22 things I'm thankful for

The fam.

'Tis the season to be thankful. Well, we really should be thankful more than just once a year, which I totally am. But this being the Thanksgiving weekend, it's an excellent time to actually put it in writing. So here's my list of 22 things I'm thankful for right now.

1. My mom and dad, and the fact that they're still alive and married to each other.

2. My sister, who is the most thoughtful and kind woman I've ever known.

3. My brother, who is unbelievably smart.

4. My fiancee James, who's just as weird as me. 

5. My grandparents, and being able to know and hang out with all 4 of them during my lifetime.

6. My friend Julie, who knows everything about me and still loves me.

7. My friend Marilyn, who is the sweetest friend I could ever ask for. 

8. My friend Jill, who is absolutely hilarious and such an incredible mom to her son.

9. My friend Leigha, who makes me laugh every time we get together.

10. My future in-laws, and for how welcoming they are.

11. My education. I am really lucky that my parents saved ALL the money it costs to attend college and paid for me.

12. The Internet.

13. Art.

14. My car.

15. Four seasons, and fall in particular.

16. My metabolism because I should probably weigh twice what I do. I know, #firstworldproblems.

17. Chocolate. 

18. Living in Chicago. I've always wanted to live here and it's still as cool as I thought it'd be. There's always stuff to do and if you get bored, it's your own damn fault. (I stole that from Time Out Chicago.)

19. WGN Morning News. Larry and Robin make me laugh every morning.
20. America. I love this country and all the freedoms we have.
21. Social Media Club and all the awesome people I've met in my local club and through the global network.
22. Editing. Because I know I left stuff out and may want to add to this list later.

SMC Chicago's #MappyHour

SMCC Board Members Rebecca Otis,
Carolyn Martin and yours truly

Techweek, the annual conference for all things technology recently came to Chicago. Social Media Club Chicago helped celebrate by hosting a "Mappy Hour" at Google. On a very rainy day in June, social media enthusiasts and Techweek attendants turned out to Google's Chicago office. At 5:30 pm, guests began mingling and snacking on fresh fruit fruit, veggies and drinking from a selection of beers, wine, and soft drinks. To begin the event, SMCC President Jeff Willinger welcomed everyone and introduced former SMCC Board Member Amy Ravit Korin, Regional Community Manager Lead of MidWest US for Google. She explained that Google would soon be coming out with their new maps, and that Aaron Babst would go over them in full detail during his presentation. Aaron is a community manager for Google and runs @GoogleLocalCHI and @GoogleLocalPDX.

Aaron showed us how Google was able to stitch together photos of the same places to create mini virtual tours of places like the Vatican. He said "Our goal is to map the entire planet and you guys can help us do that. Anyone can edit Google maps." Motivate Design captured this clip on Vine. The new maps are entirely interactive, so you can click on areas and the map will display places related to your search terms, and how to get there. You can even see bicycle routes and flights right from the map! Google will soon be rolling the new maps out. But for now you can request an invite here.

Using social media to generate leads

Left to right: Elly Deutch, Andrew Barber,

Brad Farris, Brad Wilson.

Photo courtesy of Brandi Heinz Brown (@brandiheinz).

So you weren’t able to make it to SMC Chicago’s February event? Not to worry! You can still learn a few things from those that did go.

Wednesday’s event consisted of three panelists: Andrew Barber, Brad Farris, and Brad Wilson. About 60 people came out to Howl at the Moon to learn about how bloggers and authors use social media to find leads and grow their businesses.

SMC Chicago panel discusses mobile apps

Mobile App Discussion Panelists

On Tuesday the Social Media Club of Chicago (SMCC) held a panel discussion about mobile apps and ads. ITA/TechNexus made their office space available and +Ramon De Leon provided a ton of delicious Domino's pizzas, as he so generously usually does for SMCC events. The panel consisted of the following five individuals who work in the tech field and are all quite knowledgeable about mobile marketing: