My Longest Year

Friday Find: tweetbook & Cozi Family Journal

Do you Twitter?  Use Facebook?  I'm all over the place it seems, here, my other blog, my business site, Facebook...it's all a bit much.  As you can probably tell by my infrequent posting these last few months...so the thought of journaling my pregnancy, or the kids' happenings, on paper is, well, only a thought.  It probably won't happen.  And really, aren't I already doing that?

I don't use Twitter as much as I use Facebook, but I've found that all those little updates really amount to something: our family journal.  Now, if only there were a way to capture it all for print.  I went looking...and I've found a couple of options:

Tweetbook - a pretty simple application that basically collects all of your recent (not sure what defines "recent" but it goes back several months) tweets and puts them in PDF format for printing.

Cozi Family Journal - what I really wanted was an application that did the "tweetbook" thing for Facebook.  I haven't found one.  But I did find Cozi - a site that is actually a ton of things, but one feature they offer is a Family Journal.  You can do as much or as little as you want with the Journal; I opted to only use the Facebook application. 

If I find a way to use all of your Facebook updates to create a book, I will let you know.  Hey, if you're a tech genius who's figured this out - will you let me know?

for the bride

I love giving gifts with a story...whether it be the recipient's story or even my own.  In this case, I wanted to give a token gift to a bride.  Coffee and cookies...not typical, I guess.  But the thought behind it is sweet, I think. 

When James and I first married, we moved from Tennessee to upstate New York just two days later.  No honeymoon (unless you count the half hour staring at water at Niagara Falls).  And when I say "upstate" I'm not talking about Buffalo; I'm talking four hours NORTH of that.  Snowtown, USA.

We rented a very drafty upstairs apartment (with a remove-able wall...don't get me started) and had only two months together before James was to deploy the first time.  We spent our Saturday and Sunday mornings in the breakfast nook over our version of espresso and homemade biscotti.  At the time I was a bit lonely...far from my huge network of friends, co-workers, and alumni in Nashville, and suddenly thrust into military life in the coldest corner of the country.  Those mornings with James were sweet and dear to me.  When he deployed a few weeks later, I would make batches of this biscotti in care packages to him, hopeful they would bring comfort.  I think baking it just helped me pass the time with the only newlywed memories I had at the time.

So when I saw these sweet little espresso cups at Crate and Barrell one day, I knew they'd make a charmed little gift paired with biscotti...I'd pass my little newlywed story on to the happy couple and picture them sipping coffee on Saturday morning.  This gift is for the daughter of a blog friend of mine.  Whether the bride likes coffee or not is beside the point.  I think the story conveys a thought...wishing her many charmed Saturdays as a newlywed...

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A few days before I sent the gift I ran across this little idea in my Green Craft magazine (love that magazine - great, REAL ideas) and thought it was so clever.  Imagine my surprise when I flipped the page and saw that the designer of the project was the bride's mother!

And, yes, that's an office supply tag you see inside my toilet paper pocket.  I've found they make great gift notes.

brought to you by your local photobooth

A couple of days ago the girls had "school picture day."  A proper photo shoot, complete with overanimated photographer, sky blue backdrop, and live bunnies (okay, that part was kinda fun).  Ashlyn and I decided to kill some time at the mall afterwards.  I hate our mall, but I discovered a hidden gem: a grimy, chipped-laminate overpriced Photo Booth.  Ashlyn saw a seat and buttons and insisted I hop in. 

Ladies, I looked like a hot mess.  But I'm trying to live by my vow to get in the picture more often.  So I stuffed three dollars into the slot and hit the buttons.  Ashlyn was enamored with the voice and lights.  I was horrified by my appearance so I pulled out my Bad Hair & Face Day trick and promptly turned to the side.

Ashlyn held the strips proudly in her hand and showed them to everyone in Best Buy on the way out. 

It was awesome.  And these pictures are classic.  You really should try it.