Rustic Photography Phun…

With Coffeshop Free Action: VINTAGE
I was in a friend’s backyard today, and was totally inspired to take a few photos.
I was certain they all wanted to look old with a smidgen of drama, a wash of black and white, and maybe a blush of color leaking through.

I love playing with this free action. I know my way around PSE, but don’t plan to figure out how to create actions etc. anytime soon. So I’m all about free actions. I’ve had this one for years but I keep forgetting how great it is. So in the rustic garden gate above, I removed the part that de-colorized the color of JUST the gate which was green in the first place.

I brushed out the overlay especially in the sky in this one. Allowing the blue to show through. And in all the photos I added the darker vignetting action around the edges with the built in layer for darkening. Coolio eh?

Also in all the images I first alter the levels (Control-L) and then increase both the brightness and the contrast. I like that step when I know I’m headed for a de-colorization like this vintage action.

…a little birdhouse in your soul… (go ahead and thank me for putting They Might Be Giants in your head).

I brushed the greenery back in on this one as well.
Plus I’m playing with watermarking. Mainly for photos that land on Pinterest.

What’s inspired you lately?

I’ve never been a fan of watermarks. So don’t hold me to it.

SISTERS

I took this photo on the oldest’s Birthday back in November.
(The day she got her hair cut in fact.)

I fell in love with the two sisters smiling like this.
And THEN later I saw a Pinterest Pin (I can’t find it now to show you) but it had a framed image of sisters above a cute desk in their bedroom.
I was all. VOILá. I am SO doing that with this photo.

I ordered a giant 20×24 poster of the image and now I need a frame!
(I’ll update when it’s on the girl’s Wall.)

Yin & Yang you ask?
Yeah they are so completely opposite in sooo many ways!

Taken with my Nikon D5000, probably on Auto??
But I used a pre-set ‘action’ in PSE8 from Marcel Walker Photographica Called “Honey Daze” —my favorite one, I use it a lot.

Did you know?
I had no idea?

You can deduct Volunteer Driving Mileage!

I looked up the rate.. I mean.. let’s get some moolah for all my driving to and from PTO, Cub Scouts, etc.

What’s the charitable mileage tax deduction rate you ask??

FOURTEEN CENTS
More than a dime, less than a quarter?

WHAT’s With the Tiny Rate?
Do they think we drive #TinyCars?

VolunteerSpot.com asks the same question. And asks you to ask your Congressperson to change it!

As a family with 3 busy kids, our after school rat race is insane.

Not only do I NOT have time to cook every night, half the time we don’t have time to ALL sit down together for dinner! But we work hard to have a few minutes of dinner eyeball time as often as possible.

{Did you know eating the dinner meal together as a family has been shown to prevent risky behaviors in teens? It’s true. They don’t know why. When a teen is gone for 10 and 12 hours at a stretch, that expectation to ‘check in’ for dinner apparently is a HUGE deterrent. —WebMD, CASA Study}

I was asked to share weeknight meal tips to help a busy family add quality time back in their song. (I cheated a bit here and asked my kids for ideas!)

Inspired by quick and easy Bertolli Meal Frozen Soups, we whipped up four fabulous family meal tips. (Who knew they make soups?! We already love their skillet meals!)

We tested two of the new Bertolli Soups — Roasted Chicken & Rotini and Tomato Florentine.

• TIP Number ONE:
  Divide and Conquer — Mom and Dad always need a few extra moments alone. Sit the kids in the kitchen and give mom and dad an ‘Italian Restaurant’ theme in the dining room. (Ask the kids to set the dining table all ‘special ‘n stuff’ for their ‘date’… mine were thrilled to help!)

• TIP Number TWO:
  Music Matters — Set up music the kids like in their space. My big(ish) kids are starting to like music that um.. we grownups don’t love so much. We set up the MP3 player in the kitchen for the night!

• TIP Number THREE:
  Dress Up The Meal — My kids are totally into anything they can create themselves. Potato bar, mini pizzas etc… so we ran with that theme: Soup Topping Bar! Sour cream, cheese, bacon bits, croutons…

• TIP Number FOUR:
  CUPCAKES for Dessert! — What is a fourteen year old for if not to make dessert?!  (Hint: have her make ‘em the night before.)

A Joyful Refrain…

Our Bertolli Soup-a-palooza night was a hit. Happy kids and recharged parents make for a fun family night in less than an hour’s prep time! What does your family do to add melody to your meals?

Bertolli compensated me to participate in the Weeknight Meal Special Challenge. Join Bertolli on Facebook or Twitter with hashtag: #BertolliMealSoup.

PS. Compensation or not.. you MUST taste the Tomato Florentine. Oh.Em.Gosh. SO Yummy.They didn’t make me say that. I swear.

A little Year end wrap up…

Where have I been, what have I been doing?

You know those Christmas Card letters? A little bit like that—with more snark.

Sometimes this year I have literally forgotten my blog’s password. I shock myself. But I’ve been having sooo much fun landing content in too many other places.

Working backwards:

• Figuring out the Wonderful World of Freelance Writing with SchoolFamily.com

I am writing a weekly column for SchoolFamily.com titled ‘GoodNCrazy Mom’. I get to write about all things related to my life as a mother of 3 school age kids. From weight loss goals with all kids in school, to whirlwind trips to Spain (what do you do with the kids when you leave?!) and pondering a little less holiday hustle and bustle… not everyone agreed with me on that one! And one of the posts was picked up by my School district’s Superintendent… he forwarded it to every teacher in the district! They had no idea what hit them.

Possibly my favorite School Family post so far… My Un-Resolutions for 2012, what are you NOT resolving to do this year?

• Getting my GalTime On (and then taking it back off again)

I have been the GalTime Local Ambassador Liaison for the past 6 months, I love the website and I have a passion for helping new online writers and mentoring and brainstorming, but in 2012 I will be stepping down from this gig, focusing more on my own writing (and getting more dishes done).

• I was asked to Join the Parent Advisory Board for Famigo.com

What a completely fun little company. They created an amazing cell phone app—check out their Android App, you’ll thank me when your kids stop destroying your phone settings! I get to flash my techy mom skills and I write a ‘mom-techy’ post twice a month over there!

• Project Manage Sponsored #TMOM Twitter Parties

Travelingmom.com is a niche travel info website and the community there is truly a blast to work with. If you haven’t joined in the #TMOM Mondays (9PM Eastern on Twitter) then you SHOULD!

• I’m coming up on 18 Months working with VolunteerSpot

VolunteerSpot.com is a free online sign up sheet service. It helps you organize your volunteers, plain and simple. And I jump in and play social media expert/consultant  and chief brainstormer on a regular basis. Plus, I personally love the service, I recently organized a Chili potluck dinner for my Cub Scout troop and it was oh so easy (and tasty!) with VolunteerSpot. (They just hit the 1 million volunteer mark! Yay VSpot!)

Fave articles I’ve written in 2011
(…I kind of think they rock):

Top Ten What I Wish I’d Known Then About Blogging — For TaraDara

Stop Annoying Your Teacher– for VolunteerSpot.com

Holiday Hustle and Bustle — for SchoolFamily.com

Un-Resolutions — for SchoolFamily.com

Seattle Streaker in Safeco Field — for GalTime

Getting Creative with Cub Scout Activities, turn them into service projects! — for VolunteerSpot.com

Recycled and Toilet Paper should NOT be in the same sentence! And Mom TP Types, Which Type are You? — for ToiletPaperWorld.com

And in my mom-life, what have I been doing in 2011?

• Foster Care, we have a 5 year old little boy living with us right now, making us a family of 6.
• My parent’s 50th Anniversary this summer in Southern Idaho, Way to Go Frank & Virginia!
• A family Trip to Lake Tahoe (never been, IT was amazing!)
• A Trip to Madrid with my husband while he was on a work trip! (Huge thanks to my mother for taking care of the kids!)
• Old Lady Basketball, every Tuesday night, whether we like it or not.
• Cooking a lot of Stove Top Stuffing Meat Loaf, I swear it’s my new favorite meal.
• Sooo much less reading. Who has time? But I did manage to read a few books this year: The Help, Gladwell’s Outliers, One Day, Tina Fey’s Book… I saw a lot of movies though.. does that count??
• Still haven’t taken a photography class, but I’m dying to begin using Adobe Lightroom. (Hello, 700 photos from the family reunion this summer!)
• Cub Scouts. I’m the new Den Leader, I have no clue what I’m doing most of the time… shhh, the boys don’t know the difference!
• Parenting a High Schooler, who has early morning seminary, and never-ending Play Practices (A Thespian!) We’re blaming her dad.
• Back to the Gym with a vengeance. I’ve lost ten pounds (when the scale is working right).. and I can’t believe it. I’ve never been able to lose any weight since my youngest was born (7 years ago). YAY ME!
• Blogging conferences: BlogHer11 August (Oh the fun drive to San Diego with @MaryHeston), Mom2.0 April (New Orleans! WOW.), BlissDom11 January (Travel in January is no fun, ended up staying the night with @Chaotic_Barb in Denver and how fun was THAT!?)

Would you simply die to have one of these amazing Christmas Photo cards?

I was super excited to have my friend Julie from Leelou-Blogs.com create them for me!

{If you hurry she might make one for you… I paid her in babysitting and Wingers Potato Skins.. but you can just send cash.}

So how did Twitter save my Christmas (Cards)?

See.

If you had one of these amazing photo cards, you would have a friend take a wonderful family photo (all dressed in coordinating red/black/grey colors), and you would ship off the custom photo cards to Costco (for $20 you would get 75 cards made) and your husband would drive 1.5 hours over the mountain to go pick them up.

AND then you would do like I did and create a beautiful EXCEL spreadsheet of all your 75 closest friends and family.

You would then TRY to figure out how to create a merge mail label on Office Word 2010. And you would fail. And beat your chest, and cry a little when you think about the carpel tunnel from addressing that many envelopes by hand.

And THEN you would announce to the Twitter world that you are a failure and need Excel/Word merge help PRONTO.

And @MMangen will come to your rescue and Save Christmas (Cards) for you!

Michelle is a sweetheart, she even wrote a full tutorial for me titled: “When Carissa is too dumb to figure out Mail Merge on Word”.
(Okay I lied, she titled it: How to: Create Mailing Labels Using Excel and Word.) But we all know it was really for me.

And it worked.
Erm.. I mean…
The first TWO pages of my labels worked. I have no idea why, but the third page wouldn’t print. It merged alright, but just sat there inside my computer and refused to come out in ink and stickers. So I pouted a little bit and then shipped the whole dang document to Michelle who… Yes.. Saved Christmas (Cards).. AGAIN.

Turns out she had to copy and paste the data from the old Excel into a new Excel doc and Voilá all is right with the world.

If I can do this. YOU can too!

Christmas Card Labels, EASY! (Not easy for me… but I’m sure for YOU… EASY!)

HTC Flyer VS the iPad… You Decide

Let’s pretend for a minute that I’m an uber techy mom.
You know, lots of gadgets, fun tech things in my mom-van, a purse full of electronics…

This is NOT me, but she seems like a techy mom right?

Oh wait. That IS me.

I had a Blackberry ‘Pearl’ a few years ago. Loved it. Used it pretty much till I destroyed it. It was pink. How fun is that? But about two years ago I began hearing everyone talk about all the fun things they were doing with their phones?

My um.. BB? Yeah it couldn’t do those things. AT. ALL.

Other Techy Schtuff In Our Lives:

• We got an early edition iTouch about 3 years ago (hate it btw, unbelievably hard to use, where are the settings, options, and BUTTONS for pete’s sake?). My oldest daughter uses it pretty much only as a Pandora ‘music box’ now.
• Last year I bought a Kindle for my husband. Turns out I wish I had waited. The early Kindle kind of sucks. The Nook seems much better and I’m guessing most of the tablets on the market now have comparable e-readers built in. Why would you buy a device that is ONLY an e-reader? (M’bad.)
• We currently own several iPods including an early clunky white one (the battery never lasted more than 1 hour) all the way down to a sleek, tiny ‘Shuffle’. (Why is THAT kind of tiny, coveted? Can you please tell me?)
• We gave in and bought a Wii, AFTER the grandparents had one mind you.
• And to this day I do not understand iTunes. We have 3 separate ‘accounts’, and I swear, every time I attempt to sync an MP3 player it deletes every friggin’ thing on the device! EVERY THING. Please shoot me now.
• I own a really nice speaker dock that has slots for iPods etc. and we rarely use it for anything but our cell phones (Android based) to play saved music, audio books and yes.. Pandora.

So back to the Blackberry. I needed/wanted/coveted a new phone. And maybe you guessed from the above list.. I AM NOT AN APPLE. We own several PCs, and have owned multiple PCs over the years. What I’m saying is I was NEVER interested in an iPhone.

I purchased an Android based HTC Incredible (via my Verizon 2yearcontract deal), at the time I was all: what’s Android?? And a year later I upgraded to an HTC Thunderbolt (insert thunder sound effects). That upgrade was thanks to HTC, because they sent it to me as part of the BlogHer experience.

I use this phone like a mini laptop. It’s everything in one… and it’s great. And it’s pretty. (And yes I play Angry Birds on it.)

But of course I want more. When at blogging and social media conferences the main goal is to tweet as much as you can. (I think they give out prizes for the person with the most tweets.) And my phone rocks, but it’s hard to type fast on a phone. I have fun apps that speed things up, but still. And believe me, dragging a large laptop to a conference like that is NOT a possibility.

So I began hinting to my husband that I would really like to have a tablet of some sort to use while traveling. (Okay I’d play Angry birds on it too.) And surprise! He bought me an iPad for ‘our’ anniversary. Don’t get me wrong I was very excited to test it out, but see the bullet points above? I don’t have a very good track record with Apple. We aren’t friends. (Do we think maybe HE wanted the iPad?)

I tried hard. I did. BUT…

For one… I don’t dare let the kids play with it much, HELLO, it cost more than my honeymoon!! For another, that business where it DELETES everything with iTunes? Yeah. Hate that. Oh and typing on it isn’t great, I’m still using the one finger method, and you know what your option is? Spend ANOTHER $100 for… get this… a KEYBOARD! Srsly? People? For $700 do you know what kind of amazing laptop I could buy? One that comes WITH a keyboard, that’s for dang sure!

Okay enough about my NOT-fondness for Apple. (Whoops I lied. Right now the iPad won’t ‘connect’ to our home wifi network. Why? I don’t know, there are only two ‘options’ and I tested both. Still won’t connect. And in hotels? Yeah about 50% of the time it won’t connect there either. I’m done now.)

I got to test out an HTC Flyer this week!

We’ve been playing with it all weekend.
And by we.. I mean my kids won’t let me see the thing!

(My 11yearold just marched off with it so she could use the ‘calculator’ to do her homework.. oh yeah sure… I believe that…NOT.)

• Cool thing #1: I was able to get all my previous Amazon Downloaded apps onto the Flyer easy peasy! Yay me!
• Cool thing #2: Who knew a game called “Moron Test” would entertain my 7 and 11 year old for hours? (Nearly made us late for school this morning).
• Cool thing #3: I love the size. I was worried the 7inch screen would be too small. But turns out the reader on it is FABulous. Perfect size for holding. In fact, I’m pretty sure I prefer the 7inch to a larger screen. (That was a surprise?)
• Cool thing #4: This should actually be cool thing number one…  the whole experience is so close to my HTC thunderbolt that set up and start up were non-existent. Where is the home button? Right where it SHOULD be. Where are the settings.. same place as my phone and in the same manner.  My kids already know how to run my phone making it super easy for them to use this device as well.
  I could be in a world of hurt because my 14 year old thinks SHE needs one of these MORE than I do.. WHAT?? I mean. BACK off. Mom first. Right?
• Cool thing #5: Connecting to the Wifi. It just works. AMEN.

Shall we talk about price?

You get what you pay for and all that?

How about $299? SHAZAAM! Over on BestBuy.com it sells for this price. There are extras, like the HTC Scribe pen (fun!) for about $50 and yes real keyboards and stands etc.. for additional costs as well. But still keeping you so far under ‘other’ tablets it’s still worth it.

The bottom line for me. The Flyer is So Dang Much easier to use than an iPad. If you already have an Android based phone everything will make SENSE. Oh and when you connect to your PC to download fave music, are you ready? It does NOT delete everything!

Joyful AND Triumphant.

(PS. Yes I’d like to test out a Kindle Fire, but I keep wondering? Even tho it’s less expensive do you get what you pay for? Are you limited to only Amazon content? Because that’s one of my main problems with Apple products, you buy the product and then you are roped into ONLY using their content. I hate that. And just how much of the Android market works on it?)

Disclosure: I did NOT pay for the HTC Flyer, it is on loan. Also I was not compensated for this article. I did receive the HTC Thunderbolt free while at BlogHer, but that in no way swayed my opinion. I already loved HTC. So there.

Go ahead & KISS me.
All you want.

Heck. I’ll kiss YOU.

Because.

I DO NOT HAVE MONO.

There.What a relief….

Although if you think about it, it would be the best mom-vacation. I hear it’s a great diet too. That’s like 3 kinds of win, right?? I’m thinking I would rent a hotel room for a MONTH. Sleep all day, every day. Turn off my cell phone and refuse to open the curtains.

Well.. except for the part about being sick. Dang.

OH and why have I had a fire breathing dragon inhabiting my throat for 10+ days?
They think I have…. a virus. Gee. Really?

I’m thinking tonight is a Breaking Dawn kind of night. To make me feel better.
What else could make you forget about knives piercing your larynx?
I mean…  bad acting and headboards ripping to shreds? I AM IN.

Please pass the popcorn and Robitussin.

Curious George Holiday Spectacular!

In TWO DAYS!

How fun is this? A Monkey-Movie Marathon!
Where? PBSKids of course!

Wednesday November 23rd.. the EXACT DAY you NEED to get all that holiday baking done?
That’s right… the kiddos will be entertained for not one, not two but THREE Curious George Episodes! I’m thinking pumpkin pie, pumpkin rolls and HOMEMADE Dinner Rolls. AMEN.

Including the feature film (Will Ferrell/Drew Barrymore), ‘Follow That Monkey’ and…

NEW! A Very Monkey Christmas!
A Holiday George Movie!!

WEDNESDAY!!! Go check your DVR? Is it set yet? HURRY!

We’re psyched to see the Christmas show, and to celebrate we watched the original movie and put together fab crafty crafts generously donated to our playgroup by PBS!

Curious George Playgroup!

TaDah!

In case you’re wondering where all the boys were? Yeah, THEY watched the Curious George Movie, the girls made the crafts! Perfect playgroup I’d say!

In need of #HolidayHelp?
DAILYGROMMET.com to the Rescue!

They find fun, funky, fabulous gifts. EVERYDAY!
And these fab finds aren’t a one time daily thing, they’re always there, waiting for you to FIND them!

I love that each ‘Grommet’ comes with an in depth description and a video presentation showing the toy/gadget/silk scarf (hint hint) up close and in action.

I’ve been searching all the ‘Grommets’ thinking about what I would spend $50 of Daily Grommet cash on…

The perfect birthday gift for my inquisitive 7yrold little boy?
He loves all things science-y, building-y and puzzle-y.

From L-R: Paper Punk, Shrinky Dinks (Who knew they still make these!), and Laser Pegs.

***

How about something for the special HIM, HER and EVERYONE in my life?

L-R: Jenny Krauss embroidered belt (OHEMGEE!), Perplexus Puzzle Ball, and Gorillapod Camera Tripod

***

I’m thinking about making a huge Daily Grommet list for the ‘Santa-Baby’ in my life, I like to KNOW I’m getting something GOOD under the tree!!

How about you? Want to WIN a $50 Gift Code to the Daily Grommet?
{Sweepstakes Below}

*TWITTER PARTY ALERT!*

There’s a Daily Grommet Twitter party next Monday night (the 21st!)

“Join expert entertaining, design and food bloggers as we share tips & ideas to make this holiday season fun, creative and stress-free!  @DailyGrommet will also be giving away four $25 gift cards live during the party!”

I get to join in as a panelist and basically type my fingers off while we talk all things eggnog, holiday traditions and tinsel!
Let the Yuletiding begin!!!

When: Monday, November 21 at 7-8pm EST (4-5pm PST)
Hashtag: #HolidayHelp
Prizes: Four winners will be awarded $25 Daily Grommet gift cards live at the party with a HUGE giveaway announced as well – just in time for the holidays!

{I’m told the super secret grand giveaway is going to be big. As in… HUGE. As in #SRSLYBETHERE!!!}

Giveaway Details!

WHAT:

ONE lucky winner will receive a $50 Gift Code to DailyGrommet.com

$50 VALUE

• Spend It On One of the FAB Daily Grommet Gift Ideas!

REQUIRED:

Answer in the Comments:

“What is the most interesting Daily Grommet Gift Idea you can find on their website?”

ADDITIONAL ENTRIES: (for a total of 3 entries)

• Tweet a promotional tweet, linking back to this giveaway. (Use the button above.)
• Sign up for Daily Grommet emails. (Winner’s email will be verified.)

Please leave separate comments with Twitter time stamp URLs, and your Twitter username.

THE FINE PRINT:

Contest is open to US residents only, void where prohibited, 18 Years Old +, Begins Wednesday November 16th, Ends Wednesday, November 23rd at midnight EST. No purchase necessary to enter, ONE winner will be chosen via Random.org and notified via email. Winner has 24 hours to respond.

I was compensated by Daily Grommet to participate in #HolidayHelp.