GiftYou: An Easy Way to Say “Here’s What You Can Get For Me”

December 2, 2016 by Leave a Comment
giftYou is an easy new way to share wish lists and gift ideas – complete with sizes, color preferences, and more – with your friends and family.

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These socks are on my giftYou list

Now that we’re in holiday season, family and friends keep asking me for gift ideas for my kids. What sizes are they now, including shoes? What clothes do they especially need? I have the same questions about my sister’s kids and she is terrible at getting back to me. (I am also terrible at getting back to people, but it’s more fun to throw her under the bus.)

But what if there was a central place you could keep all this information? Not just for you and your own kids, but for all the people you love to shower with gifts throughout the year? This is one of those things I didn’t know I needed until it popped up in my life: giftYou!

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giftYou is an online tool that makes it easy to create and share gift wish lists with friends and family. Creator Richard Fields says he and his techie partners “wanted to make the gift giving process easier on ourselves (and in turn, easier for everyone else, too)!  Most of us love giving and receiving gifts… but, quite frankly, it can sometimes be a bit stressful.”

Wish Lists For Everyone!

giftYou goes beyond Amazon’s wish lists (although it uses Amazon links to populate your list easily) by allowing you to easily share wish lists among groups of family and friends. “At giftYou, you simply create a group, invite everyone you want to join, and that’s it,” says Fields.  “Everyone in the group will have their wish lists shared with each other automatically, instead of each person having to manually share each separate wish list with one another.”

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Plus, giftYou can add links to any online retailer, AND indicate your general preferences and the kinds of things you like, so that people can choose their own gifts for you instead of picking something directly off your wish list. You can use it for this season’s gifting holidays and keep it around for birthdays and other occasions.

When you log in (for free!) and create you own account, you are prompted to start a wish list for yourself. You can also create a wish list and preferences for a dependent or someone else in your family. giftYou is easy to use on your mobile phone too – it’s optimized for that format so you don’t have to download a separate app to use it.

Other cool functions: when someone wants to buy something for you from the wish list, they can “claim” it, but you won’t see who it is! And, the site makes sure gifts aren’t claimed more than once. It’s kind of like an awesome group gift registry.

There’s Still Time

So if you’ve been meaning to gather some ideas for your family to send presents for the kids that you know they would love, instead of blindly ordering the latest hot toy from the internet, try out giftYou.com. And make a wish list for yourself while you’re at it!

I promise you this post is not just a giant hint for you to click through and send me presents. The wish list I posted above is just for an example. (I already asked Santa for these things, so since I’ve been a good girl this year, I think I’m all set.) What I really want is a shiny new car. I wonder if that can go on a wish list? Hmm…

Many thanks to giftYou.com for partnering with me on this post. Shout out to Fairy Season for the photo and the existence of the awesome socks. Happy holidays!

Filed Under: Holidays Tagged With: , , , , , , , , , ,

Smart & Final Definitely Coming to Westlake Village

January 4, 2016 by 25 Comments

smart and final extra

It’s official: Smart & Final will definitely be moving in to where Haggen used to be – at the corner of Thousand Oaks Blvd. and Lindero Canyon (in the shopping center called Westlake Village Marketplace). Where Alberstons used to be. Three stores in a very short time! Whew!

haggen closingPhoto from Yelp by Elisa H.

At least the conjecture can end. In an email from a Smart & Final representative, I learned the following:

Smart & Final will open a new store at 5770 Lindero Canyon Road in West Lake Village under its Smart & Final Extra! format.

In comparison to traditional Smart & Final stores, Smart & Final Extra! stores offer shoppers expanded frozen, deli and meat sections, a full produce section, organic and natural food products, more high quality perishables and meats, a wide selection of private label offerings, goods tailored to business and household customers, and products offered in a broad range of sizes. In addition, the new store will include unique products such as oven-roasted chicken and self-serve dry bulk goods by the pound.

The Smart & Final Extra! format provides a one-stop shopping experience where businesses and organizations, as well as households, can purchase grocery and everyday staple needs while also stocking up on thousands of club-size products, all without a membership fee.

The new Westlake Village store is scheduled to open by the end of June 2016.

Personally, I’m thrilled. I like Smart & Final and whenever I have to go there, I visit the store in Woodland Hills, usually on the way home from the dentist or doctor. I think the new store will suit us just fine. What do you think?

Filed Under: Around Town, Local Businesses Tagged With: , , , , , , ,

Eatsa at The Village at Topanga – The Future of Lunch?

December 21, 2015 by 2 Comments

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The hustle and bustle of the holiday season may take you to the The Village in Woodland Hills, the new outdoor mall on Topanga Canyon. If you’re hungry, pop into Eatsa and check it out: it’s a fully automated little indentation in the Topanga side of things that makes healthy, delicious food to go.

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When I visited last week, staff were on hand to educate passersby about this unique little eatery. Here’s how it works.

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Order your food from the iPad – you can select from a number of creatively designed quinoa bowls or salads, or build your own. I chose the Burrito Bowl – Guacamole, Salsa Fresca, Queso Mexicano, Asada Portabello, Grilled Corn, Warm Lemon-Herb Toasted Quinoa, Tortilla Chips, Seasoned Pinto Beans, but because everything is customizable I removed the queso, since I wanted to be dairy-free.

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Then I ordered a beverage too, eatsa’s popular cucumber and melon soda, that only has 9 grams of sugar per serving. Why not? You swipe your card alongside the screen to pay. Then your name shows up on a screen on the back wall above the food cubbies.

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When your meal is ready, the screen on the door of a cubby flashes your name and number, saying “Tap twice to open.” Then the door opens upward like a garage door, and voila! Your meal is revealed.

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Utensils and napkins are available in slots in the wall on the right. Tables for enjoying your meal are arranged outside, or you can take your food to go. There will be an app that you can use to order in advance, and then you can just go quickly pick up your food, parking in the special eatsa spaces out front.

While it is conceivable that this entire transaction can take place without looking at or speaking to a human, the local eatsa manager and other staff were lovely and helpful. So what about the food?

Well, as a recent convert into the quinoa-loving crow (I have a Pinterest board devoted to it, and I make this recipe several times a month), I told eatsa CEO Tim Young that I am the choir he is preaching to. Fast food doesn’t have to be unhealthy, he believes. (Or expensive. The bowls start at $6.95 each.) Eatsa serves up bowls made with nutritious ingredients. My burrito bowl was delicious and I was so hungry I forgot to take a picture of it before I shook up the ingredients to combine them. So here is the eatsa photo:

bowl_burritoAll of the dishes are displayed on the iPad for you to see before you select. I was in the mood for guacamole that day, I guess. It was a combination of foods that I hadn’t thought of before and I LOVED it! Can’t wait to bring my kids, because they’ll dig the iPad ordering process, and my husband will definitely compare it to the Jetsons-type predictions of the future. Well, here it is. The future is now.

eatsa
at The Village at Westfield Topanga
6320 Topanga Canyon Blvd.
Woodland Hills
eatsa.com

Filed Under: Around Town, Food, Local Businesses, Restaurants Tagged With: , , , , , , , , ,