Tuesday, March 31, 2009

What a finish, folks!!!

Cheryl here to wrap up all this March Madness! BKRoot started the voting at 7:02 am this morning and the Texas Tidbit's UGallery.com led the way but then the earth quaked and woke the California Golden Girls up and their big idea of wine with recipe tag started to run away with the voting. Both teams rallied their friends to help out. It looked like Art was going to catch up near the end but just at the buzzer, Wine sealed the game with two more votes! Congratulations California Golden Girls!!!

Do we have some readers with big ideas or what? Highlowaha's Bid Idea March Madness gave us all some great ideas to utilize in 2009. From Animoto slide shows to Shutterfly Photobooks, Flashdrives and Elves for Shelves, Snuggies to Frownies there has been something for everyone.

The last two ideas from the Texas Tidbits were:
More ART with artist, Elizabeth St. Hilaire Nelson – a wonderful artist. She calls her work Paper Paintings. They are awesome pieces done only with paper. She has used Scrabble tiles in past pieces. I purchased a small piece over Christmas called Cherry-on-Top and I love it. I would love to own more of her pieces! Check out her blog. Here is a photo of my piece.



Book: YOU: Being Beautiful by Dr. Oz and Dr. Roizen. Dr. Oz is the doctor that’s always on Oprah and full of all kinds of knowledge. The book goes through different parts of the body (face, hair, mouth, nails, etc..) and gives tips on things you can do to make them more beautiful. For example, in the skin/face section, it goes through every kind of vitamin, AHA, ANYTHING and EVERYTHING that’s in face creams and lays out what works and what doesn’t and why. Seriously, it’s the best book ever! The You Books also have a website. It’s also full of very useful info on health, nutrition, being beautiful, etc.



The final two ideas from the Champions were:
Giant Cupcake - What better birthday gift to give a friend than to feel like a kid again with a cake in the shape of a GIANT cupcake?! We love the new giant cupcake pans that have come out from companies like Wilton and Williams Sonoma. These cupcakes are about 8 inches in diameter and can happily feed a group of 8. These larger than life cupcakes are also super fun to decorate to fit all occasions! So don’t be shy with the frosting, giant sprinkles and candy to make your cakes festive. We love this website for fabulous design ideas- http://www.allthingscupcake.com/.


Dinner Club - Gather a group of friends who share a passion for food and fun and form a Dinner Club. Our group takes turn to host a dinner every other month or so depending on the group’s availability. The host sends out the invitation, prepares a gourmet dinner including appetizers, entrĂ©e and dessert. The guest comes dressed for the special themed dinner and a big appetite. Our dinner club even has a signature drink – Sangrias that is served at each dinner. It has been a lot of fun for each of us to plan an entire meal and enjoy each other’s cooking.
I'd like to thank all the teams that took the time to gather together, put together your favorite ideas of 2008 and share them with Highlowaha. This would not have been as much fun without all of you.

So, what did the California Golden Girls win? As team captain, Quynh will gather her Golden Girls and head off for Highlowaha's favorite coffee shop, Starbucks. And, while they are sipping on Carmel Macchiato's and Cinnamon Dolce Latte's they will learn more about each other playing the travel version of Cowgirls Ride the Trail of Truth that has been kindly furnished by the General Store at Cowgirls Ride the Trail of Truth. How fun is that?

Don't you wish you had a game of Cowgirls Ride the Trail of Truth? Well, you can win one right here at Highlowaha! They sent us two travels size games! Now that is fun.

How do you win? Submit your favorite idea from 2008 and be entered into a drawing!

Signing off until tomorrow...

14 comments:

Peggy said...

Hi there!
Kind of lonely here...
mmmm....
well....

I'll talk about Goal Fishing...

My two goals this month were to weed out and purge my cardmaking catalogs and mags...some 5 years old...although I'm not done! I'm proud to say I made it 2/3 of the way through recycling over 30+ mags. I ripped out pages with great ideas and will make a little binder for those. My shelf is so open and FREEer now!

And my other goal, to burn pictures from the computer to a recordable CD.... again, although not done... I'll say I'm at 3/4 done with that... had a computer glich toward the end that I thought I LOST two disks worth of burning... I almost lost (my mind that is) it after 4+ hours of transferring.

Goal not accomplished... but great headway to success!!! That I can live with!

What are your goals, and what have you been doing with them?

eknoxuk said...

I love the giant cupcake idea! I'm putting that pan on my wish list. I also like when people use cupcake stands or put a bunch of cupcakes together to ice to look like one cake. There's just something fun and youthful about cupcakes.

Goal-I'm trying to come up with ideas to make life easier when the twins get here. I've been getting easy freezer casserole ideas from people-feel free to send me some! I'm also trying to do little projects like organize the messy cabinets.

Heather @ HouseofShine.com said...

One of my favorite ideas from 2008 came from Lindsay during last week's Sharing Saturday when she shared stumbleupon...This fun service puts a toolbar on your browser and you truly stumble upon websites they think you will like based upon your interests then you choose like or don't like and it starts to pare down the sites to ones you always like...I stumbled onto a site this morning with inspiration and saw this quote...it made me think of our HLA community and the Gift of 218:

“Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, It is the only thing that ever has.” -Margaret Mead

lindsaymarie said...

My idea is similar to the dinner club, but shaken up a bit for the college crowd - my friends and I call it the "I Love Food Club". Most of us live in dorms so we can't cook, but every so often we call a "club meeting" and go to my friend's apartment and cook a meal together. We usually do someone's favorite recipe from home. It's such a treat to have a home-cooked meal, and cooking together is so much fun.

A second idea - A website for the ladies called mon.thly.info - you create an account and it keeps track of your periods for you. It's a cute, well-designed, easy to use site, too!

Cheryl Houston said...

Peggy~ you're working on your goals, that's what counts!!

Erica~ I saw one of those pans at Target last night. Not sure the cost.

Heather~ that's a great quote.

My favorite idea from 2008 is hard because I keep thinking of stuff but they're actually ideas from 2009... will I remember them for next year or should I just go ahead and share? hmm... Wait... here's one from 2008-

http://bakerella.blogspot.com/2008/12/cake-three-ways.html

I haven't made these yet but they're on my list. Little baby cakes. :)

heather said...

Cheryl...you are so right...clearly my idea is 2009...what was a new idea in 2008? Hmmmm...that I'll have to think on.

lindsaymarie said...

I read the instructions wrong... I thought we were submitting new ideas... I'll think about this.

Claudia said...

Hi everyone. I feel out of the loop. It has been a busy morning.

Let's see... my favorite idea from last year... Fun socks/slippers from Target. I can't remember exactly what they are called, but they look like little Mary Janes only they are made of something that feels like chanile. They are SOFT, comfortable, and have treads on the bottom. Most of all I love them, because they make them for every holiday (Halloween, Christmas, Valentine's Day, St. Patrick's Day, etc....) They only cost $4.99, so I love to give them as small treats to friends, teachers, and neighbors.

Another good idea shared with me by Heather. Erica... if you're out there you will like this, because it will simplify life when the twins come along. When you change the sheets of the crib(s) put three sheets on at one time. That way you don't have to pull the entire mattress out EVERY time you need to change the sheets! I thought that was very clever.

Katie said...

My best idea of 2008 is actually a recipe which has become my specialty. I am required/mandated by my classmates and friends to bring it to every gathering, holiday party, pot luck, etc. It's a big hit.

Buffalo Chicken Dip

*Cook 2-3 boneless chicken breasts in the crockpot/or on stove if no crockpot until full cooked
*Shred the chicken by hand

*1 pkg of cream cheese
*1/2 cup hot sauce (of your choice)
*2 cups of shredded cheese
*1 cup of ranch dressing

*Mix all of that together with the chicken.

*Place in a 13x9 pan and cook in the over for 15-20 minutes on 350 degrees

*Eat with tortilla chips....YUM!

Katie said...

PS. Lately, on my poor grad student budget, I have been doing without the chicken on this recipe and it is just as delicious, minus the meat! So for you vegetarians or those on a budget like me- this is great!

b.k.root said...

Haha, Katie K., that's funny you mentioned the vegetarian version.... One of my RAs is having a "Go Veg!" Week in which people are encouraged to go vegetarian for the week. I'm on day two today...

I don't know how vegetarians do it! I miss my meat already! haha.

b.k.root said...

P.S. My goal is going really well... Since January, I've lost 22 pounds. Honestly, I don't even remember what my actual goal was, but I know I'm well on my way.

Cheryl Houston said...

Way to go Brian! That's awesome...

Okay fine.. I'll take ideas from 2009!

Chaotic Kristi said...

wow...BK... way to go!! My goal is to be MUCH healthier than I am now (ie: 40# lighter) by my mom's Bday in Oct.. sigh...

I do not have fave idea from 2008 bc I can't remember that far back!!