Now you can download a WordPress plug-in so a signup box can be added directly to your blog from MadMimi.  This makes getting more subscribers to your blogs and newsletters even simpler.

Here’s a direct link to the WordPress plug-in – it’s totally free and easy to use.   http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/mad-mimi/

Enjoy!

I don’t know how it happened, but it was only about a year ago while on a business trip to San Diego that I first tried crème brûlée. What in the world was I thinking — waiting that long to eat the most wonderful dessert on the face of the planet!

From that moment on, I was obsessed with finding the best and easiest recipe for crème brûlée. It took me a few tries and one or two (dozen) wasted eggs, but I finally found what I believe is the best one so far.

I’m not sure that I’ll keep trying to find the best crème brûlée recipe. I do know that I will try to find variations on a theme recipes. I want to find a Bailey’s Irish cream crème brûlée recipe — and chocolate crème brûlée doesn’t sound so bad either.

While I’m still looking and testing and cooking — I thought I’d share the best one of the bunch:

Simple Crème Brûlée

2 cups heavy cream
5 egg yolks (make sure all egg whites have been separated)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup granulated sugar
4 7-oz ramekins

preheat oven to  275°. Whisk the cream, egg yolks, sugar and vanilla extract together in a bowl. Mix until nice and creamy — no lumps. Pour mixture into ramekins and place them in a baking pan. Fill the baking pan with warm water — about half way up the side of the ramekins. Place the pan with the ramekins in the oven for 45 minutes to one hour. After 45 minutes, check the ramekins every 10 minutes. You’ll know they are done when a knife in the center comes out clean. Remove the ramekins from the baking dish set them on the counter and let them cool.

Once they have cooled to room temperature, cover and refrigerate to let them chill overnight.

Sprinkle a thin layer of granulated sugar on the top of each ramekin. Make sure you spread a thin layer — but also make sure it’s even and completely covers the custard.

Now it’s time to play with fire!

Torch the tops of the custard until the sugar melts and has begun to turn golden brown. What you want is a thin hard crust that completely covers the top of the custard.

Mmmmm, Mmmmm, Good!

Enjoy!

I was out and about on the internet today and came across a beautifully designed Yahoo group post.  The email that I received was just as lovely as the Yahoo web post.

That, of course, made me very curious.  I’m often captured by how something looks and I’m more interested in reading further if someone has taken the time and energy to beautifully design what they send. Then  I want to know WHAT they are saying as much as HOW they designed it.

Let’s face it, folks, we are all savvy enough that we’re tired of text-based emails with short word-wrapped sentences that scream "buy my stuff" – "get it now before it’s gone forever" – "buymystuff, buymystuff, BUYMYSTUFFNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!"  

I’m also getting tired of all the new "get a FREE 5-minute training video where they spend 4 minutes trying to convince me that I need to go buytheirstuff."

If you want to capture your audience’s attention long enough to get your message across … and if you are interested in creating interesting and lovely emails and newsletters, I recommend MadMimi. Yep, that’s not a typo! MadMimi.com is a service where most of the components are free up to a certain number of subscribers.  However, I find that their rates are reasonable for those that build a larger list.  An autoresponder is available, but after I signed up I discovered it was one of the items that requires a monthly fee right from the get-go.  Not a biggie as I feel that the newsletter feature is outstanding!

If you don’t already have a list and you aren’t sure how long it may take you to build one – OR – you are looking for creative ways to post newsletters and emails to your teams, Yahoo and Google groups ~ check out MadMimi.com.  

Well, I’m here today to flatter Phil Stone of http://www.AskKimAndPhilStone.com. I was honored to be friended by Phil recently over on Facebook and instead of a simple (but always appreciated) "thanks."  ~ Or the dreaded "buy my stuff, join my team, BUYMYSTUFF!!!!!!!!" type of message I’m seeing more and more of over on Facebook, I got an unexpected treat.

Phil sent me a link to an intro video – and he didn’t try and sell me a thing. How refreshing is that!

So, naturally, I ain’t dumb!  I asked if he would mind if I used his video as a starting point for creating one of my own. Thanks, Phil! You live up to your word … no sales, no hype – just good information on your website!

I can easily recommend Phil Stone as a keeper!  And here’s to both of our sites keeping up the good work!

Want to see my new intro video??  Well, you’ll just have to go over and friend me on Facebook, now wontcha!  tee hee!

I found the most mouthwatering cocktail recipe video. 

I just love fresh cucumbers and combining them with mint sounds truly awesome! 

Since I’ve never made a mojito before, I love the video format that walks me through everything.

I’m putting this on my list of cocktails to try soon!

I was goofing around with my bread machine on Sunday and put together a really great loaf of bread. I have all of these Pampered Chef and Tastefully Simple mixes and I’m never quite sure what to do with them except make dip.  Now I’ve found a new way to use them!  After it came out of the machine, I think it lasted a total of 2 hours (we shared with friends).

It was totally YUM!

Here is the recipe – not sure how to give instructions for anything but a bread machine, so here it is!

Rosemary Herb Bread (ABM)

• 1 cup + 2 tablespoons water
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1 tablespoon dry milk
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon Pampered Chef Rosemary Herb mix
• 3 cups bread flour
• 2-1/4 teaspoons yeast

Add the ingredients to your bread machine following the instructions of the manufacturer.  I have a Zojirushi – so all the liquids go in first. 

Set the machine for basic white bread on medium crust.  Now go do something fun or constructive for a few hours and then come back to a wonderfully baked bread.  The texture &  crumb make it the perfect sandwich bread!

Enjoy! 

This is a screenshot of how I view Twitter from my FireFox browser.  No gimmicks, I didn’t mess with it – that’s how it looks on my computer.

This is a quick and easy way to turn your Twitter.com Home page into one like most Twitter web applications out there, such as Tweetdeck, Seesmic or Hootsuite.

Some of you may prefer this solution since you will have access to all of your Twitter data – your profile, your followers, your settings, your lists and searches – all in one place.  I really like this solution because I can use both HootSuite and Twitter.com as this gives me a complete Twitter experience with only 2 screens.

If you use either Firefox or Chrome, you can turn the native Twitter website into a customizable Twitter web application that can do the following:

• Add list columns
• Add mentions column
• Collapse and expand number of columns with a single click
• Collapse right rail column
• Add search columns
• Share photos directly
• Shorten urls
• Save draft tweets to send later
• and much more…

There is only one requirement – you have to be using Firefox or Chrome.
If you’re in one of those browsers, follow the following steps:

Firefox users:
1. Go to the add-on library and install monkeyfly.
2. Restart browser, go to Tools – Add-ons and enable monkeyfly if it’s not enabled already
3. Go to Twitter and use the plus sign to customize your page
~or~
4. Watch the 3 minute tutorial and then go to Twitter to customize your page –
Just an FYI on the tutorial – there is no sound and the person doing the video is going pretty fast.

Chrome users:
1. Go to Google Chrome extensions and install monkeyfly
2. Go to Windows – Extensions and check that monkeyfly is enabled
3. Go to Twitter and use the plus sign to customize your page
~or~
4. Watch the 3 minute tutorial and then go to Twitter to customize your page

If you’re not using one of these browsers, give one a try so you can use monkeyfly.

Now you can Redesign Twitter and Have it Your Way!

Enjoy!

And believe me when I tell you, if you are in direct sales (a party plan company, as some call it) this webinar could seriously be the beginning of a whole new way of doing business for you. Julie Anne really outdid herself and packed so much actionable content into this one hour webinar I was really amazed.

I went into the seminar wondering if I was going to need my bull-crap filter.  You know the one I’m talking about – it’s the one you have to pull out and use when you realize that the "free" seminar you are listening to is packed full of nothing but fluff and you have to strain all that "stuff" through a filter to get any decent nuggets of value out of it – the leader is just trying to promote their next best thing.

Not so with Julie Anne’s webinar.  It was surprisingly informative and well worth the time I spent. She provided information that I could take away and use.  She is one of the most down-to-earth coaches/trainers I’ve listened to in the area of direct sales in a long, long time.

The only thing that bothered me was the fact that I found out about it so close to the date that I didn’t have time to tell many people about it.  So many of my direct sales friends and colleagues weren’t on the webinar. Then Julie Anne told us she was GIVING AWAY not only the replay, but also the MP3 Download of the call! You really have to take the time to listen.

You can access the replay here.

Here’s what Julie Anne covered during the call:

• How to navigate your way through all the information and education and choose just what you need to succeed.
• How to move from ideas into action.
  
• The 4 areas you must master in order to achieve real success.
  
• The one shift you can make in your thinking that WILL change your results.
  

And just in case you listen to the webinar and then want to share the information with others, go ahead and forward them this e-mail. We want to get this information into the hands of as many people as we can!

Questions? Call Julie Anne Jones, Inc. at 410-838-7305 or e-mail them at info@julieannejones.com.

Now, how many companies out there hand out their phone number these days? This is a sign of Julie Anne’s sincerity and her legitimacy as a groundbreaking coach in direct sales.

Again, you can access the replay here.

Enjoy!

It’s not very often that a sequel is as good as the 1st movie. I believe, in this case, the sequel was even better than the original.

Not only was it an incredible movie, but I live right down the road from where quite a few of these scenes were filmed – Bethlehem, PA.  They used the old Bethlehem Steel Mill and it was really cool because I was even able to see the filming (even if it was from far, far away!)

Transformers – Revenge of the Fallen starts out with Sam heading off to college … alone. He isn’t taking his girlfriend or his Autobot protector, Bumblebee, with him.

After one of the most hysterical scenes where Sam’s Mom has been given hash brownies, Sam meets his “legend-in-his-own-mind” roommate and then he’s seduced by a gorgeous classmate (who just happens to have a 12-foot long metallic scorpion-like tail).  Then things start to get interesting.

Apparently, the Autobots haven’t been completely honest with Sam & since he’s touched a shard of the AllSpark, he knows things that he’s not supposed to know and the Decepticons will do whatever it takes to get the info that’s in his head.

A couple of movie theatre hours later and some really intense scenes, everyone (at least the good guys) live happily ever after.

What’s great is that the fans live happily ever after as well – because this sequel is well-made and definitely worth the price of the movie ticket. This is one of those movies that I am happy to recommend to everyone! Enjoy!

Since I’m a computer geek, I really love all the info that’s been put out there about how this movie was created. Here are some really cool fun-facts that I think you may enjoy!

Robots

• 1st movie: 14 robots
• Revenge of the Fallen: 46 robots (ILM only)
• If you had all the gold ever mined in the history of man, you could build a little more than half of Devastator.
• Optimus Prime will be life size on IMAX screens in many forest fight shots.
• Devastator’s hand is traveling 390 miles per hour when he punches the pyramid.
• The pyramid destruction simulation was 8 times bigger than the old rigid simulation all-time record holder at ILM.
• All robot parts laid out end to end would stretch from one side of California to the other, about 180 miles
• Devastator’s parts stacked tip to tip would be as tall as 58 empire state buildings.
• If all the texture maps on the show were printed on 1 square yard sheets, they would cover 13 football fields.

Disk space (This is TOTALLY cool!)

• TF1 took 20 Terabytes of disk space.
• Revenge of the Fallen took 145 Terabytes. Seven times bigger!
• 145 terabytes would fill 35,000 DVDs. Stacked one on top of the other without storage cases, they would be 145 feet tall.

Rendering times

• If you rendered the entire movie on a modern home PC, you would have had to start the renders 16,000 years ago (when cave paintings like the Hall of Bulls were being made) to finish for this year’s premiere!
• A single imax shot in the movie (df250) would have taken almost 3 years to render on a top of the line home PC running nonstop.
• IMAX frame render times: As high as 72 hours per frame!

IMAX

• Optimus Prime will be life size on IMAX screens in many forest fight shots.
• Imax frames take about 6 times longer than anamorphic to render.
• IMAX frame render times: As high as 72 hours per frame!

ILM Screen Time

• ILM Screen Time is about 51 minutes.

Devastator

• Devastator is as tall as a 10 story building.
• Devastator has more than 10 times the number of individual parts found in an average car.
• Laid out end to end, Devastator’s parts would be almost 14 miles long.

Devastator Totals

• Number of geom pieces: 52632
• The total number of polygons: 11,716,127
• The total length of all pieces: 73090 feet
• The total length of all pieces: 13.84 miles

Generate Leads Easily

Do you need to generate leads for one of the following industries?

• Health & Wellness
• Travel
• Legal
• Communications
• Consulting and other services

If so, I’ve got a free video for you to check out that will show you how.

Just like having your own business card used to be a bare minimum requirement for anyone in sales or networking …

Having your own blog has become pretty much mandatory for success in any kind of business today. But especially home based business owners like us.

Blogs empower individuals to communicate their message with large audiences, spread their ideas, connect with people, foster friendships, educate others, report news and even entertain.

AND…

They’re becoming even more influential than the previous mainstream media moguls like newspapers and cable news stations. Plus they’re a great central “hub” for all your other online marketing tactics like videos, Twitter, email … you name it.

If you’re a regular blogging pro this new video won’t be anything groundbreaking for you. But if you haven’t gotten your own blog up and running yet I’d recommend checking this out right away:

Click Here for Your Free 37-Minute (No Catch) Blogging Class

It explains 6 powerful reasons why blogs have become the standard way to build trust with your customers and attract new business partners. (Generating leads and sales are 2 obvious reasons but the other 4 might surprise you.)

Plus, you’ll 3 learn SEO tactics you need to know to get your blog to the top of the search engine rankings.

The entire video is free but if you enter your name and email address you’ll also get a ton more stuff on the very next page, including some of the best free Twitter training you’ll ever find on the internet.

Click Here for Your Free 37-Minute (No Catch) Blogging Class