Elisa Roland

Look beyond what everyone else sees - the essence of a story whether it's about a brand or a person or a place is ito tell it with authenticity. Stories that resonate with consumers/readers, that go beyond selling a product or an idea - that are felt in the gut, drive change.

Diner In New Jersey
SOCKO! •

I’ll Have What They’re Having: Iconic New Jersey Diners

By Elisa RolandThe first prefabricated diner opened in 1912 at a busy trolley station in what is now Union City. Since then, the chrome boxes with their railroad-car looks and shimmery siding have become synonymous with New Jersey. Although quick and affordable eateries can be found all over the country, nowhere are they more prevalent than in the Garden State, which has more than 500 sprinkled across its many parkways.Today, the humble Jersey diner, where you can order anything from pancakes to...
Family Handyman •

If Any of These Things Are in Your Attic, You’re Sitting on a Gold Mine

If Any of These Things Are in Your Attic, You’re Sitting on a Gold Mine From a rare copy of the Declaration of Independence to a secret drawer filled with jewels, you never know where you'll find a hidden treasure. Art isn’t always in the eye of beholder when it comes to spotting something of value. When Linda Magnusson, ASA PP; Antiques & Decorative Art of the Magnusson Group in Morristown, New Jersey, showed up for a consultation with a client, it was her keen eye that spotted a forgotten pain
Reader's Digest •

Times Emily Post Was Not So Polite

From dumping her husband to sometimes putting her elbows on the table, this etiquette expert made—and sometimes broke—her own rules She was queen of the road Imagine driving with Emily Post cross-country for 27 days! That is what her son Edwin did back in 1915. According to History.com, Post, Edwin, and her cousin Alice set out on the almost four-week-long road trip from New York City to the Panama-Pacific Exposition in San Francisco. Post would then go on to write a series of articles for th
Reader's Digest •

Things All Pharmacists Keep in Their Medicine Cabinet

Pain meds that you can count on via amazon.com"Acetaminophen and ibuprofen are staples in our house," explains Mary Bridgeman, PharmD, BCPS, BCGP, Clinical Associate Professor, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. She lives with her husband—also a pharmacist—and their two young children, ages 3 and 5. Save money with generic versions like this Basic Care acetaminophen and this Kirkland ibuprofen. Although these meds may be over the counter, Bridgeman caut
Reader's Digest •

Surprising Things You Didn't Know About Good Friday

It doesn't seem very good Jacob_09/ShutterstockThe earliest known use of "Guode Friday" is found in The South English Legendary, a text from around 1290, reports BBC News. But it seems contradictory to call a day that is about death "good." The thing is, despite Good Friday representing the anniversary of Jesus's death, it's also about the triumph of his rising again. Christianity.com explains it in this way: "...the name Good Friday is entirely appropriate because the suffering and death of Jes
Reader's Digest •

The Disney Employee Dress Code You Never Knew About

Seems like common sense that wearing a heavy Buzz Lightyear suit in the hot sun is not the time to skimp on deodorant or antiperspirant. But it's not just character-based Disney employees that are mandated to slap on some deo—they all are. As noted in the Disney's employee 'bible' aptly called The Disney Look, "Due to close contact with Guests and fellow Cast Members the use of an antiperspirant or deodorant is required." Regular bathing and frequent hand washing are not left to common sense eit
Reader's Digest •

The Most Popular Toy the Year You Were Born

Little plastic green army men were already a hit with the boy crowd when Hasbro broke record sales with the launch of G.I. Joe and his "21 movable parts," according to livingly.com. In fact, in only two years, G.I. Joe became more than half of Hasbro's sales. Although the original toy patent refers to the figure as a doll, Hasbro later prohibited calling G.I. Joe anything but an action figure. What began as an advertising promotion for shoe polish turned into a game that would span the decades.
Reader's Digest •

Astronomy Facts You Never Learned in School

The sun is bigger than you can even imagine When you look up at the sky and see the sun beaming down at you, it's hard to tell how truly big it is. So consider this: About a million duplicates of Earth could comfortably fit inside of it, according to NASA's C. Alex Young, PhD. And if the sun didn't supply our main energy, we'd be shivering in the dark; its core releases energy that is the equivalent of 100 billion nuclear bombs. These quotes from astrophysicist Neil DeGrasse Tyson will blow your
Reader's Digest •

Bizarre Sibling Stories You Won't Believe Are True

Imagine having a baby only to discover that your newborn is pregnant herself—and carrying her own siblings? Live Science explains that a baby in Hong Kong was recently born this way. According to medical professionals, this extremely rare condition is called fetus-in-fetus and happens in about 1 in 500,000 births. "Weird things happen early, early in the pregnancy that we just don't understand," Draion Burch, MD, an obstetrician and gynecologist in Pittsburgh, told Live Science. "This is one of
Reader's Digest •

World-Changing Ideas That Came from Dreams

A field of cows inspired Albert Einstein's theory of relativity, which, according to a calm.com survey, is one of the most important ideas that ever came out of sleep. In his dream, Einstein was telling a farmer about cows being surrounded by an electric fence, but the farmer saw something different. Einstein awakened with the realization that the same event could vary from different perspectives, and the theory of relativity began to take shape. Another Einstein fun fact: his secret to happines
Reader's Digest •

Royal Wedding Mishaps That Are Totally True

No shut-eye for the groom Wedding day jitters weren't the only thing that kept Prince William up all night before he tied the knot with the lovely former Kate Middleton—the ruckus and hubbub from all his supportive yet noisy well-wishers were also to blame. "They were singing and cheering all night long, so the excitement of that, the nervousness of me and everyone singing—I slept for about half an hour," William said, according to The Daily Mail. Learn the surprising rule Kate Middleton has to
Reader's Digest •

Childhood Collection Items that Could Make You Rich—and Some You Should Toss

Boys will be boys and reap the rewards Lee Jones/REX/ShutterstockIn the movie The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Steve Carrel's character collects Star Wars figures and displays them around his apartment as if they were works of Picasso. After falling for a woman who owns an eBay re-sell store, he realizes that if he wants the girl maybe he should keep the Star Wars quotes to himself and cash in on his childhood collection. Perhaps your own better half has been nagging you to dump your cherished collection
Reader's Digest •

The 10 Funniest Moments Real Estate Agents Have Had Showing Homes

Kaia92/ShutterstockWhen crazy yellow lab Marley barrels through the front door of an open house, out the back, and jumps into the pool in the movie Marley & Me, Owen Wilson, playing Marley's owner, feigns innocence by asking "Who's dog is that?" It seems some owners might need a lesson or two in dog etiquette. "I had an open house in my building, and a neighbor who was not looking to move told me her dog wanted to see the apartment—so she brought him," Rena Goldstein, senior vice president at Ha
Reader's Digest •

Can You Tell What's Wrong With These Altered Photos?

courtesy Sophie Nightingale/University of WarwickDo you think you can spot when an image has been airbrushed, retouched, or altered in some other way? There are certainly some great photo editing apps that make tweaking photos easy. Too easy. Researchers from the University of Warwick in United Kingdom wanted to find out if people could spot the tweaks. They asked participants to review a bunch of original and tweaked images and asked: "Do you think this photograph has been digitally altered?"
Reader's Digest •

Facts About Animals That You Have All Wrong

Rrraum/ShutterstockAlthough it was long believed that our furry companions had limited vision and only saw certain colors, it's not the case. Cats and dogs have much better color eyesight than we thought. Both can see shades of blue and green. In fact, cats have way more light-sensing cells or rods in their eyes than humans do, and that's why they can see better in low-light situations. Of course that doesn't explain why they sometimes act that way they do. Here are 17 more insights to explain y
Reader's Digest •

Victorian Era Etiquette that Needs to Make a Comeback

A gentleman for your every whim Tatiana Ayazo /rd.com, ShutterstockBeing taken care of by a man might offend a modern woman, but a Victorian gentleman had a duty when it came to dining with the gals. According to Geri Walton's blog, he'd be assigned to escort a lady to the table. He'd offer her his left arm and proceed through the parlor door first but with the lady following and still holding his arm. When they reached the dining room, before entering, the lady would drop his arm, the gentleman
Reader's Digest •

Royal Family Jobs: Yes, the British Royal Family Actually Works. Here's What They Do.

A Davidson/SHM/REX/ShutterstockThe most famous royal in the world, Queen Elizabeth II, is quite busy for a nonagenarian. "Cabbage," as she is affectionately called by her husband, attends numerous engagements entertaining heads of state, having palace parties, taking diplomatic trips, and more, Business Insider reports. Queen Elizabeth attended 385 engagements in 2016. And this 91-year-old keeps on going. (Maybe it's because she knows these anti-aging secrets.) Royal commentator Richard Fitzwill
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