Tag: bing

Inspiration for a Horse Birthday Party for Kids
This post was created in partnership with Bing.

Eleanor’s fifth birthday is only a couple of weeks away, and Brandon and I had been asking her for the past month what kind of party she’d like. The answer? A horse/LEGO/Play-Doh/kitty theme. She had a Play-Doh birthday party last year (complete with the most amazing birthday cake), so after some further consideration, we’re going with horses this year. Which means I’ve been looking for horse birthday party ideas that don’t involve cowboys and cowgirls, derby hats (as much as I love ’em), or the presence of a live horse.

Some of the ideas are way over the top compared to what we usually do for the kids’ birthdays. A cute cake and some show ribbons? Great! A party on location at a barn with horse rides for everyone? I’m sure Eleanor would flip, but sorry kid, your party’s here at home. Still, I’ve had a lot of fun using Bing to search for inspiration. Each search earns points too, with their free Bing Rewards program (even when I use Bing on my phone). I’m going to redeem some of the points I’ve accumulated for an Amazon gift card, so all of my searching will add up to one very large horse-shaped balloon for free.

Here are some of the items and ideas we’ll be using for Eleanor’s upcoming party. I’ve already shown some of these to her, and she’s super excited!
1. Decorations for a Pony Party
  The vintage vibe and color palette are lovely.
2. DIY Horse Ribbons
  These would be great for decorating, though I suspect they take some time to make in multiples! Vintage ribbons are plentiful on eBay and Etsy, too.
3. Horse Party String Lights
  After the party, these can decorate E’s bedroom.
4. Horse-Shaped Jumbo Foil Balloons
  Two or three of these ought to make a big impact.
5. Horse Topper on the Cake
  A toy horse is a sweet, simple way to decorate the birthday cake.
6. Pin the Tail on the Pony
  The perfect party game to play.
7. Tiny Toy Horses
  For the goody bags, along with stickers, candy, and other assorted items.
This post was created in partnership with Bing.

I’m required to disclose a sponsored partnership between our site and Bing. I have been compensated in exchange for this post in the form of payment, product or experiences.
April 15, 2014
Looking for a Photography Class

This post is sponsored by Bing.

I took a 2-hour video class by Matt and Julie Walker of Tiger in a Jar when I was at Alt Summit last month, and I was inspired to learn more about lighting. I feel like I understand my camera and natural light, but I could still use some improvement and I have absolutely no experience with lighting equipment. I’m working with Bing, to help take my inspiration and ‘Bing it to Life,’ so I’m going to take a photography class to learn more.

Sometimes I can pull off a good shot, like the one below from the day I took August’s last monthly photo, but it’s hit or miss, and I’d like a little more understanding and control of the outcome.

I searched on Bing for photography classes in Chicago and came up with a bunch to check out. I visited each site and read Yelp reviews, narrowing it down to a couple of top contenders. I could see a few of my friends’ Facebook posts in the search results too, mentioning photography classes they’d taken, but I also used Bing to ask for some direct feedback on my Facebook page.

I’ve heard good things about Clickin’ Moms, which was recommended, and I think I might join. A sample issue of their new magazine, Click, randomly arrived a few weeks ago and I liked it a lot. In fact, I cashed out all of my credit card rewards points to get a Canon 35mm f/1.4L lens because I noticed so many of the shots I loved were using it. I am looking for an actual class here in Chicago to go to though. A couple of people recommended Chicago Photography Center — one that I was already considering — so that helped me make my choice.

Now I’m just trying to figure out which class will be most beneficial. I want to learn more about lighting, and there are specific classes for Fundamentals of Studio Portrait Lighting and Flash Photography. I think I might want to start with Intermediate Digital Photography though, which includes “detailed review of light; a deeper understanding of exposure and white balance use and techniques; introduction to flash modifiers including flash lab and an introduction to portrait lighting.” It might be good to increase my overall photo skills before moving on to specifics, right?

Whichever class I take, I’m sure I’m going to learn a lot. They’re each three hours long, for seven weeks, and there are homework assignments to be done that will be critiqued. I’m looking forward to it.

February 20, 2013
The Bing it On Report

I’ve been participating in a challenge with several other bloggers, in partnership with Alt Summit. It has been a week of searching with Bing instead of Google, and today it’s time for the report. Did you try it out too? I use my browser’s built-in search bar and I installed Bing’s plugin for this challenge, so switching for the week was easy.

So, what was different? Well, I didn’t notice much of a difference a lot of the time. Sometimes I liked it, sometimes I was frustrated, and most of the time I felt pretty neutral about the whole thing. There were lots of little differences that you only notice because of the novelty of having them or the strange feeling of missing something. For instance, I like autofill. Bing does it to a lesser extent, but only on its homepage. You know what I mean; like when you start typing “why” and it gives you a drop-down of queries and suddenly you want to know, yes, “why are manhole covers round?” I missed the serendipity. My productivity improved without the internet rabbit hole though, so there’s that.

I did like the social media integration a lot. I also liked Bing for travel because of its Price Predictor (buy those tickets now, or wait for a drop in price?). Shopping searches were a toss-up, but image search goes to Google. I find Google’s reverse image search is pretty indispensable as a blogger.

Switching was an interesting experiment. I think I’ll probably switch between Bing and Google moving forward, depending on what I need. I figure it’s good to shake up old habits from time to time, right?

This post is brought to you by Alt Summit and their partner Bing. I’m taking the Bing It On challenge this week.

October 26, 2012
Bing it on

I, along with a bunch of my other Alt Summit blogging friends, am participating in a little challenge. It’s an interwebz challenge that appeals to my nerdy techie tendencies: Bing vs. Google.

I’ve installed a browser plugin because that’s where I typically enter my search terms, so I’ll be using Bing as my default search engine all week long (instead of… you know). I’ve also made Bing.com my homepage for the week, and I’ve installed their iPhone app. I’ll be posting an update on Friday, before my usual weekly Honor Roll post to share the results, good or bad. Apparently, people prefer Bing to Google 2:1 in blind tests, so I’m curious to see how the switch will pan out. You can join us too if you’re up for a little experiment, and we’ll discuss next Friday.

This post is brought to you by Alt Summit and their partner Bing. I’m taking the Bing It On challenge this week.

October 22, 2012