How good are you at matching babies with their older selves? Make your guesses, and find the link for the answers at the end!
Baby 1
Baby 2
Baby 3
Baby 4
Baby 5
Baby 6
Baby 7
Baby 8
Baby 9
Baby 10
Click Here For Answers
Cooking with Dobbs: Tailgate Hits
By: Laura Dobbs
This might come as a shock to some, but the truth is, I care almost nothing about football. I am, however, passionate about FOOD. And FOOTBALL means TAILGATING FOOD. Sign me up.
Whether you’re into Tailgating, Host-gating, or NO-GATING (i.e, keeping all the goodies to yourself), here are a few picks to get you started.
Texas Cannonballs This one has been a favorite in my family for years. Not a big fan of olives, or have guests who aren’t? You can easily save some of the filling, or skip filling the olives entirely, and serve with your crackers of choice. Sundried Tomato and Basil Wheat Thins pair particularly well with this!
Black-eyed Pea Salad Most folks reading this will be too young to remember The Frugal Gourmet. I certainly am (ahem). I picked up a used copy of one of his cookbooks recently and absolutely fell in love with this recipe. I’m going to level with you, I tweaked this one a lot. The final result was similar to Cowboy Caviar, but it was So. Much. Better. Here are some suggestions to take your version of this recipe to the next level:
- Black-eyed Peas: Skip the soaking and then cooking. But skip the canned variety too. Hunt up some frozen black-eyed peas and cook those. You won’t be sorry.
- Add garlic. Lots and lots of garlic. But not fresh, that would be bitter. Garlic powder is perfect for this recipe.
- I grabbed a package each of pre-chopped Bell Peppers and Trinity Mix from Publix and dumped them into the finished salad. So, so, SO good!
- This one is a bit exotic, so feel free to skip. I added ground sumac to the salad. This is a middle eastern spice, not too difficult to find, and definitely worth it if you’re so inclined. It added a nice, bright, flavor punch to the finished salad.
- If you like a bit of heat, try adding some chopped jalapenos – pickled or fresh, your choice – you won’t be sorry.
You can serve the salad cold (you definitely want to let it sit in the fridge for a few hours to let the flavors meld), and it will be delicious. You can also serve it at room temperature and be just fine. It works equally well as a side dish or as a dip. Plunk it down next to some tortilla chips and you are good to go!
This last bit hardly counts as a recipe. I’m giving it to you anyway. I recently joined the cult of the Air Fryer. Card-carrying member. Completely unashamed. I’ve made many a dish in my lovely new Air Fryer, but my favorite so far is also one of the easiest: Air Fryer Kale Chips. They’re so easy! Here’s what you do:
- Rinse and pat dry one (or two, or three) bunch of kale. If you’ve got a salad spinner, break that baby out! It’ll work a treat!
- Take a sharp knife and cutting board and trim that broad stem out of the leaves.
- Throw the de-stemmed leaves into a large mixing bowl, add a tablespoon of olive oil and some fine sea salt. Toss the leaves to get everything well-coated.
- Take about half of those kale leaves and drop them into the basket of your air fryer. Don’t overcrowd, air circulation is key.
- Set the temperature to 390 degrees, cook for about 6 minutes.
- Dump the basket and repeat with the remaining kale leaves.
Seriously! It’s so good. They’re so good that you almost didn’t get a picture to accompany this so-called “recipe.” That’s because we were too busy chowing down on the finished product to document the results!
Oh! Here’s an extra tip: you’re going to be tempted to grab a bag of the pre-washed, pre-shredded kale leaves from the produce section. Don’t do it! It sounds like a great shortcut, but I can tell you from experience that those things shrivel up to basically nothing when you give ‘em the chip treatment.
These will keep in an airtight container just fine for a couple of days. No refrigeration needed. After that, assuming they last that long, they start to lose their crispness.
Don’t forget, unless you’re baking, most recipes are suggestions, and should absolutely be tailored to suit your individual tastes. If it tastes good to you, then it’s right! Enjoy!
Holly’s Engagement
Plenty of us have a love affair with tacos and margaritas. But have you ever heard of them leading to a soulmate?
Junior Media Buyer Holly Brazeal met her now-fiancé, Jonathan Logan, through a pair of mutual friends. It wasn’t long before the two found themselves intertwined in the same Tuesday Taco Mama group. Happy hour led to happy times, and Holly and Jonathan began dating a few months later in October of 2018.
“We knew very quickly that we had something special that we could see lasting,” Holly said. “I wouldn’t go as far as to say ‘love at first sight,’ but you can sense when a connection has real potential.”
Though the couple had never met until the summer of 2018, they were practically destined to. Both came from Birmingham families, and both went to Briarwood High School, graduating only two years apart. Even with Briarwood being a smaller school, the two didn’t cross paths until last year.
As time wore on, Holly and Jonathan spent a lot of time together and with each other’s families. By the following spring, they had begun talks of marriage.
“We both wanted to get married, but I had no clue when it would actually happen,” Holly said. “Jonathan is such a procrastinator, I was betting on later rather than sooner!”
When it came time for Holly’s annual family beach trip, she was sure no proposals were in the works. The family was celebrating a baby shower, Father’s Day, and several birthdays all in one trip. It seemed there wasn’t room for anything else.
On their last day at the beach, the entire group descended to the shore to take the annual family photo. Holly and two of her closest cousins always went out a little early to take photos with one another. This time, Jonathan accompanied them, camera bag in hand.
Following the cousin photos, Holly and Jonathan took a few with just themselves. After the last shutter click, Holly’s cousins began to walk off, and the photographer started to back away.
Holly wondered what on earth was going on.
Jonathan turned to face Holly, hand still gripping the oversized camera bag. He reached in and pulled a small, black square out of its inner pocket. Setting down the bag, he knelt, opening the box to reveal a radiant diamond ring.
As Jonathan proposed, and Holly jubilantly accepted, her family rushed to the shore to congratulate the couple on their new engagement.
“All twenty of my family members on the trip had known,” Holly recounted. “Somehow, they managed to keep the secret for an entire week. Looking back, there were some weird things that happened, but nothing that made me expect Jonathan was planning to propose.”
One of these strange occurrences was her mother’s trip to the store for “extra cheese” on the penultimate day of the trip. In truth, she was going to blow up the balloons for Holly’s surprise engagement reception.
The family celebrated the happy news with balloons, champagne, and themed décor. It was an enchanting end to what was already Holly’s favorite family tradition.
Holly and Jonathan will wed April 4, 2020, at Briarwood Church followed by a reception at Vestavia Country Club. They will then depart for their honeymoon at a private resort in Cancun, the same resort where SAM team members Grace Hatcher and Hayley Grisham honeymooned.
Vacationing Artfully
We’ve heard that vacations are a good thing.
Just last month, Robin reminded us of the bevy of benefits workers enjoy from taking even one day of vacation.
Thanks to the recent PTO reform, SAM employees have more opportunities than ever to get out of the office for a little sun and fun.
One department that’s taking advantage of vacation season is Graphics. From European excursions to roller coasters from another realm, there has been no shortage of adventure with our local artists.
Tour d’Europe – Terry
In May, Senior Graphic Designer Terry Wirt took his first voyage to Europe.
Terry and his wife, Allison, decided to celebrate their anniversary and Terry’s birthday with a two-week tour of Scandinavia. The first stop was in Gothenburg, one of the country’s oldest cities. It’s known for its Viking trade routes.
“This trip was the first time that I realized how young America is,” Terry said. “Everything in Europe seems so much older, even the streets and buildings.”
The rest of the trip consisted of museums, tours, and sightseeing on foot. One of Terry’s favorite memories was of the Vasa Museum in Stockholm.
Terry explained how the museum was home to a fully reconstructed warship from the 1600s. The king who commissioned the ship insisted that it be richly decorated as a symbol of Swedish wealth and power. But to his dismay, it proved a little too ornate. The ship sank on its maiden voyage, just 1,300 yards from where it launched.
Given that this was Terry’s first European excursion, he shared his biggest misconceptions about American’s eastern neighbors.
“One thing I noticed was that everyone there rode public transportation,” Terry said. “It’s pretty unusual here. It also seemed like people kept to themselves more. You didn’t just walk up to a stranger and start talking like you would in America, especially in the South.”
Terry and Allison ended their trip in Denmark, seeing sights like the Nyhavn Canal and a Viking settlement that dates back to 1030 A.D.
Roller Coaster Rocker – Mark
Senior Graphic Designer Mark Marquis made a trip to Universal Studios in Orlando, Florida this summer.
This wasn’t Mark’s first visit, but it had been several years since he had been to the park. He was excited to return and see the developments in the Wizarding World of Harry Potter.
During his last visit, the park had just built Islands of Adventure. It wasn’t even open yet. But Mark’s curiosity got the best of him, and he decided to peek inside just for fun. To his surprise, he stumbled upon the soft opening and got to experience the park before most anyone else.
It was this lucky streak that he wanted to recreate on his 2019 trip. In fact, Mark decided to go solo since he already had the days off and couldn’t line up schedules with the original invitees.
“This was my first time going on a trip without anyone,” Mark said. “I loved it. I didn’t have to worry about keeping up with someone else’s pace or schedule, and I could go back to the hotel for a break whenever I wanted.”
Just days before Mark arrived at Universal, Hagrid’s Magical Creatures Motorbike Adventure had opened. The new roller coaster was a massive hit, but with technical and logistical hurdles, it had an average wait time of 10 to 14 hours.
“I went not expecting to ride the motorbike coaster,” Mark said. “The day I walked by, the signs said it was closed for the rest of the afternoon, and people had already started scattering.”
But Mark wasn’t so easily deterred. Each time he would near the ride, he glanced inside.
Finally, he saw people returning to the line and discovered it had covertly reopened.
Mark waited about 3.5 hours to ride the roller coaster. A small price to pay, in his opinion.
Fun in Philly – Holly Bl.
Halfway through June, Graphic Designer Holly Blalock and her husband took a trip to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
This was Holly’s first trip to the City of Brotherly Love. She stayed in an Airbnb in the Northern Liberties area of the city. While there, she toured food and art offerings around town.
“I really enjoyed the art museum and the impressionist exhibit they had on display,” Holly said. “I saw some fantastic works by Monet and Van Gogh. Impressionism is one of my favorite movements.”
Holly shared her favorite part of the trip, which was when she visited Reading Terminal Market.
“It was like the Pizitz on steroids,” Holly said.
She also visited the Eastern State Penitentiary, the United States’ first prison. Outdating Alcatraz, the Pennsylvania prison is rife with ghostly vibes that Holly definitely could feel. In fact, the retired prison transforms into a haunted house each Halloween season.
Since this was Holly’s first time in Philly, she naturally had a few preconceived ideas on what the city would be like. Her biggest shock came from the pace of living.
“I expected Philadelphia to be much faster-paced,” Holly said. “It was crowded in places, but it wasn’t the same as somewhere like New York.”
SAM’s graphics team has taken advantage of all that summer vacations have to offer. If you’ve been on any exciting trips lately, make sure to share for a chance to be featured in an upcoming newsletter!
Dear Dad: Jokes From Our Favorite Blokes
Few things are as equally endearing and exasperating as the dad joke. With June comes Father’s Day, so the dads of STRONG have pulled out their best lines.
1. I was playing chess with my friend, and he said, “Let’s make this interesting.”
So we stopped playing chess. – Stan Long
2. What’s a pirate’s favorite restaurant?
ARRRRRby’s – Will Giuliani
3. How do you find Will Smith in the snow?
Look for the fresh prints! – Jeremy McRee
4. “Dad, can you put my shoes on?”
“No, I don’t think they’ll fit me.” – Chris Jones
5. Where do Volkswagens go when they get old?
The Old Volks home. – Marcus Turner
6. Dad: “Have you heard about the new movie Constipation?“
Kid: “What? No!”
Dad: “It never came out.” – Nathan Phillips
7. Son: “Dad, how many people work at your office?”
Dad: “About 10% of us.” – David McMath (referencing his former company)
Mike Raita Presents: The Show Goes On
Go anywhere in Birmingham with Mike Raita, and you’ll learn the meaning of local celebrity.
The former sportscaster was a staple in living rooms all across Central Alabama. Since leaving television, he’s sharpened a new set of skills. At STRONG he’s played the role of manager, liaison, and success coach. But there’s one hat that you might not know he wears: that of an author.
Raita’s debut book, “The Show Goes On” is a collection of personal anecdotes detailing the ups and downs of working in local television. What began as an exercise in catharsis grew into something Raita hopes will pull back the curtain on an industry riddled with big egos and big misconceptions.
“I left television in January of 2017,” Raita said. “A couple of months later, I began jotting down stories and would email them to my friend in Cincinnati. He encouraged me to turn these stories into a book. At the time, writing kept me sane while I wasn’t working. But about six chapters later, I realized I was out over my skis. I thought, ‘I guess I’m really going to do this.’ At that point, I had told too many people about the book, so I had no choice but to follow through and write it.”
Raita recalls that the most difficult parts of the process were finding the time to write and battling the curse of knowledge. That is to say, making sure the book and its chronology would make sense to anyone who picked it up, not just the television initiate.
“Organizing all of the stories I have was challenging,” Raita said. “I myself know how all of these events intertwine and the temporal relationships between them, but I had to lay them out so that the reader could easily understand what happened when, and how people and events connect.”
When readers finish “The Show Goes On,” there are two big ideas that Raita envisions as takeaways. The first is that television and hubris can go hand-in-hand.
“There is a lot of power in TV, and the people behind that can get sucked into it and get an overdeveloped sense of self-importance,” Raita said. “In reality, TV people are going in to do a job just like anyone else.”
The second takeaway is that working in sports reporting can be an awesome gig, but it’s not always a walk in the park.
“There is a beauty in getting paid to go to ballgames,” Raita said. “Many people would want that job, but it’s not as glamorous as people think. When you’re working at a local level, you’re doing a lot of traveling, sometimes with only a few hours between destinations, all while having to prepare stories and newscasts on tight deadlines. I used to wonder how athletes got burned out. I mean, they’re playing a game all day. But I got burned out just talking about sports, so it can definitely happen.”
There’s no denying that Raita has experienced two different worlds between TV and automotive advertising. More than anything, the one difference that stands out to him is the work ethic.
“In TV, you have about 20 percent of the people doing 80 percent of the work,” Raita said. “At STRONG, everybody is pulling 100 percent of their weight.”
Interested readers can purchase “The Show Goes On” from Raita directly for $20. He is working with local booksellers to make the book available in-store. He will also be doing several signings, the biggest of which will take place at a Barons game next month.
As for what’s next, Raita hasn’t made any commitments, but he’s interested in partnering with a mystery writer and penning out a newsroom thriller. Readers will have to stay tuned for the next Raita opus, and in the meantime, make sure to pick up a copy of “The Show Goes On.”
Guess That Digital Baby
The netizens of Digital have dug through their moms’ scrapbooks to find the very best photos of their infancy. See how well your mental aging algorithm works, and GUESS THAT DIGITAL BABY!
Baby 1
Baby 2
Baby 3
Baby 4
Baby 5
Baby 6
Baby 7
Baby 8
Baby 9
Baby 10
Click Here For Answers
Hurricane Refugees Open Restaurant in BHM
Eighteen months ago, we learned the story of Greg and Kathy Stein.
This couple, friends of Emily Johnson, had moved to the U.S. Virgin Islands to realize their dream of opening a restaurant. Before long, The Thirsty Donkey was up and running. But then, like so much of the island in 2017, the restaurant was destroyed by Hurricane Irma.
SAM employees showed their support for Emily’s friends who had lost everything, purchasing chocolate bars that benefited the couple and donating shout-outs to Emily on the Steins’ behalf. While the couple had suffered an incredible loss, it was clear they had a community back in Birmingham that was eager to help.
Fast forward a year and a half, and the Steins are back on their feet. With this new announcement, they’ve proven they’re not letting tragedy keep them from their passion.
This spring, The Thirsty Donkey is set to open in Birmingham’s Avondale district. The restaurant and bar will serve island-themed drinks alongside an eclectic menu that will cater to a wide array of diets, including vegan and vegetarian. The Steins plan to offer burgers and wings along with island seafood and small plates at affordable prices.
“Their building in St. John is still in reconstruction limbo, so they decided to re-open in Birmingham instead,” Emily said. “They’ll be in the old Rowe’s Service Station space with a tentative opening date of May 1. I’m super excited about it!”
Make sure to keep an eye out for Avondale’s newest eatery this spring. Sample island cuisine, and see for yourself what happens when you persevere even in the face of disaster.
Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities
Whether it’s been 12 months or 12 years since you moved your tassel and tossed your cap, the benefits of learning never stop.
For career-minded individuals, professional development events are an excellent way to stay on top of trends and keep your mind fresh. Check out these industry opportunities coming up in 2019. There’s a mix suitable for any schedule and budget, depending on how much time and money you’d like to invest.
Continue reading “Upcoming Professional Development Opportunities”
Beauty in Birding: Andrea
Photos and writings by Andrea Kring
I have always been an observer of nature, curious about the things around me. One year ago, this month, my best friend passed away and I was completely heart broken. Shortly after that, I was searching for comfort in poetry and nature. I heard a poem by an Englishman named David Whyte who is a poet/essayist. His first job in his young life was as a nature guide in the Galapagos. The poem was called “Make a Nesting Now” about making a place for the birds to come. There were some lines that spoke to me.
“Make a nesting now, a place to which the birds can come…
and be the one, looking out from this place
who warms interior forms into light.
Above all, be alone with it all,
a hiving off, a corner of silence
amidst the noise, refuse to talk,
even to yourself, and stay in this place
until the current of the story
is strong enough to float you out.”
I was in a place where I didn’t want to talk about my loss. I realized that watching birds and being quiet in my small back yard brought me joy and it made me feel better in the midst of grief. Birds are a great example of how life goes on. They are delicate creatures that face the extremes of life and they continue to sing a beautiful song with every sunrise and sunset. It became a meditative and healing hobby for me. It brought me much needed joy during a very sad part of my life.
Finding a hobby that truly makes you happy and heals you at the same time is a gift.
Andrea’s Bird Watching Tips:
- Sit, be still, breathe, wait for something wonderful right in front of you. I typically see something wonderful and get a wonderful shot when I quiet myself to see it.
- Pay attention to repetitive behaviors in birds, those repetitive moments provide good photo opportunities.
- Look up a bird you see on Google, note the region, the color, the size, etc. It won’t take long to find out something new about the species you see in your own yard.
- I believe it isn’t so much the type of camera you have that makes good photos, it is knowing the camera you have and to keep trying to get the best shot you can with that camera. My current camera is a Panasonic Lumix Superzoom pocket camera that I bought at Costco for about $280.
- Pay attention to light and get very still to capture the clearest photos.
- Any good nature photographer knows that you have to take many, many photographs to get that one that makes your heart leap a little. Take a lot of photos and don’t be afraid to delete the ones that are not good. I try to be very “Marie Kondo” with my photos and only keep ones that “spark joy”. This is not easy, but it is worth it. A really good photo elicits an emotional response. I take hundreds of photos searching for that one good moment that makes me smile over and over again. Try to get that one shot that brings you joy for a long time, THAT is the goal. It is good for the soul.