Beach Watches

Just wanted to share a great deal for all those cheapskates out there (like myself). I am one of those secret couponers, and love MyPoints.com and QuickRewards.net. I just like getting something for nothing....

Ever since I went on vacation last December I have wanted a beach watch. I know this is a weird concept for some. But basically, it is a watch that does not have a metal casing to get a thousand degrees in the sun, and that will tell you what time it is so you will not miss happy hour at the bar. When I was in Fiji I missed out on two awesome (and free) opportunities to make a shell necklace and weave a palm-frond basket at 2PM. Apparently I am a really bad judge of 2PM from the location of the sun and the casting of my shadow, because I was late for both. I found a watch in the duty free catalog on the plane that was $40. A little much for the three times I would use this in a year. Today I found one online for $2.51, and free shipping. And so I jumped. And now I am sharing, in case anyone else is needing of such an item.

http://qrdeals.com/2011/03/waterproof-ion-watch-2-51-shipped-after-coupon/

The Lowly Postcard

I am a total sucker for a handwritten letter or thank-you note or even the lowly postcard. From previous posts on my blog, I think you guys know that I tend to spend a lot of time and money at Hallmark. In college I discovered Papyrus, the ritzier version, and I have recently discovered TokyoPenShop.com for all of my fine pen needs....

When I buy postcards, though, I rarely send them. They aren't of the "Aloha from Hawai'i!", "Bula from Fiji!", "Bonjour from Paris!", variety - they are the beautiful pictures of beaches and bures and Eiffel Towers taken with a much better camera lens, by someone who may have had a photography lesson in his life. I save them in a big stack for no apparent reason...it is just clutter. But pretty clutter.

I was recently introduced to a business called CellPhonePostcards.com that takes pictures you have taken yourself (from your own camera?!) and prints it on a postcard and sends it for you - and the first ten are free. I don't know how their business model is successful, but I am running with it. It is kind of funny to think that the postman has seen me in a bikini next to my sandcastle that I helped build in Fiji...but it has got me to send postcards.

I sent my first ten (free ones) out the first day I stumbled across this site. I am now thinking about what to do with all of those other postcards I have collected in my various travels. Maybe make a scrapbook? It would have been great had I had the forethought to send them to myself with the stamp of the country from which they came, then I would have an even better collection, but I didn't. Or I could not have been selfish and actually sent them to people I care about....but postcards do get a bad wrap sometimes. They are kind of like the 'Na-na-na-na-na!' of all correspondence. "Wish you were here!"......sometimes can be misinterpreted as "Wish you were here, chump?" (If you were wondering, I sent the postcards to the guy I vacationed with so he'd have some of the pictures off of my camera, and it wouldn't be like *that*.)

Anyways, I was impressed with the site, and wanted to share. :-) I vow to make a better use of my postcard clutter this year, and also be better with mailing other things like thank-you notes, sympathy cards, birthday cards, and anything else where I can use my new favorite pen. :-)

A New Beginning Deserves a New Kind of Pen

I know I left abruptly for a year there.....things in my life are going pretty well at this juncture. I have had a lot of cool vacations since then, and funny things have happened to me. I just wanted to say that I am coming back....for real this time. No joke. :-D

I just wanted to let you in on a secret obsession of mine while I'm writing this re-introduction. And it scream nerd-alert! I was always the kid who liked it the end of summer when KMart would start stocking the back-to-school supplies (I was a good student and teachers liked me), and it has carried over into my adulthood. I have developed a serious love affair with Japanese gel pens. The gel pens that are offered in the USA are too think to keep accurate checkbook records, so the true stationary connoisseur's choice are those meant for the Asian market because of their intricate and complicated kanji. I give you this, my dearest blog readers http://www.tokyopenshop.com This is Nirvana for office supply geeks such as myself!!!! The Uniball Signo RT .38 is my new favorite pen (in all kinds of cool colors!)- and it is $1.50 - that easily trumps my old favorite Dr.Grip pen at $7.50. They have so many cool things on this site. It makes me want to work for this company and/or learn Japanese. Look at the cute flashcards in the shapes of rams and ducks (I bought the polar bear one!), look at the funky clips that replace those ugly bull clips in the shapes of pigs and planes and strawberries (I bought the hippos!). Look at this site and you will wonder why office supply stores in America haven't caught on that cuteness is an important factor? Every Japanese person knows the innate value of all things cute....

Enjoy the romp through the TokyoPenShop's specialties. I am so happy to support this great company who ships fast and are just a wonderful business - that happens to be based in the good old US of A.