Holy Flippin’ Moly DWTS Topped Itself–AGAIN!!!

I must be allergic to sleep or I’m still running on the energy and adrenaline from the Dancing with the Stars Finale! After the All-Star Season, the question was: how do the powers-behind-the-show surpass that?

Bring in celebs who really could dance and pair them with pros that brought out the best on both sides. Chemistry abounded all around.

Zendaya and Val–best matched pair ever!! (Minus Big Bro Maks, Val’s talent showcased itself–just MHO; nuthin’ but love for ya, Maks )

Jacoby and Karina–got past the height difference and just made it fun, fun, fun (He was my favorite celeb this season–those faces he made cracked me up.)

Ali and Mark–Ali took Mark face for face and kept up with my favorite pro…

And Kellie and Derek–a new queen for the multi-crowned king!

One beef: if the finals supersized to four couples, Ali and Mark should have competed during the Finale. I mean, what was the point of letting them go????

To whom would YOU have awarded the “coveted mirror ball trophy”?

And what the heck: we’re talking champions. Let’s throw in a mention to repeat Roman royalty on the clay courts!

Have a great day all!

Today is my birthday!

Happy Friday, Happy weekend and Happy Mother’s Day to all to whom this applies!

Since the “techie” blog I wanted to post is no where near done, I had to do something. (IDK, virtual cakes just don’t cut it for me. I’m thinking about something from Friendly’s though. Bet you can’t guess. )

Anyway, thought I’d do a quick share of some awesome music by an up and coming star! As life and a small world would have it, I went to school with his dad (who, I am VERY sad to say, passed about three years ago).

Tam’s dad was also very into his music. If memory serves me well, he loved his drums. What I remember most though, was a question he posed: if I had to lose one, would I give up my sight or my hearing?

Tam’s dad would rather not see than never be able to hear music again.

With that, I present to you Tam Justin Garcia. Take a few moments and listen to Liquid Universe. (You’ll be very glad you did!)  Then, if you would be so kind, visit his Facebook and Twitter pages and share about him some more? Thank you!

On a tennis note, Rafa Nadal topped David Ferrer in the quarterfinals at the Mutua Madrid Open! (Just cause it’s my b-day—of course! Last night my older son caught me watching another match and asked if it’s “tennis season” again. With the tennis channel, this is now a very welcome and fun year-round thing! Which also means, you may be constantly in-the-know about tennis whether you share the passion–or not! )

Have a great day all!

Joanna

Post #300–Wow! How Did I Get Here? and THANK YOU!

Am I out of my mind? (Answers do not have to be recorded for my reading pleasure, thank you! )

Believe it or not–I certainly don’t–this is post #300! Had I been paying attention I probably would have gotten it up sooner.

Yes, friends, you’ve dealt with me for close to three years and 300 incidents of my musings, opinions, recipes and reflections (and surprisingly close to the three-year anniversary of my first post–so not planned). Every now and again, I’ve hopefully taught something, got you thinking, elicited a smile or chuckle or turned you on to a recipe you’ll use for years to come.

One could also hope I’ve created the desire for you to come back, despite the inconsistency of my posting at times, as well as the seemingly random subjects I’ve touched upon. I truly wish I had more time (and better focus and organizational skills) to really explore or chat about everything that interests me in some shape or form.

I THANK EACH OF YOU WITH ALL MY HEART for taking the time to visit and making me feel I am not alone here in cyberspace. (Giant hugs go out to those who comment regularly and to those of you who share my content.)

There are no words for how humbled one feels.

My sincerest gratitude,

Joanna

My Kitchen–The Danger Zone

Okay, friends, I’m psyched. Spent this past Saturday at the Liberty States Fiction Writers  Create Something Magical Conference. Had a wonderful time catching up with writer friends and recharging my creative batteries. On Sunday, Rafa v. DelPo at Indian Wells didn’t lack for the trappings and flavor of a grand-slam final. AWE-some!

Here’s a photo of the champ hoisting his trophy! (So no fun not being able to one here. ) And all credit to Juan Martin for really fighting. (The guy’s pretty much gained ranking of one of my favorites.) He fought hard doesn’t describe how well he played, including blasting off three match points to make Rafa serve it out. It was a helluva day in the California desert for tennis fans, folks.

Okay, back to our regularly scheduled post.

Two weekends ago my brother and his family stopped by for a visit. Although my Italian-born mom would have preferred different, we agreed to keep the fare simple: snacks, pizza and salad (which I forgot to put out) and a few desserts.

Long story short: my brother really enjoys my pizza. As he walked by with his fourth (or fifth) piece, he casually tossed out a comment. “You’ve come a long way from those eggs you used to burn, huh?”

Let’s get this right: I undercooked the eggs and boiled the milk, lol. (Hey, everybody starts somewhere.)

His comment, however, reminded me of a couple of times I did burn food; both times I was pretty oblivious. And both times, my nose was stuck in a book, too.

The first incident: we had one family car and my mom went to pick up my dad. I was most likely a teen, because I was old enough to stay home alone. Mom had two covered pots on the stove. One had artichokes, the other broccoli. In Italian, she told me to turn on the latter.

FYI, in my mom’s dialect, broccoli and artichokes rhyme. Broccoli and caccioffoli. (Bet I was already into that book while she was passing on instructions.)

That’s right. I turned on the wrong pot. Then I went out on the front porch where I read until my parents got home. They pulled in the driveway to a stream of black smoke creeping out the back window.

Appropriately so, my mom freaked out.

The next time was even better.

Without another person to whom to assign the cooking—and having hoped I’d learned something from the previous experience—she put me on lentil-watch.

This time I was actually in the kitchen.

Well, I’d never heard food burn before. And I must have been so enthralled by my book, I didn’t smell or see the smoke filling the kitchen and our first floor apartment.

When the parents arrived and found smoke seeping out that back window again, they—especially mom (she’s the anxious one)—figured the house was on fire with me in it. (Good thing cell phones were probably a prayer then. She probably would have called 911 from the car.)

Guess I have come a long way from those days, but keep me away from an electric oven. (They tend to run hotter than gas, at least 25 ºF.) The pizza I made and brought and reheated at a friend’s wound up just a little crisp at the thinner end.

Care to share your kitchen gaffs? The floor is open!

BTW, if you’re interested in trying your hand at my (almost homemade) pizza, the recipe is here. A link to my fresh-veggie pizza is embedded there as well. And if you’re looking for more in the line of easy, elegant and/or quick fare, check out Recipe Central. Scroll through or just search this site as the more recent ones are simply tagged posts. And feel free to throw in links to your own favs too.

Sorry I missed last week. Guess things got a little hectic. Tis’ the busy season at work right now.

Have a great day, all, and thanks for stoppin’ by!

Joanna

Quick ‘N’ Healthy Tuna Salad

Hi everyone. Checking in after another busy week. Seems like there is something that has to be done every evening. Not one seems long enough.

Yes, another recipe. Came up with this one last week for some leftover tuna salad. Chances are, it’s not new, although it is to me, lol. Sorry; no photo. (Shakes head.) I always think to share the recipe AFTER I’ve put together the dish.  (At least there’s no stove-time. )

I usually stir a 6 oz. can of tuna with mayo, onion powder (no onion breath) and a little sea salt. I top a slice of toasted multi-grain bread with cheese and half the tuna mixture and serve  it open-faced with a side salad of baby lettuces. Low-fat raspberry vinaigrette and a sprinkling of feta cheese brings it all together. Yum.

Wasn’t in the mood for that combo, since I’d had it the day before–and I was trying to skip the bread.

So:

I took the leftover tuna salad, chopped a quarter each of a red bell pepper and cucumber and stirred all together with fat-free Italian dressing. (I was out of the raspberry vinaigrette and too lazy to grab the feta from the fridge. I also love being able to add an unlimited amount of veggies to up the fill-factor w/o adding a significant amount of calories. Next time too, I might cut back the mayo or just skip it. )

Done.

Ridiculously filling and satisfying to chow down, especially for someone—like me—who prefers eating with utensils vs. biting into a sandwich.

And yes, this can easily be used to fill a pita, curl into a wrap or create an open-faced sandwich as I usually do. I imagine you can top cold pasta with it too, for an impromptu side or main dish.

I’m also thinking chicken (grilled or canned) could easily be substituted for the tuna and that either or both would could be the basis of a great appetizer: as finger sandwiches or served in a bowl surrounded by crackers, toasted pita, etc. Heck: skip the meat or fish and serve the peppers, cucumbers and feta mixed with the dressing for a vegetarian spin.

What are some of the easiest and surprisingly tasty, satisfying dishes you concocted? Share them here or link back to your site. It all works and it’s all good.

Have a wonderful weekend, folks!

Joanna

Quick FlashBack: Why WordPress Rocks

Ten Reasons (Okay, Eleven) Why WordPress Rocks

It’s been a busy weekend, folks. So, since I originally thought this was running at fellow Liberty States Fiction Writer Nathan Rudy’s blog today–it ran on the first Wed of April instead–I figured I’ll do another catch-up thing and run it here. If you’re here for the first time, welcome and to you this is all new!

So I was hopping through the blogosphere, dealing with some technical blog-post issues when I realized it might do many well —including myself—to sing the praises of WordPress: my blogging software of choice (WP, from here on in).

Disclaimer: I’ve never used another type of blogging software. This article is based solely on my experience with WP and not intended to take away from other brands, if you will.

First, please allow me to credit multi-published author and LSFW secretary Caridad Pineiro for introducing me to WP. Several years ago, this ever-generous-and-amazingly-patient soul gave several hours of her very packed schedule to this ridiculously green newbie writer. Caridad did her best to show me how to create a site and add content that evening. I took notes but may as well have written in Polish, Slavic, Chinese or some other foreign language; I couldn’t make sense of my own notes.

That was in the fall of 2008. Took until the following spring before the ‘a-ha’ moment happened. (I wrote about it on my first post, I was so excited.) I was at least a year into the process before it all started making real sense.

I’ve been blogging with WordPress ever since. Back then, I learned first and foremost: write my posts in a word-processing application then copy and paste into my blogging software. (I’ve lost information and/or changes writing directly into the software. Plus, I have my own draft of the article on my hard drive and/or backed up otherwise. Although WordPress is most likely in no danger of this at all, I’ve read the horror stories of bloggers whose blogging companies shut down and all their posts lost.)

Okay, on to the reasons I’m very happy with WordPress:

(1) Support: (a) “Happiness Engineers” have always gotten back to me via email, usually within 24 hours of my query. Responses have always been helpful and subsequent questions always answered by the same HE; (b) tons of support articles and WordPress TV (video help) available with one click on ‘Help;’ (c) forum of fellow WP bloggers willing to chime in with their experiences on a given topic.

(2) A multitude of free themes designed to meet different blogging needs/likes. One click is all it takes to change the look and feel of your blog, and more custom options (i.e., headers) than I can share about. (This is great for someone like me who gets tired of the same look after a while.)

(3) Inexpensive domains ($24/year), though some folks have described the .me domain as ‘cheesy.’ (I’m still thinking about that one. My website costs a lot more than that to host.)

(4) Newsletter subscriptions of choice: I subscribe to fellow bloggers’ blogs and at least three of WP’s informational blogs. (The latter keep me updated on many things WordPress! J) I also subscribe to The Daily Post, “an experiment in blogging motivation from the folks atWordPress.com.” These lovely folks post blogging ideas and tips to help bloggers get the most out of their blogs. There are also daily and weekly post challenges, photo challenges—you name it. Each is delivered straight to my inbox.

(5) I LOVE this feature: number of comments, likes, etc feature posted at the top of my screen when I’m signed in to WP and reading mine or any other WP blog. Clicking on this lovely little number at the top shows me who “liked” and/or commented on my post. Best of all: this same feature shows responses to my comments at other WP blogs; this means I don’t have to remember where I commented in the event there was a response! Cool, right?

(6) Also at the top of my screen: access to a new post screen on the very WP site I’m visiting. If I’m inspired to write a post of my own, I don’t have to leave the article that inspired me! (For those of us who have the focus of a flea, this is a godsend. J)

(7) My favorite: Reblogging: An awesome feature recently re-introduced (and very similar to the PressThis! share button at the bottom of my post.

Here’s how it works:

I’m at someone’s blog and read an article that totally speaks to me. I hit reblog. I get the option of writing a little intro before hitting send. Now that write-up becomes my next post and is instantly delivered to my followers’ inbox as well. Easy-peasy promo for the fellow blogger and instant content for mine. Awesome, yes? (And on that note, check out the WordPress landing page. Freshly Pressed offers a page of thumbnails to a variety of blogs. Promo from the WP folks themselves to help get your name out there and drive traffic to your site. Ask social media maven Kristen Lamb what making Freshly Pressed did for her blog! Not sure what it takes to get picked but I’m hoping to get there one of these days!)

(8) Simple importing/exporting of content: more on that here.

(9) Maybe it’s coincidence, but seems like many of those making a name for themselves in the writing world (i.e., Kristen Lamb, Sean Platt, etc) recommend using WordPress. Honestly, I’ve yet to read different.

(10) This is the newest reason: badges for celebrating milestones. Cool and fun!

(11) Way more features, incentives and ideas that I’m by no means aware exist. BUT: go to WordPress.com and start looking around. Promise you’ll come across something that meets your needs.

So, there you have it. MHO of why WordPress is the way to go if you’re looking to start a blog or switch from the software you’re currently using. Now, the audience participation part: assuming you’re a blogger too, which software do you use? Are you happy with it? Why or why not? And as a blog reader, do you notice any difference between blogs hosted by different companies?

Again, I thank you, Nathan, for having me here! For those of you who liked what you read, won’t you please take a moment and help spread this content into cyberspace by clicking one of the share buttons below? Thanks for taking the time to read!

My thoughts on a great, romantic weekend read on Friday. Hope you stop in!

Have a wonderful day!

Joanna

Name those Chores You Love (?) and Hate!

Okay, I’m behind this week—probably a bit lazy too, what with recuperating from all that Super Bowl excitement and all. (If, like me, you’re still thinking about it click here for a post on MHO of what it took for the current champions to get to the place where they fought for that ring. And I’m seriously kind of missing having something that much fun to look forward to this week. The French Open Tennis Championships are a long haul away: last two weeks of May. )

Anyway, typed up a recipe post earlier today but not in the mood to run it. (Must be that lazy part again, which kicked in when I was doing my hair and looking at the dust and lint that seems to collect in both bathrooms daily. (Forced hot air doesn’t help, and yep, I try to wipe down the surfaces in some shape or form minimum every other day. My Italy-based aunts and cousins would be horrified to think a dual full bathroom scrub-down doesn’t take place daily, lol.)

Got me thinking about tossing this one out just for fun: list the Number One chores that top your DON’T MIND and DESPISE lists and a sentence or two why.

http://www.bgorealestate.com/sell/images/housecleaning.gif

DON’T MIND: Handwashing dishes and glasses. (Y’all can keep the silverware, pots and pans, thank you very much.) I like the running water and these items are easy enough to organize on a dish rack. And I rarely dry these items by hand.

DESPISE:  Dusting. And laundry. No matter how often I do either each is right back in my face, taunting me I have to do it again. Soon. Very soon.

http://www.fotosearch.com/CSP044/k0440574/

Sorry. Slipped to a dark place for a second. Your turn!

Have a great weekend,
Joanna

Practicing Wellness at Joy E. Held’s Blog

Good day all! Today I’m hanging out with my wonderful online friend Joy and talking about quick pampering as one way to practice taking care of ourselves!

Join us at Joy’s place and check in later this week for some thoughts on Eli Manning and the upcoming Super Bowl!

Joanna

Serbian Superlative and Star-Spaniard Set New Open Era Record

Good day, all (with a special hello to all my extended family Down Under ). Got a little tied up last week, but all the more reason to make sure I posted today!

5:53—the longest men’s singles final ever played at a tennis championship and a stat now owned by Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal and the 2012 Australian Open.

And what a match it was. A nailbiter, especially well into the fourth set, when Rafa looked as though he was about to hit the Aussie road back to his hotel. Being the champion he is though, he manufactured enough chances to take the fourth and go quite a distance in the fifth.

   Photograph: Paul Crock/AFP/Getty Images

A true battle raged and yes, a winner had to emerge. For the seventh time between these two, Djokovic found the way. Even he said, too bad there couldn’t two winners, because these amazing young men both proved their mettle today. (Besides being a major Rafa fan, a win from him today may have set a very different tone for the rest of this tennis year as well as a rivalry that has potential to be that much more fun to witness. We’ll see how the various tennis seasons progress.)

   AP Photo/Aaron Favila

Back to the finalists: Each took his win and his loss in the most gracious manner I’ve seen yet.  A final note: when Djok called for chairs, it was nice to remember how human these guys actually are.

   Image Source : Zimbio’s 2012 Australian Open Rafael Nadal Photo Gallery

On to the rest of the tennis year!

For those who want more detail than I can provide, more on this epic match here!

Looking forward to Super Bowl Sunday (and a break from sports action for a while). The Australian time difference really messes with a sleep schedule, lol!

Have a great day!

Joanna

Name Your Fave: E-Read or Hard Copy?

Hi friends,

I’m still so psyched about the NY Giants’ incredible run toward the NFC Championship. Working on a related post for later this week or next!

We were supposed to be talking about discipline vs. control with kids this week, but that dinky little post morphed into two and is now a five-part series. I’ll most likely start running it next week, once I feel each piece is ready to go to (Word)press.

In the meantime, I’ve had a little over a year to consider myself an official user of an e-reader and thought I’d share my thoughts on some of the pros and cons.

As I’m sure you know, this awesome little device–in its many forms–is here to stay. Chances are, many of you recently acquired one right around that last week of December. That’s when my Nook Color sneaked its way into my happy little hands—last year, among hubby’s gifts. (Check out this year’s favorite here, then come right back now, y’hear?)

 bn.com

Yay! You didn’t get sidetracked! Back to e-readers, tablets or whatever device on which you choose to read. And yes, for our purposes, Kindle and Nook apps count. Like others before me, I want to lay out what I find advantageous about reading digital versus holding that print book in my hand. I’ve found disadvantages to the former, and I’ll cover those as well.)

We’ll begin with print books, probably simpler and more straightforward on both the negative and positive sides. The biggest advantage as far as I’m concerned, I can read my story from beginning to end without distractions (to be discussed below). I can mark up my copy any way I want, and use the notes for future reference. (Recently, I bought very colorful post-it notes and used those to mark pages/passages in a suspense to help me construct my own. My plan is to lay out the post-its in a notebook or on posterboard and substitute story ideas of my own. I figure then I can move these around as needed to get a first draft ‘outline’ together.)

Biggest disadvantage to print book: the ones I love are taking up too much space in my house (and gathering dust, unfortunately). At least others have made their way into a donation box.

E-readers/tablets:

Biggest disadvantage (for those of us who are DBD, or Distracted by Dust): distractions!!!! Other books, the internet, email, social media, blogs, shopping for more e-books, games, crossword puzzles, etc. (I believe this is significantly less with Amazon’s original Kindle and Sony’s dedicated device.)

Advantages: Love being able to look up information as I read—these can be word definitions or articles related to background information relative to the plot or time during which the story takes place (i.e., currently reading a romance set against medieval times; words for garments, weapons, tools, etc are unfamiliar. If the built-in dictionary isn’t helpful, Google is one touch away, assuming wi-fi is on).

I can highlight great prose or take notes on the story, note typos to inform the author, etc; these are auto-organized by page and ready to be viewed with another touch.

Virtual storage rocks! Eight gigabytes of space are on the Nook Color; this can expand to up to 32 GB via a memory card. I can also store the files on my computer and Barnes and Noble houses all my purchases in their virtual library. I can’t ever lose any book I bought via their website. (No dust bunnies anywhere, either!)

Viewing my work on a screen other than the laptop’s and not being able to mess with it while reading for flow. I save the file as PDF—just scrolls better for some reason—and just read. (I did, however, take extensive handwritten notes on a last re-read of a current manuscript, then went back into the Word-file and made those changes one at a time. Found a whole ‘nother level of the story that way. Now, the most recent version is in PDF and cooling a little before I upload it to my reading device.

I can share my work with others without having to print two hundred pages or so. Saves me $$ and spares the environment the extra paper, ink cartridges, etc that otherwise might have wound up in landfills. (Even recycling has its disadvantages in the energy needed for the chemical processes involved. I also learned the hard way that refilling ink cartridges at my local drugstore was a recipe for destroying my printer in the long run—which turned out to be less than a year.)

The cost of e-books is often significantly less than the cost of a print book (though not always the case).

E-books have created apparently infinite opportunities for writers and authors to indie- and/or self-publish works that might have otherwise virtually rotted on their hard drives.

So where does your favor lie? On the print pages or with virtual ink?

Have a great day and ttys,

Joanna