» Creativity

I’m so doing this…

Jennifer — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 07:51:12 +0000

via...http://www.flickr.com/photos/octobergirl/1576345337/

This is so cute! and if you really need to check out the slideshow from Chez Fifi. She has super cute projects that she has organized into a little slideshow with a sentence or two about what she did. A few of the pics are pastel and glitter pumpkins that she did last year. They are too cute! You can see more here. Go about midway through the top list and you will see them. Oh they are so adorable! Her blog is another one you will want to spend some time checking out. Very cute things there people!

Do you know TED…?

Jennifer — Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:56:17 +0000

TED is not a person… it’s a really cool place to visit on the web. It’s a place where you can watch videos on a whole range of topics that are about ideas people have and, as they say, that are worth spreading. It started as a conference for people to exchange ideas from the areas of technology, entertainment and design. Now it’s much broader and addresses lots of great ideas that have the power to change minds, lives, and hopefully…eventually…the world. It is my dream to one day attend a TED conference. You have to apply and then be accepted to come and it’s a bajillion dollars to attend. Somehow, I’m thinking if I ever am invited…I might have the bajillion necessary to go. You can join TED at a special rate of just under $1000 for the year but be able to stream the conference live. THAT might be a possibility.

Until then, I’ll have to settle for watching videos on the site. The thing of it is…is that is ok. Most of the videos I have seen are so very powerful or stimulating or entertaining just watching them online, I can only imagine what it would be like to experience it in person.

From time to time, I’ll pass along my favorites. One of my current favorites is Sir Ken Robinson on schools and creativity. It really is an entertaining and thought provoking video. I think he is on to something that I think is the direction that education needs to head. I invite you to watch this when you have some time. It’s a bit long…almost 20 minutes. Sir Ken Robinson on creativity and education.

Another good one is Amy Tan talking about Creativity… it’s actually more a meaning of life topic but it’s interesting.

Amy Tan speaking on where creativity hides.

So grab some coffee and check these out or find some others on the TED site. Do you have any TED favorites? Let me know. I’m always looking for new ones that are inspiring.

Kind of along these lines… Some of you, actually on my Facebook page, mentioned that you would like to know more about what is going on with school. I’m just starting a new blog as part of the requirement of my degree program. It’s still in the works so keep checking back for updates. You can find it here.

Why I love Alltop

Jennifer — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 03:55:27 +0000

First things first… I just have to post a picture of my holly bush. This thing has been in my backyard for at least 3 or 4 years and not once has produced berries. Well, looky here… I have berries!! No idea why I have them, but I do. I hope they last until the holiday season. Every choice of what to plant in the backyard has been driven by it’s potential to become holiday decor at some point. Woo hoo… bring on the fall weather and let’s get decorating!

Some other little things to pass along today. I don’t know how many of you know about Alltop.com?It’s a news aggregator of sorts. It has a whole bunch of feeds that it groups together from different sources on any topic you can think of. What I love about using it vs. using just a regular google search, is that I can type in a topic and then it will list the top news sources on the web covering your topic and that source’s last 5 headlines that source has for a particular topic. So for instance, tonight I typed in “Antiques” and it brought up 20-30 sources of info on Antiques and the top 5 headlines for each source. It’s all arranged on a page or two for you to quickly peruse what they are writing about to see if you are interested in going to that source. They cover websites and blogs and have a good mix of sources. I always find a new favorite blog or website that I have never seen before. The other great thing about Alltop is that you can then also add that feed to your own Alltop page so when you log in, you can go to your page and have all the sources you want to follow in one place and can quickly scan them all at once to see where you want to go to read something. You don’t have to go to each page separately to view it. It’s similar to other blog compilations sites out there, but I think it is better orgainzed and easier to use. If you have a blog of your own or one that you follow and is not listed on Alltop, you can make suggestions to the team to have it added. They are continually updating their sources. I have found it very useful and really fun to find new sources for information out there.

A few quick notes about my new website. I have comments on moderation as I get this going and see how it all works. It’s set up so that I moderate your first comment and then, once approved, you won’t have your comments moderated any more. Just know you won’t see your first comment appear automatically. The “Asides” category are just little notes, not regular blog posts. The “Survey Says” section shows recent comments and discussions. The section on the left that says “Breaking News” isn’t really news to anyone… it’s just my social profiles updating how I’m wasting my time. It shows my Tweets on Twitter, what I watch on Hulu, what I listen to on Blip Fm. I find some cool music though on Blip FM. You might want to pay attention to that.?.

Tonight, with my Alltop search for antiques, I found a really cute blog called Fresh Vintage that looks like a great resource. Lots of good ideas, pretty pictures and lots of tutorials on different things to make or do with your vintage finds. Check it out…