Every Monday, I profile some cool promotional idea I run across and why I think it's effective. Have a cool marketing idea your company is putting in place? Contact me, I might write about it!

When I think of 1-800-DENTIST, I think of happy but generic looking people on the phone helping me find a dentist. Not exactly something new.

I was contacted by Jill, one of their marketing folks, about the video contest they are holding which I do find interesting.

The basic idea is that contestants upload a 1-2 minute video talking about why they need a smile makeover. The winner gets up to a $30,000 smile makeover. You may remember that Office Depot had a similar upload your video to win contest for small businesses called 'Survival of the Smartest' that ran this summer.

Here's why I think the campaign is interesting:

There comes a time in every person's life when they realize they need to make a change, even if it requires spending more money. My moment came last week. 

Having someone visit my apartment is always interesting if only because it makes me realize how small it is. Most of the time, I can ignore it but someone else is around, I get questions.

You'll notice that if you are a regular reader of Too Cute Tuesday that many of our regular participants have pets. I (Nicole) have Sadie, the beagle-Corgi mix. Dorrie has two Australian shepherds, Blue and Sparks. Sue has Duke, who is in a category all his own. Christy, while dogless, has two cats, Jane and Doodle.

Originally we were going to be inclusive of dogs and cats but when Christy couldn't come, we just made dog biscuits. And with a matching cocktail, what could be better?

The same thing happens to me every year. I buy a pumpkin, and all good intentions aside, Halloween comes and I've forgotten to carve it. Not this year!

While there appears to be a pumpkin shortage, there were plenty to be found at my favorite farm stand. Also, the carving allowed my visiting friend Phil (who is British) to take part in this gooey and slightly odd American tradition.

In the entire history of my blog, I have never thought about and rewritten a post so many times. I didn't want to sound nonchalant about doing some stupid, dangerous things and at the same time, I didn't want to sound overly dramatic. Here is my attempt at balance, and my cautionary tale.

This past weekend, I hiked Mount Katahdin with my British friend Phil. He had always wanted to go but thought it was too dangerous to attempt alone. I said when he visited Maine again, we'd do it. 

He arrived on Thursday from London and Friday morning, we headed into the North Maine woods (Millinocket more specifically) and made camp. The next morning (3:30 am more specifically) we took down camp and headed into Baxter State Park.

The plan was to park at Roaring Brook Campground,  hike the Helon Taylor trail, take Knife's Edge to the summit of Katahdin, hike down Cathedral then Chimney Pond trail back to Roaring Brook. It is a long and difficult hike under normal circumstances. Attempting this in October is not something I plan to do again, mostly because I was really stupid about it.

Someone was telling me about the book "The 4-Hour Workweek".  It's one of those books that's on my list of things to read but something my friend told me about the book really resonated with me.

Pick two tasks a day to accomplish, and do them.

Simple, but makes sense. Lately, I felt bogged down with what I feel like are a lot of little details that comprise some theoretical to do list I will never complete. But each morning, I wake up and write two things on a small peice of paper (in big writing even!) and eventually cross them both off. Ahh.

It all started when I ordered this fabulous silk designer dress on eBay. Normally completely out of my price range, I got it for $40. I figured if it didn't fit, I could have it altered.

The dress was even more beautiful in person but since I am not a size 8 Anne Klein dress form, it needed alterations to fit. Normally I attempt this sort of thing myself but the potential for disaster on silk made me decide that maybe I should call in an expert. And so my search began.

A Google search yielded some places in Bangor (an hour away) and a dry cleaner in Ellsworth (30 minutes away). I know that the dry cleaner subcontracts this kind of work out (I had something repaired there before) and it would take a few weeks turnaround to get it back. Was there no one in my entire county who could do this?

I checked the Yellow Pages. Nothing. I even tried to convince a friend to help me do it for money. She wasn't confident enough to attempt silk but did give me the number of a local sewing store. I called them (since their owner once told me she barely checks her email) and was given a phone number to Acadia Sewing.