6 posts tagged “reviews”
Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.
Our baby girl is almost four months old, and how many times have I written in that fancy baby book we bought? Um... that would be "none," of course. It's not that I don't want to look back and fondly remember all her firsts, it's just that my shorthand? Not so pretty. I can type 120 words per minute, but don't ask me to hand-write a paragraph... my hand will cramp up faster than you can say "carpal tunnel."
This is why Kidmondo.com is my savior. I spend the majority of my day on a computer as it is, so managing Elspeth's online baby book is as easy as posting new photos and videos to Flickr, or writing a quick blog entry--two things I do on a semi-regular basis anyway.
That's right. My kid is barely out of the womb and she already has her own blog. But given her parentage, is that really so surprising?
I can also chart her height and weight (kidmondo calculates the percentiles automatically and plots them on a nifty line graph, which I love--I'm such a nerd), keep notes about dental and medical records, tag my posts with specific "firsts," and invite friends and family to follow along as she grows. I can jot down quick drafts about milestones and other amusing anecdotes to be written about in more detail when I have time--there will be no unsightly scribbles or cross-outs or sleep-deprived misspellings in my baby's book! There are even options for journaling about pregnancy, if you wanted to start from the very beginning. And all updates and posts are summarized in a tidy timeline format, which satisfies the OCD nitpick in me.
And the best part: at the end of the year, I can purchase a hardcover, professionally-bound book of Ellie's adventures, complete with several pages of color photos. As someone who's scrapbooking-stupid, I love that I can still have a tangible product and keepsake to show for my digital efforts.
Something I'd love to see as part of the Kidmondo package is the ability to add a "family tree" page... most traditional baby books include a way to list the members of baby's extended family in a tree format. The Flickr integration is also a little clunky, but the site's creator assured me that they're aware of the problem and working to resolve it. And that's another point--the Kidmondo staff were helpful and quick to respond when I had questions.
And no, they're not paying me to write this. I've just had such a good experience so far, I thought I'd help spread the word to other parents and parents-to-be.
Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.
I've been up to my neck in custom work lately, which is why I've been absent for the last couple days (also absent-minded, but that's the typical state of affairs no matter what I'm working on). I don't know if it was the Real Simple blog feature a few days ago or what, but Calobee Doodles has been overrun by custom requests. Not that I'm complaining... quite the opposite! :)
And today I found one of my photographs featured as an "Etsy Find" in the Storque! Yay! I'm having a good day, indeed.
T & I took a much-needed break last night to go out to dinner and a movie, as it's been eons since we've done a "date night." Of course, we didn't bother to read any movie reviews before we selected our movie of choice for the evening. We stuck to the synopsis, which sounded good in theory... but was bad--very bad--in practice. Always read the reviews; always. It will save you the trauma of spending good money to watch a rotten tomato like Doomsday.
Wow. Just... wow. One minute you're in the midst of a 28-Days-Later-esque scenario in London, and the next you're thrown into a society of punk-ish anarchy in barricaded Scotland. Ten minutes later, you're whisked away (by train, of course) to a distinctly medieval society ruled by a crazy mad scientist king, where you discover that the "cure" is not so much a cure, but a rather obvious matter of genetics. And then, oh, I don't know, let's throw in a gratuitous car chase! Just for the hell of it!
All the while I'm trying to figure out whether I've just missed something or if this is a "Choose Your Own Adventure" movie... where the plot can take a 180 degree turn at any minute! No cohesion necessary! And the cinematography, if you can even call it that... urgh. I actually had to close my eyes and cover my ears at one point to get my bearings. I wanted to be sick, but I don't know if that was because of the jumpy transitions or the terrible acting. Quite possibly both.
But that's par for the course for us. Tim and I have a bad habit of picking the absolute worst movies to see in the theater. If you told me I had a choice between a movie with substance, plot, and good acting and something horrible with Colin Farrel and bad dialog, I'd pick the latter nine times out of ten. I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess. :)
Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.
Booyah! Back from Boston and feeling surprisingly energized. Maybe a vacation from the day job was exactly what I needed.
While I was away, celebrating my birthday and figuring out how to use MBTA public transportation (with the help of my friends, of course), my photography was featured on Artist a Day! Yay! I find it a bit odd that the show pieces they chose were from 2004 and not something more recent, but whatever. The extra link-age was a nice birthday gift.
I've got another custom doodle to tackle tonight. My shop has done exceptionally well this month--in fact, it's been my best month for sales yet, so pardon while I brag a little. :) If you don't want to watch my head swell, you should check out some of these links instead:
- I'm really admiring JennSki's work right now. These new pieces in particular. I am a sucker for bright, vibrant colors.
- I have a new toy. I would have bought the iPhone, but AT&T gets terrible reception in this neck of the woods. I already own one cell phone that doubles as a paperweight.
- It's the 50th anniversary of the LEGO block building toy today, and Google has a nifty new banner up to celebrate. I should have known that LEGOs are Aquarian...
- There's a great article about Orla Kiely up at sfgirlbybay. I love the designs, but I think I love the fashion photography more.
- More new design pretties from om home at Design Sponge.
- I can has pretty house? Or maybe this one?
- I'm in a Valentinesy mood these days. Cupcakes go really well with Valentinesy.
- Monsters! Want!
Originally published at sixhours photography by caroline moore :: blog. You can comment here or there.
Yesterday evening I attempted to post a blog entry from Blogger, but found that I couldn't publish to my server via FTP. Travesty! How am I supposed to NaBloPoMo when I can't publish to my blog?
I did a little research and discovered that WordPress is not difficult to set up, and I particularly like that it resides on my host and is powered by my database. Customizing the layout was tricky, but I was able to squeak by with what little PHP I know. So I have a new blog! One that's much easier to update! I'm still having issues with the subdomain, so until that gets resolved, my blog can be accessed at http://www.sixhours.net/blog2.
This evening I came home to a neatly-wrapped package of treats from ThisNext--my reward for being a ThisNext Maven. I really can't say enough good things about these guys. Their Web site is sleek, their people are friendly, and they love sending me goodies. If I weren't already tied down, I'd consider moving to California and marrying them.
My Maven welcome package included a Moleskine notebook, a tin of ThisNext M&M's, and a mini parsley planter from Buzzy Seeds.
Not only that, but ThisNext also gave me the opportunity to test drive a new designer wallet from DB Clay. Or, I should say, I held the wallet in my hands for all of 5 seconds before a certain husband snatched it up in an "Ooooh pretty gimme" moment. The wallet in question disappeared into his back pocket and I haven't seen it since, which tells me DB Clay is on the right track with their new design.
Oh, I am stoked. Why am I stoked? Just look at what showed up on my doorstep yesterday and you'll know why I abuse the word "stoked."
As you may or may not remember, back in May I won a neat wine gift set for participating in a contest on ThisNext.com, my favorite social shopping site.
Last week I realized that I hadn't seen the wine set come through yet, and it's been over a month, so I sent an e-mail to one awesome ThisNexter to ask about it. She looked into the issue and sure enough, the wine set shipped much later than expected. This was actually a relief, as we've had disappearing-package issues at our place recently (very frustrating), and I imagined that somewhere in my neighborhood roamed a very full, very drunk guy with a pink wine backpack slung over his shoulder.
Thankfully this was not the case (although the mental picture kept me amused for a good five minutes), and the awesome ThisNexter said that they'd also send along a second prize to make up for the delay. I thought it might be a gift certificate, or maybe some stickers or promo materials, which is why I was really surprised to find a sizable box on my step yesterday evening. I was even more surprised to open it and find all sorts of wonderful kitchen goodies from Tovolo! Eee!
I'd never heard of Tovolo until now (read: I've only shopped for kitchen stuff at Wal-Mart) and the design is really something else. Our current setup is basic - we have the essentials, but none of it is very pretty to look at, and most of it is well-loved (read: old, and from Wal-Mart). But the Tovolo stuff - I want to frame it and hang it on my wall. It's solid and sturdy, too - I can tell these pieces will be with us for a long time. So thanks, ThisNext, for giving me the opportunity to ditch the old Wal-Mart spatulas and mixing spoons for something more chic.
Oh, and the S.O. thinks I should win things for him more often, so maybe ya'll could hook me up with an iPhone in the near future. Just sayin'. ;)
(Originally posted at http://calobee.blogspot.com/2007/07/free-stuff-part-deux.html)
It's about that time again. Here are two Etsians I've had really great shopping experiences with recently!
WoodcraftsAndCandles - I freely admit that I have little in the way of decorating sense. How do I compensate? Candles. Lots and lots of candles. If my house doesn't look polished and put together, at least it smells good enough to eat. So when I found WoodcraftsAndCandles' shop, I knew I was in trouble. Thankfully, Mother's Day gave me an excuse to spend money, and I purchased these margarita candles for my mum. Of course, before they made their way to her hands, I snuck a whiff for myself... and I almost didn't give them to her! Hah! But I did, and she loves them, and it's only a matter of time before I go back and fill my home with more luscious scents.
donnapool - Donna Pool's shop is proof that keeping a blog can help your sales. I first found these vintage camera buttons via Donna's blog at Vox and they're the perfect accessory for a photo geek like yours truly. My set even has my favorite film SLR - a Pentax K1000. I opted to have them made into super strong magnets to decorate my fridge. Donna also makes these unique plush puzzle balls, which are great for kids, or for those of us who are kids at heart!
(Originally posted at http://calobee.blogspot.com/2007/05/reviews.html)
