Saturday, July 7, 2012

Martin Brilliant Color, by, Cheyne Yeager

Martin and his friends go on an oceanic adventure. What they initially find are buckets of colored paint. Eventually, Martin and his friends put on a play and share what they've learned along the journey. Beautifully illustrated by Cheyne Yeager. Copyright 2012 Serendipity Publishing. 


Inside each book that Serendipity publishes, there is a message. First time author Cheyne Yeager has made a statement in his first book, a statement that speaks volumes and is meant to teach us all a lesson. Question to ponder: Are we really so different after all? Let's start a conversation.... Let's share a message.... Be true to who you are like Martin because you never know who might be taking notice, listening, or simply wanting to "fit" in. Lesson: We are all different, unique, slightly odd, quirky in our own sort of cute way, but that doesn't make us less love able, it actually makes us more love able. If as human beings we can become capable of embracing our differences, we can see that we truly have a lot in common. A rainbow of possibilities! 

Wednesday, May 16, 2012

Marketing 411: Your formula for success


Marketing 411: Your formula for success
Marketing is a strategic exchange of products and services. Marketing creates a plan that causes a predetermined desired goal or result by focusing on externally related needs of a potential consumer who will find value in your product or service. Marketing is the creative execution of a plan to sell to an intended consumer a product or service. Niche marketing is honing in on a specific market also known as a specialized group of consumers. Marketing is an exchange between a marketer who has goals and objectives and a market also known as a consumer who has wants and needs. The exchange can be an exchange of ideas, money, products, services, but the exchange must have value. A consumer must perceive that the marketer’s product or service has value. A marketer has to take into consideration a number of components such as competition, price, and information in determining if their product is the most valuable to the consumer. The consumer or market must want to buy the product or service because they feel a need for the service or product.

Value is derived by three components: 1) physical, 2) functional, and 3) psychological. 

Gina Meyers has been a television consultant for Popstar! Magazine , Columbia Pictures Television, as well as Nickelodeon Magazine. She is a featured regular on national radio and television programs as a cooking expert and is the San Jose Cooking Examiner. Gina has also worked for Xerox and Google Corporation. Gina has a Business Degree in Marketing and an emergency teaching credential. She has penned over ten successful cookbooks and books of inspiration. 

Tuesday, April 10, 2012

New Hope Cookbook, Louisiana Inspired by, Gina Meyers & Liz Longo


New Hope Cookbook, Louisiana Inspired is more than a cookbook. It is a collection of colorful and environmentally conscious illustrations by Brooklyn artist, Liz Longo. It is collaboration between Gina Meyers, her concept of a children’s book about how children cope with disaster as well as French inspired recipes and basic French words and phrases. New Hope Cookbook, Louisiana Inspired, takes the reader on a culinary and historical journey as the story starts in Stacy’s mothers’ Louisiana restaurant, Mama’s Feel Good Kitchen. The story unfolds with children writing pen pal letters to their friends in other states trying to explain the oil spill in a lighthearted way and at the same time sharing the musical, cultural and historical story of Louisiana. Gina’s daughter Lauren Meyers, shares her thoughts on Louisiana when Gina and her family traveled there in December of 2010 for book signing events and meeting the children of Louisiana. Liz illustrates pictures of her daughter Izzy and her friend when they heard that the “oil spill had been capped.” Lucas Meyers, Gina’s son is featured as “Luke” in the story.

Monday, January 2, 2012

A New Year, A New You!


A New Year, a new you!

I am not much for resolutions. Studies have shown that most people do not stick with their resolutions anyways. Gyms are full to the brim the first three weeks in January, and after that people have a tendency to fall back into their usual patterns of behavior. I am not a psychologist, nor do I play one on TV, rather I am a human being that has mastered the art of living without a resolution to change what already works for me. The key to making any New Years resolution stick is truly in the “defining”. My children are very lucky, they don’t have “chores”, rather the word we use in defining “chores” is “responsibilities”. The same goes for “resolutions” I use the word “dream board”. Before I met my husband in 1995, I created a simple dream board with magazine clippings of what I desired for my future. These are the things that were on the first dream board, or some of the things in no particular order. 1) A new house, 2) a wedding, 3) a committed relationship, 4) to be a published author, specifically, to publish my Magic of Bewitched Book.

How do you organize your “dreams” or “resolutions”? The easiest way for me is to cut pictures and words out of magazines and newspapers and tape or glue them onto a large poster board. Because poster boards take up a lot of room, I usually take a digital photo of the “dream board”, store it on my computer and use it as a visualization technique of “exciting things to come”. So far in the past sixteen years, I can say with all honesty and no hesitation, I have and continue to make all of my resolutions come true.

Friday, October 21, 2011

Pat Priest: Memories Of Mockingbird Lane, "The Munsters" excerpt from Living Room Legends, by, Eddie Lucas



PAT PRIEST:
MEMORIES OF MOCKINGBIRD LANE
“The Munsters”

1313 Mockingbird Lane is an address I remember with great fondness. At first glance, one might grow suspect of this decrepit landmark-replete with wrought-iron gates, stone walls, howling winds, and blowing tumbleweed. But this wasn’t just any average, neighborhood haunted house.
This archaic Mockingbird Heights mansion was the gothic homestead of The Munsters; Grandpa, Herman, Lily, Eddie, and Marilyn, one of the most atypical families ever encountered on the small screen.
The intriguing interior of this unusual abode had it all--a staircase that opened to reveal Spot, the family fire-breathing pet; a casket in the hall that housed the family telephone; and a downstairs dungeon full of electricity-spitting machines and bubbling test-tubes full of Grandpa’s secret potions.
Watching The Munsters was always great fun--an escape from the “normal” TV families of the day. And in the days before computers and video games, a kid like me had to be imaginative and create some fun of his own. There were a few times when I’d pin an old beach towel over my shoulders and stomp down the steps to our family carport, pretending I was Grandpa Munster descending his dark dungeon to create new potions and spells.
One day, I grabbed a box of something from the laundry room to add to my latest concoction. After carefully administering a few drops of water, it began to fizz, bubble, and foam! Excitedly, I ran up the hill to my uncle’s house to show them my incredible new creation! But Jeannie, my wise-acre older cousin, was quick to inform me that it was just “New Tide with X-K Enzymes” that my mom had recently purchased at the local Thriftway, and “it was supposed to do that.” That startling revelation quickly knocked the air out of my bubble, but it was still entertaining, and The Munsters bring back many enjoyable memories.
Unfortunately, Grandpa, (Al Lewis), Herman (Fred Gwynne), and Lily (Yvonne DeCarlo) are no longer with us; leaving only widow-peaked, wolf-boy, Eddie (Butch Patrick) and in the words of The Munsters’ themselves, “poor, unfortunate Marilyn” (who was actually the only normal looking one of the bunch).
Beverley Owen, who played Marilyn for the first thirteen episodes, asked to be released from her contract (to move closer to her fiancĂ© in New York) and was abruptly replaced. The mid-season switch was so sudden, and the “Marilyns” looked so much alike, that upon first glance, some viewers barely noticed the new beauty gracing the catchy Munsters melody, until a closer inspection revealed an entirely new name on the opening credits; that of lovely Pat Priest.

To read more about Pat Priest and her experiences in Hollywood, turn to Living Room Legends: Chats With TV's Famous Faces, by, Eddie Lucas

Monday, September 26, 2011

Facts About Lilian Finch: Captain At Sea


Lilian Finch was born under an umbrella of sadness. When Lilian was born, her mother died and left her and her father, Henry “Dead Eye” Finch alone.
Henry, a pirate, knew it was unlucky to have a female aboard a pirate ship, and so decided to disguise Lilian as a boy from birth.
In this sequel to “Lilian Finch: Her Maiden Voyage,” Lilian finally reveals her secret to her friend Storm who is surprisingly understanding and supportive of helping Lilian be her true self.
The two girls obtain a ship, The Sea Maiden, and set out to find a crew before heading out on their first mission – to find the survivors of The Blue Mist and Panama Pete who attacked the ship and killed its leader, Captain Wellington.
On their search, Lilian and her crew explore an enchanted island, find some friends she thought she had lost forever and partner with fellow pirate Captain George Moore to get revenge on Panama Pete.
After several exciting rescues and a sneak attack, Lilian finally gets her revenge on Panama Pete and also finds her true love.