Pinterest Obsession....

I’ve discovered two new things lately.

1. A new (reaffirmed) love for writing with Ultra Fine Tip Sharpies.

2. Pinterest (thanks to Brooke for the invite).

image

How does it work?
You get a little button on your favorites bar (much like the CraigsEasy button, if you did that) and then you can *pin* images and place them onto different boards in your collection. Its super easy.

Why is pinterest so great?
It just is.

• I don’t have to save images on my computer anymore, freeing up precious hard drive space – (and you don’t have to worry about a crash).
• I can save images anywhere (home or work) and they all go to the same place.
• It keeps the source of the image. So if I’m posting an image of a DIY project into my ‘Thing to Make’ board, I can always click on the image when I actually get around to wanting to make said item and get the directions. No more bookmarking tutorials. I would also think this would make a great cookbook…..I may need to start a food board.
• You can share with other people and other people can see your collections. I signed up using my twitter account so I’m automatically following the people I follow on twitter who also have a Pinterest account (and you don’t have to ask them to follow you, or request to be their friend or anything :)). You can also follow other people whose collections, or single boards, strike your fancy.

Basically it’s a visual reminder of a million things I like, in one place, that is easy to access and contribute to. It’s a virtual sketchbook and I’m obsessed.

I have 5 invites to give away – who wants one?

CraigsEasy....

The people behind CraigEasy contacted me a few weeks ago after seeing my post on 6 tips to Mastering Craigslist and I regret to say I didn't have a chance to test it out until now.  I had a bit of time this weekend and finally got around to testing it out, and was so excited I finally did!  Basically their 'Easy' button translates all the endless Craiglist listings into only titles with images.

 It makes scrolling through the endless listings SO much faster.  There is no program to install either, simply go to their site CraigsEasy.com and drag the orange 'Easy' button to your tool-bar area.  (They have two quick videos you can watch if you aren't sure what I'm talking about.)  Visit craigslist as you normally would and search for whatever you like, then hit the easy button on your toolbar and it will translate the site into image like the photo above!  If you click on a listing it will bring you to the standard craigslist listing.
So easy!
We may be having Thanksgiving at our house this year, so I'm on the prowl for a decent table and chairs to accomodate our guests!

What do you think?  Will you CraigsEasy?

*I was contacted by the people behind CraigsEasy alerting me to their site, I have not received anything for this review.

6 Tips to Mastering CraigsList....

After my recent craigslist finds this pretty lady asked me to share some of my Craigslist searching tips. At first I really didn’t think I had any, but after giving it a little thought I came up with a few lessons learned for searching techniques.


Some of her questions were:

Q. Do you go on every day?
A. Sometimes, sometimes not. Most likely I’ll go on when I have a few down moments at work and my google reader is empty.


Q. Do you search multiple times a day?
A. Sometimes, sometimes not – it really depends how my day is going. I usually run a few searches just after lunch. I figure people have posted items during their lunch break and often times you MUST be the first one to email/call since the good things go FAST.


Q. Do you search for something in particular?
A. Yes and no. If you search for something really particular you may limit your results. Often people don’t know what they have, or don’t know the correct name for it and will call it something else or just describe it. (see Tip #5 below)

So here we go, 6 Tips to Mastering CraigsList


Tip #1 : Always check the ‘HAS IMAGE’ box.
I think this is pretty self-explanatory.  I don’t have time to chase around looking at things, especially since I would never buy 90% of the things on Craigslist. If there is no image it’s a deal killer right off the bat.

Tip #2 : Know that everyone is not as smart as you.
For example – if you are looking for a scretAry desk, you should probably search for secretEry desk as well. Crate and BarELL is another popular one.

Tip #3 : Take into account local vernacular.
People around here (Boston) refer to DRAWERS as DRAW. (We are not talking about a small percentage of the population either – seriously do a Boston search for ‘DRAW’ just for fun). You will see FIVE DRAW, THREE DRAW, CENTER DRAW and the list goes on. (How they think ‘draw’ is even plural I have no idea.)

Tip #4 : Run 2 or 3 searches for the same thing.
I would love to own a letterpress. I’ll often search under “LETTERPRESS” then “LETTER PRESS” and finally “LETTER+PRESS” and usually I’ll throw in a “PRINTING+PRESS” just for fun.

Tip #5 : Understand that not everyone knows what they have.
If I were looking for a mid-century chair I could search under

Mid Century, Mid-Century, MCM, Mid Century Modern and get results. But these people know what they have, and usually they want a lot of $$ for it. 

But if you look for Plastic Chair you can find something like this :

I had to zoom out to capture the first image, but if you can read the top of the it says $135 (thats a $105 difference!).

Tip #6 : Do a ‘LIKE’ search.
Again, people don’t always know what they have – but they may know it looks LIKE something from a Pottery Barn catalog, etc. Chances are these items will be much less than their name-brand counterparts but still have the same look.

Anyways, those are my helpful hints.
Do you have any of your own to share?

I've Mastered Week 1 of the C25K....

I’ve totally mastered week 1 of the C25K. I’m pretty sure I’ve done it like 8 times now. I somehow rarely get around to week 2, and almost never venture into the practically unchartered territory of week 3. But week 1, I’ve got that down. Maybe I’ll start up again soon, since I’m sitting here thinking about how I want to unbutton my pants* to regain circulation to the lower half of my body.
The problem that I have is that my power of rationalization greatly exceeds my desire to be skinny. In the name of full disclosure I should mention that I am writing this while eating a red velvet cupcake….for breakfast…at 8 in the morning. I figure the frosting is cream cheese anyways (it’s basically like a bagel, except probably with less carbs) and there are nuts on top – which are full of protein.  I mean, my body should be thanking me for the additional vitamins it got from eatting the cupcake and not just a bagel.
I’m way too good at tricking myself.


*I’m at the office, so I won’t.

Tricks and Tips...

I love when the New Year rolls around and we get lists.  Lists of everything, best, worst, funniest, you name it....and I love lists and nothing brings them on like the end of a decade.

This list happened to be 50 New Uses for Old Things - there were a lot of 'eh' things, like putting sunglasses in mittens so they don't get scratched, but I'm bringing you my highlights.

1.

Attach a key and money (if needed) to a binder clip which you can secure to your shorts/pants while walking and/or running.  I hate having to carry my keys with me!

2.

When repainting, cover doorknobs in tinfoil to avoid any accidental messes.

3.

Spray down your shovels with cooking spray (it said use a healthy dose) and supposedly snow and slush will slide right off instead of sticking to your shovel.  I'm definately going to try this in the next storm.

4.

When packing, place shoes in old shower caps to avoid getting the rest of your clothes dirty.  I don't have 'old' shower caps but I think they can be had for mere pennies.

All images from original list here.

Do you have any good tricks/tips to share?