Plastic Bottles Lighting Up the Lives of Many

A friend of mine just shared this and it really brightened up my day and made me smile. I love when something simple and inexpensive can be a brilliant solution to improving the quality of someone’s life.

Today Was a Good Day

Today was not just good, it was awesome actually. I completed an etsy sale. Etsy sales are very exciting for me because I list furniture items that I refinish/upcycle and local buyers are key because shipping these large items is cost prohibitive for the customer. Today my lovely buyer Camille picked up the sweet little blue Chippendale table I recently listed. I knew it was gonna be a great day!

So Etsy sales are excellent, but what else makes today so good? I just set up my Square account. If you are not familiar with Square (I was just introduced to it a few days ago) it’s a tiny credit card reader that plugs into an iphone and allows you to accept plastic with its nifty app. And you can link it to your bank account where the funds you accept are transferred nightly. And it lets you email or sms receipts to your customers. What about those darn fees, you ask? 2.75%…not bad huh? I did a little test- I wanted to make sure I set it up correctly. Not that set-up was complicated…it was actually super easy and fast but I’m sort of afraid of technology. I ran my credit card through for a dollar and it worked and I’ll be getting 97 cents tonight. Cha-ching. This so sounds like  a paid endorsement but I’m not quite as blog savvy (not yet at least) that I’m getting paid to say this. I just had to share the awesomeness that this little Square is. Oh wait- did I mention that all you have to do is go to their site and sign up for an account and they send you the device for free. I love free.

What other great stuff will today bring? Potluck at my friend’s house with the promise of Risotto, veg chili and cream cheese frosted chocolate cupcakes. Yay!

Black Kid’s Desk at Target

It’s hilarious when large retailers screw up their ads like this. I mean seriously…no one at Target caught this before it went online??? Well now (probably after some complaints) they list this product as Kool Kolors Computer Desk – Classic Black on target.com. I guess now all there is to complain about is how lame it is to spell cool and colors with a K.

Go Ahead, Sleep at Work.

Check email, yawn. Go to meeting, eyes glaze over. Eat lunch, still no energy. Today is one of those days where I am dreaming about a nap. I want to crawl under my desk and shut my eyes, even if only for 15 or 20 minutes. Ah, if only we had Energy Pods at work. (Yes, some companies actually do!) These pods are made by MetroNaps, a UK-based company that specializes in “corporate fatigue solutions.” I love it! yawn…

Pelican Chair, New at DWR!

Finn Juhl’s 1939 classic Pelican Chair is now available at Design Within Reach! “A chair is not just a product of decorative art in a space,” wrote  Juhl, “it is a form and a space in itself.” Beautifully demonstrating this idea is his Pelican Chair (1940), with its graceful curves that befriend the body and wrap the sitter in its embrace.  www.dwr.com

Steelcase Unveils Node Chair!

Steelcase has unveiled its new chair, node, at NEOCON. Sadly, I didn’t make it there this year, but that very same chair was actually unveiled- literally- in my office a couple of months before. My rep thought it might be of interest, so she (and the Steelcase rep that was to guard it with his life) brought it by one morning, shrouded in a white sheet. It was that special! It was that secret! There could be no risk of another vendor seeing it! (Luckily, I’m on the client side!) I wanted to blog about it then, but had to contain my excitement. I didn’t even really tell anyone about it because it was hard to describe simply with words and do it justice. Start telling people about a plastic tablet arm classroom chair and it’s hard for them to get past the image of standard horrible classroom seating. But this is a chair that won the Innovation Award in the Education Solutions category at NEOCON and that’s a big deal. Since we’ve established it’s hard to describe with words, I’ve posted Steelcase’s informative video instead.