Hi everyone!  I know it’s been a couple of weeks.  I just wanted to write to say a huge thank you for standing by for a little bit while EAD Living was silent.  I’ve just been a bit overwhelmed with my job, travel, and the weddings side of Elizabeth Anne Designs, and something had to give.  But things are starting to settle down a bit, and I promise my little scheduling hiatus is OVER!

But I do need to be greedy ...]]>

Hi everyone!  I know it’s been a couple of weeks.  I just wanted to write to say a huge thank you for standing by for a little bit while EAD Living was silent.  I’ve just been a bit overwhelmed with my job, travel, and the weddings side of Elizabeth Anne Designs, and something had to give.  But things are starting to settle down a bit, and I promise my little scheduling hiatus is OVER!

But I do need to be greedy and ask for something else from you, if you wouldn’t mind?  I would love to hear what types of posts you would like to see on EAD Living.  Do you love recipes? Home decor inspiration?  New baby news?  Parties and entertaining?  Furbabies? Travel?  I really would love nothing else but to continue to build a community here, some of my most favorite women are those I have gotten to know through Elizabeth Anne Designs and EAD Living, and you all are such a part of that, so please let me know what direction you would like to see EAD Living take, let’s do this together!

Thanks to all of you for being kind and patient, it means the world to me.

xo – Ami

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Each submitted recipe will link straight back to the site it came from, so it’s lots of good incentive for everyone to submit recipes.  And with the favorites functionality, it’s a great way to keep track of ALL of your favorite recipes ...]]> Hi everyone!  I’m so excited to announce a new feature on EAD Living, The Yum! List.  The Yum! List is a place where we can all submit and share recipes online, and store bookmarks of our favorite recipes.

Each submitted recipe will link straight back to the site it came from, so it’s lots of good incentive for everyone to submit recipes.  And with the favorites functionality, it’s a great way to keep track of ALL of your favorite recipes around the web in one easy place.

You have to be logged into EAD Living to see the submission form when you click “Submit a Yum! List Link”, and to add recipes to your favorites.  The log in and register form is at the top of the right sidebar on The Yum! List page.

All submissions to The Yum! List are moderated, and you’ll get an email from me when the link is approved.  The criteria for submission is pretty straightforward:

1) Pretty pictures only
2) It can’t be something anyone has submitted already
3) It must link directly to the recipe shown in the photo
4) You can’t infringe on anyone else’s copyright (ie – post images only where blog authors say it’s OK to share)

Easy peasy right?  I hope you guys enjoy it and I can’t wait to try all of your recipes!

xoxo,
Ami

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One grand prize winner will receive a $200 ...]]> I come bearing early holiday cheer with a reminder that entries for the second Inspired Creations Contest (open to readers, vendors and bloggers alike) and holiday gift exchange have to be postmarked by November 8! Read up on all the details on the official contest page.  The contest is perfect for everyone because the DIY creation does not have to be wedding-related, you can envision any type of gift your heart desires!

One grand prize winner will receive a $200 Williams-Sonoma gift card and a gift box loaded with goodies including -

• a keepsake gift box from Smock
• a custom Ashley Brooke Designs illustration and notecards
• a beautiful Tulet headpiece
• a hand-illustrated poster from Two Brunettes
• a bottle of the newly-released Twigscent fragrance
• a 2011 letterpress calendar from Pistachio Press
• a handmade Paloma’s Nest ornament
• a boxed set of letterpress holiday cards from The Pink Orange

Can you say “happy holidays”? That’s what we thought. (You know you want to win.)

And, as an extra added bit of holiday fun, each entrant will automatically be entered in our first annual holiday gift swap and will receive one of the amazing creations dreamed up by another contestant.

Cyd and I want to have a crazy-big gift exchange, so I hope you are all entering!

xoxo,
Ami

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For this Inspired Creations Contest, we’re asking readers, bloggers, and vendors alike to get involved and we’re challenging you to create an original DIY gift idea. You can envision it as a favor idea, a bridesmaid gift, a holiday gift – anything goes! We encourage you to throw out all of the trends and traditions and think ...]]> Elizabeth Anne Designs and The Sweetest Occasion are back with the latest Inspired Creations Contest and our first annual Inspired Creations holiday gift exchange!

For this Inspired Creations Contest, we’re asking readers, bloggers, and vendors alike to get involved and we’re challenging you to create an original DIY gift idea. You can envision it as a favor idea, a bridesmaid gift, a holiday gift – anything goes! We encourage you to throw out all of the trends and traditions and think outside the box.

What’s up for grabs? The winner will receive a fabulous gift box of goodies, including:

• a custom Ashley Brooke Designs illustration and set of notecards
• a beautiful Tulet headpiece
• a hand-illustrated poster from Two Brunettes
• a bottle of the newly-released Twigscent fragrance
• a 2011 letterpress calendar from Pistachio Press
• a keepsake gift box from Smock
• a handmade Paloma’s Nest ornament
• a boxed set of letterpress holiday cards from The Pink Orange
• and a $200 gift certificate to Williams-Sonoma!

To make the holiday season a little brighter, each entrant will receive a surprise gift in the mail because we’ll be randomly selecting each entrant to receive one of the submitted gifts. And we’ll be showing off all of your entries and DIY tutorials on the blogs!

Full contest rules and submission guidelines can be found right here. Start creating because entries are due by November 8.

We can’t wait to see your gift ideas!

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As I do on Twitter, I’ll be uploading links to posts each day, announcements and anything else that strikes my fancy. Any thoughts about what you’d like to see on the EAD Facebook page? Photo albums from past favorites, perhaps?

Also, there is a Williams-Sonoma $200 gift card giveaway running on ...]]> I’ve bitten the bullet, given in, finally caved… EAD now has a Facebook page! If you are on Facebook, I’d love for you to head over and “like” it!

As I do on Twitter, I’ll be uploading links to posts each day, announcements and anything else that strikes my fancy. Any thoughts about what you’d like to see on the EAD Facebook page? Photo albums from past favorites, perhaps?

Also, there is a Williams-Sonoma $200 gift card giveaway running on EAD Weddings that ends tomorrow, so run over and go enter for your chance to win and good luck!

Hope you all are having a great Monday!

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By day I manage the online presence of a public broadcasting station. I promote local TV and radio programs and community events. I develop and edit content and write scripts. I produce faculty interviews and educational forums. I compress videos and author DVDs. I initiate online chats and implement Flash slideshows.

And how do I spend the ...]]> It’s a blessing that my professional life is so closely connected to my personal interests. But it’s also exhausting.

By day I manage the online presence of a public broadcasting station. I promote local TV and radio programs and community events. I develop and edit content and write scripts. I produce faculty interviews and educational forums. I compress videos and author DVDs. I initiate online chats and implement Flash slideshows.

And how do I spend the remainder of my waking hours?

I write about newlywed life. I share food stories and post recipes. And I contribute to three other blogs on those topics.

I track my runs on Nike+, and I keep in touch with my family on Skype. I share videos on both YouTube and Vimeo. I have accounts with StumbleUpon and Digg and Newsvine, and I’m connected on LinkedIn.

On delicious, I bookmark my favorite finds and tag them as crafting, data visualization, ecofriendly, fitness, font, gocco, HTML, jQuery, photography, public media, recipes, travel, typography, usability.

I subscribe to over 200 blogs in categories like cooking, baking, design, technology, photography, and social commentary. My Google Reader has not been clear for months.

There is undeniable overlap. I create media. I consume media. I am always immersed in media.

I have a personal Facebook page, and I administer five group pages. I have a personal Twitter account, and I tweet to one professional account.

I’ve been uploading photos to Flickr since 2004, and I recently set up a stream for my station.

I manage no less than six public media websites, and there are always new projects on the horizon. On the side, I maintain four websites for freelance clients.

I feel pressure to be plugged in all hours of the day. It’s an ever-evolving environment, and — GASP — what if I miss something?

What if I don’t check-in on Foursquare or connect via Ning? What if I don’t understand the difference between TweetDeck and HootSuite? What if I don’t use Tumblr or Posterous? What if I don’t share my music preferences on Last.fm or post my restaurant reviews on Yelp? What if I don’t track trends on Slashdot or Mashable?

What then? Nothing. That’s what.

{photo credit: author’s personal collection}

Life will go on. Just as it did when my husband and I both completely unplugged for an entire week last August. No iPhones. No MacBooks. No watches. No worries.

How do you manage your plugged in time?

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To enter the contest and be eligible for the Le Creuset dutch oven giveaway, either leave your email address in the optional field at the end of the survey or come back here and tell me that you have filled it out (we’ll be on the honor system). If you are like me and ...]]> Just a reminder that this week is your last chance to full out this little survey for your chance to win a Le Creuset Dutch Oven!

To enter the contest and be eligible for the Le Creuset dutch oven giveaway, either leave your email address in the optional field at the end of the survey or come back here and tell me that you have filled it out (we’ll be on the honor system). If you are like me and don’t even know what you use a dutch oven for, but just want to be nice and complete the survey, that would be fabulous too!

Contest and survey both end this Friday, June 11, 2010 at midnight when I will choose one lucky winner randomly from all of the entrants!

Click here for the EAD Living survey and thanks so much!

PS – if you are a reader of both EAD Living and EAD Weddings, please choose the survey that most applies to you.

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Earlier on EAD Weddings, I debuted the adorable wedding of the lovely Ashley of Ashley Brooke Designs, and I promised everyone a giveaway – well here it is! Ashley creates gorgeous handdrawn stationery and here is your chance to win your very own Ashley Brooke Designs custom illustration!

To win, visit Ashley’s site then come back here and leave a comment below with what/who you would want on your illustration.

One lucky winner from ...]]> UPDATE: Congrats to Kirsten and Amanda, our winners!

Earlier on EAD Weddings, I debuted the adorable wedding of the lovely Ashley of Ashley Brooke Designs, and I promised everyone a giveaway – well here it is! Ashley creates gorgeous handdrawn stationery and here is your chance to win your very own Ashley Brooke Designs custom illustration!

To win, visit Ashley’s site then come back here and leave a comment below with what/who you would want on your illustration.

One lucky winner from EAD Living or EAD Weddings will receive a custom-designed Ashley Brooke Designs illustration on a set of 10 notecards with coordinating envelopes. Winner will be chosen Friday June 4th at 12 PM central. Good luck!

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