It’s not who I am, it’s just what I do!
Everything is virtual, we’re living our lives on “zoom,” and coming up, I am excited to be hosting a virtual walk for The Aneurysm and AVM Foundation or TAAF.
TAAF is dedicated to bettering the lives, medical care, and support networks of those affected by aneurysm, AVM, and other vascular malformations of the brain. The official event is on August 9, and be sure to tune in by registering: http://bit.ly/TAAFWALKlive
We all want to say it’s not about the “look,” but presentation and the “look” can go a long way, especially when it comes to virtual meetings! Now that so many of us are working from home and having to use Zoom, Skype and FaceTime as our means for socializing and connecting with co-workers, effective (virtual) communication is important!
For some of us, it’s easy to carve out a niche at home to work and do these online calls, but for others it may be a bit more challenging. Clare Kumar spoke with me about ways to fix up our spaces at home and how to make yourself look and sound better using our laptops and smartphones!
Clare was a great interview and really has easy tips to improve the way we communicate virtually. My biggest takeaways are her advice for finding your “color” and also ways to improve the audio quality on these calls.
Before the pandemic, I had heard of zoom and I knew you could do these old school “party line,” style FaceTime calls, etc… but I never made time to do them or participate in them. Well, the past couple weeks, me and zoom have made fast friends, and these virtual meet-ups with my family and friends are now something I look forward to. I love the creativity in how people are connecting and being engaged with each other, and this includes celebrating “happy hour” too!
Lifestyle expert Paul Zahn joined me virtually to talk about his ideas for how to plan a virtual happy hour! He talked about using items you already have at home, picking a theme and designating a host. It’s that easy, so go, be social and have a great virtual happy hour!
We are all finding new ways to continue to connect with our friends and family, keep busy and do things we enjoy, most likely on a virtual online platform. And usually when you think of wine tasting, you envision visiting a tasting room or winery for a vino pour. Well, wineries along the Madera Trail, (south of Yosemite), are virtually connecting wine fans with their favorite wine makers to bring the wine community together and continue in the tradition of wine tastings, in a virtual setting!
In my latest Zoom interview I had the opportunity to chat with Brooke Smith of Visit Yosemite Madera County Tourism office and Anna Marie Dos Remedios of Idle Hour Winery to find out more on this virtual wine connection. Plus, I learned about the virtual cooking classes being offered too! Chef Robert Snyder III is teach his kitchen-maestro tips in a virtual cooking class series. First up , he showed viewers how to prepare a simple, nutrition-packed Carrot Ginger Soup from the coziness of your own home. New videos will post regularly, and now the hospitality of the Chateau du Sureau can be experienced from your home.
As Brooke pitched : When the going gets tough, the tough come together, with new ways to appreciate things we love, like drinking wine. Although tasting rooms at Madera Wine Trail wineries are temporarily closed for anything except bottle pick-up and deliveries fear not, wine tasting is still on. Virtually, that is.
Your favorite winemakers are taking to Instagram and Facebook to open up a bottle (or two) of some cheerful reds and whites. If you are fortunate enough to have a bottle from the Madera Wine Trail tucked away, follow along with your own library. If not, grab a bottle of something you have on hand (we are sure you have stocked up, along with toilet paper!), make yourself a lovely appetizer, then have some fun chatting wine. “We wanted a way to stay in touch with our community, patrons and dear friends.” mused the winemaker and owner of Idle Hour winery, Anna Marie Remedios. “For now, we are temporarily rethinking our way of life during this time of social distancing. There are a variety of curbside pick-up or delivery options and a lot of fantastic wine discounts at the moment.”