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Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Trips

when the kids are old enough - need to plan a vacation on a bareboat and cruise in the caribbean.

http://www.bareboatsbvi.com/

Friday, September 17, 2010

Sunday, August 29, 2010

Dining room wall color

Peaceful and bright master


Sling chair

Love this lamp designer for master bedroom

Damien Fox Studios
http://decorati.com/product/27919/tall-blown-glass-column-lamps-on-lucite

Daybed for kiddos in our room

Demensions of Ballard Design version:
http://www.ballarddesigns.com/images/us/local/products/detail/MB118DIM.jpg


http://www.ballarddesigns.com/comShop/customProdAction.do%3Faction%3DinitCustom?ruleID=2357&itemID=1036&itemType=PRODUCT

OR Wisteria version but it's $1799
Fully Extended - 94"w x 29"d x 17"h
Set Up - 68"w x 29"d x 32"h

Best kitchen I've seen so far - $199

Best kitchen I've found to date - includes an ironing station

http://www.littletikes.com/toys/deluxe-wooden-kitchen-laundry-center.aspx?GCID=S16744x005&MATCHTYPE=search>kw=children's%20wooden%20kitchen&gclid=COe_wJWU4KMCFZsM2godTSu8Sg

Wednesday, August 25, 2010

Kids room - kelly green

Modern, clean, fresh look for a kids room

Baby in a basket

Love this idea - just cannot find the right basket and justify drilling holes in our ceiling for something we would use for 3 months until the baby can turn over and need to be in a crib...

Tuesday, August 17, 2010

Photography tips for moms

I recently joined this site, Photo Tips for Moms to see if the value was there as I've been anxious to find the "photo class for dummies" that I need to refresh my skills now that kids are the abundant subject in our home. 

It's $6/ month and I like the site but wish there were more push messaging options for tips.  I don't need another email, but perhaps a daily digest of the item of the day?

It's definitely a new resource - but one to keep an eye on to see how large the community develops and hence the knowledge base to share ideas.


I'll have to report back on this one (and remember to cancel my membership if it's not helpful).

Kids modern rug

rug with circles on 2modern.com

Online marketing

My day job (aside from being a mom) is my marketing consulting business, Tulaa Solutions, llc.  I work with small and medium sized businesses on all things online.  Website development, social media planning, email strategy and execution, building online awareness, leveraging partnerships, creating and deploying promotions, etc.

Many of my clients, by choice, are non-profits.  It fits the space well - people online are interested in sharing their causes and passions with their network of friends - and it feels right.  Why not work support an organization that is saving rainforests or helping neglected children?  After 10 years in New York and Chicago working for larger corporate organizations, this just fits.

I'll post tips, trends, learning and what I hope are helpful snippets for those interested in online marketing efforts.

If I can find a way to post attachments here I'll be uploading several strategy presentations I've developed over time that are good basic overview-type documents with how online marketing efforts can benefit your business or cause.

Yoga

A page to dump all things yoga - events that are inspiring, teachers I love, poses, theories, and articles.  I've been studying yoga since 2001 through a somewhat fateful turn of events.

When I was a sophomore in high school (eons ago) I had a knee injury as a result of my ego and bravado that kept me out of competitive sports for a year.  During that time, I took up photography.  Fortuitous for me as photography has become a favorite hobby over the years and I've waned in and out of taking it seriously and playing around.  Regardless, it's one of those things that I can always come back to, expand my knowledge upon and continue to develop.

Same with yoga...

Fast forward from 1992 sophomore year to what I like to refer to as my quarter-life crisis and yoga and I ran head-on into one another.  I was looking for an outlet in addition to my usual running routine and thought yoga would be a good "stretching class" at the local gym.  In my over-confident way, I thought I would run a few miles to the gym, take a yoga class and run home.  At the end of the 90 min class, I was physically stumped and emotionally in tears.  I had no idea what I had found, but I was hooked.

A curiosity became a interest that became a hobby that morphed into an obsession.  From 2001 to 2006 I devoured every book, workshop, teacher, class and article I could find on Yoga.  I completed a year-long teacher training program with Robert Boustany  founder of Pralaya Yoga and the foremost Yoga instructor in the area with over 35+ years of training, and began teaching classes in his studio in addition to attending 6-8 classes a week.

Long story short - my Houston yoga journey continued through my experiences in Chicago and New York and I've enjoyed teaching, learning, and attending classes for the past 10 years.  Tulataa Yoga, My private yoga instruction has become a bit of a side project, but when appropriate for the right client - it has always proven to be one of the most rewarding ways to work.  Yoga is a transformation for anyone who embarks on the journey.


Where one door closes...another always opens.

This may be me - computer vision syndrome

Would be nice to know if this is a source of the daily headaches for the past few weeks (straight)
Computer Vision Syndrome

The most annoying Facebook users

This article sums it up.  We all have these people in our Friends list - question is to de-friend them or just ignore the constant reminders in our News Feed.

What's the point of blogging and where do I start?

Again - a question I get often and a good one.  Most of what I do online with these channels (email, web development, blog outreach, social media is for work).  I'm not a power Facebook user by any means and find it almost annoying when I have to log in for client work only to find the SAME PEOPLE posting yet again...literally an hour after the last status update...as if I want to read step by step what is happening in your life. Take a break, people.  My father put it aptly, when he asked me "why are there so many narcissistic people out there who think everyone else really wants to know what you had for breakfast?"

Facebook to me is a business tool.  I spoke at a meeting recently at UVA, Women in Leadership Conference on a Personal Marketing and Social Media in the world of social media and I think it's an important topic to consider.  My first instinct, just by knowing the sheer volume of people on these channels - Facebook with over 500 million registered users - is to look people up on Facebook.  Our new neighbors when we moved into our new house, I Facebooked them...my daughter's nursery school teacher who just graduated from TCU, I Facebooked her.  Why would I not want to know what these people are posting out there for others to see so I can get the "real picture" of their personal brand?

In any event, I'm digressing and realizing there is a whole other post about Facebook and user types to come.

For this - why blog and where do I start, a good place to consider content.  For me - this is a personal endeavor.  I'm working with these tools all day for work - I should be a more proficient (read: daily) user of them.  So blogging, yes, dad, no one cares to read this, but for me, I want a place to house all these random thoughts and ideas I keep gathering so I figure I'll start a blog for my own archive.  Just for me.  The anti-social media blog.

The age of the blog has leveled the playing field of editorial.  Anyone can be "published".  Scary, yes?  It's just a matter of who will want to read all the jumpble out there and though that following, who will be deemed an "authority" on their conversation topics.  Very scary.

No technical skill required.  Visit blogger.com (owned by Google) or WordPress.org to start today.  Both are free and here is a great blog post listing the comparative features of the two if you are a more savvy enthusiast who may really compare the platforms before jumping in.

What makes a good blog?
CONTENT - someone who has unique and valuable information to share with a wider audience.  That's always been the rule of thumb as the online space has exploded.  Content is King - once you have content and distribute (publish) it in an easy to digest format on a decent platform (meaning an easy to navigate website or frequently updated blog) you can develop FOLLOWERS and there you go.

It comes down to your goals.  For me - it's just to get this info down for myself as I'm going more and more senile each day and at least I can find this url.  For others, the key step after FOLLOWERS is cashing that in for media dollars by publishing ads on your blog.

That's a hole other conversation for later.

What's this for?

Somehow with all the hype around blogging and how my work (and now life) seem to be integrated and blurred more and more by the blogosphere, I thought I should just jump in here and start a stream of conscious for myself to capture all these random thoughts, finds, ideas, hopes and lists that I keep building and maintaining in excel (a holdover from corporate life for sure).

So, I'm diving in, hoping to transcribe and have a place to archive ideas I like, news, thoughts, aspirations and fun finds.  With so many places to explore - this will be my little holding ground.