Valentine’s Day

Chocolate experts Ferrero Rocher and Share Our Strength teamed up this month to help end child hunger.  By visiting this link, sending a message to your loved ones, Ferrero will make a donation to Share Our Strength on your behalf. I think that’s pretty sweet.

But wait! There’s more. I have two heart-shaped boxes of Ferrero Rocher chocolates to give away to you. And yes, I’ve tried them–yum.  If you’d like to receive a box, leave a comment about your love of chocolate, and I’ll send a box to the authors of my two favorite responses.

So get to it. Spread the love and win some noms.

However, to celebrate this absurd seasonal fashion faux pas, OfficeMax brings us My Holiday Sweater, where you can create your very own googly-eyed, snowflaked, reindeer-embroidered sweater and send it to family and friends. What a thoughtful gift! Thankfully, it’s only digital. Go nuts, kids.

[via geeksugar.]

Christmas Shopping List: This one is probably my favorite of the bunch. It allows you to enter gift recipients’ names, your overall budget, and how much you’re spending on each person. When you click on each person’s name, you can create a list of gifts you plan to purchase for them. Seems like a really great app, and for $1.99 I think I can get it for myself as a gift!

Gift List Budget Shopper: This one’s a little slicker-looking, but busy. It lets you categorize and manage your gift-shopping, by individual and occasion. What it adds to the mix is a spot to enter the stores where you’re buying gifts. You can also import wish lists sent to you by family and friends.

Nice List Holiday Gift Manager: This one celebrates the naughty and nice concept around Christmas gift-giving. You can add people directly from your contact list, and then mark gifts on the list as purchased, wrapped or shipped, accordingly. You better hope you’re on someone’s nice list this year…

WishList: This one really boils it down. It’s a really basic way to create a list of people, their wish lists, and the stores where you’ll find those wishes. If you’re into simplicity, this app’s for you.

GiftBox: This one has cute little gift box icons that represent if you’ve finished shopping for someone, have it under control, or haven’t started yet. You can also make notes for gift ideas and take photos of gifts while you’re shopping or after you’ve wrapped so you know exactly what gifts you bought and who they’re for.

I don’t usually do this, but I call the shots around here, so I’m posting a few links.  Think of it as randomly finding really cool, honey-flavored pirate treasure on the Internet.

HP gets glitzy with the Vivienne Tam designed Digital Clutch: when your laptop becomes your hottest accessory

Thoughts on Airplane Mode and (Dis)Connectivity: when does a phone stop being a phone?

Send Your Respect in a Text!: when SMS becomes part of National Respect Day [Arrrrrrrrrrr (e, s, p, e, c, t?)]

She is a wonderful example of motherhood.

She taught me big lessons about love and friendship.

She encourages me to be my best in everything I do.

She keeps me laughing all the time.

She is beautiful.

She is there as a shoulder for me to cry on whenever I need her.

She reminds me that there are always other ways to look at a problem.

She continually teaches me what true generosity means.

She is absurdly proud of my successes.

She has always stood up for me.

She reminds me that smiling makes all the difference.

She has a silly, infectious laugh.

She made me noodle soup and tuna sandwiches all the time when I was a kid.

She took me to countless dance classes and sports practices and supported all my interests.

She cheered me on in every performance and game.

She is a legend among my friends.

She loves me despite all the billions of times I was (and am) a pain in the ass.

She is a woman I will always look up to and admire.

She’s my mom, and I love her.

And I’m not kidding. My dad’s sister Linda is very open about her lack of computer and “gadget” knowledge. At the same time, though, she has this fun, bubbly personality and is always hugging, kissing and teasing everyone during the holidays. She’s awesome. Linda definitely gets the “social” part of social media already. I was going to attempt an explanation of what I do on the Internet, but decided that I had had too many glasses of wine and not enough hours to come up with an appropriate definition. Plus, too much talking and not enough doing is no fun.

I invited Auntie Linda to make an Utterz post with me. I wasn’t sure if she’d go for it, since she had no idea what I was talking about, but she just threw her hands up and said she’d love to participate. With all the skepticism that exists about social media, it was refreshing to see someone who is admittedly so far outside this space jumping at the chance to join in. She had no idea what I was asking her to do or why I wanted her to do it, but she wasn’t afraid to try something totally new. Maybe she should talk to Millie Garfield and start her own blog! ;D

Below is the Utterz post I made with Auntie Linda where she talks about her famous “red cake” that she made for Christmas this year. It really is bright red cake with white frosting in the middle, and it is a sweet, delicious holiday treat.

I hope you get many chances to smile and laugh with the ones you love.

I hope you take time to recall the memorable moments you’ve had since last Christmas.

I hope the people around you remind you that you’re amazing.

I hope that your house smells delicious.

I hope you tell someone an inspiring story.

I hope that your children, if you have them, tell you how much they love you, and not just because you bought them gifts.

I hope you tell the people you love most in this world that they ARE a gift in your life.

I hope that despite any setbacks, cramped car rides, weird relatives, burned food, crying children or unwanted gifts that your Christmas is beautiful, and that the good parts, whether they’re big or small, balance out the bad.

These are my hopes this Christmas season, for you and I guess for myself as well. This is a weird holiday for me. I’m not used to spending it alone, and I’m not used to having a broken laptop that I can’t use. (Oh, the pain!)

Last night I was really sad, because I couldn’t find anything good in this holiday, but today I woke up and thought about all the good things and people in my life. I’ve met some truly amazing people this year, and I’ve accomplished so much since last Christmas. I have a lot to be happy and grateful for today. I’m celebrating that.

So, enjoy your holiday, whatever shape it takes. Merry Christmas!

Since I already wrapped my gifts and no one is really around to amuse me, I amused myself by visiting Elf Yourself, the silly holiday app from OfficeMax. Now that this is done, though, I know I’m going to be bored again, so maybe I’ll have to memorize all these sweet dance moves…

You can watch me dancing HERE. Have you “elfed yourself” yet?

The best part of the following Utter is how much we’re giggling at the end. That’s what family means to me during the holidays. The times when you just get so silly that you can’t stop laughing at each other. Luckily, I caught some of it in my Utter and on my camera. (Pictures and video will follow once I get back to Boston.)

Love this holiday.

Oh, and just in case you wanted to know what my favorite and least favorite parts of Thanksgiving are, listen below: