iLove my iPhone

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Print Your Instagram Photos w/ Printstagram.

12/16/2011 in Random Musings, Technology, Tricks of the Trade, Vacation, Vendors, What we're Doing by Lindsay | 1 comment

So, there I was.  In a dilemma.

(lindsay. obviously.)

I’d just returned from this super-incredible vacation and I had all of these fantastic-amazing photos of it that I took on my trusty iPhone 2.  Naturally, I’d run almost all of them through the Instagram App that I love so dearly because every photo looks better with a vintage filter.  Am I right?  AM I RIGHT?  I’m right. 

instagram? we're pals.

Anyway, I thought I might order some prints of my doctored-up photographic achievements.  I logged onto Snapfish, uploaded my photos, and BAMMM – they look terrible.  I could order them if I wanted, but Instagram had resized them to the cute square shape I adore, and they would be blurry if I printed them out myself. DRATS!  I shook my fists in the air.

No way, I didn’t want to order 200+ blurry photos!  But, I liked my Instagram-ed photos better than my actual ones.  Dilemma…

I did some light googling along the lines of “how the heck am I going to get my Instagram prints now??” and I eventually found my answer: Printstagram.

Good news!  Lucky day!  By way of Printstagram, I had ENDLESS (okay, five) options of what I could do with my Instagram-ed photos.

I could order a large, high-quality poster made with my Instagram photos.  It’s 20″ x 40″ in size, and can accommodate anywhere between 50-400 photos.  Printstagram sizes them to fit the full poster size and arranges them in a clean grid.  All for only $25. 

STICKERS were another option.  Heck yes!  You get 252 stickers per order, so you’ll be able to use them liberally without breaking a sweat…or the bank.  A slick $10 will seal the deal.

The Tinybook.  Is there any cuter way to show off your pictures than THIS?  The photo quality is great, and tinybooks even magnet to your fridge.  Order 3 tinybooks with 24 photos in each for $10.

Tinybook too small?  No problemo.  Prinstagram offers the Minibook, as well.  The photos are printed back to back on card stock with a glossy photo-finish.  Photos are printed at just about the same size as they appear on your iPhone.  Order 2 minibooks with 50 photos in each for $12.

Or, you can opt for what I purchased: Miniprints.  Instagram miniprints are printed on card stock with a matte finish and just the right amount of weight to them.  It’s a simple and classy way to showcase your artistry.  Give them away to your friends, stick them in a scrapbook or on your walls, or carry a few in your wallet.  Order a set of 48 prints for $12.

my miniprints

Mine just arrived today!  So excited.  (Take note, future Printstagrammers: They ship from Taiwan, so expect for them to take their sweet time getting to you.) 

Check out Printstagram HERE.
Watch Printstagram’s product video HERE.
See what else Printstagram is doing with the Instagram platform HERE.

I’m a Printstagram FAN.  :)

xx, L

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Welcome to We&Co.

09/21/2011 in Technology, What we're Doing, Where we're Eating by Lindsay | No comments

As we were paying the bill at Holeman & Finch the other night, our server dropped off a bright orange business card that read, “Like my service?  Thank me on We&Co.”  She noticed the confused looks on our faces and explained that it was an iPhone app that we could use to rate her service + our experience with her at Holeman.  It sounded interesting to me, and I happen to like bright orange, so I checked it out…

We&Co is a free iPhone app (Atlanta-based, too!) that allows local businesses to register their employees.  Visitors can rate those employees (with an emphasis on positive criticism) and add them to your “favorite people” collection – kind of like Yelp.  

Presumably, the aggregate score will encourage others to frequent the employee’s place of business, thereby gaining them popularity and ultimately, more tips.  It also puts a name to the faces you see every day at your local eateries, drinkeries, and provisionaries.

You sign in with Twitter, Facebook, or a distinct We&Co account.  The app picks up current locations and employees, and allows you to add locations and employees to various locations.  You then select the employee in question and give them a virtual pat on the back, high five, fist pump, you get it…  The system allows you to follow your favorite employees (bartenders, for example, or hair dressers) from location to location, and employers can choose to reward you for your ratings.  (P.S. Many thanks to Tech Crunch for all the good info!)

As the bright orange business card says, “So give it a go.  See if it brightens your day.  See if it brightens someone else’s day.  We’re betting it will.”

That’s the Q+DD spirit!  We just love.

xx, L

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The Replacement.

05/04/2011 in Buckhead, Out of Town, PSAs, Technology, Vacation, Where we're Shopping by Lindsay | 1 comment

Hi!  Hello.  :)

I’m back from California + I’m happy to report that my week was pretty blissful.

(view from my room at the resort in sunny palm springs)

It wasn’t too shabby to wake up to THAT every morning, I have to admit… 

Constant sunshine + dry heat weren’t too hard to deal with either.  I’m going to brag: my hair looked amazing.

i mean, really, it was awesome.

Anyway, prior to my departure I had a bit of an issue to handle.  Merely days after professing my love for my iPhone to the world, it was taken from me.  Stolen!  Just like that. 

i'm pretty sure that he's the culprit...

Gone. 

I filed a police report + am now in like Flynn w/ the hard working folks at Midtown Blue.  (And, God bless ‘em!)  I worked with my insurance company – PSA: if your iPhone is not currently insured, insure it today! – to recoup $$$ to purchase a replacement phone.  While in CA, my check arrived in the mail + yesterday during lunch I ran to the Apple store in Lenox Mall to grab a new one. 

I got the pearly white iPhone 4.  Please behold its beauty:

la la la la LAAAA!

(Which you are likely to only see here b/c I have since covered it with a supa-flashy neon orange + pink Kate Spade cover.)  What did you expect?  Really. 

kate spade...spade.

It’s new – they just got it in last week.  It’s bright, loud + slightly obnoxious.  So, it’s perfect.  (And, they discontinued my old, relatively-understated case…)  A colleague referred to it as a “sherbet lego.”  I loved that.

I am hoping to have better luck with this iPhone.  I plan to treat it with the deepest respect + not leave it sitting out on a table at The Warren so that it could easily get swiped again.  iPhone, I’ve changed.  You’ll see.

xx, L

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Ode to My iPhone + Two Apps of Note

04/21/2011 in Health, PSAs, Random Musings, Technology by Lindsay | 4 comments

In case you’ve been wondering, I’ve been loving my iPhone 4.  It’s a love affair, really…

And now, I’m loving more than just the adorable (albeit not-REALLY-functional) Kate Spade case! 

I take pictures like crazy + edit them all fancy-like thanks to Hipstamatic + Instagram photography apps.  I have about 15 Words w/ Friends games going on at any given time (frequent exchange at Slick + my condo.  Slick to Lindsay, “What are you doing?”  Lindsay to Slick, “Playing words w/ my friendsssssss!”)…and I’m getting pretty good at Fruit Ninja.  My entire social network is at the tip of my fingers (fingertips?) whenever I feel inclined to check Facebook, tweet or check in on Foursquare.  I am always in the loop on Gilt Groupe sales + I’m never without my trusty Scoutmob app.

In the past, I’ve blogged about TracknBurn + how great of an app I think it is (still do), but now I’d like to bring two more to your attention:

1 – MealSnap

Jo Duff alerted me to this one.  (Thanks, Jo Duff.)  It’s an iPhone app that counts your calories when you take a picture of what you’re eating.  Within minutes of taking a picture of a meal + matching it to a database of 500,000 food items, MealSnap sends an alert with a range of calories for the photographed meal.  (I haven’t downloaded it b/c I enjoy being in denial…but I think it’s super interesting + could be very eye opening.) 

Read more about it here: MEALSNAP INFO
Buy MealSnap for $2.99: SNAP MY FOOD

2. Taxi Magic

(This is Slick’s new favorite app.)  Taxi Magic is the first nationwide free online taxi booking service that is directly integrated with taxi dispatch systems.  You can book from your mobile phone or the Web with a few quick taps, track the arrival of your taxi, charge the ride to your credit card + expense the trip with an e-receipt.  In Atlanta, it’s intergrated with Checker Cab.

Download Taxi Magic here: TAXI, TAXI!

On demand cabs?  I’m down!  :)

iPhone, oh iPhone…I love you.  Really, I do.

xx, L

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I Don’t Know What Got Into Me…

10/04/2010 in Technology, What we're Cooking by Lauren | 2 comments

For me, Sundays usually involve The BMG: Brunch.  Mani/Pedi.  Grocery.

(My version of the GTL, I guess.)

But yesterday it was BMG… S? You guys: I made Scones.

WHAT?!?!?!

Yep. Post-Lily’s, I was cruising Kroger and decided to take the Allrecipes.com Dinner Spinner iPhone app for a ride.  I clicked “Breakfast” “Grain” and “Under 45 Minutes” (I was feeling ambitious) and it spit out this delicious-looking recipe for Scottish Oat Scones. Witness:

Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups rolled oats
1/4 cup white sugar
4 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup dried currants
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup butter, melted
1/3 cup milk

Directions
1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.  Lightly grease a baking sheet.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, oats, sugar, baking powder, salt, and currants. Make a well in the center. In a small bowl, beat egg until frothy, and stir in melted butter and milk. Pour into the well, and mix to create a soft dough. Pat dough into two 1/2 inch thick circles. Place on the prepared baking sheet. Score 8 wedges into each circle of dough.
3. Bake 15 minutes in the preheated oven, until risen and browned. Split wedges, and serve warm.

They were WAY easy. I actually doubled the recipe and took one batch to work with me and sent a batch home with G.  (So I was able to substitute ½ of the white flour for wheat flour without any hard math…)

Oh, and because I got this nifty little recipe on allrecipes.com?  I even have the stats:
Per Serving:  Calories: 164 | Total Fat: 7g | Cholesterol: 29mg

Yet another instance where my life is greatly improved by my beloved iPhone. (I swear I don’t work for Steve Jobs.)

iLove my iPhone

Plus, a scone is a totally fancy breakfast.  And you KNOW how I adore the Fancy…

(I even broke out my fancy plates!)

xx, L

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Cooking with L+L: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins

08/17/2010 in What we're Cooking by Lauren | 4 comments

I don’t know what got into me on Sunday night, but I actually cooked dinner – my mom’s famous pounded parmesan chicken complete with salad + homemade lemon vinaigrette. (To my great surprise it came out fantastic – but I’m convinced it was a fluke.)

While in the grocery store, teeming with culinary ambition, I also decided to take on making muffins from scratch for G and his roomies to have on hand for breakfast this week.  (Who AM I?)  Since, obviously, I had no idea how to start this endeavor, I used my new “All-Recipes Dinner Spinner” iPhone app

and selected BREAKFAST – GRAIN – UNDER 45 Minutes*
(*Sidebar:  there is no “under 5 minutes” option or believe me, I would have selected it.)

It did it’s magic and spit out the following recipe: Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Muffins - they were delish and SUPER easy!
Here’s what you need:

1 ¼ c quick cooking oats
1 ¼ c milk
1 egg
½ c vegetable oil
¾ c packed brown sugar
¾ c semisweet chocolate chips
1 c chopped pecans
1 ¼ c all-purpose flour (I used ½ wheat flour and ½ white)
4 teaspoons baking powder
1 tsp salt
1tsp vanilla extract

Here’s what you do:

1.    Combine oats and milk and allow to stand 15 minutes
2.    Preheat oven to 400 degrees F and either grease your muffin tin or line ‘em.
3.    Stir egg, oil, ½ c of the brown sugar, chocolate chips, and ½ c of the pecans into the oat and milk mixture (keep up, kids – that means you’re reserving ¼ c of brown sugar and ½ c of the pecans)
4.   Try not to eat the rest of the chocolate chips.
 5.    Combine flour, baking powder, and salt. Add oat mixture to the flour mixture and stir till everything is m-o-i-s-t (hate that word.)
6.    Fill your muffin cups 2/3 full and sprinkle the remaining brown sugar and pecans on top
7.    Bake at 400 degrees F for 20-25 min
8.    Let cool and enjoy!

I’m totally the blonde Giada.

Eat your heart out, lady

xx, L

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It’s official…I am in LOVE.

05/23/2010 in Organizing, PSAs, Technology by Lauren | 4 comments

It’s true!  I am in LOVE with my iPhone. I know for sure because I have those tell-tale “in love” feelings: I’m so happy when I’m holding it, the first day I brought it home I spent about 3 hours bonding with it, I think about it when it’s not directly in front of me, and I genuinely feel that it wants to make me happy. I just want to shout it from the rooftops…

I LOVE MY MOBILE DEVICE!

Boop.

The best part is? I find more to love about my iPhone every day. (I think this love is going to last!)

It’s true…change is hard, and my ‘berry had been good to me.  Mostly, I was VERY nervous to say goodbye to BBIM. I’ll be honest, I DO miss BBIM…but while it will always hold a special place in my heart, when I think about all I have gained from the iPhone, I’m happy to reserve BBIM as a fond memory.

I have had this phone for a mere 8 days and there are about 5 zillion things that I LOVE about it.  If I were going to tell you about ALL of them, well, I just couldn’t…there are too many. So I’m going to hit the high points.

1.    It organizes your voicemails. All of your voicemails are listed in the order in which they were received, showing the time and length of each vm, and you can listen in whichever order you choose.   BRILLIANT!

Also, once you delete them, they stay in a deleted folder for a while in case you were too quick on the draw and deleted one you need.

2.   It keeps your text conversations running. If you need to reference a text conversation with anyone from anytime, they will forever be recorded in your text history with that person.  Unlike the BlackBerry where you have a million little strings to reference.

3.   It’s pretty.
4.    It’s an iPod! I loaded a TON of music onto it and I can play it anywhere I can play my iPod and it has some pretty decent speakers for impromptu dance parties!

5.    THE APPS! Ok here are SOME of my favorites SO FAR (by the way, these are all FREE apps):

Scoutmob – Ok so I HEART the ScoutMob app. Not only does it eliminate the need to acquire the deals daily in CASE you may want to use them, but they are all RIGHT THERE, organized in your phone either by, as they put it, “newest, most popular, nearby, and hurry-you-fool-it’s-about-to-expire.” All you do is show your phone and BOOM – discount. I just can’t tell if the deals are my favorite part or the “curiosities” tab telling me random facts about my favorite city in the world (Atlanta, duh.)  or the camera with the built-in mustache. (four ‘staches to choose from!  I chose “The Van Skeevy” for G):Four Square – It’s just so much easier to check in with the iPhone app than it was with the BlackBerry one.  And it’s cuter.  It does NOT, however, help me to remember to check in.

AroundMe – Wherever you are, find the nearest bank, bar, gas station, hospital, hotel, movie theatre, restaurant, supermarket, theatre and taxi with this app.  Phenom.

TweetDeck – I use TweetDeck on my desktop for the distribution of all my up-to-the-minute, so fast-breaking-you-need-to-know-right-now updates (such as “So excited about patio cocktails” -@LaurenKAtlanta 05/04/10 at 4:43pm)  and to keep track of all of yours.  Now I have it on my iPhone! Sweet!

Shazam – If you’re ever in a store or a car or wherever and you hear a song you absolutely love and MUST HEAR AGAIN, yet have no idea who it is…you just click Shazam and it tells you who’s a-playin’ and you can purchase it right then and there for iTunes and have it in your hot little hand in seconds.

White Noise – Totally turns your phone into a sound machine!  The settings are: Beach Waves Crashing, Crickets Chirping, Thunder Storm, Oscillating Fan, Extreme Rain Pouring, Grandfather Clock (creepy.  Hello, Edgar Allen Poe?), Chimes Chiming, Train Ride, Airplane Travel, and White Noise.  It even has a timer that will fade the sounds out as you drift into slumber!

Other apps to try (more to come, I’m sure!): Google Mobile, Lose It!, SpendingLite, Pandora, UrbanSpoon, CheapGas, ShopSavvy, iThesaurus, New York Times

There was even a Camp Dance iPhone app! (too bad I was tardy to the iPhone party…)

Oh, and don’t forget the previously blogged about Carb Tracker App!

(and, as always, PLEASE leave comments with your app/general iPhone suggestions!)

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I need to go spend some more time with my phone. iLove my iPhone.

xx, iL

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