@tentblogger speaking on how to craft post that build up traffic, audiences, and business.

Today is the first day of WordCamp Atlanta for 2012.

Saturday I will be giving two presentations, and wanted to make my slides available for everyone to download here.

Here are direct links to my slides.

Right Click – Save As…

–> The Mystery Of Pages And Posts

–> Domains, Hosting and Installing WordPress Made Easy

More WordCamp info to come, stay tuned!

I LOVE eating and making cookies, and especially if they involve peanut butter.

Peanut butter is one of the great gifts we have been blessed with, and possibly my favorite food.

Around Christmas time, When asked by one of my swim lesson students what my favorite thing is…I said “peanut butter”. He and his family made me peanut butter cookies and it was great.

Today, I am sharing my recipe for peanut butter cookies, try it and enjoy!

Ingredients

2 egg
2 sticks butter
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
2 cups flower
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup peanut butter

Steps

First, mix together the eggs, sugars, vanilla, and butter.

Once you have a nice blend, it’s time to toss in the flower, baking soda, and baking power and blend.

NOTE: don’t screw around with baking soda and baking powder, too much of either will seriously change the texture of your cookies and possibly ruin the whole thing.

NOTE 2: once you’ve blended everything together, this is a GREAT baseline for any cookies. It’s basically my recipe for sugar cookies.

Next up comes the almighty ingredient, Peanut Butter! If you are not a huge fan, 1/2 cup will do the trick. If you are on the edge, 3/4ths cup is what you want. If you are a LOVER of Peanut Butter, just put the whole jar in. Roughly 1 LB of peanut butter

Blend until mixed thoroughly.

Once you have a good mix, it’s time to place them on the cookie sheets. I recommend laying some foil on your pan for two reasons.

1. the cookies will not stick to your pan and you will not have to scrub the pan to get it clean.
2. you can use the same foil several times in one cooking session(or more if you are like my grand mother and save used foil)

I like to use a ice cream scoop to get the cookie size correct, but you can use any spoon or even ball them up in your hand.

If you want to get fancy, take a fork and put the lines in the top by lightly pressing the fork down into the ball of dough.

One pan at a time, stick them in the oven and bake at 350 for roughly 10-12 minutes. If you check them and they look like they might need a few more minutes, they are probably done.

Take them out, let them cool, pour some milk, and eat up!

Let me know how it goes.

Hey friends. As you know I am a pretty huge WordPress advocate.

I’ve been using WordPress for years, as well as making a living helping others build and customize their own WordPress websites.

My first ‘WordCamp’ was in Savannah last year and it blew me away.

Click here to read my review of WordCamp Savannah 2011.

This year I am fortunate enough to be one of the speakers at the Atlanta WordCamp which is happening Feb 3rd and 4th 2012.

My two topics are:

• Domains, Hosting and Installing WordPress Made Easy
• The Mystery of Pages and Posts

WordCamp is sold out, but if you are interested in attending contact me and I’ll get your name to those in charge. If anyone backs out and wants to sell their ticket, you’ll be able to purchase one.

This is a very exciting time and I am really looking forward to being a part of this event.

Between networking with other entrepreneurs, hanging with the WordPress core team, seeing old friends, and learning more than my wee brain can absorb, this is sure to be one of the most exciting weekends of the year.

Check out the details here http://2012.atlanta.wordcamp.org/

Best Guacamole Recipe in the World

That’s right, I said it. This is the best guacamole recipe in the world…as far as I am concerned anyway.

Alright, while it may not be the ‘best’ in the ‘world’, it’s very tasty and people rave about it.

When I was a kid, things like onions, avocados, and vegetables mostly scared me. It was not until I was older that I started to embrace and understand them.

Now that my pallet has grown and I’ve spent most of this decade expanding it, I am officially starting to wip up some real good meals.

One of the recipes I am asked for most frequently is for this best guacamole recipe in the world.

Usually this is only busted out for parties, and it also goes FAST so if you come to one of my parties, get there early.

Enough chit chat, let’s get to the beef(no there is no meat) of the best guacamole recipe in the world!

My Guacamole Recipe

Here’s what you’ll need:

3 Avocados
1/2 Lime
1 Tomato
1/2 Onion
1 Clove Garlic
Garlic Salt
Ground Black Pepper
Salt
Cayenne Pepper

Dice up your tomato and onion, mince the garlic glove(not many people like to bite into a juicy delicious dice of garlic).

Go ahead and half the avocados, be sure the piece of stem does not get mixed in to your guacamole. Sometimes it can be a pain to remove the seed, especially if the avocado is not ripe enough.

Note: an avocado that is ready will be dark green and soft to the touch. If your avocado is hard and bright green, it’s not ready.

Mix avocado, tomato, garlic, and onion together in a bowl until it’s an even mixture.

At this point you’ll want to toss in your salt, garlic salt, cayenne pepper, and black pepper.

I usually start with these measurements, then taste and add as needed.

1/4 teaspoon Salt / Garlic Salt
1/2 teaspoon Pepper
1/2 teaspoon Cayenne

Mix until even.

Now for the Lime, squeeze that 1/2 of a lime until there is nothing left and mix it through evenly.

Note: adding lime is not only for the delicious flavor, it also is a nice burst of acidity that will keep our friend oxidization from coming in and turning your green guacamole to a gross brown color.

Once complete with these steps, grab a tortilla chip, dip, and taste. Depending on how you like YOUR guacamole, the recipe can be changed.

What do you think? Could this be the best guacamole recipe in the world? Try it out and let me know what you think.

Hit me up on Twitter with your thoughts, suggestions, etc.

If you’ve been thinking about picking up Drumming for 2012, now is the time.

My very talented friend Sarah Wilson is offering up drum lessons here in the Atlanta area.

Atlanta Drum Lessons

Visit her page to learn about all the details.

Something you might not know about me is that I’ve been teaching swim lessons for over 10 years.

Click here for Swimming Lessons Atlanta

I’ve been swimming as far back as I can remember, and eventually became a lifeguard and swimming instructor.

Since the summer after I graduated high school, I’ve been teaching lessons. Regardless of the jobs I’ve held during that time, I’ve always spent time in the summers teaching and lifeguarding.

These last few years it’s been just swimming lessons, both private and group.

Currently I am working as an instructor at Athletic Club Northeast in Atlanta, GA. Through the club I am able to offer both group and private lessons for adults and children.

If this is of any interest to you, follow the link above and contact me.

Sounds great!

Mmmm