Saturday, September 28, 2013

SF Zoo Adventure!

We went to the zoo!... a long time ago. Make that about one month two days to be exact :>

Some favorites :>



And the full slideshow :>



Have you been to the zoo lately? And does seeing the non-household animals amaze you as it does us?

Share your Comments below, we'd love to hear! :> xoxo



Wind Spinners, Stroller Babes, Happy Mommas

It's an oldie but goodie. (I'm trying to clean out my 2000+ pics on my tiny iPhone). This is from August 24th.



The rest of the raw photos are here :>



How many photos do YOU have on your smart device?

Share the numbers in the Comments below, we'd love to hear! :> xoxo



Franco Sarto's Venezia Shoes

I saw these shoes — Franco Sarto's Venezia— in Macy's many months ago. I stumbled upon them again today and couldn't help but try them on again— they didn't have my size last time. Macy's had the gold version and navy blue one. I like the navy version or the black one (below).

icon

They're just lovely— simple yet unique and the leather is soft. Their vibe is mature, casual, and elegant. I can imagine these shoes to be worn with a collared floral dress a la Michelle Williams, or flowy pants like Nicole Richie in Givenchy, or even with just simple, dark-washed skinny jeans.

Check them out at Shoes.com or your local Macy's.

What shoes have YOU been eyeing lately?

Share in the Comments below, we'd love to check them out :> xoxo



Thursday, September 26, 2013

Common Attributes Of Successful Start-Ups - Stanford's Technology Entrepreneurship (Assignment 2)


Attributes of Successful Start-ups (Assignment 2) Click to vote up 





1) Market Need: The ability to fulfill a need OR generate one.
2) Total Available Market, or the reach of the product: The more universal(ly applicable) the product is, the more likely it can gain traction/use/acceptance and therefore succeed.
3) Value Proposition: Separate from market-need, this addresses the actual value the product/service has to offer, and what it's worth to the consumer/purchaser.
4) Innovation: This could include building a novel product/service OR building upon/improving ones that already exist. 
5) Cost/Pricing, Ability to generate revenue: For most, to survive, the start-up needs to generate revenue on its own and/or be bought out, generating revenue via the new parent company. Pricing has to be finely tuned to maximize profit and cost has to be kept to a minimum yet not too low that it will be a detriment to the product/service.
6) Access to Capital: To scale beyond a typical angel-funded startup, it needs quick access to the capital and that is where VCs come in. It is very difficult to take the startup beyond incubation without those millions.
7) Company - Talent (inc. experience and knowledge), culture, leadership.
8) Open-mindedness, ability to put the consumer first - This may seem obvious but, I think, especially in the early stages, it might not be. The typical scene starts with an idea and a limited number of brains/views behind it. The creators need to keep a broad perspective of their users and different perspectives, and be able to implement its users'/consumers' feedback to continue to improve the product, satisfaction, and growth.


What else can you add to this list? Share below in the Comments, we'd love to learn more! :> :> xoxo



The Joys Of Potty Training



Comment, Like, Share! :> :> xoxo



Wednesday, September 25, 2013

Welcoming Autumn



Happy Autumn! :> :> xoxo

Check out more pics on Instagram :> xoxo



Life Lessons

By the time we become parents, we've hopefully learned a lot about life, enough anyway, to share with and teach our children for them to grow up to be healthy, strong, happy, and productive human beings, and hopefully with better experiences than we've had ourselves. That's what I hope for my daughter anyway.

These are some of the life lessons or tenets that I strive to raise her to do and believe.



What inspires you?

Share what inspires YOU in the Comments below, we'd love to hear! :> :> xoxo



Tuesday, September 24, 2013

Pre-Birthday Sunday Funday :>

Sunday was a busy day. The afternoon was spent at a picnic in the park with Nui Nui's school friends, followed by a lunch date for two (we eat lunch late :>), an evening-cake pickup, shopping for snacks, cupcake decorating, showers, crashing on the couch before the evening partying, and then party hardying with the extended fam. Fun and memorable.

xoxo to my babe who is TWO! today :>

Some of my favorite of the day/night.



And the slideshow :>



Monday, September 23, 2013

2nd Birthday Celebration At School!

Friday, September 20, 2013

Wednesday Hits At School

So Wednesday was a little less uplifting than Monday at Nui Nui's school. I continue to forget to do all the things I'm supposed to in our new environment. For starters, I brought Nui Nui to school in underwear and a diaper over but forgot to take the diaper off, as I was asked. I remembered but it was about 1-2 hours after I dropped her off and was at work.

Upon picking her up, the first thing I did, after signing her out, was read her daily notes. They noted my negligence in forgetting to take off her morning diaper and the fact that I still had not brought in a family photo for a project. I brought it in but it was in the afternoon and too late— they had done the project that day.

It proceeded by learning that Nui Nui didn't avoid the principal's office during nap time and had 4 accidents in the morning. WTF, was the feeling, and, in the end, it was discussed that Nui Nui is not ready for potty training. Sure enough, that evening, she told my dad she had to go to the bathroom. As much as she is not ready, I think that bringing her to the bathroom with the other kids helps, just as sitting at a table of other kids using sippy cups did. I'm not arguing though.

I'll be writing more in depth about potty training, this experience, and parenting in a future post. Until then, here's what Nui Nui did/learned on Wednesday and her notes. Below is also a pic I pulled from this week's Prezi. The caption was 'Learning to put tushies on the wall'.



TGIF, huh? We'll be busy this weekend with a school picnic on Sunday, birthday party that night, and planning til then. What plans do you have this weekend?

Share below, we'd love to hear! :> xoxo



Cute Toddler Mary-Jane Shoes By H&M :>

Behold, Nui Nui's latest pair of shoes...

I've said it before and I continue to say it, but I love H&M for their kid's shoes. They're affordable ($9.95-$12.95), stylish, comfortable, and even have arch support!

Check out Nui Nui's latest kickers— cute, subtly girl-y, and pretty unique. You can see her rocking them in action at her 2-year, well-child, doctor's visit.







What are your favorite shoes (kids or adults)? :>

Share in the Comments below or Tweet/Instagram us a pic, we'd love to see! :> :>

Please thumb and share this post as well, it means the world! xoxo



Nui Nui's 2 Year Well-Child Visit! :>

Nui Nui had her 2-year well-child visit yesterday and did really well. We avoided any and all tears. It helped that she didn't need any shots :> In fact, the doctor said she's all up-to-date and won't need any until she's 4. FOUR! (That doesn't include flu shots, which I am all for and we'll be doing next month...).



Nui Nui is doing really well (as if I needed to go to the doctor's office to know that :>). She's 3 feet tall and weighs 28.9 pounds, putting her in the 100th percentile for height (and head circumference) and 85%ile for weight. Nobody is taller than her, I told her :>

The doctor said she might be drinking too much milk so we'll see how we can maybe reduce it but I'm not too concerned and it won't be restrictive. I mean, she is a pretty tall kid so I don't think a little more would hurt. It's not like she's drinking soda or excessive amounts of juice.

As for word count, the doctor asked us if she knows 20 words...

As for phrases— can she put a few words together?... She has to say: 'I would like XYZ please.', if she's going to get anything from me :>

I filmed our visit and it honestly felt good to edit. Amongst the projects I'm working on, I must get back up and running. I'd be crazy not to. [...that was just a mental affirmation for myself... :>].

Enjoy and, as always, thanks for reading and watching! :>



In the meanwhile, I'm working on planning for Nui Nui's birthday. We've gotten her a lot of stuff already :> (haul to come? :>) and now it's celebrating with friends and family. Cake! Has been ordered! :>

How was your last doctor's visit?

Share in the Comments below, we'd love to hear! And please give this post a thumb or a share, it means the world :> xoxo



Raising Awareness And The Throes Of Hunger (**HealthyButJuicy**)

I wrote a piece on HealthyButJuicy.com— Raising Awareness And The Throes of Hunger.



Please check it out, share your comments and the post, and give it a thumb to support, it means the world! :> xoxo



Tuesday, September 17, 2013

Halloween At Target!

Not long after the #PSLs [pumpkin spice lattes] hit Starbucks, Halloween has quickly made its way to the shelves. I went to Target on a lunch break today and their Halloween section is gorgeous.

Here's one minute (4 videos broken down into 15 seconds) of some of the stuff they have in stores now :>

I didn't even touch the costume section... Still brainstorming ideas. What are YOU going to be for Halloween?

Target.com

Share in the Comments below, we'd love to hear! :> xoxo



Technology Entrepreneurship Part 1 - Assignment 1


This is my submission for Assignment 1  Why Do Startups Succeed When Others Fail?  of Stanford's Technology Entrepreneurship Part I.

Description

Special Instructions

Identify the start-up (name): Evernote


Describe the business (what it provides or produces) and how it is successful (number of users, market share, revenue).

‘Evernote is a suite of software and services designed for notetaking and archiving.’ [Wikipedia]. Their tagline is ‘Remember everything’. Notes can be organized, tagged, shared, searched, and commented on; and can consist of webpage clips, snap shots, audio recordings, typed notes, and even written notes. It is available on multiple platforms and for syncing to the cloud.
Funding $251M in venture backing
Number of Users: 65 million [according to maclife.com, http://shar.es/i8iEe]

Revenue: $45/year per premium user (offers freemium usage as well).
Estimated valuation: $1 Billion
Market Share: [via Onavo] US iPhone Market Share (defined as the number of US iPhone users that opened the app): 4.59%


List five specific, detailed reasons for its success.
1.   Universally useful – Human memory is limited and most humans need help remembering things—all sorts of things, from grocery lists to business plan execution tasks and beyond. This app can be useful to practically everyone in numerous contexts.
2.   Supports multiple platforms and syncs to cloud – Having the app/service open to multiple platforms allows for a wider audience of users. Having the data be able to sync makes the app more powerful and convenient.
3.   Features – The features are constantly updating, increasing the app’s robustness. Included, are the number of options for organizing, which is a fundamental functionality when you are gathering a lot of ‘notes’ from a lot of different sources to be used in a lot of different contexts. What good is it to keep something (a note, say) if you can’t find it? As such, Evernote understands the core need and user.
4.   Social Media and Partnering – Evernote is very active with its community.  They maintain Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube accounts, and their own blogs; they host events; they partner with other companies and apps, which spreads the word, taps into expanding audiences, and makes their app(s) even more robust. On a side note, I think their designs and website are well-crafted and uphold a solid image of the company for the public.
5.   Company Culture – I am a believer that a company is just as responsible for performance as you are. I think a company that really puts time into and builds a culture that they envision (vs. just talking about it) fosters better productivity and thereby better quality of work. Evernote does this with its unconventional style of running their internal offices. Phil Libin gets it and puts it in action—and I think he’s really seeing results. http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/08/business/phil-libin-of-evernote-on-its-unusual-corporate-culture.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0



Home-Screen Snap Shot

I don't know how I did this but here's my home-screen girl.



What on your smartphone's home screen?

Share in the Comments below or Tweet or Instagram us a pic, we'd love to see them! :> xoxo



School-Week Photos And Summaries Via Prezi :>

I've been getting a lot emails from Nui Nui's new school, which I am admittedly not used to. It's not that I can't handle a ton of email but.. I don't know what it is. I just don't get to all of them immediately and realized the significance so am slapping the back of my hand for it.

So! Nui Nui's school actually uses Prezi, which I am familiar with from my last job. Prezi is basically a schmancy presentation app that uses Flash and a ZUI (Zooming User Interface), which allows the motion of zoom in and out of different parts. Personally, I think it's nauseating to flip through (and I'm not the only one who thinks so) but I'm not complaining either.

So, what's cool about this new school is that they actively take pics of the kids, document what they did each day, and summarize it beautifully in a Prezi. How awesome is that? Now, I've heard of texting or emailing pics of the kids throughout the day or week at other schools but this is nice. Schmancy, even. I'm wondering if other schools do this— comment below if they do. If not, WHY DON'T THEY? I seriously have a deep-found respect for those that utilize technology to enhance the learning/educational experience. Seriously.

So here's the overview. The small circles are placements for the photos (which I didn't include).



And here's individual pics I pulled of Nui Nui.



So cool.

What cool things is your school doing?

Share in the Comments below, we'd LOVE to hear! :> xoxo



Nui Nui's Second Full-Week Start At Her New School!

Yesterday was the start of Nui Nui's 2nd full week (day 4) at her new school. The past three times, she was sent to the principal's office for not sleeping through nap-time, waking up in a crying fit and disturbing some of the other kids. Today, this is what she looked like on the way to school...



Needless to say, she was very tired and I was worried she might be perceived as 'sad' in the morning (aka. tired) and still not able to sleep in her new environment, all disheveled. Poor kid.

I was running around when I got to school— I still don't have a routine yet and things are in different locations in this school— blanket goes in one spot, diapers in another, and I washed her milk cup in yet another. I thought Nui Nui was following me in all of this but right before my last stop, she lagged behind in the classroom. I thought, Great, she's interested in what the other kids are doing. But, no, she was really tired and didn't know where I went. I came back and she already had a pout pout on her face. The teacher told me she was waiting for her good-bye/that she didn't know where I went. I gave her a hug and kiss and told her to have a great day.

Tired tired tired. She began to cry as I walked out the room. The directora passed by, saw me standing outside the classroom door to listen, and she picked her up and took care of her. Within a minute she was ok and when I went to pick her up, they told me she had a great day— slept all through nap even :>.

They also started potty training. I brought 6 outfits for the occasion. Her teacher let me know that she only had two accidents. I say only because I thought that was pretty good— she was there a full day, 7:30am-5pm. More to come on those endeavors.

Anyway, here's her daily note, what she learned yesterday, and her newly updated spot at the table :>



And here she is after coming home and showered... I'm wondering if I'll need to enroll her in e-camp soon... Look how focused she was.



She peed twice, pooped one of those times, in the toilet and had one accident. Not terrible. Should I have been more on top of taking her to the bathroom, I think the last could have been avoided.

And that was our day. Nui Nui ate a very good dinner and we read On the Night You Were Born— she's really starting to love those Nancy Tillman books and continues to love the question: What's that?. It didn't take too too long to go to sleep. I mean, there was definitely a dance in the crib and some nudging before she actually settled down but once down, she was for the rest of the night.

We're in the midst of planning Nui Nui's birthday party, so if you have any suggestions for fun ideas, please...

Share in the Comments below, we'd love to hear! :> xoxo



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