013 Jones St.

The evening includes a slam poetry competition for charity featuring Matt Mason and other local poets; celebrity bartenders including Summit presenters, local media figures and Omaha leaders; and appetizer and drink specials.

Cost: Free • Register online by Tuesday, February 15

When I made the decision last year to slowly teach myself how to cook and bake, Bundt cakes were a natural place to begin. I owned a weathered and wonderful Bundt pan that belonged to my late grandmother, and started rather small: preparing Bundt cakes whose base was a box cake mix. Simple enough recipes with directions that were, for the most part, foolproof. I found success in baking – much more so than cooking – because the steps were rigid and fairly easy to follow. With no base knowledge of cooking, I was not tempted to “jazz up” any recipes out of fear of a culinary disaster. I followed each recipe, step by step.

One weekend while clicking through a number of recipe websites, I stumbled upon a pound cake recipe from scratch that I felt brave enough to try. Like magic, the dessert turned out beautifully. Since then I have mustered more courage to try even more new recipes and learn as much as possible about baking.

This past Christmas my mom gave me a butterfly-shaped cake pan. It was a thoughtful gesture and an adorable gift. But I really think my mom was politely trying to say, “Wendy, we love your Bundt cakes. But try something new already, OK?”

So I did. Yesterday afternoon I christened my Christmas gift by preparing a decadent and dense cream cheese pound cake recipe to share with my family. The result was adorable and absolutely delicious. And while I baked the pound cake in the butterfly pan, a traditional Bundt pan would most certainly do.

Cream Cheese Pound Cake with Chocolate Glaze
Pound Cake
(All ingredients should be at room temperature)
3 sticks of butter
3 cups of sugar
6 eggs
8-oz. package of cream cheese, softened
3 cups of flour
1 teaspoon of vanilla

Cream together the butter and sugar; beat well until fluffy. Add two eggs at a time; beat well. Add a half-cup of flour at a time, followed by the vanilla. Mix in the softened cream cheese. Bake in a greased and floured Bundt (or butterfly!) pan at 325 degrees for 75 minutes. Allow cake to cool completely before removing it from the pan.

Chocolate Glaze
2 cups of sugar
1 stick of butter
1 large can of evaporated milk
6 tablespoons of cocoa powder

In a large pot, mix together the ingredients and bring to a boil. Reduce to medium and allow to cook until the glaze thickens. Transfer the glaze to a separate bowl and allow to cool completely. Using a small gravy ladle, pour the chocolate glaze over slices of the pound cake. Serve to those you love and yourself. There’s nothing more perfect than a pound cake, be it for breakfast or dessert.

“So this is the new year
And I have no resolutions
For self assigned penance
For problems with easy solutions”
– Death Cab for Cutie, “The New Year”

Mercy me, we have arrived at the beginning of 2011. A shiny, spankin’ new year where goals and projects, dreams and aspirations, tough decisions and do-overs are all possible. Yes they are, and yes we can. It sounds corny, I know, to join the world in the vague, vanilla notion of a new beginning just because the calendar tells us so. But a new month and a new year seem like the ideal time to start fresh, to turn the page and plan for what’s next. Or at least keep those things top of mind for the next twelve months.

For me, 2010 was first about the final months of graduate school coursework and, a few months later, Nerdy Thirty. The year was overwhelmingly positive with buzz and support and well wishes for the book; but the excitement meant my thesis for graduate school was all too easily pushed to the bottom half of my 2010 task list.

Which is why my first priority this year is my thesis. After a good chat with Lisa Martin over fried foods and drinks at the Dundee Dell a few months back, I have realized that my thesis won’t just write itself. I must make it a priority by carving out time to work on it every single week. Just like the eight courses I took for graduate school, I now have a weekly appointment with my Macintosh – likely at my local coffeehouse. After abandoning my thesis for the past six months, I can honestly say that I have a renewed vigor and excitement for the 75-plus-page writing project. It’s time. I want to earn my master’s degree this year.

And once my thesis receives its final blessing from my three-person committee, work will commence on my second book. Which also is exciting.

But on this Sunday of NFL games, a Peppermint Mocha from Starbucks, a comfy Estes Park hoodie, and warm sunshine, I find myself still smiling from my New Year’s Eve.

Matt and I had a loosely planned evening ahead of us this past Friday. Both dressed to the nines, we started with cocktails at the Lynx Lounge, followed by two house parties thrown by good friends. We agreed that standing atop sticky floors in overcrowded bars, sipping watered down and high priced cocktails was not our idea of a good time – especially on New Year’s Eve.

Rather, we found ourselves in the homes of friends; and the night truly exceeded our expectations. We saw familiar faces, and met new ones. We tried new wines and cocktails, my most favorite being the delectable pudding shots and alcohol-laced whipped cream atop. It was pure heaven.
We crowded into Jessica and Christopher’s stylish living room and, in unison, counted down to midnight. We raised our glasses and toasted 2011. We kissed. We hugged. We drank more. The energy of the whole home was warm and electric. Matt and I were surrounded by so many smiles, so many kind faces, so much child-like fun. It was the most memorable New Year’s Eve of recent memory.
New Year’s Day was spent in sweats, riding the couch, savoring a frozen hamburger pizza, watching past episodes of “The Sopranos,” while stealing intermittent cat naps every few hours. It felt fantastic. The quiet and calm gave my brain time and space to consider what’s next for me in 2011, including …

• Cooking more and trying new recipes
• Planning more evenings with friends, even if it’s cocktails and snacks at home
• Finding more national freelance writing opportunities
• Continuing regular visits to the gym, two to three times each week
• Making a return visit to Des Moines, where I was so overwhelmingly welcomed in 2010
• Spending less and saving more
• Making more time to read for pleasure and recreation
• Saying “no” to opportunities and projects that aren’t a good fit, to make time for those that are

Here’s to my bullet points (and yours), and that 2011 becomes a memorable year filled with happiness and love.

[Originally written for OMAHYPE: “New Year’s Resolutions: Part IV: Making Time for Reflection and New Beginnings”]

This is what I learned – rather, what was hilariously reinforced – tonight by reading I Remember Nothing by Nora Ephron. (I should mention that I am reading Nora’s new book instead of going to the gym. And because I’m writing about what I read, I feel less guilty for not going to the gym. Will I feel guilty when, in an hour, I devour homemade pancakes with maple syrup and scrambled eggs for dinner? I can’t quite say.)

But back to what I read.

In her essay “Journalism: A Love Story,” Nora writes about her experience as a budding journalist working at Newsweek magazine in 1962.

We often worked until three in the morning on Friday nights, and then we had to be back at work early Saturday, when the Nation and Foreign departments closed. It was exciting in its own self-absorbed way: you truly come to believe that you are living in the center of the universe and that the world out there is on tenterhooks waiting for the next copy of whatever publication you work at.

Author photo from Ephron's 2006 book I Feel Bad About My Neck

For my fellow writers reading this tonight and not going to the gym, here’s to us. And to our craft. And to what we do that makes us crazy one minute, and deliriously happy the next. May everyone find their similar passion in life – but still find time to exercise. Every few days or so.

“I am a gallery slave to pen and ink.”
– Honore de Balzac, French journalist (1799-1850)

A Case for Laceless Shoes | By Dave Terry

I don’t know why anyone uses lace up shoes anymore. It makes no sense to me. I know laces are very popular, everyone is wearing them. But frankly I don’t understand WHY people persist. There are better, superior ways to keep your shoes on.

I mean, why would anyone lace up when they can hook and loop, slip on, or zip up? None of my shoes have laces in them. From personal experience I can tell you my shoes never fall off. So then, really, what are laces for? Besides, shoes would be cheaper if you didn’t have to pay for laces or even eyelets.

When I wore shoes with laces, they were always untying themselves. And I was always retying them. What a pain. It’s a battle. Of course, I couldn’t just stop anywhere to retie the laces. I had to find some surface to steady my shoe on, like for example, someone’s coffee table.

I think laces are like a cats. You have to tend to them throughout your day. You can’t just ignore them. They’ll come back to haunt you. They’ll untie themselves if for no other reason than to get your attention. If you leave them untied and ignore their whipping stings, eventually you’ll trip over them. They only exist to remind you that you can’t live without them. Just like cats.

Laces are time bombs. Sooner or later they’ll detonate. As I walk through the day I can feel the clock ticking at my feet. I gradually feel them loosen and become increasingly disloyal. If I don’t disarm the bomb, they’ll explode in a tangle, trip me, and throw me to the floor in a helpless heap. Laces are assassins. They are dangerous. Why hasn’t OSHA acted? They ought to step in and outlaw shoe laces altogether.

Personally, I don’t own a pair of lace-up shoes. They are not part of my wardrobe. I don’t believe in them.

The biggest pain of all comes when my laced-up friends arrive for dinner. I have a No-Shoes Policy in my home. So they stop and untie their shoes at the door. They usually can’t stay as long as my slip-on friends because they spend much of their time untying and tying their shoes when they come and go. I usually try to invite them 15 minutes early so that they have their shoes off and are ready to eat by the time the rest of my slip-on friends arrive.

I’m polite and all. I hold the door open for them while they lean on the door frame and unlace. I wait patiently, making small talk. They teeter on one foot and then the other. They try to look me in the eye and untie at the same time, which is dicey. I’ve had to reach out and grab their arm and steady a few of them. We live on the second floor. I couldn’t bear to see them tumble down the porch shoeless. I may need to change my policy to a Laceless No Shoe Policy. I don’t want to be responsible for any lost souls cascading down the stairs of my home.

Laces should be outlawed. Lots of benefits could come from that: big insurance savings, less hospital stays, less slip, trip and falls. Even better, more time could be spent chatting with friends in their homes rather than standing at the door laced up. All of the advantages with none of the liabilities.

Lace up shoes are history.

Slip-ons are the future.

About Dave Tarry
Dave Terry has spent over 25 years writing software for some big companies in America.  Now he works for himself as a contractor/consultant.  When he’s not writing code, he writes words. He enjoys writing about the lighter side of life and his adventures while traveling, especially in China.  When he’s not writing software or words, he sketches, and photographs beautiful places. Visit travel.daveterry.net and daveterry.blogspot.com for more samples of his musings and travel writing.

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While you sit there, cozied up to your computer and hopefully clad in something warm, you may find yourself surrounded by a Christmas, shall we say, explosion. My house certainly looks that way this time of year. Small sparkles of glitter seem to cover just about every available surface – the result of hauling home decorative tissue paper plucked from crowded shelves at my neighborhood dollar store. Glitter from holiday greeting cards and age-old Christmas ornaments have also left their mark on my end tables and dining room tablecloth.

Scraps of wrapping paper have been left here and there, and crumbs from a recent cookie exchange have found a home on my kitchen counters. Nearly every available corner and space in my home looks like Christmas. And to be honest, I wouldn’t want it any other way.

Of course there have been times these past few weeks where I have found myself consciously taking deep breaths – in and out, in and out – as I force my way through crowded shopping malls, frantically searching for The Perfect Gift. It also happened not long after Thanksgiving, as I pawed through stacks and stacks of boxed holiday greeting cards, determined to find The Perfect Christmas Card this year. The voices of Martha Stewart and other notable do-it-yourselfers echoed throughout my head as I strived to make each and every holiday selection flawless and memorable, even down to my fire-engine-red fingernails and coordinating holiday earrings worn to a Christmas party last week.

In case you haven’t noticed, attempting to be perfect is exhausting work.

But I have really tried this year to force myself to embrace my holiday errands and surroundings in a more relaxed and enjoyable way, knowing that every to-do list I write is part of a bigger picture, a better experience. The tiny tasks are, quite simply, on the periphery of what this time of year really means: reflection, family, friends, and very good food.

The stressful aspects and seemingly endless errands are not what Christmas is all about. They are the proof that we annually need to understand why this time of year is so darn special. At the end of it all, we finally sit down, truly exhale, and savor the friendship and love of those around us. Eventually the overhead lights at Target go dark; the parking lots empty; the streets become desolate. We find ourselves each Christmas season remembering and recalling not the check-out lines or department-store chaos. Not the ongoing “messes” from wrapping gifts and baking cookies.

But love. Pure and easy and memorable. Laughs and giggles. And food. And, of course, the sparkle and the glitter.

On my kitchen wall hangs a small decorative plate that once belonged to my late grandma, Dorothy. (But to us, she was known as Maw, the Polish word for grandmother.) The plate was displayed in her kitchen for as long as I remember; and when she passed away several years ago, I knew I wanted to take ownership of that little treasure. On the plate it reads as follows:

Thank God for dirty dishes,
They have a tale to tell.
While others may go hungry,
We’re eating very well.

The little decoration is a reminder that I refer to often when the STUFF and JUNK and CHAOS of daily life, at times, feels overwhelming. The temporary and sometimes fleeting headaches and stresses don’t really mean life is bad and all for naught. Hardly. The gray hairs atop my head, the crumbs on my kitchen floor, the tiny bits of wrapping paper are physical proof that my life is being lived, each and every day. It is a mantra I have held close and returned to throughout the Christmas season, and one I plan to carry with me into the new year.

Remember to breath and savor, wonder and love. Merry Christmas to you and yours.