update: great iphone apps to have

 

i found out recently that there were some iphone sites that featured my first blog on my iphone, entitled, “my new toy” so i wanted to do a follow up from that post since my app game has significantly increased.

 

 

so here’s a review of some of my most recently added (and loved) iphone apps:

 

Jott

Jott is a note taking app that transcribes voice notes into written notes, allows you to send SMS texts or emails to people via your voice, and you can even set reminders to be emailed or text to you. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Say Who

 

Say Who is a voice dialer that is absurdly accurate with it’s dialing. one of the main things that i missed about my crackberry was the ability to dial people via voice… especially when i was driving. i would never want to be the awful driver who is causing traffic or accidents because of my inevitable search for someone to talk to as i drive. 

 

 

 

 

Tranquil Alarm

Tranquil Alarm offers all those who normally use their cell phones as alarms a nicer option to that of the normal, scare-you-awake alarm sounds out there. not only is there an alarm to wake you up, but there is also a function that allows you to fall asleep to the sounds of a tropical rain forest or thunderstorms or whatever your fancy! this is great for all you insomniacs like myself!

 

 

 

Palringo

Palringo allows those (like me) who IM on more then one messenger service the ability to use all these different services on one platform. similar to trillian or meebo, palringo allows you to be signed in to yahoo, msn, aim, google talk and more all at the same time. coolest thing is their most recent update made it so it runs in the background for a bit of time before signing you out.

 

 

 

 

 

Petals (for women only)

Petals offers a discrete, yet efficient, way for women to track when aunt flow gets to stomping… i recently had an appointment for lady town and the doctor was quite impressed when i whipped out my trusty iphone and was able to tell him all my recent cycles… this is also a great tool to forecast when your next period will be here and possibly when you ovulate. 

 

 

 

 

Moods

Moods is one of my most favorite apps because i’m not the greatest at emoting or saying how i feel. i love this app because it has vibrant smileys that have feelings/emotions under them to help you sort out your own. best of all, it gives you a place to justify y you feel a certain way. even better is that it tracks your moods daily and monthly so you can look back and see just how you’ve been feeling. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hiCard

hiCard is probably the cutest app out there. this nifty little program allows you to send trendy and stylish e-cards. the cards range from “sorry” to “happy birthday” and everything in between. i’ve sent a couple of these out and people have always been quite appreciative of receiving them. you can input your own message and everything! only drawback is that you have be connected via wiFi in order for it to go through.

 

 

naturally i have more apps then this but these are some of my most used and favorites… i hope you guys enjoy these tidbits though!

please share some of your favorite apps with us!

 

xoxo

ladebelle

i’m a GA voter!

so this morning i woke up bright and early to carry out my civil duty in voting. don’t judge me, but this is actually the first presidential election that i’ve a. been this active in, and b. voted in. 

 

my view as i walked to my car

i was really excited to go and vote today and be a part of history… 

so here are some of the experiences that i had as i waited in line for 3.5 hours to cast my vote in all of 75 seconds:

 

i stood in line with some pretty cool people… initially i didnt’ chat much (ladebelle is quite the shy girl) and i had my headphones in rocking to my iphone (i LOVE my iphone). 

 

here was my view... it got waaay worse

a camera crew was out there and i’m praying that they didn’t capture me on film… ladebelle is not a believer in getting dressed at the ass crack of dawn hence my bed head attire. 

 

so i think we had been standing in line for about an hour when these 2 black girls waltz up and cut the line… now, if i had been the couple that they had cut, i would have said something UGLY to them… but i was really upset and disgusted by this… why? this is a historic election and they decided that it didn’t mean enough for them to stand in line… (now i’m about to start preaching a bit of black history) as a black woman i’m all the more upset because both black people AND women had to fight for their right to vote and they just feel as though they are too good to stand in line to vote? bullshit… 

 

so we get inside and this line is really ridiculous but i stand there and begin to chat with the others that i’m in line with. naturally we talk about politics and the candidates. it was good to let my guard down to chat with them. 

 

ok… so now we’re on our last leg of the line and this older, drunk man was in there being beligirent and yelling at people to move faster… i just prayed that he wouldn’t touch me so that i wouldn’t be forced to get loud on him… ugh…

 

anywho, after 3.5 hours, i’m proud to say that I’M A GEORGIA VOTER!!!

 

not only does this make me feel validated as a voter, but it will help me get into parties free!!!

gotta love marta!!!

ok… so this morning i received a message in my honesty box on facebook asking my how it is that i stay so fly… booooy did that make my day!!!! let me clarify that i don’t think that i’m fly all the time however, i do have my days…

but today was definitely not this young lady’s day:

from afar this almost looks ok...

to my dismay... i see that these are actually HOUSE SHOES

ok… sorry guys… had to do the close up on this…

so we get on the BUC together and the older lady sitting across from me is clearly as bothered by this situation as i am and she stares at her while she changes into these:

i'm all for fall fashion but it's cold!!! get some tights!

i mean from house shoes to peep toe pumps with no tights or nailpolish? there has got to be a limit…

now i’m all for wearing different shoes to travel in… today i had on my trusty lacoste athletic-inspired shoes but not house shoes!!!

(sigh)

people, take this as your warning… i’ve got my iphone and i know how to use it! if you are a walking fashion faux paus, i will catch you!!!

speaking of which, how do we feel about spandex at work? is it appropriate? not appropriate??? TALK TO ME!!!

xoxo

ladebelle

my weekend in review: spelhouse homecoming 2008

i didn’t attend homecoming last year and maybe that’s a good thing because i think that it made me all the more appreciative of what this homecoming had to offer… and at the end of the day this is what i have to say…

I LOVE SPELMAN!!!! (and morehouse and the rest of the AUC)

while i was at spelman, i don’t think that i fully appreciated all that it had to offer nor did i appreciate all the beautiful, smart, and talented people that i was surrounded by… i have sisters all up and through every law school from john jay to harvard to emory and i have morehouse brothers that are MY AGE and running for positions in the senate, congress, etc. i am a part of a tradition that is soooo grand and now i’m finally able to really appreciate what that means.

ok… so now that i’ve done the mushy shit, on to the weekend in review…

…friday…

oh i’m so wishing i had just taken friday off all together! my friday night started with a birthday party (for which i did the invitations) for one of my really good friends. after sav and i engorged ourselves in free wine, good times, and lots of love, we hit up a breast cancer awareness art show @ MARKED tattoos (these are the people that do all my work including what serves as my picture here). it was a beautiful show! there were a couple of local artists featured and it was really awesome… while there, not only did sav and i enjoy being surronded by the beauty of the art, but we also enjoyed to beauty of the free spirits (wink wink)…

after leaving there, we went to our intended destination on black love (though not everyone was feeling the love as there was the beginnings of a fight before we even entered). for $30, i got my money’s worth of this party… of course for me the best part was seeing all of the people that i hadn’t realized i missed till then (shout out to sheronda and jonathan on their engagement!!!). i saw sets of twins i hadn’t seen in forever, new mothers, newly weds, all my girls (and guys)!!! it was soooo awesome!!!

and then sav and i did the only thing that you do once u leave the club inebrieated… we hit up good ole waffle house!!! yes lawd!!! gotta love it!

…saturday…

this is the day that sav and i found out that in order to get over a hangover, you should just drink more! my first couple of tailgates i was sober and now i understand why everyone drinks during this time… i mean, it was really ridiculous! it’s a good thing we were outside because the fire marshall would have broken that shit up a long time ago!

i think that the video that i made kinda sums up this day so i’ll post that later on today… carnell said it best… alcohol + videocamera = vertigo so beware!

saturday night was a mellow night that i needed but was unwelcomed… i wanted to party hard but instead i ended up gulping down hella mimosa’s to deal with the disappointment… but then me, sav, and mene went to lucky buddah or golden buddah on 10th and encountered a one yung joc (sp?) who was just so cute!!!

ok… so that pretty much concludes the weekend… sunday i was trying to rehydrate because the only thing i drank was alcohol…

to all my spelhouse homies reading this, I MISS YOU GUYS AND CAN’T WAIT TILL NEXT YEAR!!!

p.s. feel free to post pix here if you have them!

xoxo

ladebelle

salemail… my (not so new) love and addiction

so i’ve been meaning to write this blog for some time but life happened and i forgot…

so what is this great thing salemail? essentially it’s your own personal shopper.

 

feeds my need for fashion

 

 

Above is an example of an email that i receive every monday and thursday… why those days? i’m not really sure… it really should have been every 15th and 30th truth be told! 

but either way, this nifty little program does the sale shopping for you based on your size, brands, stores, accessories, shoes, etc. when i tell you that i LOVE this program, i mean it. 

the really good thing is that it’s not just for women… men can use it too!!!

so how do you sign up? simple, just go to http://www.shopittome.com!

have fun!!!

 

xoxo

ladebelle

my new toy

in my circle of friends (at work anyway) i’m late in getting this but i have recently purchased an iPhone and it is THE best $200 investment that i’ve made. 

 

the best investment ever

 

 

so last friday, after much thought and being frustrated about losing information on my blackberry pearl AGAIN, i was ready to make my purchase. i had already made the decision that i was going to purchase it and even began to save money for it. my good friend TBS had already sent me an email about setting up my service with at&t before going in to the store to make my purchase. 

by the time that i was ready to take the plunge, everything was all set-up! i walked into the apple store (which has the best customer service ever) and gave them my name, credit card, and was pretty much set to go! what made it even better is Danny (my Apple Genius) browsed different apps with me and helped me set them up initially. 

so now for my review about my love the iPhone…

the great:

• the apps are ridiculous! i now have a personal assistant on my iphone that keeps track of all my bank accounts and utility accounts! 
• i LOVE the touch screen… it makes navigating so easy
• i have access to literally everything at my fingertips
• i can listen to my music and load my songs without it taking up too much memory
• and can i say the apps AGAIN!!!
• the service is better then t-mobile… it’s true, you do get more bars in more places!

the “needs improvement”:

• there is no picture messaging so you always have to email
• at&t plans kinda suck
• the text messaging takes some getting used too

but overall, like i said, this is the best purchase i’ve made in a while… it was so worth sacrificing my expensive makeup and shoes to save for it!!!

btw, here are some of the great apps that i have:

• pandora (streaming songs to your phone doesn’t get any better!!)
• facebook (of course)
• wordpress (naturally… but it doesn’t seem to work right)
• urbanspoon (find any type of food you want within any area by shaking the iphone)
• aim (gotta keep in touch with the peeps!)
• BOA (banking on the go)
• twitterific (gotta keep people updated!)
• shazam (don’t know the name of a song playing? let your phone listen to it and it’ll give you the information!)
• audi a4 (omg! racing game where your phone is the steering wheel!)
• lockbox (keep all your personal stuff locked up)
• personal assistant (cuz i’m that important…LOL)
• sugar (can’t think of sweet messages on your own? this will help!)

i don’t think that i can emphasize enough how great the iphone is… i quote my good friend TBS when i say, “i don’t know how i lived without it!”

xoxo

ladebelle

probably my only political blog

so last night was what has now become the infamous vice presidential debate between sarah palin and joe biden. palin is unexperienced and has a tendency to sound like a bumbling idiot whenever she comes in contact with katie couric and biden is a loose cannon who’s unpredictability can easily become the obama’s camp downfall. but they both have their strengths as well… i’m struggling to find palin’s but biden is great in foreign affairs which is what this country needs.

so last night i went to a debate watch party at the hard rock cafe with my girl savvy s. cnn did coverage there (and they interviewed me!!!). the debate went well. i think that the main differences between the vp debate and presidential debate are:

1. energy sources was a hot topic here
2. all the viewers are still struggling to know what the “talibani’s” are (are these alaskan taliban)
3. everyone is blinded by the impeccable white teeth and perfect smile of biden
4. the debators actually had some respect for each other and didn’t interrupt when the other was talking
5. this was scripted
6. i stayed awake for the entire thing!

i think that #4 is really important here. although biden nor palin are my favorites, they did one thing right here and that was respect each other when they were talking. there were no interruptions, no jumping in… none of that that we saw with the presidential debate. another thing that i really liked was that they talked to both the viewers and each other. with the mccain-obama debate, mccain wouldn’t even look or let alone address obama and that was just blatant disrespect and i can’t respect that. 

so like i said up there, cnn was there and i was interviewed. now, although the interview was dynamically written, some of this stuff i didn’t actually say and needs some further clarification. now my first quote on the page is correct but she messed up the context. i said that i’m not for marriage being dictated my law makers so therefore, biden’s response is something that i can agree with. yes, it’s the more PC version, but it leaves the door open for the possibility of gay marriage becoming recognized legally. (sigh) well, i guess the rest of the interview was ok… however, i would like to say that i think both parties have some things that i both agree and disagree with but i’m not conservative enough to be “riding the fence”. i’m no staunch democrat but i agree with more of the things that obama is representing. plus, we’ve had the same type of men in office for so long, i think it’s time we had something different in hopes that it changes our world. 

well, if voting and watching debates isn’t enough for you, my lovely readers, feel free to have the candidates (and their wives) battle it out here: http://www.atom.com/spotlights/kung_fu_election/.

but i am interested in your thoughts of the debate last night… so SPEAK TO ME!

(singing) it’s been a long time… since i left you… i shoulda left a dope beat to ? to…

i have officially been prompted twice to update my blog so before there is a third prompting and i begin to feel worse about my lack of blogging, i will blog now!

needless to say, things have been quite hectic in the land of ladebelle… lets start with work (which still sucks). 

work updates…

so last week the crew and i (minus nene) were out in the great state of cali and the lovely (to be read as dirty) city of san francisco… to sum the trip up in one word, i would say it was… hell, who am i kidding? that trip surely can’t be summed up in one word! while out there, we (being the ladies of the pod) were mandated to work 10 hour days minimum… that doesn’t include the 10 block walk to the convention center and back to the hotel. ugh… 

there were a couple of highlights out there…1. all the free booze at the reception; 2. meeting all the people that i regularly communicate with via email or telephone (to be read as all the free booze at the reception). and there are my couple of highlights. 

 

anyone order a mcnasty with flesh eating disease?

 

 

now on to the low lights… and there were many… as if it weren’t confirmed before, it is definitely confirmed that we work for the nastiest bastard in the world… he was pushing himself all up on my girl KT, who was beyond grossed out. (on a more serious note, i think we need to file a damn sexual harrassment suite). KT was also the only one to receive popcorn and shit sent by the nastiest person in the world. i mean, what about the rest of us that work hard? is what we do in vain now? ugh… unappreciative prick… sorry, got lost on that one low light there… and on to the one Ms. Patch who has officially upped her annoyingness (yes, it’s a word now) and disrespect with her demand of eye contact after interrupting me without so much of an “excuse me ladebelle”. UGH!!! 

 

BEAT IT CABBAGE PATCH!!!!

 

 

but then the people there were like one big fashion faux pas. i mean, who wears belly shirts to conferences now? soooo inappropriate… and if there’s no flood coming, please leave the high waters at home… in fact, bring them with you so we can burn them… ugh

so now that i’m back and have all this damn work to do from my primary job, mcnasty decides he wants to hassle me about some damn membership calls… right, cuz i got my BA and MBA so i can be a glorified telemarketer. sorry mcnasty, i have a regular job! ugh… the way i wish i could tell him to go jump off a building… 

anywho, enough about the depressing place entitled work…

fall fashion!!!

so i think that fall is one of my favorite fashion seasons… so many colors, new trends, and you don’t have to be a skinny bitch to pull the looks off!!!

as is my tradition, i’ve already colored my hair to a darker, more fall color of red. and i got a snazzy new haircut!

one of the big fall makeup trends is the “bitten lip” look… this means a nice wine color for your lips. so, since i’m trying to save for an iphone (so that i can blog more frequently) i decided to go with a lower priced lip option versus my $15 addiction to MAC. target has this new line of more expensive cosmetics but since i wasn’t dropping $15 for my MAC i sure as hell wasn’t dropping $20 in target for some lip gloss. instead, i bought some l’oreal color riche lip liner in “lasting plum” and some revlon colorstay lipglaze in “overtime wine”. the cool thing about the lip liner is that it comes with a sharpener at the bottom. 

so this morning i put on my lip products with a simple black lined eye and it was instant glamour! and now, at the end of the day, my lip gloss/liner combo is still in full effect without having to touch it up! i’ve had snacks, lunch, drank, talked, etc and it’s still there! nice…

anywho, this was a pretty random post but i posted… the next post i promise will be more guided!

xoxo

ladebelle