Word to the wise….Wordle is addictive!

13 June 2012

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I’m taking a “posting break”!  Every Wednesday for the next few weeks, I am posting past posts from my blog when I was at Blogspot!  This one is from 2009!  Enjoy!

Here is a site you will get absolutely addicted to……..WORDLE– it is so so so much fun! I played around with it for a while and thought “hey! What a cool invitation you could make with this!” All you do is enter a bunch of words and then the computer jumbles them up and makes very cool designs with the words! If you don’t like it, you just hit the button to get a new design!

If you want to make some words larger, just repeat them – “make a button button button earring” would result in a jumble of “make a button earring” with the word “button” being large.

And, if you want to keep the program from separating some words (like I did in the mock invitation) put a tilde between the words. “Eleanore~and~Tom” kept our names together!

P.S. Although there are some great color combinations from which to choose, you can also take a screen picture on your computer (you have to give credit to Wordle somewhere on your finished piece) and import it into something like Photoshop or PicMonkey and then play around with the colors.

Erik Estrada…..my boyfriend.

6 June 2012

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I’m taking a “posting break”!  Every Wednesday for the next few weeks, I am posting past posts from my blog when I was at Blogspot!  This one is from 2009!  Enjoy!

A few weeks ago, a friend of mine who works with a graphic design firm, asked me if I would like to be in a public service announcement with Erik Estrada.  I thought “hmmm, it fits all of my requirements of “that sounds like fun”……the requirements being:

1. I’ve never done that before.
2. That sounds fairly safe.
3. Why would I not want to do this? (personal phobias do not count if number two is valid – even though I used to have a GIGANTIC public speaking phobia)

Oh my gosh – I’m so glad I said yes! We had such fun!

We arrived at the shoot location downtown and called our friend Heather to convince her to come down and be in one of the spots.  Everyone joked around and had a great time – we asked the make-up artist if his hair was real – she said “yup! I just blow dried it!  It’s all real!”  The man is amazing.

It was a long day of basically messing around with  intervals when everyone had to be quiet so they could film; in one of my spots, Erik kissed me….so I’m thinkin’ that kinda makes him my boyfriend – right?

Here are the links to the Public Service videos:

DWI spot

Speeding spot

By Eleanore Macnish

Soul Sister Auto

30 May 2012

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I’m taking a “posting break”!  Every Wednesday for the next few weeks, I am posting past posts from my blog when I was at Blogspot!  This one is from 2009!  Enjoy!

I took the picture of this car while we were on vacation in California last summer…..because it “spoke to me” (not literally spoke to me…..like “hey! Come over here and take my picture”).

This morning, I gave my child ice cream for breakfast because I figured it has milk and protein so that must count for something…..and there wasn’t anything else that caught my eye for breakfast.

When I dropped my child off for her golf lesson, I felt something sticky on my face and realized the sunglasses I grabbed on my way out the door had honey on them and now it’s on my face……why do my sunglasses have honey on them?

This car is my soul sister – I can relate to this car and totally understand how all of the sudden this car must wake up in the morning and think “How has it come to this? How is it that I am held together by duct tape?”

……..and I’ll bet there is honey smeared on the backseat somewhere….. and peanut butter.

By Eleanore Macnish

Top 10 List – Being a kid in the Summer

23 May 2012

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TOP TEN LIST OF

BEING A KID IN THE SUMMER

1.    Climbing trees, getting stuck & telling younger kids to go “get help”- – but not from an adult”…..
2.    Camping in the back yard in tents with flashlights.
3.    Garden hoses and Wham-O Slip n Slides.
4.    MS Walkathon back-yard carnivals.
5.    Playing “tag” at dusk with tons of kids in big Kansas front yards
6.    Looking for four leaf clovers in the front yard…..when Dad’s were about to mow over the clover – “Hurry while he does the back yard!”
7.    Putting on “shows” for our parents on the patio.
8.    Trolling the neighborhood as a “spy team” .…. for the “safety & security” of the neighborhood.
9.    Playing Marco Polo, “who can hold their breath the longest” & underwater handstands at the pool…eating frozen Snickers bars, and sitting on the hot concrete for 5 minutes when you did something a life guard told you not to do….but you did it anyway.
10.    Catching lightning bugs in jars.

…..and of course Summer Camp!

Did I miss something? Leave a comment of your favorite Summer memory!

By Eleanore Macnish

I’m not comfortable with that.

18 May 2012

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I met some friends for dinner and a book signing last night. At dinner, a friend recounted a recent conversation she had had with someone who was round aboutly (and absolutely) slighting a group of people.

She talked about the moment she could tell it was going in the wrong direction and how helpless she felt to stop it (she DID stop it, but not quite as gracefully as she wished).

Everyone at the table commiserated and spoke of how they wished they had simple words to quickly end conversational train wrecks about to happen, “without being rude”.

As we were sitting there, one woman spoke up and said “That reminds me of something I read about situations like that.”

– to say “Exactly what do you mean by that?”

And it reminded me of a friend (Laurie) from whom I learned a valuable lesson a few months ago when I heard her say “I’m not comfortable with that,” in a completely adult and fairly innocuous way – whatever it was, she just did not want to do it – and made it crystal clear in a very graceful way; a way that put no one on the defensive…she just did not want to do it…..(as I recall, it was about a guest list and excluding someone).

Both phrases convey strength, calm, self confidence and “You might want to drop where you’re headed with this right now & and I have now removed myself from this conversation.”

When I think back on all the jams, embarrassment, dangerous situations and self doubt that could have been averted in my life from age 14 – 28 (I got better at standing up for my self around 29) , had I only uttered one of these beautiful, straight forward and strong sentences…..at the moment my gut told me something was amiss!

Commit these to memory and teach your daughters:

  • I’m not comfortable with that.
  • What exactly do you mean by that?

(I’m not thinking sons so much because guys have their own ways of dealing with these things – and they don’t care about being rude – they just deal with it and move on….I envy them.)

A teenager who was with us for dinner piped up and said “When I’m with my friends at school and they start talking about someone, I just say “I don’t want to talk about this,” and I walk away.”   That girl is good stuff! I wish I could look at a bunch of women and say “I don’t want to talk about this” and walk away…..now that I think about it, I guess I can….and perhaps I will!

Is it just me? Looking back on your teenage years (and beyond), could these two sentences have helped you out of some situations forcefully and/or gracefully? Any other favorite phrases I should know about?….so I can add them to my arsenal!

Uh, yeah….in my Rainbow House!

4 May 2012

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….notice how it is out in the middle of the ocean? There’s a reason for that!

Last night, I told my husband “I’m going to have a glass of wine and phone a friend in my “RAINBOW HOUSE!“

Meaning: I’m going out to the patio to have a glass of wine and talk to a friend, ALONE! ….and I’m taking my friend on the phone with me as my guest….I invited her over for a glass of wine…in my Rainbow House!

A couple of days ago my friend Heather at Flawless Skin Spa, wrote a hilarious blog post about a saying a group of my friends have been saying for years; it is a phrase I absolutely adore and I thought it would be fun to write a post about how it came to be.

Here is the story: I have a dear friend named Lynn and she has a daughter named Haley.  About 6 years ago,  Haley was talking to an adult about all of these wonderful things she had…..a pony, some chickens, a beautiful diamond crown, lots of cake, etc.  The adult, wondering where she had gotten all of these things and where she kept them, said “Really?!?” to which the little girl said “Yes……in my Rainbow House!”

Everyone in the room just looked at each other and thought “Oh – my – gaaaawd! That is so perfect!”

It is incredibly cute for a kid to have a Rainbow House and an absolute NECESSITY for a woman to have a Rainbow House!  – and it is a wonderful phrase to have as part of your repertoire for sarcastic retorts!  Like….

“You went to Paris, France for the weekend!??”

“Uh, yeah – in my Rainbow House!!…actually I went to Paris, TX to visit my in-laws!”

Once you get the hang of it, you will find yourself using “Rainbow House” aaaall the time!

You may be wondering what my Rainbow House is like……

In my RAINBOW HOUSE:

  • No part of my kitchen counter is held together with Gorilla Glue because of a child using a hammer to crush Oreos….in my Rainbow House.
  • I have the perfect body without even trying, everything looks fabulous on me and everyday is a “good hair day” ……in my Rainbow House.
  • “Stuff” puts itself away!….in my Rainbow House.
  • There is no dust or dirt or sand spilled from socks and shoes…..in my Rainbow House.
  • The surroundings and decor change according to whatever I happen to like on Pinterest…in my Rainbow House.
  • My child never whines and we never argue. We spend time doing only fun and emotionally rewarding things together; making wonderful lasting memories……in my Rainbow House.
  • My dear husband is dear and sweet ALL the time….in my Rainbow House.
  • I am dear and sweet ALL the time….in my Rainbow House.
  • Every window looks out onto a different view – my balcony with geraniums looks out to the blue sea off the coast of the Greek island of Paros, my lanai looks out to a beach on Maui and my breakfast room is actually a street side cafe in Santa Margherita Ligure, Italy (that serves the most sublime pesto you have every had in your life!)….in my Rainbow House.
  • There is no mortgage on my Rainbow House.
  • Telemarketers do not have the phone number to my Rainbow House.
  • George Clooney does have the number to my Rainbow House, and he calls it frequently to talk to me and see if I will accompany him to his house on Lake Como. Alas, I cannot but I do enjoy the attention….but apparently, he also calls Heather to try to talk her into going to the Academy Awards with him….this must be addressed!

If I ever become a little restless in my Rainbow House, I go over to Heather’s Rainbow House and we play “ring toss” with her pet Unicorn in her infinity pool.

Since no one’s life is perfect, I often wonder what celebrities’ Rainbow Houses are like – they must have them – perhaps their Rainbow Houses are impossible for the paparazzi to photograph, have stores/restaurants/movie theatres where they can go and just be a normal person without everyone bugging them!

If anyone has the guts to Tweet/ask your favorite celebrity “What’s in your Rainbow House” with this post url (so they have some idea what you are talking about), tag your Tweet with #inmyRainbowhouse to make it searchable.

What is in your RAINBOW HOUSE?      (if you Tweet it, make sure to use #inmyRainbowHouse)

By Eleanore Macnish

My favorite iPhone Photo Collage App…in the whole wide world

2 May 2012

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iPhone App Montage Magic – in a word….MAGICAL!  A tutorial…..

  • Can you save in Hi-Res? YES!
  • Can you import fonts from the internet? UNBELIEVABLY, YES!!!
  • Can you move stuff around and rotate and scale photos and text by dragging and tilting your finger position? YES!
  • Is there an in-app tutorial? YES!
  • Is it really, really easy to use? YES!
  • Will you show me how to use it? YES YES YES!….if you click on the pictures below to enlarge them!

At this point, just “Go for it!” and play around with it!

I found out about this app through a fantastic blog called iOs Photo Apps and they even have a video tutorial!!  Yay!

By Eleanore Macnish

Friday’s Gift…..have you heard of Fiverr?

27 April 2012

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Last weekend our neighbors had a crawfish boil!  Sitting in the driveway under a tent strung with lights, at a folding table spread with newspapers drinking a Hurricane while the kids played tag in the yard….a pretty great way to start off the warm weather months!  While drinking aforementioned Hurricane, I started talking to this great artist and blogger, Laura Bruzzese! She is really funny and really talented too – an awesome combination!

Laura told me about this fantastic site called Fiverr.com — I may be completely out-of-the-loop, but it was the first I had heard of it and since hearing about it last weekend, have probably spent 60 minutes of my life trolling the hilarious videos of people telling me what they will do for me for $5 bucks!

One guy will create a video testimonial for you/your company as the “Plastic Bag Man“, another will produce a video in which your message/logo is revealed inside a banana; and there is even a little kid who will sing Happy Birthday while holding her little dog Manny!

Enjoy your weekend!

By Eleanore Macnish

What’s In Your Bag? Mine’s like Mary Poppins’ without the lamp!

25 April 2012

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Years ago I read about an artist by the name of  Nathalie Lecroc, a Parisian artist.  You make an appointment with Ms. Lecroc, meet her at her apartment and empty the contents of your handbag onto her dining room table. Three hours later, she hands you a watercolor painting of your bag contents. The only rule is that you cannot not edit the contents before you visit Ms. Lecroc….and she can always tell when someone has – usually pharmaceuticals — which I also edited in my photo….seemed like a good idea….

What’s in my bag….

According to Ms. Lecroc, American women always carry mints and more make-up than French women & French women usually carry a good luck charm of some sort.  The oddest things she has seen? Firecrackers, a hula skirt, part of a sandwich & lettuce……hmmm, I wonder what she would think of the little bag of magic tricks I carry around with me (between my purse and the little round box with a red lid in the photo above) – and yes, that is a fake thumb.  I was a little taken aback by how much I carry around – like Mary Poppins’ without the lamp! …..I actually weighed my purse after I photographed everything and it weighed in at 6 lb!

There is also an awesome time-sucking Flickr site where you can spend countless hours looking at the contents other people’s bags…….I don’t even want to think about how much time I have spent looking at What’s In Your Bag [but NOT camera bags] on Flickr!

Contact Nathalie Lecroc at pypaul@club-internet.fr

Google her name for wonderful articles and photos of her work!

By Eleanore Macnish

Friday’s Gift……”Saving Graces”

20 April 2012

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“Why Ellie Mac – Tart of Life?  Why do you think these things are so “fly”?”

Because they “rock” – that is why!

#1. Bill Atkinson’s Photo Card iPhone App – Ohhhh yes, there are so many photo card apps and I have many of them; but this one is the one I keep going back to time after time! Easy to use, fantastic quality & customer support, 5×7 postcard (laminated front and back) arrives in your mailbox…..love, love, love!  A “saving grace” for me because I tend to document my child’s life on my phone!  I take a picture with my phone, choose it as the front image, type a message on the back (there is plenty of room), add little “stickers” -the heart and basketball in this photo), send it to myself and sometimes others – Done! Yay!!

You buy PayPal credits ahead of time, so you never have to enter your credit card info or “log in” – you just choose if you want to email the card (free) or have it sent in the mail. It costs $2 to send the card by mail.  Particularly helpful when on vacation! – you just compose one card and choose as many recipients as you would like from your contact list!

#2.  Stuck On You ID Labels.  Ok, I know at the outset this might seem like a “no big deal” thing………and in that case you would be wrong…….so very very WRONG!  A friend of mine (April Young) turned me on to these about 5 years ago and I love them so much, I even have a set for myself with my email address!

This is why they are so amazing:

  • They are dishwasher & microwave safe.
  • They are vinyl (not paper!)
  • You can put them on the inside of shoes & coats
  • They are so small, kids are not embarrassed of them (the ones in this link are about the width of your pinkie finger nail) – and you can trim them down to just their name to make them even smaller.
  • They come in “cool” colors.
  • Stick them to everything!  Mobile phones, tools, inside of luggage, loop around the zipper of anything, cameras, chargers (think “Girls weekends” when everyone is plugging their charger into any available socket and everyone’s is the same), iPods, iPads, Nintendos, laptops, key fobs, notebooks – a bottle of wine – ha! – anything you do not want to lose – slap one of these babies on it and you’re good to go!
  • Think: Every single freakin’ thing you send your kid to school with – lunch boxes, cups, supplies – anything you want back or don’t want to have to buy again if it is lost – think about that my friend!

This a NOT a sponsored blog post – these are just things I love and thought you would like to know about – that is if you don’t already know about them!

Enjoy your weekend!

By Eleanore Macnish