Photos and Cards and Pretty Stuff

Just like our holiday cards, as usual, this post is quite late. Bu t I really wanted to give a shout-out to Shutterfly, and not just because they gave me free cards again this year. I created some awesome gifts this year, using picasa, picnik and shutterfly, but those are still a secret from a few of my blog readers. Of course they have a ton of holiday photo card options, my go to for many years of Christmas cards. And thanks to babjidesign we also had some wonderful photos. Here's the front of this years card.

Last year there was a lot of brown, which I love but my husband is not a big fan. I love all the bright, not not super Christmassy colors this year. Someday maybe I'll choose a Chanukah card, the year perhaps we get our cards out early again.

I didn't make photo books this year, but unearthed a number of old ones while unpacking and they are always great quality, great prices and with more and more options. My new favorite are the backgrounds for many of their projects. I may be giving away a surprise, but seriously, check this out.

Every year I swear I'm going to send more cards. With all the options on this and many other sites really have no excuse. We also, every year it seems :) have birthday parties in November and January, so as long as I'm in the card spirit why not a party invitation? Because I'm not that organized, that's why. Or is it a subtle protest against the "girl" and "boy" categories? Cuz this would be perfect.

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Shutterfly did provide me with a code for 50 free cards, and asked me to write a post but all the opinions and words are my own. It's a bit late for cards this year (unless you are us, that is), but I do have codes for 25 free cards if you are interested.

Savvy Shopping

I haven't actually gone shopping on Black Friday since my mom made it a thing when we came home from college. It was not nearly as crazy then. Now I don't even have to feel guilty about missing great deals. Last week the minds behind a new app (for iPhone on iTunes now, coming soon for Andriod) treated a bunch of Bay Area bloggers to brunch and a shopping spree at Santana Row to try our the new app, savvy.com. 

It's got two main functions that I haven't seen on any of the rampant shopping apps and deal sites out there.  If you buy something at a place that promises to match the price difference, just scan the receipt after purchase and you get a  notification when the price goes down. We just bought a TV from Best Buy - it was already on sale, but you never know. You can also put items on a "watch' list and it'll alert you (via email) when that item goes on sale or reaches the price you are willing to pay. I don't shop a lot these days, but I admit I treat myself on a hellish week, and nice to know I don't have to obsessively check whether a price went down (not that I ever have).

We got paired up to test the new app out on my iPhone and Kari and I had a blast. Here's her review. Limited stores right now, but Urban Outfitters, Anthropologie, Best Buy and Container Store are a few of them.

Thank you Savvy for funding some fine shopping. I just downloaded the newest version of the app, much easier to use.
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Disclaimer: Savvy gave me a lovely brunch, plus some cash to use to go shopping to test out the app. The words and opinions expressed above are my own. I will receive no further compensation nor any sort of commission for publicizing the Savvy shopping app.

A New Old Kind of Education

The latest book in the From Left to Write book club is Cleopatra: A Life by Stacy Shiff. Unfortunately there is not a whole lot of history written about the powerful queen, and much of it is dramatized, but she still managed to write a long enough book that I've barely gotten into it. In this club, though, we just write posts inspired by the book.

I've just finished the section on how she was educated. While we don't have specifics on her education, the author can surmise based on the typical education for royals the rich and intense education she received. There were no breaks, really, except for the monthly holidays, and they crammed in a lot of learning. The "classics" (which of course weren't yet), nine languages plus speech and argument "made with particular and exact choreography", geometry, physiology, learning that helped make her the leader she became.

Education has been on my mind since my brilliant little boy cried the first three weeks of kindergarten. Fourth grade finally brings the serious homework woes which I've, I mean he, has managed to avoid up until now. He's always hated school, and I am not one to counter with "well, school is boring." Frankly I loved the worksheets and math tests, it was the long writing projects which brought me to tears. Yesterday he was moaning about some science homework, could not understand why he had to do it. First he complained about having to do "review" and then he whined they never taught him the stuff. The final straw was a worksheet where you could only answer the questions if you liked the assigned book.

I can't feel bad for him, there are so many kids with worse issues. On the other hand, what I'd really like to do is rip up the worksheet and make him read Watership Down, Metamorphosis and Brave New World, followed by free-form book reports of at least 500 words, something I had to do, although it was probably not until 5th grade. Some boredom can lead to creativity, I'm afraid the boredom in our testing focused schools will just lead to hatred of learning. With the right teachers, the worlds biggest library and Euclid, perhaps my boys could get an education like Cleopatra. I'll avoid the rest of her traumatic life, though.

In Cleopatra: A Life, Stacy Schiff digs into the history books to share with us who the true Cleopatra was. As a member of From Left to Write book club, I received a copy of this book for review. You can read other members posts inspired by Cleopatra: A Life on book club day, September 27 at From Left to Write.

That's Some Big House

Over the summer we headed up to Canada for a rare family gathering. My aunt and uncle own a huge old farmhouse up there and the original plan was for them to get up their early and fix it up for my Aunt's 70th birthday party. My cousins were coming, and sister and brother's family, all the relatives who weren't working or, sadly, in the hospital. Unfortunately the wack-a-doodle tenants refused to move out until ordered to by the court, finally leaving one day before the sheriffs were due to arrive, but we all came anyway. We don't need no fancy house to party.

Check it out over there, 26 rooms including 5 bathrooms and 3 kitchens (it had been turned into apartments). Their plan is to restore it to its Victorian glory and run a bed-and-breakfast. They've started on a few rooms, but the place looked cool to me, even the spooky attic, which instead of being full of priceless antiques contains old computers and printers, of course.

The best thing about this place, though, are the two gorgeous decks and a front yard the size of a soccer field. Except when we left the house, or they were exploring the many many rooms, the kids pretty much never stopped playing on this grass.

As cool as this house was, and how fun to have enough space to have an entire party outide, but enough rooms to sleep 20, I'm not aiming to buy a house this big. The idea of redoing a house, furninishing it, redoing the kitchen and bathrooms then inviting (paying) guests over really appeals to me. It's pretty much my husband's worst nightmare so a B&B is not in the cards. I hope at least to visit again. I also can't end this without a few photos of my adorable neice and nephew, who I got to meet for the first time this summer.

 

That's uncle court, aka my dad, aka world's best grandpa, holding the baby there.

This post was inspired by the latest book in the Left to Write book club. Carry Yourself Back To Me is about singer-songwriter who's going through some tough times and starts out holed up in her house in Florida, snuggling with her dog and sanding down every piece of furniture in the place. A lot of the first of the book is spent describing parts of the house. Although I found it a bit too chock-full of metaphors or similes, by the end of the book I was in tears and rooting for this chick to reconnect with her family, her past love and mostly her music.

Deborah Reed's debut novel Carry Yourself Back to Me follows heartbroken singer-songwriter Annie Walsh as she digs into the past to exonerate her brother from murder. As a member of From Left to Write book club, I received a copy of this book for review. You can read other members posts inspired by Carry Yourself Back to Me on book club day, September 22 at From Left to Write.