Over winter break, I spent the day with some of Ken’s classmates from Stanford Business School. Not only was it fun, but also super informative. One of the friends, Alex, left her job in technology, and is building a company on teaching AI to those who don’t know how to use it (like ME!). She has been giving workshops on “Time-Saving AI Solutions for Busy Moms,” and as a clueless, busy mom, I decided to host a workshop.
Alex, our friend and fearless AI leader.
OK, this might be old news for most, but I just found this out so I had to share! And yes, I am a boomer and bad with technology. DID YOU KNOW that you can find out the type of plant / flower / dog / any information on your photo when you take a photo with your iPhone? It is GENIUS.
So you click on the photo and there is a button with ‘I” on it, and it tells you the type of tree.
BeReal sends you a notification at different times each day and asks you to photograph in front and back of you in the 2 minute time limit. There is no way to track the number of friends you have and there are no “likes.”
An example of my BeReal. I was sitting at the pool with the kids — and it took a shot of what is in front and what I looked like.
You can look at both as the main photograph.
Currently, I have two friends (one is the sister of my ex boyfriend who is married to Amy Schumer, and one is my niece — my nephew does not want to be friends with me on this app….). So it is obviously not yet popular with my age group….
Another example….And it is important to note that you can only see other people’s daily BeReals if you post one that day yourself, and previous ones disappear from the feed.
And another.
Who knows if it will take off as a huge mainstream social media app, but I appreciate the authenticity and realness, and how it is different and unique…..To read more about BeReal, go here and here and here.
Thanks to a girls trip, I discovered a new life changing app, Tricount. This app helps organize the expenses for all the different people involved. For example, this past weekend, instead of four people constantly splitting the bill, we just rotated who paid what and put it in the app. At the end of the trip, it calculated who owed what to whom. It was also very helpful as different people were present for different portions of the expenses, and this helped keep track of it all.
Girls trip — where I was introduced to Tricount!
During one of our California trips this summer, I spied the cutest and most fun iphone case from my soul sister bestie. So with permission, I asked her where she got it and if I could copy her. Sure enough, when it arrived this week, it felt like my phone was finally representative of who I AM!!!! TIE DYE AND CRAZY COLORS. Oh my god I love it so much.
Purple pink and yellow! And tie dye!
So if you follow my husband, Ken, on instagram, you may have already seen this whole post. But if you are NOT on social media, or do NOT follow Ken, or do NOT look at stories, then take a look at the below. Quick synopsis is that last Thursday night, there was a text message exchange between Ken and our 9 year old son, Cruzzie, in which Ken thought it was me…pretty funny — take a look. And good job, Babers, on being able to recreate the situation in a way that makes sense and is funny (I wouldn’t be able to do either!)
My newest social media go-to is Instagram Stories. For those not very tuned into social media, it is a new-ish feature on Instagram that is similar to Snapchat, and allows you to post pictures and videos throughout your day. The plus is that the pictures expire after 24 hours, so there is less pressure to make your posts “perfect”, and more of an ability to let you be more impulsive. It allows you to give people a glimpse into your life, without having the posts permanently associated with your name. It is fun and easy, colorful and playful. You can add filters, colors, and text.
Silly-ness. I like taking pictures that are cute but not AMAZING and then adding some pizzazz and flair with colors and texts. Basically, I love pretending I am a 15 year old girl.
This past Christmas, Santa brought my six year-old-Cruzzie (well, um, actually… me) a wireless printer! A polaroid printer! It is my teenage-self dream. Check it out.
The size of my palm. Chic, apple-esque, petite, and functional!
It’s almost Valentine’s Day, so in addition to purchasing lingerie from Natori, you need to buy flowers! And what is easier than purchasing flowers online / via iphone app with Urban Stems. The lucky ducks that live in the NYC and DC area have access to this brilliant company. Simple, beautiful, and straightforward. The bouquets cost $35 and are a beautiful arrangement of carefully selected flowers imported straight from farms in South America. A bonus: According to the company, the farms used are environmentally-friendly and operate with labor friendly policies for their employees and their families. 90% of the farmers are women. Curious to see the product before I sent it to a secret admirer (my child’s preschool teacher – she is my true love), I bought a bouquet for myself.
Red
