How You Treat Your Dog Helps Teach You How To Relate Better With People

Posted on June 29, 2020July 6, 2020 by The Smart Cookie

This post is sponsored by WellPet but the content and opinions expressed here are my own.

We’ve all been misjudged, misunderstood, heard a rumor about us that upset us, or even felt like the odd person out.

Heck, that’s why I created The Smart Cookie Philes in the first place. Yet, I think it’s why I love spending time and being around my dogs a lot. I even have nicknamed my dogs and I “The Squad.”

You had a bad day at work? They love you.

You just got rejected or broken up with? They love you.

You just got let go from your job and don’t know how you will make your bills? They love you.

My dogs are always there for me, in the good and the bad, and it’s why I search high and low to find the best treats for them.

Treats that have all-natural ingredients.

Treats that are made in the USA.

Treats that have a variety of flavors so I always surprise their taste buds with a brand new experience.

It’s why I love that I was recently shopping at Wal-mart and came across Old Mother Hubbard’s dog treats.

They come in small and mini size, and in a variety of flavors.

Founded in Gloucester, MA, Old Mother Hubbard’s dog treats are all-natural and never artificial, and have been around since 1926. Each home-style recipe is carefully crafted from wholesome ingredients that allow you to feel good about giving your pup a reward that is healthy and heartfelt., and all the fun flavors in between, there is a natural choice for every taste that dogs drool over. And while still based in Massachusetts, Old Mother Hubbard is now available at Walmart nationwide!

You can actually add them instantly to your Walmart cart here or here.

The cool thing about biscuits is they look good on top of these Carrot Pineapple Mini Muffins recipe that I recently found and tried out. You can find the recipe in the video below and be sure to watch until the end to see “the squad” strutting their stuff with some nifty tricks in order to get their paws on another tasty Old Mother Hubbard dog biscuit.

At the end of the day, it’s all about how you treat others and THE golden rule: treat others how you want to be treated.

Dogs treat me like I’m worth a million dollars. It sure doesn’t hurt my wallet or my heart to give them the best of the best in dog treats in order so they know how much I love them.

Maybe we as humans can take a few pages from their life handbook too and be quicker to love and understand those around us instead of judge them or throw them to the curb.

#MusicMix: Selena Gomez proves she’s rarer than anything American pop music has ever made with album ‘Rare’

Posted on June 28, 2020 by The Smart Cookie

Sometimes you put an album on and instantly feel it was exactly what you needed to hear following some traumatic experiences.

That’s what Rare started out as for me. Like a private message or a text from a close friend about what you went through, what you feel, and how to get past it, this album was the healing soundtrack I needed to press play on.

Like even the week it was released January 10, 2020 was so timely, and divinely gifted to me when I didn’t know how to feel about the first week of the year which was jam packed with chaos and a cacophony of bullshit.

Channeling Paula Abdul for the 21st century, Gomez’s third studio album quickly charted the Billboard 200 at #1.

It’s a midtempo pop and dance album with influences from electronic, latin pop, and R& B. Lyrically, it’s themes are self-love, acceptance, and empowerment.

Click the above graphic to listen to the album while reading this review.

Rare: Gomez’s favorite song off this new album with a sound of compromised backing vocals and muffled instruments as if the whole thing has been dunked underwater. The song is a self-empowerment anthem about independence and self-love.

Dance Again: Blended genres of funk, dance, electro, and electropop. It’s lowkey yet infectious musically. It’s main message is acceptance.

I kickstart the rhythm. All the trauma’s in remission. No, I don’t need permission.

Look at Her Now: Reviewed in a previous post but this is an upbeat song about becoming stronger person after a turbulent relationship. Acknowledging that you mess up and you go through stuff but you always come out of it just feeling like a boss.

Lose You to Love Me: The only ballad on this album. It has bare bones production, plucked violins, booming bass, tearjerker piano, an orchestra, and multi-layered vocals from Gomez. It was produced and co-written with Billie Eillish’s partner in crime Finneas. The melancholy lyrics talk about her split from ex, Justin Bieber.

Ring: The latin-influenced track has musicality that is likened to Goyte’s Somebody I Used to Know and Santana’s Smooth. It’s about expecting the best & realizing you deserve the best.

Vulnerable: My favorite song off the album because of it’s unbreakable huge heart type love themes and so many beautiful lyrics. A warm disco and electropop record with a moody synth groove and elements of italo disco and tropical house.

People You Know: Electropop musicality contrast this melancholy song about the pain of come and go people friends, lovers, and acquaintances.

Let Me Get Me: Influences of Latin music on the upbeat and dance-floor ready song about lyrically coming out of body and detaching herself from the thoughts in her head, and she doesn’t want the joy she feels to be shot down.

Crowded Room: R&B song about the instant connection you have with someone across a crowded room.

Kinda Crazy: Tongue in cheek tune and sinuous kiss-off driven by a clean bluesy guitar lick and accompanying horns, about a lover who mixed his signals and changed his tune.

Fun: Playful and catchy co-written with Julia Michaels about a casual relationship with someone not good for her

Cut You Off: A slinky downtempo pop song with influences of funk and a slam jam about moving on from a relationship and the empowerment you feel.

How could I confuse that shit for love?

A Sweeter Place: An R&B collaboration with Kid Cudi about finding a place free of worry and brighter days are ahead.

Gomez hits it out of the park with this treasure of a musical masterpiece. It proves she’s a strong artist, strong human, and yes in fact, very rare in today’s musical scope.

#BookishThoughts: Good Brave People by Nicholas Trandahl book review

Posted on June 18, 2020December 31, 2020 by The Smart Cookie

As a writer of both fiction and poetry, I love reading novels with poetic soul within their core. As a reader, I love novels that instantly feel like they will be classics or remind you of some of the literary greats.

Trandahl gives mention to legendary writers in their own right Hemingway and Chekhov. Jasper Augustine stares you down with the intensity of a writer who’s all about the experience from the first page.

Primarily set in Basque County, a mountainous and agricultural area of Spain, this novel follows Augustine who sets out to write a novel, and who happens upon life’s greatest muse: an ordinary person in their home country being extraordinary at what they do, and it in turn makes you want to learn everything about them.

Upon arriving in San Sebastian, Augustine meets Oihana and begins writing his novel with fervish inspiration.

What’s crazy to me is how effortless this novel reads which makes it a bit of a shock that this is his debut novel.

Filled with intrigue, Spanish mystique, and a romantic story for the ages, Good Brave People is a classic for this age, and for ages to come.

Click this graphic (below) to enter to win a paperback or ebook copy of Good Brave People!

Get your own copy of Good Brave People Now!

Why You May Want To Invest in Influencer Marketing in 2020?

Posted on June 15, 2020 by The Smart Cookie

The Smart Cookie Philes was built on Influencer Marketing. What do I mean by that? Well, it started as a book and music review blog, and it still is at its core because it turns out that readers and music listeners are influenced by reviews. The popularity of the online review started with the origins of online shopping. The online review showcases the best and worst parts of purchasing a particular product or service.

Now as a publicist, it’s what I build my campaigns on. Whether a book or music project is highly recommended by people with an ear or an eye for that genre. If it is more people take notice, and sales of that product continue to increase.

What exactly is influencer marketing? Marketers rely on Influencers to provide unique, engaging content that is unparalleled and targeted (Intellifluence). Basically they are a voice within that niche or targeted audience. Target markets can be broken done so much that it is the reason why marketing is so necessary and vital to any business or entrepreneur. It helps increase awareness of you and your brand. And in turn, that awareness over time turns into an increase in sales.

Many companies now hire influencers to sell their products directly. Built within influencer marketing is a more direct selling venture known as network marketing. It’s where the individual utilizes the engagement from their platform to equal out to sales or more people added to their company’s network or team.

2020 has been called the “golden age of inluencer marketing.”(Intellifluence) and that is actually due in part to the recent COVID-19 pandemic. Upon the introduction of COVID-19, the average screen time has increased and consumer habits have shifted, meaning that brands need to be vigilant about hitting all digital platforms more than ever. During this unprecedented event, trusted social media influencers continue to be a reliable source of information and an effective, authentic way to communicate with target audiences (Rise of Influencer Marketing).

A platform that most people joined during this pandemic was TikTok which is now helping fuel more engagement with certain songs because of Dance videos or helping people of all demographics quickly build an audience. Another huge boom was in live video feeds because everyone was at home.

In the past two months, brands have transitioned to more video and live stream campaigns than pictures. With everyone working from home, brands should take advantage of the time people spend on their computers, TV’s and smart phones during the day with these more dynamic forms of content (Rise of Influencer Marketing).

At the same time influencer pricing is going down, their audience is growing. With much of the world forced indoors, social media usage is skyrocketing. Facebook and Instagram saw a 50% percent increases in livestreams. Twitch’s viewership shot up 31 percent in two weeks. YouTube’s U.S. viewership has increased 63%. Influencers are benefitting from this, with some reportedly seeing as much as a 76% increase in “likes” on Instagram sponsored posts

With everyone forced to shop online, influencers are driving more purchases than usual. Data from affiliate marketers showed upticks in sales via influencers. SmartCommerce reported a 30 percent increase in orders, and competitor RewardStyle has seen a similar spike(https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/349733).

While the benefits are clear, I do have a word of caution. Given today’s landscape, agencies need to tread carefully. Not all influencer marketing is the same, and the best programs are collaborations with trusted partners such as Intellifluence. Influencers are people, and some people can act irresponsibly (and very publicly) while others are using their platforms for good. Choose wisely.

In a “shelter at home” world, advertisers and agencies are scrambling to create things fast, cheap and with few promotional dollars — just the things influencers have been doing for years. More than ever, this is the time to invest in the experts (https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/349733)

So whether you choose a Youtuber with 10K subscribers or an up and coming blogger with affordable rates, one thing is for sure, now is the time to get on the influencer marketing bandwagon.

Resources:

https://www.business2community.com/marketing/the-rise-of-influencer-marketing-and-what-to-expect-in-2020-02318375 June 10, 2020

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/349733 June 10, 2020

https://intellifluence.com/marketing

#MusicMuses: June Music Mix

Posted on June 11, 2020June 11, 2020 by The Smart Cookie

I have actually found that for a while there it looked like less music was coming out and I wasn’t sure how I would survive without new music. So I waited until I had more than five songs to discuss and highlight. For this month’s mix, it’s a mix of new pop and some new Christian/inspirational that I found while the COVID-19 pandemic has been going on.

Despite the pandemic, many artists still put out the albums they had worked so hard on, and I look forward to reviewing those. Until then, here’s a summer playlist for you curated by yours truly.

Click the above graphic to listen to the playlist while you read.

Boyfriend: I remember the first time I heard this. I went for my morning walk and was instantly into the backbeat of this song. It makes this simple song go from whiny and complaining about being single and occasionally lonely into a dance party. It’s almost like a fun pop twist on the saying, “It takes two to tango.”

I Love Yous: Sampling “No More I Love Yous” by Annie Lennox, this song talks about the importance of healing and self-care following a break-up with someone you cared for deeply, and not jumping right into a new relationship.

Holy Water: Anthem of various genres with a timeless sound, this song celebrates forgiveness which believers have once they come face to face with Jesus and his never-ending grace.

I’m Ready: A choir-filled anthem with a powerful declaration of putting it out in the Universe that you are ready for love to find you and love you back.

Break My Heart: Disco-oriented, a dance party track about finally being in a happy place and wondering if this new person will end up only breaking your heart.

Genetics: A single off Trainor’s album Treat Myself that talks about body positivity and how it can be hard with the surgery craze of the West Coast. It also has this runway type musicality.

Savage: Made famous by TikTok, this hip-hop self-love anthem defines what it means to be a female in today’s world.

Together: A song of hope released early amidst the global COVID-19 pandemic, it touches on sticking together through the good and the bad. It’s got a choir-like anthem musicality.

Clean: A song about taking care of your own sanity and mental well-being after you clean someone from your life. It has a multi-layered vocals musicality that mimics a choir.

Yikes: Trap banger released early after Minaj’s retirement announcement. The track is 2:36 and hits hard from start to finish.

All My Friends Are Fake: A beautiful lyrical look at how unreliable people can be, and it ends up causing people to develop trust issues.

That Way: A piano ballad about two friends who have an unspoken chemistry which messes with your head and causes tension on the friendship

CRZY: This song came out in 2016 but I just discovered its genius. CRZY is a defiant R &B ode to take back the reigns on Kehlani’s own narrative. She’s not addressing anyone who counts her out, but instead applauds her own success and the challenges she’s faced.

Daisies: One of my favorite songs right now; a self-empowerment anthem that features a mid-tempo production in its verses and a guitar in its chorus. It just reminds the listener to remain true to the course you set for yourself, regardless of what others may think.

Stuck With U: An R&B Collaboration between Justin Bieber and Ariana Grande to raise money for first responders during the COVID-19 lockdown.

Savage (Remix): A brand new verse from Meg and an equal verse from Beyonce. They put this song out to raise money from COVID-19 relief for their hometown of Houston.

X: When I first heard this song, it brought me right back to being ten years old and obsessed with Ricky Martin. With musicality that reminisces his first album, the Jonas Brothers hit another one out of the park with the way they fuse genres into pop music. It’s dancy, fun, and muy caliente.

#BookishThoughts: Stop Missing Your Life by Cory Muscara helps you learn what it means to be truly present in a distracting world

Posted on June 8, 2020 by The Smart Cookie

I received this book in exchange for an honest review. Released at the end of 2019, I was eager to walk into 2020 more present than I had in previous years.

I got the book in January from the publisher and thought it would be a quick and easy read.

After all, it was a book walking me through how to be deeply present.

Now, five months later (I finished the book in May 2020), I’ve finished the book and see how very un-present not to mention irresponsible I’ve been.

In itself, reading a book is an act of being present. Present and actively engaged with the materials covered (if non-fiction) or in the story itself (with fiction, poetry, and memoir).

What does it mean to be deeply present?

And it was during those five months from when I began reading this book to now, that I sought justice for evil. I had witnessed and experienced, sought healing and wholeness after heartbreak, betrayal, and utter rejection, and I began to speak from a place of true honesty and authenticity which I’ve never truly had in the twenty-seven years of my life prior.

Muscara’s book takes the reader through personal anecdotes and mindfulness practices down a journey of true presence and intimacy with ourselves, and relates that back to the intimacy and connection we have with others.

Now, at 28, I feel more self-aware, authentic, and unapologetic about who I am than I ever have, and I will never allow myself to suppress the ‘shadow parts’ that need loving, too.

Once I sat down to being more present, and committed to finishing this book, I thoroughly enjoyed it and believe anyone could benefit from reading it.

As far as my own journey into being present, I will start by being more adamant and dedicated toward being present while reading books I review, and music albums as well.

Overall, I want this to be me telling the world, I promise to stop not showing up for myself and all the Smart Cookie Philes is to people everywhere.

Meaning whether with my clients or books or music I promise to review, I will aim to get it done or offer a “thanks but no thanks.”

It’s this small but simple thing I believe will make the most difference.

#SmartCookiePR: Jennifer Ervig to bring her message about defeating anxiety to Dove and Dragon Radio

Posted on June 2, 2020May 23, 2020 by The Smart Cookie

For Immediate Release

May 24, 2020

Chelsea DeVries

Publicist

When My Mind Winds Up: Book where Author Shines a light on her own struggles with anxiety to help you defeat your own.

Author to Appear on Dove and Dragon Radio Podcast Hosted by M.L. Ruscsak

Award-nominated author Ervig writes with a conversational and authentic tone sharing about her own personal struggles with anxiety while like a best friend lifting you up with encouragement and hope to help you defeat your own. Her episode of Dove and Dragon Radio will be recorded on June 9, 2020 and available soon after. Dove and Dragon Radio is hosted by Author M.L. Ruscsak. A

podcast where you can find out what the world of indie and small press publishing is up to.!

You can listen to all episodes of the podcast here: Blog Talk Radio .

About When My Mind Winds Up:

When My Mind Winds Up is a unique help for the reader who finds their mind constantly tangled up in anxiety. Jen brings her faith and personal journey with open hands in hopes that she can take what’s helped her and “pay it forward”. You’ll be shocked at what you read and it will hurt, but hopefully it will “hurt so good”.

About the Author:

Jen is a Seattle area pastor, wife, mom, event speaker and award nominated author. Her book, As My Mind Unwinds, has been heralded as a hilarious, non fluffy, unique take on a devotional surprising even non Christian readers again and again. She loves to laugh and firmly believes that “Jesus doesn’t care about your happiness if your joy is at stake”.

Download This Press Release

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The Smart Cookie Philes

Espresso Yourself However You Choose!

Month: June 2020

#MusicMix: Selena Gomez proves she’s rarer than anything American pop music has ever made with album ‘Rare’

#BookishThoughts: Good Brave People by Nicholas Trandahl book review

#MusicMuses: June Music Mix

#BookishThoughts: Stop Missing Your Life by Cory Muscara helps you learn what it means to be truly present in a distracting world