Freelancers have more pressure to perform than their salaried counterparts. When a freelancer is not working, they are not earning. Additionally, self-employed people in the United States have to pay twice the normal amount to Social Security, meaning you have to earn a higher gross pay to equal the same net pay as your salaried colleagues. This tends to turn freelancers into workaholics. However, regular breaks from your work will improve productivity. These tips will help you to escape work when you work at home.

Break Your Workaholism Using These Tips

• Go outside for fresh air, sunshine and physical exercise: Your body needs at least 20 minutes of sunshine to absorb vitamin D. Take a sandwich to a nearby park, walk the dog or work in the garden. If it’s a warm, summer day, then go for a dip in the pool.
• Play some music: If you are trying to loose weight, then dance to the music. If you feel stressed, then play soothing music while you meditate about the good things in your life. Relax in a beach chair on the patio, to work on a perfect suntan while meditating and listening to music.
• Plan a weekend away: If you are not tied to a Monday through Friday schedule, then take advantage of mid-week discounts at campgrounds, hotels and resorts. Participating in new activities is exciting and will recharge your psyche.
• Set aside one morning every week to visit a local attraction: County and state parks have nature walks, canoeing, fishing, and historical tours if you visit places such as Gettysburg. Museums and other local attractions might have a free or discounted day, so you can enjoy an escape from work, and from the house, without spending much money.
• Visit a friend or family member who lives nearby: Face-to-face interaction is more stimulating than typing a conversation on Facebook. If your friend works at a brick and mortar job, then arrange to meet for lunch.
• Participate in a sport: If you are not in great physical shape, then choose bowling, volleyball or one of the other less strenuous sports. Play is just as important for adults as it is for kids.
• Choose a hobby that you have always wanted to do: Ideas include model rocketry, oil painting, sketching, ceramics, woodworking, photography, knit or crochet, dance, musical instruments, rock collecting, billiards, darts and metal detecting. Hobbies add enjoyment to life, in addition to giving you an escape from work.
• Take a class at the community college: If you would like to meet colleagues, then choose a class in your field of interest. Many classes meet only once or twice a week for one hour, yet the exchange of ideas might help to advance your business.

Conclusion

These are just some of the ideas to escape work and rejuvenate your energy. Schedule some recreational and educational activities as part of your normal workday. One system that might work for you is working for one hour and then taking a 10-15 minute break. Other freelancers prefer to finish a section of a project and then take a break. After all, flexibility is one of the great benefits of freelancing!

If you find that work is always piling up, then start timing how many minutes you work on each activity. Reduce the amount of time you read the news, blogs, answer email or chat on Twitter or Facebook. Organise the workday so your most alert hours are spent earning money. Schedule non-earning activities for those times when you have more difficulty concentrating. This is your brain telling you to escape work and go play.

Andy often works at home or from a nearby coffee shop. He is the co-founder of one of Australia’s top credit card comparison websites. Click here to visit their website where you can find more of his writing.

When you work from home or in a self-employed capacity, figuring out how to increase your income is something that you most likely deal with on a regular basis. As costs continue to rise in the outside world, your income has to rise with it if you want to be able to keep up. While increasing your income may seem difficult, there are a number of strategies that you can implement to do just that. Some of them may take a little bit of hard work, but they will be worth it if you are willing to put in the effort.

Sell a Product

One way that you could potentially increase your income is to offer a product for sale. By creating a product that you can market and sell, you have the potential to bring in passive income on a regular basis. The product that you create could be a physical object or it could be a digital product that you market online. For example, you could create an ebook and sell it through the Amazon Kindle or directly from your own website. Another option would be to create an audio file or video series and sell it for a nominal fee. With these types of products, you can bring in money even while you are sleeping.

Freelance on the Side

Another way that you could increase your income is to do freelance work on the side. Regardless of what you do for your main source of income, you could always make a little bit more money on the side through freelancing. For example, you could write articles for webmasters or do some graphic design work online. A number of freelance sites make it possible for freelance workers to bid on jobs and be selected. If you have any skill that others could benefit from, you could potentially turn it into a side business through freelancing. Many businesses are turning to freelancers as a way to cut down on business costs because they do not have to pay for the overhead that comes with employees.

Besides marketing your services on freelance websites, you may also want to create your own website to market your services. Set up a portfolio that shows off some of your best work and then start spreading your website address around in as many places as possible. Share your address on social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to get the word out. You never know who might need your services for a fee.

Create an Informational Website

Creating an informational website can be an effective way to bring in passive income over the long-term. With this strategy, you build a website based on content on a subject matter that you are familiar with. You optimize the site so that it can be found through the search engines like Google and Bing. Then when visitors come to your site, you can start to make money from the traffic in many different ways.

Once you have a steady stream of traffic, figuring out ways to make money off of this traffic is not hard. You could get set up with the Google Adsense program and simply put a piece of code on your site to start showing ads. Then when visitors click on those ads, you get a share of the advertising revenue. You could also include links to products that you want to promote for others. When someone makes a purchase through one of these links, you get an affiliate commission.

Regardless of how you try to create more income for yourself, you have to be willing to stick with it over the long-term and put forth the effort. Nothing of value is going to happen overnight and as long as you understand this in advance, you have a good chance to succeed.

Author Thomas Hathaway is a financial consultant and content contributor to payday loans online, a site providing information and advances when you may need money before your regular paycheck arrives.

Two weeks ago I asked a dear friend that if she was given the choice to work from home, would she accept. She responded quite candidly, “Well what’s so great about working from home?” So many things! While working from home isn’t made for everyone, there are some pretty cool perks that can benefit many individuals. To learn what some of those perks are and to see if working from home might be something ideal for you, continue reading below.

1. More Time to Sleep in

If you live in the suburbs for example and your regular commute to your place of employment takes you a good 45 minutes, you have to wake up pretty early just to make it to work on time. And because you have to wake up so early, typically you’re forced to be greeted by the irritating sound of an alarm clock and a steamy cup of coffee to get you going. The opportunity to sleep in a little longer will help your body wake up naturally which will help you more easily transition from your deep sleep—this also means you’re less groggy and agitated in the mornings and ready to take on the world sans caffeine. If you prefer to continue waking up early however, this also means that you now have more time to do important things like take a quick trip to the gym, eat a well-balance breakfast, or drive your children to school since you’re no longer rushed for time.

2. Less time Spent in Your Car

As if waiting in morning and afternoon gridlock on your route to and from work each day wasn’t stressful enough, knowing that you’ll never get that precious time back is even more depressing. The average person who has a 24.3 minute commute to work will waste about 100 hours of their life a year on the road—that’s equal to more than three days, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Instead, you can save some gas money, reduce your stress levels, help sustain the environment, and do something productive with your time instead of waiting in traffic everyday by choosing to work from home.

3. Perfect for Introverts

While some people love to be able to socialize with large groups of people and go to lunches and happy hours with their co-workers, there are others who are a tad bit more low-key and prefer to stick to themselves. If you suffer from social anxiety disorder or maybe you’re even a bit of a germaphobe or have obsessive compulsive disorder, than working from home is ideal.

4.  You can Make Healthier and Cheaper Food Choices

Trying to eat-right while saving money can be a huge struggle when working at an office—there is just way too much temptation: local eateries and fast food joints. Even if you bring a healthy homemade lunch to work, all it takes is a few co-workers to convince you to come join them for lunch at the new hamburger shack across the street. Burgers add up and they pack on pounds too.

5. Tax Deductible Possibilities

Lastly, if you own run your own business through your home, you are most likely eligible to receive a work-from-home deductible come filing tax time. This alone can make working from the confinements of your own home all the worthwhile.

By-line: Mariana Ashley is a freelance writer who particularly enjoys writing about online colleges. She loves receiving reader feedback, which can be directed to mariana.ashley031 @gmail.com.

With so many advances in technology, it’s no longer always necessary to commute to work every day. More and more people are working from home these days, and there’s no question as to why this is. Working at home can save money on gas, childcare, and business attire–and it allows for more time with family by way of a flexible work schedule. What’s more? If you work at home, you have the freedom to create a home office specifically designed with you in mind. Whether your current home office could use some updating or you’re starting one from scratch, here are some decorating tips that will help you create a professional workspace with a personal feel in an office building otherwise known as home.

Play with Color

The beauty of a home office is that since it’s just for you, you’re the only person you have to please when it comes time to decorate. An office in your home doesn’t have to look exactly like a traditional one, so you don’t have to be afraid to play with color when you’re picking out paint for the walls. If you don’t like bright, flashy colors, that’s okay. Instead of choosing a boring white or cream color, though, go with some tones that are just a bit darker but still neutral. Earth tones are nice if you want some color but don’t want to get too crazy. If you like vibrant hues, go for it–just be sure that you don’t pick a color that’s so bright that it distracts you from your work. If you’d like to make the walls more interesting, try adding some texture using a paint specifically designed for special effects. You can also add a textured feel simply by selecting a color very similar to the base color and applying it with a brush or sponge over-top to create a chic textured look.

Find Comfortable and Unique Furniture

Choosing the right furniture for your home office is essential–uncomfortable furniture will most likely lead to poor productivity. On the other hand, if your chair is too cozy, you might get so relaxed that you don’t pay attention to the work that needs to be done. Find a happy medium and get a chair that feels good to sit in, but keeps you upright and ready to get your work done. Along with a nice chair, you’ll need a sturdy desk. A desk with drawers is ideal–it will help you keep your desk clutter-free by providing some extra places to keep office supplies and important documents, orders, or anything else that tends to pile up on a desk. Furniture that will help you stay organized is important as well–filing cabinets and bookshelves will help you keep your home office neat and orderly. Office furniture comes in a variety of styles and colors, so select pieces that are complimentary to your paint choices. If you aren’t able to buy new furniture that matches, you can always repaint or refinish it so that it fits in with the room décor perfectly.

Decorate with Art

Bare walls, void of any artwork, are boring walls. You can add splashes of color and interest to your home office by hanging a few paintings or photographs on them. An interesting sculpture set on your desk or bookshelf is also a nice touch. Because this is your office, you can incorporate anything you’d like. Look for pieces that inspire you–you’d be amazed how a few beautiful works of art can transform your office.

Add a Touch of Nature

You can bring a little bit of the natural world to your home office by adding some plants or flowers. A couple of potted plants or a hanging basket next to a window will add color and life to your workspace. If you have access to fresh flowers from a home garden, arrange some in a vase for your desk and make it a regular routine to switch them out for new arrangements to keep things interesting.

Invest in Good Lighting

Good lighting is essential to any home office, so make sure what you have is adequate. Table lamps or free-standing lamps can be incorporated into the space to light up dark corners or simply to add a soft glow to your workspace. Avoid fluorescent lighting and make changes to the room’s current lights if they aren’t exactly what you had in mind.

Your home office should be a room that you want to occupy, so make it all your own by choosing your favorite colors and things to put in it. Keeping it clean and clutter-free will make it even more inviting, so do your best to maintain it the way you would if you worked in an office located outside of the home. Have fun decorating your work space. It is, after all, a home office intended just for you.

Guest post from Bailey Harris. Bailey writes for the Area Rugs Store, a site that sells brand name area rugs and related supplies.

Kim Rowley and Brad Waller

I’m still in awe over receiving the 2012 Wayne Porter Affiliate Marketing Legend Pinnacle Award at Affiliate Summit. After being nominated for “Affiliate of the Year” three years in a row (2009, 2010, 2011) and never winning (but still an honor nonetheless), I was in utter shock to be nominated for the “Legend” award. I was up against some stiff competition, Brad Waller of EPage.com and Adam Weiss, a “big wig” at Linkshare.

Brad was one of my first affiliate friends, so I indubitably voted for him to win. Many think “Legend” makes one sounds “old”, but I like to think of us as “experienced.” I then found out that Brad is the one that in fact nominated me for the award! He wrote this very kind recommendation for me:

Kim was one of the first in so many different areas.  She was a “mommy blogger” before there were bloggers, she did coupons before they were the “next big thing,” and so much more.  Kim has been a fixture in the business and our events, openly talking about what she does, teaching others how to follow her footsteps, and continuing to create more sites.  And all of this from Nebraska!

Thank you so much, Brad! I wish we could have both won!

Someone suggested that I was not only the youngest to win this award, but also the first woman to the win.  I did some research for validity and discovered the intelligent Kellie Stevens was actually the first woman to win (2009). As for the youngest, I believe I am a year older than Brian Littleton (2008).  I am good company with them as well as Tim Storm (2006), Todd Crawford (2007), Scott Jangro (2010) and Todd Farmer (2011).

When Affiliate Summit Co-Founders Shawn Collins and Missy Ward announced my name as the winner, I honestly was in shock. The reality didn’t sink in until afterwards when I was sitting next to Lisa Picarille, looking at my trophy, and listening to Eric Thomas speak. And that’s when I started to cry.

It’s not about how you start but how you finish.

Success is based on individuality. It starts with a vision.

Failure is not an option.

You are going to get to where you want to get to.

And with every new quote Eric Thomas spoke, I sobbed a bit harder realizing, despite my failures along the way, I finally got to where I wanted to be. I guess that means it is now time to start dreaming bigger!

I started crying when motivational speaker Eric Thomas, aka The Hip Hop Preacher, was giving his keynote presentation at Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas earlier this week.  I could relate to him on so many levels. I know, you’re thinking what does a sheltered white girl from Nebraska have in common with a black preacher man from Detroit?  More than you know:

• Eric’s mother became pregnant with him at age 17 as an unwed mother. My mother became pregnant with me at age 17. I then became pregnant with my son at age 17, an unwed mother as well.
• Eric’s father was not in his life. My father was around, but not an active part of my life.
• Eric has been married for 21 years and never cheated on his wife. I never cheated when married and hope to remarry someday and make it past the 20th anniversary mark.
• It took Eric 12 years to get his 4 year degree. It took me 9 years to get my Bachelor’s.
• Eric believes in Visions. I have my vision board in front of me right now.
• Eric wrote a book: The Secret to Success. I hope plan to write a book some day.
• Eric is a Christian. As am I. Growing up (in hickville remember), I was taught the different types of religion were Lutheran, Catholic, Methodist and the like where everyone believed in Jesus Christ. It wasn’t until I started traveling and meeting people from all over the world that I befriended Jews, Mormons, Buddhists, Antagonists and even Atheists.

So I suppose you are wondering why exactly was I crying? Read my next post for details. Read more about Eric Thomas’s keynote on Marketing Elf. Photo courtesy of Steve Hall of AdRants. See the tears in my eyes?

Ok, so you have a blog. You’ve read a couple of posts and free e-books and they all tell you that “Content is King”. So that’s what you did: you produce content. You began writing diligently. It didn’t matter if it is Christmas or it’s your spouse’s birthday, you always find time to write and “tweak” your blog.

The only problem is you were hoping that by now, at least someone is noticing what you’re doing. Except that nobody did. Then you read about how millions of blogs are created daily, and that 99.9999% of all blogs fail to see the light of day before they descend into the oblivion. And next thing you know, you didn’t feel like writing and you gave up altogether.

Does this sound familiar to you? That is actually my story. I started out a blog back in 2003… a time when the word “blog” was a typo if you typed it into Word. What I didn’t know was that it would take more than just a “content” to make your blog stand out. It takes…

A Remarkable Content

Not all content are made the same. Some content are read while others are simply ignored. Content that are read can increase your authority or it can help piss your readers off. The difference between the two is a factor I like to call “remarkability”.

So what is remarkable content? Well, content is like art. There are certain characteristics of remarkable content, but there are no strict rules. Heck, sometimes breaking the rules makes your content better. The point is you must first be able to identify remarkable content. A remarkable content…

1. Has an intended reader. Who are you writing to? Can you picture him/her in your mind? Is it a single mom with a toddler? Is it a Mac geek? If the article you’re writing applies to everyone and anyone, ditch it. It will never be a remarkable content.
2. Goes into the specifics. Top 10 lists are almost never remarkable. If you want to write remarkable content, write about something very specific (clause 5 of the credit law and how it affects you) as opposed to something general (how to eliminate debt).
3. Is engaging. It must be interesting to read, like a novel you can’t put down.  Contrary to popular belief, people DO read plenty of words online… just look at how much words are on New York Time’s and other authoritative websites. The difference between a content that is ignored and one that is read is in whether or not that content is engaging or not.
4. Is unique. And by unique, I don’t mean “passing copyscape”. By unique, I mean is the subject you’re writing about “Googlable”?  Do your research and write about a new topic that your intended readers are not usually aware.

Remarkable Design

A blog that stands out need more than just remarkable content, however. It also needs remarkable design. By “remarkable design”, I don’t mean flashy graphics and cool animation. I mean usability.

Steve Krug, in his book “Don’t Make Me Think”, wrote that his title is the cardinal rule of web usability. In other words, all websites have to be easy to use and fast to load. The problem is making websites that are easy to use is what I like to call “the curse of knowledge”.

What is the curse of knowledge? Well, have you ever tapped a table to the tune of a music you’re playing in your mind only to have you friend asks you what you’re tapping? And you thought, how could he/she not know? It’s so obvious! That is the curse of knowledge: it’s hard to imagine NOT knowing what you already know.

The curse of knowledge is why experts like to use jargons (what’s an RSS feed?) and why they build complex websites (it’s only three clicks deep, how can they not find it?). So here’s what I want you to do: go through your website and ask yourself if the word you use is the convention, or not.

For example, the convention is “about me” or “about us”, but some people used “profile”. It’s not much of a difference but it does make the user think (even if it is only 3ms of it).

Remarkable Promotion

But no, build it and they will come, just won’t happen. Waiting to be discovered is the worst thing you can do because you’re simply leaving your blog’s fate to chance. You might as well gamble in Vegas… I hear it’s a lot more fun.

Remarkable content and design makes sure your website sticks, but for it to work, you need your intended readers to first land on your site. To do that, you need to promote your blog. There are multiple ways for you to promote your blog:

A lot of people spam to promote their blog. They leave comments like “awesome post” in thousands of other blogs– which technically is not spam, but I view it as one. They go to directories, spin articles, and do all those crap.

A remarkable promotion, however, is one where your advertisement itself is valuable (a tip I learned from Gary Bencivenga). Not to toot my own horn, but this very post is an example of a remarkable promotion.  I gain exposure from this article, you (the readers) get value out of it, and Kim gets free content. All parties win!

Track and Adjust

Last but not least, you need to track your progress and adjust your strategy. Take a different approach to your content, or adjust your header and see if your bounce rate improves. Run an ad to promote your blog, or do a guest post like this one and see which one works better.

A blog that stands out is the result of years of trialling and failing. And there’s no choice: you can’t just copy off your neighbour and expects the same results.

Ally is part of the team that manages several personal finance blog sites in Sydney, Australia, which provide tips about Budgeting Spreadsheet and How to Save Money. Before joining the team, she was a Media Planner in McCann Worldgroup Philippines, Inc., with award-winning executions, including the Levi’s 501 “Live Unbuttoned” global campaign.

Given the tremendous amount of traffic the internet receives on a daily basis, it is easy to see why many businesses have put themselves online. A well designed website can do endless things for all types of businesses, from large corporations to those run from home. If you happen to operate a business out of your home and are thinking a website may be just what you need, the following tips can help you set one up in no time at all.

Determine Your Needs

The type of website you need depends largely on the kind of business you are running from your home. If you manufacture or sell products, you will need a website that will allow your products to be seen and purchased through an electronic shopping cart and checkout system. If your business provides a service, such as dog grooming, you will need a website that accurately describes everything you offer. Regardless of the type of business you run, your website needs to be user friendly and to-the-point. A choppy, hard-to-navigate website that isn’t accurate has the potential to steer potential customers in the other direction.

Starting Out

Once you have determined what your needs are when it comes to a website, you can start getting things in order. You will first have to decide if you are going to either set up the website yourself or hire a web designer. Web designers can be pricey, so unless money is no object, you will probably want to use software and set the site up on your own. Luckily there are some great website building platforms that are fairly reasonable and often free to use.

Domain Name and Web Hosting

The next step in setting up your first business website is choosing and purchasing a domain name, as well as a web host. Your domain name is basically the address your visitors will have to type in order to reach your website. It is a good idea to make your domain name as unique as possible, as there are tons of websites online. You want yours to stand out from all of your competitors. Just as you want your domain name to be unique; it should also be something that is easy for people to remember. There are various domain name registrars that offer domain names for a very reasonable fee. An internet search will yield many options for you. Some of them also offer web hosting, which you will also need to get your website up and running. A web host is the company that will basically host your website on their servers. The cost for web hosting depends on the amount of storage and bandwidth your website will need.

Get Creative

Once you have made the decisions regarding the domain name and web hosting of your website, as well as the design software or platform you plan on using, you can start creating your website. Keep in mind that many web hosts will provide you with instructions on how to create your website and upload it onto their servers. You want to make your website eye-catching but not overwhelming. A busy, cluttered website may not be appealing to many visitors. Choose a template and color scheme that will benefit and enhance the business you are running. Also, make your website as descriptive as possible, so people know exactly what you have to offer. If you sell products, you will need to provide detailed photos and an online shopping cart and checkout system. If you offer a service, be sure to let visitors know what they can expect to receive from you and your business.

Maintain Your Site

When your website is up and running, you will want to regularly check it for proper functionality. This includes tracking the traffic to and from your site, managing and checking links, and testing your site for overall performance. A helpful tool known as Google Analytics can be of great assistance in maintaining your website, as it can perform all of these tasks. A website that runs smoothly and is accurate will get your business the attention and customers it deserves.

These tips should help get your home business on the web without much trouble at all. As long as you keep your overall goals in mind and put some effort into creating your site, you should start seeing the benefits of your website before you know it.

Guest post from Karen Schweitzer. Karen writes about internet service providers, social networks, and related topics for Internetserviceproviders.org.

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Need an invite to Pinterest?

Keep reading, and I’ll tell you how to get a Pinterest invitation link.

Jen Goode introduced me to Pinterest (thank you very much Jen), and I tweeted about it a couple of days ago:

kimarketing: Playing with @Pinterest – Do you follow me yet? http://pinterest.com/shoppingkim/ If you need an invite, just holla.

And here are couple of the responses I received:

ericnagel: @kimarketing thanks… now I just need to figure out how / why to use it

toddfarmer: @kimarketing @ericnagel I don’t get it either, Eric. But, oddly enough I overheard (at NYE party) “I’m addicted to pinterest”

I have to admit I’m becoming addicting to Pinterest as well. It is chock full of delicious, fun recipes (Missy Ward needs to upload her recipes from her New Year’s Eve party) that make me want to learn to cook. And then there is all the do-it-yourself craft ideas that make me jealous that I didn’t think of such an idea first. But the best part of Pinterest is that I’ve seen some of my website traffic increase in three-folds from referral links!

To give you an example, I took a screenshot of a someone (I have no idea who she is) that had “pinned” an image from one of my sites:

So start building those lists! Include your own website images as well as pages of websites that link to your websites to build quality back links.  “Repin” your friends’ pins and “Like” the pins of top users.

You can even add affiliate links of “products you love”, etc. Just be sure the affiliate link stays intact and is not a redirect so you get credit for the sale.  Amazon affiliate links keep the tag embedded, so you can create a new tracking id for your Pinterest account or even one for each list you create if you desire.

I wish I had more time to “play” with Pinterest now, but I have packing to do as I leave for Affiliate Summit in the morning! Hope to see you all there!

* If you need an invite to join Pinterest, either leave a comment using a valid email address (it will not be shown and not used for any other purposes) or tweet at me, and I’ll get you a Pinterest invitation email sent ASAP. Please note that I do not receive any referral credit for inviting friends. Adios!

Yesterday was also my son’s 21st birthday, so we went out for lunch. Yes, I know I don’t look old enough to have a 21 year old, thank you very much (and the waitress even handed him the check, which he promptly handed over to me). Anyway, my son is in college. My son lives in a “party house”. My son may or may not have told me a story similar to the following scenario:

Boys in frat houses make fake accounts on POF posing as girls. These “girls” then chat with area men and agree to meet them on the condition that they meet on neutral ground, at a “cousin’s house”. Oh, and he should bring beer. Other boys pretend to be “her” dates as well to see how he will react. The girl mysteriously comes down with something (a penis maybe) and can’t make it to the party…

As you can see, this is cheap free entertainment for the boys. And free beer. And while I laughed at the whole scheme of things, I felt a tad sorry for their victims who were just looking for love. And then I realized that my Christian Louboutin shoe ad that I intended for a 20-something female who loves stilettos may actually be being seen by a teenage boy with toe jam.

Plenty of Fish claims they have 30,000 new singles sign up on their site every day, which is an impressive number. But it makes me wonder how many of them are legitimate registrations? Even upgraded paying members aren’t “verified” for validity. Anyone can get a credit card number by buying a pre-paid debit card nowadays.

And my mind wanders further. What about those semi-legit accounts where real people tell little white lies to make them sound more appealing? For instance, if I had an profile on Plenty of Fish, I may claim to be 29 years old and have my Ph.D. And while I’d like to think I could pull that portrayal off to my suitors, I myself would be receiving advertisements geared to women ten years younger and more educated than myself.

Just think, these same people also make fake/false Facebook accounts (and MySpace accounts, and Google profiles, and…), which is now making me rethink my whole advertising strategies elsewhere as well.

What is your take on this theory of things?

Rumor has it a gal in town flirts with guys by saying, “I have your name tattooed on my ass.” And it doesn’t matter if that guy’s name is Tom, Dick or Harry.  So when the gentlemen respond to prove it, she drops her drawers to reveal she indeed has “Your Name” literally tattooed on her butt cheek.

Obviously she isn’t the first one to think of such as I found plenty of Google images to choose from (image credit: RateMyInk.com).

I myself have a tattoo, that I got when I was young and naive and thought to be in love with my ex-husband.  Having his name tattooed on my body would for sure prove my love for him. The tattoo artist asked me several times if I was sure I wanted to commit to such. Why I didn’t listen to the guy with the needle, I’ll never know. Hindsight is 20/20.

Fast forward a decade and a half to last month: I recently attended Affiliate Summit in Las Vegas, where I won an award. And I roomed with a lovely gal named Shannon (aka Marketing Elf). I thought it would’ve been cool to freak her out in a single-white-female kind of way by saying “I have your name tattooed on my boob” because in case you didn’t know, my ex-husband’s name is Shannon as well.

But immediately after my divorce, I had my tattooed “fixed” and am now sporting a lovely rose with no visible names.  And I don’t flaunt it unless I’m in love… or really, really drunk.

I miss my sensor microwave oven from my other house. My “new” house came with a range hood and a built-in microwave cubby hole. I love the cabinets, even without a built-in spice rack, but Homecrest doesn’t make this style/color anymore for me to get new replacement cupboards to remodel.

I initially asked my construction-management-major brother if we could just move up the middle cupboard (I should have taken a “before” photo), but he didn’t like that idea, saying we won’t be able to find any crown molding to match. He convinced me to buy a valance to replace the cupboards, and we’d install the cupboard doors over the current microwave cubby.

So on Christmas Eve Eve, my family congregated to work on such. Doors were removed from cabinet. Cabinet was thrown in trash. Captain Morgan was being consumed in mass quantity. We find out the doors are a tad too big for cubby. Before they cut out notches to make them fit, I say I want to think about it – maybe we can just leave the space open for cookbooks? My mom goes to buy a new bottle of Captain Morgan.

Now it’s time to install the new over-the-range microwave. Directions say it must be installed under a cupboard! So much for the valance idea. Cabinet was retrieved from trash. Doors were re-attached. More Captain Morgan was consumed. And the cupboard was re-installed how I initially wanted it! It was getting late, so they didn’t have time to at least add the crown molding to the top cabinet. And my crazy brother comments, “I don’t know if we can have Christmas without crown molding.”

But we did anyway. I hosted the annual Sutter Christmas. When we originally looked at buying this house, the first thing my daughters said was, “Good, now we don’t have to host the Sutter Christmas” and the first thing my mom said was, “This house is still big enough to host the Sutter Christmas.” Oy. It’s not that we don’t love and want to see the Sutter clan, it’s just stressful organizing and cleaning the house to accommodate 50 people. But I always have fun wrapping up presents (some gag gifts) from my free room for everyone.

Many thanks to my brothers (shown below with my daughter, Mallory) for their help. I’m glad they were the winners (self-appointed) of the Ugly Christmas Sweater contest this year.

So, it only took four months to get my brothers together to get my microwave installed. We will see how long it now takes to find similar crown molding and get it installed. Maybe by next Christmas! And I’m okay with the open cupboard for now – filled it with cookbooks and knick knacks – but am considering putting a TV there in the future.

Here’s hoping you all had a very Merry Christmas from my house to yours…

Kim and the Kids, Christmas 2011

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It seems lately a lot of my Facebook friends have been sharing inspiring image quotes, so here are five of them that I “liked” (total pun intended):

Which quotes do you “like”?

Well, I’m officially moved – have been for two months, but have been completely, utterly overwhelmed with not only moving, but kids and work as well! Turns out my daughter (the one recently diagnosed with epilepsy) had to spend a week in the hospital (mind you, the hospital is three hours away) the week before we were scheduled to swap houses.

I organized a “culdesac garage sale” with half of the houses participating thinking “the more the merrier” so garage-salers only had to make one stop to check out all the rummage sales. I marked 99% of my items 25¢ each, hoping to get rid of a lot of stuff (less to pack to move). I ended up taking two carloads to Goodwill and Salvation Army of the stuff that didn’t sell. I got tax-deductible receipts, so am going to write off the donations on my taxes next year – will probably earn back more there than I made at the garage sale!

So, we are still getting settled. I finally cleaned out one garage stall, so I can at least park in the garage before the snow flies. Maybe the girls will help me organize/clean the rest when they realize they want to park in the garage as well!

The mailman and delivery drivers are still screwing up the mail between us, and sending out real estate postcards to update my address didn’t seem to help. Oh well, so if life. Time to get back to unpacking….

Houses, not husbands. Cuz I don’t have a husband. And if I did, well, I’m not into that.  The official “house swap” will happen next month, and y’all are invited to help us move. I’ll supply the beer cooler between the houses.

So how did this come about?  Well, I’ve been talking about building a new house for awhile now. I even drew up house plans last fall and researched lots to build on.  Of course, the bank wanted me to sell my current house first, so I’ve been hee-hawing around putting it on the market, as the thought of renting anywhere temporarily just doesn’t appeal to me. And I absolutely refuse to live with my dad again.

In this small gossip town, word gets around, so I’ve had many inquiries from people wanting to buy my house without a “For Sale” sign in the yard. I declined a few offers, as I had a price point in mind that I’d like to get for my house.  And then I got an offer of the price I wanted. Now what?!

So I was chatting with one of my neighbors in the culdesac how I should probably take the offer, but I didn’t know what I would do or where I would live while I could build.  Talking about one thing led to another, how I wanted to downsize as my kids are almost all grown, and they’ve been wanting a bigger house.  They have four kids (just like me although younger): one boy and three girls, including a set of twins. Their eldest has the exact same birthdate as my youngest. How ironic, I know.

I find out my new house plans are very similar to their current house plans (and I’d never even been in their house).  I currently have six bedrooms plus an office. My new house plans had four bedrooms plus an office. Their house has five bedrooms – one of which can be my office (let the painting parties begin)!  My office won’t be in the center of the house, but I’ve decided that may be a good thing, as it is definitely the messiest room in the house (and maybe I won’t spend so much time working).

I’ll only have three bathrooms to clean instead of four (like I wanted). And maybe with the lower mortgage payment, I’ll even hire a cleaning lady. I’m  excited that I locked in an interest rate almost 2% lower than I’m paying now.  The “new” house only has a two-car garage instead of three, but I’ve been housing my brother’s old Mustang so not using my third garage stall anyway. He finally just  moved it to his new house. I figured as long as I get one of the garage stalls, the kids can park outside.

There are some things I’ll want to change in the new house, as I’m sure they will want to change in mine, but it’ll be far less stressful than building again. Anyway, why I am spending so much time blogging?! I have packing to do!

Many of you long-time readers will know that I’m not only scared of dogs, but I’m also deathly afraid of mice!  So when my daughter Macy spotted a mouse in our basement on Monday morning, I was petrified and posted the following status update on my Facebook page:

There is a mouse in my house, and I’m a bit freaked out.

I gotta love my friends that commented leaving me some bona fide and some outlandish advice on how to catch a mouse, as well as making me laugh along the way. The comments were too funny not to share…

Mookie from 94Rock: Is it in a box? Is it near a fox?

Wade Tonkin: Or on a Train… in the Rain?

Eric Nagel: Go get a cat. A cat with a bat. Yes a cat with a bat will rid it like that!

Wade Tonkin: Isn’t it great having smart assed friends in your time of need?

Kim Rowley (me): It’s in the basement behind the fridge. I wish it was outside jumping off a bridge.

Kim Rowley: Smart assed friends would be even better if they made house calls to kill mice.

Chris: Rat bait will speed up the wait.

Eric Nagel: Sorry, it’s a bit far for a house-call. Get these, they work great.

Kim Rowley: I have sticky traps out, but I’m thinking a trip to Walmart may be in order to stock up on poison and traps.

Wade Tonkin: the only problem with the poison is that they die in inconvenient places and can stink things up a bit – at least with the traps you can get rid of them.

Rexanne: Awwwwww poor little mousie

Richard: As an attorney representing the mouse I would advise not hurting my client but discussing a deal in this day & age.. maybe a financial settlement can be worked out or a plea bargain..no one has asked my client why she and 3 little ones are …under the fridge they have no home& it is cold out..she is doing the best she can to raise them..maybe they could be moved to a lab she could get a job as a lab mouse& the 3 little ones could stay till she finds a new fridge to live under..bringing in a cat will only inflate the situation and make mouse my client nervous & cat litigation papers will be drawn up..Thank you for your cooperation in this matter..yours truly, Mickey Mouse/entertainer/attorney at mouse law.I can be reached at 1-800-save-mouse..Magic Kingdom..

Richard: and for all of those ones that were injured and killed during the “Glue Trap Wars”..we shall not forget.(taps playing in the background)..and for getting stuck on a glue trap and having to pull your insides out to try and get free..to warn other comrades..”The Distinguished Medal Of Cheese”…is given to..private mousetrap.”Private mousetrap now wears skates because she has no feet”so could she skate to the front of the podium please& kindly receive her medal”(applause)..

Shannon: I highly recommend this method. It has worked each and every time that I set it up. Make your own humane mouse trap.

Kim Rowley: Richard, are you implying that there may be more than one?! I’m already freaked out.  And sorry Shannon, but I want the sucker/s dead.

Deborah Carney: We have a couple of cats you can borrow…

Richard: according to research they have 9 or more babies at a time..a litter..are very smart.have been around since the dinosaurs..are very survival minded..can chew through concrete..can eat anything..and can grow to be over 20lbs..there are over 4 billion rats and mice on Earth at the moment..they could rise up and take over if they wanted to..but shh. don’t tell them….squeak!…

Lorie: Kim, go to Walmart and get those things you plug in your wall and they transmit a sound to scare off mice and bugs but humans don’t here the sound. I haven’t had a mouse since we put 2 of them in last year. They really do work. I have one plugged in each end of my house. Thanks Lorie! I found a commercial strength Ultrasonic Rodent Repeller to buy!

Sabrina Malone: Lorie’s idea is the most practical and humane. She’s probably right. That being said, if it were me, I’d leave the house, call an exterminator asking for an emergency removal, and if they couldn’t come right away, I’d book a hotel room for the night. I realize this sounds extreme and wimpy, but I’d go to almost any expense to avoid staying in the house with a mouse running free. Let us know how it goes…and I’ll be praying for you! I appreciate the prayers Sabrina!

Kim Rowley: Now I’m really freaking out because the mouse is no longer behind the fridge and not stuck on any traps – he could be anywhere! And it’s white out – winter snow advisory, so I can’t trek to Walmart!

Jen Goode: peanut butter.. catch them with peanut butter

Brian: General rule of thumb. There is usually about 30 mice to every one you see. Exception to the rule could be that this single mouse ran in a door while it was open or was carried in the house in a box or something. First thing I’d do is try to figure out where it came from and look for droppings around the house. I recommend the trap with the entrance on both sides with the clear plastic top so you can see if you caught anything. You put bait in the middle and they go in from either side to get it but cant get out. Then you can just lift up the lid with a long handle and you don’t have to get near it. If it were me I would bite it’s head off and spit the head where the mouse entered the house. Think about it, would you go in a house where someone’s decapitated head was? I did carry in some boxes from the garage to the basement, so I may actually be the one that let the bugger in!

Brian: R u going to use my advice to rid your house of mice? Use the trap I suggested, I’m sure you’re house isn’t too mouse infested. Put it up next to a wall, like behind the fridge or in the hall. When you catch the little critter,kill her and hope she hasn’t had a litter. Biting its head off might make you think eww, but if it was big enough it would do it to you. Note: Brian is the brother of one of my best friends.  She used to tell me not to laugh at him when we were little or he’d never shut up!

Sabrina Malone: ‎@Brian – you are incorrigible! Can’t you see this mouse thing is serious business? Made worse by the fact that she’s snowed in with it! Updated advice in light of the blizzard. I’d go knocking on my neighbor’s doors asking if their husbands felt up to mouse hunting – while I hung out at their place drinking tea and pretending to be social. Then I’d return to my home once he’s caught it…and looked for any others. Keep us posted. (And I’m still praying for you.)

Brian: Ok, the reason it came in is because it’s cold outside. Open the doors and windows to make it just as cold inside as it is outside. Build a fire on your patio and put some cheese by the fire. When it/they go outside slam the door. Then simply throw a bucket of water out of the window to put out the fire. I have an extra bedroom for the night if you don’t have any firewood.

Stephanie Lichtenstein: Ok this happened to me in NY and I cried sobbed actually. Courtney my roommate thought I was going to move back to Miami when it happened.

Karen Hoxmeier: I’ve had to deal with 2 mice in my house this year. Regular snap traps scare me. I’m afraid I will get my finger. And poison isnt good because it will eat it and go die. You’ll have a mouse rotting somewhere and have to find it by smell. Get these and use peanut butter as bait. Just a tiny bit spread onto the trap in the back. They’ve always worked well for me. I tried the glue ones a few years ago. Caught one by one foot and it was disgusting and very sad. Better that they just die quickly.

Stephanie D: I would say to get a cat, but our cat has been bringing us many gifts: mice, dead and alive, sometimes two a day. She also brought in a bunny 1/3 her size, a butterfly and a dove. I think she’s cleaned up the neighborhood. I’m quite tired of disposing of her offerings. The sticky traps are OK, but you have to finish off the mouse. Maybe rent-a-cat?

Macy (my daughter): Well I believe all credit goes me, I’m the one that saw it & is brave enough to go down there & check on it!! P.S. I was down there for not even ten minutes and my mom is yelling down the stairs “Macy you Okay?” like it ate me or something lol

Stephanie Lichtenstein: Well did you find it and most importantly did you kill it @Macy?

Macy: Well when I looked behind the fridge it wasn’t where I saw it this morning, so no I didn’t kill it, but I put sticky traps with cheese on the ends on both ends of the fridge!

James Martell: I think you should name him (or her).

Stephanie Lichtenstein: Kill it!

Wade Tonkin: My rule is always to let critters exist – if they stay outside. Once they come in – they played a bad hand and they’re toast.

Tuesday morning, and the mouse opera continues…

Kim Rowley: Mickey is still at large this morning, and I’m home alone petrified. At least yesterday I was babysitting my baby niece who I could have sacrificed to the mouse lords. Let’s hope my sister doesn’t read this!

Stephanie Lichtenstein: I will not be at ease until this is taken care of!

Kim Rowley: Okay, I just bought 12 (yes, twelve), one of every kind of mouse houses available at Walmart. Mickey is going down.

Macy: Well it is now killed, I was walking down stairs to put out the traps & saw it stuck by its tail to the sticky traps & could probably get free, so I took a knife & stabbed it to death

Stephanie Lichtenstein: Good now I can sleep at night! Hopefully we can, too!

I slept a bit better last night although when my radio alarm went off this morning, I jumped as I thought it sounded like a scratching mouse. We still set out all the traps just in case Mickey has friends, or Heaven-forbid Minnie had babies.

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I was cleaning out folders on my PC today when I came across this list of 25 things I wrote about myself two years ago.  Not sure why I wrote it, but I found everything to be true yet today.

1. I ran away from home when I was 14. I became an emancipated minor so I could start college when I was 17.

2. I have a fear of dogs. I seriously have a panic attack if a dog so much as tries to touch and/or lick me.  My daughters inherited my dogaphobia (Cynophobia is the correct term) as well.

3. I love shoes and am the self-appointed President of Shoeaholics Anonymous -   I can do that when I own the website.

4. I admit I’m a terrible driver.  And I don’t drive at night (I have night blindness). Saves on gas money (just have to shell out more beer money).

5. I don’t like/drink beer. My favorite mixed drink is Rootbeer Schnapps with Diet Coke (tastes like Rootbeer soda pop). Unfortunately when I travel, most non-hicktowns don’t carry such, so then I just request “something fruity”. My favorite blended drink is a Strawberry Daiquiri with whipped cream on top.

6. Pizza is my favorite food. Old Chicago is my favorite pizza place. Tombstone stuffed crust is my favorite frozen variety.

7. I hate pork. I do not eat ham, pork chops, bacon, etc.

8. I could fill up all 25 spots with foods I do not like (ie ketchup, yellow cheese), but let’s just sum it by saying I’m a picky eater.

9. I took guitar lessons when I was little and still have my acoustic guitar.  The only song I remember how to play is “And they’ll know we are Christians by our love…”

10. I played the flute in our high school band, but I couldn’t march and play at the same time.  I think that’s why the band director let me be the drum majorette. And I looked cute in a short skirt (I was obviously skinnier then).

11. I have never had a broken bone. The only minor accidents as a child I had were stitches on my scalp and stitches in my chin – both happened while playing with my uncle (who is actually younger than me, as my mom and grandma were pregnant at the same time).

12. I got pregnant (and thus married) when I was 17. Divorced when I was 31. Still single. After hearing a lot of married friends bitch about their husbands, I think I may be better off!

13. My twins were over 13 weeks premature weighing 2 lbs. each with several complications. I thank the Lord they are relatively healthy now and “normal” per se  – you can read their NICU story over at PreemieTwins.com.

14. I am lucky that I have naturally straight teeth, as my parents would not have been able to afford braces for me.  My children were not so lucky – three down in braces, one to go (my youngest just got her braces on).

15. I proved to skeptics that a single mom can build a dream home without the help of a man.  And now that I’ve done it and realized all the things I’d do differently, I want to build another new house (stay tuned as I’m working on it).

16. Why would I ever want to get remarried? To get married in a church, to change my last name, and to use the registry gun at Target to shoot all the trivial stuff I’d like but would never buy for myself.  Group health insurance would be a plus, too.

17. I used to be a die-hard Pepsi fan.  When I decided I was going to switch to diet pop, I lost 11 pounds in 5 days.  I now drink Diet Dew (and I gained those 11 lbs back, ugh).

18. Some days I think plastic surgery would increase my self-esteem and have considered getting a “Mommy Makeover”.  Other days I just want people to notice my brains over my beauty.

19. On my bucket list, I want to visit every state, every continent and every country in Europe.

20. I also want to do missionary work while in Africa.

21. I have a fear of fires.  I rarely light candles and double-check to make sure things are unplugged.

22. I absolutely loathe liars. “If you tell the truth, you don’t have to remember anything.” ~ Mark Twain

23. I have never taken any foreign languages.  Me gustaría saber cómo hablar español. (gotta love Google translate)

24. I ran sprints in high school.  I was the only senior girl to go out for track. But I never qualified for state.  Top two spots in districts advance on.  I got third in three events.

25. I love marketing, as seen by the shameless self-plugs within my notes above. I truly believe one finds success by doing something one loves and has a passion for. I just wish I was a tad smarter to be able to develop all of the brainstorms that fly through my head.

Continued from Kitchen Makeover Application: Part Two

The last part of our Kitchen Makeover Application was a video submission. Unfortunately video producing and editing is neither of our strong points. Maybe if I had someone other than my twelve year old daughter do the video-taping and if Carolyn had not been so busy planning her wonderful wedding, we could have created a better video…

And then here’s was the rejection letter I received from Angie Jedlicka of RIVR Media after submission…

Thank you so much for your submission to our new kitchen makeover television series.  We received hundreds of great entries and it was a very difficult task to sort through them all in search of our participants.   Unfortunately, you were not chosen for the program but we will keep your video and application on file for future shows.

We want to thank you for all the hard work you put into your submission and your interest in our show. We had some amazing videos come along and we can’t thank you enough for your participation and creativity.

I was so sad that we didn’t get chosen as I thought it would be super fun to work with Nicole Facciuto and hang with Carolyn in Chicago for a week! The new kitchen for Carolyn and being on an HGTV show would have just been a bonus.

P.S. Carolyn still promises she’ll cook pizza on the grill for me!

Continued from Kitchen Makeover Application: Part One

Imagine Carolyn’s and my utter excitement when I received the following email from RIVR Media…

Your submission has made it to the next step in our show’s casting process. In order to be considered, we need additional information about you and the person who you think deserves a kitchen makeover.

Again, we are a new television show looking for energetic and passionate people who are not shy about being on television. We believe both you and your nominee are excellent candidates for this show.

As part of the Kitchen Makeover Questionnaire, we each had to tell a bit about ourselves and our families, etc. Here is an excerpt from what we submitted:

Kim:
Born and bred in Nebraska. In high school, my dream was to live in a big city and produce television commercials (my original major in college was Art). That dream took a detour when I got pregnant, got married and had four children before I turned 25!  But I wouldn’t trade my kids for anything. I still think of myself as a big city girl stuck in a small town (population 1700).  I can see myself living in Chicago or New York City (these are my favorite cities for walking and public transportation as I don’t like to drive) when all the kids are grown and gone.

Being a young mother, I had to be frugal by cutting coupon and sending in rebates.  My hobby of saving money was paying for my husband’s (now-ex) hobby of flying airplanes.  Once I discovered the invention of the world wide web, I started a website to help other’s save money and in turn, that website now supports my family (and I let my ex-husband keep the airplane in our divorce).  I originally met Carolyn years ago at an internet marketing conference, and we’ve been friends ever since.

I am now dating a wonderful man that has even more kids than I do (we could have our own football team).  Plus he is the cook in the relationship.  If kitchen makeover applications were being accepted for the middle of nowhere in Nebraska, I may have nominated him instead.

Carolyn:
I’m originally from San Diego, but moved out to Chicago in 1995 to go to school (Northwestern University, also in Evanston, where I live now).  Everyone always asks, “You left San Diego for this?”  But seeing the seasons change is a lot of fun for me!  This last autumn was our first in Evanston, and it was absolutely incredible to see the leaves change color around our own home.  On Halloween, we raked the leaves into a huge pile on our front lawn, and were rewarded later in the evening when a trick-or-treater (it was the tiniest Harry Potter you’ve ever seen) took a giant flying leap right into the middle of the pile.  The exhilaration in his face was phenomenal!  That right there shows the warmth and friendliness of the Midwest spirit.

My fiancé Jeff (now husband) and I met over 10 years ago, while we both worked for the same company.  We were always really great work buddies, but lost touch for about five years when I went back to school to get my MBA.  Two years ago, he sends me a text message out of the blue, and we meet up for a couple drinks.  We’ve been together ever since.  And this August, we’ll be married!  (Want to come?  The ceremony is in Kauai, followed by a reception in Chicago, followed by a campout for anyone who wants to join at Sleeping Bear Dunes in Michigan!  I can’t promise you a nice kitchen while we’re camping, but I can promise you some good grub!)

Special talents…I love to write, so I freelance for the local newspaper and for a business magazine just to keep my pen nimble; I love to decorate cakes and I can make a pretty decent rose out of gum paste; I can trade knock knock jokes with the best of them; and I can get a meat and potatoes man to eat tofu.

Continue on to Kitchen Makeover Application: Finale

When my friend Nicole Facciuto (HGTV Designer) posted on Facebook that A&E TV was looking for nominations for a Kitchen Makeover show in the Chicago area, the first person that came to mind to nominate was my frustrated foodie friend, Carolyn Tang.

Carolyn & Kim posing as Ford spokeswomen BlogWorld - Las Vegas 2009

Here is an excerpt from our initial application submission:

Tell us why you are nominating this person. We want to hear about his/her love of cooking – favorite type of food to cook, favorite restaurants, favorite chefs – and what she/he doesn’t like about their current kitchen. The more personality/detail the better!

I am nominating Carolyn because she absolutely loves to cook and makes the most out of her cardboard kitchen. Her and her fiancé (note: now husband) just bought a beautiful Dutch Colonial home built in the 1920s. Great neighborhood, great school system, right across the street from the 11th hole of a golf course, wonderful little garden… The house is in great shape, but the kitchen could use some work. Old butcher block counter tops, not the kind with character, but the kind used when trying to skimp. White veneer cabinets, plywood molding around the doors and windows (hand-painted with little green leaves no less), and the piece de la resistance, a stained glass cabinet featuring large palm trees over the fridge. Oh but wait, that’s not stained glass, that’s stained plastic.

You know how they say “Everyone gathers in the kitchen”? Not this kitchen. It’s a sad kitchen for such a passionate foodie. She’s a farmer’s market kind of gal marrying a meat and potatoes guy, so household meals tend to stretch from a really delicate corn and fingerling potato chowder (her) to slow cooked ribs dry rubbed with a house concoction (him). She incorporates her Chinese background into her food, working wonders with tofu, and he brings his Finnish upbringing in the mix with homemade pastys. Her favorite chefs include Carrie Nahabedian of Naha in Chicago (you can see an interview Carolyn did with Carrie on her blog: Urban Vivant); Alice Waters; and Art Smith. His favorite chef, if you ask him, is probably her…but if you ask him privately, it would probably be whoever the line cook is at the closest Chipotle.

I think what both of them don’t like about their kitchen, is that it is very dated and closed off from the rest of the house. It’s not laid out right for both of them to be in the kitchen at once, which is really sad for a soon-to-be-married couple. There’s lots of room to bust down a wall, but they could really use some ingenuity and muscle to figure out how that would work. I would like to think that one day, they will have a kitchen that reflects their shared warmth and spirit. Please help me help them!

Continue on to Kitchen Makeover Application: Part Two