From “Merlin’s Song“; design by Katy Daisy, and for sale at her Etsy store.
Wear-to-Work: 09/25/12
Three quirky pieces I bought & love:
- Petite Signature Fit Gigi Double-Weave Ankle Pant, $99, Talbots.
- Merona Cardigan in Jazzy Turquoise, $20, & Merona Gathered Neck Polka Dot Top, $10.
Review: Minted.com Business Cards
I put off buying business cards for years, thinking I’d wait until I could hire a graphic designer to do both a card & a logo. Fed up with writing my info on napkins, however, this year I decided to buy 100 temporary cards (of course, three months later I hired a fantastic graphic design team to create my logo, but that’s how it goes).
I’d saved up numerous potential card vendors and design ideas (see some on my Pinterest Business Ideas board), and narrowed my vendor list down to four candidates:
- MooCards (nice blend of quality printing and affordable prices)
- UPrinting (interesting die-cut options)
- Mandate Press (250 letterpress cards for $95; simple but classic designs)
- Minted.com (trendy designs & good reviews)
- More options: I’d also considered getting a self-inking stamp business card, but realized people could find that off-putting rather than clever. How About Orange also has a short list of places to get things printed cheaply.
I finally went with Minted.com, because they had the most suitable template (the Classical Composition design, but they’ve added many designs since).
Order Timeline
- Ordered the cards on January 1st (it was one of my New Year’s Resolutions).
- On January 3rd at 2 pm, received the proof, with two possible options for the spacing of my name. I approved the proof immediately.
- On January 4th at 10:08 pm, received a notice that my order was on its way (package was shipped FedEx).
- Received my cards on January 10th at 3:06 pm.
Price & Paper
I purchased 100 cards in the Signature paper (matte, 17 pt thickness). Total cost was $57.00 + $10.95 shipping, or $67.95. Below, a gallery of the results.
WordPress, Polka Dots, & a Bialetti Moka Pot
Above: WordPress.org; Old Navy polka dot sweater; Bialetti 3-cup moka pot
Hi everyone! Hope 2012 is treating you well (or at least better than 2011, my goodness). Here are some things I’m liking right now, and think you might too:
- First, I broke down & bought the Old Navy polka dot sweater that’s been featured all over blogs & Pinterest. I haven’t received it yet, but I’ll post a mini-review when it arrives. So cute.
UPDATE: I returned the sweater. It’s cute in person, and good quality for Old Navy, but the print makes you look significantly wider/bigger up top. I’m short & curvy, so this just wasn’t the look for me. Two bloggers who make it look good, though: Mix & Match Fashion & Petite Little Girl.
- Second, I recently discovered moka pot coffee, aka “espresso for poor people.” Of course, it’s not real espresso, but it’s still intense and good. I’m using a Bialetti 3-cup moka pot
- Finally, I’m currently setting up self-hosted WordPress sites for several clients. In doing so, I’ve realized that I’m ready to transfer my blogs to WordPress. Typepad has been great all these years, but I need something more customizable & functional. I want jQuery slideshows and responsive site design like everybody else!
What are you guys currently enjoying?
NaNoWriMo 2011: Are You Doing It?
Photo by Rainer Tenhunen.
For those who’ve never heard of National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo), it’s simple: NaNoWriMo is a free event where participants try to complete 50,000 words of a novel in one calendar month (November).
I’m doing it this year, and I’m excited. Even though I already write professionally, it’s too easy to get swept up in immediately gratifying projects like paying freelance work and blogging, and thus avoid the long-term slog of writing a book. In the words of Tom Spurgeon:
There is, however, a distressing trend culture-wide for a lot of people to aim low, to be perfectly satisfied with delighting the 40 people that follow you closely on Facebook with your clever remarks as opposed to finishing that novel. (link)
Pretty much.
My personal goal for NaNoWriMo is 1000 words a day, for a final word count of 30,000. If I hit 50,000, so much the better, but I’ll be satisfied with the lower number (I’m not a wordy writer, and have a Thanksgiving road trip and other paying & side writing projects coming up). Also, while blogging here will continue as usual, and I won’t bore you with novel updates, I will be posting writing inspiration & advice each Monday.
So…are you doing NaNoWriMo this year?