starting the week off right!

I usually judge how my week is going to pan out by how I start my Monday mornings:
Is there coffee?
Is it instant, filter, espresso machine, or did I splurge at the coffee shop?
Are my favorite jeans clean or did I forget to wash them…..?
Did I remember to buy groceries for breakfast?
How about lunch?
What did I dream about last night?
……..and the list generally goes on like this.

There are of course exceptions to every rule. Sometimes Tuesday just sneaks up and bites you on the ass. Yea, maybe. It happens. It’s always best to try & avoid it though.

I started my week off right this time though & it all began with breakfast. You’re going to judge me before you’ve even tried it. I promise, that would be such a mistake.

I like to do something a little strange… Now I know that freshly cracked black pepper on honeydew melon is amazing, (and if you don’t already know that it is you should immediately try it), and melon & Greek yogurt are a great combo. Pepper & yogurt go, just think about all the dips made using the two. Honey & yogurt go together, and honey & yogurt go together.

You’re all still with me so far… correct?

Well, seeing as each of things pair up with everything else on the list when you take them two at a time, I figured…. why not just combine them all?!

Yea, I did that. I took out a huge bowl, filled it with plain, full fat greek yogurt. Cut up a nice ripe honeydew melon on top of that. Drizzled it with thick, local honey & then cracked some freshly ground black pepper on top of it all.

I swear, it was heaven in a bowl.

…and wouldn’t you know it, I finished my goal of making 1,000 origami paper cranes the very next day. So, I repeat. Start your Monday off right!

summer smoothies for happy tummies

It’s hot. Oh so very hot.

Now i’m not one to complain about the heat. In fact, I’m a junkie for it. Having spent over half my life in almost desert like conditions, I thrive in this weather.

There is an issue with the heat though… it doesn’t promote creativity in the oven. Granted I’m loving this weather, but I don’t want to be standing in front of a hot oven on top of things. Do you get me? Are you understanding where I’m coming from?

So here it is, something light & refreshing. Something… a little naughty.

I’m thinking honeydew melon. I’m thinking sweet, grainy pear. I’m thinking a bit of ginger to give it a little bite. Maybe a spoonful of honey to sweeten it up, & I’m definitely thinking a splash of rum to bring on the giggles.

What?! Can’t a girl like a little rum in her smoothie?

I’m telling you, laying down on the couch with my feet up, all the windows in the house open, a cool summer breeze drifting in at dusk, an ice cold refreshing smoothing in my hand… now the only thing I’m missing is the view of the ocean. I don’t worry about that though, I know that I’ll have one of those by noon tomorrow.

Oh, the sweet sweet advantage of living in such ab eautiful country, you’re never more than a couple hours away from laying on a beach listening to the soothing sound of the sea as the waves roll in.

Jealous?

Ingredients:
- 300g honeydew melon
- 15g root ginger
- 150g pear
- 1 tbs honey
- 60ml light rum
- a handful of ice cubes

Directions:
1. wash & peal the fruit & ginger. Combine all the ingredients in a blender & press go! Let the fun begin

guacamole - gluten free !!!!

Guacamole… not many things to say about it. Simple, delicious and versatile, we used it for our chicken burritos. It can also accompany a variety of dishes or be used as a dip for chips and vegetables. Easy to make, the only thing that is important is to have nice ripe avocados that will mash simply with a fork.

- mel

– I’d like to add that I think mel has really understated this dish. Yes, ok, technically it’s not a main… but I couldn’t stop eating it! I actually made it again today & took it into work, nothing to go with it, just guacamole all on it’s own… I kind of feel bad for my colleagues since I like to put double the garlic, chili, onions & lime that mel puts. What can I say, I’m a big fan of the intense! My point is, make it, it’s super delicious & incredibly healthy. — nickey x

Ingredients:
- 3 ripe avocados
- 3 spring onions, finelly chopped
- 1 1/2 red chillies finelly chopped
- juice of 1 & 1/2 limes
- 2 garlic cloves, preferably roasted & finely diced
- 2 tbs olive oil
- 1 tbs chopped fresh coriander
- 1 tsp paprica
- pinch cayene pepper
- salt & pepper to taste

Directions
1. If you opt for the roasted garlic you are in for a treat… Cut the top of the garlic head just enough so that each clove is slightly exposed, wrap in tin foil and roast for 30 mins at 180. Allow to cool.
2. In a mixing bowl mash the peeled avocados with a fork and then mix in all the ingredients and simply stir until incorporated.

Tips: Roasting the garlic results in an amazing, soft, sweet garlic cloves that dont have the bite of fresh ones. Can be used for many recipies or simply spread a mashed one over a slice of toasted bread with some olive oil.

chocolate dipped frozen bananas…. summer love

There are worse things to give in to when you’ve got a sugar craving. Much worse. A chocolate covered frozen banana is not one of them.

Seriously, give yourself a break from all your “shoulds” & “shouldn’ts” & just give in once in a while. It’s summer. It’s hot. You’ve worked all year slaving away in the gym to get the perfect body, and now it’s time to reward yourself.

Did you know that a little bit of dark chocolate is good for you? I’m talking real chocolate though, not candy bars that are filled with sugars, preservatives, artificial flavorings & who knows what else. So when you think about this, these bananas are good for you. It’s just chocolate & bananas, you can’t go wrong! Not to mention that when the bananas freeze they maintain this creamy texture which contrasts perfectly with the crunch of the outer shell.

What you will need:
- 12 popsicle sticks
- parchment paper
- 2 pipping bags
- 3 large jam jars

Ingredients:
- 3 large bananas
- 400g white chocolate (28%)
- 400g milk chocolate (52%)
- 400g dark chocolate (74%+)

Directions:
1. peel the bananas, cut off the ends & then cut them in half. Each banana should make two popsicles.
2. insert a popsicle stick into the end of each banana about half way in. Place the bananas on a plate & into the freezer. Freeze for an hour or two until they are frozen solid.
3. Once the bananas are frozen, you can begin to melt the chocolate.
4. cover a counter or oven tray with parchment paper.
5. Finely chop the dark chocolate & place it in a double boiler to melt. Once melted, transfer it to one of the jam jars. Remove four of the bananas from the freezer & submerge one into the chocolate completely. Remove it & gently shake so that the excess chocolate drips off. The chocolate should harden into a shell quickly due to the temperature of the bananas, once hard it can be laid flat on the parchment paper so that you can move onto the next one.
6. once all four bananas have been covered, move onto the milk chocolate & repeat the steps above. Lastly, move onto the white chocolate until all 12 popsicles are covered.
7. once the bananas are covered, 2 table spoons of dark chocolate can be placed inside of one of the pipping bags. Close the opening, and then cut a tiny hole into the end. Drizzle the white chocolate bananas with the dark chocolate to decorate. For the milk chocolate & dark chocolate bananas, repeat the process using white chocolate.
8. once finished, return to the freezer until you’re ready to consume. These can be kept for two weeks up to a month.

Tips:
*** if you’d like something a little more playful, the bananas can be covered in sprinkles, chopped nuts, candy or anything else you can think of. This will have to be done before the chocolate hardens into a shell though so work quickly.
*** I like to melt my chocolate directly in the jam jars which I then submerge in a pot of warm water set to medium-low heat on the stove. Things to remember are to not let any water into the jars as water & chocolate have an adverse effect on each other when you’re trying to melt chocolate. The reason I like using the jars is that when I’m done using the melted chocolate for dipping, I can just put the lid on the jar & set it aside until next time. Cleanup is easier too.
*** once again, it’s all gluten-free!!!

50 Ways to Get More People to Like your Facebook Page

 

There are over three million active facebook pages, and these pages are gaining millions of new fans every day.
Yes, I just said fans.
Although the button has changed from “Become a fan” to “Like,” the action of joining a brands page remains the same.  Facebook pages are still fan pages.
With Facebook’s announcement of The New Messaging there are more reasons to like Facebook, and Facebook pages, than ever.
I hope you enjoy this post about 50 Ways to Get More People to “Like” your Facebook Page.

Here are the 50 tips:

1. Post a Status Update

Post a status update mentioning your facebook page.
Don’t be afraid to outright ask people to join your facebook page.  Ask and you shall receive.
Give them a great reason why they should join, tell them news, or find a creative way to mention and link to your page:

2. Get fans to upload and tag photos

If you host (or attend) an event with several of your fans take a bunch of pictures, post them to your page, and then ask your friends to tag themselves in the pictures.
If you can get your fans to upload pictures to your page, or tag themselves in pictures you uploaded, this will post to their walls as well and will lead to additional traffic for you.

3. Offer an incentive for people to sign up

Using custom iframes you can create a dynamic facebook landing page with a “reveal tab” that contains content that is visible only to fans of your page.
The more valuable your incentive is, the more people will be compelled to click the “Like” button to access it.
Examples of exclusive content could be: An exclusive Video, an exclusive whitepaper/.pdf, exclusive pictures.
The image below shows different levels of increasing effectiveness for acquiring new fans.

Involver offers apps (and several of them are totally free) that make it easy to create a “Fan Gate” containing incentives, like a file or coupon, that will cause more people to “Like” your page.

4. Contact admins of groups related to your page

Groups are more powerful than pages in terms of their messaging ability. Pages send updates, but groups send messages directly to a users facebook inbox, triggering an email alert.
If you contact the admin of a facebook group with some valuable content that adds value to their readers then this can help them nurture their community and help you build yours.

5. Get people to join your page via SMS

Send a text message to 32665 (FBOOK) with the words “fan yourusername” OR “like yourusername” (without the quotes).
This feature is ideal when you’re in front of a live audience.

6. Install a page Badge

Facebook Badges are a simple, yet effective way to link to your facebook profile.

Unlike widgets, badges are simply images, and will load much faster.

7. Install a facebook “Like Box” into your site

Installing a “Like Box” is an excellent way to allow visitors to your site become fans without even leaving your page.
The like box builder tool makes it easy to customize the size of your like box, the number of connections to display, and even the color scheme.
Shown in the image below is the rarely used “dark” color scheme.

8. Use status tagging

Status tagging is a cool and fairly new feature of facebook.
This feature allows you to tag any page or person by entering the @ sign and then typing the name of the page or person you want to tag.

9. Suggest your page to friends

Use the “suggest to friends” feature of your page. Use this feature sparingly. Personally, I try to only invite people go my page once because I know it annoys me when multiple people invite me.

If you have many friends you might want to consider using the “invite all” Google chrome extension, rather than clicking hundreds or thousands of times.

10. Install a Like Button into your site

Installing a like button allows visitors to like your page, and when they do this posts the their activity stream.
This can send more traffic to your site and if you have a facebook “Like Box” and other content promotion your fan page, since this will help you convert your visitors into fans.

11. Connect your page to Twitter

Connecting your page to Twitter is an excellent way to convert your twitter followers into facebook fans.
Using this strategy will cause all of your posts to be sent to twitter, with a link back to the facebook version of the post.
www.facebook.com/twitter

12. Link to Your Page as  a Place of Employment

The info box uner profile pictures is being phased out, so now if you want an omnipotent link on your profile to your page you will need to list your Page under employment.  Once you do this your Facebook Page will appear under your name on your Profile.

13. Install commenting on your landing page

This will allow people to comment on your page, even if they are not a fan.
Any comments made can broadcast to news feeds and lead to more traffic to your page.
Setting up facebook commenting requires registering a facebook application, so act on this tip with caution unless you are comfortable with code.

14. Leverage Traditional Media

Since facebook is so widespread you can use any forms of traditional media and achieve results.
Newspapers, Media Buys, Radio, and TV all work, but are often very costly.
To maximize your promotion offer a free gift to those who join you page.

15. Newsletter Promotion

If you do email marketing send a message to your subscribers letting them know about your fan page and consider including a link to your fan page in every email.

16. Email Signature

Every email you send is an opportunity to link to your facebook page.
Check out the email signature tool wisestamp for a creative way to link to your social profiles.

17. Get business cards promoting your Facebook page

Business cards are cheap.
You can get 500 business cards from Vista Print for $1.99.
For this minimal investment you can get up to 500 new fans for your page!
Throw a link on your card and people will almost certainly check it out.
If you’re pressed for space in your design all page urls can be shortened from facebook.com to fb.me, or fb.com.
For example, www.facebook.com/fbflow, www.fb.me/fbflow, and www.fb.com/fbflow all point to the same page.

18. Fiverr

Fiverr is an online marketplace where services are sold for five bucks.
Check out their “Social Marketing” and “Advertising” section and here you will find some people who are willing to suggest your page to 5,000 of their friends for just $5.
You will need to make the person who will suggest your page to their friends an admin in order for them to do this for you, but if you are willing to place your trust in someone to do this and they come through for you this will allow you to pick up dozens if not hundreds of new fans.

19. Purchase a Professional Timeline Cover

The new Timeline layout for brand pages offers you a unique opportunity to customize your page. Fanpageflow currently offers high quality cover photos for Facebook Timeline pages at an extremely affordable price here. Be sure to consider our service!

20. Run a “fans only” contest

An excellent way to run a fans only contest is using wildfireapp.
There are rules and regulations around running a contest on facebook so be sure to check out the facebook Statement of Rights and Responsibilities (“Statement”) before you run one.

21. Link to your page from your profile

Edit your Facebook profile information to include promotion for your Fan Page.
At the bottom of the info section of your profile you can include links to any websites you are affiliated with.
The more links you can build to your Page, the more traffic you will be able to send to your Facebook Fan Page. I am constantly seeking new opportunities to build links that will send traffic to my Fan Page.

22. Blog Commenting

Comment on blogs and in the website section use a link to your fan page.

23. Link to your facebook page from your linkedin profile

Linkedin gives every user three slots for links to whatever you’d like right on your profile.
You can make the anchor text of these links whatever you like, so I recommend using a call to action such as: Join my facebook page.

24. Upload video to facebook

Facebook video is very underrated, and exceptionally powerful.
When you embed a facebook video on another website this video includes a watermark link in the top left corner to the fan page it came from.

25. Watermark your videos with a link to your website

Using a video editing program include a link to your website.
I use camtasia to add my watermarks, and to record any screencast I create, and this program comes with a free 30 day trial.

26. Create a memorable URL

If you go to facebook.com/username you will be able to create a custom URL for your page.
Remember that this cannot be changed once it is set, so choose wisely.

27. Deliver an exceptional experience

Although facebook pages are no longer officially considered “fan pages” if you work to create fans of your brand many of them will certainly seek out and join your facebook page.
Strive to deliver an awesome experience for those who interact with your brand. Go above and beyond when engaging with your community and they will spread the word.
A famous article called 1,000 true fans maintains that they are all you need to create a thriving business. Don’t try just to get people to click “like” but instead seek to create raving true fan who will spread your word far and wide.

28. Link it up

This tip comes from @garyvee and it’s a good one: link it up!
Hyperlinks are what weave the web together so use them often and every time you do you are opening up another gateway into your fan page.

29. Flip the funnel

Drive your fans back to your website for new blog posts.
Make sure that your blog has social sharing and many of your fans will “like” your blog posts and tweet it out to their followers on twitter as well.

30. Track your growth with Facebook insights

Facebook insights shows you how many fans you have over time, and some fairly detailed demographic information as well.
Using this knowledge you can analyze what activities drive the most growth, and then duplicate your success.

31. Analyze your demographics with insights

Facebook demographics are a powerful feature of insights that allows you to determine the gender and age of the people in your page.  Once you know this information you can focus your content to appeal to the age group and gender of your fans.
Here is the demographic information of the FacebookFlow fan page:

32. Talk and Blog about your page

Word of mouth does not start itself. Get the conversation going by mentioning your facebook page in blog posts and in every day conversation.

33. Learn more about Facebook

The more you know about facebook the more you can use this knowledge to drive the gowth your community.
To learn more about facebook enroll in our FREE facebook ecourse.

34. Drive more traffic to your website

Use these tips to get more free traffic to your website. Make sure that your “Like Box” is featured prominently, and plenty of this traffic will “Like” your page.

35. Produce Epic Content

If your blog content is epic this will drive the growth of your page in a serious way.
Epic content has the best chance of going viral and if a blog post goes viral this also causes it to move up in the rankings in Google, leading to even more traffic, a percentage of which will convert to fans.

36. Install a like button into your posts

Installing a like button into your posts will help drive extra traffic to your posts and it will also show that facebook is an integral part of your brand.
If you have a self hosted wordpress blog I recommend installing the WP FB Like plugin.
The more you can integrate facebook with your site the more likely people will be to join your facebook page.

37. Make a Facebook like sign

Blue Sky Factory created a  Facebook “Like” sign tool that you can use to create a cool image that will help promote your facebook page.

38. Buy Them

Although I do not recommend this option, there are several services out there that sell facebook likes.
The first 1,000 fans are usually the hardest to get so a service like this might help you get the critical mass needed to get more genuine organic fans.

39. Run a targeted ad campaign

Facebook advertising is exceptionally powerful due to the ability it offers to hyper target your market.
Facebook ads can be targeted based on age, location, and interests.

40. Turn your customers into fans

If someone likes you enough to buy your product then there is a good chance that they will like you on facebook as well.
Rig up your “thank you” page with a facebook “Like Box” and you’ll be good to go!

41. Advertise your page

The more you advertise your page the more fans you will be able to achieve.
Facebook advertising s a smart way to promote since you can target specific demographic and interest groups.
You will need a sales funnel in place in order to justify an advertising budget and I recommend setting this up prior to advertising on Facebook.
When I signed up for my Hosting account with GoDaddy I was able to get a free Facebook advertising coupon for $50 and I believe they are still offering this promotion.

42. Use Hootsuite to manage your page

By using Hootsuite to manage your facebook pages you can maximize engagement by scheduling your posts ahead of time to go out when they will get the most attention.
Facebook posts get the most engagement early in the morning and a few hours before bed.

43. Get an attractive profile picture

A picture says a thousand words, so to really optimize your business page you should use the largest profile picture possible.
Currently the maximum profile picture size is 200 x 600 pixels.

44. Do a “fan of the month” promotion

By highlighting one of your best fans every month you indirectly encourage fans to engage more, so that they can win the coveted fan of the month title the next month.
Offer a monthly prize, such as a cool free product or service related to your brand, and the competition for this title will only increase.

45. Message your friends and ask them to join

This tried and tested method takes more ground work, but this method will allow you to build relationships and target the friends that you think are the most relevant to your page.

46. Include a link to your fan page in your forum signature

If you are active in any forums you will have the option to attach a “signature” to every post that you write.
Throw a link in your signature to your facebook page, and it will be clicked.
Do your best to add value and answer questions with your posts, and people will be more inclined to click your link and join your page.
A link with a call to action is more likely to get clicked than a link alone, so go with “Join my Facebook Page: www.facebook.com/fbflow” instead of simply: “www.facebook.com/fbflow”

47. Create a redirect URL

Creating a redirect to your facebook fan page is one way to “presell” the people who click it on joining your page.
For example, if your link is: www.yourdomain.com/joinmyfacebookpage anyone who clicks it will probably join your page.
Here is an article on how to redirect a webpage.
http://fanpageflow.com/joinmyfacebookpage

48. Give away fan page swag

Websites like Zazzle make it easy for people to customize swag, such as the nifty “you like this” t-shirt below.
If you gave away shirts (or mugs, or stickers) like this with your facebook url included you could easily amass an army of walking billboards for your facebook page.

49. Find more facebook friends

The more friends you have, the better your chances will be that some of these friends will join your fan page.
Facebook has a “Find Your Friends Tool” that allows you to import your contact list from a variety of email clients, or an email list.
This tool also displays “People you may know” which I have found is very good at suggesting people that have many mutual friends as me.

50. Share this article with your facebook friends

If you share this post with your facebook friends and it will become obvious to them that getting more fans important to you, and if you have included a link to your facebook page in your info box or the “Website” section of your website there is a good chance that they will click it.

FINALLY IF YOU LIKE THESE 50 TIPS! PLEASE LIKE MY PAGES ON THE TOP LEFT CORNER OF THIS PAGE.

THANKS

6 Ways The Science Of Seduction Can Help You Get Laid

There are six ways that the science of seduction can actually help you get laid. The science of seduction is not exactly a hard science. There are a lot of theories and unproven opinions, but there are some facts when it comes to seduction. You can use these scientific facts and the forces of chemistry at work within all of us to help you get laid sooner and more often.







Look for your opposite. The science of seduction says that opposite personality types do sometimes attract. This means that if you’re wildly outgoing, look for the shy, quiet type to seduce. She’ll be drawn to your outgoing nature. If you’re shy, look for the life of the party. She’ll be more likely to find your shyness adorable and take you under her wing and eventually, into her bed.

art of conversation. To effectively seduce a woman, you need to get her chatting. Ask her questions about herself. Tell fascinating anecdotes and keep the conversation flowing.

funny bone. Be charming, quick-witted, and pay attention to what makes her giggle. The more she laughs, the closer you are to sealing the deal and getting laid.




Touch her. The science of seduction naturally involves physical touch. Brush away her hair. Stroke her hand. Lead her out the door by placing your palm on her lower back. Any excuse you can find to touch, go for it. A woman is more likely to be attracted to you if you’ve established a pleasant physical connection.





Get emotional. Now that you’re talking, laughing and touching, it’s time to get real. If you really want to get laid, the woman is likely going to need to feel connected to you. Tell her something private about yourself, and ask her to share something with you. Nothing boosts the science of seduction like an emotional attachment.





Put in the time. Don’t expect to be able to seduce a woman and get laid all in one evening. While you may get lucky, expect to put in at least a few dates before you get laid. Like many science experiments, seduction can often take time

Are your sleeping problems caused by what you eat?

Everyone has problems and difficulties. That’s just how life is. Some of the things that cause you difficultly are caused by your environment and some are of your own doing. The things that you do to yourself to on a regular basis can cause a variety of difficulties and problems. For example, when you eat the wrong things on a regular basis it can throw your body out of balance. This unbalance can cause health problems that range from headaches to insomnia.

If you find that your body is out of balance one of the first things you need to check is what you put into it. Many people don’t even realize that they are upsetting their balance, thinking that their health problem is coming out of nowhere. Very often, the root cause comes directly from the foods you eat.

For example many people who have trouble falling asleep or staying asleep find the root cause to be the amount of sugar they regularly take in. Most people, at least in the industrialized world, eat far too much sugar on a regular basis. Eating too much sugar causes your body to dump a lot of different natural chemicals, called hormones, into your bloodstream to counteract this rise of sugar levels in your blood. Your pancreas immediately reacts to this rise of sugar with a flood of insulin. While some people become lethargic when this takes place, it can actually throw you out of balance to the point where you end up having difficulty sleeping.

If you really want to be able to overcome your sleeping and health problems, a priority for you has to be eating better. Take a few weeks and totally cut sugar out of your diet. You might also remove many of the other things that people consider healthy, such as soy and wheat. You might be surprised to find out that you will not only be getting a better night’s sleep on a consistent basis, your entire demeanor will be changed.

Getting a good night’s sleep is vital for you to enjoy good health. If you are having trouble falling asleep or staying asleep check what you eat. When you begin to exchange sugary foods for raw fruits and vegetables you’ll quickly begin to notice a difference in the way that you are sleeping. Watch your diet and make your sleeping problems a thing of the past. Start today!

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