Posts Tagged ‘decor’
Give Hotel Comfort at Home
Bring hotel luxury to your home. Several major hotels sell their linens, bath robes, shower heads and even the beds online, including Westin. Six years ago, my wife and I stayed at Pittsburgh’s Westin Hotel, home of the Heavenly Bed and the Heavenly Shower. This bed envelops you in sumptuous white cotton comfort: a Simmons pillowtop mattress, five goose-down pillows, three sheets, down blanket, comforter and duvet. The shower features two heads and offers a curved shower curtain rod, giving six more inches of elbow room. I made sure our home bathroom remodel included a similar curved shower rod. (We chose an oil-rubbed bronze version from Inspirations by Moen
Browse these web sites for hotel comfort gifts for home. High-end linens make a fine second anniversary gift. (Cotton is the traditional anniversary gift.)
- Hilton to Home
- Hyatt at Home
- Shop Marriott
- Omni Hotels at Home
- The Ritz-Carlton Shops
- W Hotels: The Store
- Distinctly Waldorf (The Waldorf=Astoria)
- Westin at Home (also Nordstrom, pictured above)
- Wyndham at Home
Tags: anniversary, bath+body, clothing, decor, gift ideas, gift sites, indulgences, travel
Yesterday I posted to Twitter about shipping my old iPhone to gadget reseller Gazelle. Within 12 minutes, the folks at Gazelle noticed my tweet message, followed my Twitter feed and sent a nice reply.
That’s a great customer follow-up use of social media. Gazelle’s prompt response made me think about other sites I frequent. How many of my favorite retailers are using Twitter? And when did they start posting tweets? I compiled the table below using Twitter’s “Find People” search and MyTweet16, which lists a Twitter user’s first 16 tweets.
Retailers Using Twitter
| Retailer Web Site | Twitter Use |
| Amazon.com #1 online retailer in the U.S. |
@amazon since Feb. 14, 2009 |
| Barnes & Noble Bookseller |
@BNBuzz since Apr. 22, 2009 |
| Best Buy Consumer electronics |
@BestBuy since Jan. 28, 2009 |
| Borders Bookseller |
@BordersMedia since Feb. 24, 2009 |
| CafePress Online retailer of custom goods |
@cafepress since Apr. 24, 2008 |
| Cooking.com Online retailer for cooks and chefs |
@CookingCom since June 19, 2009 |
| Crate & Barrel Housewares, furniture and decor |
@crateandbarrel since Apr. 25, 2008 |
| Dean & DeLuca Fine food, wine and kitchenware |
@DeanandDeluca since Mar. 23, 2009 |
| Dormbuys.com Essentials for college dorms |
@dormbuys since July 28, 2008 |
| Edible Arrangements Fruit arranged like flowers for delivery |
@DoFruit since Oct. 24, 2008 |
| Etsy Handmade crafts |
@Etsy since Jan. 14, 2008 |
| Gazelle Buys used gadgets |
@gazelle_com since Sept. 19, 2008 |
| Godiva Chocolatier Premium chocolates |
@GodivaChoc since Feb. 6, 2009 |
| JustGive.org Choose from 1.5 million charities for gifts |
@JustGiveOrg since Jan. 16, 2009 |
| Kiva.org Microlending for needy entrepreneurs |
@Kiva since July 25, 2008 |
| Kohls Department store |
@Kohls_Official since Apr. 27, 2009 |
| Lands’ End Clothing retailer with iron-clad guarantee |
@LandsEndChat since Sept. 27, 2008 |
| Levenger Gifts for reading and writing |
@Levenger since Jan. 16, 2009 |
| Nordstrom Upscale department store |
@nordstrom since Sept. 5, 2008 |
| Omaha Steaks Premium meats and seafood |
@OmahaSteaksHelp since June 17, 2009 |
| OneShare Sells one share of stock as a framed gift |
@oneshare since Feb. 4, 2009 |
| Overstock.com Online retailer selling surplus goods |
@Overstock since Nov. 20, 2008 |
| PajamaGram Pajamas sent in a hat box |
@PajamaGram since May 14, 2009 |
| ProFlowers Floral delivery |
@ProFlowers since May 5, 2009 |
| Starbucks Largest coffeehouse chain in the world |
@Starbucks since Aug. 12, 2008 |
| Sur La Table Gourmet cooking utensils and appliances |
@Sur_La_Table since June 11, 2009 |
| Teleflora Floral delivery |
@Teleflora since Mar. 6, 2009 |
| The Fruit Company Fruit basket delivery |
@TheFruitCo since Apr. 29, 2009 |
| ThinkGeek Online retailer for nerd stuff |
@thinkgeek since Jan. 26, 2008 |
| Ticketmaster Concert, show and sports tickets |
@Ticketmaster since Apr. 14, 2009 |
| Trader Joe’s Great groceries and inexpensive wine |
@traderjoes since Aug. 28, 2008 |
| Travelocity Travel and lodging |
@travelocity since Feb. 10, 2009 |
| ToysRUs Toy retailer |
@ToysRUs since Nov. 15, 2008 |
| Uncommon Goods Unusual home accessories and gifts |
@uncommon_goods since Jan. 24, 2009 |
| Urban Outfitters Clothing and footwear retailer |
@UrbanOutfitters since July 21, 2008 |
| Vera Bradley Seller of brightly patterned bags |
@verabradley since June 4, 2008 |
| Z Gallerie Home decor, furniture and dinnerware |
@zgallerie since June 14, 2009 |
| Zappos.com CEO of the online shoe retailer |
@zappos since Mar. 8, 2008 |
| Zazzle.com Online retailer for custom merchandise |
@zazzle since Oct. 24, 2008 |
Of the 40 retailers above, grocery chain Trader Joe’s use of Twitter impressed me the most. Nearly all of Trader Joe’s posts are simply retweets of customer talking about TJ’s food and beverages on Twitter. (Jargon alert: Retweets repeat someone else’s message on Twitter — crediting the author — to help spread the message to others. Often abbreviated as RT, it’s word of mouth, Twitter-style.)
Finally, as I’m writing this post, Gazelle sent me another Twitter reply. This time, Gazelle thanked me for my tweet and offered me a 5% bump in value on my next Gazelle gadget trade-in.
Tags: books, charitable gifts, chocolate+candy, clothing, coffee, college, customer service, decor, flowers, food, gadgets, gift baskets, gift sites, giftology, stock, thank you, toys, travel, wine
Eight is a lucky number. Why else would the Beijing-hosted Summer Olympics begin on 8/8/2008 at eight minutes and eight seconds past 8 p.m.? This week my wife and I celebrated our eighth wedding anniversary with the theme of luck and the traditional anniversary gifts of bronze and pottery. If you are seeking gifts for your eighth, here are the presents we exchanged.
- Nicholas Sparks’ new novel The Lucky One from Amazon.com
- A giant gourmet fortune cookie drizzled in chocolate from Good Fortunes
- A set of four bronze-beaded placemats and bronze-beaded coasters from Z Gallerie Home Furnishings
- Handmade mixing bowl in rustic yellow from Little Bit of Bybee pottery
- A 37-inch Samsung LCD High-definition TV from Amazon.com (ordered before we knew about Amazon dropping its post-order price policy guarantee)
- A dozen fall-colored roses delivered to work in a pottery vase
Tags: anniversary, books, chocolate+candy, decor, flowers, for her, gift ideas
My niece was baptized this month. To celebrate, we gave a christening gift based on her day of birth: she is a Monday’s child. Artist Barbara Olsen designs colorful wooden plaques based on the 19th-century “Monday’s Child” nursery rhyme.
Monday’s child is fair of face.
Tuesday’s child is full of grace.
Wednesday’s child is full of woe.
Thursday’s child has far to go.
Friday’s child is loving and giving.
Saturday’s child works hard for a living,
But the child who is born on the Sabbath Day
Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.
Wednesday’s kid — that’s me, by the way — sure has it rough. So the artist changed “full of woe” to “full of laughter” on the plaques. You’ll find boy and girl versions in 6-by-8-inch ($29) and 9-by-9-inch ($50) sizes.
We ordered a 9-by-9-inch “Monday’s Girl” plaque from HaveABath.com and received outstanding customer service. The owner, Carol Vanacore, helped me expedite shipping and called to make sure the gift was received on time. My sister-in-law loved the plaque and recognized the rhyme immediately.
Need to calculate what day a child was born for this gift? Try the calculator below. If you are viewing the RSS feed, please visit this post directly to use the calculator.
Tags: baptism, birthday, decor, for baby, for her, for kids, gift ideas
