346531029 1bc1bc2138 On the Menu for the Week
Butternut squash photo credit

Butternut squash gnocchi with garlic butter sage sauce: I’m of course making mine gluten-free and I’ll be using a big butternut squash that I picked up at the farmers’ market this weekend. This gnocchi is seriously amazing; I highly recommend it!

Baked spaghetti squash and cheese: My awesome roommate introduced me to the wonder of spaghetti squash- perfect as a gluten-free substitute for spaghetti! I’m looking forward to trying this basic but hopefully delicious recipe.

Kale rice bowl: I made this last week and have to make it again because it was amazing. As my boyfriend’s brother joked, “Rice bowls are just a carriage for kimchi.”

Pizza bites: I have muffin sized pizza crusts in my freezer waiting to be piled with toppings, like buffalo chicken, butternut squash and sage, or Tuscan white beans.

Sunflower seed butter and apples: I’ve recently become addicted to sunflower seed butter, which is perfect for dipping apples in. The only downside: i’ts absurdly expensive, so try Trader Joe’s version, which is cheaper than the popular Sunbutter.

Corned beef and cabbage: A belated ode to St. Patrick’s Day! I’ve never corned beef, so this may be an interesting adventure. A slow-cooker will undoubtedly make it an easier experience overall!

White bean and sausage ragout with tomatoes, kale, and zucchini: Apparently ragout is “well-seasoned meat and vegetables cooked in a thick sauce.” Sounds like a fancy way to say stew to me, but I like it!

gmail labs My Favorite Gmail Labs

Gmail Labs is a hidden gem lurking under your Gmail settings. Just click the Settings icon, click Settings, then select Labs. According to Google, “Gmail Labs is a testing ground for experimental features that aren’t quite ready for primetime.” They do offer a word of warning though: “They may change, break, or disappear at any time.”

I say take advantage of them while they’re around! Here are my favorite enabled lab features:

Background Send: Let Gmail send your mail while you move on to more important things [such a timesaver!]

Canned Responses: Email for the truly lazy. Save and then send your common messages using a button next to the compose for [I just enabled this one! I've set up email templates for my different clients since I send many of the same emails over and over]

Google Calendar Gadget: Adds a box in the left column which shows your Google Calendar. See upcoming events, locations, and details [perfect for glancing quickly at your day's appointments]

Google Docs Gadget: Adds a box in the left column which displays your Google Docs. Shows recent docs and starred docs [I use this most for pulling up my spreadsheet to track my billable hours]

Right-Side Chat: Move the chat box to the right side of the inbox [a pretty basic change, but one that I've become accustomed to]

SMS (text messaging) in Chat: Allows you to send and receive text messages (SMS) in Chat [I use this all the time instead of switching between my phone and my computer. Messages can get lost if you log off, but it's great if you're in front of the computer for hours]

Undo Send: Oops, hit “Send” too soon? Stop messages from being sent for a few seconds after hitting the send button [or if you write up a rude email, click send, then change your mind!]

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google reader The End of Google ReaderWhy isn’t there a “Not OK” button?!

This morning, I was downloading my most-used apps on to my new phone and couldn’t find the Google Reader app in the Android store. Coincidence or an omen? A few minutes later, I was reading Clare’s blog and saw that Google Reader is going away!

My first reaction? Noooooo….I use Google Reader every single day for my personal blog reading, pulling in my Google Alerts, and tracking RSS feeds for my clients (I’ve talked about it here and here and here). The loss of Google Reader is big in the world of online presence management.

Luckily, the service isn’t being cut until July 1st, which means users can move their current subscriptions to another feed reader. Most likely, I’ll do a more in-depth post about the alternatives but in the meantime, I wanted to leave you with a few good resources:

My new favorite reader: a Bloglovin’ tutorial [Nutritionella]

4 alternatives to Google Reader [USA Today]

Google Reader alternatives roundup; RSS FTW! [Computer World]

One of my biggest questions is still unanswered: what will happen to Google Alerts that are sent to the feed instead of email? Will those integrate into a new feed reader?

Do you use Google Reader? What do you use it for? Which service will you use now?

 

8428322212 38bde51d64 On the Menu for the WeekPhoto credit

Cheesy shepherd’s pie: Just in time time for St. Patrick’s Day! I removed the flour and added grated cheese on top

Kale rice bowl with chicken: A recreation of a meal my boyfriend’s brother made for me in San Francisco! I added tons of sesame oil and sriracha for added flavor

Sausage pizza bites: Bite-sized gluten-free pizza bites with spicy sausage and cheddar cheese inside. Perfect for breakfast or a snack

Lentil soup with sausage, chard and garlic: I substituted kale for the char,d added wild rice, and popped it all into a Crockpot

 Spiced tomato chickpea soup: Still one of my top 5 favorite soups of all time. Thank you, Martha Stewart!

Roasted broccoli: I’ve never been a big broccoli fan into I stumbled upon this recipe on Iowa Girl Eats. Such a simple and delicious way to prepare broccoli!

I miss my little blog! For the past few years, it’s been a consistent place for me to document my day-to-day happenings, my favorite recipes (especially during my transition to gluten-free eating), my career journey, and my advice for dominating the online world through online presence management. As I said before, I always hear other people say that their blog is the first thing to go when they get busy, but that hasn’t been the case for me- until now.

I’ve been trying to make an effort to get offline more, especially now that my entire job consists of online work. Pinning recipes is not the same as making them. Looking at images of yoga poses is not the same as going to yoga class. Reading book reviews is not the same as reading books. I’m trying to remember all of that, but this blog still holds a special little place in my heart, so it still is a priority for me.

Best of all, I find that I’m actually more motivated to do fun, challenging, and exciting things in the “real world” when I blog consistently. Not that blogging about cool things is my only motivation to do them, but it’s a great reminder when I’m “forced” to do scintillating activities so I can report back here on them.

golden gate bridge collage Missing the Blog & Off to San Francisco

And speaking of cool things- I’m headed to San Francisco (again!) today as we speak. One of my new clients is based outside the city, so I will be working from the office for a few days. Remote work is great but nothing beats face-to-face interaction every once in awhile. I’ll be getting to know my colleagues, meeting my boyfriend’s brother, seeing a bit more of the city, and hopefully meeting up with some people I know there. One thing I didn’t do before that I want to do this time around is see Lombard St!

If you live in San Francisco and would like to grab a meal or drink, feel free to reach out!

Back in my GWU days, I was very involved in the then-emerging field of social entrepreneurship. I co-founded The GW Social Enterprise Forum, helped launch the GW chapter of Compass Fellows, interned with Ashoka and Social Enterprise Associates, and read SocialEarth like it was my job. So I jumped at the chance to attend this year’s AshokaU Exchange as a representative of Leadership ExCHANGE because it means I get to reconnect with some of my old contacts, chat about social enterprise for three days, and network my booty off. I <3 networking (no surprise to anyone who knows me)- but not the tacky kind of networking where you try to beat your personal record for how many business cards you can pass out in a matter of minutes. Real relationship building! But I digress icon smile Off to Americas Finest City (San Diego)

And a bonus? I get to go to San Diego for the first time! Gorgeous year-round weather, the original Sea World, the San Diego Zoo, and Balboa Par- as we speak, I’m headed your way!

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Photo credit 123

Have you ever been to San Diego? What suggestions do you have for me?

recruiting here i come Recruiting, Here I Come (Again)

Over the past week, I’ve been reading about the impact of Facebook Graph Search on social recruiting. Parsing through my Google Alert that captures anything on social recruiting. Searching the annals of Boolean Black Belt. Thinking about how much I love TalentBin. Justifying spending so much time reading career posts on Levo League and The Daily Muse.

Why this reenergized excitement about all things social recruiting related? You may be thinking it’s because I’m a giant nerd- and I suppose partly it is! But more importantly- I decided to accept a offer from Lithium Technologies to do contract work with them: manage sourcing for several roles, as well as formulate and implement a social recruiting strategy basically from the ground up.

As I chatted about the potential work, I was sure to emphasize that I love my work with my other clients and I have no plans to give that up. My work with Lithium will be a perfect complement to my growing client base and will allow me to get back into a recruiting role, which I’ll admit I missed a bit since leaving LivingSocial.

This means all the hours I spent learning at LivingSocial are not in vain. So I’ll be back later, I have to continue quenching my thirst for social recruiting knowledge icon smile Recruiting, Here I Come (Again)

About Lithium Technologies: Lithium provides enterprise-level social customer experience management software. It is headquartered in Emeryville, CA (right outside of San Francisco). The Lithium Social Customer Experience Management Platform combines online customer community applications such as forums, blog, innovation management, live chat, and tribal knowledge bases with the broader social Web and traditional CRM business processes, resulting in a wide range of online customer interaction methods.

weekend reading1 Weekend Reading

Here are 58 tips for transforming your blog and dazzling your readers.

Here are some ins and outs of creating an editorial calendar for your blog.

Here’s how to use Google calendar to create an editorial calendar.

Here is why Adam of Digital Careerist says all job seekers should be blogging.

Here’s how to successfully pick a hashtag if you’re running a Twitter campaign.

Here’s how to prepare for a video interview.

Here’s how to marry routine with spontaneity.

Here’s 4 ways to cope with the winter blues.

Here’s how to create space in a busy schedule.

As you probably, I love LinkedIn. As a student, a recruiting professional, a jobseeker, and a freelancer, it has served me well. LinkedIn’s Get Introduced feature is, in my opinion, an underutilized functionality of the site. Here’s a step-by-step tutorial on how to make use of the Get Introduced feature.

You can use the Get Introduced feature to connect with a specific person or someone from a company you’re interested in. If you know who you would like to connect with, move to step #2. 

1. On your LinkedIn account, enter the company name you want to connect with in the search bar.

Screen Shot 2013 02 08 at 9.42.24 AM How To: Use LinkedIns Get Introduced Feature

2. Look at each profile and see who you have a shared connection with. Look at the shared connection and determine if you are comfortable reaching out to them. If so, move to step #3. If not, keep looking!

3. View the profile then click the arrow to the right of the Send InMail button and click Get Introduced

Screen Shot 2013 02 08 at 9.45.09 AM How To: Use LinkedIns Get Introduced Feature

4. Choose the name of the person who will make the introduction for you and then write a clear, succinct message explaining why you would like to be connected to. Here’s an example:

Hey Cristina! I hope you’ve been well- your cruise looked like it was a lot of fun! I saw on LinkedIn that you are connected to Joe Shmoe, who I would love to connect with about social media management. Would you mind introducing me to him? Thanks so much! -Sally Sue

To recap, it’s 1. friendly,  2. specific,  3. succinct, and 4. grateful

Easy, right?

Do you have a LinkedIn Get Introduced success story? Share it with me!

On the 4th day of our cruise, four of us took a catamaran to go snorkeling in Nassau. It was such a fun experience and I would highly recommend it- luckily we didn’t have any scary eel or water snake run-ins!

lips wireless microphones A Quick Cruise Story: I Brought This MoronPhoto credit

When we got on the catamaran, we plopped down in the trampoline-y area where some of our cruise friends were. My friend and I proceeded to take out the plastic microphones that we had brought along and force everyone in our little area to introduce themselves to the group. When it was my turn, I was so proud of my little community bonding exercise, so naturally I declared “I’m Cristina and I brought this microphone!” My boyfriend was the last person to introduce himself. His introduction? “I’m Chris and I brought this moron!” while pointing to me. HAHA, cracks me up every time!

 

pixel A Quick Cruise Story: I Brought This Moron
+Cristina Roman