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Smatterings: June 2014 Vol I

Saya Respond Are you tired of the daily grind and in need of a break?
Do you wish you had time to focus on yourself and reconnect with your true passions and desires?
Do you feel like you have lost momentum and need some inspiration?

If yes, join us in Nepal so you can:

-Reconnect with your mind, body and soul as Reshma guides you through daily morning yoga and evening gatherings with enlivening music by the talented Jamuna Sheth
-Revive your senses with treks through the beautiful Annapurna mountains, enjoying the sweet mountain air and breathtaking views
-Reawaken your inner child as you embark on a safari through the Nepali jungle
-Rest and rejuvenate in your luxurious accommodations complete with holistic spas
-Awaken deep compassion in your heart as you provide hands-on volunteer service for underprivileged women and children

Dates: October 12-25 – the most beautiful time of year to visit!

Appropriate for all, no yoga or kirtan experience necessary! For more details, please PM Reshma on her page, or visit www.poseswithapurpose.com.

Sign-up before June 30th and receive a discounted rate + wellness gift!

$2,399 early bird special (deadline June 30, 2014)
$2,599 standard price

Prices include all lodging (double occupancy), domestic travel within Nepal, two meals a day, trekking permits and park entrance fees, elephant safari, yoga classes, kirtans, workshops and other wellness activities.

Mac & Cheese Productions Goodness | CHEESE-IT PERK! If you want to be a UX designer, or just think like one, ADMCi is offering you the chance to take a class to peak your interest, further your career, add to your portfolio or help you solve customer problems in new innovative ways.

This summer we are offering:

You can learn more here.

And use MAC&CHEESE to get a $500 discount off your tuition.

Mac & Cheese Productions Goodness | “HOW TO LIVE A LIFE OF YES!” WORKSHOP

“Saya made 17 different light bulbs go off in my head, one for each of her steps in “Design[ing] The Life You Want”. Thank you for inspiring me to go for it and “Nike” the heck out of life!” – student

Next class is THIS week, sign up here!

Development Director

Job posted by: Growing Home


Man Submits Drawing Of Spider Instead Of Payment For Overdue Account

Dear Guy Who Just Made My Burrito:

Mac & Cheese Productions Goodness | TIME-MANAGEMENT & EFFICIENCY WORKSHOP

“Great way to learn about the many tools that can be used to organize our day to day and find a better work-play balance. Absolutely recommend.” – student

I married someone who caught my attention due to his love of spreadsheets.
Organization, frugality, and efficiency are what makes my heart go thump, professionally and personally!

The focus of this class are tools you can use to help you juggle life.

More info/register

A Father Reacts: Baby’s First Laugh


If I know you and would recommend you, feel free to ask me to do so.

Digital Project Manager

Mac & Cheese Productions Goodness | FEAR EXPERIMENT (FE) — only ONE more chance left to apply!! Fear Experiment is one of the most unique ways to challenge yourself, meet others, and experience being a rockstar.

You sign up solo to learn an art-form that you’re perhaps not the best at, rehearse for three months with an instructor, and then perform in front of hundreds at the Park West.

Art-forms are dance, improv, a capella, storytelling, and stepping; you choose one.

Info session attendance required for all applicants and there’s only one left!

If you’d like to apply for the next round, which starts in the Fall, head here.

25 Words That Are Their Own Opposites

Diary of a Corporate Sellout
The rise and fall and rise of Upcoming.org

It Is Impossible to Believe How Mindblowing These Amazing New Jobs Are

How to travel the world and get companies to pay for it.
Don’t get excited, it doesn’t work like that.

Everything You Need to Know to Survive a Convention

How to Defeat Bad Breath Once and For All

Is Becoming a Landlord Worth It?

Use the ATM at a Bank or Grocery Store to Avoid Scams

The Unexpected Wedding Costs That Can Blow Your Budget

GeniusFlight Suggests Destinations Based on Your Airfare Budget

Cynics Are at a Higher Risk of Developing Dementia

A Definitive Ranking of Every Season of Every TV Show That Mattered

12 Most Useful Life Lessons I Learned at Summer Camp

How Basecamp grew from an internal project to generating millions in revenue

ParkChicago takes the load off drivers with pay-to-park meter technology

Get On Board: Central Loop Bus Rapid Transit Is Coming Soon

Watch LeVar Burton’s Tearful Reaction To His ‘Reading Rainbow’ Kickstarter Raising $1 Million

Could Diet Soda Really Be Better Than Water For Weight Loss?

How To Beat Jet Lag (And Why It Happens)

This is why I ride with a camera on my bike.

Divvy pedaled to loss in ’13

West Town ‘Bike-Friendly’ Business District Gets June 9 Launch

Do You Have Chickenshititis?

No matter where you want them to take you, Uber drivers appear to being following the money.

“According to Uber, the median wage for an UberX driver working at least 40 hours a week in New York City is $90,766 a year. In San Francisco, the median wage for an UberX driver working at least 40 hours a week is $74,191.”

Via NextDraft

Nigerian Officials Say They’ve Located Missing Girls

Bang Bang Pie Shop Kicks Off Summer Dinner Series With Teaser

Obama College Prep Will Make Room for Kids From the Neighborhood, CPS Says

Spin Nightclub Closed: Beloved Boystown Gay Bar ‘Officially’ Shuttered

Has email taken over your life?
Are you ready to give up because you can’t keep up with the volume in your inbox?
Help is on the way.

“Take Charge of Your Email Inbox” written by Bonnie Hillman Shay gives you a step-by-step process to declutter your inbox and then manage it going forward. De-stress your life, regain control and reclaim peace of mind. Available on Amazon.com.

Take charge!

How an Improv Class Made Me a Better Mom

For Hire: Dedicated Young Man with Down Syndrome

A father reflects on his son’s search for employment

Improv Characters You Need to Retire

Cheese-It Erin Wike is fundraising for her PT due to a herniated disc, check this out!

She is holding 1 hour consulting sessions to help people (Creative & Marketing fields) with their resume and job hunting techniques. (She is a Creative Recruiter and Adjunct Instructor at Loyola with a Marketing/Ad/PR background). Erin will meet people in person for an hour 1:1 and is also hosting Dabble classes. First one is 6/23 at her home (so only 6 people).

Class info here.

Contact her if you’d like to set up a session!
Please send your resume/elevator pitch and what she can help you with the most (Resume, Interview tips, finding jobs, etc.)


This Dance Routine Is Unreal

Having Kids Probably Won’t Destroy the Planet


Movie Mondays at The Wit Hotel’s Roof: Series Runs Through Sept. 1

Perfect Match: Brazilian Kids Learn English by Video Chatting With Lonely Elderly Americans

Via Tim Ferriss
Productivity Tricks for the Neurotic and Crazy (Like Me)

11 Awkward Things About Email

Celebrities Read Mean Tweets #7

A Man’s Guide to Surviving Unemployment

The Bike-Helmet Law That Helped Trigger an Insurgency in Nigeria

My alma mater – Boston College – trying to help students with dating!

College class tries to revive the lost art of dating


Here are some of BC professor Kerry Cronin’s assignment rules

Breaking Down Each Cast Member’s Contribution to ‘SNL’ Season 39

Manicube lands in Chicago, offering in-office manicures

LOVING this free tool!

Copy is an easy way to store, protect and share. It keeps your computers in sync and your files available from anywhere, even on your mobile devices. 20GBs free.

The 10 Types of Bar and How to Navigate Them

The Lincoln Square Tony’s Fresh Market Is Officially Open

Here’s How MTV’s Catfish Actually Works

Mac & Cheese Productions Goodness | POTLUCK! (A SMORGASBORD OF IDEAS) Potluck! (A Smorgasbord of Ideas) brings together several of Chicago’s best and brightest, funniest and handsomest, wittiest and engaging-est for an evening of rapid fire musings on whatever they choose to muse upon.

Each presenter talks about whatever he/she wants, for six-minutes.

No actual food involved.

Check out the lineup for the next one!
And buy NOW, we sell out.

Curated by Mac & Cheese Productions and TeamPete

I recently had someone come into clean my home for the first time.
I was nervous (would it be worth it? would they judge me? would they steal my things? would they read my diary? am I lazy elitist for hiring someone to do what I can do but just don’t want to?) …

Short answer to would I recommend it: HECK YES!

I used Handybook.
Super easy.
You can book the same person or just have a random.
The gal who came for me was very nice and professional.

You can also use the site for handyman services.

Use code SAYA3359 for $25 off your first use! (good for cleaning and handyman services)


Is It Better to Rent or Buy?

If Gay Guys Said the Crap Straight People Say… (Video) f

Your Guide to Frozen Desserts this Summer

One of my favorite spots in Chicago! Looking for a flexible, collaborative space where you can do your bets work? We have a furnished office with great natural light available immediately for 1-4 people at Enerspace Coworking in the West Loop. Great wall of windows give you access to the open work area.

The space has 18 foot ceilings and a full view of the Chicago skyline through an expansive wall of windows. Full kitchen, parking, access to professional meeting rooms, shower, access to fitness space, amazing community of entrepreneurs and mobile professionals. Parking available for less than the price of the CTA. www.enerspacecoworking.com or 312-846-1665. $1,550 for up to 4 people.

This Artist Is Filling In Chicago’s Potholes With Mosaics

If you can’t beat a bad pothole season, you might as well beautify it.

A participant in our most recent #IdeaPotluck wrote a great recap —Potluck! 14.0: Eight Speakers, Six Minutes Each
You should be at the next one!

Check out the lineup/get tickets

Patton Oswalt Confronts His Haters

Joey’s Soda and Snacks for Sale by Owner



Chicago’s 38 Best Independent Boutiques

The Worst Day Of My Life Is Now New York’s Hottest Tourist Attraction

Nearly 13 years after my sister’s death, a reluctant Sunday visit to the 9/11 Memorial Museum, where public spectacle and private grief have a permanent home together.

Cool resource!
50 Ways to Get a Job


I joined Tinder as a dog

“According to The Journal of Couple and Relationship Therapy, nearly 50 percent of married women and 60 percent of married men will have an extramarital affair at some point in their marriage. ”

I went undercover on Ashley Madison to find out why women cheat

When Do We Hit Peak Embarrassment?

Dating in the 21st Century: A Reading List

Who is Narendra Modi and why is the world afraid of him leading India?

I’ve never wanted an iPhone before… now I do!

20 Day Stranger is an iPhone app that reveals intimate, shared connections between two anonymous individuals. It’s a mobile experience that exchanges one person’s experience of the world with another’s, while preserving anonymity on both sides.

For 20 days, you and a stranger will experience the world in your own way, together. You’ll never know who it is or exactly where they are, but we hope it will reveal enough about someone to build your imagination of their life… and more broadly, the imagination of strangers everywhere.

How to Meet People and Get What You Want Without Being Fake


Ever wonder where a CTA bus or train is at any given moment? This sweet interactive map tool from The University of Freiberg and geOps called TRAVIC (short for Transit Visualization Client) shows exactly where public transit vehicles are according to published schedules. The tool gives a bigger picture view of Chicago public transit, and can be incredibly useful for trip planning. There is a TRAVIC map tool for 75 other cities, including LA and San Francisco.

Via Curbed

SNL Digital Shorts return with ‘Davvincii’ to skewer EDM and overpaid DJs

Any Mumbai Sunday

One woman is on a quest to sell American football to India. Is anyone buying?

Why 1.5 million people are on a dating site called Farmers Only

Schmich: 9 things I like, including Divvy

My boyfriends!

Key & Peele on tackling race through humor


Director of Education – 826CHI (Wicker Park)

Check out this class taught by a Cheese-It!

Homemade Almond Milk
When: Saturday, June 07, 2014 from 10:00am to 12:00pm
Where: Be Optimal Holistic Health Center 1249 Waukegan Road, Glenview, IL 60025
Price: $25.00.
Register here: http://bit.ly/1fnhKR5
Class Info
Making almond milk is fun, healthy, and easier than you think. I first got into it because I wanted to consume less dairy and avoid the preservatives used in commercial nut milks. Not to mention, it’s super yummy.
From soaking, to blending, to squeezing, to dehydrating, to baking, to drinking… learn how fast and easy it is to make tasty homemade almond milk!
During the class you’ll learn about almond milk, why store bought isn’t the best, you’ll taste different flavors of homemade almond milk, and experiment with making your own. Each participant will make 2 quarts of almond milk which you can take home and enjoy!
Almond milk is delicious on its own and is great in cereals, granola, yogurts, pancakes, smoothies, and baked goods.
What to bring
2 quart sized jars with lids
What will be provided
Almonds, filtered water, & natural flavorings

Mac & Cheese Productions Goodness | LIFE OF YES MEETUP

Sharing and supporting.

Come join at the next one!
Limited to 20 to keep it intimate.

Mac & Cheese Productions Goodness | LIFE OF YES! SLEEPAWAY CAMP Life of Yes! (LOY) Sleepaway Camp is designed to equip you with a way of thinking and a community rooted in you getting as much as you can out of your life.

A weekend filled with habit-, value-, and courage-development activities, in an environment where you feel at home with people you just met…

Everyone comes solo.
Check out the details. That’s it, folks! Hope you enjoyed this issue.

Use someone’s services in Smatterings and LOVED them? Went to an activity suggested in here and LOVED it? Have some other positive come out of Smatterings?

Let me know! That fuels me continuing to do Smatterings twice a month.

Filed under: Blog, Newsletter | Smatterings and Tagged: Smatterings




Enter your email to join the M&C Tribe and get offering announcements and other goodness. Sent twice a month. What is my life: how I got free tickets to Game 5 of the National League Championship Series to cheer on the Cubbies

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