A bit of (cheap) bling for my iPhone

My iPhone has been suffering lately. Although I'm pretty careful with it, and I have had a cover on it from day one (a hot pink silicone model), I do tend to throw it in my purse or pocket from time to time. And it does sometimes end up on the floor (accidentally, of course), through which it suffers quietly, but with no ill effects so far (thank God!).

Matt, Sam, and Mani have all gotten iPhones this past weekend, which has strangely made me excited for them. I shouldn't say strangely, because I'm weird like that. If someone gets something cool, especially if it's something I already own and that I know they'll love, I almost get more excited about it that the person getting the new thing. I had lots of fun hanging out with Matt this weekend and showing him all the apps, features, and little tricks and treats that come with his shiny new toy.

And I realized, looking at his pretty new iPhone, that mine has been neglected as of late. For something that has helped me so much, and that has entertained me for hours, I sure have not been babying it like I should (hey, I've got other things on my mind, lol). I figured I could at least upgrade the case it's in. The silicone case is looking pretty sad these days, with a couple of rips in the corners. Now, that alone wouldn't make me get a new case, but the rips cause the case to come off the phone very easily now, which causes the phone to either drop out of the case (bad when I'm walking around holding the phone), or for my hair/debris/scratches to get in there under the case. The hair thing is the worst, because it pulls my hair out when I'm talking to someone on the phone (it gets stuck in the case via those rips) and I end up yanking out a few precious strands at least a couple times a week. Ouch.


Matt and Pete, discussing iPhones, history, and life in general at Starbucks this weekend

So, after looking at Matt's pretty black leather case, I decided I should properly protect my investment and get a new case. But for me, this is no easy task. I'm a very, very picky person when it comes to stuff like this, and at the time I bought my case last year, there wasn't much to choose from. I went with hot pink silicone since Pete chose the basic black silicone (I don't want to mix up our phones). Even though I love Matt's black leather case, Pete had his phone stolen earlier this year, and ended up getting a new phone and a newer, better silicone case—but it's still a black case, so that color is a no no for me.

The online search then began, and I spent hours (I toldja I was picky) looking for just the right case. There were plenty of red leather ones online (I like red), but none of them were quite what I was looking for. I saw some nice silicone ones too, but they just weren't as appealing to me, now that I've had a silicone case for almost a year and a half. Then I saw this:



And I thought, oooooh, pretty! But for the price, I wanted to be super duper sure I liked it. And being the consummate online bargain shopper, I didn't just feel like plunking down the cash for it, until I was sure there was nothing else cheaper (or a cheaper source for this model). So the search continued, and I was lucky enough to stumble upon this one at Overstock.com:



I read reviews, checked out other competitors, and decided to go with the cheaper one from Overstock. I figure it's almost a third of the cost of the Case-Mate one, and if I truly like it, great, I saved money. If it doesn't work out, then I saved money on something I don't like. And it allowed me to get a nice red leather pouch in which to carry it (in my purse or car, where it tends to get knocked around a lot):



The coolest feature about the chrome cover? It comes with a mirrored screen protector:



Now yes, I've heard it's a bit hard to see in bright sunlight, so I'll determine whether I actually use the screen protector (I also have a clear one that Matt gave me on Saturday). But either way, it's a nice little upgrade for a device that has more than paid for itself since I bought it. And it's nice to go on a little shopping spree, even if I spent less than $30 total on my "crazy" purchases.

ShakeItPhoto

I just got this cool iPhone camera app called ShakeItPhoto, which makes your pictures look like a Polaroid. It was fun to play around with, and I tested it out on Adora. It's only 99¢, so it's a cheap way to have more fun with your iPhone's camera.



(Images from ShakeItPhoto.com)

And of course...

...to encourage my addiction, I've uploaded Facebook for iPhone to my phone. Hey, it was free, so what can I say?

Yeesh.

Lose It! for iPhone

I've discovered this crazy-wonderful new app for iPhone called Lose It! If you are trying to lose weight and have had trouble doing so, this app is for you. Not only does it do an awesome job at tracking what you eat, how much you exercise, how much you weigh, and your weight loss goals, but it's FREE!



I've just started using it and I'm already thrilled with the results. It's easy to use, and it does away with keeping track the old way—calories scribbled on pads of paper, trying to figure out how much you ate, how much you worked out, and how it's all affecting your weight loss. I didn't realize how much I had been eating, which has probably been sabotaging my weight loss program so far. With Lose It! I've been able to track EVERYTHING and it's all at the palm of my hand.



Seriously, this thing rocks. And again, it's FREE! Check it out.

Quad Camera for iPhone

I got this cool new app for my iPhone called Quad Camera. It imitates those cameras that take four slightly different exposures and puts them together in an image. It's actually rather cool and I think it was under $4. I know I'll have lots of fun playing with this one. But it helps if you have willing participants. Matt thought it was cool, but Pete was groggy, Spanky was confused, and Adora just didn't seem to care.




Sigh...I'll have to seek out other more interesting (and interested) subjects elsewhere.

My lazy day off

I had rather lofty goals for today, but after driving Pete to work this morning before dawn, I realized I was tired and still run down, as I have been for over a week now. So I headed back to bed and slept a few more hours, with Spanky and Adora keeping me company. When I got up, I grabbed my iPhone and started playing, just like Claire suggested (thanks, Claire). It was fun, spontaneous, and I felt a little like my old creative self again.

I'm still moving a bit slow, but I am planning on swinging by Target to get a few supplies, then heading to Gottlieb Hospital to greet the newest member of the family. More about that tomorrow, but in the meantime, here are a few photos of our lazy morning in bed. See more at vivid.

Rockin' at The Bottom Lounge

Monday night was a blast. The band The Duke Spirit was awesome and we had great fun chatting with Scott and Leanne, Pete's friends. I have to admit, I was very taken with the band's style. Lead singer Liela Moss had on a black cat suit, a sequined mini dress over the cat suit, elbow-length black fingerless gloves, and some kickin' black boots. She definitely had some stage presence, and was dancing and gyrating all over the stage, which was pretty wicked.

And the guys were no less impressive in style or talent. Most had on either dress shirts and ties or something similar, and they just had a really cool, funky, circa-1982 vibe going. They were really jamming and keeping up quite well with Moss's dynamic lead. I was very impressed with them all, and I really got into the music, but I couldn't take my eyes off Moss's sequined mini dress, or her hair, for that matter. Oh, that hair! Many call the style "skunk hair" with the dark color underlaying the blond, and it's often ridiculed and sneered at. I, however, have always liked it for some reason, and on Moss it looked pretty awesome. It was very piecey and choppy looking, which looked very rocker chick. Moss grabbed her hair in passionate moments during several songs, moaning out the words, which made her presence all the more cool to me.



After The Duke Spirit left the stage, another band came on and Pete and I decided to head home. It was late and we were dead tired, so we went outside, where Pete was immediately drawn to a pretty sweet Triumph bike parked near the club's entrance. Here he is checking it out, smoking a cigarette while holding my purse. I don't quite remember why he was holding my purse...




I finally maneuvered Pete away from the Triumph and we headed home, exhausted but content, and we eventually collapsed in our nice cozy bed. It was after 12:30 a.m. before we got to sleep, and we had to get up pretty early the next morning as always (4:30 for me, 5:15 for him), so neither of us got much rest and were draaaagggging all day Tuesday.

Anyhow, on that note, I'm off to bed. I plan to sit down with my tea tomorrow night and do a little blogging and blog-reading, which I can hardly wait to do, and which is long overdue. I wish I had the energy of Liela Moss when it comes to just the mundane tasks in life, like doing laundry or running errands. Oh, to be a rock star, eh?

Tuesday sunset in the garden

Took this while at my parents' house for a spaghetti family dinner. Definitely chilly work!

Abstraction via Camera Bag

These images were created with my iPhone and a great new app I downloaded called Camera Bag. I used the Lolo effect on these, but there's a bunch of other cool affects you can apply to your photos too, including Helga and 1974. I think the camera on the iPhone isn't as good as it could be—hello, no zooming capabilities? But with this app you can play around with what you've got and make something kinda cool. Very highly recommended app by this satisfied customer!

Can you tell what these are photos of?

Sneezy

Well, I was feeling pretty good yesterday, but today I ain't as vivacious. I think it's because I almost kicked that stupid cold, but my allergies decided to mess with me, just to make things fun. So I've spent a good chunk of the day sneezing and sniffling, never straying far from a kleenex box or a roll of toilet paper. 

Anyhow, I just spent the last hour tinkering with our iPhones, installing updates and syncing them to my Mac. I showed Pete how to send text messages, but I'm not sure if he'll really use that feature. Best of all, I set up an email account for Pete—yes, seriously!—and synced it to his iPhone. Whew! I've been a busy tech nerd. I'd keep going, but I'm getting tired and feel like drifting off to sleep on the couch while I watch "The Dog Whisperer," our favorite Friday night show.

Tomorrow morning I have to paint a Cubs logo on Matt's corn hole box (a.k.a. beanbag toss), then go home and get ready to go to Pete's aunt's memorial service in the afternoon. On Sunday I have lunch and a pedicure scheduled with Jen, and I might do some grocery/camping shopping too. Only a week to go before we go on our annual family camping trip to Nelson Dewey State Park!

(Image courtesy of AllPosters.com)

Chris + iPhone = Tech Nerd Heaven

Yesterday Pete and I placed our orders for the new iPhones. My current phone almost died a few weeks ago, and Pete's isn't doing much better. With communication being essential for the wedding during the next few weeks and our trip to Hawaii coming up soon, I felt we should have fully-functioning phones. I figure it's better than constantly worrying that our old ones might crap out while we're thousands of miles from home. Plus, it gives me a good excuse to go ahead and finally get the iPhone, hee hee.

(Photo courtesy of cnet.com)