Whether it’s for food, photography, travel or shopping, here are just a handful of websites I visit on a regular basis that make my life easier!

1. CamelCamelCamel. CamelCamelCamel is an Amazon price tracker. Search for any item you’d buy on Amazon, and it will give you a history of the item’s price. You can see if there was a recent price drop — or a recent price hike. You can set up a free alert to notify you when the price drops below a certain number. It’s a great tool if you’re wanting to make a big purchase (like a Kitchenaid Mixer) but want to wait for it to go on sale first.

I recently used CamelCamelCamel to save $20 on this Cuisinart Griddler. The price had been hovering at $99.95 for weeks, but according to CamelCamelCamel, it’d sold for less than $80 in the past. I set up a price alert to notify me when it dropped to $80 or below. Sure enough, it dropped to $79.95, and I got the email. I bought it that day, and guess what? The next day, the price was back up to $99.95.

2. Webstagram. This is a neat site for Instagram. With this site, even if you don’t have Instagram, you can view a gallery of all your favorite users’ Instagram photos. I know I would’ve LOVED to know about this site before I got Instagram! I would’ve loved to be able to view my friends and favorite bloggers photos in gallery form and subscribe to them by RSS so I could stay updated without Instagram. With Webstagram you can easily search for a user, scroll through their photos, see all the comments, get a link to the full-size image, and even see what filter they used. You can even use a site like FeedMyInbox to get their new photos emailed to you daily.

3. PicNik. I’m sure you guys know about PicNik for free online photo editing, but since I mostly use Photoshop, I didn’t really check them out until recently. I wish I had sooner! They’re great for quick and easy collages, like the one above. You can even easily add in sweet rounded corners for personality. I could do this in Photoshop — and have done it before — but it’s so much faster (and much less of a hassle) to just drop these in a PicNik template for a quick, gorgeous collage. A huge time-saver!

4. Yelp. This is the site I use to find restaurants and bakeries everywhere I travel. I put in the city I’m visiting and search by category for the most reviewed and highest rated bakeries, sweet shops, and restaurants. It’s great for other things too, like shopping (where to find cute and hidden boutiques) and pedicures — a friend used it to find Nouvelle Nail Spa in Atlanta, Georgia where she took me and we received the most incredible pedicures of our entire lives. I go back as often as possible, and would live there if it was in my city.

Honorable Mention: Urbanspoon. This is another one I’ll check for restaurant recommendations by city. I like how you can view a list of the top 100 restaurants in the city.

5. Calorie Count Recipe Analysis. I’ve told you guys about this site before, but it’s such a great tool, I had to share it again. You guys know I love to bake sweets and could practically subsist on sugar! But I’m able to do that by watching what I eat on a regular basis. Although it would be much more fun to subsist on sugar. Alas. Using this site lets me enjoy the best of both. I can use the website or the iPhone app to track what I’m eating and it automatically counts the calories for me. For me, I generally eat between 1200-1500 a day. Unless I’m on vacation. Read more about that (and see some before and after photos) here!

What I love most is the Recipe Analysis tool. The site already has the nutritional information for most fast food restaurants and a lot of chain restaurants, but I usually cook at home. With the Recipe Analysis tool, I can copy and paste the ingredients for any recipe I want to make and it will automatically generate the nutritional information, including the number of calories, for the recipe. You also have to enter a “serving size” so that way you’ll know exactly how much you can put on your plate.

Later this week I’ll be headed to San Diego for some sweet shoppin’ and bakery hoppin’ fun with Jenny. Keep in touch with me on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, I’ll be sure to post lots of photos of our sweet finds! Have a great rest of your week, I’ll be back on Friday with a fun giveaway, stay tuned! :)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2011. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

Guess what.

Click on this picture.

Go on, give it a click. I’ll wait.

Notice anything? Something new perhaps?

You know, down there in all those camera settings?

Maybe like… what lens I used??! :)

That’s right — I’m so happy to report that this weekend I finally figured out how to add which lens I used for each photo posted on Kevin & Amanda. And the great news is that it also works for all the previous photos I’ve uploaded since I started posting the camera settings in January of this year. So if there are any photos you’ve been wondering about, you can now go back and click on that photo for the lens information.

Like this photo.

And this one.

And this one, too.

So be on the lookout! From now on you can click on any photo to see not only which camera and settings I used, but also the lens!

Note: Not a life altering announcement. That is all.

© kevinandamanda.com, 2011. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

Working on the new design last week reminded me of all the changes Kevin and Amanda has been through over the years. Kevin bought me this domain name for the one year anniversary of our first date — which is coming up in just a few days! At the time, we weren’t even married yet. We were two short months away from the wedding…

Here’s what Kevin & Amanda looked like when it first launched, back in March of 2002. I had my own webpage back then, and it was basically just a venue to share photos, essays, and all things wedding related with friends and family. We didn’t have blogs, Flickr or Facebook. Or even MySpace. I had a free Geocities site, but I was quickly outgrowing the size limitations on free accounts. On our anniversary, Kevin asked me what domain name I’d want if I were to ever get my own.

Kevinandamanda.com, of course! I answered without hesitation. With a grin, he playfully replied, “Let’s check and see if it’s taken”. He pulled up kevinandamanda.com, with me looking anxiously over his shoulder. It was a countdown. To our wedding.

The next summer, Kevin & Amanda got a makeover. Back then I was completely in love with Gigi and Marydale.

And it stayed like that for a really, really long time. About four years.

Eventually, after I started making fonts, I started using one of my favorite new fonts at the time, Pea Glo-Girl, and the photo was changed to a sepia tone, when that was all the rage.

Here’s where I fell in love with Century Gothic, which from then on was main font of this site until the most recent design.

In 2006, I jumped on the bandwagon and turned Kevin & Amanda into a blog. Here’s one of the first blog designs, from April of 2008.

In June, I launched a major blog redesign. Before, I had basically only been changing the background, header image, and sidebar buttons. Those were easy. But after a couple years of getting to know CSS and tinkering with PHP (the two languages my WordPress blog runs on) I was able to make a few structural changes. I wanted each post to look like a letter written to you, from me, complete with the date up top and my signature at the bottom.

The comments were one of my favorite features. Sweet little post-it notes from you guys, written in alternating colors.

In November of 2008, I got on a major designing kick and changed the design of Kevin & Amanda every month for the next 5 months.

I wrote one post in November.

I loved this background though. Here you can see my signature that I used to sign each post.

Here’s December of 2008. I wrote 2 posts this month.

January of 2009. I wrote 3 posts this month. I’m really digging these backgrounds.

February of 2009. I loved this completely pink Valentine’s Day design.

March of 2009. This design stuck for the new few months.

Fall of 2009. This design was inspired by a scarf. This scarf. I scanned my scarf to make that colorful paisley background.

The recipe blog has been through a few changes itself!

This comments section is still one of my all time favorites. I loved how you could click on that crumpled piece of notebook paper to type your comment.

Your comments are always my fav.

© kevinandamanda.com, 2011. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

I love blogging. I love sharing with you guys. I love hearing from you guys. Thank you for being here! Last Friday I launched a new design for Kevin & Amanda. Here are a few of my favorite new features.

Camera Settings

Most of you guys already know this one. I added this feature a few weeks before the new design. But just in case you missed it, on all the newer posts, you can now click on the photos to show the settings I used to take that photo. You can try it out here!

Search Results

Searching Kevin & Amanda or browsing through the categories and archives should be a little easier now, with post excerpts like this.

Short URLs

This is one of my favorite features! If you click the Twitter bird at the bottom of each post, it will generate a custom short url that looks something like this: http://kevinandamanda.com/aETu

Fun.

Comments

The comments section is another favorite. I think I love the color-coordinated alternating speech bubbles the most. And you can quickly find my replies to your comments by scrolling through and looking for the bright background.

If you’d like for your picture to show up next to your comment, you can get a Gravatar. It’ll show up next to your comments on all blogs that have Gravatars enabled!

Recipes

The recipes section of Kevin & Amanda got a new design too! It’s got all the same features with a slightly different color scheme.

Fonts

The font used in the header is Esfera NF and the handwriting font on the recipe blog is Pea Sadie.

Let me know if I’ve forgotten anything you were wondering about. Thank you again for being here. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate ya. Hope you like the new design!

© kevinandamanda.com, 2011. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

The weather has been beautiful this past week- I’ve just wanted to stay outside all day. The dogs love it (they whine at my feet until I take them out and toss the ball), and the yard sure could use my help. I’m looking forward to planting a garden again this year. Last year I just did a few herbs, but this year I’m thinking of adding some red & green bell peppers and maybe some green onions? I love them on pizza and in roasted vegetables. I hope spring is finally here to stay- and summer is just around the corner. This weekend the temperature is supposed to be 78*. Hooray!

Last week was the 9 year anniversary of our first date. We often remember the date and remark on another year together, but this year everything just fell into place- and we had a unique opportunity to celebrate our day in a way that would be especially meaningful to us. If you’re been reading here long, you might remember the story of how Kevin & I got to know each other by going to Auburn baseball games in the spring of 2001. This year, it just so happened that Auburn was playing a Tuesday night game in a town just an hour and a half away- on the night after our anniversary. And my dad’s company had free tickets to the game. And they had a booth there with free hot dogs, hamburgers, and drinks.

Kevin asked me if I wanted to go… and I said “Definitely!!!”
(I love it when he plans dates! :))

We had a blast. Auburn won 10-3, and the drive gave us a nice, uninterrupted chance to talk about where we’re going & what we’re doing for our wedding anniversary this year.

We were trying to get this picture when Spike, the opposing team’s cutie pie mascot, came and crashed the party! But we didn’t mind- he was pretty cute for a bulldog. :) Their stubby little bodies and smooshy little faces remind me of Miley & Howie.

(BTW, Miley & Howie are totally pulling for this little guy in the Final Four. Meep!)

***

Thanks for looking & Happy Monday!

© kevinandamanda.com, 2010. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

Last Saturday, I remember…

Getting up at the crack of dawn. Taking a drive. Seeing the snow- beautiful. Morning shopping at the Summit. Being showered with festive Valentine’s cookies, cupcakes and treats in all the stores- just for shopping. Lunch @ The Cheesecake Factory. Yummy, yummy cheesecake.

(Mouseover this image for a cool effect- click on the numbers that pop up!)

On Sunday we slept in, and sometime during the middle of the night- it snowed. When we woke up, everywhere we could see was covered in fresh, white powder.

Kevin went out into the cold and took this picture. I stayed inside in my pajamas. See Miley & Howie? :)

Sunday night, we had reservations for dinner and a movie.

We had reserved seats for the movie too- no waiting in line! :) We sat in a love seat and saw Valentine’s Day. I loved it. They brought us complimentary chocolate covered strawberries. We ate sweet potato fries during the movie.

© kevinandamanda.com, 2010. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

Merry Christmas!

With love,
Kevin, Amanda, Miley and Howie

© kevinandamanda.com, 2009. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

One day a couple of weeks ago, Kevin came home from work and said, “Well! I found a car for you!”

Let me back up. It has been “All SUV, All the Time” talk over here lately! Every time we go out, Kevin points out all the SUVs we pass, telling me about the features, what he likes and what he doesn’t like. And every time I come home, I find browser windows open to reviews, safety ratings, and links to the models he thinks I’ll like!

“You’ll like this one” he said. Both of our cars were pushing 200,000 miles. Mine is a ’97 and his is a ’96. We both got them in high school. I knew it was only a matter of time. And Kevin had it all planned out. We went and looked. We test drove. He showed me all the features it had. See, my car.. my 12 year old Nissan Altima.. it’s the first and only car I’ve ever had. I liked that car. It was a good car. I didn’t think I needed a new car. But Kevin knows what I like. And wow. I was kinda star-struck by what all this new one could do!

A few days later we traded in the Altima…

…and said hello to the 2007 Toyota 4Runner Limited!

This is the first vehicle we’ve ever purchased together…

But she’s really mine. ;)

It has a rear-view back-up cam- man that thing is handy! Especially pulling into the garage- I can check and make sure I’m in far enough. Oh, and see that 231 under the screen? That’s telling me how many miles I have left on the tank.

GPS Navigation- the other night I was running late and going to a friends house. I had no idea how to get there, but my car did! I punched in the address and it took me right there. Fun!

Now *this* is cool. When I get in the car, it automatically connects with my cell phone via bluetooth. Any calls I get go through the car- the caller ID shows up on the screen and I can answer or ignore the call from the steering wheel (and also adjust the volume). I can talk hands-free and the sound comes out through the radio speakers. Love it!

It has a 4 disc MP3 player…

And finally!! Dual-side air controls!!! Now I can keep my side of the car perfectly pleasant and Kevin can keep his side at his usual -27 degrees. No more freezing my buns off! :D

Speaking of buns… they definitely won’t freeze now with heated seats! These were so nice the other night when I was driving back home in the cold.

The steering wheel… I can answer, hang up, and ignore phone calls, adjust the radio/phone volume, skip tracks on the MP3 player, and even initiate voice command… Like I can say “Go Home” and it’ll set the GPS destination for Home. Or “Call Kevin” and it’ll call Kevin! Neato.

Garage door opener- Kevin programmed the middle button so it would open our garage door at home- I guess we can program the other two for our Lake House and Beach House. ;) Hah. Totally kidding. ;)

Plenty of room for traveling now! And I like how the back window rolls down- Miley and Howie do too! The trunk door doesn’t pop open from the key fob, but it does roll the window down. lol

Hellooo sun roof! And leather seats. :D

The rearview mirror also has a compass. And um, I’m honestly not sure what that power button does. :O This new car has so many buttons it’s like looking at an airplane control panel!

Behind the wheel…

It’s fun to have a car that was actually built in this century! ;)

Thanks so much for looking! :)

P.S. If you’re looking for the winners of the notecard giveaway, they can be found here! :)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2009. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

Because it’s rainy, and because all I want right now is a hot, creamy bowl of chicken and dumplings, and because it’s really starting to feel a lot like fall around here…

Let’s talk about fall. Let’s talk about new, crisp, fall clothes. I love this time of year- bundling up in layers of corduroy, sweaters, and scarves. I’m completely in love with the delicious berry colors that are oh-so-popular right now.

Here are some fun new fall pieces I picked up this weekend with my mom- we headed out to the mall and shopped that place out! ;)

Ok, it was mostly Ann Taylor Loft that we shopped out. I love that place! :) I stuck mainly with layers I could mix and match- more bang for the buck! ;) Tank tops under sweaters, cute tees that can be worn now while it’s still warm, then layered over a long sleeved white tee when it gets cooler, and warm, gray corduroys that go with everything.

Here’s a closer look…

1. Maybelline Expert Wear® Eye Shadow Quads (Natural Smokes)

I saw an ad for this in InStyle while flipping through the magazines the last time I got my hair cut. I instantly fell in love. Let me tell you. I know NOTHING about makeup. Literally. Nothing. Especially eye shadow. For the past 5 years I have been wearing blush, YES blush, as my eye shadow. I just threw it on. The lid, the crease, the brow bone, everything. I longed for those smoky, sultry eyes, that just popped (Jennifer Love Hewitt’s look on Ghost Whisperer, anyone?). I even watched a youtube video on how to get that look. It helped a little. But this. This eye shadow. It does everything for you. It comes with four coordinating colors and it tells you exactly where to put them: lid, crease, brow bone, and corner. It even shows you a picture on the back of EXACTLY where to put each color! Just what I needed! I need someone to hold my hand and walk me through every baby step when it comes to makeup. Sure, I can dive into pages of of gnarly CSS, HTML, Javascript and PHP when it comes to blog makeovers. But makeup?? Real live makeup? Hold me. This eye shadow does just what I need.

2. Folklore Paisley Scarf from Ann Taylor Loft

Love this scarf! Love it! Fell in love with it immediately. Everything I bought for fall goes with this scarf. People are going to get sick of me wearing this scarf! :D I even wore it to dinner with friends last night, even though the temperature outside was a balmy, 75 degrees. Help me.

3. Bolero Dropped Shoulder Cardigan in Cedar Heather from Ann Taylor Loft

Sooo soft and cozy for layering over tank tops and tees! Goes great with jeans and cords.

4. Chiffon Trim Cami from Ann Taylor Loft

Very comfy, and the pleating across the chest is actually very flattering. I got a couple of these in different colors for layering.

5. Corduroy Modern Boot Leg Pants in Shadow Grey from Ann Taylor Loft

I like corduroy, but what I loved about these was the COLOR! It’s a really warm gray- immediately draws you in- and it goes so well with the pinks, creams and purples. These pants will definitely be getting their wear this fall!

6. Coach Penelope Op Art Clutch – from the Coach Outlet store in Foley, AL

Kevin’s mom bought this for me over the summer when we went to the Foley Outlet Stores. Now talk about shopping that place OUT. We spent eleven hours there one Saturday. Yes! ELEVEN HOURS!! :) I went there specifically to go to the Coach outlet store- I knew I wanted a small clutch, just big enough for my keys, cell phone, and monies. I LOVED this one, but I wasn’t so sure about the color. I wanted something to go with everything. I’m not one of those trendy, chic gals that changes my purse with every outfit. Although I wish I was. I really wanted it in just the classic, Coach brown. But this purple was what they had. And it was on sale. And it matched the outfit I was wearing that day. And I really, really, liked it. And Kevin’s mom offered to buy it for me. :D It didn’t take much to convince me. :D And you know what I discovered? That purple really does go with just about everything I own. It looks warmer with warm colors and cooler with cool colors. And I was just tickled pink (purple??) when I realized how well it would match my new fall getup!

7. Victoria’s Secret Beauty Rush Lip Gloss

I hardly ever wear anything on my lips, and only lip gloss when I actually do remember to throw something on before running out the door. But I got a free sample of this lip gloss at the store one time and I really liked it! It gives my lips just a hint of color and a shimmery, glossy sheen. Not clown like. Not ultra fakey wet dripping supermodel like. Just right. And after flipping through the catalog at Ann Taylor Loft, and seeing how *every single one* of their models was wearing that berry pink lipstick color (that matches the tank top), I decided to follow the fashion trend- I got this gloss in Cupquake- the perfect pink to match my fall colors. Plus, I had just gotten a pedicure with OPI’s Pink Flamenco, which totally also matches! ;)

8. Miss Me Jeans

I needed a new pair of fall jeans, and the ones at Ann Taylor Loft fit me really well, but… Well. The design on the back of the jeans was… Well to be honest. They were butt ugly. *snicker* Get it? Butt ugly?? Ahem. Sorry… I just crack myself up sometimes. *SNARF!* Get it?? CRACK?? *wiping tears* Okay, I’m back. Anyway. Yeah, I really liked these jeans. Hey, if they gotta have a design on the back, might as well be cute right?? ;)

9. Fleur Applique Graphic Tee in Vintage Plum from Ann Taylor Loft

Love the color of this shirt, love the pattern, and hey! It matches my new jeans. ;) Can be layered over a scoop neck, long sleeve white tee for cooler days, or under a warm cardigan for even colder days! :)

Okay. That was fun. :D If you made it this far, thanks for sticking with my fall fashion rambling! ;) But what I really want to know is… What are YOU wearing this fall??! :) Or what do you WISH you were wearing this fall?? I would LOVE to see a blog post of your favorite fall pieces! :) Polyvore.com makes it super-easy to put together ultra-stylish collections. Hope over there and check it out- and if you post your collection on your blog, leave me a link! Pretty please? I wanna see!! :)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2009. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook

We had a really fun Labor Day weekend. Three-day weekends are such a treat, and we tried to make the most of this one by fitting in as many activities as possible! :)

Saturday was the first Auburn football game of the season, so on Friday after lunch we loaded up and headed straight for Auburn! :)

Before the game we went to “Tiger Town” to find new Auburn shirts for us to wear to the game. This is my new Aubie shirt! Isn’t he cute? :)

I love, love, love Auburn football games. The traditions, the band, the game, the cheering, the CROWD! :) The first game of the season is always special because, I don’t know, I guess in the months during the off season I forget how much I love it? But then I get to that first game. And I’m always overwhelmed at just how much I’ve missed it! I always miss it. I love Auburn football! :)

I’m getting old though, because my hiney is STILL sore from sitting in those bleachers for 4 hours!

On Sunday we went to an Atlanta Braves game! :) Yes, that is Miley and Howie all dressed up in their Atlanta Braves gear! :) That’s because it was a special “Bark in the Park” dog day at Turner Field where dogs were allowed to go to the game! :)

Here’s Miley and Howie at the park, getting ready to cheer on the Braves! :)

We were very excited when we found out that Tim Hudson would be pitching at the game- he’s Kevin’s favorite pitcher and he used to pitch at Auburn too! :) That’s how Kevin and I got to know each other, you know- before we started dating. Have I ever mentioned that? I have a friend, who shall remain nameless ;), but she had a huge crush on one of Kevin’s friends. Kevin and his friend would always go to the Auburn baseball games in the spring of 2001. So my friend and I would go to the games together and try and work it out so she could sit next to Kevin’s friend. Well! Kevin would never let that happen because *he* was trying to work it out so *I* would sit next to *him*! :P We would always lament how he was “messing up our plans!” ;) Little did I know! Well, my friend and his friend never did get together. But it all worked out because her Mr. Right came along not too long after that. And I will always be grateful to her for dragging me to all those baseball games! :)

But back to the Braves game! Not only did we get to bring Miley and Howie to the game, but the day was twice as nice because we got to meet up with a few of our friends and fellow boston terrier owners! :)

This is Shelby and Rupert B. Puppenstein, me and Howie, and Jenny and Bella.

It was also like a mini-family reunion for Miley and Howie! Miley and Bella, while not directly related, are from the same beautiful and sweet breeder in Tennessee. Miley’s breeder is awesome- I love her! Miley is 3.5 and we still keep in touch. She always leaves the sweetest comments on Miley and Howie’s pictures! :) This is Howie and Rupert in the picture above. After we got to the game, we saw the amazing resemblance between them! We got to looking at their pedigrees and found out they are actually pretty closely related! They share the same great-grandfather, Ch. Sunwoods Repeat Performance, ROM, “Pete”. So does that make them third-cousins? haha. :)

Howie’s favorite spot during the game was hanging out under the chairs, in the shade, with his head rested on the seat. What a lazy boy! :)

It was really sunny at the game, so Rupert had to sport his super-cool shades! :)

Howie had a blast watching the game and cheering on the Braves! ;) They didn’t win, but it was still a fun time for all. :)

Thanks so much for looking! :) How was *your* weekend?? :)

© kevinandamanda.com, 2009. | Leave a comment! | Stumble | Share on Twitter | Share on Facebook