Plum Life Review and Giveaway

I have been trying to find a good calendar that works for my family.  I originally started using Google Calendar years ago.  Keith could subscribe, but didn't really ever check it.  Since I have a Macbook and an iPhone, I have been using the ical that is built in, but it doesn't give me the ability to really share the calendar with Keith.  Yes I can send him appts to his calendar via email, but he can't see what Grace and I do for the week.

I tried printing the calendar and posting it, but the day I print the calendar it becomes out-dated and the print out wasn't the best. I've tried a few others out there, but haven't really found one that I love.

I recently had the opportunity to check out PlumLife - a total life scheduling tool.  It is actually from a Dallas based company.  I like what I see so far.  Apparently the switch that Apple did to move the calendars to iCloud do complicate things for me moving my calendars but I can still export and import all of my information quickly into Plumlife.  I think if you use Google or Outlook things can be set up even easier.  I was up and running in about 10 minutes after importing all of my contacts and calendars.

Even though they don't have a dedicated app for the iPhone, they do have a very robust looking mobile version that I can bookmark on my phone.   The best part of this is that I can add the icon onto Keith's phone as well and he can have quick access into our calendar.  He doesn't want to import our events into his work calendar, which I completely understand.  I never liked mixing my work and personal calendars on a work computer either.  Now when someone invites us to dinner he can check our schedule and add the event.   This features is available on all smartphones via m.plumlife.com.

Some of the additional cool features in PlumLife is the ability to completely interface with your contacts.  When you create an event, you can have it automatically email a sitter with details asking them if they can sit, or help with scheduling carpools, etc.  I think that could be a very cool feature, but haven't really tried it out.  I also sends text and email notifications as well to contacts based on your preferences.  I can even forward calendar events via email and it will import them automatically.  PlumLife also lets me print out exactly the view that I'd like - day, week, month, next 4 wks, etc.

I look forward to using PlumLife and seeing how it all works.  I really hope it is the solution that I've been looking for the past few years.  I've encountered a couple of bugs - deleting or moving events on calendars, but nothing major.  It seems to be related to events that I imported.  I ended up just deleting and recreating them which is no big deal.  I love all of the information I can add about the event - maps too!.  It looks like PlumLife has recently undergone a big relaunch since some of the tutorials aren't quite right, but again nothing that you can't figure out.

With all of these great features I was impressed, but the best part is that PlumLife is all free and no annoying ads.

If you'd like to check it out, I have a great incentive for you right now.  One of my lucky readers will win a $25 Container Store gift card thanks to PlumLife - first organize your calendar and then your closet!

In order to be entered you need to do the following before March 1st.

1.  'Like PlumLife on Facebook
2.  Follow PlumLife on Twitter
3.  Sign up for PlumLife - use the promo code PlumLife10 so that they know which blog referred you.
4.  Leave a comment stating why you love PlumLife on the PlumLife Facebook Wall.

Come back here and comment that you've done all 4 things and you're entered!

Colorado

For the last 20+ (wow really) years, I have been going skiing with my family.  Now it is just my Dad and I that ski, but we have a blast every year.  We've skied all over the place and definitely have our favorites and our not so favorites.  Amazingly, the first trip that I took with my Dad skiing was when I was 16 and I tagged along to Europe on a work trip of his.  Let's just say his first experience with skiing wasn't great and I was surprised that he even tried again, but now as long as it is groomed we will tackle anything on the mountain - Blues, Blacks, and even greens when we are forced :)

Grace comes along and spends the day with Mimi and Holly while we ski.  I can't wait until I can get her on skis - probably another year or so.

This year we went back to the Summit County area in Colorado.  We aren't ones to ski only 1 mountain during the week and like places that can give us variety.  We skied Breckenridge, Keystone and Vail this year.  We made a promise to get helmets this year and after griping about it I bought one.  I'll admit now that it wasn't so bad - built in headphones and my head was warm and safe so not much to dislike about it.

Ready for the trip

Finally napping on the plane to Denver

All ready to go at the Top of Breckenridge - Grace didn't like our boots or helmets.  

Napping with Holly

She love going for "Rides!"

Mimi, Grace and Holly came to see us on the Mountain for Lunch.  Grace loved the Gondola.

Playing with the Puzzles with Grandpa.

On the Gondola one day, we over heard someone talking about the Ice Castles so we had to check them out.  It was this really cool structure made up of Icicles that they sprayed with water every night.  It gets bigger as the season goes on and they light it up at night.  Grace loved running around it and surprisingly she was super agile on the slick ground.  The pictures don't do it justice, but we thought it was cool.  

We had a great trip and look forward to going skiing again next year.  Maybe we can get Grace up on some baby skis!