I am totally addicted to the Open Photo Contest. This is a photo contest put on by Open Source Photo ( a totally awesome forum by David Jay) where you get to vote on your favorite picture out of a series or four images. Photographers can register and upload their images to be in one of the contests. Currently there are 6 running categories which included: Stellar Brides, Traveling, Engaging, Prepared, Family Time & OPC Beta Contest. Four images are displayed at a time and you vote for your favorite of that series then voila! a new set comes then an new one and a new one and well you can see how this can get addicting. The winning photographer's get some nice prizes and are featured on the right colum of the page. Thier are some amazing photo's sometimes it's hard to choose which one you like best. Try it out for yourself but be warned you may be sitting in front or your monitor for a loong time ;)
Tuesday, December 18, 2007
Thursday, December 6, 2007
C is for cookie ... and Cancer!
Cookies for Kids' Cancer
"Tastes as good as it feels"
The Band of Parents Bound by Hope is a wonderful website started by parents with children that have been diagnosed with neuroblastoma. Parents that are devoted to providing awareness and funding for theirs and other children stricken by this rare and deadly pediatric cancer. Once a year they sell cookies for a limited time in hopes of raising money for this horrible disease. Chocolate Chip Oatmeal, Citrus Shortbread and Snickerdoodle are sold by the dozen for $30. Admittedly a little pricey but when considering the money goes to help save the lives of children it's more that worth it to pick up a dozen or two.
These mom's and volunteer's are hoping to bake and sell more than 8,000 cookies. What would you do if you were told your child had a cancer for which there was no known cure? Surprisingly pediatric cancer is horribly underfunded and certain rare strains get little to no research support. Only 30% of children diagnosed with neuroblastoma survive. Funding is crucial in providing hope for these families! Buy some cookies to enjoy or donate now. Cookies are only available from December 2nd through the 16th so order yours now!
Tuesday, December 4, 2007
I've been Compromised!
This Weekend I became a victim of Debit Card Fraud! Crazy Huh? The low down dirty criminals actually produced a dummy copy of my card and used it at an ATM to withdraw money from my account.
First off it's hard to believe that it's actually possible to do this but then to think that there are people with morals so low as to actually carry it out is mind boggling. I was lucky to have caught it pretty early, however they did get 3 transactions threw before I noticed though so that's pretty scary. The lady I spoke with in the fraud department at Bank of America said that this is a HUGE increasing problem in Washington state and that 85% of the cases of debit card reproduction are obtained through gas stations. Crooks are able to put a little chip in the card reader and get your card info and pin! Gas stations are a good target because many people use their cards there and the card readers are less monitor than say in store swipers. I was also told by BOA that you should always run your debit card as a "credit" rather than a debit if you can. It comes out of your account the same way but the crook only gets access to your card number and not your pin. Once they get your pin they can get actual cash and that is much harder to trace and prosecute if caught.
So my lesson learned is don't use your pin unless you absolutely have to, you never know who can gain access to it. Also be vigilant is checking your account's and know what's going on with your money! You never think it's going to happen to you but take it from me it can!
The picture above was obtained from Kids Bank.com it is the funniest little site geared towards teaching little ones about finances.
Thursday, November 29, 2007
Letter to my Boss
I would like a new fancy desk chair. I believe this cost is justified because 95% of my day is spent in my chair. This is equal to 7hrs a day, 280 hrs a week, 1120 hours a month and 53760 hours a year of sitting on my buttocks. A new chair would be beneficial by providing more support to both my buttocks as well as my back. This in turn would lead to a happier more productive employee!
For your convenience I have researched fancy chairs and found a great one at Office Depot Business.
The Quantum Mesh Mid-Back Chair has many great features including:
Height-/width-adjustable armrests with unique Gel-padded armrests offer optimum comfort – Comfort is always a plus! Additionally helps remove shoulder and neck strain.
1-touch seat-height adjustment for proper posture – proper posture is a must for maintaining optimal back and neck comfort, especially since I would like to refrain from getting a hump on my upper back, which unfortunately runs in my family.
Tilt controls for optimal positioning & Adjustable lumbar– Again it's all about comfort, support and maintaining proper posture to keep me chipper and agile all day long.
Designed for intensive use- Ideal for busy professionals who spend 5+ hours each day in their chairs.
Waterfall seat cushion helps promote circulation- GREAT I have very poor circulation and could use all the help I can get!
Made from a minimum of 50% post consumer recycled materials – Awesome, why not help the environment!
And Finally it's Backed by the manufacturer's 5-year limited warranty – ensuring I'll have many happy years in my comfy fancy chair.
ALL these great features for the reasonable cost of just $279.99 minus our 15% discount. The cost is more than justified considering how much sit time I actually do.
I hope you will consider my proposal for a new fancy chair and honor my request. It is only fair considering everyone else is the office has said fancy chair.
Thank you,
Amanda
Tuesday, November 27, 2007
Negativity = Less Creativity
Do you ever feel like your creativity has been drained, no matter how hard you try to think up something you just get stalled? I guess it would be equivalent to writers block but on a more extreme level.
My week of negativeness started last Monday when my pregnancy test showed negative. It's funny because each time I've taking a test it's come up positive, I guess I just figured anytime I took one it would be as such. But nope not this time definitely not prego, which became even more evident two days later when I got my period.
Along with every girls favorite monthly friend came a huge mental drain which is very disappointed considering a had a four day weekend in which my awesome skills ;) would have normally been in play all weekend. Instead I laid around, took a nap, chiseled old faux leather off some trunks I want to recover, stood in a 35 min checkout line to buy two items and wasted away in a thoughtless state. No blogging, no scrap-booking, no picture taking or editing, no output at all!
Ladies is this a normal pms/period type symptom? I guess I should know considering I'm a girl but I went about three years without mine so I can't remember if this is normal or not. It's kind of like when your in labor and you think to yourself "how could anyone do this more than once" but than after a year or so with your lovely bundle of joy you forget how painful it was and go for it again. Selective memory! One of the great blessing in life, the ability to forget the pain and negative things. Maybe I just forgot that for a week each month I become a cranky, tired, creative less mess!
Anyway on a positive note I got my external hard drive and was able to free up some space on my computer. It's running a little better but i still have a lot of work to do on it. Maybe I'll go get some more RAM or something . I'm going to need it as I've got some really cool programs loaded the pass couple days. One of which is CS3, man I've got ALOT of learning to do on that thing! I also got Lightroom which so far seems to be really cool but once again I've got some learning to do. I also came across some promising plug in's and fun picture app's. I'll have to share those another time.
My new baby (camera) and lenses should be here tomorrow! I'm soooo excited! I think it's just what I need to get back on track!
Sunday, November 18, 2007
Sunday Ritual #1
Everyone has some kind of ritual that they do on Sunday's.
Whether it be laundry, cleaning, watching TV, shopping or of course attending church. While mine occasionally includes all the before mentioned things my favorite ritual is my own kind of heaven. The heaven of frozen tasty goodness in the form of Gelato! Ummm Gelato... Specifically Bottega Italiana Gelato, or as I refer to it the best gelato anywhere outside of Italy itself! This small store front downtown on 1st and Pike is my favorite destination on Sunday. Bottega's gelati is homemade fresh daily with only the freshest and purest ingredients with a smooth velvety airy texture. The flavor's are unbelievably good and include many seasonally fruits and favorite's like coffee, chocolate, and vanilla. Last Sunday I had a scoop of Coffee "Caffe" and Carmel "Caramello" it was to die for, it tasted like a Carmel frappicino! MY absolute favorite is Strawberry also known as "Fragola" which I usually match up with Limone or Pear. If you have not yet been to this extraordinary dessert spot you must try it out, come by on Sunday and you just might run into me!
Look at all the Yummy Flavor's!
Chase Loves Gelato Too!
Friday, November 16, 2007
Chuck, Larry & the ex-Mary
Thursday, November 15, 2007
Disco Chase
OMG this is too funny and so much fun! Make your own!
update: Something happened to this, I'll have to go in and recreate it.
It will be back up soon!
Good Times!
Yesterday I attended a live taping of the Microsoft Small Business Show. I had never been to a show taping before so it was quite interesting to see all the behind the scenes stuff. All the guest's were great and gave very good tips on different aspect's of entrepreneurship.
The audience received a peppercorn ball and potato peeler from "famous inventor" David Holcomb and a pair of baby legs from guest Nicole Donnelly don't you just LOVE free stuff! David demo'd an awesome garlic machine that I will definitely be putting on my wish list as well as the collapsible measuring cups. If you love kitchen gadgets as much as I do you have to check out the Chef'n website then run out and buy your new toys, I noticed Target carries some of his inventions. The Chef'n website also has a great kid's section with recipes, tips and one hour cooking classes presented by Sur La Table! Fun stuff!
Speaking of cooking the great Tom Douglas was also a guest. Tom is quite famous here in Seattle, he owns many downtown restaurants and has some good cookbook's out. He whipped up some crab cakes from his new cookbook that smelled wonderful. I got a couple of Tom's Rub with Love spices last year at Christmas and they were yummy!
Most importantly I finally got to meet the Fabulous Me Ra Koh and her oh so cute family. Me Ra is such a warm open person and it was nice to be in her company. I also had the pleasure of meeting a couple of nice ladies Julie Watts and Marianne Graham that were there to support Me Ra as well. I had a really great time at the taping as well as chatting afterwards.
You can check out the show at Microsoft Small Business Show as of right now it seems you can't watch the episode but it is suppose to be up for on demand viewing, hopefully soon.
Link to all the guest's at Microsoft Small Business Show Guest Links
Here is the group picture from the show courtesy of photographer Brian ;) via Me Ra's blog
From left to right: A couple all the way from Texas, Host Clay Cashman, Me Ra, Marianne, Pascaline, Me, Julie, Liza & Cathy
Wednesday, November 14, 2007
Meet Mr. Chase...
He is a 2 year old silly willy, full of personality, clone of his mom! He enjoys reading book's, dancing, signing, monkey's, helping in the kitchen, "working out", apple juice, popcorn, M&M's, cookies and most importantly
Sunday, November 11, 2007
What's This Blog About Anyway?
Being an avid blog reader for over a year, a few months ago I decided I too wanted to join the big bad blogging world. Once the decision was made it was clear that I first need to figure out my niche. What was I going to write about? Was it just to be an online journal a la Xanga two years ago? Was I going to focus on being a mom and document Chases life? Was I going to zero in on a specific thing like photography, scrapbooking, cooking, wedding's or event planning? Month after month went by and I still had not decided what I would write my stinking blog about. I am not definitively an expert on any particular subject, therefore I feel that I am not qualified to write about just one type of thing. So after much debate I introduce to you my blog about everything! Total cop out right? Hopefully it with live up to the expectation of nothingness I have bestowed upon it! Hehehe ... Enjoy!
