Merrilyn Romen Design and Nico Moon Photography » Merrilyn Romen l Modern Newborn, Child, Family, Senior Photographer

I’ve been thinking about this blog a lot lately. Most photographers post their latest sessions only, with a tiny bit of information about their family life. But I’ve decided to use this blog to let you in on some of the other things I find interesting besides photography. Don’t get me wrong. Lately I’ve been eating, breathing and sleeping photography. Listening to cds and online webinars, going to workshops, reading everything I can get my hand on and clicking the shutter a zillion times. But I’m also a designer. And a lover of pop culture. So here is what I plan to do.

I’m going to be sharing some cool sites I find that offer unusual products and services. And, yes, I’m going to post my latest sessions (if I have permission).

So, let’s start this off with a new site I just discovered called “Sleeves”. Sleeves is a weather reporting site unlike any other. It tells you what length sleeve you will need to wear to be comfortable in today’s weather. Now I know that many of you on the east coast are laughing, thinking, “Sleeves? How about no clothes?”  I’ve heard your weather is unusually scorching. But where I live, on the coast right off the Pacific ocean, the weather is very unpredictable. Some days you have the top down on your car. Other days you need a sweater. Some days it looks like rain…..well you get the picture. So without further ado…

Sleeves, a new sort of weather site.

Always inspired by new designs and forever looking for a way to display photos, here are some really cool Photo Frame Book-ends!

Made of MDF, they’re a stylish way of keeping your book collection in order AND display pictures of your loves ones.
Dimensions: 15 x 9.5 x 19.5 cm

At Dutch by Design

Price (approx.): $57.50

I used to wear red heels with white lacy anklets and jeans. It became something of an obsession with me so I’m always looking for the perfect pair of comfortable, but chic red heels (and my youth)! 

So these are HOT, right? But what’s that brand? Gimme Tunes? Never heard of it!

Aha!…….High heels speaker posing as uniquely designed PC stereo speakers!
Suddenly I realize my newly discovered red heels can TALK!

Powered from the USB cable on your PC (heavy AC adapter or batteries are required).
You can even use it with your iPad, iPhone, iPod, mobile phones, game consoles and, of course, the music on your computer.

So now I’m wondering if I could haphazardly leave them at someone’s house with a recorded message on ‘em….or if I could wear them with a long extension cord and have dancing feet!  The mind boggles to think of what I could do with these if they make them wireless!

What would you, could you do with them???

Put your red shoes on and let’s dance!
from: Fabulous Fu-Bi Around $51 (4480 yen) when they’re not sold out.

The Farmer’s Market has returned to Malibu! Located in front of the Library at Civic Center, there is a plethora of sights, sounds, tastes, and nutrition to be found.
I took some photos of their opening day goods. It’s a must for anyone in the area on Sundays from 9 a.m till 3 p.m.

I’m a sucker for props that I can use tastefully to change the look of the place I’m photographing if I’m limited to a small space.

I recently bought this beauty (called Birds of a Feather Rug) from Urban Outfitters as well! Can’t wait to use it in a shoot and show you the results!

Then I found the Fo Flor Mat in Whitewash from Grandin Road (you have to select it from the drop down menu as it’s not pictured). After googling for a coupon, I was able to purchase the largest size (46×66″) for $119. Score!

I also found the Fo Flor Mat in Barnwood (and the brick and rock) from Bargain Outfitters for $95 with a coupon….and yes, it’s the same one you’ve seen elsewhere.

Savvy Photographer has them, as well, including some I haven’t seen before. Also, I’ve found a wonderful site on Facebook called PhotoProp Floors-Backdrops (do a search) that carries amazing floor canvases in various woods, tiles, etc. for only $65 for 50″ x 60″ as well as beautiful backgrounds with doors and windows, etc. Check them both out and please let them know Merrilyn at Nico Moon sent you!

The problem is…NOW I want them all…..the cobblestone street, the kid’s alphabet, the cabin fever, the doors and window! Be still my heart.

Memolio is a photo album printing and sharing community site that allows you to create stylish portable photo albums. Memolio prints the photo albums on durable, water resistant and tear resistant polyester. I only wish it were a bit more eco-friendly.

The photo albums come as 12 sheet fan out album printed on both sides.

Memolio is a unique way to create photo albums.Not only are they a great way for photographers to carry around a mini portfolio with them, but they make a great little “brag book” for their clients as well.

SO they are offering professional memberships for one year to a select number of people before they release the new pricing structure to the public. The Pro account will allow for cover to cover customization which means you can remove their branding, replace it with yours and resell the albums to your clients. Discounts are also higher for Pro account users.

If you’re interested in becoming a professional member, comment on this post and I’ll get you the information!

Oh, yeah, and they offer free shipping world wide!

All in One SEO Allows you to fine tune Titles and Descriptions for every page and post.

Image Friendly SEO Just to make sure that every image has a proper Title and Alt attribute, even if the site administrator forgets.

WP Super Cache With what seems to be Google’s increasing emphasis in 2010 on page load speed and to enhance your site visitor’s experience this plugin is more valuable than ever.

WordPress.com Stats A very nice companion to Akismet (they both use your WordPress.com API key). posts and pages are the most popular, where your traffic is coming from, and what people click on when they leave. It’ll also add a link to your dashboard which allows you to see all your stats on a single page..

WordPress DB Backup The database is where most of the content and access for a WordPress site resides. Backup early and often.

Twitter Friendly Links Creates a shorter link for every blog post so you can have your Tweets show a link to your website’s URL not to bit.ly or some other third party service.

Twitter Tools creates a complete integration between your WordPress blog and your Twitter account.

Page Links To This plugin allows you to make a WordPress page or post link to a URL of your choosing, instead of its WordPress page or post URL. It also lets you open a new window when a user clicks on a new link without you having to enter a target in the code.

Redirect Parent to First Child Use the parent page just for site organization or a splash page. This plugin will automatically redirect the parent page to its first currently published child page.

WP–Cycle allows you to upload images from your computer, which will then be used to generate a Plugin slideshow of the images which pauses when the user hovers over an image.

Widget Logic You may not want every widget appearing on every page. This plugin adds a conditional statement field to every widget that you can use to control on what pages the widget appears.

My Page Order Easy drag and drop reorder for your page navigation

My Category Order Easy drag and drop reorder for your category navigation

Google Analytics for WordPress The most useful analytic tool for internet marketing is Google Analytics. This plugin makes it easy to add Analytics to WordPress sites.

Google XML Sitemaps generate a special XML sitemap which will help search engines like Google, Bing, Yahoo and Ask.com to better index your blog.

Yet Another Related Posts Plugin (YARPP) It gives you a list of linked posts and/or pages related to the current entry, introducing the reader to other relevant content on your site

Sociable or Sexy Bookmarks Encourage your site visitors to share your site content across the web. Choose one or the other depending upon your demographics.

cforms II A very good contact form tool by a food blogger of all people!

Here is a list of what I (and others) consider to be the best WordPress plug-ins – from adding Google analytics and social bookmarking to adding elegant photographic slideshows, there’s something you’ll find useful here.

I returned from seeing Tim Burton’s “Alice in Wonderland” feeling quite satiated by a steady stream of gorgeous backgrounds, brilliant costumes and excellent acting! I often see movies, regardless of their plot, for the cinematography or the “mise en scene” as my film teachers used to say in college. But, not only was I quite pleased with all of the accouterments, but the story line itself grew up a bit…not beyond recognition, mind you, but there actually is one. Still one has to wonder, what function, what unmet need will this film serve in our culture today?