Makeover
November 11, 2009 at 3:00 pm | In Caityisms, Miscellaneous Crap, Product Testing | 2 CommentsTags: kids, Voting, website, blog, makeover, InDesign, Illustrator
Do you notice anything different? Do I look fabulous or what? Slimmer you say? Why thank you!
I hadn’t been happy with my Banner Header whatchamacallitthingy at the top of my blog. I had an idea of what I wanted it to look like, I just couldn’t get there. With my Desktop Publishing background, I think you can appreciate how frustrating that was for me. It’s in my head, just not in cyberspace. I can do just about anything in InDesign, but Illustrator, forget it. I love working with InDesign by the way. I’m learning new stuff every day.
I follow a couple of blogs daily. The first one (Durham Region Baby) introduced me to the second one (My Tornado Alley). Carly had her headermathingy redesigned and I thought it looked fabulous. Her BiFFy Jen O. designed it for her and I always admired it. A little while ago Jen O. redesigned her own headermathingy and I commented on it being a keeper and asked if she could help me with mine.
Well what’dyouknowaboutthat? Two rounds of comments later and we have this:
Isn’t it beautiful?
Aren’t those the most nomable toes you’ve ever seen? Believe me, there have been many a time that I’ve nibbled on those cute little tootsies - poor Caity. She was 9 weeks old in that picture. She was in the middle of a fit, hence the splayed toeses.
Now back to my rave. Jen is very talented (and hillarious to boot – read her blog) and is thinking about creating banners etc. as a side business. I certainly recommend her if anyone is interested in having something created for their website – or just a logo in general (i.e., for Letterhead, Business Cards) – you know, between the two of us Jen, we’d make a killing. We should talk 
Drop Jen a line if you’re interested. You can reach Jen at mytornadoalley@gmail.com
Fabulous job, Jen. Thanks again 
Coraline
March 15, 2009 at 11:46 am | In All Things Doodle, Family Ties, Product Testing | Leave a CommentTags: 3D Movies, Coraline, kids, Movies, review
Grandma and I took Lexy to her very first movie yesterday. We went to see Coraline, the 3D movie currently playing throughout Ontario. Lexy was very excited to go and she didn’t quite understand the whole movie-going process. I told her there would be a lot of seats and a very big screen. A screen bigger than our house. Her eyes opened wide like saucers when she heard that one. I said to her that one of the best parts is that you get to sit in these really comfy seats and while you’re watching the movie, you get to eat popcorn and drink orange pop! That did it, she was sold.
I also told her that for this particular movie, you’d need to wear special glasses. She was a little uncertain about that.
So we pick up Grandma and headed over to the Theatre. The man behind the ticket counter gave us the glasses we needed and Lexy still looked skeptical. After we were seated in the really big room with the gi-normous screen, with the popcorn on our laps, the commercials started. I could see that these particular commercials were also in 3D because of the distinct red-blue out-of-focus look all 3D movies have without your glasses on. I told Lexy and Grandma to quickly put on their glasses. Lexy put hers on and said “Wow!”. We saw commercials for the upcoming Aliens vs. Monsters movie – in 3D!, the new Ice Age – Dawn of the Dinosaurs movie, in 3D! and then, our movie started.
Lexy sat between Grandma and I and stared in awe at the big screen. The movie was so neat and it was a great story to boot. The opening sequence is amazing and really plays the 3D technology to its best advantage. When the giant needle ‘came’ at us from the screen, Lexy said really loudly “THEY’RE TRYING TO KILL ME!!!!”. Those around us who could hear her started laughing. I quickly shushed her, Lexy not being used to having to be quiet during a movie. It was very cute.
A few minutes in, Lexy kept playing with her glasses. She’d pull them up and down and she said to me “Mommy, I can see the movie OK without the glasses.” I told her to keep them on, but she still played with them.
We were a little hesitant going to this movie because it looked like it could be scary, but five, almost six, is a good age for it. Lexy said she LOVED it. Grandma and I really enjoyed it too and Grandma wants to go on another movie date with Lexy (and hopefully me too) again soon. Well, we know which movies we want to see!
If you get the chance, go see this movie. It’s worth the extra dollar for the glasses. They’re not the cheap red and blue paper ones, these ones look more like sunglasses and they work great. You can either recycle them at the end, or take the glasses home with you for next time.
Hair Therapy
February 21, 2009 at 2:17 pm | In Product Testing | 2 CommentsTags: Conditioner, coupon, Herbal Essence, Hydralicious, Product Testing, shampoo, Trial Size
I was almost napping yesterday when there was a knock at the door. I didn’t feel like moving from my nice warm spot on the couch so I ignored it. I heard the screen door close and they went away. Then I heard the delivery truck drive away. Curious, as I wasn’t expecting anything, I left my warm spot and went to the front door.
A box was waiting for me between the two doors.
Inside the box was a lovely present. Six, full sized bottles of Herbal Essence’s new Shampoos and Conditioners – from the new “Hydralicious” line. I was kind of floored. I filled out a survey about a week or so ago and they said if I qualified, they would send me some samples. I wasn’t expecting full sized bottles. Normally a ’sample’ is one of those ketchup-sized foil packages that might give you one, maybe two washes and that’s it, not a big bottle.
Not only did they give the bottles, which were really nicely done up, in a ‘gift basket’ presentation by the way, but they included 20(!) coupons for full sized bottles of their product! This is unheard of in coupon land. The only requirement was to make sure I shared the coupons (which I am) and let you know that I’m doing this as part of a marketing program (done!).
I was thrilled. I love freebees. What girl doesn’t?? After opening the package, I checked each bottle’s fragrance. Very nice smelling. Fruity, but not too much. A bit floral. The swirls were appealing too.
I tried the purple bottles this morning – the reconditioning shampoo and conditioner. Nice lather, great scent. The only con I found was when the shampoo came out of the bottle. It’s a very thick liquid – much thicker than any other shampoo I’ve tried – and when you’ve taken what you want, there is a bit of a drip that makes a mess at the closure. I would have put a different ’squirter’ on the bottle – or get one of those sucky things that draw the leftover Shampoo back into the bottle (like they put on Ketchup and Mustard bottles nowadays). Another plus that I wasn’t expecting – after using the Shampoo, my hands felt softer. Go figure.
The shampoo seemed to work really well, although I’m not sold on the conditioner. It does the job, but I’m used to the Salon types of conditioners which all else pale in comparison. I also have colour treated hair which requires some pretty heavy duty conditioning and some sensitive treatment so that I don’t flush down the drain all the money I spent to achieve the look in the first place. I wish they had a colour treated version of this shampoo.
Overall grade is a pass. Of the store brands I’ve tried it’s definitely better than Tresemme (horrible), but I think Pantene might be better for conditioning. If the price on the coupon ($4.50 I think) is the price in the store, it seems to be good value.
I have 10 coupons left for free full sized samples if you would like to try it out for yourself. Send me your email address and I’ll contact you for your home address. Once I have that, I’ll mail you a coupon. The only catch is that you let me know your opinion of the product
Conclusion: Fragrance: 5 out of 5; Performance: 3 out of 5 for the Conditioner; 4 out of 5 for the Shampoo; Value: 4 out of 5 – 83% satisfaction.
*Small Print* Offer good in Canada only …
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