Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Mirabella in a dress just like mama had a mere 40+ years ago.  :)
Thanks to Rebecca at Tomboy Design Studio for doing a wonderful job on the dress (and from a tiny, tiny, old photo).

Thursday, July 21, 2011

Phit and Frugal: grocery shopping

Anytime someone decides to eat more veggies, buy more produce or eat healthier, their first reaction is "this is expensive."
The problem:  they haven't added up the chips and snacks they didn't buy. (Or maybe they still bought them, and that's the problem.)

It's interesting that (even to me) $4 for a carton of raspberries seems expensive but $4.25 for a latte sounds perfectly reasonable.

Yesterday Amazon delivered Kris Carr's "Crazy Sexy Diet" and I love her point about spending on health instead of sickness.  She believes that spending on organic, whole foods is an investment worth making, and I agree.

You'll still catch me at "Fourbucks" getting the latte, so gotta work on that.

The point: dollars are finite.   So the more we can stretch them, the better.

Fitness magazine recently shared three tips for spending less at the grocery store:

3 Easy Ways to Shrink Your Grocery Bill


Cut back on coupons.
"I've seen it over and over in my research: People buy things they wouldn't normally choose, because they have a coupon," says consumer psychologist Kit Yarrow, PhD, coauthor of Gen BuY. "Cheap prices allow you to rationalize less-healthy purchases." Ask yourself if you would want it without the coupon. No? Skip it.
Shop after you eat."When you're famished, you naturally crave the most calorie-rich foods," Yarrow says. The next thing you know, you're piling your cart with corn chips and doughnuts.
Leave the kids home.
As soon as you walk into the store, they start up: "I want candy/cupcakes/ice cream. Please, please, please!" Cue the tears. You end up buying more than you planned to. Have your husband watch them while you shop. Or trade babysitting time with another mom.
via Fitness Magazine online

Tuesday, July 19, 2011

Photog envy: cinemagraphs and hipstamatic

Don't you LOVE the cinemagraphs that the talented photo-bloggers are doing?  My favorites are from Jamie Beck and her "From Me To You" tumblr
Jamie is darling but SO TALENTED.  You have to check out her tumblr. She can make a plain ole beer look better than champagne.

Here's a tutorial I found on making a cinemagraph.  If you are a decent photographer and know your way around Photoshop CS5 it won't be hard.

I shouldn't have a need for instagr.am, given that I have albums from the 70's and 80's that are full of original photos with rounded borders, Polaroid-esque white frames and "Filters" (which used to be just plain old bad lighting).  But seeing the fun photos on blogs makes me want to trade in my Blackberry for an iPhone just to have this cool app (please Blackberry?).
And despite my splurge on a Diana camera (only dipped my toe into lomography, want so bad to learn more!) I really want the hipstamatic app.
C'mon Blackberry, you're gonna lose this seven year customer for a couple cool camera apps. 
image credit: From Me To You