A Fun Afternoon Meets Marketing Genius

I subscribe to a few local papers and Friday, I was checking out the community calendar sections looking for something fun and interesting to do. I read about Canon's workshops this week in multiple papers and was considering attending. Then heard from someone staying at the Inn that the workshop was fun, so I decided to do it.

Genuis Idea #1: Free how-to event gets lots of good coverage in traditional media.

Yesterday, I showed up at the booth the requisit 1/2 hour beforehand. First was a registration, filled out on one of three setup Macbooks. It was quick, and took my contact information.

There was an opportunity to borrow Canon equiptment for free. You could certainly borrow a digital SLR camera but you could also try out macro lenses and other specialized gear. I wasn't going to do this but was persuaded by one of the instructors to give it a shot and there would no doubt be time in my class to learn the corresponding commands on my point-and-shoot.

I'm a new school kind of gal. My job is almost entirely online. My ginormous computer is probably the second most valuable thing I own (after my car). I text, blog, and tweet and yes, all those verbs didn't even exist ten years ago. I'm so new and shiny.

I'm also a little old school though. Eighty percent of my blog posts are written on scrap paper before getting typed(this one included). When I send cards, they are real life cards. And I spend time reading loads of books I've either bought from garage sales and used book stores, or borrowed from friends.

We could argue this last fact makes me a cheap, cheap person but there is, as usual, a little method behind my madness.

Reason One: I will eventually get to read the bestsellers, it'll just be after everyone else.
I just finished 'Water For Elephants' a couple weeks ago, borrowed after my friend Susan read it with her book club. No doubt everyone else has already read it but I still enjoyed it, a year or so after the craze. And since bestsellers are, well, bestsellers there are a lot of copies kicking around, prime for the borrowing or purchasing for 50 cents at a used book store.

Sort of like scoring a piece of clothing one season late, I really feel like I've delayed gratification rather than missed out when I wait an extra year to read a bestseller.

My friends Sean and Stacy are one of those couples who are able to save money without seeming like they are suffering. They grow their own food in a ginormous garden. They find the best stuff on Freecycle and in Uncle Henry's. And up until two months ago, they got 10-12 channels with rabbit ears on their 20 year old television.
 
When stations started to go digital, Sean and Stacy figured out their old television probably wouldn't handle it well. This was fine, because they had planned on getting a new one anyway. What they hadn't planned on was going from 10ish decent channels to two channels with crappy reception.

Oh but not for long my friends...

Today, I got to visit a few really good friends in Portland, Maine. Two of them are moving to Ohio (for graduate school and love of a graduate student, respectively) and this was our last horrah.

We spent the afternoon on the terrace of Silly's Restaurant, which is a neat place known for its good values, fun ambiance, and actual vegetarian/vegan items on their menu. They also have an entire page of possible milkshakes you can order with the usual ingredients (chocolate, vanilla, peanut butter) and the unusual ingredients (key lime pie, rice krispies, avocado).

On the top of the list was a bacon and peanut butter shake. Clearly, I had to get it.

For $5, I was expecting a peanut butter milkshake sprinkled in bacon bits. Oh no, it was much more.

My ski enthusiast friends and I were talking about how fun skiing is that how it can be cost prohibitive for a lot of people. And then I got to thinking if that was really true.

I've been skiing for a little over 10 years and my equipment is at least that old. I decided to break down my initial investments and continued costs and see how much skiing really has cost me. (Note: Two pairs of cross country skis: one for classical style and one for skating style. For more information, check out this video link.)

I've been really hankering to have a party lately. I don't know if it's because Halloween and other holidays are coming up or because I haven't thrown one since moving here (and it's been about three months) but it seems to be the time to invite people over and be the hostess with the mostest.

As someone who takes pride in throwing a good party, I want my guests to have a good time, eat well, and have a drink on me. This got me to thinking how I could throw a great party on a budget while still maintaining my great hostess reputation. The following party will be thrown a week from today. The budget is for 8 people, though I'm sure I could make this work if a few more showed.