February 26, 2012

I'm in a TV commercial!

Okay, not really, but one of my necklaces is! Observe:

That's the Antique Stone Necklace!

I just happened to be watching t.v. at my parent's house on Saturday, who just happen to have HD cable and a DVR. They were watching Kentucky play Vanderbilt, during which there happened to be an Applebee's commercial, and I just happened to look up at the right time and see one of the actresses had on my necklace! Did I mention I also just happened to be playing with my toddler at the time, and the necklace has all of about 3 seconds of air time? Through all that distraction and happenstance (there is no HD or DVR awesomeness happening at my house, and I doubt I could have confirmed it without the hd clarity), I saw it, started emitting excitable utterances, my parents rewound it and I confirmed it - yes! That is my necklace! SO COOL.

Later during halftime, we spent copious amounts of time rewinding, pausing, photographing the screen, rewinding, pausing, photographing the screen, etc.

Even if Applebee's may not be my favorite restaurant (okay I'll admit it, I haven't eaten there in probably 10 years - I tend to stay away from restaurants whose most exotic beer is Samuel Adams), but hey - someone chose to put that necklace on camera to a national tv audience. Applebee's now has a special place in my heart, even if I still probably won't be visiting anytime soon. Here is the commercial:


I wonder if it was the actresses or the stylists? I wonder where they purchased it? Will there be a Freshie & Zero/Applebee's collaboration in the future? French fries in organic geometric shapes? Better beer? Hmm.... probably not.

February 22, 2012

Trunk Show at Bella Vita

I recently participated in a trunk show in Collierville, TN (it's right next to Memphis) at one of my favorite retailers, Bella Vita! The owner, Stephanie, is so creative and crafty, plus she really has an eye for interesting products and then works wonders displaying them all together! She and her lovely sales associates were so sweet and fun to spend a Saturday with. You can also tell their customers really enjoy their time there - many loyal customers were greeted with smiles and hugs!

Stephanie also has an adorable baby store next door, Itty Bitty Bella ... let's just say my little ones scored some super cute new duds!

Here are some photos I took of her shop & my trunk show setup. First of all, look at this lovely postcard they designed and sent out to their customers:

So cute, right?
Since it was right before Valentine's Day, I brought lots of heart necklaces and they were a big hit!
My jewelry was displayed on vintage crates and suitcases, frames and benches. Look at the mason jar lighting over the table! Stephanie's mom made those! And they're hanging from an old baby crib spring mattress. So. Clever.
Another fabulous DIY light fixture Stephanie and her crafty family made - it's a chicken coop! They wired the top shut and added a light bulb. Her store was full of them and it looked extremely rustic chic.
I don't do trunk shows often (maybe once every two years?), but after this fun adventure I may be open to more... after my second baby is born and things settle down of course. Wait, do things ever settle down when you have two very small children?

February 08, 2012

Instagram

I got an iPhone for Christmas, so I can now officially call myself an iHole. But luckily, I don't say things like "You're just kidding yourself that Android is better than iPhone" (I'm looking at you, Beth Howard!) because really, they're just different. I loved my Android but there just wasn't a great new Android phone on Sprint that suited what I was looking for.  So my hubs got me one for Christmas using his "new to you" program discount.

That's love, people.

There are definitely things that I miss about Android, but there is one program that makes up for it. It's Instagram, of course! I knew I would love it from all of the cool pictures my friends had been posting, and I was right. It's so fun to use and I love checking into my friend's feeds and seeing what they're up to.  For some reason, you can't look at these things online through Instagram's website (what's up with that?), but there is this other cool website called Statigram were you can view all the lovely photos on your computer like so:


Then throw in more fun apps like Diptic and PhotoStudio to edit your photos, and voila! I have found a new time suck.  Just what I needed...

This is inside the Nashville airport

Zero, with his standard "read my mind" face


Eddie's Attic in Decatur, GA 

 My daughter & Zero look out the window. Cute, right?

SO fun. Do any of you peeps out there know of any other awesome Instagram related programs or websites I should know about?