Shopping on a Budget

I’m not a big spender.  I’m not a clothes horse, I rarely eat out, and I’ve set limits on my personal allotment of Caribou Coffee white chocolate mochas.  But I’m struggling with one area of my budget … groceries.  It seems like no matter what I do, the dollars I spend each month on food continue to rise.  So this week I’m looking at ways we can all keep our eyes on our grocery budgets while feeding our families nutritious meals.

One important way to spend less on groceries is to simply use all of the food you buy.  I cringe when I find myself throwing away brown lettuce, soft celery, or leftovers that have been shoved to the back of the fridge and forgotten.  Cutting down on the amount of wasted food is key. Leftovers can be easily packed for lunch at the office or school.  Keep them stored toward the front of the fridge so you remember to eat them before they end up in the trash.  Look at what’s in your fridge and cupboards before you shop and build your weekly menu around ingredients that you already have.  I discovered two half-used containers of wild rice in my cupboard, so my family’s going to be eating wild rice casserole this week.  You can always find a new recipe by going to a favorite web site (epicurious.com or cobornsdelivers.com, for example) and entering an ingredient that you want to use.  You may even end up discovering a new family favorite! › Continue reading

Tags: Budget Grocery Shopping, Meal Planning

Olympian Frank Shorter and Running Room Founder Host Grand Opening of Eden Prairie Location, Sept. 30

The Running Room will open its Eden Prairie store on Sept. 30 with the help of its founder, John Stanton, and Frank Shorter - a marathon gold medalist at the 1972 Munich Olympics and four-time U.S. cross country champion.  The event will include a fun run/walk with a presentation of souvenir medals by Shorter and Stanton.  Stanton will also launch his fifth book, Walking: A Complete Guide to Walking for Fitness, Health and Weight Loss, at the opening.

The event will begin at 6 p.m. at the Tower Square Shopping Center, 582 Prairie Center Dr.

Tags: Frank Shorter, John Stanton, Running Room

Remodel Your Bathroom in Three Easy Steps

I’ve moved many times – in fact, in 17 years of marriage I have had 2 apartments and 5 homes.  One of my favorite things about my newest home is that I finally have a huge tub in my master bath; I can officially get my whole self under water all at one time!  This was a major selling point for me in choosing this house, but the rest of the bathroom was not exactly what I was hoping for…

So in order to make my bathroom a place I can truly enjoy while I soak, I found ways to take the focus off the parts of the room I didn’t like and turn the attention somewhere else.  There are three areas that you can look at in order to improve your bathroom, without necessarily doing a major remodel.

Your bathroom can be more than just a room of necessity; it can be an oasis.

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Tags: Bathroom Remodel

Hirshfield’s Hosts Upper Midwest Fine Finishing Conference & Open House, Oct. 16

Hirshfield’s and the Minneapolis Institute of Fine Finishes will host the industry’s best at the Upper Midwest Fine Finishing Conference & Open House on Oct. 16.  The event will feature information and demonstrations on going green, application workshops, product discounts and new products like the introduction of Drew Beninati’s Venetian and Metallic plaster color lines available exclusively at Hirshfield’s Plaster Center.

The free event is open to the public and will include presentations from guest speaker Kelly S. King, an artisan, instructor and product developer as well as American Clay, makers of earth-friendly wall plaster from reclaimed industrial waste from granite countertops, Architectural EnhanCement, a local countertop resurfacing company, Modern Masters, a zero-VOC decorative paint firm from Los Angeles and Texturline, markers of eco-friendly metallic wall coatings.

The Open House runs from 9 a.m. - 4 p.m. at Hirshfield’s Plaster Center, located at 725 Second Ave. N., Minneapolis.

Timing Can Be Everything In PR Pitches

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Tags: 1972 Olympics, Frank Shorter, running, Twin Cities Marathon

Video of the Week Reminds It’s a Great Big World

Great video from a really cold place!  Whenever I see video like this it reminds me that we’re a small part of a great big world. It also makes me wonder if they use Twitter.  Hmmm.

Ed Heil is the owner and president of StoryTeller Media & Communications an inbound marketing and public relations agency and video production company based in the Twin Cities of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Ed blogs on topics related to inbound marketing, social media, media relations, news media, video production and crisis communications.

Tags: Greenland, Video of the week

The Power of You in Social Media

A little while back someone tweeted, “why do I find myself more interested in Tweets that have a person attached instead of a company logo?” I’m certain this was somewhat of a rhetorical question, because if you’re participating in the Twitter community, you know that it’s much easier to establish a connection with a face than it is with a logo.

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Tags: tweets, Twitter

The Anti-Social Side of Social Media

Undoubtedly, social media has changed the way many of us communicate.  This blog is a case in point. However, it seems more and more social media has made us all master multi-taskers absent of focused communication and in many cases downright unsocial.

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Tags: be here now, Blackberry, Blog, Facebook, flickr, iphone, myspace, PDA, Twitter, YouTube

Loft Living Tips

Decorating your loft or condo can be very different than decorating a larger house — you have to be sure to make the most out of the space you have.  Here are some of my top tips for styling your loft or condo:

• Make the most of your focal points: Highlight unique spots in your home, such as walls with a fireplace or windows with a great view.  For example, if you’re going to splurge on silk panels for a window, make sure to put them on the best window in the space.
• Be creative with storage: In most lofts, storage space is at a premium, so you must make the most of any space available.  You may have great vertical options, and you can even turn the storage space into a decor piece in a room, such as using shelves with baskets that look great and also hide your clutter.

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Tags: Loft Decor

What is Your Personal Brand?

During a recent meeting with a client the discussion of branding came up and whether individuals have a brand.  Not celebrities, but every day folk like you and me.  There was a spirited discussion about this, with some stating that we do not have a personal brand while others proclaimed we most certainly do.  I fell on the side of the latter.

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Tags: brands, MIMA, Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association, personal brand