Style Swellness: My Bourdain and Ripert custom iPhone case from The Case Studio

Love, love, love my new custom iPhone case. In fact, I’m pretty sure I need Bourdain/Kwan/Ripert sandwich everything: calendar, coffee mug, sweatshirt.

In January, I got the iPhone 6 and I refused to start using it until I had a protective case. I’ve shattered the screen of too many phones and the screen of my iPad by dropping them so I had good reason to be wary. As I was desperate to find a case immediately, and with few iPhone 6 cover choices at the time at Holt Renfrew and Indigo, I ended up settling for a simple clear with gold trim one from a cell phone accessories store.

A few weeks later, The Case Studio (which offers customizable iPhone, iPad, iPod, Android and tablet cases) contacted me with a coupon code to create my own case and I jumped at the chance. I love switching my case up often, since my phone is basically an accessory I “wear” every day; and well, since my iPhone is pretty much always in my hand or on the table (yes, yes, I know, I shouldn’t be so tied to being connected…) I need case(s) I love.

First things first: I had to choose a pattern or photo(s)

There are many patterns to choose from, some which allow you to have your initials or name in the design, or you can upload your own photo using a variety of templates. I preferred the idea of a custom photo, I pondered a pretty picture from one of my beach trips. And then. I knew. “Omigod, I’m going to get the Bourdain/Ripert sandwich as my case!” I was joking around to myself (don’t you do that?), but the more I thought about it, the more the idea grew on me. After all, meeting both chefs at the Cayman Cookout in January, I honestly still can’t believe that happened. And while I don’t particularly care to to have a photo of myself on my case (I swear, I’m not narcissistic, or not THAT narcissistic, hahahaha), it’s really all about the chefs on either side of me. Yes, yes, y’all, that’s me all up in between two top chefs, Anthony Bourdain and Eric Ripert, looking pretty darn ecstatic with the situation.

Then I had to choose a case style

You then must choose a sleek or tough case; although I’ d put the toughness of the tough case to the test (I’m not normally klutzy, but I seem to drop my phone an awful lot) — the tough case is made of an ultra-thin polymer shell with a durable silicon insert — I love the sleekness of my iPhone 6, and opted instead for the thinner profile of the sleek case.

Next up, adding any text

I added HealthAndSwellness.com across the bottom of the image (because every day I’m hustlin’…hahaha), playing around with different fonts and colours. All in all, though, the process of designing my Sleek case was quite quick and simple. There are a number of templates you can choose from, but I chose to only include the photo (which is printed on the sides that wrap around the edge of your phone) and it took less than half an hour to settle on my final look.

Heads up, Canadians: You may find entering your Canadian address an issue. Don’t fret, they do indeed ship to Canada. Select AK as your state, and then in the next page, you can modify your address to your Canadian mailing address. But this glitch may be fixed by the time you go to order your own case… 

Because you do want your own case, right? What will you choose for your case? I say go with something fun that makes you smile. What’s your equivalent of my chef sandwich moment?!

Nine business days later, my Case Studio Bourdain/Ripert sandwich arrived and the sleek case seems resilient. I’ve only had it  one day so far but I’ve already had several people ask me about it. Oh, and if you happen to want this exact case with me and Bourdain and Ripert, I’m more than happy to send you the photo

1 Comment April 1, 2015

Tech Swellness: Samsung Galaxy S4

So this blog post is many, many, many months overdue. One goal for this year is to be more organized and on top of things, and to kick that off, I’m crossing things off of my to-do list that just need to get done, finally.

Back in the early summer (late spring? Yikes, this is way overdue!), I was invited to learn about and try the Samsung Galaxy S4. The focus was on the way the S4 can improve your health by using apps like Map My Run/Ride, Strava, Fitness Buddy, Office Yoga and Nike+ Training Club (I’ve been using this btw the past few weeks to supplement my running with some overall conditioning and strength training). It also has a built-in S Health  software where you can keep a food and exercise diary and a sleep monitor.

These apps are great–but you can essentially use these apps on just about any smartphone, right? So now that I’ve had a chance to test it out for many months here are a few things I like about it:

• the large five-inch screen size
• it’s lightweight
• it supports HSPA+42 Mbps and 4G LTE — so this means that wherever you are in the world, you can rely on “perfect connectivity” (their wording); I can attest to the fact that when I’ve been traveling with it in  Europe and in the Caribbean, I have been able to connect to wifi on my S4 and not with my iPhone 4 (and people I’ve been traveling with have been unable to connect to wifi with whatever their devices were — when you’re the only one with wifi, you sure get some jealousy directed at you, haha!)

But my most favourite things about this phone?

The full HD Super AMOLED display, 441 ppi and the 13 megapixel rear camera — the photos it takes are phenomenal. I have been at concerts and have had people behind me at the show full-on freaking out at how good my photos are compared to the blurry blobs whens napped on their phones.

Here is a little comparison for you, here is a photo snapped with my iPhone 4 at the Package Tour (hello, NKOTB, 98 Degrees and Boyz II Men, what!) last year:

And here is a photo snapped at this amazing concert  with my Samsung Galaxy S4:

(yes, it’s a bit blurry, but I have a feeling that’s because I was excited at the concert and unable to hold the phone steady You can at least make out which one’s Jordan. That’s what matters, right?)

Sure, there are a handful of things I’m not fond of when it comes to this phone:

• I can’t easily copy and paste direct messages (I discovered this when I was campaigning for the Inner Champion contest and contacting just about everyone I’d ever met).
• I can’t seem to search for older emails, and I haven’t figured out why this is (I’m often on my way to a media event and need to check the address, and on the S4 I’ve been unable to locate emails).

But come on now, those factors are small potatoes when you can take boyband photos that are as good as this, amirite?

Leave a Comment January 16, 2014

Travel Swellness: The Parker Palm Springs

In love with the graphic Jonathan Adler iPhone I nabbed at the Eluxe sale last week.

But my little $10 purchase may end up costing me a whole lot. All I can think of now is the Parker Palm Springs — it was designed by Adler — and how I want to go to there.

The gardens are jaw-droppingly gorgeous (bonus: there was a cute bunny hopping about!); the colourful decor is happy and invigorating; and that spiked lemonade totally hit the spot on the sunny day I was there. My photos really don’t do it justice. I loved it all so much I vowed to return to stay there (there are few hotels that make me feel that way), and today I realize it’s been more than three years since I was there.

And with the c-c-cold temps we’re enjoying in Toronto, the Parker is sounding pretty perfect to me right now.

Where would you rather be today, or where are you (lucky you!) actually traveling to soon?

Leave a Comment January 22, 2013