Laurie's Cobalt World Blog Has Moved

I've finally bitten the bullet to learn how to host my own blog. So I've moved it to my own website. Yikes! What an adventure.

For those of you who have subscribed to this blog as a feed, please take a moment to visit the new blog and subscribe to the feed there. Then you can delete the feed to this site.

If you haven't subscribed to the feed, now's a great time to do it. If you use Yahoo! or Google as your homepage, there's a simple button to push to get you started. It only takes a minute or so to set up. Then the titles to new posts will show up on your homepage just like the news or other items you have included in your customized homepage. You won't miss one that way and neither will you have to drop by just to see if there's something new.

There's also a more generic option available for those who use neither of these for their home pages.

The blog posts that were here have been moved to the new blog. New posting is already underway over there.

I hope that all of you will visit me frequently at

http://cobalt-world.com/blog/

Laurie

Pamper Yourself At Breakfast

Yesterday, I was making myself one of my favorite breakfasts. I was enjoying the anticipation of having something delicious when disaster struck. Okay, that was a little overly dramatic for breakfast. Let me rephrase. I was disappointed to realize that I was out of a main ingredient.

I teach my children to read their recipe first and make sure that they have all of the ingredients before they begin cooking. I wish I could follow my own advice better!

One of my favorite breakfasts is steel cut oats with apricots and almonds. I was out of apricots. They really make all of the difference in this dish.

Laurie's Cobalt World Blog has moved. Finish this article at

http://www.cobalt-world.com/blog/2008/04/10/pamper-yourself-at-breakfast/

Family Night Helps Me Balance

I'm reading four books right now - a book on ecommerce, a book of etiquette, War and Peace (it's great!), and 91 Mistakes Smart Salespeople Make by Tim Connor, bestselling author of Soft Sell. The first third of the book is strictly about attitude and it applies to everyone, not just salespeople.

Mistake #20 is "Being out of Balance." The author divides our lives into eleven areas:

1. family
2. work
3. finances
4. friends
5. social relationships
6. spirituality
7. self-development
8. physical well-being
9. personal interests
10. career interests
11. fun
    

Laurie's Cobalt World has moved. Finished this article at
http://www.cobalt-world.com/blog/2008/04/02/family-night-helps-me-balance/

Laurie's Cobalt World Moves To Mayberry

You remember the Andy Griffith Show don't you? I'm sure you do if you were born before 1970 and am reasonably sure even if you weren't. Mayberry is the fictitious town where Sheriff Taylor and his son Opie lived with Aunt Bea.



I love the way they lived life in Mayberry. They enjoyed meals together, sat on the swing after dinner, looked after each other, and got together for simple things like a talent show, playing music on the porch, or a school play. Ah, such a gentle life they led!

Laurie's Cobalt World has moved. Finish this article at

http://www.cobalt-world.com/blog/2008/03/31/lauries-cobalt-world-moves-to-mayberry/

Cocktail Tasting Party

Last evening we hosted an informal cocktail tasting party. I invited a small group over to help us test some non-alcoholic cocktail recipes. It was a lot of fun.

You might ask why I wanted to focus on non-alcoholic cocktail recipes. The answer is simple. There are many sources for alcoholic cocktails and many of those recipes are tried and true.

There are fewer resources for non-alcoholic cocktails. But there are many people for whom an alcoholic cocktail is not an option or is not preferred. Consider the following:

Laurie's Cobalt World Blog has moved. Finish this post at

http://www.cobalt-world.com/blog/2008/03/29/cocktail-tasting-party/

I'm Planning An Afternoon Tea

I really must be a slow mover - at least in some areas. I've been thinking about hosting an afternoon tea in honor of my mother for several years now. This year, I'm actually going to do it.

I am so excited about it. It will be held on Mother's Day and the guests will include our local family.

Following the English example, this tea will include both male and female guests. We often think of matrons with floral dresses and large hats sipping tea, but teas were originally for everyone.

Laurie's Cobalt World Blog has moved. Finish this post at

http://www.cobalt-world.com/blog/2008/03/25/im-planning-an-afternoon-tea/

Announcing Our New Monthly Newsletter

In less than two weeks, I'll be sending out the first ever newsletter for Laurie's Cobalt World. I'm very pleased with how it is turning out. I hope that you will take a minute or two to sign up for the newsletter.

Just go to our special newsletter sign-up page and enter your email address. There are a few more questions that you can answer or leave blank. Answering them will help us build a better newsletter, but that's entirely up to you.*

Once you click "Subscribe To List," you will be sent

Laurie's Cobalt World Blog has moved. Finish this post at

http://www.cobalt-world.com/blog/2008/03/20/announcing-our-new-monthly-newsletter/