Friday, June 14, 2013

My Other Bag: Thank you mom (and STAR Magazine!)

At the supermarket checkout, we want to look inside that Star Magazine and see what Brad and Angelina and Kate and Prince William are up to....but what if someone sees us??       Luckily, some of us have moms who buy it,  or even better subscribe to it.    Definitely something to read in the comfort of your own home.       Articles with a shred of truth and bogus ads for things like diet pills and other items that probably don't work.      You think, WHO advertises here????  

I will tell you who advertised here and thank goodness she did.       My Other Bag (www.myotherbag.com) or for those on twitter #myotherbag (Hope I did that right!)

We all love bags.     Big, small, expensive, inexpensive, even fake bags.    I checked out this site and thought, how cute, I want this bag.    I ordered the Louis Vuitton checkerboard, white-on-white and when it was delivered, it was BLUE AND WHITE.....Strange.

I called the number to find out why this was BLUE when the original bag is white/white and not blue.   The person who answered the phone....Tara.   The founder.   Yes, the founder herself answered the call, discussed the blue/white situation with me and offered me the option to return my bag for the brown one.   We got to talking and I thought, wow-- need to blog about her, follow her on twitter, and so on-- because it was truly amazing to get the real founder/CEO/CFO/president on the line, as easily as I did.   We chatted for a bit and I mentioned my blog, and found out a little about her-- how she started this on her own and how she enjoys chatting w her customers.      Factory  is in LA, but her operation is run out of adorable beach town Manhattan Beach   :-)

Check out my friend Tara's page.     The price point is around $30 per bag and works out to be a great gift for someone.    I love mine.        Promised Tara I would blog and tag her on twitter so if you want to follow her on twitter, feel free.  

My Other Bag
#myotherbag

Check it out--    Perfect for the summer.      Thanks Tara.   Nice meeting you by phone.  xoxo

Wednesday, June 5, 2013

iPhone app: Mosaic Photo Book $20 for 20 iPhone pics

So we all love a great bargain.   At least once a week, you are sure to find a groupon/deal for a photo book or better yet a photo canvas.     Without a doubt, the picture you will want to use for the canvas is not a large enough file and comes out grainy.....and really who has the wall space to hang giant canvas photos?  I think those are definitely impulse buys.  No one I know has them hanging around their houses.

The books-- a great deal, if you actually USE them; if you know how to use Picaboo or MyPublisher.     Most of us do not.  We are so excited by the $19 album of our trip to Disney that we buy it and guess what, we never use it?    I would love to research the numbers and find out how many unused groupon/coupon/deals there are that are left unredeemed.  

The trouble is that these sites are time consuming.  That's WHY they are on these sale sites.  They want to encourage people to use them instead of their usual user-friendly Shutterfly/Snapfish.    I will gladly pay the $40 for an album, to make it easier for myself.    Rarely does Shutterfly or Snapfish have to promote their photo books.

So....the next photo dilemma is that no one has pictures anywhere but their iPhones.  I love my iPhone but when running out the door to an event, I still bring my real camera.    However, some of the best pics are taken at a non-occasion, when the real camera is not there.    Kids walking hand in hand from the playground, your daughter reading her favorite book on the couch, when the camera is not recharged (annoying) and all you have is the almighty iPhone and thank God for it, or else you would not have had the chance to take that photo!

Well what do you do with them on the phone?  Email them to people, mobile upload them to Twitter or Facebook but somehow, poor Grandma and Grandpa never seem to have them in their wallets because they are not keeping up with the digital age.    The nice people print them for the old folks, but really, one at a time?  Who can be bothered?

Last week I found MOSAIC.  It is an iPhone app that lets you make a small album with 20 pictures for 20 bucks!     You do NOT have to go to the actual desktop computer to do it.   It is as easy as uploading 20 photos to a share site.     Open the app, create book, add 20 of your favorites, order it, pay and it arrives at your house.      Some might say, "but Picaboo gives you 20 collage pages for $14.99!"   I will pay the extra $5 and make my book from the comfort of my own bed.  Seriously, my first book was made late at night, under my blankets before going to sleep and I would not blog about it until I received it and made sure it was not a piece of junk!   I thought it was too good to be true.  

The book is 7x7 and has a nice cover, delivered in a nice neutral colored box, quickly.     So instead of bringing great-grandma an envelope of 10 photos, bring her a nice book of 20 pics every 6 mos.    Without sounding morbid, she will give them back to you someday....you know, when she is no longer here....sorry, but it is true.     You will receive all of your photos back in chronological order and since there are only 20, you will narrow it down to the best 20 pics you have on your phone.  

So so easy---  and nice quality-- for twenty bucks!!      

Mosaic: iPhone App for Photo Books for $20!!!

Tweet Tweet-- Follow me on Twitter


I always thought I loved Facebook.  Until I discovered Twitter.     Facebook allows you to have fun with friends, mostly real and few that are not real.  By real, "real life" people you actually know and are connected with.   On Facebook I would say I am real friends with 90% of my friends and the other 10% are sort of friends, people I know through others, have friended after meeting at a wedding or a shower, knowing that pictures can be shared easily and that you will be in the same company with again so why not be Facebook friends?

The opposite is true of Twitter.   I think the 90/10 Facebook is 10/90 on Twitter.   I do not personally "know" 90% of the people on Twitter because we are not friends, nor do we pretend to be.   We follow each other.    It's a two way street.    Followers are not in secret (Facebook stalking not required) and it is fine to follow people that you don't know and you can follow the people they follow and so on.    Sometimes I think I like my Twitter friends (oops, followers!) more than I like my Facebook friends.    

So if you have not already, follow me on Twitter and of course, I will follow you too.   ;-)