Apps

As I mourned having worn out another iPhone cover today, I reflected on how I’ve owned 5 iPhone’s in my life. Besides an agonizing 6 month stint as an Android user, my whole adult life I’ve relied on Apple for my most trusted electronic. That being said, I don’t get the people who have 300 Apps on their phone–most of which are completely hokey and you never use. Besides the normal apps (I’m assuming everyone now has Angry Birds and Facebook, etc.), Here’s my favorites:

1. Foodspotting: It shows you pictures that people have taken of good food in your area. Craving fajitas? Put it in the search and actually see how this dish looks at a variety of restaurants near you. This is actually pretty genius from an App builders standpoint. You create it, your user generates the  information. BOOM.

2. RedLaser: The scenario being that I’m standing in Target wondering if spending $16 for Finding Nemo on DVD is worth it. I use this to scan the bar code and it tells me, no, it’s not. Go to Best Buy down the street and get it for $14. Now I just need an App that Tasers me whenever I walk into Target.

3. PS Express: I spend so much time on Photoshop at work, why not bring it everywhere with me in miniature form. This is some handy work I can do to my blurry, little phone pictures:

4. Postagram: Now, say I sent these edited pictures to my friend to remember her birthday. She decides she wants to send me a postcard thanking me for coming to her party, but she doesn’t have a stamp! For only $99 she can easily make a postcard with one of these photos and send it from her phone. It will arrive to me in the mail in 7 days. Cool:

5. Happy Hours: Where are you going to Happy Hour after work? With a tool that can tell me all the drink specials around you today (doesn’t work very well in Vero Beach, FL), I can recommend you go to Barrio Tequila Bar for $5 margaritas. Also, Wild Onion has $1 off drinks, but you’ll have to contend with drunk St Thomas folk. There’s no app for that, friend.

6. Pinterest: This doesn’t make me as happy as its desktop counterpart, but it does give me mini eye-gasim when I’m waiting in line at Target to by my Disney movies.

7. WebMD: This is probably just because I can go into hypochondriac mode real quick. Oh, it’s just the flu you say, well it COULD also be…

8. SitOrSquat: Charmin has my favorite bathroom at the Minnesota State Fair, and now their making it easier for me to find a clean bathroom when I need to go. Great for car trips around sketchy parts of Florida

9. UrbanSpoon: This is when I need to find exactly what I’m craving. You can lock in how much you want to pay, what type of cuisine, and/or where you want to go eat. Usually I’ll just leave all my options open, then after an hour of searching I’ll just eat a bag of popcorn and some pickles out of the jar. It also let’s me search for restaurants near me that are gluten friendly, which is nice.

10. Mint: I’ve talked about how much I love Mint the desktop site before, but it’s important to note how wonderful it is to have it with me at all times. I definitely don’t check the desktop site before I go run errands. Then I’m in Target wondering if I’m over budget on my swim suit purchases (I keep a normal budget of 1 swimsuit a month).

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Stuff White Girls Like

My friend Stephen got me back looking at my favorite blog, OKTrends. Today I was really interested in knowing how “normal I was”. What do white girls like? Boating? Check! Diet Coke? Check! I’m blond? Check! Desire to do domestic things in the country despite most of  OkCupid users living in cities? Uhm…

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Picture Thursday

A picture is worth a thousand words. Don’t get me wrong, I love the ocean, but lately I can’t stop daydreaming about the city.

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Decision Generator

New Years resolutions aren’t really my thing. Most people say things like “work out more” and “quit smoking”. I need definite plans of action! That’s why I’m more interested in flow charts. Here’s my New Years Flow Chart, AKA Erika’s Fancy Decision Generator!

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Spicy Quinoa Cheese Dip

When I cook from a recipe, I rarely fail, but when I just wing it? USUALLY disgusting. Yesterday I was standing in my kitchen though, over-budget on my groceries, wondering what I could do with Velveeta cheese, 1 chicken breast, plus a ridiculous over stock of carrots and quinoa? What I did with it is possibly the best dip ever:

What I used:

  • 1 chicken breast
  • 1/2 cup quinoa (cook according to package)
  • 2 carrot sticks
  • some red onion
  • 3/4 cup Frank’s hot sauce
  • 1.5 cups Velveeta

I started out by boiling my chicken breast in one pan and the quinoa in another

In a bowl I shredded carrot sticks and red onion. Then I mixed with Frank’s hot sauce (if they ever discontinue making this stuff it may be the end of me), and Velveeta. I microwaved the mixture until the cheese was mixable with the other ingredients.

When the chicken was done boiling I shredded it, then I added it and the cooked quinoa to the Velveeta mixture.

Then I ate with corn chips, and enjoyed. Obviously though, I didn’t eat the whole thing. The Velveeta alone is about 1,000 calories.

Is there any recipe you made up that turned out good? Any that turned out really bad?

 

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Picture Thursday

A picture is worth a thousand words. Lately I’ve been drawn to the melancholy mix of mint and pink. It’s girlish, yet vintage, and perfect for my mood.

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OKCupid

I’m pretty much obsessed with the blog OKTrends which was created by the Harvard kids behind SparkNotes and OKCupid. Basically when you’re on OKCupid filling out questions to find your perfect match, these guys are taking that data and studying it. They put information on their blog like what to ask on a first date in order to see if you have long-term potential, and come up with cool graphs like this:

That a way Minnesota! I like that the other state I call home is very “Yes” inclined.

I also got this personalized info from them after reviewing the questions I answered:

What? I wouldn’t get along with the guys in Indonesia and Saudi Arabia!?

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Marketing, PR, Advertising and Branding

I came across this thing on Marketing at adsoftheworld.com and thought it was pretty cool. I love when things get broken down to the main idea.

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Rue Magazine

Rue Magazine‘s January issue just came out, which I’m really excited about. I especially love the piece they did on Danielle Moss‘s place. Now that sprint is just around the corner, I’m going to be getting some winter worn friends down from Minnesota to escape the cold, and get some beach time. Good time to get decorating.

I just love Rue’s belief’s on their About Me page:

We Believe:

  • That every color can be your favorite color.
  • That great taste comes in many forms: the fringe of a carpet, the pull of a drawer, the lines of a sofa, the curve of a smile.
  • That a good can of paint atones for a multitude of sins.
  • That friendship can be forged across continents by only a kind word and a shared lust for leopard print pillows.
  • That a glass of pink champagne really does a party make.
  • That everyone has the talent and drive to design their most beautiful life–we all just need a little nudge in the right direction.
  • That inspiration is everywhere.

Isn’t this print awesome?

Check out the new issue of Rue Magazine now!

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Beauty and the Beast

Marketing question: how do you get people to buy something that they’ve already purchased? Put it in 3D!

Yesterday I went to the theaters to go see Beauty and the Beast in 3D, but after the novelty of seeing an old Disney classic on the big screen wore off, I was a little disappointed.  If I’m going to spend an extra $3 for 3D glasses, I want to see some serious Avatar shit. The only time the 3D was very impressive was during Be Our Guest with all the flying plates and geometric shapes dancing. Mostly, it just looked like they added some extra 3D shrubbery around the frame. Titanic better not disappoint.

Actually, the highlight of seeing the movie as an adult (Beauty and the Beast came out when I was 4) was being ultra aware of the lyrics to that Gaston song. Here are the highlights of the song for your enjoyment:

Gaston: Dismissed! Rejected! Publicly Humiliated! Why, it’s more than I can bear.
LeFou: More beer?
Gaston: What for? Nothing helps.

LeFou: Every guy here’d love to be you, Gaston Even when taking your lumps. [what are lumps?]

LeFou: No one’s neck’s as incredibly thick as Gaston. For there’s no man in town half as manly.

Chorus: No one’s been like Gaston. A king pin like Gaston.
LeFou: No one’s got a swell cleft in his chin like Gaston

LeFou: Not a bit of him’s scraggly or scrawny
Gaston: And every last inch of me’s covered with hair

Chorus: No one shoots like Gaston. Makes those beauts like Gaston [how do you make a beaut?]
LeFou: Then goes tromping around wearing boots like Gaston
Gaston: I use antlers in all of my decorating

Then of course the best one of all:

Chorus: No one plots like Gaston
Gaston: Takes cheap shots like Gaston
LeFou: Plans to persecute harmless crackpots like Gaston
Chorus: So his marriage we soon’ll be celebrating

There you have it. The rules of being manly, PLUS some wisdom about crackpots. Leave them alone, Disney says they’re harmless.

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