Cool Contest to Enter

The Frugal Hostess has never, ever copied an entire press release into this blog.  What a lazy thing to do!  Well, that changes today, as she brings you the entire press release about a really cool contest being sponsored by the everlastingly inspiring and magical ReadyMade Magazine (affiliate link).  Winning this would be like winning the Nobel Prize in being crafty/cool.  Go forth and enter!

READYMADE MAGAZINE LAUNCHES FIRST ANNUAL READYMADE 100 CONTEST
CELEBRATING THE BEST DIY PROJECTS

Judging Panel to Include Renowned Designer Jonathan Adler, Instructables Founder and CEO Eric Willhelm and Design*Sponge’s Grace Bonney

New York, NY (November 2, 2010) – ReadyMade magazine is calling on the DIY community to submit its most functional, beautiful, interesting, sustainable manifestations of creativity to the ReadyMade 100. Launching this year, the ReadyMade 100 is a new annual contest designed to celebrate the best 100 projects from the wide world of DIY. From now until December 15 entrants can upload their projects to ReadyMade.com in the following categories: Home & Garden, Food & Entertaining, Design, Craft, Fashion & Style, Culture, Travel & Places, and Technology & Work. That basically covers everything, so the sky’s the limit.

After the submission deadline, readers, whether submitting a project or not, can vote on the projects. Next, a panel of eight expert judges, including Jonathan Adler, Instructables founder and CEO Eric Wilhelm, Grace Bonney of home and product blog Design*Sponge, and DIY Network’s Amy Devers will select their favorite submissions. The winner will be named “Main Maker” and will be awarded $500 as well as a three-night stay in New York City, including one night at a ReadyMade 100 party in his/her honor. In addition, the Main Maker’s winning project will be featured on the cover of the 2011 April/May issue. To complete the package, the winner will have the opportunity to contribute to ReadyMade’s website throughout the year with updates on his/her projects.

A group of Top 50 Makers will also be selected and will receive prizes, including special badges, T-shirts, notoriety, bragging rights, and a spot in the 2011 April/May issue.

To enter the ReadyMade 100 annual contest, submit your project using the Project Uploader Tool at http://www.readymade.com/projects/post_project.

To view all ReadyMade 100 entries, please visit: http://www.readymade.com/guide/readymade_100

To vote, click on the link “This gets my vote!” You can vote for an unlimited number of projects, though you can only vote for each project once daily.        

For more information, please visit: http://www.readymade.com/blog/readymade/2010/10/13/the_big_readymade_100_announcement

About ReadyMadeReadyMade magazine, which launched in December 2001, is published bi-monthly. It was named to Adweek Media’s 2010 Magazine “10 Under 60 Hot List,” and was a National Magazine Award Finalist in the General Excellence category in 2005 and 2006. Targeted at adults in their 20s and 30s, the magazine offers myriad do-it-yourself projects and promotes an environmentally friendly lifestyle. The website www.readymade.com complements the magazine's print content with how-to tips and project ideas. The brand’s fast-growing social media presence includes an interactive online community with calendar events, photos, projects, and blogs. In addition to the magazine and website, ReadyMade published its first book -- How to Make (Almost) Anything [affiliate link] -- in December 2005.

The Frugal Hostess insists that you come hang out on Facebook. What? Like you don't already spend three hours there a day.

FruHo Says Relax (?)

The Frugal Hostess would like to talk about relaxation. Yes, that topic is somewhat far afield from parties, but it makes a round-about kind of sense. To whit: if we entertain friends to have fun in our free time, then in some way it must be relaxing. Except, it is not at all relaxing, although still fun. Huh. The point is that, for FruHo, it is hard to relax, but it is not hard to celebrate or have fun, although those things are quite different.

What does this mean?

Don’t get your hopes up that this is gonna make sense.

OK. So, when TFH thinks about things that are relaxing, she thinks of getting a massage, sitting on a beach reading, watching movies on a rainy afternoon, etc. When TFH has free time, she rarely does any of the above things. Instead, she does cooking experiments, looks at every single thing in the thrift store, or tries to make a craft project. None of that is relaxing, although it’s fun. In fact, the idea of doing any of the things listed as relaxing up there makes FruHo feel so guilty that she just added another project to her to-do list (see therapist about guilt complex).

Don’t misunderstand: The Frugal Hostess isn’t pretending to be so incredibly busy that all she has time for is drinking espresso for dinner on her way to the next appointment; she will leave that level of martyrdom activity to mothers of small children. What she is saying, though, is that relaxation seems like a concept that exists in commercials but not real life. FruHo is happy and has lots of fun, so does she even need to relax? What does relaxation feel like? How do you know it’s time to relax, and how do you tell when you’re there?

Help a potentially uptight-without-even-knowing-it sister out in the comments.

Facebook. What? Like you don't already spend three hours there a day.

 

The Frugal Hostess insists that you come hang out on

Ways to Read

The Frugal Hostess loves to read.  Loves it.  It would be her passion, if she didn't think using the word "passion" in that context was utterly ridiculous.  It all started when, as a child, FruMa and FruPa promised to give little FruHo one dollar for ever book she completed.  There were a few bumps in the road, like when she was quizzed by her dad after "reading" a long book about Abe Lincoln (yawn) in about 20 minutes and got totally busted for skipping around.  But, for the most part, that was some supremely effective bribery which resulted in TFH being a virtual speed-reader by age 12.  

As an adult, TFH continues to read voraciously.  In her early 20s, she read and re-read all of the classics that she either missed getting a Lit degree (Oscar Wilde springs to mind) or loved and wanted to memorize.  These included all of J.D. Salinger; all of F. Scott Fitzgerald; and a jumble of other books.  As her corporate career became more taxing, The Frugal Hostess shifted gears to reading magazines, chick lit, and the canonical business books of the day.  And, now in her 30s, FruHo finds herself reading mostly blogs, with the occasional novel or non-fiction work thrown in for good measure, and a heaping helping of Real Simple and Martha Stewart Living (affiliate links).  It's not that she doesn't love books, but TFH can only consume so many words per day before her head explodes.

Over the past few months, FruHo has been exploring a variety of ways to read.  Here's a run-down of some interesting ideas.

Kindle: OK, well, duh; welcome to the party, FruHo.  The Frugal Hostess borrowed a Kindle (affiliate link) to give it a test drive, and she was surprised at how much she liked it.  It is light, easy to hold, and very intuitive to operate.  There was no glare on the screen, which had been a concern, and it seems pretty sturdy in construction.  However, she was surprised at how much Amazon charged for Kindle books, magazines, and blog subscriptions.  Not one to begrudge an author the money s/he is due, it still seemed a little strange to pay two-thirds the price of a hard-back version.  That may just be the old lady in TFH coming out.  Final verdict: would love a Kindle as a gift, but probably won't invest in one.

Library: Obviously, the library is a great place to get free books.  The library in The Frugal Hostess's neighborhood is extremely convenient, but it's a small branch, so the selection isn't always terrific.  TFH wishes that public libraries would - just every once in a while, not trying to overthrow the government here - arrange the books in a different way.  Maybe by color, in a library-wide rainbow, or by subject matter, so that you could find a novel about Italy next to an Italian cookbook beside a CD of Italian language lessons.  But, you know, the library still rules.

Bookswim: The Frugal Hostess was given a free trial membership of Bookswim to test out (Bookswim is the book-rental service that mimics Netflix).  You create a queue, or "pool" in their parlance, of the books that interest you, and they are sent to you as available, along with a postage-paid return envelope.  FruHo belonged to this service years ago, when it was first starting out, and she found the selection to be somewhat limited - lots of romance novels, not a lot of cutting edge fiction or business books.  However, she is happy to report that not only have they added quite a variety of choices, but they've also amped up the marketing and PR efforts to make it just seem, well, cooler.  Bookswim is a great choice for fast readers, but the one little annoyance is that you can't prioritize the books you want like you can with movies on Netflix.  You get what you get out of the several books you list in your pool.  The return bag is awesome.

Thrift Store: You are well aware of the amount of time TFH spends at the thrift store; in fact, she was recently devastated to be ousted as Mayor of her favorite thrift by some upstart on Foursquare.  FruHo finds the thrift store to be an excellent place to score great deals on books.  She has often found new releases that are still full price at B&N or the other big guys sitting there for $2.  The obvious downside of thrifting your books is that you can't predict the inventory, so you just have to choose from what they have.  For a voracious reader, this isn't a big deal.  You can also find crazy old books that you would never imagine, titles like How to Pick a Mate from 1937 ("Don't smell bad" is one of the tips) or Groovy Parties for Teens.

Amazon & eBay: You can always get a better deal on these sites than you can in the store (at least, it seems like it), but they are still closer to retail than the options listed above.  TFH likes to buy on eBay when she has some money built up in her PayPal account, because that way The Cheap Frugal Husband can't tell what she's buying.  

Bookstore:  The bookstore is the most expensive place to buy books, clearly, but it is also the most fun.  You can usually get coffee (albeit from even more pretentious baristas than usual) and walk around reading anything you want.  If The Frugal Hostess were, say, The Flagrant Heiress instead, she would probably spend one day a week shopping and buying books at Barnes and Noble.

Has anyone tried a Nook?  What are other ways to get your reading fix?

The Frugal Hostess suggests that you attend Social Media Atlanta, November 8-12, 2010. 

Photo by austinevan

How to Take a Free Vacation

The Frugal Hostess is in Napa.  Yes, that Napa.  The one in California where all the wine comes from.  Are you wondering how "Napa" works in the same sentence with "frugal"?

Well, Dear Reader(s), here is how that works:

1.  Work really hard in a career for 10-15 years, and then chuck it to start your own business.  During a recession.  Obviously.

2.  Make sure that business is 95% web-based -- like, all of your output and deliverables can be emailed or posted in the cloud.  See The 4 Hour Work Week for ideas and details.

3.  Also make sure that you are still somewhat poor, don't have kids, and have an awesome husband.

4.  Then, when opportunity knocks, answer!

Ha!  Easier said than done, right?  And yet, it is currently being done, in that exact way, by The Frugal Hostess herself.  Now, obviously, not everyone can do this in exactly the same way: the plane ticket was free, the hotel stay is free, and the food is free for FruHo because of the particular job she's doing.  But, FruHo suggests that anyone can swing some kind of free.  To whit:

• She got a free wine tasting at Uncorked for checking in on FourSquare.
• She bought a ticket to see Margaret Cho using points.  That is free to FruHo.
• An old friend bought her dinner at a fabulous restaurant. She only protested a tiny bit.
• The city of San Francisco is throwing a free [BAD ASS] bluegrass and folk festival today!

 What are some other ways to put some complimentary into your trip?

The Frugal Hostess insists that you come hang out on Facebook. What? Like you don't already spend three hours there a day.

Calling All Food Bloggers

First of all, if you are a food blogger, why are you reading this blog?  The Frugal Hostess never runs a recipe that isn't fraught with errors.  And mayhem.  Unless it's FruHubs Food, in which case the recipes are delicious but always brown.

But second, if you do happen to be a food blogger, and you do happen to be making the fatal error of spending your time here, The Frugal Hostess would like to tell you about something super extra cool and exciting.

November 8-12 is Social Media Atlanta.  For five days, all across the Atlanta metro area,  participants will have the opportunity to attend events designed to showcase Atlanta’s involvement in social media across many different industries as well as state and local governments, communities, and cultures.  While the agenda is listed on the website, there is an event that hasn't gone up yet, one that is perfect for food bloggers!

On Wednesday, Nov. 10, SMATL will host a food bloggers' panel and - get this - urban picnic at The Hub.  Bringing together the very best online foodies, online eaties (like that new phrase?), and the Atlanta Street Food Coalition, this promises to be an utterly EPIC event. 

But ssshhhh, don't tell anyone yet (yeah, right).  Because first, Social Media Atlanta needs to fill the panel with food bloggers.  Can you dig it?  If so, please email FruHo (frugalhostess @ gmail.com) or her friend StephHo - just kidding - Stephanie (info @ socialmediaatlanta.com) to raise your hand.  TFH promises not to cook anything.

The Frugal Hostess reminds you that there are panels and events for every type of social media enthusiast, so check out the agenda and reserve your (mostly free) tickets. 

Thinking about September 11, 2001

 

 Peace is not merely a distant goal that we seek but a means by which we arrive at that goal.
 

- Martin Luther King, Jr.

photo by bitzi

Wherein THIS Blog Post Saves a Life

Has it really been since August 23?  Really??? Yikes.

There's been a lot going on in FruHo land.  Because she recently saw some bloggers comparing a list post to an exercise for slow kids, and because she just cannot physically resist picking a scab like that kind of comment, and because she is herself a slow kid, here is a mother-trucking list of things for you to read.  

1.  FruHubs was away for all of August.  All of it.  Plus a bit of July.  Thumbs down.  Although, it did bring in some cash.  The Frugal Hostess started the month with a lot of goals: redecorate the house; lose 20 pounds; write a book; and many other things.  Results?  Actually, a good bit of redecoration, such as it was with a budget of no money; a loss of 5 pounds that were probably due to a particularly long sneezing fit; and, well, not much else.  A good bit of the time was spent dissolving into tears at least once per day.

2.  One of the cool things that happened was FruHo got asked cajoled convinced encouraged to start a line of artisan candies.  The details are still being worked out (like, does she really even want to do it?), but a lot of mental energy has been expended and kitchen time logged in service to this idea.  How does Rosemary Rock candy strike your virtual palette?

3.  Another cool thing was picking pears with Concrete Jungle.  A longer post is long overdue about this, but these two guys pick unwanted fruit (like apples on the off-ramp) and donate it to food banks.  They could not be cooler, nicer, smarter, or better, and it would be quite ideal if you were to click on over there and give them a couple of bucks.  They don't have huge expenses, so don't worry if you don't have a huge donation.  In case the post never materializes, you can see a photo album here.

4.  TFH did a lot of dog-sitting and traveling to see family, all of which was fun but time-consuming, further excuse for the lack of posting.  And now, the hellishly hot and just generally miserable month of August is over, and everyone can get on with their lives.

5.  THIS JUST IN: A certain hilarious and talented blogger is dealing with some heavy shit right now, and The Frugal Hostess urges you to think about her as hard as you effing can.  Please.  UPDATE: All good, folks.  There is no doubt that this blog post, and the subsequent good vibes, completely saved the day.  Great job. 

Anybody want to write a guest post?  The Frugal Hostess is eating a lot of beans right now.  Musically enough.  So there aren't that many great recipes to report.