Vote for the Humane Society of Greater Dayton

In the past, I had always put animal causes pretty low on my list of causes to support; it was still ON the list just on the bottom tier. In my mind, there were too many human causes that I thought were more pressing but as I get older, learn more of life's lessons and contemplate on my own life raised with many pets, I realize that animal causes, specifically pet causes, are really important to the human cause. Pets provide a really important connection to nature that is really hard to come by in this digital age. Pets are these simple creatures that have simple ways of expressing themselves. Being human can be complex but we can learn a lot by being simple like our pet companions. Pets teach us that when you are happy show it, when you are annoyed softly bat back and when you are sleepy take a nap. They also provide a lot of love and affection to us when we find little among our fellow man. Those of us without children, without parents, without a significant other, and/or without friends will always find love and acceptance from a pet we love and care for. Being loved by someone or something is a really important part of being human. So overall, pets help people appreciate nature, teach us how to be simpler communicators and make us feel loved. And all those things help people be happier which helps them be kinder which helps all of us co-exist more peacefully.

With all that said, help Dayton Humane Society help local animals by voting for them to win the ASPCA $100K Challenge! 

It's a competition that inspires shelters and their communities to come up with innovative ways to save at least 300 more dogs and cats within a three-month period than were saved during the same three months the year before. And we could win between $5,000 and $125,000!  Our staff and volunteers are raring to take a shot at saving more lives than we ever have before. That’s where you come in.

Your vote EVERY DAY for 12 DAYS will hep the Humane Society win the 100K ASPCA Challenge. 

Here's 5 great reason to for the Humane Society of Greater Dayton

1. Your vote will help us SAVE more LIVES
2. They are a non-profit and need your support
3. They are the area's largest NO-KILL animal center
4. They help ALL animals
5. Your VOTE will show America that WE LOVE OUR [Southern Ohio] ANIMALS!
6. BONUS I've gotten a pet from there before!

So remember to vote, vote, vote!

While You Were Out

 via VisuaLingual

This post is appropriate in more ways than one. I've been away and "while I was out" I came across yet another brilliant item from my pals at VisuaLingual. They are "while you were out" forms that help customers, such as myself, let local businesses know that their business is in demand and what my shopping needs are. I've actually run into more than a few closed businesses on the weekends and sometimes on Mondays. You can find a print out for these puppies here, so start letting your area businesses now what's up!

This form also made me think of my blog and what effect I have on it while I'm out. I wonder how many missed opportunities I've had to share new and great Southern Ohio finds. How many viewers am I losing? So for me, this was a really great reminder to be "in" more often.

And I decided to post this on Wednesday night because I didn't want to go against the Black Out against SOPA. This is a very important protest because we do NOT want to end up being the generation that will say "I remember when the internet used to be free, open and useful".

SoOh Design Co.

 

I am happy and proud to announce my new etsy shop, SoOh Design Co. (a day late ain't so bad!). As you can tell, I’m running with the whole SoOh theme. This shop is dedicated to my favorite pastime, graphic design! Right now I’m offering custom shop banners and in honor of the New Year, I’m having a sale. So if you have your own shop (or know someone that does) visit my shop for more details. In the future, I plan on selling print pieces; many of which will be Southern Ohio related!


Anyone else have an etsy shop? Have you ever thought about having one? This will be my second shop so if you have any questions on how to get started, feel free to ask.

On Holiday

I absolutely love how the British say "I'm on holiday" when they are "on vacation". It sounds so romantic and wistful...which is why I've decided to bring the delightful colloquialism to Southern Ohio! Wait a minute...it also makes me think of this...



...hmmm, maybe I'll hold off on bringing "the holiday" phrase to the States...but I'm...I'M ON HOLIDAY AND I'M LOVING IT!!! Sorry, I just couldn't help myself. I am so excited to be away from work and have some time to work on my own projects like napping, eating, greading, internetting, sleeping...oh goodness me, there's so much work to be done! All jokes aside I will be working on some actual projects:

• Etsy Shop

I'm going to be offering custom etsy banner designs for the new year at a very special, low price. My goal is to post the official offer on Monday

• FREELANCE

I've decided to do freelance graphic design and marketing consulting! Now, I don't have everything figured out quite yet but the best way to keep posted on this is by checking out my google plus page.

Anyways, enough about me...let's talk about MY decorations! Sorry this post is so heavy on the me-me-me-ness but I just wanted to share a shot of our Holiday decor. Caveat to all those who hate fake, white Christmas trees...you are about to fall in love with one, oh yeah!

Half of the items in this photo are thrifted. Can you guess which ones?

I hope you all are on holiday and enjoying every minute!

Clean House

Posting the title Clean House made me think of the television show that I used to watch all the time; Niecy Nash was my guilty pleasure TV host. Fortunately, my home is no where close to being as messy (and dirty) as the clip above but I still struggle to keep things routinely clean. So after reading a post at Apartment Therapy titled How to Clean Your House in 20 minutes a Day for 30 days, I decided I needed to get focused and get a schedule created. Apartment Therapy's list really did inspire me but the idea of cleaning each day gives me the yucky blahs.

I do think daily simple cleaning is important. For instance cleaning dishes, wiping the kitchen and bathroom counter after use, and occasionally straightening up are all great cleaning tasks to do daily. But to make a 20 minute production out of some of the items on their list didn't make much sense to me. Seriously! Who wants to think about cleaning each day!? I personally want to just focus a couple hours out of ONE day to clean each WEEK, so I only have to think about it four times a month. And to Apartment Therapy's credit they did welcome you to adjust the list to your schedule. We don't have a pet or kids to contend with as far as cleaning goes which helps a lot! So for all you folks who only have to worry with basic adult-living mess and dirt, I created "How to Clean Your House in a Couple Hours Once a Week" schedule.

I divided this list into bi-weekly schedules. Bi-weekly A is what I believe is my lighter easier cleaning day and Bi-Weekly B is my tougher more in depth cleaning day. The idea of A verse B comes from being a board game nerd; the B side is usually harder.

And for your viewing pleasure my schedule:

Bi-Weekly A

• Bathroom: Clean linen closet, straighten towels, sheets or regular closet if not applicable
• Bathroom: Surface clean bathroom
• Bedroom: Surface clean bedrooms
• House: Clean all door knobs, phones, entertainment equipment (remote controls), switch plates, banisters and other things that are repeatedly touched.
• Kitchen & Living Room: Surface clean living room and kitchen
• Kitchen: Clean out the refrigerator, take stock of food, organize pantry
• Living Deep clean living room (mirrors, baseboards, dust artwork)
• Office & Mud Room: Surface clean "extra" rooms
• Other: Surface clean "extra" rooms (basement, office, play room)

Bi-Weekly B

• Bathroom: Clean bathrooms (toilets, showers, floors, walls, mirrors)
• Bathroom: Deep clean bathrooms (clean inside drawers, inside of trash cans, tops of mirrors, tile, mop)
• Bathroom: Surface clean bathrooms
• Bedroom: Surface clean bedrooms (put away toys, clothes, dust)
• Bedroom: Surfaces clean bedrooms
• House: Clean out closets (hang up clothes, mittens, jackets, hats)
• House: Sweep and vacuum all floors in the house (don't forget stairs)
• Kitchen & Living Room: Surface clean living room and kitchen (pick up stray items, dust, sweep, vacuum)
• Kitchen: Deep clean kitchen (scrub appliances, wash trash cans, base boards, wipe down and straighten cabinets)

Next step was to create repeat events in my google calendar and paste the list in the description. I know I won't be completing this list 100% at the beginning so I intend to asterisk each one I complete each week until I start completing the whole list regularly. This way I can remember what I didn't do and carry it over into the next week and also track my completion progress. And to make it easy to read all my instructions for the schedule, here it is in easy-to-read list form:

RULES

• Repeat bi-weekly in online calendar
• List chores in description
• Asterisk the each one you complete
• Carry-over non-Asterisk items in the next week
• Finish each item, each week is the ultimate goal

Also...

DAILY DEEDS

• Clean dishes
• Wipe Kitchen counter if you have cooked
• Wipe Bathroom counter after use (I keep a cloth near-by for all the water that splashes about)
• Sweep floor around the edges of the kitchen (food crumbs are always hiding against the baseboards, waiting for bugs to come collect them. To prevent this I sweep the edges daily and keep the critters at bay-sment, yuk yuk)

...

I figured if I can turn this into a measurable sort of "game" of sorts, maybe I can be routine about my cleaning. Does anyone else have a cleaning schedule? How do you keep up with it?

My first week of trying this was this past Sunday but I wrote this post before that so Sunday has not yet occurred for me. By the time that you have read this my future Sunday will already be in the past. My present self, which would be the past for you, is wondering how my future self will do. Good luck, future Bethany and God speed!...could have I written this anymore confusing, I think not!

Activated Spaces' Pop-Up Shops are OPEN!

You are probably getting sick of seeing this same ol' same logo. Well today you are in luck! I have a new logo to show you that I, Bethany of i love SoOh, got to design for our Activated Spaces' Pop-Up Shop project! I'm so excited that I got to do this because graphic design is a hobby of mine I really enjoy. So without further blah blah, the logo and marketing material I designed:

The logo

 

The Poster:

The Palm Cards (front):

The Palm Cards (back):

I don't know if you all noticed but I even got to put a credit line in the lower right hand corner of the poster and palm card! I did that in hopes that I could do more work like this. So this is my unofficial announcement that I will be taking freelance work. As I said this is unofficial so I don't have many details other than email me about a project and I'll get back with you but in a couple weeks I will post a detailed list of services I can offer. Working on this project definitely reignited passions I've had but haven't had much of a chance to work on professionally. In particular; working for a non-profit to promote locally owned businesses through design and marketing. So if you have a project that needs graphics and/or a marketing plan that falls into that area, please be sure to email me. And even if your project isn't related to that area, email me anyway! Keep an eye out for more details on my freelance services.

Enough about me though, let's talk about these shops. Here is what you need to know:

All Activated Spaces pop-up retailers will be open for Grande Illumination festivities on Friday, November 25. Beaute Box will be open 3-7 p.m. and feature a grand opening celebration with refreshments. Comfort and Joy will open their doors from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. and PEACE on Fifth will celebrate what it is calling “Fair Trade Friday.”

• Comfort and Joy, 521-523 E. Fifth St., features baked goods, poetry, books and crocheted items created by a collaboration of artists and crafters. Music for sale includes jazz, gospel and the sounds of the season. 937-524-6222

• Peace on 5th, 519 E. Fifth St., a satellite of the Dayton International Peace Museum’s store, will sell fair trade, slave-free and eco-friendly merchandise. Every item for sale has a story, perfect for holiday gift-giving. 937-227-3223

• Beaute Box, 116 W. Fifth St., is a day spa and salon that will provide nail care, waxing, eyelash extensions and makeup services with a personal, pampering touch. 937-903-3165

From 4 to 8 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 2, the three retailers will host open houses in conjunction with the updayton Scavenger Hunt that’s part of downtown’s free monthly art hop, First Friday. Details about the open house will be announced soon.

Have you already checked out the shops today? Tell me what you think. If you have any questions let me know in the comments or go to http://www.activatedspaces.org to learn more.

Quick Update: Calendar and such

QUICK UPDATE

Hey there, just wanted to post a quick update about how I am going to try very hard to keep my Calendar up-to-date. I've been a slacker but I have a renewed vigor. If you know of any event that you think should be posted on there, please let me know! I just added two really great events; The Grand Illumination tree lighting in Dayton and Yelp's Totally Bazaar Scavenger Hunt (Alex told me about this one, thanks!). Also both of those events are free, I love that! I'll be in Dayton watching the beautiful tree lighting and celebrating the fact that Activated Spaces Pop-up Shops will officially open on Friday Nov. 25th! I can't wait to share more info on the whole process of getting it together. So in short, check out my calendar once in awhile, you may find some really great stuff to go to! And of course keep reading my blog and such.

Weekend Recap

As much as I want to be on point and start posting about all the things I got to do this weekend, I'm just not that good. Instead, I'm going to give a sum up and then post about some events in more detail during the week. My weekend as follows:

Friday, November 18th 2011

• Work as usual
• Completed poster and palm cards for Activated Spaces Pop-up shop project!! I'm going to give a sneak peek of my design this week :)
• KYLE came home after a visit in Cleveland!
• Watched movies and snuggled all night...awww....or ew if you aren't the romantic type

Saturday, November 19th 2011

• Woke up at 8 am...very unusual
• Went to Ikea. This was only the second time I had been there. The last time I went on a weekday and it was a entirely differently experience. My friends and I basically owned the place on Tuesday. This weekend? Not all. It was frighteningly full of families of all generations and generations to come (...pregnant ladies). I felt like I got a bout of agoraphobia from being there; the amount of people was daunting. It was just too much for me and I'm still a bit wishy-washy about Ikea. I like a lot of their pieces but it sort of bummed me out that when I would look at deisgn blogs and would be thinking "Wow, how unique they must have shopped at a million places to find that!", come to find out it's all right there at Ikea. I guess I just want to be more unique and less trendy when I decorate. Guess it's Goodwill for me; that way the items will be somewhat one of a kind. But for furniture...Ikea can't be beat. Cheap, easy to buy and easy to transport...well not for my Mazada. Fortunately, my friend had a truck and we made a plan for her to get the item and bring it to us when she came up for a mutual friend's Bridal Tea...of course things didnt't go according to plan...
• Crafty Supermaket!!! I got to see amazing work done by amazing artists. I also got to meet and greet a few familiar internet folks, namely VisuaLingual, Grace from Crafty Supermarket and more. I will deifnitely be posting about this more later in the week 
• Get Together with Fever Thrift. Ally was kind enough to have us over to hang with her and her friends. We had a great time! Thanks so much for having us!
• Skyrim....for Kyle. Bed for me.

Sunday, November 20th, 2011

• Couch plan did not go according to...urm...plan. My friend woke up a bit a late and we had that Bridal Tea to attend to. So, Kyle met her half way and swapped vehicles (she had the truck...thank God for friends with trucks, amirite?). He went to Ikea (shudder) yet again and picked up the couch all by himself. AND he assembled it before I came back from the Bridal Tea. All this after working in Cleveland during the week...ain't he amazing?
• Bridal Tea. My friend is our mutual friends Maid of Honor but running late made her uanble to get decor ready....so that's were I stepped in! My lifetime of collecting things I had no idea what I was going to use them for, FINALLY came to some use (instead of filling my craft cabinet). I even used some items I use as everyday decor in my home i.e. antique mason jars (love!) and other glassware. It turned out quite lovely even though it was planned very last minute. We bought some purple flowers at Kroger and it was a snap. I even had a chance to bring my hefty camera and take some photos of the get together. And I will glady be sharing the photos because I'm very proud of the decor results.
• Blog this post! CHECK
• Internetting after...yes, please!

Additionally

• Last Saturday (Nov 12th) I got to go shopping with Ally and Kim, the Marketing Specialist from Goodwill! It was incredible and they have reignited my love for thrifting for clothes. I bought so much and I was so inspired by the whole ordeal I even went home and collected old clothes I didn't need do I could donate them. Out with the old, in with the new...well gently used new :) I'm going to post about my finds and share some tips I learned from the masters. Thanks Kim and Ally!

Thanks for joining me through one of my fuller weekends. I can't wait to share more details on these fun events! How did your weekend fare?

Veteran's Day Story

It's unusual that I have a story about service men because I don't have any in my immediate or extended family (that I know of) but I wanted to share a story about my nephew's friend:

My nephew's friend had been stationed in Alaska for a few years and is married with two toddlers and another one on the way. This year he was stationed in California. They were traveling through Washington with all their belongs to get to California. They had just finished a short vacation in Canada. While they were driving they started hearing a clanging noise in the car. His wife asked him if he had changed the oil like she had asked him to do and he had not. So they pulled over and got the oil change and got back on their way. Unfortunately, the sound continued so they were forced to stop at a mechanics. The mechanics checked the car and told them that the problem was with the transmission and it would cost $4,000 to replace. His very pregnant wife burst into tears. Her being upset caused their two year old and four year to start crying as well. He tried to calm them all down as much as possible and while his wife was taking the children to the restroom he started making some calls. He tried to reach his parents but he wasn't able to get a hold of them. Then he panicked and started calling friends to see if he could borrow money. His wife returned with the kids and he continued to call people to see what could be done. He was sitting there, in his uniform, nearly on the brink of tears trying to figure out how he was going to get his family and all of their belongings to California when one of the mechanics came out and said "Someone who wants to remain unknown has paid for the repair and we will have it ready for you in a hour or so". And this made his wife burst in to tears again; she was so happy and thankful. He was shocked and awed. They were able to reach California and are now getting settled.

So there you have it, a really heartwarming story about a service men on Veteran's Day. It's also just a wonderful story about people being good to people and giving a helping hand to someone in need. I know it sounds a bit unbelievable and I went way schmaltzy on the telling of it but it's all true and quite lovely. Do you all have any stories about Veteran's day, service men or people helping people?

More Activated Spaces Love

Check out these gorgeous photos (Carly Short ftw!) of one of the spaces for the Pop Up Pilot. Before and After photos of the space inside to come soon!

 

Can you get anymore classic than a downtown Brownstone?

Activated Spaces: Spread the Word!

As Some of may already know, I'm volunteering with Activated Spaces. It is a volunteer-led group that is all about bringing new life to vacant spaces in downtown Dayton. It's a really awesome group of talented people who are dedicating their time (for free!) to boost the downtown area. I'm really excited and happy to be a part of the team and I have some very exciting news:

• GRAPHIC DESIGN: I'm designing the logo and promotional material!!! I'm honored and super flattered that they would trust me to design the look of the Pop Up Pilot phase. I'll start posting previews soon!
• TWITTER: I'm helping with the Activated Spaces twitter. And naturally whenever twitter is mentioned a plea for followers is inevitable so...PLEASE FOLLOW @ActivatedSpaces. It will come in handy to follow because we will be updating about our progress and tweeting about giveaways relating to the project.
• INTERIOR DESIGN: We have a wonderful team of interior designers who will be working on the spaces. Sadly, I'm a knucklehead and don't have their website but I can tell you it is a team made up of professional designers who have years of experience as well as design students. One of which has had experience working on window displays at Anthropologie. A couple volunteers (myself included!) are going to help them get their vision realized by doing some good old fashioned grunt work...floral arrangements, arranging vignettes, pillow fluffing...I kid, I kid I'm sure we will also move furniture etc. We intend to have "making of" the spaces with some time-lapse videos which will be posted on facebook, twitter and here! We are also in the process of finding furniture stores, thrift stores and/or consignment stores that will rent/donate items to the spaces. If you know of anyone please share!.
• FACEBOOK: We are planning on having a very neat contest to get more likes on our facebook. Soooo, like/friend us at Facebook to stay tuned! The very talented Ms. Carly Short will be the one posting at facebook. Check out her amazing photography here.
• MORE TO COME!

So in short, I'm pumped! I've met some really great people through this and everyone is working hard to bring this awesome project to downtown. And if you have ideas on how we can spread the word I would love to hear them and if you are interested in helping our group go here

In-house with a Sprinkle of Out-house

And yes I did reconsider that title because of that out-house bit but meh, whatever. Today, I'm sharing a list of some of the in-house things I'm doing at the moment and what out-house things I have done and intend to do. I'll post more about a select few some time during the week.

In-house

 1. Watching Outnumbered

It is a show about a British family where the parents are "outnumbered" by their three kids. It's actually not that quirky/corny about the whole outnumbered part. Like most British shows it's fairly witty and dry yet heart-warming. I do not have kids but it seems as though they treat the matter of raising children fairly realistic and half the show is semi-improvised with the kids asking real questions and talking about things the way children would (nonsensically with a bit of truth) . This being said it can be sort of exhausting to watch the parents struggle to be organized but it ends up being so endearing I enjoy their messy lives. Also Karen is awesome!

 2. Painting my nails

This has become a major guilty pleasure of mine because I don't tend to be a girly girl. I can't promise I won't post about nail polish because I'm starting to love it that much. And I'll let Kid Sister speak the rest for me.

 3. Drawing

I used to draw and for one reason or another my family and friends think I'm a good artist (I still feel like my "talents" are underwhelming). But I feel like an imposter especially since I haven't drawn anything in about 3 years. Luckily our house at the moment is lacking art work and instead of trying to find work we like I've decided I will just create it myself. I'll keep you posted and show off what I make.

Out-house


 1. Butter - review to come!
 2. Activated Spaces - exciting developments!
 3. Thrifting trip with Fever Thrift - can't wait!


I tend to be pretty sedentary in-house so I would love to hear about what more mobile people do when they are at home. And for moral support, I would still like to hear what my fellow couch-potatoes do. My favorite couch activity is reading blogs but I've been in the need for new blogs to follow, so please leave some suggestions.

Strange Blogger Days

A lot of my in-house activities include internetting which involves a lot of email checking. This blog has been around for about six months and I've been receiving some very strange emails recently. I find them sort of spammy but not to the point where they feel robotic which is probably why Gmail doesn't pick them up. So I thought I would share:

I received an email from a woman who wanted me to share my thoughts on a diet/fitness app. She ended the email with "If this sounds too silly, or absurd, just ignore what I just said, hehe =)" which I think this is a technique to get someone to answer so they won't send you the unintentional message that they think you are "silly" by not responding. I didn't respond but it wasn't because I thought it was silly or absurd, it seemed like spam and I didn't want to get signed up for "updates" on the app.

The next one I received was from a man who wanted to sell me Dayton Restaurants dot com for the very very very low price of $375! Heck, I bet I could have even paid with 12 easy installments if I had any interest. This industrious fellow was from Cincinnati and the address he had in the email went to what appeared to be some sort of private compound. Über creepy and über not interested.

And lastly, today I received an email from an entrepreneur who has clients who are interested in sponsoring recent posts. It's my lucky day, huh!? He even was kind enough to leave his website address which I dutifully did not go to. I did some googling and others had similar experiences but never went through with it. I didn't mention the best part; the subject line was "We Love iloovesooh.com!"...awww?

This is my first public blog that I have posted consistently at, so these emails are new to me. I'm sure I'm not the first or the last person to receive these sort of psedo-spam(?) emails. Has anyone else had any experiences with these sort of emails? Maybe even with the same people. What is the weirdest email you have received since you started blogging?

SoOh Sighting: Ground Control to Major Tom

 

via Wired

So I recently got an email about signing a petition to get the space shuttle Enterprise to Dayton. I'm campaigning for the cause for two reasons:

1. I'm from Dayton and live here now and seeing a space ship would be bad-ass
2. It would be a boost to the Ohio economy because it would bring in tourism; no joke, people love coming to the Air Force Museum

So whether you care about space shuttles or not it's going to bring a lot of positive things to the Southern Ohio region. Soooo, please SIGN!

Contributor

The title says it all; I had the opportunity and pleasure to contribute a blog post at the CAHC Etsy Team blog. You can check out the team here and my post here. If you know anything about etsy you know it's all about handmade crafts and vintage finds so my post is about repurposing with creativity which comes in handy when crafting. And if that doesn't peek your interest here is a blurb from yours truly:

You don’t have to spend the time or money seeking items and buying craft supplies. It is all about on the fly creativity. So keep your eyes open and your wheels turning and you’ll find all sorts of neat repurpose projects that fall in your lap.

- Bethany from "Repurpose Anything" at CAHC Etsy Team

In-house

I've been spending more time in-house versus out of the house adventuring around Southern Ohio so I thought I share a little about what in-house stuff I've been up to. In-house activities have included a lot of video watching and I'm going to share a whole heap of clips I've been watching and enjoying this week

Movies for my Campy Movie Night

Sleepaway Camp

Lifeforce

Basket Case

My Favorite Youtube video of the moment

Here (disabled embedding; definitely up there on my internet peeves -___-)

I love this clip for several reasons. The drop is not funny and you can tell how not funny it is by the look on the mother's face. Now her look is funny only for the fact that this guy is reaaaallly in trouble. Also, look how he recoils when she speaks and tries to explain himself. Seriously, her expression is classic.

Art Posters

I'm on the hunt for some nice and thrifty art for our walls. Not much luck on the thrifty part but I've discovered fab which is a nice resource for posters. If anyone else has any suggestions for finding good art for the home, please share.

...

I also went to Bob's awesome party at his lovely home this past weekend! It was great to be in Cincinnati and even greater to hang out with a bunch of people who love their city and blog about it. Thanks again, Bob! September and the beginning of this month were pretty full of adventuring so I'm glad to have some in-house time. Has anyone else been spending time in-house? What have you been up to?

Gonzo for G+ (Google Plus)

I've been getting into G+ a lot lately and I wanted to share a neat idea they have going on there. Basically they create groups by having a link to a google spreadsheet where people can add their info. So I decided to start one. I've been making efforts to connect with people in the area by just stumbling upon them via etsy, on the street or on the blog-o-sphere. I even tried to get a forum going here, that went from fledgling to fail very quickly. How foolish of me to think I could recreate a social networking hub here at my blog! But thank the g+ds, google is here.

So here's a quick tutorial of how to get involved.

1. Sign-up here
2. List here

Done and done. Oh and also have g+ profile if you please...or not. At this point I don't want to put too many restrictions on it. Even though G+ profile is "required" you can write "bleep-blarp-goobledy-gak" and it will accept it.

I've also added a page for it here. And for your viewing pleasure I'm posting a view below. So join! Let's have a mega list of people who love living here in Southern Ohio.

Activated Spaces: Pop-up Project Opprtunity!

Some of you may know that I'm volunteering with Activated Spaces a group that is all about giving new life to currently vacant downtown (Dayton) storefronts. It's been really fun getting involved with Downtown and we just finished our first phase. If you haven't voted for the People's Choice Award for our first phase you should, today is the last day!

Now we are in our second phase and our project is called the Pop-up Project. I'm not going to take any liberties with language so here is a blurb straight from the website:

Are you interested in opening a retail storefront in downtown Dayton? If so, we want to hear from you. The Activated Spaces Pop-Up Project, a component of the Greater Dayton Downtown Plan, is currently seeking proposals from prospective pop-up retail tenants. The minimal lease length for your retail shop will be three months. Spaces will have varying lease rates, but will be leased below market value.

We are also looking for prospective retail tenants to participate in the pilot Pop-Up Project. The pilot project will accept a one month leasing option to accommodate a retail tenant for the holiday season. Pilot program participants will also receive special discounts and support from Activated Spaces as part of involvement in the pilot.

If you are interested you should definitely apply here. If not, you can still help us out by spreading the word. If you have an industrious friend, family member or acquaintance who runs an online business or does craft shows, send this to them! As always, I love to hear your thoughts, so please share your thoughts on this project.

SoOh Sighting: Bruce Our FOUND Dog!!!

***FOUND***

Thank-you so much to the people in our neighborhood who called. We had several calls and we appreciated it so much. Seriously, my Mom is over joyed and it made our heart swell when we got two calls from people that said they had seen him and even tried to feed him and give him water. That is above and beyond good neighbors. Also thanks for reading and expressing concern. A couple things that I learned from this dog losing experience:

What you should do BEFORE your dog (or pet) gets lost:

• Have your tags on your dog (or pet)!
• Consider micro chipping them
• Make sure you have a secure fence lock

What you should AFTER your dog (or pet) gets lost:

• Start searching right away! Create a simple eye catching sign you can see the sign I created here at google plus
• Put signs up in convenience stores, day cares, libraries, schools in your area
• Check across the busiest road (it's scary to think they would cross it but ours did!)
• You may get a citation for having your dog loose so ask the pound if they have a class you can take and pay for instead of the ticket - it will be cheaper

Thanks for reading!

...

I know I usually keep this on topic about Southern Ohio but I'm hoping I can use the power of the internet for some personal good. My Mom has lost her Doberman. She is really distraught over this and you know when you see your Mom sad you can't help but to use every resource to make her happy again. So, I would appreciate any help from people in the area for finding her sweet Bruce. Please send this message along to people you know who live in Dayton and specifically Jefferson Township where he was last seen.

Here are the details (see above for photos)

• Name: Bruce
• Age: 1 year old
• Color: Brown
• Ears: Not clipped
• Disposition: puppy, sweet, curious, timid...he's a really sweet dog but if you see him please call me before approaching so he won't run away
• Last seen: Jefferson Twp. near Liscum (off 35W)
• Call: 513-549-1807

Thanks for any help and as always thanks for reading!

What I've Missed

It might seem sort of pointless to look back at everything I've missed while I was out of state but I think it can be really informative. I hope that in the future I'll be able to go to these events or look out for events just like them. So, here's a list of:

THINGS I'VE MISSED

• Dayton African Ameircan Cultural Festival
• The Dayton Reggae Festival
• The Mustache Bash
• AleFest
• *Addition: RIverfest in Cincinnati - I'm told this is the greatest firework show in the entire state

I'm sure there are more, so fill me in on what else I missed. Also, if anyone went to any of the events above I'd love to hear about them!