Friday, December 21, 2012

1 and 4,000+

Apparently I'm into numbers as titles recently.

Two big things happened today:

1. I got listed as a co-author on the publication resulting from our time in Kenya. All of the students were listed, so really it would have been more disappointing if I had been excluded. Either way, it's my first official publication (aside from published blogging) - watch out world!

2. This blog surpassed 4,000 viewers in its lifetime! That is a lot of people reading... or just the same loyal few reading a lot of times. Once again, either way, that's awesome.

Merriest and happiest of holidays to all 4,000 of you. I hope 2013 is equally as fun, successful, exciting, and thought-provoking as 2012. Dare I say, even moreso? Cheers!

Thursday, December 13, 2012

12.12.12 (+1)

It's the last time in our lifetimes that the day, month, and year will be the same. As my brother says, "Enjoy it people." Hope you did!

Seems only appropriate to do 12 days of Christmas, which, on this blog means 12 awesome facts/things you should look at:

1. Yikes! Could it be true? The F-word? Me? (Disclaimer: I don't necessarily agree with all of these, or deem this an exhaustive list. But it's pretty good and at least somewhat entertaining.)

2. Incredible photos of the young and old, overlapping and colliding and coexisting in Tibet.

3. Want to do something fun with those lemon seeds, instead of just throw them in the trash? Here's a good idea!

4. Look back upon 2012 and forward to 2013 with this thought-provoking "Unravelling" exercise. It's quite lengthy but also interesting and useful even if you only answer one of the questions to recognize the passage of time, what you're thankful for in past and present, and/or what you want to do in the year ahead. (See #8 of this list for inspiration!)

5. There are about 20,000 species of bees.

6. The Mayan calendar will simply start over on December 22, 2012. Stop worrying :)

7. On average, people have 200-300 eyelashes per eye.

8. Yoga Inspiration

9. If your looming New Year's Resolution is to save more money, check out one blogger's list of 56 Things To Do Instead of Spend Money.

10. If your heart beats 60 times per minute, it beats 86,400 times every day. Yeesh!

11. Speaking of hearts, this video of a dog waiting while a toddler plays in a puddle has gone viral, and deserves to be watched just a few more times.

12. Shoutout to the young musicians in Brockton tonight (and their good-looking band director) - good luck!

Sunday, December 9, 2012

j.a.m.'s jam: spread the love

I'm proud to announce the official establishment of j.a.m.'s jam, my newest culinary adventure! 

You see, earlier this year, Kat and I took a jamming and canning class at the Boston Center for Adult Education, and it was phenomenal. They had champagne, wine, cheese/jam/crackers waiting for us upon arrival, and we made three delicious jams and jellies: blackberry, blueberry and tomato. I know - tomato seems weird but it is unreal - think BLT, egg sandwhich or bagel with cream cheese and tomato jam. 

Since then, I have made more tomato jam, spiced cranberry jam and branched out a wee bit into the world of pickling. It's all so fun, tasty, and really incredibly useful. This is what people did to preserve food for the winter months when they couldn't waltz into the nearest Super Stop and Shop to get vegetables and fruits from around the world anytime they pleased. If and when the world returns to that way of life, I am ready. 

After the class, Dad and I were chatting about what I could call my potential jamming company, and decided that using my initials (J.A.M.) only seemed appropriate... which is especially funny since I loathed having acronym initials as a child and adolescent. Dad suggested "J.A.M.'s Jammin' Jam", but we both liked "j.a.m.'s jam"... so there you have it. 

As for our slogan "spread the love", it revealed itself much like the name. Jam is a very comfortable food, often eaten in the presence of loved ones, or given as a token of love... or eliciting feelings of love from its tastiness. This paragraph feels awkward, but I'll work on justifying the slogan while waiting for cans of jam to finish sealing themselves in the boiling water bath. 

I am finally announcing j.a.m.'s jam because of positive responses from recent focus group testing (read: debuting a few jams at holiday and family parties) and the very enthusiastic and shameless vocal support of one Miss Amanda, who also happens to be a very successful PR genius.

This is definitely a work in progress (recipe testing - any volunteers?) and lending itself to quite the potential post-MPH graduation project, but I'm very excited to see where it goes. 

Please direct any inquiries or orders to our new email address: 
spreadthelovewithjam@gmail.com 

j.a.m.'s jam: spread the love