Clearly, I love taking phone photos. This is not a shock to a single one of you, I’m sure. I also love seeing them in print. I have done various versions of this including Printstagram and Walgreens prints of my Instagram masterpieces. I have been pleased with those results but I am always looking for a new service to take the Instagram phenomenon to the next level.

About 2 months ago, a company called Printic got in touch with me to check out their app. Basically their app allows you to upload photos from your iPhone, Instagram or Facebook, add a note and ship to anyone in the world*. The 3×4 prints ressemble a polaroid type style to allow for the messages along the bottom. All for $.99. That includes shipping and all fees.

So to try them out, Printic gave me a few credits to try out. I quickly pulled up a few pictures from my trip to Arizona and sent them to my favorite ladies THOUSANDS of miles away from me. I was really drawn by the ability to surprise the recipients. You connect it right to your Contacts in your phone and ship away. For each girl, the whole process took no longer than 3 minutes to upload, label and ship 3 pictures a piece. I also sent a set to myself to see it in person. I LOVE them. They are great quality and come in the cutest little packaging. I have them in my office at work and everyone has commented how cute they are and what a great gift idea it would be.

But since I sent to 3 of my favorite ladies, I asked for their reactions. I didn’t tell them I did it and they just showed up.

“The Polaroid lives on! In a time when so few of my photos are offline, it’s great to have a good quality hard copy of my Instagrams…which are usually my favourite photos anyway! Nice work!” – Alicia from Life with Ladies

“I received these photos as a surprise in the mail and it completely made my day! I almost never get around to printing pictures anymore, so to have some of my favourites magically arrive was awesome!! I can’t wait to send some out myself.” – Brandee from Chill Mama Chill

“I love the printic pictures Brandy had done for me. They’re great quality and the perfect size. Now I get to relive one of the best weekends of my life every time I look at them.” – Katherine from Somewhere In The Middle 

I was so pleased with the whole process and can say I will do it again. When a friend needs  pick me up. When I want someone to remember a special event we shared. When I just want some cute things for myself. It is going to be used again and again.

The app is free in the app store, so I encourage you to at least download and take a look at it. $.99 to make someone’s day.

To sweeten the deal, Printic is giving away 6 credits to try them out. We are going to go simple to enter this giveaway and just leave a comment of the photos you have that you would want to surprise someone with! I will draw for the winner Friday June 21st at noon. All readers can enter since Printic ships internationally.

*Printic provided me with free credits to try out their product. I also liked them so much I ordered more on my own.

Ever since Ollie stopped looking like a blobby newborn, people have claimed he is my spitting image. I’m not gonna deny it. He looks just like I did as a baby. We have the same eyes. Same hair color. Same expressions. It’s uncanny sometimes.

But with the looks comes the personality. He is a daredevil. The messy one. The one to get into everything. The one to look for trouble. Me. Me. Me. Me. Right now, it is just comical but I know what’s coming. In a few years, we are going to be at each other’s throat. He is going to pout and give me the silent treatment and say “nothing” is wrong. He is going to push the boundaries on everything. I will see it coming sometimes…and sometimes I won’t. It ain’t gonna be pretty. Wanna know how I know this? Because someone else has a spitting image too:

The brown eyes. The course hair. The smile lines. Landon is Kevin. We didn’t notice it as early on as with Ollie but he is his daddy. And along with all of those physical traits, they are the same people. Landon is almost 4 and asks for a bib. He hates getting his clothes wet. He is cautious {most of the time} and teeters on the scared and uber confident line. He is Kevin…through and through. The ycan push each other’s buttons like no other. Landon starts the whining the minute Kevin walks into his room in the morning. there is no reason…just pissy pants. I can walk in, and he is perfectly fine. They “AHHHHHHH” at each other and fight like no other. They are too alike.

Because of all of that, Landon is an obvious mama’s boy. And after my 4 day trip away from them all, Ollie immediately fell hard into the daddy’s boy role. Soon after that trip was when he weaned from nursing and daddy took on the bottle role a lot. Ollie lights up when daddy shows up and leaps from my arms. I guess you can say we have the perfect balance. We can all talk each other down from the ledge in the future. We know how to team up on a hard day. We….have met our matches.

If you are new here, a little background. I am a web developer by day. I work on this product right hurr. Those margins? My handy work. That login? ::dust shoulders off:: So with those skills on mah resume, I get asked to help with html and css problems from a smattering of folk. I help figure out alignment issues, word press quirks and show how to diagnose errors. In doing so, I have opened some folks eyes to a handy little tool they can get for free.

Chrome Developer Tools

Wait wait wait…don’t glaze over. I know it sounds fancy but it is really quite simple at the core. A tool to help you learn basic HTML and CSS. And to show you, I even made a video!

How To Investigate HTML and CSS with Chrome

In part 1, we have the basics. How to investigaet your problem and quickly test the fix right there in teh browser without touching the real code. This is also helpful to learn some hands on CSS. You can change anything you want and see what happens…and no worries of breaking something!

How to Commit Your Changes in Thesis

So that gets you the basics but now what do you do if you want to change that actual thing? Well you can pass along to your designer/webmaster, you can edit the files through FTP or on your server if you have access OR if you have the Thesis theme, you can do it right in the dashboard. WHAT WHAT?! Yup. Thesis has a nice feature to allow you to add CSS and javascript in a custom file that will override all the theme styles. So I made part 2 to explain that

So there ya go. In a limited nutshell, this is what I do all day. I reverse engineer code all damn day with these tricks. The developer tools can do even more if you know what to do. I advise googling it and you can find all kinds of stuff. Go…be free…CARPE DIEM AND SHIT. -Signed, Resident web developer posing as a blogger

First thing’s first. I have a pale complexion  Not fair but not olive. Just kinda ‘meh. I freckle {daywalker?} in the face and usually burn quicker than the husband. All that said, I like the way my skin looks with some color. But I also hate cancer. So tan in a can for me.

Some of you may be saying “wait you already wrote about sunless tanning” and to that you would be write. It is actually a pretty popular post but recently, I stopped being able to order it on Amazon. It was really gone gone. I wept. It was a mourning process but then I had to regear for summer. No one wanted to see my  pasty ass.

I decided to try to stay with L’Oreal and tried their next level of more instant sunless tanning vs gradual. Sublime Bronze. While it worked well and tanned the hell out of me quickly, there were a few cons: stickiness and ability to mess it up. I always put on sunless lotion after a shower. Immediately. Your pores are open and the lotion will glide easier. The Sublime Bronze worked if  I was stupid fast about it. If it started to dry in anyway, it would get sticky and not budge. Then it would look crappy where it stuck. It didn’t happen every time but it was still a pain. Then I would be sticky for another 30 minutes. Usually it wasn’t a big deal because I would just get ready in my birthday suit and be fine for clothes by the end but still. Blech.

So I was out shopping for other stuff and ran across this self tanner at Victoria’s Secret. I honestly have no idea why I decided to try it out. I knew nothing of it but the smell alone was pretty great. That was the main thing I missed from the Sublime Glow. A pleasant scent going on (note they are all going to have a smell once they process on your skin..just chemistry folks but it helps if it didn’t smell shitty to begin with). It is made with avocado oil and goes on so smooth. It is a bronzer so it is DARK when it comes out the bottle (just like Sublime Bronze) and has some shimmer to it for evening out your complexion. I love the immediate color and the end result. I do it about every 3-4 days and I feel like that works well. I don’t get to a weird color and still have a glow. I also try and do a sugar scrub on my skin once or twice a week to help.

Sunless Tanning Tips

• BLEND BLEND BLEND – Keep rubbing it in until it is hard for your hand to move anymore. On your arms, start with more at your shoulders and work down to your wrists. You want the least amount there because you don’t want a line when you was your hands. I also blend onto the top of my hand a bit to work against that. Same for legs and ankles.
• Remember the tops of your feet. Trust me.
• Don’t wear something nice that day. It is going to get off on it. Most of my stuff I don’t give a crap but just know that.
• For better results, shave on the day you are applying. Sugar scrub can help even out rough spots that tend to soak up more and get darker. Exfoliate those elbows, folks!
• Use a tiny bit mixed with moisturizer for your face. It will give you color without over doing it. I do this more often in the week since I wash my face more.
• Need more skin tips? Check out my post on glowing.

Happy Tanning!

Let’s get something stated right off the bat here. I’m type A and a web developer. I started this blog over 5 years ago. When I bought my own domain and fired up word press, I did all the design myself. I couldn’t fathom paying money for something a) that made no money and b) was kind of my day job. I’m not a graphic designer (just a design school reject) but I had the technical expertise to do it, so I did it. I picked a palette based on the fact that I like day glow yellow and can NEVER wear it. I learned Photoshop enough to make headers and buttons. I pinged my designers at work to help me learn channels and patterns. While it took me YEARS, I made it a learning experience and I can’t regret that.

With all that said, I wanted something more polished. Something unique. Something I couldn’t do myself. I started looking around at blogs I liked and what I thought I might want and I as quickly exceeding my skill level. I spent MONTHS looking at fonts because I am too damn picky. I wanted to stick with similar colors because I just like them and black and white photos slide right in so nicely. No hours in PS for me. I talked to many of you internet folks. Then I started pinteresting and landed on IROCKSOWHAT’s stuff (she is the pinterest master, y’all). I already followed her and such so I reached out about what I wanted. I didn’t want a full design. I just needed pieces parts. I could do all the code and CSS work, I just needed art. After hemming and hawing, I found my own inspiration…my kids:

I loved the look of sidewalk chalk. I found some fonts I was in love with that ran with it. I played around on my own and realized my big lacking point was the actual drawing part. So cue Jess and her awesomeness. I asked for doodles with a small list of things that represented me and the boys. Trains, technology, monsters, sneakers, etc. In no time, I had a folder of adorable doodles that I was in love with. Voila:

BAD ASS  right?

Next I found some concrete background images for free and adjusted the color and contrast to get the background I wanted. Tiled that bad boy as a background image and focused on a “see through” header.

Then I used my connections and  bugged my designer at work(Hi. Christine! She was the Stark Industries’ receptionist in Iron Man 3…you see her for like 1 sec but still) to teach me the ways of channels in Photoshop and I made those cute ass doodles look like sidewalk chalk ::brushes shoulders off:: Then I found my fonts after searching free fonts all over the place. KG Cold Coffee and KG Makes You Stronger ended up the winners. I am quiet pleased.

Many thanks to the truly talented Jess from I Rock So What. If you are in the market for some design help, I can’t recommend her enough. She has even been uber patient with me being such a slack ass. Gummi bear explosion to her. Her prices are great for someone starting out!

So yeah, that was a lot of rambling but a number of people asked me about design and concept privately and I thought I would explain my process even if it bored you to tears .

P.S. I dropped the moonshine tag line because while true, it didn’t give the right first impression about what I write about. It fit Twitter more to me. I never shine much on the blog but I mom the shit out of 2 boys

Every time I try and write a bio about myself, a short list of adjectives and nouns always seem to fall out onto the paper without much thought.

Wife.

Mother.

Hopeless nerd.

Runner.

And then I have to think about my passions:

Helping moms.

PPD awareness.

Breastfeeding support.

Education.

But with both lists it always merges into my love for a community of working moms. It’s hard shit, y’all. Besides the obvious time crunch, there are pitfalls in being a working mama. How to cook in 30 minutes. How to maximize your time together as a family. How to still look cute. How to make friends. How to feel sexy. How to teach our kids independence. I love helping people and my own demographic is a great place to start.

Want to hear me ramble more about why I decided to work, why I keep doing it and where my motivation comes from, hop on over to Katie’s blog today where I am doing just that.

“…While I love providing my children with what they need to grow and all the love that goes with it, my brain needs more. It needs complex problems to solve in code. It needs creativity in web design. It needs an outlet to be me. Not mom. Not wife. Not activities director. But the nerd who does long division for fun. It is the pro and con of being an engineer. I need problems…so I can fix them. I’m sure there is a support group for this kind of thing but where’s the fun in that….” [keep reading]

I have seen a lot of chatter lately about the smirk outbreak of the internet.  Some blame McKayla. Some consider it the new duckface.

But not me. I embrace it. It’s me. Haters gonna hate but it’s my general attitude most of the time.

For instance “meh. this hair didn’t do shit like it was supposed to”

or the “I give no fucks, mustard stain” {note this is enhanced with my impressive eye brow arch}

or the “stop pulling my mother fucking hair while nursing, kid”

or drunk

I own it. Main reason, it’s just a natural  thing for me. My smile lines prove it. I have always favorited to one side. I’m sure my mother can provide some back up here. Wrinkles don’t lie, y’all. It is just my thing now…apparently. So much so that it was referenced by name twice this week:

I want to change my low fuel light to a guy, with a @mannlymama smirk, flipping me off.

— kenny (@smonkyou) May 30, 2013

Oh and I came through. Don’t you worry.

@smonkyou don’t think I forgot. twitpic.com/cuk57c

— Brandy (@mannlymama) May 31, 2013

And then Katie tried to mirror the awesome:

Channeling my inner @mannlymama with a smirk-fest.

BIG smiles are reserved. usually when Ollie laughs so hard he snorts or there is a random dance break from Landon. And I am going to be honest, the wrinkles don’t help much. They just jump right out with a big ole squinty smile. It is what it is but I can still hate on them.

and if none of this proves to you that it isn’t just an act. I give you genetics:

you get some freaking adorable children. Just sayin. Also? I REMEMBER HOW TO USE MY CAMERA, {i think}.

If you recall, I held a giveaway for Gelaskins a few years ago. I have known of their awesome for quiet sometimes. I have had skins for iPhone 3GSs and 4s. Hardcases for iPhone 4s and 5s. We have gifted skins for a Kindle Fire. What can we say? We are fans. Then recently Kevin and I both got new MacBook Pros for work. The exact same ones. Sometimes we would look at the coffee table and say “hmm wonder which one is mine?”. We had a problem that needed fixing, even if it was textbook first world. I reached out to Dana at Gelaskins and asked if she would help for a review of their laptop skins. Voila!

They are made of a thick, tough polycarbonate material that is easy to put on. You can restick it while trying to line it up and not worry about tearing it. They have skins for pretty much anything. Laptops, smartphones, XBoxes, Nintendo DSs, etc. They can fit all around them (front and back) or just one part if you want. I just got the cover of my laptop but you can do the keyboard and bottom too. With custom made one, you can even have the Apple logo cut out!

I chose the pattern Trapezoid Love by Melanie Mikecz.Well I loved it so much, I ordered the iPhone5 Hardcase to match!

Then I was on a roll and needed to SKIN ALL THE THINGS (that sounds weird). So I customized my iPad too!

This was a Instagram shot I took back a few months ago. The process of customizing was super user friendly and quick. Choose an image and slap that puppy on there. Then done.

Once again, the quality of the skins is really great. It isn’t just a standard sticker. They don’t budge. I had one on my old phone and it was manhandled and thrown in my purse. Never an issue. It doesn’t protect you from dropping and cracking your screen, but no skin would. The hardcases are really great in that arena (only available for iPhone at this time). Kevin is the picky one about phone and gadget coverings and even through all the cases he has had, he always comes back to Gelaskins because of the great look and quality.

So now it’s your turn! I have 2 gift cards for $25 waiting for YOU! I will draw on Monday

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I’ve been a bad blogger. I’ve been absent here. Life is busy right now. Really really busy. I hate not having time to write. I have 27 posts in drafts. That has never happened. I just get out of the shower and enter a title and a brain dump never to return. It sucks but it is what it is. I am not beating myself up over it…too much. My only real regret is not documenting the family goings on for future reference. Every once in awhile I see a post about Landon as a baby and remember why I started doing this. Even if it gets no traffic {yes, I watch traffic..I don’t feel bad about it} and no one else cares, I do. So I am going to try and be better about doing a monthly update about us all.

Me & K

• 9 months on, 9 months off – Well I didn’t need the 9 months thanks to STRESS, STOMACH BUGS and SHINGLES, I lost the weight pretty quick. Add to that, I didn’t gain as much this go round. So HOORAY.
• I got a promotion at work. Next level up {our titles are silly so I will spare you} but it is nice to see I am appreciated…especially after a year where I was gone for 10 weeks
• We finally decided on a cleaning crew. They are cleaning as I type. Just straightening up for them to come helped clear my head a little. I am hoping this is a huge boost to our life.
• We got a new TV because ‘Merica!
• Kevin went out for a manager position at work and we are waiting to hear about that.

Landon

• Landon is thriving in preschool. He loves his friends, teachers, learning…all of it.
• He knows how to write his first and last name. Asks us to spell other names. He even made Ollie a card that we have now hung on his wall.
• He knows most of this letters and numbers.
• He is in love with Word Girl and we love her too. Every night he watches an episode before bed and then he, I and Ollie do the Captain Huggy Face dance. It is one of the highlights of my day. Ollie really dances too.
• We are now planning a Word Girl/super heroes party for his birthday. If he still loves her at Halloween, we are going to have the BEST family costume set. SOMEONE INVITE US TO A PARTY.
• He is very 3 some days. Complete with “I’m not talking to you” and “You are making me very cross”. Then he turns around to tell you “I Love You” randomly and want to snuggle. THREENAGER!
• He still eats really well. He is more reluctant to try new things but our only rule is he has to try it. If he doesn’t like it, that’s ok. We rarely have a outright refusal.

Ollie

• He still only has 2 teeth and 2 huge bulges for his top front teeth. They have been swollen for months. Poor kid.
• He went through a phase of really only wanting sweets and purees and now is back to eating everything with his hands. Thank lawdy.
• He walrus crawls.
  
• He says Mama and Dada. I don’t think he puts it to us, just his preferred sounds. He also makes motorboat noises when playing. You can hear in the video below.
• He and Landon can now interact more including playing at the sand/water table and chasing each other. The other night they were on the deck. Ollie was watching K mow and I was watching from the kitchen. Landon was just playing and went over and said “Hey, my sweet baby.” and gave him a hug. Then walked away a few steps and went back and gave him a kiss on the head. He never knew I was watching. And now I am dead. DEAD FROM THE CUTENESS, I TELL YOU.
• He sleeps from 7pmish to 7amish. It is glorious and I never take it for granted.
• He is still getting about half breastmik and half formula a day. I still have a boat load in the freezer. I am forever grateful to Anna .

Jack

• He still loves his baby. Oliver’s favorite toy is his hot dog. So I throw for Jack, he brings it back and Oliver gets it. Rinse and repeat. I tried to get it on film but got this instead:

So that’s us. Soon I will come back up for air and get some new stuff out but for now I trudge along. Thanks for stickin around.