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Posts Tagged ‘birthday’

Tip Tuesday: Best Birthday Photo Guide

Posted by Katie on June 29, 2010 in General | Tip Tuesday

Did you know that June 29th is Camera Day ? So for this week’s Tip Tuesday, bust out your camera and check out these suggestions on how to take your best birthday pictures!

The website Best-family-photography-tips.com has a fantastic article that lays out some tips for taking great birthday photos. Here are a few that we found particularly helpful:

  • Know The Location: Whether the party takes place at home, a party room, or an amusement park, realize that each location has its own photographic “blueprint.”
  • Are there obstacles that will get in the way of any birthday party pictures (columns, fixed objects, plants, etc.)? If so, plan your seating or your shooting location accordingly.
  • Equipment: Have fully-charged batteries, memory cards, chargers, external flash, lens accessories, and a tripod ready.
  • The Birthday Party Pictures List: Jot down the “Must Have” pictures, as well as the ones you would like to capture, if possible.
  • Capture Some Shots Before the Party: Calmly take some birthday party pictures before any guests arrive. Identify your most gloriously decorated areas and snap some “before” photos.
  • Use Color: Take advantage of the one thing you have plenty of at the birthday party… COLOR!

The site also offers these suggestions for photo-ops that are sure to be keepsakes in your family picture album:

  • The birthday star surrounded by all the presents.
  • Mom and dad collapsed with all the torn wrapping paper and ribbons placed (or dumped) on top of them.
  • A few party hats and/or decorations on the family pet.

We hope that these tips will help you capture your best birthday photos yet!

Happy birthday Antoine de Saint-Exupéry!

Posted by Katie on June 29, 2010 in General

Today we’re celebrating the birthday of French pilot, novelist, and poet, Antoine de Saint-Exupery. Antoine is best known for his novella, The Little Prince, a semiautobiographical account about a pilot who meets an insightful little prince after his airplane crashes in the desert. The book has been translated into more than 180 languages and, with over 80 million copies sold, is one of the best-selling books ever!

We found a great biography of Antoine on Pbs.org that sheds some light on this “poet of flight.” Take a look:

Born in 1900 in Lyons, France, young Antoine was filled with a passion for adventure. When he failed an entrance exam for the Naval Academy, his interest in aviation took hold. He joined the French Army Air Force in 1921 where he first learned to fly a plane. Five years later, he would leave the military in order to begin flying air mail between remote settlements in the Sahara desert.

For Saint-Exupéry, it was a grand adventure – one with dangers lurking at every corner. Flying his open cockpit biplane, Saint-Exupéry had to fight the desert’s swirling sandstorms. Worse, still, he ran the risk of being shot at by unfriendly tribesmen below. Saint-Exupéry couldn’t have been more thrilled. Soaring across the Sahara inspired him to spend his nights writing about his love affair with flying.

When World War II broke out, Saint-Exupéry rejoined the French Air Force. After Nazi troops overtook France in 1940, Saint-Exupéry fled to the United States. He had hoped to join the U. S. war effort as a fighter pilot, but was dismissed because of his age. To console himself, he drew upon his experiences over the Saharan desert to write and illustrate what would become his most famous book, The Little Prince (1943). Mystical and enchanting, this small book has fascinated both children and adults for decades. In the book, a pilot is stranded in the midst of the Sahara where he meets a tiny prince from another world traveling the universe in order to understand life. In the book, the little prince discovers the true meaning of life. At the end of his conversation with the Little Prince, the aviator manages to fix his plane and both he and the little prince continue on their journeys.

Shortly after completing the book, Saint-Exupéry finally got his wish. He returned to North Africa to fly a warplane for his country. On July 31, 1944, Saint-Exupéry took off on a mission. Sadly, he was never heard from again.

Saint-Exupéry’s other works include a children’s story, Le Petit Prince (1943; The Little Prince), a long philosophical work published posthumously, Citadelle (1948; The Wisdom of the Sands), as well as volumes of correspondence and personal notebooks.

Happy Birthday Derek Jeter!

Posted by Katie on June 26, 2010 in General

We would like to wish a very happy birthday to baseball legend, Derek Jeter! This athlete, philanthropist and entrepreneur is celebrating his 36th birthday today.

Derek first gained recognition for his baseball talents when he was just a high school senior in New Jersey. In 1992, the young Derek was named High School Player of the Year by the American High School Coaches of the Year, the Gatorade High School Athlete of the Year, and USA Today’s High School Player of the Year.

Right after graduation, Derek entered into the draft and was picked up by the New York Yankees.

Derek shone in his first year and helped his team win the World Series against the Atlanta Braves in 1996. His efforts were recognized, and that same year he took home the American League Rookie of the Year Award.

Since 1996, Derek’s baseball skills have consistently amazed and thrilled those who watch him play. He has been honored with Gold Glove Awards in 2004 and 2005, and has been named the Most Valuable Player in the World Series and the All Star Game.

Derek has used his celebrity status not only to gain multiple lucrative endorsement deals but also to help those who are less fortunate. In 1996, Derek founded the Turn 2 Foundation which creates programs to encourage children stay away from drugs and alcohol, to lead healthy and active lifestyles, and to strive to be leaders in their community.

Derek is admired by many for his dedication on the field as well as his generosity off it. Please join us in celebrating this sports superstar’s birthday today.

Happy Birthday Mindy Kahling!

Posted by Katie on June 24, 2010 in General

Today we wish a very happy 31st birthday to actress, writer and producer, Mindy Kaling. Mindy is best known for her role as Kelly Kapoor, the spacey office gossip on NBC’s Emmy Award winning series, “The Office.”

We found a biography of Mindy on NBC.com that shed a little more light on this ambitious star. Take a look:

Kaling is currently filming the sixth season of “The Office,” where she portrays the chatty, bubbly and celebrity obsessed Kelly Kapoor. Kaling has written over 12 episodes including “Hot Girl,” “The Dundies,” “Take Your Daughter to Work Day” and “The Injury”.

Kaling was last seen on the big screen opposite Ben Stiller and Amy Adams in “Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian.” She made her film debut as the object of Paul Rudd’s unwanted affections in the Judd Apatow directed comedy “The 40-Year Old Virgin.”

Kaling’s other television credits include playing Richard Lewis’s assistant on the critically acclaimed and Emmy nominated comedy series “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” She was also a guest writer on “Saturday Night Live” and in 2007; her standup comedy was featured on the CD “Comedy Death-Ray.”

Kaling is no stranger to the stage, she co-wrote and co-starred in the hit off-Broadway play “Matt & Ben,” which won the New York International Fringe Festival’s “Best Play” prize and went on to be a featured selection at the 2003 U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen. The play was on Rolling Stone’s “Hot List” for “Hot Play” and was listed as one of Time Magazine’s “Top Ten Theatrical Events” of 2003.

Kaling has been featured in Entertainment Weekly’s list of the “10 Funniest Actresses in Hollywood,” Rolling Stone’s “Hot List” as “Hot Hyphenate” in 2007 for writing and acting on “The Office,” and in 2009 for “Hot Network Hope” for her deal with NBC. She was most recently featured as one of Daily Variety’s “10 Screenwriters to Watch.”

Check out this clip of Mindy celebrating her birthday as Kelly Kapour on “The Office”. Too funny!

Happy 142nd birthday, Typewriter!

Posted by Birthday Cate on June 23, 2010 in General

Today, June 23, 2010 marks the 142nd anniversary of the first patented typewriter.

The typewriter was invented by Christopher Latham Sholes in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. As the story goes, Sholes was trying to invent a machine that would automatically number the pages in a book when one of his colleagues suggested that someone should create a device that could print the entire alphabet.

Sholes set to work on this idea, and by 1868 he had patented a revolutionary machine that did just that. Although Sholes’ idea was groundbreaking, his invention still needed some major improvements: the first typewriters were bulky, inefficient, slow and typed in all caps only. Only 5,000 of these first machines were sold.

In 1878 however, the “state of the art” Remington No. 2 model was introduced. This typewriter typed in both upper and lower case and was considerably smaller and quieter. Thus, with the invention of this second model, the typewriter found its place in homes and offices all over America.

In order to celebrate the anniversary of the typewriter, check out some typing trivia we found on Nimblefingers.com:

“Stewardesses” is the longest word typed with only the left hand and “lollipop” with your right.

The sentence: “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog” uses every letter of the alphabet.

The average person’s left hand does 56% of the typing.

TYPEWRITER is the longest word that can be made using the letters only on one row of the keyboard.

The only 15-letter word that can be spelled without repeating a letter is “uncopyrightable.”

There are two words in the English language that have all five vowels in order: “abstemious” and “facetious.”

Also, here is Sholes’ patent from 1868 that shows what the first typewriter looked like. Cool!

Happy Birthday, Jason Mraz

Posted by Katie on June 23, 2010 in General

Today we’re celebrating Jason Mraz’s 33rd birthday! This popular singer and songwriter grew up in Mechanicsville, Virginia where he was influenced by the sounds of the Dave Matthews Band and local rock/folk bands such as the Agents of Good Roots.

Jason left his home state when he was 22 and resettled in San Diego, California in order to pursue his musical aspirations. He started out playing shows in a local coffee shop, Java Joe’s—famous for launching singer Jewel’s career. The coffee house gig soon paid off, and Jason won the attention of LA-based record labels. He was signed to Elektra Records 3 years after relocating to San Diego and moved back to Virginia to record his debut album, “Waiting for My Rocket to Come.”

This album proved to be Jason’s ticket out of the coffee house circuit—and his entrance into full-blown celebrity status. Seven years after the release of his first album, Jason has won two Grammys, four San Diego Music Awards (including one for “Artist of the Year”), two Teen Choice Awards and more.

We wish you more success in the future and a very happy birthday, Jason!

Happy Birthday, Meryl Streep!

Posted by Katie on June 22, 2010 in General

Today we would like to wish Meryl Streep a very happy 61st birthday! Over the course of her career, Meryl has been nominated for 16 Academy Awards (10 of them for best actress)—more than any other actress in history! Who2.com provides us with a brief summary of her many accomplishments:

“Streep came to fame in 1979, when she won an Emmy for her performance in the TV miniseries Holocaust and was nominated for her first Oscar for the 1978 film The Deer Hunter (starring Robert DeNiro and Christopher Walken). In 1980 Streep won an Oscar for the 1979 divorce drama Kramer v. Kramer (co-starring Dustin Hoffman). She was nominated again for The French Lieutenant’s Woman (1981), and won again for Alan Pakula’s Sophie’s Choice (1982, based on the novel by William Styron). Nominations followed for : Silkwood (1983, with Cher); Out of Africa (1985, with Robert Redford); Ironweed (1987, with Jack Nicholson); A Cry in the Dark (1988, also known as Evil Angels); and Postcards From the Edge (1991, with Shirley MacLaine).

In spite of successful forays into comedy, Streep is considered a “serious” actress — talented, intelligent and a specialist in accents and dialects. Streep worked less and raised a family during the 1990s, but still turned in critically-acclaimed performances in television and film and racked up more nominations for The Bridges of Madison County (1995, opposite Clint Eastwood), One True Thing (1998, with William Hurt), Music From the Heart (1999), Adaptation (2002, starring Nicolas Cage), The Devil Wears Prada (2006, starring Anne Hathaway) and Doubt (2008, with Philip Seymour Hoffman). She played jolly chef Julia Child in the 2009 film Julie and Julia (with Amy Adams) and earned her 16th nomination.”

Have a great day, Meryl!

Tip Tuesday: Make Your Own Greeting Cards!

Posted by Katie on June 22, 2010 in General | Tip Tuesday

Tired of the same old birthday cards you keep seeing at greeting card stores? We certainly were!

Our tip for this Tuesday is to make your own cards instead. They’re a lot more personal (not to mention often a lot less expensive) and we bet that you already have most of the supplies you need at home. Plus, most of them are so easy that you can turn birthday card making into a fun project with your little one.

We found some great ideas on Martha Stewart’s website. Take a look at this gallery of adorable homemade birthday cards:

The Cupcake Card

Digital Snapshot Cards

Flaunt Cards

Wallpaper Cards

Paper Cutout Cards

Yarn Cards

Family-Tree Photo Cards

Pressed Pansy Cards

Floral-Cutout Cards

Potato-Stamped Cards

Find more of Martha’s ideas here.

Happy Birthday, Juliette Lewis!

Posted by Katie on June 21, 2010 in General

Today we wish Academy Award nominated actress Juliette Lewis a very happy 37th birthday! The website Tribute.ca has a great bio of Juliette and we were able to learn a lot more about her by reading it. Take a look!

“Daughter of actor Geoffrey Lewis, Juliette’s heart was always set on acting. Born in L.A., one of 11 siblings and half-siblings, she began acting at the age of 12 in the mini series Home Fries. By the age of 14, after three weeks in high school, Lewis was emancipated with complete support from her parents so that she could work full time. She dropped out to concentrate completely on her career.
…
Two years later, she stunned viewers and critics with her brilliant portrayal of a vulnerable 15-year-old struggling for independence from her warring parents in the feature Cape Fear (1991). The performance earned her nominations for Best Supporting Actress from the Golden Globes and Academy Awards. The exposure led to a slew of starring roles in offbeat and independent movies including Natural Born Killers (1994), From Dusk ‘Til Dawn (1996) and The Other Sister (1999).
…
Lewis’ hobbies include collecting antique clothing and walking around with a tape recorder documenting everyday moments in an effort to capture reality for future use in her film career.”

Although her route to fame may not have been the smoothest one, Juliette remains one of the most versatile and talented actresses of her time.

Happy Birthday to the WNBA!

Posted by Katie on June 21, 2010 in General

The Women’s National Basketball Association is celebrating its 13th birthday today! Talented players such as Lisa Leslie, Sheryl Swoopes, and Cynthia Cooper helped bring the merits of the WNBA to the attention of the world and they earned it enormous respect on once exclusively male-dominated courts.

Here’s a brief history of the WNBA that we found on the University of Florida’s website:

“On April 24, 1996, the National Basketball Association Board of Governors approved the concept of a women’s professional basketball league, the WNBA. This was a great moment in history, because a proliferation of interest in women’s basketball had spurred the development of several other professional leagues. However, because of timing or lack of money, none of these leagues lasted longer than three seasons.

With the backing of the NBA, the WNBA had a fair chance at survival. Before a player was even signed, the league established its broadcast partnerships with NBC, ESPN and Lifetime so the games could be televised live. The league also gave the WNBA an interesting twist when it decided that the WNBA season would be played during the summer and when it teamed up with Spalding, who designed the orange-and-oatmeal colored WNBA signature ball. The league also heavily marketed its slogan, “We Got Next.”

By late October of that same year, the first players were signed, and the WNBA chose eight cities to host its first charter teams. Charlotte (Sting), Cleveland (Rockers), Houston (Comets), New York (Liberty), Los Angles (Sparks), Phoenix (Mercury), Sacramento (Monarchs), and Salt Lake City (Utah Starzz) all became the homes of the first WNBA teams.

On June 21, 1997, the inaugural season began when the Los Angles Sparks hosted the New York Liberty with 14,284 in attendance. The overall inaugural season captured a wide fan support, averaging 9,669 in attendance per game and more than 50 million television viewers. The WNBA had its “Next.”

Because of the success of the WNBA in its first season, the league added eight more cities and teams over the last three years. Washington D.C. (Mystics) and Detroit (Shock) joined the league in 1998, Minneapolis (Minnesota Lynx) and Orlando (Miracle) joined in 1999, and Miami (Sol), Indianapolis (Indiana Fever), Portland (Fire), and Seattle (Storm) were the newest additions in 2000.”

Happy birthday, WNBA

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