Confession 33 - SquareHub App Social Networking for your family

Today I'm pre-confessing (is that even a word) about an app that was just released today, SquareHub.  Ironically, there is nothing "square" about this app and it seems to me to be one of the coolest, most awesome apps that I have seen released in a long time.  I mean, I think the last time I was this over the moon, was when I stumbled on Orchestra, I remember my giddy feeling, all happy and blissful! Well, this morning when I found out about SquareHub, I felt the same exact way.

So what is it? It's a new app that basically lets you have a private network with your family.  So let me paint the picture. We have close family friends that have 5 children, 1 away at college, 1 soon to be and 3 still at home. At any given time, both parents are on their phones texting away to their children, talking about what's for dinner, who can pick  up who, who will be home to feed the dog, etc. Group texts can get hairy and rather cumbersome to respond to, so most of the time, the parents and the kids are sending individual texts. See the issue? See the huge "black whole of time"? What if there was a way to have private communication for your whole family to see?

Introducing SquareHub, a private social network for your family that allows you to communicate in real time with your whole family, taking away the cumbersome, clunky way texting, calling and emailing are. Take a look at the screen shots below... Literally I'm {swooning} and so AppHappy!

You can check in to places just like on Facebook, so parents will know when your kid reached the movie theater or Suzy's house. You can also share pictures, that can be adorned with stickers, filters and star rewards. The app is also equipped with emoticons for when you are too busy to respond with a "I like that", or "bummer", you can just hit the face icon! Genius right?

The app is cleverly equipped with a To Do List feature where you can assign tasks to any family memeber and any or all family members can have visibility.  No more from your teenager "mom never told me to do that", oh yay buddy, that's not what the To do List says! Genius! (I know think of a new word Creative Junkie)

So go and check out this app and download it, it's FREE and get some time freed up to do some things that matter, instead of sending texts and emails!  I'm sorry to say that this app is only available for iPhones at the moment, an Android version is currently in development.

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Confession 22 - Ringya App - A way to organize phone lists

Today I'm confessing about one of my favorite phone list organizing apps... Ringya {{squeal}}. It is one of my favorite "sanity" apps and I've only been using it for about 3 months! What is it? Well it allows you to take a photo of any phone list spreadsheet (yes you heard that right, you just take a photo) and then send it off within your Ringya app to the gurus there, some minutes later (usually about 30 for me) you get an alert on your phone through the app that your new phone list is ready! It takes all the information and creates an individual contact for each person on the spreadsheet. It will even categorize the list for you, by heading. So the class list for my daughter's class is broken down by student, mom, and dad.  I have at my finger tips, phone numbers, addresses and names! It's just genius! Don't believe me? Check the video out below:
 A new feature just released is group text and email. So if I need to rapidly send out a message to all the neighbors on my block, I hit group message and bam, same message to all neighbors in one action!  How cool is that?

So if you are tired of constantly looking for a spreadsheet on your messy desk or searching for hours through emails up on emails, download this app. You will not be disappointed! If not for anything, just to see the beauty in the conversion of a spreadsheet into contacts... it's absolutely beautiful!

Now...  an app needs to be created that automatically puts my daughter's softball game schedule into my google calendar from a spreadsheet, now that would make me do the "Happy Dance" like a million times!

Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Confession 19 - Embracing what Matters

Today I am confessing about my journey to let go, to become free and plug out more times in the day than not, especially around my family.  With the loss of my dear friend Sue, and the challenging cancer diagnosis for my friend Sara, this profound change in the way I was living my life has evolved and is still evolving.  I wanted to become more present in my daily life with my children, my husband and with my close friends.  I began to look at my commitments, friends and my surroundings in a whole new way. Was I really doing the things in my life that mattered the most? I knew there needed to be changes. A change in my friends, my activities and how I managed my daily life. At first it was hard to let go, thinking I was "missing out" or losing. But I quickly came to realize that I was actually winning.

Don't get me wrong, unplugging is hard and  there are many days that are very difficult to do this. But I try to each and every day to make a point to leave my phone and other distractions aside for just awhile so I can connect and be present, especially with my kids. My greatest fear is 10-15 years from now regretting that I didn't get to be with and know my girls.

I'm sharing a very cool blog site that has given me much inspiration on my journey. Take a peak and mingle around. I find something inspiring to read about in almost every single one of her blog posts.  I know you will too!  Check out Rachel and her inspiring journey to becoming "Hands Free" here.

We can never get these days back again. Go do something that matters in your life that will connect you with the people that matter most!

When I ran across this subway art piece, it was so fitting for this post. I had to share it with you.

 Thanks for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Confession Eight - My Favorite Craft Machine

Today I am confessing about my favorite craft machine. It has honestly changed my life and I couldn't imagine living with out it now.  It's the Silhouette Cameo. So what is this machine? Well, it can cut paper, vinyl, fabric, adhesive sticky paper, magnetic paper ... and many other mediums that are constantly being added. This machine is unlike it's popular competitive predecessor, the Cricut.  The main difference between the Cricut and the Silhouette is that the Silhouette connects to your computer using software that comes with the machine instead of cartridges. This is so convenient. Not only are you using a system that let's you "simplify" and keep you from having to buy yet another product to store (the cartridges) but it let's you use fonts and images that you already own. It's a no brainer.

I urge you to check out the Silhouette site and take a peak. 

Take a look at the quick video to see how it works. It's wild to see the Silhouette in action. 

Here are a couple projects I've done. One using vinyl and one using heat transfer iron ons.

So ask me any questions you have about this cutter and I'll promptly answer! It's one of my favorite all time purchases ever! It's up there with my iPad and my Canon DSLR! I know right!

Thanks again for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Confession Four - Guru's of Scrapbooking

I'm confessing about scrapbooking {{crushing}} and my favorite all time blogger today! I started scrapbooking back in the late 90's officially, but in my early teens as an old school scrapbooker. I've been at it for awhile. I'm in no means an expert, I just love doing it, I value it and I'm committed to it. My dear friend Sue and I would scrapbook together and scrapbooking, some could say, was the foundation of our friendship. You'll hear more about that later. Today I'd like to confess about my all time favorite "guru" of scrapbooking. I've followed  this super talented lady for years, meeting her over the years at CHA and at other local scrapbooking events. Ok, so who is she... ? Hold on there overachiever.... over the course of January, I'll be showcasing my top three! I encourage you to go to their websites and look around. I'll be featuring many of the things they do on their sites here on mine, so if you get overwhelmed (it's a lot to look at and digest) come back here and check out my ongoing features.

#1 Becky Higgins 

Why Becky? Well I have met her in person many times and she is very down to earth. I also relate to her the most. Most importantly because of her tagline above that she is so passionate and committed to. She has also started a whole new approach to scrapbooking called Project Life.
Check out this video below ... which takes me to another point! I love her use of still photos AND video through her site and blog. Seeing her very inspirational videos keeps reminding me what a deficit of videos I have of my kids. I need more!


Take a look at her site:

Then go and take a look at the 12 Christmas Videos she posted this year. Here's the first one. I guarantee you will laugh, smile, cry and giggle a lot! It's good therapy for the soul.

http://www.beckyhiggins.com/blog/2012/12/12-videos-of-christmas-no-1-2/

Convinced yet? Ok, now go to the site and click under "Free Stuff" see all the cool rescources she has on her site! She even posts Holiday Card Templates every year!  You'll also find two very cool custom handwriting fonts (are you a font hoarder like me?).

I'm committed to doing some "Project Life" this year and actually completing some projects! It's a goal worth keeping for my family to show them how much I love and value them.

If you are still unsure how great Becky Higgins is, take a look at this video:




And then for your final assignment, if you are a DIE HARD and want to commit like me, carve out 30 minutes in your day and watch this. If you watch this video, please please post your comments on what you think?  I'm up for the challenge this year to get my "Kid's Stuff" organized once and for all!



Okay, I think that is all for today... phew, I'm tired from all that! It was more than I envisioned, but so inspiring!

Thanks again for stopping by and I hope you liked my latest confession!

Back To School - Post #2

Are you going just as crazy as I am trying to keep track of all the dates (Back to School, Teacher Conferences, Holidays), it's just maddening! At the beginning of the year, you are bombarded in all directions with dates to put on your calendar. And, most of it is still be distributed in paper form (my huge pet peeve, not only is not "green" but I don't need more clutter or a paper to lose!)

So, does this happen to anyone, you get the paper from your child's school,  you read it, you're like, yes, I need to keep this in a safe place. You put it in a safe place, then you can't find it and can't remember the safe place, you run through  your  email inbox, you text and call a couple of other frazzled mommies, and still can't find your info...??? Ding, Ding Ding!!! That's me!!!  .... last year... This year, I'm trying a different approach.

I've been reading a lot of articles lately on using technology to simplify... and so, here is how I am taking that approach to help me with my lost papers/ need dates issue.

Take a picture and file it!  Camera phones have come a long way and you can now use them to "scan" papers. Gone are the day you need to go through a million steps to scan a piece of paper. Now, all you do is  set the paper on a flat surface, point and shoot! That's it!

Now, I like to use the camera capability through a little program called Evernote. It allows you to take notes and catalog your pictures too. It also syncs up with an online account so you can access your files from your desktop or laptop, this is great for redundancy.  It also... wait for it... let's you share! Yes!!!  You can share all your notes and pictures with your hubby. For me, that doesn't matter, he rarely helps manage the family calendar, but if you have a hubby that does, it's a great feature!

So, as I sat in the multipurpose room of my daughter's school for Kindergarten Orientation thrown with 4 different drop-off / pick up schedules and hundreds of other dates to remember... I snapped away.

Here's what Evernote looks like:

http://evernote.com/


Let me know if you use this system or something else.  I'd love to hear your feedback!

Until Later.... !