Tag Archive for: Paula Rizzo

Vote For Me If My Blog Makes You Smile!

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I’ve entered a blogging contest and I’d love your help getting some votes.  It’s for the 2012 BlogLux Smile Awards and it’s part of the festivities surrounding this year’s BlogHer12 conference in New York City in August.  Voting runs from July 11 – 22 and you can vote once a day.  Please do!  There’s also a lot of other fabulous blogs on this list – so poke around and see what else you find too.

What’s BlogHer?

Haven’t heard of BlogHer?  I hadn’t until a few months ago either.  It’s a big conference for female bloggers to come together and learn, share and party.

Follow the Action

If you’re on twitter you can follow some of the madness by typing in the hashtag #BlogHer12. This year there are two keynote speakers — Martha Stewart (a list maker btw) and Katie Couric.  I love Martha because every organization geek wishes she was like her!  And of course Katie has been an amazing role model for me in my “other” profession as a TV news producer.  Can’t wait!

(Disclaimer: I apologize in advance to anyone who isn’t interested in BlogHer12 — I promise not to post too often about it!  I realize it’s like watching paint dry if you’re not into it :))

7 Tips to Get More Done at Work

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Taking notes during a shoot with Dr. Manny Alvarez

Everyone has had one of those days – where you feel like you didn’t get anything accomplished at work.I’ve been there myself. You went to work, you talked to people, you wrote emails — but you didn’t really get anything finished.

Here’s a list of ways to rethink your workday so you’ll be more productive:

1. Make a list: You saw this one coming, didn’t you? I sound like a broken record because it works. Everyday before I leave work I make a list. Even if I’m dying to get out of there or I’m running late – I make time to make my list for the next day.

I look at my calendar and run through the following day in my head. I write out everything that I need to do – emails I need to write, phone calls I need to return, appointments I need to keep, shoots I need to go on, etc. I usually make two columns – one for work and one for personal stuff. Then the next day when I come in – I don’t even have to think about what needs to get done – I just follow my list and cross out tasks as I finish them. Read more

List for Making Sparkling Wine Cocktails

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Jay and I belong to a wine club and we get shipments of wine every few months. We love it because we get to try all kinds of wine and don’t have to carry them up to our 9th floor apartment.

(We have an elevator — but still!) I still need to figure out when we will be hosting a wine tasting party. But in the meanwhile — my wine guru friend, Wendy Crispell, put this list together for us for the summer!

List for Sparkling Wine Cocktails, Refreshing Summer Sippers

by Wendy Crispell

In the extreme heat we often just want to relax at the end of the day or on the weekend with a refreshing cocktail.  I find in the dog days of summer I like a lighter style that is a bit lower in alcohol and also uses the best of summer’s fresh fruits and berries available at your local farm market. Experimenting with flavors can be fun with a few friends. Using these basic ingredients, add your own touches or use my favorite recipes. Read more

App Inventor Makes Lists to Do More

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Lists make life easier — plain and simple. Recently I introduced you to my new favorite list-making tool to keep track of all the restaurants I love or want to try called Matchbook. It allows you to easily add restaurants and any place with an address really – to your iPhone. I’ve used it about a zillion times since finding it. Seriously.

The brain behind this incredible app is, of course, a list maker. Meet Jason Schwartz — this month’s Featured List Producer:

Q: Why do you call yourself a compulsive list producer?

A: I actually consider myself a compulsive list-enabler. I constantly see ineffective lists in action, and that is what drives things at Matchbook. The same scrappy list of bars and restaurants shows up repeatedly in the notepad of people’s phones. If you ask people if this list is useful, they say that it isn’t. Lists are supposed to make us more efficient and organized, and a massive number of people compulsively create restaurant lists that don’t live up to that promise. I want to make all that work useful.

Q: What do you make lists about?

A: My first love is lists of places. Restaurants, bars, and shops that I want to go to, or remember to go back to. It’s like my little black book of gems that I know about and nobody else does. Read more

Getting My Identity Stolen Wasn’t on My To-Do List!

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When you get a letter from the IRS – it’s either really great news, like your refund has arrived – or it’s really bad news, like your identity has been stolen. Unfortunately – my letter informed me of the latter.

How Could This Happen?

The truth is – it could happen to anyone. My wallet wasn’t stolen but somehow my information got leaked. Someone could have phished my information off the Internet, or picked it out of my garbage — the possibilities are endless. Read more