Roy Roberts, TV Grill Guy

Who would have guessed that Roy’d end up practicing his passion (food/grilling) on national TV? I don’t think any of us that know him are surprised at all, just happy for him. It’s been fun watching Roy ’spin up’ his act for the last couple of years and (as Ray Kurzweil said last night, on an exponential, not a linear, trajectory) BOOM, he’s made the big time.

Roy Roberts, Grill Guru for CBS College Sports

Roy’s definitely a big-time host, an excellent grill-master, and a big personality to fill the screen. Can’t wait to watch him on TV.

SEC Tailgate on location

The recipes are posted to the blogs too — check his out, guaranteed they’ll be good. And read those recipes and ‘tips of the week’. There’s a lot of Roy in them, and I’m sure a lot of good stuff too!

Click here for the blog for the recipes and tips.

You go Roy! I’m proud of you! We all are!

A glorious walk with Becca

Becca, Intrepid Photographer

We welcome fall with open arms and a sense of wonder at the beauty, especially this season (so I hear) of the turning colors.  This past Sunday was an unexpectedly gorgeous afternoon with the scent of fall mingling with the warm, golden sunlight. So Becca and I set off on a walkabout, bringing our cameras with us. I used cameras as a ploy really to get her out for a longer walk, and we used the ‘photo adventure’ to head down Edgewood, a beautiful street around the corner from us.

I had no idea we’d take over 100 pictures, but it was just so easy.  Click on Becca’s picture to enjoy the rest of them.

There are some really beautiful, interesting things we saw on our adventure, including this humungous fungus.

What kind of mushroom is this??

Who knew a walk on a bridge would be so wonderful?

Yesterday was a banner day. Not only was it gorgeous, our girls both had afternoon play dates and sleepovers. Somewhere else !!!

So Steve and I took total advantage and set off on an adventure to Portsmouth, NH (Steve’s choice) and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. What a great town! The galleries were fabulous – I especially liked the Hand-blown Glass studio and a few of the crafts boutiques.

Raw Bar at Jumpin Jays. Yum.

We had dinner at Jumpin Jay’s after checking out some reviews on Chowhound etc. and it was fun and funky even at 5:30 (that’s when we could get a reservation, although we could have walked in any time up til  6:15ish no problem). Highly recommend the mussels there – best EVER. Seriously. Skip the pasta provencale (although the scallops on it were amazing). Would go back in a heartbeat!There was also a folk festival at Prescott Park which we enjoyed as we walked around the waterfront (there is an incredible array of activities in Portsmouth – fairs, festivals, concerts – who knew??!!)

Prescott Park Arts Festival on the Portsmouth, NH Waterfront

The ride was easy, parking was $.75/hour, a very energetic, nice, walkable town. We’ll be going back for sure! And the stroll across the bridge into Portland, ME was excellent – a very special way to watch the sun set.

Other places we’ll check out next time:  The Monkey Bar, maybe a cruise, drinks on the waterfront, a nearby beach. And we might try to get back for Richie Havens, who will be playing at Prescott Park on Wed. July 29th. (Want to join us??)

Even better (don’t get me wrong, I love my kids) was one-on-one time with Steve, sleeping in, and waking up (on MY terms) to a beautiful sunny (and quiet) morning!

Flimping to get out the vote

I’m fortunate to live in the wonderful community of Ashland, MA.

I’m also fortunate to work with some pretty amazing technologies that help people work, collaborate, and get things accomplished better, faster, and/or more cost-effectively.

So when I heard that Ashland’s school libraries were in jeopardy if the Prop 2 1/2 override didn’t pass, I knew just what to do to support ‘Keep Ashland Strong‘, the grass roots organization dedicated to getting out the YES vote.

I would enlist the help of talented friends and neighbors to produce an interactive video campaign, based on the FLIMP* platform, to help educate … and hopefully motivate … the community to vote for the override.

Here’s the result. Go ahead!! Launch the FLIMP, learn about the override, and let me know what you think!!

* For those of you who like technology and want to know more, FLIMP stands for Flash Interactive Microsite Platform. It is an amazing way to bring rich media, messages, and calls to action together to enable people to respond immediately to what they have just seen.

To learn more about rich media communications and marketing, please call me at 508.881.1519 or drop me a note at melinda@msmstrategicmarketing.com! Thanks!

###