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Category Archives me moments

Dinosaur Video Memories on the Go with Instagram

Posted on July 1, 2013 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

There are many apps out there that allow members to share video on the go. Of course, it was not until Vine came onto the scene that it seemed to become popular. I have to admit that I was skeptical about the lure of Vine, but when we went to visit our local Science Museum, I saw the beauty of capturing a moment in more than a photo.

Then, on June 20 Instagram announced that they were also going to allow video. This screenshot is from their press conference that I watched.

Instagram would give me more time on a video to capture moments, I could add filters, select which frame to use for people to see in their feeds, and it was in a community that I was already very involved in. Community is big on Instagram and I really enjoy that I can control security and spam comments there. Vine has a lot more comment spam that can not be removed on the Android platform at this time. Another nice feature on Instagram is that you are able to set it up so the videos do not automatically play. This means that, when you see the little video icon on a picture, you simply click on it to play the video.

Over the last week, Instagram has had some growing pains with their video. Numerous videos were made and lost as I was trying to upload them. Thank goodness, they were saved on my Droid RAZR HD so I could use them in other way.

Then, everything seemed to work on Thursday evening when we went to an event at the museum. I was able to make three Instagram videos of the dinosaurs at miSci and they were shared on there and on Twitter and Facebook. The only downside at this point is that you can not embed your Instagram video like you can do with Vine. Of course, I am still able to take the video off of my smartphone to incorporate into a longer video with some photos.

As you can see, I now have a longer video to share on my blog, send to family, or keep for my boys. Since I did not have my video camera, my smartphone was able to help me in a pinch.

Have you tried Instagram Video yet? I would love to know what you think so far.

It's Me

Disclosure: As a member of the Verizon Lifestyle Bloggers, I receive different devices to check out in my life (like the Droid RAZR HD mentioned above). There is no other compensation. I am a long time Verizon customer, and all opinions are my own.

Categories:
me moments Phone Apps

More Sleep Required

Posted on May 30, 2013 12:01 am by TheAngelForever

For years, I have joked that my theme song should be Who Needs Sleep by Barenaked Ladies. I could go to sleep early, but the evening is often when I can get more writing done and spend time with TechyDad while the boys are sleeping. As I work on a more healthy lifestyle, I knew that better eating, exercise, and losing weight were not my only goals. Even when I sleep, I feel tired. Clearly, something is going on with my sleep patterns and I can not simply blame it on the little guy waking up with nightmares and invading our bed.

Disclosure: As a member of the Verizon Lifestyle Bloggers, I recently received an UP by Jawbone (link to information page). The UP allows me to track my activity, sleep, and other items with the app that go along with the device. There was no other compensation. I am a long time Verizon customer, and all opinions are my own.

Every morning, I simply plug my UP band into my smartphone (completely compatible with my RAZR HD) and allow it to synch up. I can check the battery life of the UP and make sure I do not need to take a short time to recharge it.

Once the band is finished, I can remove it from my phone and read up on my sleep patterns from the night and activity from the previous day. The following graph is based on 10,000 steps (about 5 miles) and 8 hours of sleep. Under the graph is a pop up message that you can also check for inspiration and information.

76% seems like I am doing pretty well in the sleep category. Of course, you can look closer at the sleep information provided by the UP. When you see this, especially several days of it, it helps to explain why I always feel like I need more coffee to stay awake.

If you are tired, you are less likely to make other healthy choices. When your body needs sleep, you need to give it sleep. I need sleep and thanks to the UP by Jawbone I am going to work toward this one step at a time so I can feel better. My goal is to no longer feel that this song is my theme:

How are your sleep patterns? Do you know how much sleep you are really getting each night? I know I was very surprised to see multiple wake ups and very little sleep sleep most of the time. With this information, I am ready to work on improving my sleep along with my general health.

Categories:
health awareness me moments Phone Apps Technology

Crochet Granny Square Invasion

Posted on May 24, 2013 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

I have a confession. I have not picked up my knitting needles since March. It isn’t that my life long love of knitting has gone away. I simply have a new yarn passion. I now consider myself a hooker… –er crocheter. Most evenings, I find myself with my hook in hand working on a project with yarn to decompress at the end of a busy day. Crocheting does not bothering my wrist injury, so it seems to be a better fit in my life right now.

What started as learning how to get a rhythm with crochet and trying a granny square, has warped into a large project that keeps on growing. At first, I used some recycled yarn from another project. Then, I kept adding new colors. To date, I have used eight colors and made 62 squares. Each of the squares is about 7 1/2 inches. I have 10 more squares to make with the colors currently in my house. Here is a peek of what I have done.

As you can see in the photo on the bottom right, the patch work granny square afghan was not big enough. That’s when I went out to add the two new colors seen in the bottom middle. Just to share all of the colors, I put them in a semi-rainbow order to display. I know I am adding a deeper yellow/orange color to the mix and may add a lighter peach/coral color in before connecting them together.

So yes, aside from three small dish cloths, this is my first crochet project. It is a large one, but it will be fun to see finished. Now I just have to get all of the squares set, figure out a pattern, and actually connect them. Oh and that is another debate.

What will my next project be? Well, my little guy has requested a Pete the Cat doll that I found online. If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear patterns that you love. Meanwhile I need to decide, should I make the textured single crochet connect in gray or black?

It's Me

Categories:
arts and crafts crocheting knitting me moments

Time to Tiptoe Through the Tulips

Posted on May 3, 2013 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

I love flowers and observing them outside. The science teacher in me also adores taking photos to capture their beauty. You may think this means that I like cut flowers in my home, but it would not be true. It sounds silly, but I do not like watching flowers die in front of my eyes. Flowers are at their best when they are still on their full stems and with nature.

For some reason, the flowers in the spring time really catch my attention, especially tulips. It fascinates me to watch as tulips push up from their bulbs each Spring. Some years, we may only have two, other times there may be many more. Each morning, I watch them to see if they survived the night. I can count each of the tightly wrapped buds and see that they are sheltering the beauty within.

Thanks to animals, we never know what may or not make it through the night. While the tulips are around, I often find myself walking around to catch them at different times of day. Just a few hours after they were closed up, they finally opened up for the first time this spring.

Then their inner beauty shows through as they open their petals, shimmer, and shine in the warmth of the Spring sun.

Do you ever take time to tiptoe through the tulips as they say? You know, just take time to observe the beauty around you and forget for a little while about the worries and chaos that can be day to day life.

Categories:
flowers and plants me moments

A Spark of Inspiration

Posted on April 19, 2013 12:00 am by TheAngelForever

A lot of the last few months feel like a blur to me. Thanks to items going on in the background, I was focusing a significant amount of my attention to those areas. During this time, I was able to keep up with blogging and freelance writing. Unfortunately, other projects had to take a backseat. There was simply no time to develop them to the level that was required. Call me a type A individual, but I can’t put partial effort into something.

Yesterday, Christina from Well, in THIS House… and I went to a networking event held by Women TIES. The luncheon included an educational program with a focus. The theme was “How to Get Companies to Pay You to Market to Your Audience” with keynote speaker Shannon Cherry.

I had met Shannon before, but not on a professional level. Her enthusiasm and helpful hints made the wheels in my head start to go a mile a minute. I drove home thinking about ways to dust the project off and twist it to something new and even more exciting. A huge thank you to Shannon and the other women in the room who are leading the way to empowering more of us to try new things, think outside of the box, and get out of our comfort zones.

Of course, I also hope to connect with more of the people that were at the event thanks to the sheet with contacts. The fun part, one of the people there was a seventh grade teacher that I had for Social Studies.

So this week I ask you, what are items that have served as sparks of inspiration in your life? I would love to hear about them and please include a link in the comments if you have written about them.