Fast Living with Favorite Recipes and Fabulous Friends

I was chatting with one of the dearest friends I’ve ever been blessed with on the phone today. We attended kindergarten together, were in Mrs. Barber’s third grade class together, walked across the stage at Central Church to receive our high school diplomas together, roomed together in Humes Hall in college, were in each other’s weddings, and even though we live nearly 400 miles apart, still make time to catch up regularly.

If you’d told me twenty years ago that Abi and I would someday be exchanging recipes for scrumptious dinners to make for our families, I’d have scoffed. If you’d told me how much I'd love to cook, I'd never have believed it. If you’d told me then I’d be a stay-at-home, work-from-home, tennis-playing mom, clearly I would have called the cops – because I’d have you pegged for crazy. And possibly a bossy stalker for telling me all these things.

But here we are today, exchanging recipes and tidbits of gossip. Discussing the importance for some (Abi) to have exact measurements and instructions, and for others how a dash of this and a dash of that is the most exciting way to cook (moi.) You’ll note on Abi’s recipe the preciseness of the instructions. Note on my two recipes not only the lack of instruction, but also the lack of amounts, and in some cases full ingredient names (I’m going to guess “ranch style” is “ranch style beans?”)

Abi said today no matter how many times she makes this recipe, she’ll still be consulting the recipe card until she’s 60, just to make sure she has the necessary ingredients and correct measurements. Here’s to exchanging stories and recipes with the best kinds of friends until our 60s and beyond. No instructions needed.

XO-Amy Mac

Salute

Nearly 20 years ago my older brother was deployed overseas for the first Gulf War. My sister-in-law was pregnant with their first baby, I was in my freshman year at college, one of my sisters had an infant, my other sister was coping with an auto-immune disease while raising her two young girls. It was a tumultuous time – to say the least.

We were overjoyed when he was able to come home from his station in Saudi Arabia for the birth of his daughter Cooper that December. My mom, sisters and I went to the airport in Nashville to greet him as he disembarked from the plane. As we started walking through the airport to get his luggage, we started noticing something interesting. As other travelers noticed Gerald in his Army fatigues, they began standing up and applauding, shaking his hand, and saying “thanks.”

Imagine my surprise when Anheuser-Busch ran a commercial a few years ago depicting a very similar scene: soldiers, wearing fatigues, being applauded and appreciated as they walk through an airport. I got tears in my eyes every time I saw the commercial – and still remember which brand ran the commercial, and it hasn’t been in the advertising cycle in years. (See it here if you missed it.)

If you are going to invest in advertising, whether a major television spot or a tiny print ad in your local circular, you can take a couple of plays out of Anheuser-Busch’s book. First, create an emotional experience. Seriously, I don’t know how anyone can resist getting a little misty-eyed seeing that commercial and thinking about our troops and their sacrifices. Second, strike a chord by expressing appreciation –whether it’s for our troops, or for hardworking stay-at-home moms, or to our pets for being man’s best friend. There’s always a way to appreciate your target audience. Chances are they’ll return the favor by buying your product – and hopefully becoming a repeat customer. Last, don’t make a big play for your brand. There’s not a single beer in the commercial, just an Anheuser-Busch logo at the end of the spot. You’ll be rewarded for your restraint by gaining respect for your brand.

Take a minute to thank our veterans today. They are the reason when we tuck our kids in at night we know they are safe. Lucky us.
Xo-Amy Mac

Oprah's Pretty as a Picture

All you budding photographers out there, take note! Oprah is looking for beautiful photographs of nature to post on her web site. I don't have the statistics, but I am going to guess her site gets approximately five kajillion hits every day. If you're a photographer looking to get some exposure (pun totally intended), this is a perfect opportunity. If you are an amateur looking to drive traffic to your own web site, here's your shot.

I'd send in that rainbow shot, but I'm afraid I'd get some sort of retroactive traffic citation.

XO-Amy Mac

Somewhere Over the Rainbow

Here’s a question: why is it I have my best ideas when I am nowhere near a pen, piece of paper, computer or voice recorder? Additional question: why is my short-term memory so bad I often cannot remember a thought I had 12 seconds ago?

Let’s first address question number one.

If I didn’t have to drive places (although I should point out I took this lovely photo of a double rainbow in the North Georgia mountains while I was driving. Shh.), go to meetings or shower I swear to you I could have fleshed out a few excellent ideas for what I am certain would be New York Times bestselling books, written a strategic plan for world peace, figured out who invented pantyhose and high heels and punished him for it, and developed a way to get the H1N1 vaccine out before everyone actually develops H1N1.

I would also have more fully developed a plan to ensure Jon, Kate and all their kids would never again see the bright lights of television cameras. But I digress.

I am only mentioning this issue because I have approximately one zillion excellent ideas for this blog when I cannot capture the thought. Then when I actually have a chunk of time to write, I’ve got nothing.

Nothing that I can remember, at least.

So I implore you, my faithful readers, send me your ideas. Send me your questions, your thoughts, an idea, a link … whatever, and I’ll write about it.

It seems like there was something else I was going to address, but now I can’t remember what it is.

Xo-Amy Mac

Going Back to College

My niece, Mallory, is a senior at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. She’s participating in an advertising research class and needs your help – by noon Wed.!

Go to this link and take the survey about travelling with kids. I just did it and it takes two minutes. Literally. Less time than it takes to update your Facebook status, steal candy from your kids Halloween bag, or fix yourself a Diet Dr. Pepper on ice (all things I’ve done today in 2 min. or less!)

Fill out the survey, post a comment here so she can get credit!

(If you are having trouble with the link, copy and paste this to your browser: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=8nRXNv4feXPwqwTYzKHPyw_3d_3d)

Creativity, Cape Cod, and Clean Clothes

A good friend emails me and asks “do you have any organizational tips for creative people?”

What she really means is “when I am working on a critical task with a deadline, how do I resist the urge to pick up my knitting needles and knit a sweater, particularly when I have just purchased the most beautiful Angora sage green yarn – and there are people in my house who want to eat and wear clean clothes?”

It’s the bane of every creative person I know – how do we achieve focus during our day when there are a thousand things to do, and we’d much rather be making something pretty? I certainly do not claim to be a time management or organizational expert. In fact, the only reason I am organized at all is if I weren’t, I would accomplish precisely zero tasks. Ever. I swear I’d just watch re-runs of Friends and eat Cape Cod Salt and Vinegar chips while my house fell down around my ankles.

Obviously that existence is unacceptable on many different levels (though I am not opposed to living off those chips for the rest of my days.) So I’ve come up with a system that helps me scratch items off my to-do list, and arrive at appointments on time - without squashing my creativity. Maybe one or two will work for you.

Mix the fun-to-do with the have-to-do. If I am staring at a list of mundane tasks from dawn until dusk, I know I will procrastinate and get essentially nothing accomplished. Therefore, I inject fun tasks (shop for new shoes, lunch with friends, purchase mums for porch) with the tedious (doctor’s appointments, grocery shopping, throwing out the mums I killed because they were never watered because that was boring.)

Create a system and segment your day. If I have to figure out what to do when every single day, I’ll spend an hour vacillating on whether or not to exercise, or write that proposal, or vacuum the baseboards. So, I exercise first thing in the morning. Then I work for a few hours. Then I do a couple of household tasks or run errands. Then I get the kids…..you get the picture.

Pleasing environments encourage task completion. My planner is cute and organized. My desk is relatively clear. I listen to upbeat music when I’m writing. I try to keep pretty flowers, or a favorite picture of the girls, or a bulletin board full of tear sheets I love. For me, if my surroundings are pretty, I’ll stick with the task longer and be distracted less.

Make “I’ll do that when I’m done with this” your new mantra. On days when I am running in a million different directions and trying to get a thousand things done, I keep paper and pen with me at all times. That way, when I’m, say, folding a load of laundry and I think of a unique idea for this year’s Christmas cards, I jot the idea down and keep folding the laundry. This keeps me from jumping from task to task and never actually getting any one thing finished.

So there you have it. The reasons I am able to walk around every day as an apparently fully functional human, showered, dressed and ready to go most days by 9 a.m. Of course, I’ve created a little list while I’ve been writing.

Since I’m done here, I’ll get to that next task.

XO – Amy Mac

Has Anybody Seen My Old Friend .... Amy Mac?

Last seen: Amy Mac being smothered by her to-do list, which includes travels to watch her husband complete an Ironman, preparing for a two-week span of three different sets of company, two birthday parties and one Halloween party … not to mention work deadlines, new business pitches and writing articles.

Even though the rain continues in metro Atlanta, her head is finally above water. Check back soon!

XO – Amy Mac