Last Minute Halloween Treats

Thursday, October 30th, 2014

Written by Krystal Moore

Alright, everyone. It’s here. You’ve put up all the decorations. You took advantage of the candy sales that will rot the neighborhood children’s teeth. You’ve bought your little monsters the costume they’ve been wanting since last year. It’s twenty minutes until the party you’re hosting that you know will be to die for…except you don’t have those classic fun Halloween treats! You don’t want to serve just anything; it needs to be Halloween worthy (and we know that a handful of candy doesn’t cut it for the adults…usually.) Well, we’ve got just what you need for some fun, fast and last minute Halloween treats:

Jello Brain: Eating someone’s frontal lobe is disgusting. That’s why you should serve brain shaped jello instead. These jello molds can be found at a number of locations and websites, including Walmart and Amazon. Add variety with vampire brains (red), swamp monster (green), or classic human (pink). (For added effect: parents, have your kid dress up like a zombie, begging for the jelly brain. The crowd will go wild.)

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Oreo Ogres: It’s easy to turn one of those orange Nabisco cookies into a cute little ogre. Just grab some candy corn, icing eyeball candy and a tiny piece of black licorice. (Note: You can also use the leftover cookie parts by crushing them up and sprinkling them around the perimeter of the cookie plate. Add some green sprinkles as well and they’ll have popped up out of their own swamp.)

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Sandwich Monsters: Next up, you want to give them a treat that’s just a tiny bit healthier than a bunch of candy and cookies so make a cute little sandwich monster. Take some slices of bread and cut them into the perfect shape you want, though ghosts and little pumpkins are really easy. (For added effect: we suggest making them any type of sandwich that will be oozing with goodness.)

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Salad Monster: You’ve probably set a salad plate but it seems so blah compared to the rest of your creations. How do you spice it up? Here’s an idea: you take the lettuce and give it crazy hair, make some hard boiled eggs for eyes, dressing cup for a nose, add some baby carrots for the mouth and voila! You’ve got a salad so crazy that it’s begging to be eaten!

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Haunted Halloween Punch: Your guests will need something to drink after eating all your delicious treats. We suggest making your usual big bowl of punch (but putting it in a cauldron adds a nice touch) then make sure it’s completely red. Put in some creepy looking eyeball ping pong balls to float around in the punch (or let them sit at the bottom and wait for people to fish them out) but remember to inform your guests that they are NOT edible. They just make things look cool.

We hope you can have fun with these last minute Halloween treat preparations and we hope your Halloween is especially spooky.

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Going Above and Beyond: How You Can Help the Sikh Helpline Grow

Wednesday, October 22nd, 2014

Have you ever heard of a story that really touched your heart? Have you seen organizations that do incredible things for wonderful causes? Have you ever asked yourself: “How can I help them so they can keep helping others?” We know how you feel and are ready to inspire you with an amazing story that happened just this weekend.

A Surprise Challenge at the Sikh Awards

This weekend, TalkLocal’s founders (Gurpreet Singh, Manpreet Singh and Amandeep Bakshi) had the honor of attending the 2014 Sikh Awards in London after being nominated for the Sikhs in Business – Entrepreneurs category. Although it was Sukhi Singh Ghuman who won the award (Congrats, Sukhi!), the founders took special note of the Sikh Helpline, which won for Sikhs in Charity.

In fact, Gurpreet Singh felt so inspired that he issued an unexpected challenge to the audience at the Sikh Awards: Raise £10,000 for the Sikh Helpline by the end of the evening and an anonymous donor will match your donations up to £10,000. And, you know what happened? Not only did the attendees raise £20,000, they did it in the first five minutes!

That flood of support sparked a movement. Gurpreet immediately launched the Global £1 Million Challenge to get even more people involved in supporting the Sikh Helpline.

What is the Sikh Helpline?

The Sikh Helpline is a UK-based professional and confidential counseling service that helps members of the Sikh community overcome the bullying, discrimination and acts of violence which so many have experienced. Not only do they offer assistance to Sikhs in need, they also try to educate others who may have questions in regards to the Sikh faith, reducing the ignorance and fear that breeds intolerance. To understand why this is a worthy cause, just browse the newspapers for hate crimes against Sikhs, even in the U.S. To see how the Sikh Helpline is making a difference, just browse their website for the stories of lives they’ve touched.

What’s Happening Next?

With the goal set to £1,000,000, the Sikh Helpline is raising money so it can expand its counseling services to over 60 countries worldwide – a step towards fighting and eliminating hatred against Sikhs everywhere in the world. Gurpreet is already using TalkLocal’s algorithm as a basis for technological improvements that will make the Sikh Helpline more effective at helping those in need. However, they also need your help.

How Can I Help?

Whether or not you are of the Sikh faith, you’ve probably felt the sting of bullying or prejudice. More importantly, you know that no one should have to. So, join the movement: make a donation to the Sikh Helpline and tell them that you want counseling services for Sikhs right here in the U.S. Or, find an organization that fights against racial or religious discrimination in your community. Always remember, even the littlest contribution makes a huge difference.

(When donating to the Sikh Helpline, please be aware that donation amounts are listed in euros so please take conversion rates into account.)

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Three Children’s Themed Bedrooms Re-Imagined for Adult Life

Monday, October 20th, 2014

Written by Dallea Caldwell

So much of growing up is about replacing your stuff. Think about it: we go from cribs to beds and from diapers to pull-ups. We put away the action figures, the teddy bears and the Barbies. We surround ourselves with the right things and that makes us big girls and big boys.

Yet, somewhere inside, our inner-child is still trying not to suck on his or her thumb, trying to face the chill without their security blanket and longing for the things that once gave him or her comfort and joy.

Still secretly obsessed with the themes and imagery that stoked your imagination and inspired your bedroom decor in your youth? These home decor options take classic children’s themed bedrooms and reinterpret them for your sophisticated adult life.

1. The Princess Theme: From a Princess to a Queen:

The whimsy, romantic, ultra-feminine and glamour of your old princess-themed bedroom can inspire your style without compromising sophistication. Pinks and pastels, metallic and sparkle, flowers and lace and chandeliers in the darnedest places make even the most avant-garde decor a delicious feast for the senses.

2. The Space Theme: From a Child-Wonder to…Even More Childlike Wonder:

Now that geeks are the new cool kids, maybe you can trade your rocket ship lunch box for a rocket ship suitcase. Well, that may be a bad idea, but starry skies and planetary murals can show off your style and your enduring sense of wonder, too.

3. The Superhero Theme: From Believing the Impossible to Doing the Impossible

Thank you, Roy Lichtenstein and Andy Warhol, for officially declaring that pop art is art. Now, it’s officially acceptable to pass off comic books and superheroes as pop art and icons. And, don’t be afraid to splurge on a full-fledged bat-lair for a look that says, “I’m an adult, so I bought MYSELF these toys”.

Every day we so-called grown-ups struggle to fill adult roles and fit adult expectations, while feeling as clumsy now as we did when we played dress-up in our parents’ clothing.

So, when nostalgia tugs at your adult sensibilities like a persistent child whose parents just cut through the toy aisle at Walmart on their way to the tupperware section…go ahead, get inspired and give in – if only just a little. You deserve it.

And, if your inner-child is having an all-out temper tantrum over the challenges of finding a local professional for your home-remodeling project, talklocal can spoon feed you up to 3 local pros even before the end of time-out. Just visit www.talklocal.com and enter your service details.

Posted in Handyman, talklocal | No Comments »

Happy World Vegetarian Day

Wednesday, October 1st, 2014

Written by Mitali Bellamkonda

Today is World Vegetarian Day, a holiday established by the North American Vegetarian Society in 1977 to promote the vegetarian lifestyle and espouse its benefits.

A vegetarian is typically defined as a person who abstains from meat, but the community is far more diverse than that. And, there are several options for people who want to maintain a meatless or meat-restricted diet.

Here are just a few options:

Pesce-pollotarians’ diets include white meat, like fish and poultry, but exclude dark meat, like beef.

Pescatarians only eat seafood.

Ovo-lacto vegetarians can enjoy cheese, eggs, milk or any animal product living animals produce.

Vegans painstakingly ensure that nothing they ingest contains any animal byproduct

So, why is there so much variety within vegetarianism when vegetarians all claim to not eat meat?

Vegetarians vary in their motivations and draw different ethical and nutritional lines. For example, one person may consider eating a fellow mammal to be just as morally reprehensible as cannibalism, but have no problem with other meat sources. Yet, another person may have no moral objection to an omnivorous diet, but opt to avoid animal products they deem unhealthy. Others may abide by certain religious practices that prohibit certain, but perhaps not all, types of meat.

As for me? My vegetarian diet helps me maintain good health. I eat lots of lentils, kale, swiss chard and tomatoes to get my fill of protein. I also enjoy choosing from millions of vegetarian recipes that have absolutely nothing to do with salad, such as dhal (lentil soup), vegetarian lasagna, sandwiches and more. Who says vegetarians live on salads and “rabbit food”?

So, if you are considering going vegetarian, today is the perfect day to try it out. So, pour a glass of your favorite drink, dig into the vegetarian version of your favorite meal and enjoy!

Tags: vegetarian
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Troubleshooting Your Coffee Maker

Monday, September 29th, 2014

Written by Mitali Bellamkonda

The alarm clock shrieks; your bloodshot eyes shoot open and quickly narrow to a piercing squint. It’s already way too bright out. Then, as soon as you rise to your feet, you get a blistering headache as if you’d just climbed Mount Everest. You’re only 3.5 ft above bed level, yet the air is even thinner.

When the start of your day is this irritatingly bad, you seriously consider burying yourself back under the covers and trying the whole thing again tomorrow. Fortunately, today is National Coffee Day! So, slip those chilly toes into your bunny slippers and pay homage with a nice hot cup of all that’s keeping you out of that nice warm bed.

But wait! Even that goes terribly awry. Is it too petty an expectation to think that the amount of water that goes into your coffee machine should roughly match the amount of coffee that comes out? Instead, your coffee cup has far less. What tomfoolery is this?

Turns out, you’re not crazy nor are you alone. It’s a common problem.

In fact, in our house, we’ve long cracked the mysterious case of the missing coffee water and have a few tricks for outwitting the invisible coffee thieves.

Want to maximize your coffee output until every sweet, sweet ounce is accounted for? Try these simple steps:

First, check to make sure the tubing is in the proper place. Loose tubing allows steam to escape the machine before ever reaching your coffee cup.

Second, flush out the tubing with vinegar. This should clean out any clogs or buildup that may be blocking the water flow.

Finally, clean out the tubing with as much water as needed to get rid of the vinegar taste…unless you want a tangy kick in your taste buds to really wake you up!

If these steps don’t work, consider bringing your coffee maker to an appliance repair professional or just get a new one if it’s one of the really cheap ones. Severe clogs or punctures in the tubing may be irreparable.

However, don’t let such thoughts bring you down today. This is your day to enjoy one of the things that makes getting out of bed more bearable. So, to all of you caffeine fiends out there, Happy National Coffee Day!

Posted in Appliances Repair, talklocal | No Comments »

The Official End of Summer (Sigh)

Tuesday, September 23rd, 2014

Written by Steven D’Adamo

Sadly, summer is officially over. You may have thought it was over when you waved goodbye to your kids on their first day of school. You may have celebrated the end of long days and relaxing nights with a final Labor Day barbeque. Or maybe you’re still holding out for the very last leaves to change to declare the end of 2014’s lazy summer days.

Well, I hate to burst your bubble for a potentially fourth time but today, summer is officially over; at least, according to the relative incline of the earth’s axis to the sun.

The Autumnal Equinox

Today marks the equinox, the biannual occasion when the daylight hours are relatively equal to the night hours for a single day. When Julius Caesar established the Julian calendar in 45 BCE, he set the vernal (spring) equinox at March 25. However, he did not account for the inevitable drifting of the calendar year away from the actual equinox, because his calendar year was slightly longer (365.25 days) than an actual solar year.

In 1582, Pope Gregory XIII created a calendar that would right this calendric drift, allowing the vernal equinox (and also the celebration of Easter) to fall on a fixed celestial date, thus pushing the vernal equinox to March 21. The Gregorian Calendar is still widely used today.

What Does the End of Summer Mean?

For starters, it means you only have a matter of weeks to catch up on all of the outdoor chores you put off over the summer (because it was too hot) before it becomes too cold. And don’t forget the leaves. Yes, the verdant trees will begin turning bright yellows, bold oranges, and deep red. Then they’ll all fall off at once and litter your yard in a two-inch layer of decaying plant matter.

Winter is coming (even though Game of Thrones season 5 won’t premiere for another seven months) and it’s time to prepare for Polar Vortex 2.0.

Use talklocal to finish your yardwork, get your HVAC unit checked, and ensure your doors and windows are insulated — before November.

Tags: summer
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Back to School: Where to Shop for Less

Friday, August 1st, 2014

Written by Ezra Schwartz

It’s that time of year again! Summer is winding down, vacation is nearing its end, and school is just around the corner! While you still have a few weeks until you need to put away your sunscreen and beach equipment for the year, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t start thinking about the upcoming school year. Don’t be left unprepared. Here’s where you can find some of the best deals around for all your back to school needs:

For School Supplies: Staples

One of the most important departments for back-to-school shopping is school supplies. Where would our kids be without the ever-important pencils, paper, notebooks, scissors, and so much more? These essential products are sold pretty much everywhere during August, but if you want the best prices, then look no further than Staples.

Staples recently announced a 110% Price Match Guarantee. This means if you find a lower price on an item that Staples sells, Staples will match the price and discount 10%. In addition to that, Staples has a Less List, where many of their school supplies are on sale. For your simple school supplies, Staples is definitely the cheapest of the bunch!

For Clothing: Kohls & JCPenny

However, school supplies are not enough. Your kids also need to be dressed for success and sometimes, hand-me-downs won’t do. Whether they need school uniforms or have a flexible dress code, make sure your kids have great outfits!

It’s very likely that your children have a favorite store or two when it comes to shopping for clothes, so it might be easiest to simply let them shop there for back-to-school. This might relieve some household drama and it’s likely that these stores have back-to-school sales, as well.

However, if your kids are flexible and you need some help finding great places to save money, then we suggest heading to Kohl’s and JCPenny. Both stores offer incredibly stylish clothing at very reasonable prices and both stores also offer sales on school uniforms. Additionally, if you plan on online shopping, Kohl’s offers free shipping for purchases above $75 while JCPenny has the same for $99.

For Everything: Walmart, Target, Amazon

Some people just want to get rid of the hassle of driving around the city and want to go to one store for back-to-school shopping. If you’re one of those people then luckily, there are many options for one-stop-shop stores where you can get school supplies, clothing, electronics, books, and other items your child may need.

Walmart and Target are great examples of stores like these. Both have very fair prices for everything your kids need for the school year. Walmart has a slight upper hand here, due to their free shipping on orders of $50 or more. However, if you’re already willing to buy online and have your items shipped to you, then you should also consider Amazon, which not only has free shipping for Amazon Prime members but a vast array of choices for many categories of items you may need, as well.

We here at talklocal would like to wish you and your children luck on the upcoming school year! And remember, if you need a last-second tailor for the school uniforms, computer repair for your child’s laptop or tutors to help out with schoolwork, visit talklocal.com

Tags: back to school, bargain shopping, fashion, thrift shopping
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A Brief History of Celebrating July 4th in the USA

Friday, July 4th, 2014

Written by Marianne Zhao

On July 4th in 1776, the members of the Second Continental Congress signed the final document known as the Declaration of Independence. With this declaration, the thirteen colonies became the United States of America. July 4th has grown to become America’s biggest non-religious holiday, and its form of celebration has grown, as well.

Here’s a bit of history as you lie down on summer grass or the beach, preparing for the exciting booms and sparkles of fireworks.

1776 – John Adams writes to his wife: “[July 4th] ought to be solemnized with Pomp and Parade, with Shews, Games, Sports, Guns, Bells, Bonfires and Illuminations from one End of this Continent to the other from this Time forward forever more.”

1777 – Although July 4th was not an official holiday, many Philadelphians celebrated the anniversary of their nation’s independence with bell ringing, gun firing, and candle lighting.

1783 – The Revolutionary War is over, and July 4th is more celebrated in various areas. Parades, speeches, military events, and fireworks were added to the celebrations.

1941 – July 4th is proclaimed a federal holiday by Congress (finally!).

Present – People truly embrace the Red, White, and Blue with clothing, party themes, desserts, barbecues, picnics, beach vacations, and of course, FIREWORKS. The extremity of July 4th celebrations has grown over the years, and we have tried our best to honor John Adams’ wishes of Pomp and Parade.

TalkLocal wishes you a happy 4th of July, and remember that we are always here to help for any last minute celebration needs. Just visit our website to submit a request for a party planner, party rental, or air conditioning repair.

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Easy Party Tips for July 4th

Friday, June 27th, 2014

Written by Marianne Zhao

It’s almost that time of year for a day filled with the smells of barbecue, ice cream, sunscreen, and bonfires and the sounds of fireworks echoing into the night. That’s right, July 4th!! This holiday not only celebrates the independence of the United States of America but also encompasses the relaxation and fun that comes with summer and family. If you want to do something a little different this 4th of July, here are some quick and easy party ideas you can try:

Decorations: It’s all about Red, White, and Blue

– You can’t go wrong with colored tissue paper streamers: they look great both inside and outside the home!

– Paint your flower pots red, white, and blue for a nice festive theme in your backyard.

– Decorate your grass with white stars: cut a star shape into cardboard for a stencil. Lay the stencil on your lawn and spray the grass with water. Then use a flour sifter to fill the shape with flour.

– Use blue or red glassware (pitchers, cups, glass bottles).

– Many dollar stores sell various sized flags. These can be placed anywhere you like for a 4th of July feel!

Food: Get creative

– Watermelon is great in the summer and, to make it even more festive, you can carve your festive designs or words onto the watermelon, just like a jack-o-lantern (try: July 4th or stars).

– Sticking with the fruit theme: a fruit bowl consisting of blueberries, strawberries/raspberries, and bananas/apples. You can take a white rectangular plate and create the American flag with the different fruits.

– Serve fruit punch (red) or Gatorade (blue); you can have these in clear bowls or clear dispensers.

– You can never go wrong with a USA-themed cake or party platter!

Enjoy your holiday!

With these ideas in mind, we hope you have a perfect 4th of July! (Don’t forget the fireworks!) And remember that if you are swamped with a busy schedule or just want some help planning your party, TalkLocal has the best party planners for you. Check us out here.

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Seva Call is Honored to Be an NVTC Hot Ticket Nominee!

Thursday, June 26th, 2014

Seva Call is Once Again Honored to Be an NVTC ‘Hot Ticket’ Nominee! - Seva Call

Stop the tweeting – and relax your thumbs for a second! The Northern Virginia technology Council has nominated Seva Call for their Hot Ticket Awards for the second straight year. That makes us sort of a big deal (twice). We’re honored to be a Hot Ticket nominee again!

Once again, the fine people at NVTC want to recognize Seva Call as a regional technology company with “great vision, the ability to implement and deliver, innovative management approach or star-quality charisma.”

Seva Call is equally honored to share this nomination with such distinguished regional entrepreneurs as Social Tables, 9Lenses, and iCore.

“We’re ecstatic that we have kept up our trend of being a hot company in the DMV,” says Seva Call President Manpreet Singh. Seva Man was much less articulate.

“Alright, alright, alright,” he exclaimed in his best McConaissance impersonation.

Having one nomination for such an award is special, but two?! Now it’s time to go for a three-peat! Keep up on our 2015 Hot Ticket nomination run, and use our Hot Ticket nomination-worthy service here.

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