The Simple Portrait Project

Cincinnatians, or those kinda close, be on the look out this Spring for The Simple Portrait Project. What a great and fun experience in getting family portraits taken! Plus, you walk out with your files of the photos you hand-picked on a CD to print and do whatever you want with. It's such a cool and laid-back experience; check it out http://thesimpleportraitproject.com/

Here's some of our photographs:

The Best "Time of the Month" and Fertility App

Platform: iPhone
Fee: Free
Version: 2.0 (iOS tested)

Planning to have a baby? Planning when to schedule a vacation? Always forgetting when your period is supposed to start again? The iPeriod app is a great organization and tracking tool, to store information about your menstrual cycle, and keep it discreet on your phone.

To use the app, you need to record some information about a couple of your past cycles: like when your last period dated, average length of period, and the average cycle length. You are also able to record symptoms, mood, and fertility…fertility details we’ll say. The app also has a alert system so you can receive a notice when you should expect your monthly present.

What makes this app great is the different options to view information about your cycles, which you select on the toolbar on the bottom of the app. You can visualize your cycle from a calendar view, with pink dates as period dates, and green dates as fertile days. From the calendar view, you can also make notes about how you’re feeling throughout the month, and find patterns as to when you can expect a PMS day, and try to avoid taking that out on your significant other….

For me, I would feel slight cramping and nausea in between my periods, and I was curious to see if my symptoms came back the same time each month. Upon using this app, I realized that my body was reacting to the time when I was ovulating. I also am aware that a couple of days before my period, I usually get a headache, so when I feel it coming on, I can take a quick look at the app, and know that the big P is coming. As I have my period, I record symptoms I’m feeling each day, and how long my period lasts, to keep the information current when the app factors my averages in length of cycle and length of period.

The next couple of viewing options also are very helpful: you can select the Summary tab and see your averages, like duration, and next expected period, along with the details of your last periods.

Here’s the great viewing option for all you planners out there, the "Next 12" tab. This projects your periods out for an entire year; great for when you want to plan a vacation, wedding, or any occasion where your period will totally cramp (no pun intended, well never mind, intended) your style.

I love this app, and I feel more in tune to my body because of it. It’s free so no harm in trying it, and there is also a Ultimate version that cost $1.99, where you can connect in forums and community and have more options in recording your symptoms and customizing your calendar to your design taste. 

Exercising with Your Kids

Here's a great video on how to have fun with your kids, and get some exercise too.

http://bit.ly/aTf7c5

The Holidays are Coming, The Holidays are Coming; The Best eCard App Results

It’s the holiday season, and time for those infamous holiday cards with pictures of your family all dressed up, in matching cheesy sweaters....

Considering sending ecards this year? I downloaded a sampling of greeting card apps and wanted to share the best apps for sending holiday cards this year, as well as a couple of the worst.

Honorable Mentions

American Greetings app for iPhone, iPod, and iPad: This app provides a wide and ever-growing variety of cards to choose from tackling categories such as holidays, sympathy, birthday, congratulations, love, etc. The best feature of the app is the capability of sending video cards, cards that you can personalize, or your creation using stock images/stickers or uploading your own photos.  There is so much to explore with this app; it’s a lot of fun to practice the features and send “just because” cards out to your friends (believe me, in doing this study, I sent quite a few to my husband to test out). It’s only $.99, and you don’t have to pay any fees for as long and as often as you use the app.

Get the app here

Frame Wiz for iPhone:  This is where the modern Christmas card comes in to play. You can still take that cheesy family picture if you would like, but why not upload it and insert it in a decorative frame through the app, to send out to all of your friends and family’s inbox? Save on print, postage, and time! The images used in the app are high quality photos. This app also allows you to share your card creation on facebook and twitter. This app is $.99.

Get the apps here

Duds

Hallmark app for iPhone: Not only does the Hallmark app not have nearly as many cards to choose from as American Greetings, they lack video cards, quality, and personal creation of cards. Also, the big kicker is that though the app is free, you have to pay  $.99 for each time you send a card.

D’cards for iPhone: This app just doesn’t work, and looking at the comments on the iTunes page for the app, others have written in saying the exact same thing-it doesn’t load to your phone. Good thing it was free…

Let me know if I missed a greeting card app that you think is great. I’m always up for re-reviewing so that the most accurate information is always presented.

Have Trouble Remembering Names? Namecatcher App Will Fix That

App Name: Name Catcher

Platform: iPhone

Version: 1.2

Fee: $.99

Get this app now

Have you ever had someone come up to you and start a conversation, and for the life of you, you couldn’t remember his or her name?  If you have a hard time remembering people’s names you meet, plus trying to remember where you know someone from, the NameCatcher app is a great little assistant on steering you clear from that awkward situation.

The name catcher app allows you to enter in a person’s name, label that person with a category of how you know them, i.e. around town, business, on vacation, restaurant/bar, etc. You can also give yourself a hint as to what connection you had with that person, and also if you wan to put them on your “A” list of people to stay in contact with.  You also have the capability to take someone’s picture and upload it to this profile (of course when you don’t think that would be weird for the other person).

When I first started diving into this app, I thought, yeah this is great, but when I’m at a social event, I don’t have time to just enter in all this data into my phone. There’s a feature that diverts this issue: a recording option. Just record yourself saying the person’s name, contact info, and what connection you made, and then go back in and create an account for them later.

Lastly, there is also an option to save this account to your phone’s contacts, which also keeps you from doing double duty work of re-entering someone’s info in your contacts.

This app makes me muchappier! 

Get this app now