I recently had the pleasure of working with Chef Melissa DeLeon, the well-known Panamanian Cooking Diva.  Melissa has several sites she writes for that feature different things on cooking, but contacted me about helping her spruce up her blog, Cooking Diva that runs on Typepad.  She wanted a “new-fresh-cool-feminine-stylish design that sets her apart from the rest of the cooking blogs”.  So, I looked to contemporary home magazines and paint samples for color inspiration, taking note of kitchens with warm tones and interesting combinations.  Melissa’s gorgeous food needed a backdrop with a little spice!
Speaking of the food, one word: YUM!  I’m think I need to make this lobster salad (or Ensalada de Langosta).  These indian-style chicken kabobs also sound delish.  I was starving by the time I finished!
Chef Melissa writes in both English and Spanish and has a nice variety of recipes to choose from.  If you’re looking for something new to make for dinner, stop by Cooking Diva and take a peek!

I don’t think our planets are aligned properly today.  In addition to Joelle’s frustrating computer issues, which she is feverishly trying to repair as soon as possible, it seems that Hurricane Katrina has decided to create a little bit of havoc down here in Florida.  Currently my Internet access is up and down and I figured while I have it for the moment I would give my lovely clients a heads up in case anyone is trying to reach me.  It doesn’t look permanent but if you don’t hear back from me right away, I could be experiencing some connection downtime.  As for my friend Joelle, let’s all pray to whomever you pray to, that she comes out of her computer hell soon and unscathed.  Thanks for everyone’s patience!

Well, kids, it looks like I’ve been hit by the Zotob worm that’s been going around, despite my firewall, anti-virus, hokey pokey and voodoo.  I’ll be offline most of today, as I will be getting a new hard drive and safely securing my precious cargo elsewhere so that I don’t jeopardize any of my data.
If you are waiting for an email from me, I assure you I will respond as soon as I am able to. I will be working diligently, intent on remaining on schedule, so I don’t think there’s any cause for concern. But I wanted to make you aware in the event you are trying to reach me or are waiting on a mock-up. It’s on it’s way shortly! 
I appreciate your business and thank you so much for your patience. Have a great day!

While looking through the 800 channel’s worth of “nothing to watch” on cable, I discovered something called Current TV.  The show it was playing at the time was “Google Current”, which appeared to be a sort of “in the moment” multimedia information fest.  I suppose I would consider it something like CNN for the artsy-fartsy.  It featured silkscreen artists and independent film, hip investigative reporting and the graphic artist who’s behind the Andre the Giant “Obey” stickers you see everywhere.  It had politics and fashion, tech and internet news… I’ll admit, I was intrigued.  The cable guide classified it as a “news magazine” which seems relatively accurate.
They’ve got all kinds of goodies on their site like things to customize and ways to contribute.  And, of course, like any smart company (hint, hint) they’ve got a blog!  If your cable provider offers Current TV, and you’re into artsy fartsy poli techie goodness, check it out! It’s definitely worth a go.

Blogs aren’t new news and “they” say the number of blogs on the Internet doubles every 5 minutes.  I ran across this article this morning from an August 5th Business Journal that talks about the evolution of blogging in business and gets into greater corporate blogging detail. Here are some interesting snippets:

Blogging, which has been largely used by individuals to share their views on politics and interests in life, is gaining ground in the corporate world as a marketing and customer service tool. To date, many of the companies launching blogs have been media outlets or high-tech companies. But that’s slowly changing as more and more nontechnical companies recognize blogging’s benefits.

“This is not a new medium,“ said Catalano, who’s been blogging for three years. “A blog is essentially a new Web publishing mechanism; it’s a great way to publish information without having to use special tools.“

Food for thought. Read the full article here.