displaying pictures.

One of the hardest parts about everything being digital is that I like to hold things.  I haven't given into the nook or any other type of e-reader.  I like to go to the library or the bookstore, peruse the books, find a great hardback and flip the pages as I read.  

The other major difficulty for me is pictures.  I take a bazillion pictures every month.  And they go nowhere.  Sadly, they don't even end up on the ol' blog very often.  I don't get them printed.  And, if I do actually get some printed which has happened only a handful of times since we've gotten married, they stay in the Shutterfly package and are put in a picture box.  It's frustrating.  I want our pictures to be available.  Memories that we can look back through any time just for fun.  And, that is just not going to happen if they are only on the computer.  I also want to make sure there are pictures for Crews and Tate.  And for their families one day.  Not just some old, obsolete hard drive that I saved all the pictures on.  But actual photos they can look at.

So, in an attempt to remedy this situation, I decided to start printing photo books.  

Jordan and I talked about just ordering prints but realized that by the time we spent money ordering the prints and then bought a photo album for all the prints, we might as well just order books.  

Like I mentioned before, I want to make sure that our kids and our kid's kids have pictures to look at and memories to cherish.  One thing that I absolutely love is handwriting.  When I come across a recipe in my Mema's handwriting or a book that she gave me as a child with a handwritten note in the front from her, I love it.  It's also something I cherish when I look back at my childhood albums.  Well my friend, Meg, told me about an idea she had seen on Pinterest.  You order a photo book without words and then you write in the book.  This way, you have your handwriting with the pictures.  So, for the book about Crews and Tate's NICU stay, I wrote in all the details.  I love it.  Even though it is messier than printed text, I love that it is my handwriting.  So that when our families look back, years down the road they will have that.

 I also decided that I should print a book each time we have a photo shoot.  You get so many great pictures but only end up printing a handful for frames or canvases.  The rest stay on the CD.  So, I printed a book of Crews and Tate's newborn photo shoot as well as the recent 9 month photo shoot.  

 Already these pictures have been looked through multiple times.  We have looked through them and other people have looked through them as they are sitting on our coffee table.  And, Crews and Tate are occasionally enjoying them as chew toys.  Because they are pulling up (say what?!?) and find these to gnaw on.  Oh well, it will add character, right?

So thankful to have these memories and can't wait to start printing more!

one of my favorite things.

One night last week we did one of my favorite things during the summer.  We went to the pool and ate supper and then swam.  It was so much fun.  The weather was perfect.  The lighting was perfect.  And the company was perfect.  I took some pictures and then my sister-in-law, Gretchen, took some :)

Emma Claire learned how to swim this week.  So, she and Poppy spent time going down the slide.  He's so sweet with all his littles.

Nonny, aka - Superhero of the week, and sweet Anabelle.

Me and Tate

Jordan and Crews.  I loved his expression in all of these so I had to put them all on here :)

Me with Tate again.

An in-action shot of Poppy and Emma Claire.

Daddy and Tate :)

Anabelle and her princess float!

Jordan and his nieces.

Me and Crews.

Tate and Nonny.

photoshoot.

Hey yall.

I promise, I'm coming back :)

Today I just wanted to give you a quick sneak peek at a photoshoot I did for Miss Claudia. You can see a few more pictures here.

e.c.

last week i also took pictures of ec.   

we woke her up from her nap so she wasn't too happy with me being in her face with a camera.  


but, of course, with a niece that gorgeous, it's hard not to get some that turn out cute.  even if she's not happy with me :)

more.

here are a few others of a.g.

photoshoot.

i got to take pictures of my nieces a couple of weeks ago.

here are some of my favorites of the youngest, a.g.

i have some others that i'll try to post soon :)

[if you click on the collage it will enlarge so you can see them better :)]

wfmw - organizing pictures.

so do you have a total headache awaiting you when you click into your picture folder on your computer?

or do you even use a picture folder?


i know that i'm definitely guilty of saving mine all over my computer.  a folder on my desktop full of christmas pictures.  another folder in my 'documents' folder that i saved pictures in for a blog post.  some pictures saved in picasa.  some on iphoto.  some in the picture folder.  really just everywhere.

a mess.



well, during the last few snow days i decided that i was sick of seeing the "organize pictures" bullet on my todo list that has been there for the last six months.  so i broke down and organized them.

and honestly?




it was not that bad.


it all started when looking for a photoshop help book at barnes and noble.  i came across a small book about organizing pictures.  i didn't buy the book and in fact i just flipped through it but during flipping through it i pulled out one little piece of advice.



organize your pictures by month and year.  and keep a calendar.



i know your thinking whaaat?




how am i supposed to put pictures from mother's day, aunt edna's ninety-eighth birthday, ellie mae's birth and our trip to myrtle beach all in the same folder.  along with the everyday pictures.  that's a ton of pictures.  and my ocd wants them all to be in individual folders!


well, believe me.  i had the exact same thoughts.


[except i don't have an aunt edna or an ellie mae.  but we do go to myrtle beach and i did have an aunt mabel - she was my favorite, by the way.]



so, that got me thinking about what would be the best idea for my pictures.  i mean, if i was going to do this - i wanted it to be done right.



especially since it had been on my todo list for the last 6 [plus] months.
[okay, you got me - maybe since 2008 but whatev, okay?  don't judge.]



okay, so....on to the real reason i'm writing all of this.

i did it.  i organized all of my pictures based on month and year.  after going round and round i decided that would be the best way.


now, the suggestion is that you organize based on month and year and then you keep a calendar so that you can look back to 2008 and find what month you took your trip to washington, dc.  except it would be waaay better to keep an online calendar.  like a google calendar.  because then you can search for the event you are looking for and it will pull right up.  so you don't have to look through all of 2008 and try to decipher your reading in those tiny little blocks in your 2008 planner.  if you can even still find your 2008 planner.  


which i can't.  

so, because my ocd kinda went a little bizzerk, i decided to make an excel file that kept track of each month and year.  [thank you fmil for the idea].  there are columns for events, trips, projects and photography.  so then, when i'm looking for my sister's junior prom i can look in my excel file and i'll know what folder to look in.


and now, i've backed them up by putting all the folders on my external harddrive and shutterfly.  and i'm also going to make cds of the pictures.  [again, don't judge - my ocd is a little overwhelming].  


so hopefully 10 years from now i'll still be using the same method and i'll be able to find all my pictures.


i know this may seem crazy, but i think it's going to work for me.



if your pictures are already organized, i'd love to know what system works for you.

click on over to Kristen's blog, We Are THAT Family, for more great tips!

day off.

i have the day off!

and worker man's not here to hog all the new computer time :)

we're back and something i'm kinda excited about.

hiiiii.

so i guess yall thought i fell off the face of the planet. but i'm back.

worker man and i have been on vacation and we just got back last night. i fully intended to post throughout our vacation but things like the water, our niece EC, board games and food were calling my name.

but, while i was gone i got to start a new blog.

for my photography!

i took some pictures of worker man's sister and her daughter and i wanted to start posting them but i figured it would be best to just start another blog with only photos.

so....here it is.

keep in mind that it needs some work. it's a little bland and the header will definitely change but i had to start somewhere :)

self timer.

apparently i have not quite mastered the self-timer.

worker man and i have very few pictures of the two of us. i wanted to try to take a quick picture the other night using the timer but obviously it wasn't as easy as i thought it would be.

here are the pictures we ended up with.

needless to say, we finally just gave up.

e.c.

a few weekends ago fmil and i spent the day with e.c.

here are a few of the pictures i took.

m

while M was staying at worker man's parents house for the weekend i got to take some pictures...

i sent fmil an e-mail before M came and told her i couldn't wait for her to come so i could use my new camera. in the e-mail i said, "i think kids will be the most fun to shoot".

hmm...not exactly what i meant, but here are a couple of pictures of the sweet gal: