June 2007

My youngest daughter once had a friend who’d say coolie when she saw or heard about something cool. If there were more than one, they were coolies. I say she once had her as a friend, because frankly she and her coolies got on my daughters last nerve. Not coolie.

Anyway, I found a few Coolies this week and wanted to pass them along to you. A few may apply to you, a few may not. If none interest you whatsoever, please forgive me and pretend this post never happened.

For Bloggers/Web Designers/Website Owners/Graphic Artists, etc:

Have you ever seen a font and wondered which font it was. There are so many varieties, now, it’s hard to be sure. When I first started out, there was pretty much Verdana, Arial, Times New Roman, Edwardian Script ITC, Courier, and Georgia. The rebels would branch out with Juice ITC, Kino, Edda, Enviro, and maybe one of the Copperplate fonts. Now you’d better be familiar with all of the above as well as Dirty Ego, High Strung, Adorable, Knitwits, and Kiss Me. Not kidding.

There are so many times when I’ll see a font and think how perfect it’d be for a project. I sit down at my Adobe Photoshop and tediously go through our insane font collection one by one. Eh, that’s so yesterday. I found a tool on MyFonts.com called What the Font?! You can upload an image with the font on it (what I did with a particular client’s business card), tap the button and, inside of a minute, it tells you the font’s name. You can also use an image’s url.

IF it’s unable to find your font, the site has a forum with font experts that are more than glad to help you out.

For Everyone:

See the gentleman sitting at the top of the post?…..I’m betting you didn’t miss him. He’s a QMiniMe creation. You send them your picture and they make a bobble head of, well….you! I swear, this is too adorable. Check out the website and see more of their creations. This is the sort of thing that would make the most amazing and fun Christmas presents in the world. Click the little guy, himself, to access the website - you’ll be amazed! They can hook you up with anyone you have a picture of - including yourself, your spouse, a child, your pet, etc.

For Anyone Looking to Save a Little $$$

Click HERE for some really great online Office Supply coupons. To the left you’ll find a long list of other categories such as pet supplies, tools, toys, jewelry, flowers, electronics, etc. Worth checking into.

For Those of us Who Are Sun gods and goddesses:

Did you know that people who drink green tea have lower incidences of skin cancer than those who don’t? It’s an antioxidant thing - and green tea’s packed. Hopefully my addiction to Starbuck’s Green Tea Frap will carry me and my skin through.

If the taste of Green Tea makes you cringe, first try combining it with some regular black tea. And by combining, I mean 95 percent black and 5 percent green! I’m a huge fan of Green Tea now, but I admit, it takes a little getting used to. Work your way up to a 50/50 percentage, then ease into the 100 percent green tea.

For Anyone Who Wants to Get Ahead:

I recently re-read a book that I thoroughly enjoyed the first time around (years ago). It’s called “Conversations with Millionaires,” by Mike Litman and Jason Oman. I’m now prepared to give the shortest book review you’ll ever see.

Read. The. Book.

Someone e-mailed me a great link earlier for another one of my blogs, Self Help Daily. I posted about it and got to thinking, Office Freaks would also like this information….. See, I’m always thinking of you.

So, here’s the link to my original blog post - see you there.

“You’re only as good as the equipment you use.”

If I’ve heard my husband (an avid golfer) say the above statement once, I’ve heard him say it a billion times. In fact, I’ve made similar statements in my “course” of the day - like in the kitchen. I love to cook and know that if you aren’t using quality pans, appliances, and utensils, your work is harder and your results aren’t as pleasing.

We both agree that the truth of the statement is even more vital to work than to play.

When it comes to Office Furniture (and Home Office Furniture), equipment, accessories, and Supplies, your brain knows (and responds) when you’re serious enough about what you’re doing to demand that your furniture and tools be just as serious about what they’re doing!

In the history of our home business, I’ve worked on the living room couch, at the dining room table, on the deck, at the patio table, even in the bath tub. However, when I’m stationed at a top quality desk like the Home Office Computer Desk CS170 from Saxen (pictured above) and sitting in a chair my body finds most agreeable, like the Geneva High Back Leather Executive Office Chair with Headrest (pictured below), the creativity flows SO MUCH more freely. It’s as though my brain cells say, “She’s serious about this, let’s give her all we’ve got…”

Since I need….no, let’s make that Since I REALLY need my brain cells to make a call to action more often, I’ve started doing all of my writing and brainstorming at my workcenter.

One of my favorite parts of my workday is when I come across fresh suppliers, online stores, and manufacturers. It’s like finding a new store in the mall you’d never seen before - everythings new and promising. I especially love when my new find is relevant to one of our blogs - then I get to tell others about it. Saxen Business Solutions is one you’ll want to check out. Not only do they have beautiful office furniture and accessories, they have some absolutely gorgeous artifical plants in their Interior Landscaping Department. There’s currently a stand off between a Spiral Rosemary Topiary and a Ficus Exotica Umbrella Spiral - they’re both vying for my attention. Fortunately I have more than one room in my home….

Something else I love about Saxen is the fact that they have a series of articles - and they’re very, very good! After you’ve browsed around the website and found all that your heart desires, knock back for a while in their library. Then?

Shop some more!

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The above is a paid for review - however the words and sentiments have my fingerprints all over them. I’m paid to look at the products and site, but I’m not paid to like them. When I give glowing reviews, such as this one, it’s because what I’ve reviewed is as good as it gets. I wouldn’t turn you on to something I wouldn’t use myself - I have too much respect for you to do that. - Joi

Never one to keep the good stuff to myself, I wanted to put this jaw-dropping offer in front of your eyes. Cafe Belmondo has a deal that’s too sweet to pass up. If you order two bags of their Artisan Roasted Coffee, they’ll send you a free coffee maker as well as a box of biscotti. I’m taking them up on it before they realize what they’re doing.

In addition to my beloved Tassimo, I have a regular coffee maker, but I’d like to have a second one to use strictly for brewing tea. Some of the best iced tea in the world comes from brewing it in a coffee maker.

But that’s not even the main reason I want to run with this.

The way I see it: They’re giving away an offer worth over $50.00 (shipping’s included in the deal) for under $10.00. They aren’t simpletons - they’re in business to make a profit. So, it stands to reason that they must KNOW we’ll want to order more of their coffee after we’ve tried it. That’s confidence! When someone has that much pride in what they do, I’ll always be first in line, coffee cup firmly in hand and smile firmly on face.

Free  12-cup  coffee  maker and  biscotti with $9.95 purchase of two bags of Artisan Roasted Coffee

The Sauder Willow Bay Collection is beautiful for any office, anywhere, but seems to be a perfect fit for a home office.

Like other people who work from home, I have a love/hate relationship with our home office.

On the love side, my heart skips a beat when I turn my computer on in the morning. I’m one of those freaks who loves the morning, anyway - everything’s ripe with possibility and promise. So when I turn the computer on, I get a little heady thinking about what lies ahead. I also love the bookshelves filled with books about dreams, mental fitness, health, cats, fashion, education, golf, sales, and every other topic we cover in our Web Publishing business. Then there’s a shelf for Nicholas Sparks, John Grisham, Agatha Christie, Lillian Jackson Braun, William Shakespeare, and the like. We keep the Dean Koontz collection in another room - the rest are, rightly, afraid of him.

I love our printer, our sexy little green lamp, our scanner…. All of it represents our home business and all of the love, time, and work we put into it. While that’s all very good and well, it’s also what leads to the hate end.

It all represents a home business. The first word (home) is the more important of the two, of course. So I confess that sometimes I wish that our home office were a little less business-y looking and a little more home-y looking.

In a nutshell, that’s what I love most about the Sauder Willow Bay Collection. It’s gorgeous and looks like it’s right out of Ethan Allen rather than Staples - which, ironically enough, is actually where I saw the collection.

The pieces in this post are all available at Staples.com and aren’t nearly as costly as you’d expect them to be. Of course, I just read about a cat that costs thousands of dollars, so nothing seems too high to me right now.

Click on any of the links or prettiful pictures to take a closer look and to see the entire collection.