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Friday, March 12, 2010

Fun free apps for writers and anyone who wants to organize their life


I stumbled upon this article yesterday from OnlineUniversities that shares a fantastic list of 100 free online apps for writers. As I flipped through, I found tons of great sites I'd never heard of that I think could help anyone.

Here are some of my favorites but the entire list can be found here.


Wridea (www.wridea.com)
I'm someone who's constantly having ideas for stories, movies, projects, etc. Usually I throw these ideas into my Gmail drafts where they live for all-time. Wridea has a great little free program on the web where I could be storing my Gmail draft-bound thoughts. Definitely a wonderful tool for anybody in the business of collecting inspiration.


HTML Book Maker (here)
This freeware will allow you to make your own e-book to share with friends and family. Could be potentially awesome for turning your own blog into something marketable and book-like. 

Emurse (www.emurse.com)
Emurse is an intuitive online resume creator. You can create a clean, streamlined resume then share it online with anyone- assured it will display properly on their computed since it's hosted online.


Elance (www.elance.com)
Interested in freelancing? This site will allow you to view jobs and bid on doing them. Lots of opportunities appear - everything from resume critiques to book writing. 



And one not on the list but I love it - 

Todoist (www.todoist.com)

I started using Todoist in college to organize an event I was planning. I love it's simplicity and recently installed the sidebar for Firefox so I can always keep my to-do list in easy reach. In sight, on mind. 

Thursday, March 11, 2010

Update


Hi all,

Apologies for no regular updates this week. I'll be hoping to post something today and/or tomorrow but I've been majorly busy this past week job searching and going on interviews.

Thanks so much for your understanding and support. Here's to the crazy DIY's, lovely recipes, and more I've got cooking and hope to share with you all soon!

xo
Annie

Monday, March 8, 2010

All about Oscar

As most of you know by now, my foremost passion and profession (usually) is in the film industry. Last night, for the first time in many years, I actually sat down and watched an entire Oscars telecast AND was completely delighted with it overall. I wasn't even upset by who won which award. 


Fresh off the heels of last night's red carpet (upon which I someday hope to be), here's my rundown of the BEST and the WORST of Oscar Night 2010.


BEST FASHION

Anna Kendrick, Nominated Up in the Air
Anna Kendrick 

Sandra Bullock, Winner (!) The Blind Side
She looked like a lovely Oscar! Oh, heart Sandra Bullock.
Sandra Bullock 

WORST FASHION

Sarah Jessica Parker, Presenter
Don't get me wrong- I'm a big SJP fan but this dress just looked like a big bag on her (to me). Nice to see her on the red carpet with her hubby Ferris/Matthew Broderick.
Sarah Jessica Parker 

Jennifer Lopez, Presenter (I was wondering what she was doing there...)
Was it me - or did this dress look like it was made of bubble wrap or something? Not my favorite.
Jennifer Lopez 

BEST and WORST FASHION IN ONE DRESS

Zoe Saldana, Presenter/Na'vi Representative
So I fell in love with the top of her dress... and really couldn't stand the bottom. Best = the top, Worst = whatever is going on in this skirt. Oh and her hair and make-up were equisite.
Zoe Saldana  

THE HOSTS

I've loved Steve Martin pretty much since the beginning of time and Alec Baldwin's resurgence has endeared me to him. I really enjoyed them as hopes but wasn't quite sold on Neil Patrick Harris starting the show. I love NPH too, but Steve and Alec are my old school stars for the night.

THE BEST JOKE

Okay, maybe it's because I'm Jewish but I seriously lost it when Steve Martin told Christoph Waltz (the Jew Hunter in Inglorious Basterds) that he had found the motherload of Jewish people in the Kodak Theater. In stiches. Heart Steve Martin.
THE WORST JOKE

Whatever Sean Penn alluded to in his presentation of Best Actress that made absolutely no sense.

BEST ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Without a doubt, Sandra Bullock topped my entire night. My favorite movie of all-time is While You Were Sleeping so it was definitely a Julia Roberts-finally-won moment for me. Everything from her going to thank Merryl Streep then turning away, to her heart-felt self-deprecating speech that ended with her calling Merryl her lover... it was amazing. Kudos to her. You can enjoy part of the speech here - Highlight's from Sandra's speech.

WORST ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

Sandy Powell, AKA the woman with the weird hat who won for best costuming. Literally the first words out of her mouth were, "Wow, I already have two of these..." She then proceeds to half-heartedly thank other costumer designers who don't win Oscars like she has. Maybe it was an attempt at dry humor but man, I wanted to rip the Oscar out of her hand.

BEST WIN

Kathryn Bigelow for Best Director and The Hurt Locker winning Best Picture. No better way to stick it to your ex-husband by beating him twice and having two gold men to show for it. I'm sorry, Avatar's prize is it's the highest grossing film of all time. Jim Cameron can have that victory but I'm so glad I didn't have to hear him give a speech last night.

Double awesome points for the first woman director to win an Oscar and Kathryn receiving it from fellow film director Barbara Streisand.  

WORST OSCAR SEGMENT

It's a tie! Kristen Stewart and Taylor Lautner speaking/doing anything at the Oscars - The Horror Movie Montage - The dance to original score segment! Really? Dancing to the score from The Hurt Locker? And not performing the original songs in favor of it? Craziness, sheer craziness.
IN CONCLUSION

Was it the best Oscar's ever? No, not really. Was it satisfying, were there beautiful dresses, were there ample close-ups of Clooney? Yes, yes, and yes. And for that, and Sandra Bullock getting a standing ovation and appreciation for what she's contributed to movies thus far, I say thank you to the Academy for Oscars 2010.

What did you think, my fellow film fans?

   

Friday, March 5, 2010

The Style Files: Organizing your home inspiration


Recently, I've devised my own little system of logging all the great inspirational home decorating pictures I find on the web. I've made an "Inspiration File" as a Word Document in Microsoft Word. When I find a great staircase or a kitchen I love, I copy the picture and paste it directly in the Word Doc. I'm always careful to save constantly.


Before, I was just throwing photos in a Gmail draft but that wasn't too easy on the eyes or easy to print if I need to. With my inspiration document, I can literally print out a book of all the things that have me thinking creatively about my home.


My way of organizing my favorite home decor across the web is just ONE of the many out there. Take these for example if you're still wondering how best to keep yourself ready to create:


Young House Love

In this post on their site, John and Sherry describe how they keep their thoughts straight by creating an actual physical catalog. They literally rip out pages, slide them in clear page protectors, and throw them in a binder for easy perusing later. Read more for their extra tips here

Craftgawker

This recent addition to the Gawker Family (along with WeddingGawker.com and FoodGawker.com) is a visual search engine of crafts, including art for the home. If you register with them, you can favorite any of the posts to keep them handy. However, this is obviously limited to whatever photos they have and not the entire interweb. Same goes for Etsy which will allow you to favorite items and sellers. I prefer to favorite sellers as items disappear the minute they are sold!

Houzz

I used Houzz to pull together my office space inspiration and I really love it as a design inspiration gatherer. They've got an easy to use interface, great search, and best of all a quick way to add any picture to your own "ideabook." You can make several, divisible however you'd like. This is also a great option for inspiration you can get to from any computer.  

Apartment Therapy

In a reply to a reader who's amassed hundreds of scanned photos and online ones, AT suggests the option of getting a specific small USB drive to store the photos and printing yourself an ideabook once a year through a site like Shutterfly. For more of that post, click here.

AT also recommends these 11 other options for storing online inspiration. Some are traditional (printing out and organizing by hand) and some are very creative such as using Flickr.


No matter how you organize, the trick is to find a system that works for you and gives you an easy way of creating and USING your style file.

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Congratulations to our Giveaway Winner!

Who's the chef ready to take on the Queen o' Butter and the WINNER of LivingwithAnnie's first ever GIVEAWAY!

Google Follower CHERYL WILSON! Congratulations Cheryl. I'll be contacting you shortly to claim your awesome cookbook.

Thanks to everyone for participating. I used random.org to generate a random winner and gave everyone who was also a Google Follower an extra entry. 

This giveaway was such a success, I'm definitely plotting another one soon (perhaps with Disney swag!) so stay tuned and get excited for your time to win next time!

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

PAULA DEEN COOKBOOK Giveaway! Enter now!

Hello all my lovely blog readers, today is the glorious day you can comment and enter to win this gorgeous tome of deliciousness....


How do you enter?

Leave a comment for me letting me know what your favorite Living with Annie post has been so far. I'd love to know what you guys are enjoying so I can put more of it out into the blogosphere.  
You have until tomorrow (Wednesday) at 9pm PST to leave a comment.

BONUS ENTRY - If you leave a comment AND are a Google follower, I'll give you a double entry in the giveaway.

The winner will be randomly chosen but it doesn't hurt to have two votes in there for your future cooking needs. Just make sure only to follow the blog if you actually are interested in following :)

Please leave contact information or check back on the blog on Thursday to see if you won. The winner will have 48 hours to claim their prize, after which I'll determine a new winner.

Much thanks to CSNStores.com and AllChildrensFurniture.com for sponsoring today's giveaway. They have a great selection of home stuff, accessories, and even kids bedding. Check out the bazillion things they have to offer here

Good luck everyone and happy cooking!

Monday, March 1, 2010

Giveaway Postponed til Tomorrow (Tuesday)

Hi all - I'm sorry to announce that the Giveaway for the Paula Deen cookbook will start TOMORROW, not today as originally planned. Thanks for your understanding and see ya tomorrow for giveaway awesomeness!!
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