Fotolia Review

Last month I was given the unique opportunity to try out the awesome stock photo site, Fotolia. I am not sure if you are all familiar with sites like these, so let me give you a little debriefing on the subject. Stock photo sites provide users with royalty free images that you can purchase. They contain a variety of different products, including videos, vectors and photos.

After using the site for awhile, I have come to the conclusion that fotolia is one of the better options out there. They have a ton of available images for purchase and the search is completely customizable. You can do a general search of all photos, illustrations, vectors and videos or if you can narrow it down. You can also choose to do an advanced search where you can search by representative categories or conceptual categories. Once you select an image you can also choose which size you want. If you are going to be using the image for something small, you can save money by purchasing it at a lower resolution.

Speaking of purchasing, there are two different ways you can go about obtaining your images. If you are someone who downloads a lot of images, you might want to choose to sign up for a subscription. You can customize this as well, but I would be more likely to go with the second option, the credit system. I just do not download enough images to make the subscription worthwhile. With the credit system, you will be paying more per image, but you can alter it to fit you exactly. If you are only going to be purchasing a few images, you can buy the exact number of credits needed. That way, you aren't buying extra credits you don't need.

There is however one thing that I did not like about Fotolia. I wish that there was a better way to select like images. Let's say you are browsing through a collect of images and you find one that is almost what you are looking for. There isn't really a way to find more images based on the one you selected. You can chose to search through the same representative and conceptual categories, or you can use one  keyword, but you cannot choose multiple keywords.

However, I would still highly recommend Fotolia. If you are patient enough, you will eventually find what you are looking for and customizable size and credit options make it worth you time.

CSN Review: Zip-Out Market Bag

I don't know if you are all familiar with CSN, but they were kind enough to let me review a product for you guys. They carry all different kinds of things - bookshelves, cookware, luggage - really anything you could imagine. I had an incredibly difficult time choosing a product, but I eventually decided to go with a Zip-Out Market Bag.

You see, I love reusable shopping totes and I always keep a spare one in my purse. I use them for practically everthing, including hauling books around (of course!). I wanted a large tote that could hold a lot of weight, something that could withstand all of my trips to and from the library. Thankfully, my new Rowallan Sanderling Marley Zip-Out Market Bag (isn't that a mouthful!?) seems up to the job.

I decided to go with the Raspberry, which by the way is both Raspberry and chocolate brown. When the bag is closed it is raspberry, but when you open it up the actual bag part is chocolate brown. Hopefully, you can make sense of that from the picture.

So far, I have come up with three reasons why this particular bag is ideal for carting books around - the size, the material and the flat bottom. The bag expands to a rather large size, which is great, because I tend to carry a lot of books to and from the library. The website says that the bag is constructed out of microfiber, but honestly that doesn't mean much to me. What I can tell you is that it is incredibly sturdy. The problem I've had in the past with these type of bags is that they cannot hold a lot of weight, which means they tare and fray. I really don't see that being an issue with this bag. Lastly, like I said above, the bag has a flat bottom, which means books will lie flat - and therefore, you can stack them.

I was able to fit all 9 of those books (including some large hardcovers) with room to spare. Honestly, I have to admit, that I really love my bag. I was a little bit afraid at first, because I could not find what the color of the actual bag was in the description. I was terrified that I wouldn't like it and I would have to carry around an ugly bag. Honestly, that is the only complaint I have about the whole process. I wish that the website would either list the color combination or provide pictures of all of the bags open, not just the green (which by the way has a blue interior).

***The bag does fit into my purse, but you may want to check the dimensions before you buy one. If you have a small purse you may have a problem.