I feel it my civic duty to alert you of J. Crew’s swim sale going on this weekend. 30% off all swim styles, yo. And! Free shipping and free returns, so go ahead and order 39 bathing suits, find the one you love, and ship the rest back.
You know retail therapy is the best therapy of all, right? (At least that’s what I’m telling myself today. Go with it.)
Here are some of my faves.
Go forth and prepare for summer. June is here!
Okay, so I’m in my second week of dealing with generalized anxiety and panic attacks related to some health stuff. (Not to worry- nothing terribly serious. And I’m doing enough worrying for the collective group, trust me.) Stinking great times over here, let me tell you.
This sounds a little bizarre, but the best I’ve felt in the past week or so is when I’m driving and “Get Lucky” by Daft Punk plays on the radio. It’s the little things, people.
Imagine my delight when I saw this video on Facebook. Kind of made my morning.
Anyone up for a Soul Train dance line?
As many of you know, Google Reader is finito as of July 1, 2013. Sadness! You all know how much I adored the next button, right?
When presented with a conundrum like this, you can choose two different routes. Remain in complete denial until POOF, your RSS feeder has completely disappeared, taking with it all of those precious saved posts and general bloggy bits of goodness OR you can prepare yourself before you wreck yo self. I’m sure it’s no surprise that I, Sarah, Queen of the List-Making and Type A-ness, chose the latter.
So! I asked around and the two RSS readers I heard about the most were Feedly and Bloglovin. I ultimately chose to use Feedly as my RSS reader because I really love the simple, clean interface, and frankly, the term “bloglovin” bugs me. Priorities, people.
Now that I feel relatively confident with how Feedly works, I’m here to get you all set straight, if need be.
First, let me start off by saying that my first visit to Feedly wasn’t so great. After importing my feeds from Google Reader (to import your google reader feeds over to feedly, simply login to feedly using your google account), I do believe it looked a bit like this.
Happy Day-After-Mother’s Day! Did you have a good one? Mine was just swell.
I feel like today is the perfect day for a giveaway of one of my favorite mama/kiddo brands, Tea Collection. I’ve written about them before, and the love is still strong, folks.
Tea’s motto is “globally-inspired children’s clothes for little citizens of the world,” and it’s totally evident in their clothing. Every season usually revolves around visits to a certain country, and although some of their items are a bit too pattern-y (is that a word?) for me personally, they always have a good grouping of simple, colorful pieces that are perfect for my family.
Now, my son is pretty open to letting me choose his clothing. I mean, he couldn’t care less…just give him a tee and shorts and he’s good.
Take a look.
These pieces are what I’m drawn to time and time again. Great colors, simple patterns (such as stripes) and shoe brands that are tried and true. Wito is wearing the Coastal Stripe Tee, the Patch Pocket Shorts, and the Old Skool Vans. We also are huge fans of the Colorblock Explorer Tees.
Wita, on the other hand, is a little more opinionated (read: a complete pain in the rump) when it comes to her daily outfits. It’s very important the SHE picks everything out, and that’s when Tea comes in very handy. You see, most of their items can be mix-and-matched, so when presented with, let’s say, six tops and six bottoms, any choice she makes will end up looking cute and not at all like a hobo. See where I’m going here? Cute? Yes. Hobo? No.
Now, my other plan of attack involves rompers. It’s much harder to fall into the hobo trap when you’re dealing with a one-piece that involves shorts. See, Wita! It’s not just a dress needing an extra pair of leggings or tights! It has built-in pants! Shut the closet door! WE’RE DONE HERE.
Also, rompers. I mean, how cute is a romper? I want to wear a romper. I realize this is probably not the best idea.
Wita is wearing the Umuzi Print Romper, and my all-time favorite shoes that I’ve written about again and again, Saltwater Sandals. (Yes! Tea carries Saltwaters. Bravo!)
And how’s that dress for the cutest stripe color combo evah? (Moccasins by Freshly Picked.)
(p.s. – Tea carries women’s clothing too. I’m particularly fond of this colorblock shift dress and this striped maxi dress.)
So! My lovely and amazing friends at Tea are offering a $150 gift card to one lucky reader, and I’m giving you ample ways to enter. The giveaway ends on Monday, May 20th at 12:00am PST, and I’ll email the winner the following day. Good luck, you all!
Tea Collection provided me a gift card which I used to purchase the clothes featured in the photos. Thanks so much to Tea for the fabulous duds!
1. Think about it: Would you worship Don Draper if he resembled, say, Buddy Hackett? No. You would accost him and say, “Listen buddy [or Buddy], you are simply not handsome enough to be this dreary.” – Simon Doonan. Oh, how I love Simon Doonan, and this article.
2. Yoga. YOGA. First off, you all, the comments on the yoga post were ridiculously awesome. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave such thoughtful, encouraging comments.
So! I went to my first class on Wednesday. It was a beginner-level “yoga blend” class – pretty slow-paced, holding poses, etc. I was surprised how much I enjoyed it, even though I was craning my neck the entire time to see if I was doing the poses correctly. (Paraghasana, whut?) Like I expected, it wasn’t an intense, heart-pounding session, but I’ll say this much…I was quite sore the next morning. Quite sore, indeed, and mama likes herself some sore muscles. Heading back to class #2 today! Will report back soon.
3. My love for Lisa Eldridge will never cease. Have you seen the Pinterest board filled with ladies rocking her makeup looks? Good stuff.
4. My love for Tracy from Shutterbean will also never cease. She was just named one Time’s Top 50 websites of 2013. Um, NO BIGGIE.
5. I was just introduced to Lissa Rankin and her message about mind over medicine. Listen, I’m not one to sit through a 1-hour video on my laptop, but I was transfixed by this interview. Maybe it’s due to my past career in the medical industry for almost a decade (calling on OBGYNS just like her in Chicago) or maybe it’s because I’m trying to fully believe in mind over matter, but regardless, I know that I am going to devour her new book.
6. I would feel remiss if I didn’t mention this week’s punk theme at the Met Gala. What do you think about Anne Hathaway going platinum? (Loved the style, didn’t love the color on her.) Or Nicole Richie’s faux grey hair? (WTF.) I think this was my favorite look.
7. Oh! Would you do me the biggest favor in the world and let me know if you’ve had trouble accessing my site – specifically, if you’ve experienced a blank white screen this week? Even better…feel free to type whoorl.com into your browser and see if my site loads. If it doesn’t, by any chance are you using Chrome? I’m in the midst of a little redesign and I’ve been informed numerous times by readers that the site is all wonk-a-donk. Halp! And thank you!
The weekend is calling my name. Hope you all have a great one!
photo credit: death of a stylist
I just returned home from Mom 2.0 Summit where, once again, I was floored by the quality of bloggers, marketers, and hello, inspiration. (I also was floored by how late I stayed up on the last night, which forced Kristen and I to do the walk of shame the next morning. Crikey.)
I spoke Saturday morning with Helen Jane Hearn, Kristen Howerton, and Heather Spohr on a panel entitled, “A Creative Approach: Brilliant Ways to Break Free of the Typical Sponsored Post,” and thought I would share some of the information I specifically covered, which was primarily on creating visual images and graphics for your posts.
Although I still firmly believe the written word is paramount (you simply must tell your story, especially when working with brands), the fact remains that there is quite a shift happening with the way people acquire information on the internet. Instead of text-based information, people are searching for visual-based information.
What does this mean to you? Well, adding photos and graphics to your posts is, um, fairly important.
Before I delve into my favorite resources for creating great graphics for all posts, including sponsored ones, I want to share something I heard at LuckyFABB last month that really resonated with me.
Live and create deliberately. Stop “creating content,” and start telling stories.
I think a lot of us get caught up in creating posts that we think our readers will love or will be pinned a gazillion times or will receive tons of link love, and there’s nothing inherently wrong with that, as long as YOU truly feel passionate about that subject. BUT If you are creating a post solely based on what others might think of it (or do with it), you aren’t living and creating deliberately, and that’s where a disconnect starts to happen. Readers feel it. You feel it. No bueno, folks!
So, in regards to sponsored posts, you must learn to say no when it isn’t a perfect fit. You simply must love the companies you are collaborating with. (You should have seen me geek out when I met the Creative Director for Rivet + Sway this weekend.) You must tell stories, whether they be written or visual. Write about what you love, things that you love, and the universe will be happy happy happy. Peace be with you and you and you.
Let’s dive in, shall we?
TAKING PHOTOS
I am not a professional photographer, no sirree bob. However, I do believe a few of these simple tips will make or break your photos.
1. Fancy camera, schmanchy camera. You don’t need an expensive camera to create beautiful photos. (Have you perused Instagram lately?) The vast majority of photos I take are with my iPhone and post-processed with my favorite photo editing apps. For me, it’s more important to capture the feel of the moment than create the perfect depth of field. (Although, that’s nice too.) What are my favorite photo-editing apps for the iPhone, you ask? Almost there!
2. Keep it simple. Reduce background clutter. I think my biggest pet peeve is a photo with a cluttered background. You might take the cutest photo of your child ever, but if he/she is standing in your living room with a messy laundry basket and/or a pile of jumbled up power cords behind him/her, you’ve lost me to the clutter. Please be sure that when you take a photo, you take notice everything within the entire frame of your photo. Try shooting against a simple wall or go outside and let nature do its thing. In regards to sponsored posts, I can promise that while YOU might not notice a cluttered background, the company paying you to write the post definitely does.
3. Lighting – You could spend days/months/years learning how to perfect lighting, but I’ll just say this. Natural light rules, really really really try to never use a flash, and get outside and take advantage of the golden hour as much as possible.
No post-processing was needed for that photo – I just let the gorgeous sunlight do its thing. Repeat after me, gooolden hour.
EDITING PHOTOS AND CREATING GRAPHICS
I’m going to split this into three categories: Apps, Photoshop, and online editing.
First off, my favorite apps.
1. Camera Plus – You can use this app to edit, crop, add effects, but I really like the “scenes” on the app. I find myself using the “backlit” and “shade” scenes frequently, especially when I want to enhance the photo quickly, without spending too much time on it.
2. Diptic – Great app for creating collages of multiple photos. You can choose from tons of different templates, and the interface is very easy to use.
3. Over – You don’t need to use Photoshop or an online editing program to add text to photos anymore – just use the Over app right on your phone. Super easy, and I’m impressed with the choice of fonts. (Combine Diptic and Over and you’ve got an image perfect for pinning.)
4. Snapseed – This is probably my favorite editing app because you can tweak your photos very selectively. (Good for us OCD photo editors.) You can adjust white balance, saturation, contrast, and lots of other facets specifically, as well as my very favorite, straightening a photo. You know when you take a photo and the angle is off ever so slightly? Like the horizon line or a wall corner looks tilted? Yeah, you can fix that. Best thing ever. You can also add filters, use the automatic feature, and add frames. Good stuff.
5. Afterlight – This one was just introduced to me, but I’m already loving it. So many super filters and textures.
6. VSCO CAM – Once again, more filters to choose from, but these are very elegant and use minimal processing.
7. Instagram – Not a robust editing app, but some of the filters work in a pinch. We all love Instagram though, right?
8. Adobe Photoshop Express – Good for quick edits and retouches.
You definitely don’t need all of these apps, but they each bring a little something different to the table. I promise you’ll find your favorite from the list, though.
Photoshop
For those of you who use Photoshop, I can’t recommend Pugly Pixel enough. Katrina is a Photoshop and design dynamo, and she creates tons of gorgeous templates to use in your posts. Some are freebies, and some require a paid membership, which honestly, is ridiculously reasonable considering what you get. ($5 for 30 day access to downloads!)
Here are some examples of images I’ve created with Katrina’s templates and brushes. 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10.
Online Editing Platforms
If you don’t use Photoshop, Pic Monkey is a great website for editing photos and creating collages with graphics and text. Even though I’ve used Photoshop for the past 6-7 years, I find myself using Pic Monkey for a lot of my collages lately. Best part? It’s free. (Although you can upgrade to the Royale membership for extra perks, which I did.) Some examples of my Pic Monkey graphics are 1. 2. 3. 4. 5.
Phew! I think that about covers it for today. What are your favorite tips and tricks regarding post images? Also, please feel free to ask me about any apps or websites I’ve mentioned.