Plastic Bags and Magazines

Photo credit: Keith Caden

I’ve noticed the “Five Things You Didn’t May Not Know About Me…” meme going around the blogosphere, so I thought I’d give it a go…for fear of missing out on the latest internet thing.  With starting the new interview features, it would be nice to kick off with a small interview about myself.  So here it goes:

I’m trained as an epidemiologist.  An epi-demi-wha?  Do you do skin?  Uh, no.  technically I study how disease spreads through populations, but I really crunch numbers about traumatic injury.  I don’t work for the CDC though, which is usually the next question.

I’m a deejay.  I’ve been spinning records for about 10 years, although I do it a lot less regularly now.  I’ve been music-obsessed for as long as I can remember and translated that into a lifelong dream when I bought my first set of turntables at 23.

I’m married to someone who speaks an entirely different language than I do (British English)…ha ha.  My husband, Keith Caden, who is also my photographer, a musician, and by definition a Cockney, is from London, England.

I’m a singer.  I have taken lessons for many years from Michele Thomas  and while I seldom sing publicly, I enjoy the art. 

I know how to hang drywall and tile floors.  Yep, that was random, but my father is a carpenter and I learned how to build and fix a multitude of things as a youth.

Almost made the list:  I’m a Doctor Who fan…

I’m an anglophile, and I hate cleaning out the refrigerator!

Photo credit: By G.Hagedorn (Own work) [CC-BY-SA-3.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

With the OED now recognizing ‘dumbphone’ as a word, I thought it would be a good idea to do an app roundup for those of us who can’t tear ourselves away from our smartphones. I’m guilty of geekdom, being evenhanded at Mac/iOS, Android, and Windows (and can do a little Unix and Linux too) so functionality is kind of a big deal.

Some of my faves:

Spotify (free, $9.99/mo. premium | iOS, Android, Windows Phone, desktop) - Spotify saves me from financial ruin. Being the music addict I am, I can get my unlimited music fix at the price of one iTunes album. Considering I’ve probably spent well into the thousands of dollars on iTunes since it’s inception, a measly $9.99/mo to listen to practically anything is worth it.

Evernote (free, premium $5/mo or $45/yr. | iOS, Android, Windows Phone, Blackberry, desktop) - Initially, I was a Springpad user and the concept of a taggable notebook revolutionized how I took care of business. Springpad went and changed their use interface on me and drove me into the arms of Evernote. For good. It was indispensable for planning my wedding since I could snap pictures, tag them and save them. It also kept all my contracts and papers organized. I consume and hoard far less paper with Evernote.

Lemon Wallet (free, premium $4.99/mo or $39.99/yr. | iOS, Android, Windows Phone) - Receipt scanning apps? Yessir! This makes tax time a breeze when I need to pull up the receipt from the emergency toner cartridge I bought at 11:23pm on August the 5th at Walgreens. Just snap a photo or email a receipt and OCR reads the amounts and vendors  You fix any errors and it’ll even log how much you’ve spent.

JustWink (free | iOS, Android, desktop) - I like American Greetings cards more than Hallmark (when I don’t get a chance to get some cutesy locally made letterpress deal) and JustWink allows you to send cheeky customized cards with pictures and your signature electronically by email, SMS, or my fave - real post (for a fee).  You can do this all from your phone and it’s great when you have that “Oh Shit It’s My Mom’s Birthday” moment and you forgot to send a card.  

Autodesk Sketchbook Mobile ($1.99 | iOS, Android) Sketchbook Mobile is designed to work on smaller screens while Sketchbook Pro is designed to be used with tablets 7” or larger. It took me a while to get used to the interface, but coupled with the stylus on my Note 2, I have a lot of control and can easily make graphics and illustrations on the go.

Feedly (free | iOS, Android, desktop) - I don’t know how I got through life without a RSS reader.  I do my daily reading of blogs and other news sources through Feedly’s  super easy and attractive user interface.  My Google reader account is linked to Feedly, so once Google Reader is done for good, I’ll be able to keep all of my content in one place.  Feedly has options to share content, group RSS feeds, read items later, and quick add from within your browser (I use Chrome).

What are your favorites?

Last Friday night, Keith and I had big plans to go over to Greektown for dinner, but they were preempted by temperatures in the 40s (F).  Basically, it was flipping cold!  Instead, we decided to have the chicken dinner at Feed and head home for an early night.

The road to sleeplessness hell is paved with good intentions, right?  As we were about to round the corner to go home, we noticed that the new shop on our block, Humboldt House, was finally open.  Being a community supporter, lover of old furniture, consumer of free drinks, and downright nosy, I said, let’s pop in.   

What a pleasant surprise.

Here is this cleverly laid out shop with a deejay who clearly stole her records out of my house.

From The Blackbyrds “Rock Creek Park” to obscure 1990s remixes of Aaliyah B-sides, she was killing it.  Not being in the least bit shy, I asked her if she minded if I could get on for a little while.  Deejays are a picky breed, and some very protective of their equipment, so I knew it was a crapshoot, but when she said yes, I flew around the block to my house and stuffed a bag full of random vinyl.

I forgot how good it felt to slip on the headphones and cue up a record. Deejaying has been a passion of mine since I was 5 and saw my cousin trying to scratch on my parents belt-drive turntables.  My mixing is a bit rusty, but it’s like riding a bike.  Once you learn, you don’t forget.  I was at the right place at the right time - someone managed to light a fire under my ass, so look forward to shows, mixes, etc. in the future.

Oh, and look out for the interview with Clair Tibbs of Humboldt House next week.

In the meantime, check out one of my mixes here.

Photo credits: Keith Caden

I’m starting a new section called Monthly Marvels where I want to share with you the things that I’ve been digging for the past month.  This will cover anything from food to fashion and beyond.  Maybe you’ll find something that will be a knockout for you.  I’d love to hear from you if you do!

IFTTT - If This Then That - Social networking and life in general just got 1000% easier with IFTTT.  Using “recipes” you can tell one Web 2.0 (are we still calling things Web 2.0?) service to do something else to another.  

For instance, I have a recipe that posts a link from this blog to my Facebook fan page.  

Leopard Smoking Slippers - This has become my “wear with everything” shoe, and I truly believe that animal print is the new neutral.  

Orange Bow Ties - I have a stupid celebrity crush on Dhani Jones and his bow ties are included.  I had been looking for a cute, girly version of a bow tie and found an awesome orange ditsy floral print one.

Trader Joe’s Wasabi Seaweed Snacks - Fair warning, if you don’t like fishy sea taste or super spicy tastes, then this is not for you.  Otherwise, at 60 calories a pack, these thin seaweed crisps are packed full of salty, slightly fishy, spicy seaweed flavour.  

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 - I’m a convert.  At first, I thought the ‘phablet’ was comically huge, but that screen real estate and the stylus come in handy when I need to create graphics on the go or just quickly jot down a note.  Autodesk’s Pixlr Express and Sketchbook Express and Dropbox make creating and editing graphics breeze and I can easily go from tablet to PC.  

What have you been into for the past month?



Photo credit: verypurpleperson http://www.flickr.com/photos/verypurpleperson/7730190894/ under CreativeCommons 2.0 Attribution License

I was having a conversation with a friend today about maxi dresses, prompted by the latest #girlwithcurves post here: http://girlwithcurves.com/post/49498557696/maximum

She asked: Chrystal, on girl w/curves website she talks about having a maxi dress as one of those classic staples (paraphrasing).  I would think that, unless you have a flat stomach and butt, that a maxi dress would just HIGHLIGHT all those areas you want to hide.  I like maxi dresses but for the curvier woman it doesn’t seem like a smart move.

True or False?

The answer is definitely, false.  Dresses are wonderful things for female figures.  We all want to cover up and hide what’s not flattering to us, and what better way to do it other than a swath of graceful fabric?  The point is to make sure you have the right fabric and the right fit.

There are a number of different kinds of maxi dresses, and what looks good on you will depend on the fabric and cut.  Heavier jersey fabric will drape well and skim over your curves without clinging to any one place, and lighter ephemeral fabrics will float and billow for smaller figures.

For pear shapes (smaller on top and bigger through the midsection and bottom) the empire waist style works well.  A dress that hits high at the bust and skims over the rest of your body without hugging you in the midsection will be very flattering.  Detail up top will draw the eye upward.

For apple shapes (bigger on top and smaller on bottom) you want a style that gives the illusion of larger hips.  Looking good in your clothes is all about proportion, so embrace prints that fill you out on the bottom and details like v-necks up top.   Peasant dresses that have deep scooping necklines, come in at the waist and have ballgown-type bottoms will also flatter.

Straight up and down?  Tank dresses like the one above will work for you, but for a bombshell look, go for embellishments on top AND bottom - ruffles, layers, and the like.

Curvy on top and bottom?  Lucky girl!  Avoid spaghetti strap dresses if you’re plus sized or don’t want to draw attention to your arms,  but you can get away with most styles.  

Petite?  Stick with simple styles.  You don’t want to drown yourself 

Choose dresses with cap sleeves or longer if you are self conscious about your arms.

Keep in mind that a chevron print ( stripes in a V pattern) draw the eye inward and are quite slimming and viva la summer! Long live the maxi-dress!