The lighter side: top 10 virtual office advantages

1. No more bad hair days
2. Suntan breaks instead of coffee breaks
3. Go to the Bahamas on the money you save from not paying rent on the office!
4. Live in the Bahamas & check the status of your projects while sipping a frozen margarita.
5. Be home to get your kids off the bus.
6. Work when you’re inspired—5 to 9—instead of 9 to 5.
7. You have access to the fridge. Ok maybe this is not an advantage.
8. Save on gas.
9. Your lengthy commute is a world record.
10. Afternoon delight.

The lighter side: top 10 ways to get out of the dog house

1. Godiva for your diva. http://www.godiva.com

2. Been sleeping on the couch? Sprinkle a dozen roses over the bed and get invited back in. http://www.1800flowers.com

3. When you’ve got hot sand between your toes and a margarita in your hand, you can’t be pissed off about anything. http://www.expedia.com

4. Drop an Elsa Peretti heart into a glass of bubbly and your name will no longer be toast. http://www.tiffany.com

5. Cookies for your cookie. Careful not to leave crumbs or you’ll be hanging with Fido again. http://www.davidscookies.com/

6. If your honey is avoiding sugar, score big with sugar-free treats. http://www.diabeticcandy.com/

7. Nothing tugs at the heart strings more than a hand-written love note. http://www.lovepoemsandquotes.com/

8. Wrap a bottle of KamaSutra’s Oil of Love in sexy panties or shorts. http://www.kamasutra.com/

9. Candlelight, mood music, and a pair of flutes filled with quality champagne. Try the Heidsieck. http://www.piper-heidsieck.com/

10. Send the kids to grandma’s for Valentine’s weekend—it’s a Saturday this year!

The lighter side: Top 10 things to do with your spare time when you're unemployed

1. Get a Valium prescription
2. Go to Jersey for cheap wine
3. Form your own happy hour networking club (I already have one and you are welcome to join)
4. Become a comedian
5. Submit your cocktail recipes to nrobbins@namaro.com (Subject line: recipes)
6. Tell us what type of job your looking for and we will publish it on the blog (hey you never know? 700 contacts may know someone) send to nrobbins@namaro.com (Subject line: my job)
7. Perfect your Van Halen Guitar Hero imitation
8. Resurrect your love for the Macarena and dance with your sweety
9. Put that crazy business idea to work
10. Go to you tube and watch this "Evolution of dance" video

Namaro's holiday card

Here's Namaro's greeting card. We NEVER have fun in our office ;) Click photo and turn up the sound.

Drinks To Kiss 2008 Goodbye

Mistletoe (Nadine's favorite)
Mix 1 oz. tequila, ½ oz. triple sec, ½ oz. pomegranate juice together. Fill glass with champagne. Kissing will begin shortly.

Pointsettia (Holiday party favorite)
Mix ½ oz. cointreau and 3 oz. cranberry juice together. Fill glass with champagne. Absolutely delicious. Plan for people to drink pitchers of this stuff.

Hot Chocolate with Brandy (Terri's favorite)
Heat 1 cup whole milk and ¼ cup cream. Whisk in either 3 oz. melted dark chocolate or 2T liquid chocolate into milk. Add 2T brandy when heated to desired temp. Kahlua also works nicely!

Killer Egg Nog (Molly's Favorite?)
Add pinch of nutmeg, cinnamon, allspice and clove to 1 cup eggnog base (Stewart’s brand is excellent). Mix in 1 oz. bourbon, 1 oz. rum and ½ oz. cognac. You will start to feel very warm and fuzzy halfway through your second mug.

Snowball (Your favorite?)
Mix 1-1/2 oz. good gin (bad gin is worse than rotgut), ½ oz. anise liqueur and ½ oz. cream in a shaker with ice. Strain out ice and serve in chilled glass. Watch out, these hit with a snowball-like intensity.

Spicy Martini (Justin's favorite?)
Mix 2 oz. good gin, 2 oz. apple cider, 3/4 oz. fresh orange
and a splash of maple syrup in a shaker with ice. Strain out ice and serve in chilled glass. Martini, martooni, martinni…

Top 10 Company Party No-No’s:

1. Karaoke and alcohol do not mix.
2. Tabletop dancing stays in Vegas.
3. Discussing your 401K.
4. Kissing that cute co-worker passionately under the mistletoe.
5. Avoid low-cut dresses and plaid pants.
6. Only groove if you have the moves.
7. Bringing your Bluetooth headset.
8. Don’t drink then drive.
9. Don’t be a grump.
10. Don’t bitch about your job since you still have one.

The lighter side: The top 10 Thanksgiving disasters to avoid

These are actual stories. Share yours?

1. Don’t forget to take the giblets out before cooking the turkey.

2. Make sure the dogs are locked up and away from the turkey.

3. The turkey should be ‘fully” cooked to avoid giving botulism to everyone.

4. Don’t invite fans from opposing football teams.

5. Don’t forget to water down Grandma's Bourbon.

6. Don’t forget to spike Grandpa's.

7. Don’t eat too much unless you want to be a float in the Macy’s Day Parade.

8. Move the Turducken away from the house—it's a fire hazard like no other.

9. Keep the wine intake to a minimum unless you want to stick your thumb in the pie and pull out a plum and say holy shit am I high?

10. Make sure the apple cider doesn’t go hard or you will have a bunch of very happy children.

SHOP SHOP SHOP

So the Dow is at 8,500! Should have spent the money not saved it. Oh well. I have my health, a great husband, a wonderful son, a great company, good friends, great clients, and enthusiasm.

So what does this mean to your company? It's not going to be business as usual in 2009 but this downward spiral is a sign of change and change can be good. Clever ideas and innovative solutions will come out of this slower, belt tightening economy. You watch. It will be a renaissance that takes everything we have learned over the past 25 years of building an economy on a house of cards and reversing it for the better. Much better.

I started my business in 1989 after I had been laid off from a great job at Citibank due to the economy. Even though I knew it was going to be hard to get a business up and running, I did it anyway. I had $20,ooo and no clients. Through a friend, I got my first client who paid me $500 for a logo and I was grateful. The first year, I made no profit but I had no losses. The year after a little better. The 3rd year even better. It took time. I've seen good times and bad ones. If anything I have learned is that enthusiasm, commitment and perseverance wins out.

In 2009, Namaro Graphic Designs will turn 20. As part of our celebration, for the next year Namaro will commit to blogging on subjects that will inspire and help our readers during this uncertain time. So come back often to see what tips and info we gather for you that will help you do your job better, start a new business and get inspired.

For now, Molly, our design and production manager, said it well: If you still can, shop local, shop often, help a friend and let's get the economy going.

Personally, I'm going shopping for some some Vodka.

"THE LIGHTER SIDE": Top ten reasons you need bailing out too

1. Who can balance a checkbook, anyway?
2. Your house is in a perpetual state of construction.
3. You’ll never get to retire, otherwise.
4. Because you can’t swim.
5. You don’t have a senator’s health care plan.
6. You have 3 college-age children.
7. You live in a flood zone.
8. Social Security sure won’t be around to help.
9. You’ve been spending your money on stuff like food and electricity instead of investing it in the market. Maybe you don’t need bailing out ;)
10. Your teenager has already crashed both of the family cars.

The lighter side: You know you're not organized when

1. You show up a day early to your any appointment.
2. You can’t see the surface of your desk.
3. You open the silverware drawer and find straws.
4. Your boss buys you an organizer.
5. Your filing system is a two-foot stack on the kitchen counter.
6. The electricity turns off.
7. You can’t find your to-do list.
8. You forget your anniversary.
9. You give your boss a blank stare.
10. You can’t read your own handwriting.

Top 10 reasons why paper will still be around in the future:

1. Spitballs. My son should have the same opportunity to get in trouble at school as I did!
2. Paper airplanes. What will I do when then boss isn’t around?
3. Toilet Paper. Need I say more!
4. Confetti. What else would you throw on New Year’s?
5. Magazines. You can’t lug a computer into the john.
6. Bedtime stories. Cuddling with your kid under the covers will always be in style.
7. Degree certificates. How else would you brag about where you went to college?
8. Comics. Life wouldn’t be the same without Captain Underpants.
9. Dollar bills. Bling isn’t a practical way to pay for groceries.
10. Rock, computer, scissors simply doesn’t work.

Need a Vacation? Popular East Coast Beaches

1. Outer Banks, North Carolina 2. Virginia Beach
3. Cumberland Island, Georgia
4. Cape Cod, Massachussetts
5. Kennebunkport, Maine
6. Cape May, New Jersey
7. Daytona Beach, Florida
8. Chincoteague Island, Virginia
9. Newport, Rhode Island
10. Ocean City, Maryland

Everyone is a Kid at the Water Park

A few years ago, the Ahearn/Robinson family completely and totally the indoor water park at the Great Wolf Lodge in Virginia Beach. Might be the perfect winter weekend getaway. To prove that you can find a site for everything, waterparks.com will help you find the water park closest to you. (You can just make out the feet flying up in the rush of water at the bottom of the slide!)

Top 10 Worst Beach Behaviors

1. Wearing a thong when you’ve got jelly rolls.
2. Calling out “shark” to clear crowded waters.
3. Wearing a suit that matches your spouse’s.
4. Kicking sand on a sunbather.
5. Gawking.
6. Not digging your umbrella in deep enough.
7. Leaving cigarette butts behind.
8. Throwing your fishing line in amongst swimmers.
9. Pilfering eggs from protected turtle nests.
10. Losing your suit in a big wave.

Cocktail recipes & other results from last Enewsletter

I thought that the results from our last Enewsletter campaign would be of interest:

1. Many of you enjoyed the cocktail recipes. So much so that is was the number one click to get to the blog over everything else. (I can see that your mind is on your work)

2. Most of you clicked the photos to get to the information you were looking for. (Pictures are the best!)

3. The text version of the newsletter is not being clicked by anyone. (This is not bad news.)

4. No one is subscribing to the RSS feed. (I think I'll do an article about this subject very soon)

5. Free lightbulbs are still available, click nrobbins@namaro.com to get yours.

Summer Cocktail Recipes

Looming recession, ridiculous gas prices getting you down? Need a vacation? A good summer drink can transform your backyard into paradise.

Sex on the Beach
1 oz. vodka
1 oz. peach schnapps
Juice from ¼ fresh orange
½ oz. melon liqueur
Fill tall glass with ice. Add vodka, then schnapps, then oj. Add melon liqueur last so it floats on top.














Frozen Margarita
2 oz. Tequila
½ oz. Triple Sec
Juice from ½ lime
1/2 cup ice
Blend all ingredients to slush, dip the edge of the glass in kosher salt and serve with lime garnish.

Frozen Daiquiri
2 oz. rum
Juice from 1/4 lime
1/2 cup ice
Blend all ingredients to slush and serve with lime garnish.














Frozen Piña Colada
2 oz. rum
2 oz. pineapple juice
1 oz. cream of coconut
1/2 cup ice
Blend all ingredients to slush and serve with pineapple garnish.

Mojito
2 oz. rum
Juice from half of a lime
3-4 spearmint leaves
Club soda
Add lime juice and 3 mint leaves to a tall glass. Stir to let flavor out of mint. Add ice to ¾ full. Add rum, top off with soda, stir well. Garnish with the extra mint leaf.

Mint Julep
4 mint leaves
2 oz. bourbon
2 teaspoons water
Drop 3 of the mint leaves in the bottom of a tall glass. Stir to let flavor out of mint. Fill with ice. Add bourbon and water. Garnish with the extra mint leaf.

Gin & Tonic
2 oz. gin
Tonic water
Fill tall glass with ice. Add gin, fill glass with tonic water. Squeeze lime around rim of glass. Garnish with a fresh lime slice.

Top ten social faux pas

1. You wear a “Vote for Obama” button at a Ted Nugent concert.
2. You show off your tattoos at a business breakfast.
3. You’ve got poppy seeds stuck in your teeth during a television interview.
4. Your cell phone goes off in the middle of a funeral.
5. You drink too much tequila and dance on a table or two. (Is this really socially unacceptable?)
6. You fart in church.
7. You wear your thong at the community pool.
8. You forget the party host's name!
9. You post vintage footage on YouTube of your college roommate competing in a chugging contest.
10. You accidentally send the email to the person you’re badmouthing.

Top Ten signs you have spring fever

10. Your waistline is in a sad state.

9. Your skin glows in the dark its so white.

8. You may or may not look forward to bathing suit shopping.

7. You wear shorts even though its 50 degrees outside.

6. Everything looks good.

5. You look forward to cleaning the gutters and moving the lawn.

4. Your considering calling in sick once a week until June.

3. May flies, ticks, and bees are OK.

2. You don’t mid getting up at 6am.

1. You actually want to clean the house.

The lighter side: Let’s party!

So you are planning a party for clients or friends. You’re a bit overwhelmed and could use some help in planning with a little bit of humor to lighten up your stress. Try evite.com. Top ten reasons you should use this site:

1. Your assistant has her own party to plan
2. So you won’t forget to invite your boss
3. So you will forget to invite your boss
4. Use their booze calculator to estimate your friends’ drinking habits
5. You’ll never run out of alcohol
6. It will help you remember to hide incriminating evidence
7. To make sure you know someone at the party
8. You can be the host(ess) with the most(est)
9. To make sure that you don’t lose the to-do list
10. To make sure that your significant other doesn’t lose the list

Make sure to hide the turkey when Nadine comes to the party. Cheers!