Random crazy prices on Amazon
January 14, 2012 § Leave a Comment
I was just doing a bit of shopping on my go-to site (Amazon, clearly) and noticed something strange with pricing.
First, for Puro Caff, which I use to clean my espresso machine (and you should, too, it’s amazing):
First price, fine. That’s about the average price for a 20 oz thing of Puro Caff. But the second, identical product with a slightly different label — $113? That’s quite literally a $100 difference between Puro Caff sold by Amazon and a third party, which is RIDICULOUS. Unless it’s signed by the inventor of espresso or something.
And second, my favorite mouse cushion:
Price I pay, again, fine. $14 to avoid carpal tunnel is a pretty good deal. But wait a second– list price $711.00. No, I didn’t get the decimal wrong, it really says seven hundred dollars for a wrist cushion, and that you ‘save’ $697.55 when buying on Amazon. This little guy is $11 at Staples, so you’re not fooling me, Amazon.
Let’s hope this is a bug, because y’all, Amazon’s pulling some weird shit if not.
My 3 favorite talks from Internet Summit 2011 (#isum11)
November 15, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I made a video about what I thought about the first day of Internet Summit.
Enjoy.
Inspirational person: @markjsaldana
November 15, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Mark isn’t a celebrity. He’s a marketer for Box.net.
But he’s really good at his job. I don’t know Mark other than via Twitter – but he’s kind of a friend now. If we lived in the same city we’d probably be real friends. Instead of fake friends? Whatever. This dude is funny. I wish he were my real life friend.
Why is he inspirational?
- He rocks at marketing.
- He’s funny.
- He’s always kind.
Y’all, it’s 1 am the night before Internet Summit, so this is going to be a short post.
Check out some of Mark’s work on the Box blog – I really like the way he writes. Go follow him on Twitter if you enjoy giggling. If you do not enjoy giggling, please don’t read my blog.
Sorry if this made you blush, Mark.
On the fence: Old Navy’s pufferizer commercial
November 7, 2011 § 2 Comments
Shall we all watch this commercial together?
I have two things to say about this- one as a marketer, one as a woman attempting to be stylish. But first, the good news.
1. This commercial is legions better than the terrible spots Old Navy has been force-feeding us for years.
I refuse to link to those mannequin commercials on principle. Dare I say it? Are they over? ……please, commercial gods?
I don’t know if Old Navy got a new agency or what, but this is much better. It reminds me a bit of the Dell ‘lollipop’ commercial from a few Christmases ago:
Both have an adorable, Dr. Seuss-esque factory and bright colors. Both are enjoyable spots. Well done, Old Navy.
Now on to the bad news.
2. Who the hell wants to look ‘puffy’?
The last time I wore a puffy coat was circa 1998. And I was 8 years old. Puffy coats are not exactly flattering. They’re great for kids and Minnesota, so emphasize the kids coats in NC and the adult ones in Minnesota. It snows maybe twice a year in Chapel Hill, and I have never been cold enough to wish I had a puffy coat. I’ll stick with wool.
Wool is chic. 'Puffy' is not.
As much as I appreciate the non-suckiness of this commercial, I refuse to endorse the wearing of a puffy coat above the age or temperature of 10.
Friday finds: NEXT for Women, stuffed chicken and some pretties
October 28, 2011 § 3 Comments
I’m going to start a new weekly thaaang and post some things that I’ve found during the week on Fridays. It could be a blog, a cool chair or a great recipe – whatever I find to be intriguing that week. So, here goes!
NEXT for Women.
I met with Whitney, one of the founders of NEXT for Women, for coffee on Thursday. Y’all, this is a great website. It’s for young women starting out in their careers (hello, that’s totally me). I talked with Whitney for a long time about things I have no idea about in the business world – like do I really need a masters? How would I ask for a change in responsibility, if I needed to? Go follow NEXT for Women on Twitter and sign up for their site. It’s a GREAT startup.
Some less serious things…
This stuffed chicken (click on the image to get to the recipe).
Of course, I had to make the recipe my own. Here’s what I did differently:
- For the stuffing, I used cream cheese (low fat), cilantro and green onions.
- Instead of puff pastry, I opted for phyllo dough. I like the consistency better: to me, puff pastry is too much bread. I much prefer the crunchiness and thinness of phyllo.
-
The paint color, the white brick, the rustic touches. So beautiful.
Crushworthy coat from Zara. Not to sound star-struck, but Pippa Middleton totally has this.
Did you find anything link-worthy this week? Tell me in the comments!
My favorite Klout perk: Macy’s
October 6, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I’m a sucker for free stuff.
Which is why I really love Klout perks. My Klout isn’t super high (a steady 51), but it’s good enough to qualify me for most of the perks I’m interested in.
Enter: Macy’s Klout perk. I signed up for it. They just said a ‘Macy’s gift card.’ No denomination specified. I was expecting maybe $5 and to walk away with like… salt shakers or something.
And then this came in the mail...
25 bones?? Seriously, that’s a big deal to my broke college self in need of stuff for the apartment! So excited. Thanks a gajillion, Macy’s. If you’re reading this, I’ll edit this post to include whatever anchor text and backlinks you want. I am so freaking excited about the stuff I got…
This is what $25 gets you at Macy's.
Not bad, eh? I’ve been wanting an infuser teapot for YEARS, but I’ve never sucked it up and paid the $20 for it. I walked past this one and saw that a) it was on sale and b) IT MATCHES MY DISHES!
I’m a gushy gush right now, because I paid nothing for the above items. Just because I’m influential. Or something. Here’s a nice article about Klout (from Mark Schaefer).
Happy Taylor on the way home from Macy's.
I guess I should talk about the experience of shopping at Macy’s.
I knew as soon as I saw the gift card that I wanted house stuff. Bek and I walked around for a bit looking at things, and it was difficult to decide what to get. The selection and prices were both fantastic. It would be a primo place to do a wedding registry, that’s for sure – and I will most certainly be registering at Macy’s when that time comes.
As far as quality goes:
This teapot makes a spankin’ good cuppa tea. I’m using loose white chai from Teavana, and it’s equally as good as tea from my infuser ball. The color of the pot is purty and I have no worries about it cracking since it’s stoneware. My pizza cutter seems nice, too.
Overall – I’m a happy girl.
ulta vs. sephora
June 6, 2011 § 3 Comments
I’ve only recently gotten into high-quality skincare and makeup. Like… 3 months ago.
I started buying from Sephora, because they have a store in a mall close to me. My first ‘splurge’ beauty purchase was Smashbox Photo Finish Primer. I bought it at Sephora, and the sales lady handed it to me in a pretty little bag (reminded me of Victoria’s Secret packaging) with a free sample of Laura Mercier face lotion and a rewards card with points on it.
Sephora's store feels NYC chic
Sephora boasts a great in-store experience. I left happy and excited to shop there again. Sephora really isn’t doing anything wrong.
But then I found out about Ulta. I decided to try them out online because Sephora didn’t carry the Burt’s Bees product I was looking for.
And ohhh, am I glad I did. Ulta is AWESOME. I bought two products from Ulta and got 4 free things. Not just samples – I got 3 of those as well, but an adorable umbrella and a whole makeup set from Benefit. I got WAY more in free stuff from an average order than what I spent. AND they gave me a coupon. AND I earned rewards. AND there’s a store near me.
Sephora does offer 3 free samples with every order, free returns and free shipping on orders over $50. But so does Ulta.
Sephora isn’t doing anything wrong, but why would I buy from them when I can buy from Ulta and get free stuff?
startups I love from TSW 2011
June 5, 2011 § Leave a Comment
Obviously I went to Triangle Startup Weekend on Friday.
There were several ideas that stood out to me, and I’m excited to watch them turn into full-blown companies!
Taylor’s faves from TSW 2011 [I'll write about each more in-depth later]–
- Knackeo, a place to barter / sell your skills to people near you. “everyone has a knack for something.”
- Spotlisted, “keep track of the places you visit, remember your trips, and share your experiences with friends.”
- Applaunch, helping launch a new app via landing pages
- the breakup button (maybe my favorite)-purge your ex from your online life in one click. So. Useful.
- Saturday @ 7, “where dates plan themselves” / “because men suck at planning dates”
- Sales Connectors, not for me, but for Bek. I am not a sales gal. Bek actually likes sales.
To all other TSW 2011 teams — I’d be happy to write about you on this site as well! These are just my absolute favorites. Y’all are ALL awesome. Shoot me an email / tweet me.
ice breakers at TSW 2011
June 3, 2011 § 2 Comments
At Triangle Startup Weekend, I got upgraded to a video camera from a regular camera.
We played an icebreaker game called “half baked” where you pick two words off the screen and make a company in 10 minutes based off those words. Eesh. I interviewed a few of the groups and found out about their ideas, check it out!
(computer pancakes, featuring Jake from Virante!)
(double rainbow meets Lebron)
(camel bak for martinis)
Shirts at TSW 2011
June 3, 2011 § Leave a Comment
I’m at Triangle Startup Weekend 2011 right now. I signed up to volunteer, and was quickly handed a camera and told to take pictures of funny shirts. ‘Cause that’s how we do it in RTP.
Y’all. I have only found 5 funny shirts thus far, and the last one isn’t even that funny. It’s just a Digsby shirt. I took a picture of it because I like Digsby. Entrepreneurs – aren’t funny shirts part of your wardrobe? I expect hilarity tomorrow.
Here are my five favorites from the first 2.5 hours:
the clear winner.
I don't know what this is, but it's awesome.
OM NOM!
"back in the day"... lulz
Self explanatory
Y’all. Impress me with your most ironic shirts in the coming days of #TSW2011. Also, come find me!
