Let's take a walk through my memory palace.

Speaking of hot Roman weather….

 According to Google Maps, L and I walked a whopping 5 kilometers from our hostel to the Vatican City in somewhere between 1-2 hours, under the blazing summer sun. Silly us, we thought we only walked a mile or so. It was a beautiful day though, with blue skies and an occasional breeze. The only caveat about going to the Vatican City on such a hot day is covering up enough to enter St. Peter’s Basilica–no shorts or miniskirts, no bare shoulders or knees. More on St. Peter’s Basilica later.

Our original plan was to get a Roma Pass, which covers free entry to two of five Rome attractions as well as free travel on public transportation, but because we only planned to stay there for about two days, we forewent that and walked everywhere instead. Everywhere. From our hostel on the…

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Nonprofit Tech 2.0 Blog :: A Social Media Guide for Nonprofits

The National Retail Federation predicts that holiday sales this year will increase 4.1 percent to $586.1 billion and that online shopping will jump a whopping 12 percent to $96 billion. These are the best numbers we’ve seen since the beginning of the Great Recession in late December 2007. For nonprofits that have online stores or receive a percentage of profits from ethical retailers, it could be a banner year for online sales.

All that said, when doing your shopping this year, please be conscious of the power of your spending and put your dollars to work for good by purchasing from any of the 22 online gift stores that benefit nonprofits – especially on #GivingTuesday.

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1. American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) Online Store
ASPCA’s mission is to provide effective means for the prevention of cruelty to animals throughout the United States.

2. Amnesty International Shop
Amnesty International…

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“If a picture is truly worth a thousand words, then the visual imagery projected through Instagram translate well beyond a 140-character maximum.”

Beyond PR

Each week, Dear Gracie answers questions from ProfNet Connect readers with advice from our network of nearly 50,000 ProfNet experts. Has there been a question burning in your mind lately, something you’ve been wondering that none of your colleagues can answer? Please send it to grace.lavigne@prnewswire.com

Dear Gracie,

Instagram has been around for a couple of years, but seems to have exploded in popularity recently. How can PR pros use Instagram to increase publicity for clients?

Improving Images

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Dear Improving Images:

Four ProfNet experts provide a snapshot:

Instagram is a social network where users can share photos and comment or like their friends’ photos, explains Jeff Peters, social media specialist at The Halo Group.

It offers users a simple, easy way to take and edit photographs, and then post them across all major social media portals, says Seth Grugle, digital and social media specialist for Much and…

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Good+Tech

Thank you to everyone who makes a difference in big and small ways every day!  This is a perfect time of year to express gratitude and thanks.  Here are 88 Tweetable social good quotes to inspire and share positive ideas.

I am grateful for so many things, including great friends around the world, online and off! ~Amy          aka @CharityIdeas

Click here for the NEW printable color PDF!

Wherever one turns he can find someone who needs him.  ~Albert Schweitzer
Unselfish and noble actions are the most radiant pages in the biography of souls.  ~David Thomas
The breeze, the trees, the honey bees – All volunteers! ~Juliet Carinreap
There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle, or the mirror that reflects it.  ~Edith Wharton
The time is always right to do what’s right. ~Martin Luther King Jr.
I can no other answer make, but thanks, and thanks. ~Shakespeare

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“These followers are real followers but are not active.”  So much for instant fame from non-active Twitter followers.  Buying X number of followers for Y dollars apparently makes some people feel better about themselves.

When you travel to Budapest, Hungary, you can take the tourist track, do what the locals do, or both.  What does the capital and largest city of Hungary have to offer?

our souls are birds

ohhhh budapest.  you deserved so much more of my time instead of a scant 28 hours! if only i hadn’t done some bookings while half-asleep, if only i hadn’t gotten lost and wandered around the city for a couple hours, if only i hadn’t had to hang out in my suite and do laundry–we would have become so much better-acquainted!   but, the suite i got to stay in was really cool and communist-looking.  maybe that doesn’t even make sense.  it had the world’s least comfortable couch (seat was 2.5 feet wide, back was maybe 6-8 inches high…), dark carpeting, wallpapers, 12 ft ceilings, and a set of incredibly beautiful 12ft tall doors!

budapest was different than the other former-communist places i’d been.  for one, there were sex shops everywhere.  bars open at 8 am, with people drinking.  slightly dingy buildings, not restored like prague and krakow (and some with…

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The Longji Rice Terraces in Guilin, Guangxi, China, are a place you must see up close to believe.  Not only are rice terraces aesthetically appeasing, but they, in short, feed China.

Plus Ultra

Hair wrapped artfullyin a turban of black cloth, her tough frame is softened by a lilac top and short frilly skirt. As she saunters in and out of the room, I watch the light momentarily catch on her earrings – they are two silver crescents, raw and slightly tarnished, sweeping around a hollow in the shape of the full moon.

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Like most people, when they think of Chicago, they immediately think of architecture. How about Chicago’s hidden gem: gardens?

Rainy Days Aren't Always Bad

You think of Chicago and you think architecture. You think bone chilling cold winters. Television buffs think of George Clooney and ER. You think industrial revolution. You think The Jungle and Sister Carrie. You think the mob and Al Capone. But, I certainly never thought gardens. Chicago has gardens at every other turn. You go two blocks and there’s a garden or a park. Not whimpy gardens but really fully maintained beautiful ones. With flowers bulging at the seams.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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Would you make this adorable African Pygmy Hedgehog an addition to your household? (Not this particular hedgehog; he’s taken by Samantha.)

The Shard, the tallest building in the UK and, indeed, Europe, stands at 309.6 metres (1,016 ft).  The Shard is also the second-tallest free-standing structure in the United Kingdom, after the 330-meter (1,083 ft) concrete tower at the Emley Moor transmitting station.

A Life In London

Freshly constructed, Europe’s tallest building looks like a giant alien mothership has landed.

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