I’m the last person who would be caught making “homemade Valentine’s cards”… Yet here I am.

When I asked my two-year-old daughter’s teacher if there were any rules around the class Valentines, she presented to me a dizzying list of do nots.  No nuts. No fighting characters (ie Star Wars). No choking hazards. No hard candies. Nothing gummy. Nothing pointy…  Two-year-olds don’t get to have any fun, do they?

After a few days of poking around Pinterest for inspiration, I came up with this sweet and simple Valentine for my toddler’s class using Goldfish crackers and craft stuff I had around the house.

Needed: Mini bags of goldfish crackers, red card stock, markers, and some sparkly heart stickers.

Disclaimer: Some child labor was used to attach the stickers. She was paid handsomely in hugs, kisses, and praise. 

Do you hear that? No… Listen.

It’s the sound of coffee brewing in my otherwise empty house. I just dropped off the husband and the kids at their various places of employ/school. My first meeting isn’t until 10am. My phone is on silent. My email is being ignored. It’s just me and my cup of coffee.

It’s this tiny moment in the morning- the proverbial calm before the storm- that gets me thought my entire day. What a luxury it is to have it!

What are the essential luxuries you need to get  through your day? After all, a life well lived is marked by moments of simple pleasures.

Is it looking forward to a night out with friends? A great book? A lovely new handbag for the Spring?  No matter how big or small your essential luxuries may be, share them with Acura in a short video (less then two minutes) and be entered to win an all-expenses paid weekend getaway for two in Scottsdale, Arizona and a MacBookPro* 

Stay at a luxury hotel and test drive the 2013 Acura RDX before it becomes available to the public. You’ll also receive a personal introduction to the vehicle from the people who designed it with luxury in mind. For more details and to submit your video, head to the RDX Challenge tab on the Acura Facebook Page.

To enter to win this fabulous weekend getaway, please “like” the Acura Facebook page and find the tab for the RDX Challenge on the left-hand side of the screen. The instructions and how to submit your video are all there.

But wait! That’s not the only opportunity to win a bit a luxury and learn more about the 2013 Acura RDX….

Join Splash Creative Media on Wednesday, February 1st from 9-10 pm ET (6-7 pm PT) for a fun Twitter party, where we’ll discuss the contest, the 2013 Acura RDX, and of course, life’s essential luxuries.

It’s easy to join the party. Simply follow the hashtag #RDXContest.

Hosts:
@JustPrecious, @CentsibleLife, @TechSavvyMama, @GraceDuffy

Please also follow:
@Splash_Creative and @Acura_Insider

Prizes: 

We’ll also be giving away prizes that will help you experience luxury in your everyday life!

• $25 Barnes & Noble gift card
• $25 Starbucks gift card
• $50 SpaFinder gift card
• $50 Restaurant.com gift card
• Grand Prize: Nook Simple Touch (valued at $99)

How to Enter:

RSVP below for a chance to win!

Enter your name and Twitter handle. To be eligible to win you must RSVP and participate in the party using #RDXContest. All winners will be chosen by random drawing and must have a mailing address within the United States. Official rules can be found on the Splash Creative Media site.

Disclaimers: *MacBook Pro is a trademark of Apple Inc. Apple is not a participant in or sponsor of this promotion. Acura of Honda Motor Corp. is a client of Splash Creative Media, which is a property of Just Centsible.

I met Project Runway’s Anya Ayoung-Chee at the Clever Girls Collectives’ Ladies who Tech Happy Hour at the super swank Wynn/Encore hotel in Las Vegas. We both were in town for CES 2012 and taking a much needed break from the frenetic show floor.

I am normally terrible when it comes to recognizing celebrities, but I knew Anya immediately. It was as if I spent an hour with her in my living room every week for fourteen weeks in a row. Oh wait… I did.

I adored her on the ninth season of Project Runway, cheered along as she won the competition, and was thrilled at the chance of meeting her in person. She is as lovely and gracious seated across a table as she appeared to be on the show. We had a terrific conversation, and as a testament to what a tech-savvy and dedicated blogger I am, it did not occur to me to RECORD any of it until halfway in.

That night, I ran back to my hotel room (on the less then swanky side of the Strip) to record every bit of wisdom, inspiration, and insight gained from my fifteen minutes of rubbing elbows with fame. So, how did this graphic artist turned beauty queen turned reality show sensation win it all at Project Runway within just FOUR MONTHS of learning to sew?

Focus on What Matters. Forget the Rest.

What I found most inspiring about Anya was actually her inability to sew, and I told her so.

You could turn any garment that Laura, Josh, or Victor made inside out and wear it. The craftsmanship was so flawless. My clothes were probably a mess up close, but you couldn’t tell on the runway.

As Michael Kors repeats season after season of the show, “It’s Project Runway, not Project Seamstress”. Anya latched on to that idea quickly and knew exactly where  to spend her energy. She focused on her talents and did not let the other stuff (the things that didn’t matter anyway) bog her down.

She could have beaten herself up over her supposed lack of sewing abilities. She could have obsessed over all the reasons why she “shouldn’t” and “can’t” and “what if”, all the while talking herself out of even trying. Instead, she decided to win.

Everyone is filling a role that they think they ought to be.

The funny thing about TV is that we use it to watch “reality” when we know perfectly well that it is anything but… Scenes are edited. Words are taken out of context. Other things are added. Yet, we still want to believe that it’s all truth and goodness.

I’ve only been on one side of it, so I asked Anya what it was really like to be on Project Runaway. The REAL Project Runway.

The cattiness and drama on the show was… surprise… edited into the show. According to Anya the entire group was very supportive of one another and had a strong sense of camaraderie.  Remarks seen on TV were taken out of context or completely forgotten.

This made it awkward to watch the show together, but we all understood that what you saw on TV wasn’t real.

When I asked what it was like to be judged on the runway week after week, she admitted that it truly was nerve-wracking.

“Michael Kors was so funny,” she added. She knew not to take his remarks personally, but use it as advice. “Heidi, Tim, Michael, Nina. They all wanted us to succeed and they were only trying to help. They just seemed harsher when on TV because that was the role they were supposed to play”.

I’m very guilty to taking any sort criticism to heart.  My first reaction is to lash out, defend myself, or just freak out. In reality, there can be a lot of good to be gained from criticism– an opportunity to do better, suggestions for improvements, holes in your plan. However you want to take it, it’s just as important to consider the source. Perhaps, they too are simply “playing a role” that they think they need to fill.

Get to work.

When Tim Gunn visited Anya at home, she had completed very little. At the time, there was civil unrest in her home country, a lot going on in her personal life, and the added pressure of competing on the show. “The stress was just so overwhelming!” she said, and it showed in her work. She flitted from one idea to another, accomplishing nearly nothing. How many of us can relate to this? 

The best advice from Tim was to just muscle through.

Treat my workroom as an intensive incubator. Start draping muslin. Get to work.

I asked how she was able to find her focus during the show. While the show was broadcast once a week, the challenges came one right after the other with very little time to rest and regroup in between. “It was grueling,” says Anya, but she credits her success to remaining focused and being cut off from the rest of the world. All together. All in it together. There were no distractions or outside delays.

It’s no surprise that the most productive time is alone time, free of interruptions and distraction. And, the best way to get alone time is to demand it.  Set aside specific hours in which you turn off your phone, block social media, and don’t hold any meetings. Shut the door, sit down, and focus nonstop.

In other words, GET TO WORK.

If you are using Blogger (Blogspot) as your blogging platform, who am I to judge. It’s simple to design, easy to maneuver, and integrates seamlessly with Google Analytics, Feedburner, Picasa, Google Reader…  Now that I think of it, it’s pretty gosh darn awesome if you ask me.

Google has even updated the Dashboard so that it’s very clean and cool. Unfortunately, what it has gained in style (so to speak), it has lost in functionality.

For instance, you can’t seem to remove the CAPTCHA (word verification) when people leave comments in the new Blogger interface. If you try looking in the Settings > Posts and Comments, there is no longer a section for word verification as there once was. It seems that the only way to make this adjustment is in the “old” Blogger interface. So how does one get around this?

Go to the “Options” icon. It’s looks like a little gear on the right side of the screen. Click on it and find the link to the Old Blogger Interface.

This will take you to the old interface. Click on the Settings and that will take you to Comments menu.

Scroll down, down, down…. even further down… to the options to turn OFF the word verification.

Now, embrace the SPAM!

In its January 2012 issue, Real Simple magazine took an in-depth look into the world of social media, offering stats, tips, and common grievances.

Upon surveying 945 readers about the social-media habits that drive them crazy, they found that the top offenses were: “intentionally vague posts meant to generate concern and attention, a.k.a. vaguebooking”, “chronic complaining”, and “meaningless calls to action”. I would, personally, like to add to that list passive-aggressive, non-committal, blanket statements, @ or tagging abuse, invitations to “events” which are actually websites and not events at all, and, finally, 50 consecutive posts in which you link to yourself.

What are some of your social media pet peeves? 

This week, Real Simple is hitting refresh on civility and instituting “Be Nice on the Internet” week. Follow the Real Simple Facebook page and sign up for their newsletter  to get all of the details, including expert tips on social media matters, answers to why there is so much negativity on the Internet, and other interesting discussions.

{image credit: Real Simple}