Time Warps and a Break For Giving Thanks

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Our last post had us “fresh off Halloween…” and it seems like we blinked and here we are rolling up on Thanksgiving! How does that happen? In our case it’s due mostly to a 10 yo, 2 businesses, lots of family and friends, the election, a house, 2 cars, a cat, 5th grade homework (there’s a lot of it), a couple of hobbies, a Harry Potter movie marathon, and we’re now in the midst of a Star Wars movie marathon! We’re so excited that one day our SW marathon will be at least one movie longer.  Ah hem, that tendency to digress might be another reason for the time warp into November. In any case, these things take time, and now we’re taking a break to recharge and get ready for the holiday season.

So, OTTO  be closed Tuesday-Thursday, November 20-22. When we get back to work on Friday we’ll tell you about all the great new things and the ‘standards’ we have at OTTO for your holiday fulfillment of shopping and joy, and joyful shopping. Here’s a sneak peak if you haven’t stopped in lately.

We’ll also start you off on your holiday shopping with some nice deals, some hot coffee and a friendly and sincere season’s greeting.

Until then,

Happy Thanksgiving from OTTO!

Talk about a time warp! Look at this old banner from our old website! Can you identify all four icons?

’4 x 4 x 6′ at OTTO’s Fullerton Art Walk

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Hello from a very beautiful Fullerton! Fresh off Halloween we’re heading straight into our next Fullerton Art Walk TONIGHT, from    6 pm – 10pm.

What do you get when you squeeze some big talent onto some small spaces? An intense concentration of artistic flavor from the likes of Mike Ferguson, Jenifer M Hernandez, Chris Leavens, Matt Simon, Elise Fisher Woodward and Wotto! Each one has created 4 pieces on very small surfaces – 4″ x 4″ to be exact.

This month’s art is so cool we had to wear mittens to hang it! Speaking of mittens, Christmas is just around the corner. We know because we saw Christmas decorations in the big box stores already! So remember, when you’re at OTTO tonight looking at these 24 little pieces of art, they’d make a wonderful and personal gift for the holiday, and you’d be that much closer to finishing your holiday shopping. They’re small and priced just right, so no one can say “oh no, I can’t accept this, it’s much too extravagant!”.

Now you see us, now you don’t

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“Like us on Facebook”, “Follow us on Facebook”. You hear it and see it all the time, so you’re on FB ‘Like’ing things all over the place, and have banked hundreds. We’ve said the same thing since OTTO started ‘Facebookin’ in 2008, and in that time our FaB fan-base has grown to over 800-thank you very much! But did you know that just because you ‘Like’ a business page it doesn’t mean you will see their posts on your newsfeed?

Did you used to see our ‘be the first to click’ contests, and ‘new arrival’ announcements and all the fun stuff in between, but watched your wall as we disappeared from your radar? If you’re a regular FB user and feeling a little lonely or forgotten by some of your ‘Like’s, say for instance OTTO, you’re not alone, or forgotten. We’ve seen our visibility (how many newsfeeds our posts show up on) shrink from an average of 50-80% to a measly 6-25%!

Many of OTTO’s own ‘Like’s have virtually disappeared from our newsfeed, too.  It just so happens that small businesses, grass roots organizations and non-profits are the most affected by the trend on FB.  Our friends at the 3/50 project shared some interesting information with us, including how this can happen:

“Facebook uses an algorithm program, EdgeRank, to determine the value of both posts -and- pages. Fans who continually visit your page, share your posts, “like” your posts, and comment on posts, will (most likely) continue to see you in their news feeds. Fans who don’t (the majority, unless you cater to über-heavy Facebook users), won’t.”

How can you fix this? The answer is actually up there under ‘how this can happen’. If our OTTO posts have gone MIA (or <anyfacebookpage> posts) and you want our page to start showing on your newsfeed again be sure to do the following :

  1. visit our page
  2. share our posts
  3. like our posts
  4. comment on our posts

Do these 4 things for all the pages that have gone missing and maybe they’ll start showing on your feed again.

We hope you include OTTO’s facebook in your bank of ‘Like’s when you’re Facebookin’, but be sure to check with us here at our website (no login required) just in case for when the algorithm changes again.

The Doggy Days

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The dog days of summer are over! The heat has given way to cooler day temperatures and even crisp evenings. For the first time in two months when we step outside in Fullerton  we don’t feel like a partially melted cookie on the cookie sheet just popped in the oven; or a scoop of ice cream barely melted, glistening and threatening to drip over the edge of the cone. Can you tell this OTTOan doesn’t like the heat?

Now, finally, you can get back outside, take Rover or Chloe for a walk and not burn their little paws on the pavement

Before you step out on the much cooler pavement, make sure your pooch looks much cooler, too! Hook Chloe up with a new Jonathan Adler doggy harness and matching lead when you parade happily down the block.

Rover more of a collar-type? No problem, collar and leash combinations are matchy-matchy and available at OTTO, too.

 

After that long those pooches are going to muzzle-up to the water bowl, which will look amazingly chic on a, you guessed it, Jonathan Adler placemat.

All doggy items are available in the blue and green Chevron pattern and the orange and blue Plume design.

Meet The Guardian Monsters at OTTO’s Fullerton Art Walk

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Hello from a very hot Fullerton! We’re taking our minds off the extreme heat that’s been blasting us for the last 2 months straight by getting ready for our next Fullerton Art Walk. If you aren’t in the loop on this, each month we participate in a community art walk event on the first Friday from 6p.m. – 10p.m. OTTO hosts an opening reception for our new exhibit on that night, complete with refreshments!

This month we are introducing Elise Fisher Woodward with her Guardian Monsters collection of collage artwork and dolls, which she was inspired to create from original drawings by her children. Elise has written and illustrated a children’s book, Meet The Guardian Monsters which she will be signing at the opening (luckily you can pick up a copy while you’re at OTTO). Her collage artwork and some of the dolls she’s made will be on display, with some pieces available for sale!

Please join us for this event and meet the whole cast of characters from Elise’s book. The atmosphere at our art walks is always lively and kid-friendly, and the artwork all around downtown is well worth the visit.

But wait, there’s more! In addition to her monster art, Elise has created one of the art hearts for this year’s All The Hearts project from the All The Arts for All The Kids organization here in Fullerton. Her 18″ heart is here at OTTO and on display until the Art Auction on Oct. 20th. Get a glimpse of the heart, get a card with a stamp, and then get yourself around to all the heart locations for a stamp and a chance to win a heart at the Art Auction!

That’s it for now, but feel free to come and see us, and maybe do some shopping before the Art Walk. It’s cool in here, we play decent music and we have some cool art, gear, books, accessories and toys to take your minds off the heat, too.