Fall Leaf

Fall

Halloween

Halloween Decorations

Pumpkins

Pumpkin Seeds

Fall

Fall Leaves

Photography by Irina McGuire

This year, I decided to take my pumpkin carving to the next level by making use of the pumpkin seeds. It was easier than I thought. All I had to do was separate the seeds from the pulp after emptying out the pumpkin. Here is the rest of it…

Preparation

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees. Wash the seeds and place them wet on a large greased cookie sheet. Bake the seeds for 30 minutes, stirring every 10 minutes. At this point, the seeds should be dry. Add some butter and salt to the seeds and stir. Bake the seeds for another 20 minutes or until they look golden and crispy. Be careful, they are addictive!

“My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time. ~ Steve Jobs

Mission Bay Conference Center at UCSF

Steven Pemberton, researcher at the CWI, the Dutch National Research Centre for Mathematics and Computer Science in Amsterdam the Netherlands

Mark Trammell, Twitter

Paul D. Miller aka DJ Spooky

Paul Adams, Facebook

and Me

I recently attended UX Week 2011, a user experience design conference. Design professionals from all over the world gathered for four days of community, inspiration and skills building. It was beyond my expectations. The conference itself took place in San Francisco, the city of innovation and progress. It was an honor to be in the presence of presenters from such major companies as Google, Facebook, Pixar and others. I was truly inspired by the speakers and by the overall sense of excitement which is happening in the design community. I was also impressed by the humbleness and sincerity of some of these major companies as they shared their internal struggles as well as their achievements in their quest of developing people-powered products. Many topics were discussed, but the main theme revolved around the importance of user experience when it comes building technologies for people.

And, user experience is not just a buzz word. When talking about personal experiences, we all have certain expectations when it comes to going out to a restaurant or a birthday party, for example. We “expect” a nice atmosphere, plenty of food and we hope to have some great conversations. So, what is user experience in technology? Sometimes people find themselves lost or turned off by having to use an e-service which is cumbersome, confusing or simply boring. Part of having a great user experience is providing people with a service which makes them feel comfortable and welcome, just as they would want to feel at a birthday party.

As Todd Walthall, a senior vice president of Channel Management, put it: “Great user experiences fuse left and right brain approaches.” So, how do we, digital product makers, align business goals and user goals? How can we build great user experiences? Here are some key notes from the presentations:

• Have a purpose. Ask yourself “Why are you doing this?”
• Put yourself in your user’s shoes (create personas)
• Get visual (mock it up)
• Focus on quality content and content strategy
• Add a human touch
• Look to psychology to understand what motivates people (people like fun)
• Rewire business around people (social web is becoming the web)
• Take advantage of social media (Disney swears by it)
• Work in collaboration and seek frequent feedback
• Can’t set it and forget it (continue to improve, question and revisit)
• Set up an environment which empowers people and fosters great work (Google)

Learn more about the speakers and check out their slide presentations (located on each speaker’s individual page).

Other great UX resources:

• 52 Weeks of UX
• A Project Guide to UX Design: For user experience designers in the field or in the making

“Memory is a way of holding onto the things you love, the things you are, the things you never want to lose.

As we go through life, we tend to accumulate different things, such as photographs, keepsakes, and other precious items which remind us of something special in our life, whether it is a person or a memory. We like to keep these things close to our heart no matter what happens or where we might be. These special items make us feel at home, that’s why we decorate our homes and offices with pictures and other small reminders of who we are and what we love.

Another way to preserve your precious memories is to create a Shadow Box. A shadow box collage is a three-dimensional, mix-media collage created inside a shallow-framed box. The collage is made to reflect a person’s history, passions, loves, hopes, and dreams using photos, stamps, found objects, and personal mementos. It’s a great way to create your own piece of art without spending too much and have something meaningful surround you at all times.

Although, you can build a frame yourself, you can find a shadow box frame in your local framing store, such as Michaels. I actually found my box at T.J.Maxx. The best thing to do is pick a theme – something that has a special meaning to you -  and find various items around your house based on that. Then, you can just have fun playing around with different ideas in arranging your mementos in your memory box.

My grandparents have always meant a lot to me, and, unfortunately, I don’t have an opportunity to be close to them now. So, I created my own shadow box dedicated to the memory of my grandparents. It warms my heart every time I look at it. This is worth more than any art piece I could ever buy.

I love making pizzas. I always keep a spare tube of pizza dough in my fridge. It comes really handy when there is nothing else in the house, so I toss together a few ingredients, and voilà! However, my son usually struggles with eating pizza because he picks at it and ends up destroying the whole thing. So, I came up with quick-n-easy recipe for mini-pizzas.

The key is to chop all the ingredients into very small pieces, so it’s easy to bite off and digest for a little person.

Ingredients

Wheat bagel thins or English muffins
Tomato sauce
Small onion
Broccoli
Spinach
Mexican Cheese Mix (or any other cheese)
1tbsp. butter

Preparation

Saute a chopped onion in butter until caramelized. Spread some tomato sauce on a bagel and sprinkle with some cheese to act as a glue for the rest of the ingredients. Pile on other chopped veggies, meat and onions. Finish with a layer of cheese. Feel free to use different ingredients. Stick the bagels in the oven (375 degrees) and bake until all the cheese is melted (about 8-10 minutes). Make sure not to burn the bagel. Watch your baby go nuts!

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Need more kids’s meal ideas? Check out my recipe for Cutie Pot-Pie.