“Follow your joy” is amazing advice. That’s how we find out who we truly are and what we really love… and we get to have a great time in the process. We have been following our joy, which has meant putting effort in new places. That also means that things we used to really love – like blogging about cute indie & vintage products – are not being worked on much right now. And you know what? That’s totally OK.

But yesterday I surprised myself with an idea for Mables.com that was actually a joy to work on. On the left side of the site I swapped out the rotating banner ads and replaced them with positive affirmations. No products or services to promote: just some much needed positive thinking for anyone who stops by. In sales, making the customer feel genuinely good about herself is rare. It’s more profitable to use fear so a person feels (subconsciously or consciously) like a dork who needs to shop herself to perfection.

So take a deep breath… and enjoy these reminders of how awesome and loved you are. All is well.

To see all 5 messages, visit any of the category pages on Mables.com and take a look at the left hand side;

• Unusual & Unique Gifts
• Eco Friendly Gifts
• Retro & Vintage
• Accessories & Wearables
• Home & Decor
• Gadget Gifts
• Child Gifts
• Easy Gifts
• Luxury Gifts
• Pet Gifts

Guess what we’ve been doing lately? Just like every September and October, our brains and lives get totally into Halloween mode while we work on our Halloween Costume section and our Halloween website. After a ton of research and harnessing our Halloween Super Senses, we’ve completed our Hot Halloween Costumes List for 2008! It’s full of the best, most popular costume ideas for everyone in the family;

• Girls Costumes
• Boys Costumes
• Women Costumes
• Children Costumes

Whether you need an awesome costume idea or are just curious about what the trends will be like this Halloween, check out our list! If you’re a big Halloween fan like us, be sure to visit our other site 365 Halloween and subscribe to the RSS feed. When October rolls around we don’t do much else besides keep 365Halloween.com updated every day, so it’s always lively over there!

The title of this post is very accurate. Whether you’ve been to Mable’s blog before or are a new visitor, you’re about to read something a bit different than the usual company or shopping blog. We’re about to get really honest.

Next month will mark Mables’ 2 year anniversary of blogging. It’s been a fun journey, full of interesting products and sales, as well as a learning experience for us personally. And like everything in life, this blog is not static; every post is an evolution of sorts. We’ve been brainstorming about possibilities for growth on Mables.com and today we’re proud to announce the next step for us. We’re changing the way that we write so that each post is really representative of products and innovations that we feel are important to talk about. Our focus on “Unique Gifts” hasn’t really been specific enough. It’s allowed us to talk about everything from handmade Valentines to replica jewelry and even blogs as gifts. Initially, we wanted to cover those diverse topics so we could offer “something interesting for everybody”. After 2 years of blogging like that we realized it just wasn’t us. That’s not what we genuinely want Mable’s to be. We quit our day jobs so we could be pioneers, not take the path of least resistance.

Starting today, Mable’s Unique Shopping Blog will become more focused on the topics we most enjoy and find important. For better or worse, it will also be written very honestly. In the real world we shoot from the hip, and our blog is really going to reflect that. We’ve always been a bit unconventional, but radical honesty is our goal now. In a world where it seems like every inch of space and every opinion is for sale, we want to be a transparent alternative. If we hear about a really great sale at Giant Company X, will we still let our readers know? Sometimes, but most of the time we will be writing about eco-friendly products and technologies, vintage items, independent companies, and a few geeky gadgets. These are our passions, and we’re choosing to follow them. Several of the blog categories might end up becoming a little bare, but we’ll really fill up the other categories to make up for it.

We hope you’ll join us for this new adventure. Come by and watch our progress, let us know how we’re doing, and share your links to other organizations or people who are trying to blog this way. We’re not sure what the outcome will be, but it’s a risk we’re excited to take. One final question: what do we call this kind of online communication? Blogging with Integrity? Honest Blogging? Blogging From the Hip? What are your thoughts?

* Integrity image courtesy of Right Brain Terrain, creators of amazing Alternative Motivational Posters

Continuing our series of New Year’s Resolutions from yesterday’s Get In Shape article, Take More Pictures is next. Most people enjoy looking at past photos through Picasa (or their preferred photo viewing/editing/sharing software) and reliving some great memories. As much as I enjoy doing this, I often wish I’d taken more pictures on a certain trip I took or event I attended, but mostly just more everyday pics. Here are some reasons I didn’t take more pictures throughout the year and the possible solutions.


Possible problem: Wrong camera
If you find yourself bummed about how your camera is too slow, too bulky, poor-quality pics, not enough features, low battery life, etc., you’d probably find that an easy to use camera makes life simpler. How do you know which camera is for you? Evaluate what your needs are and choose the best camera for you. Read the specifications and other people’s reviews and pay attention to their details (ie. did it capture good in low light? quick to boot up? easy to navigate menu? good documentation?, etc.) Also feel free to start asking your friends about what they do and don’t like about their digital camera, this is very useful info. The Amazon widget to the right can help you find a great camera.

Possible problem: Don’t get to enjoy digital photos
Not everyone is computer savvy and can manipulate digital photos into works of art, or simply print one out to frame. You can buy your own printer and photo paper and try it on your computer, or you can visit a web site, upload some pictures and have them delivered to you in many different forms. Some of my favorite ways to enjoy my digital photos are to have them printed out in different formats and displayed around the house to become a part of my everyday life.
- Wallhogs: They print onto canvas, poster, or removable vinyl wall stickers up to 7 feet. Think life size cutout!
- SmugMug (Easy, ad free, many options.), Snapfish (first 50 prints FREE!), and KodakGallery (save 30% on print enlargements.), are just a few of the many places that help your organize, share, and print photos to paper, bags, mousepads, mugs, and more. For free software (Picasa, and more) to help organize, share, and enjoy your photos check out the Google Pack.

Possible problem: Forgot the camera
Start setting a better habit of bringing your camera with you everytime. Try leaving the camera by the door, always carrying it in your travel bag, leave it in the car, ask a friend to bring theirs, or tie a string around a finger. Whatever it takes for you to remember, do it.

Possible problem: I’m not a good photographer
Yes you are! You just don’t know it yet. I promise, the more you take pictures and flip through them with your favorite software the more you’ll become aware of what looks good and what doesn’t. Besides the point of the photo is to capture a moment in time, not to see who can take the best picture. Trust me, getting a funkily cropped/slightly blurry photo, is still better than getting no photo. Maybe you can even try taking a photography class at your local college.

For more choices and unbeatable deals be sure to check out eBay once you’ve found the camera model you desire.

What about you? What stops you from taking more pictures while you are out and about?

At World’s End, the final installment of the Pirates of the Caribbean trilogy is less than a week away! Yesterday was the unconventional world premier, which was held at Disneyland, and many of the stars were in attendance. Tickets were sold to the public at a whopping $1,500 a piece, with proceeds benefiting the Make-a-Wish Foundation.

For the rest of us, we still have about 5 days left of waiting (or 4 and some change if you hit up a night-time showing on Thursday). To further add to the anticipation and excitement, and to speed the week along, next week is Pirate Week at Mable’s Blog. From Monday through Friday we’ll be blogging about “salty old pirates” and all the savvy merchandise they have spawned. Who doesn’t need a little more adventure in her life? So join us May 21-25 for a week of pirate booty!

We love Rare Bird Finds. They bring us the best in fresh, new, gifty type items and always have a new gift guide or contest. Right now they’re featuring 100 unique gift ideas, all at $10 or less. If you’ve got a birthday, anniversary, or other gift-worthy event coming up, but are low on funds then head over to their 100 Goodies Under $10 guide. Savvy visitors might even recognize a couple products that have previously been featured on Mable’s. Hey, great minds think alike!

Imagine if you could upload your favorite digital images to one place online and easily share them with your friends and family. Sure there are a lot of services out there that do this, but SmugMug stands out from the rest; as affirmed in glowing reviews from real users. If you are like us a good chunk of your digital photos are considered priceless and your only copies are on your PC. It’s frightening to even think of what would happen to your images if your hard drive was to crash or your computer was to catch fire. That’s why SmugMug allows unlimited storage and saves 4 copies of your high-res photos in 3 different states. Once uploaded to SmugMug you can sleep well knowing your memories are safe.

Pictures of your family are some of the best gifts long distance family members will get this year. SmugMug also makes it easy to purchase prints of any photo you or your family might choose. When purchasing prints there are options to get the printed on photo paper, mugs, shirts, postcards and more.

Visit SmugMug today for your free trial and see for yourself how easy it really is.

One of the most common complaints in relationships is that “I love you” isn’t said frequently enough. Just “knowing” that somebody cares is nice, but reminding them of our feelings with words and gestures is invaluable. With that in mind, when is the last time you told someone “You are really awesome“?

Nothing beats an old fashioned face-to-face “I love you” in terms of heart melting, but words really don’t make a great gift and you can’t display them online either. Awesome Million solves this problem by allowing you to give a sentimental gift that comes with an online certificate. Let that special person in your life know that you think they are indeed Really Awesome by including them in the Awesome Million. Just select a unique number between 1-1,000,000, choose a certificate design, upload a picture of the awesome person and the entire Internet will know of their awesomeness. If they have a web page you can even include a link on the certificate. For those with a MySpace or business website, that makes it an even better gift.

But let’s get more creative with this unique gift idea. Who (or what) can you make Really Awesome? Besides the obvious, here are some ideas:

Your Kids: Lots of people are making their kids really awesome!
Nicknames: stinky.isreallyawesome.com
Businesses: XYZcompany.isreallyawesome.com
Your pets: MyDogAndy.isreallyawesome.com
Being something: BeingVegan.isreallyawesome.com

People, places, things, bands, MySpace pages, businesses… you name it and it can be Really Awesome with this cheap personalized gift. We named our business after our beloved kitty Mable, so we immediately bought a tribute page to her located at mable.isreallyawesome.com. Another added bonus is that when we search “awesome Mable” or “Mable is awesome” in search engines, the tribute page shows up as the first result. What a unique way to tell your Really Awesome person about their gift: just tell them to Google their name and the word “awesome”. Just be sure to order at least a week early to allow search engines to pick up your new web page.

This also makes an easy, last minute gift or stocking stuffer, and at $1 to $5, its apt to be the most inexpensive gift you’ll find all season. It can also be a quick, green alternative to a card. Rather than mailing out a paper holiday greeting card, why not send an e-card from Awesome Million?

$1-$5

I’m a sucker for good uses of pink and black in design, and these t-shirts are no exception. I was initially drawn in by their new Love Bat design, but eventually made my way to the men’s section and found a nice Space Giant I’d like to be friends with.

These designs are created by a company called Strong Like Bull and they have many more to choose from on their site. It looks like they are also the creators of some designs you might have seen in your local Hot Topic called Frankenheart and Johnny Dead. Being the huge zombie fan I am, I’m partial to Johnny Dead who isn’t afraid to admit he’s always been a big fan of nerds. Probably because of their huge … brains.

I found them via Modish who mention that Strong Like Bull uses American Apparel (sweatshop-free, sustainable, high quality) tees although I don’t see that on their website anywhere. Modish also mentions a way to get free shipping when you order from Strong Like Bull. (Hint: just read their post.)

Remember the post we did on the Halloween Countdown? Well we took it a step further and have been working hard behind the scenes to bring everyone 365 Days of Halloween fun. That’s right Mable’s now has a new sister site named 365 Halloween and it’s chock-full of awesomeness.

“This website is made for anyone who wishes that Halloween was longer than just one little day. Whether you spend a week or a whole year celebrating Halloween, this website is dedicated to you. Our aim is to fill a void that exists online for interesting, entertaining, and quality Halloween content.“

It’s now officially launched and has some great content categories like Halloween Costume Ideas, Halloween Decor Ideas, Halloween Recipes with Pictures, and Halloween Event Trip Reports. (The trip reports are going to be my favorite part, but since the haunted attraction season is just beginning, it’s a bit barren right now)

We’ve already got some great content like how to make a bleedy cake, mummy dogs, a contest winning homemade mummy costume, clay skulls similar to the ones from Disney’s Haunted Mansion Holiday, a rare Jerri Blank costume, and more exclusive content. We are encourage you to submit your own Halloween articles & photos to help spread the Halloween love.

So if you are a fellow year-round Halloweenie or just wish Halloween was more than one day then you’ve got a new blog to subscribe to over at www.365Halloween.com.