Monthly Archives: March 2009

Every day my mother takes a picture with her iPhone camera and emails it to me. I post the pictures here, they are never edited, but they are reduced to 70% of the original size.
See all her pictures by clicking here
Follow My Mom on Twitter @iPhoneGran

Back in November of 2008 there was a new kid on the block. Magpie. Magpie is a start up out of Germany wherein advertisements are placed in a twitterers stream.

At first there was an “I hate Magpie” uproar. Magpie would take away from the authenticity of Twitter. There are still folks who say they will instantly unfollow anyone who uses Magpie. I guess I’ll lose them.

Can we face facts? Your beloved authenticity is a hoax. Most of the Social Media personalities are finely honed marketing instruments. If I go to one more tech party where I hear someone referring to their spouse as a brand, I think my head might spin off my shoulders. Publicists have bloggers and microbloggers singing their client’s praises all for a dinner out and a bottle of shampoo.

Years ago blog pursists were appalled when folks started adding Google Adsense to their blogspot pages. Today we all expect to see advertising widgets on the sidebar.

Glam Media used the Emmy Awards for sponsored tweets. There are twitter parties and hashtags and publicists roaming the Twitterverse. Why not an advertisement? At least it’s transparent.

I had some concerns about Magpie being a scam. I’d had a quick burst of advertisements from them, and then nothing for a while. I realize now that they’re new, and probably had some growing pains. In addition to all of that, I’m not the ideal person to advertise with.

I cuss
I point fingers
I start boycotts
I abhor WalMart and make a hobby of taunting the Eleven idiots Moms

But even with all that, Magpie still finds a few advertisers for a Mom like me. Why? Because the people who follow me appreciate a little cheekiness and can see past a curse word. I made a few dollars, and I didn’t do any extra work, five thousand people looked at an advertisement, that was most likely for a small company that we’d all appreciate anyhow. There are tons of etsy shops on Magpie, who doesn’t like chicks who knit?

Tell me, what’s wrong with that?

I’m going to go against all my initial instincts and wholeheartedly recommend Magpie both for advertisers and for publishers.

It’s like the perfect marriage, me and a friendly German Bird.

#magpie

I was waiting in line to return a swimsuit that Jane didn’t like and out of the blue Katherine hugs me.

Katherine is a mom I haven’t seen in about three years, our girls went to nursery school together.

“Oh Jessica,” She said, “How are you?”

“Great, and you?” I replied, “How are you kids?” She had three….

“Wonderful, I just had another baby.” She began.

And before she could finish her sentence I asked, “Why?”

Gah, I wonder why she hadn’t called me in three years?

If you’re as addicted to your DVR as I am,then you’ll be the first to get this iPhone App for DirecTv.

You can get it at the App store at midnight tonight (or so I hear).

Last week I was headed out to another Tech Party here in town, and I wanted needed a dress. I wanted a little pick-me-up, some color even.

If you follow me on Whrrl, you already know that I left Sears with a fabulous June Cleaver-esque cocktail dress (with a small dash of sexy built in). What you don’t know is that I also got Jane a three pair of skinny jeans and a hoodie, without breaking the bank.
Photo by Wm Marc (as usual)

From now through April 18th Sears is offering up to 80% off on all winter apparel. For all you Moms like me who are having a mini (or maxi) meltdown due to the economy let me give you the best tip ever.

I bought Jane some jeans at Sears last week for under $10 a pair, but in Los Angeles we’re pretty much done wearing jeans (whatever, my kids live in shorts). I took the brand new pants, ran one straight seam across them over the knee and cut them off into really cute shorts. Sometimes it’s hard for me to find Jane shorts that aren’t too short, and I don’t want to take expensive pants and start ripping them up, so this sale was the perfect solution. Hoodies were $6 and if your little guy grows as quickly as mine does, you’d be running to Sears’ sale now.

While you’re there why not pick up a timeless cocktail dress that is somehow part of the winter sale (methinks you can wear much of this stuff year ’round). At only $11.99 I’d still have money left to actually buy dinner.

Can I tell you something? Long before I accepted this post, I was at an LA nightclub with everyone complimenting my dress. It was $39 at Sears, but I felt like a million bucks.

*This is an Izea sponsored post

You know those indoor playgrounds?

When Alexander was crawling and Jane was three and a half, I’d bring them there, curl up in a corner and go to sleep. Sometimes I’d wake myself up from snoring so deeply.

It it still the best money I’ve ever spent.

Confess.