I may have a new favorite online service: Pyxlin… I saw this in the Daily Universe (BYU’s Student newspaper) yesterday, and since I have been an avid Journaler over the last 8 months (though I’ve been pretty bad at it recently) I thought I would check it out. Seriously, I’m pretty highly impressed!!! Pyxlin isn’t a terribly new idea in it’s basic form – it’s an online Journal tool – but it’s a service that finally does things right.

The biggest downfalls I’ve seen to previous services like this have been that they don’t provide all the functionality I want in their web service (a full text editor and the ability to upload my photos however I want) nor do they provide much of a way for you to get a hardbound copy of what you have worked so diligently to keep… Well, those are two things that Pyxlin definitely gets right! Keeping an online journal sure is convenient since you can access it from anywhere and flake out during class if you’d like, but finally I can get my journal in a book at the end of the year to keep on my book shelf.

I like to see when people do technology the right way… Too often people try and digitize your whole life, but for the majority of us there is a strong feeling of nostalgia for the things of the past… I LOVE having hard copies of my journals. Can I tell you how much I love that? I LOOOOVE having hard copies of my journals. It’s nice to pull it out once in a while to see what I was feeling and thinking about a while back… It’s really great if you want to share some personal thoughts that you wrote about your girlfriend when you first started dating… Seriously, it’s a big deal to me, and to see someone respond to that type of user requirement (I know I’m not the only one who feels this way) is really impressive.

I recommend you check it out and take a look at a pretty neat product. I don’t know anything about the guys who developed it, other than that they were/are apparently BYU students – thus why the Daily Universe covered it, so I don’t want anyone to think I’m recommending you check out something a friend built (though you should definitely check out RateMyApartments.com).

There is a site charge (something like $20 a year if you pay annually), but you can do a 7-day trial for free. Let me know what you think! I get excited about people using technology intelligently like this – it’s a big step up from the non-innovative ideas I often see.

So, it’s not titled Vol. 1 because it’s my first Valentine’s Day, nor is it my first Valentine’s Day with a girlfriend, but it’s titled Vol. 1 because I have a feeling there will be a couple posts with multiple pictures.  :)  I did pretty well for myself this year in gift preperation, and it sounds like Lauren did as well – so why not share some pictures and such displaying our talents?  :)

So, the big gift from me this year is a big ol’ blanket.  Seriously, they’re pretty simple to make, though relatively time consuming.  All you do is pick out some felt (or something softer) at your local fabric shop and then follow the directions!

1. Purchase approximately  2 1/2 yards of fabric.  I hate throw blankets because they’re always too short, so if you’re making your own make sure it’s nice and long!  Also, the blanket will be more fun if you buy two different patterns/colors and tie them together.  It’s also warmer, and it allows you to have felt on one side (usually where you have a fun pattern) and something softer on the other side like fleece.

2.  Line up the fabric so that both pieces are overlapping well and then cut slits about an inch thick, and long enough so that you can tie the fabric together.  One tip is to make sure you take into account which sides of the fabric are stretchy…  You won’t need to cut strips quite as long on the long edge of your blanket, thus not sacrificing overall width.  The corners can be tricky but you can either cut a square off the corner of try to do a diagonal tie at each corner.  Either way works.

3. Make loop ties, tying the strips from both pieces of fabric together.  It’s pretty simple – you make a loop and stick the ends through the loop and pull…  ’nuff said.

4. Once you’ve tied all the strips together going around the blanket, cut the ties so that they are even going all the way around.  You probably won’t do this perfectly, but that’s OK.  Just cute the ends so that the strips from each piece of fabric end up being even.

And you’re done!  It’s really a pretty simple process, but it’s fun to make and I don’t know a single girl who hasn’t gone “awwwwwwww….” when their manfriend has made one and given it to them.  I know I won some pretty good points this Valentine’s Day!  haha…

Anyway, I should take some pictures of stuff that we made at Color Me Mine last week.  And apparently Lauren is finishing up something pretty neat, so maybe I’ll take some pictures and post those as well.  I kinda like spoiling people, so Valentine’s Day with a womanfriend is always a good time of year.  :)