Friday Finds – August 1, 2008

– Have you hugged your friends today? Today is National Girlfriends Day! I know this because my new friend and blogpal Debba has a website dedicated to female friendships called Girlfriendology. She came up with these 10 idea-starters for celebrating the wonderful girlfriends in your life.

(Pictured here: Me and my best friend since the sixth grade, Andrea, taken by Jay just weeks before Andrea had her first baby. For one shining moment, I weighed less than her. Victory was fleeting. She’s already well on her way to being skinny mini again.)

– Share stuff with other parents, get prizes! We’ve written about Zwaggle before (the online network of parents who get points for giving gently used stuff and can “buy” more stuff with those points). Now, Zwaggle is celebrating its 1st birthday with double “Zoints” in August, plus “party favors” each Sunday evening.

– Make work fit your life. The newly launched Life Meets Work offers ideas, resources, community, and jobs for people who want a more flexible job. While ideal for working moms, it also aims to help retirees, SAHMs who want to make some dough, and anyone who craves more work wiggle room.

– Are you a textbook example of a successful working mom? Me neither. But I could be in a textbook anyway! The Hot Mommas Project is a research endeavor of George Washington University business professor Katherine Korman Frey and her team of researchers (some of whom I met at BlogHer ’08). They want to capture “the best practices of women leaders in professional AND personal realms.” Could you be one of their case studies? If yours is selected for the textbook, you’ll get the glory plus cash and prizes. Learn more on their main site or their blog.

– Goettafest! If you’re a Cincinnati reader–or you live elsewhere but REALLY love goetta–don’t miss Glier’s Goettafest this weekend at Newport’s Riverfront Levee. I’m talkin’ goetta pizza, goetta reubens, goetta burgers, goetta omelets, goetta fudge (what the …?) Need a little goetta 101? Check out my previous Tasty Tuesday, including Grandma Wenner’s classic goetta recipe.

Cara’s Finds

–Tell ‘em nicely… and anonymously. Want to give a co-worker some friendly advice without hurting their feelings? Try NiceCritic.com, the anonymous way to send a helpful message. Choose from nine different message categories, from personal hygiene to office behavior. If only they had a “Dear Cubicle Neighbor, hacking up luggies in your office trashcan is NOT cool” message. Now that would have been handy a few years ago.

– Houshyourdaddy? Cincinnati Bengals fans will enjoy seeing TJ Houshmandzadeh on MTV Cribs. I did; although he gave no love to his fans back home. Grrrr… That’s OK, I’ll still sport my #84 jersey this year. He’s my favorite “Bungal.”