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Josh got Beaver football season tickets for the first time ever (and has been like a giddy school girl since they came in the mail).
And last night was the opening game.
So Josh, Coley & my Dad drove three hours on a weeknight for a 7pm game (the Beavers won).
They came rolling in at about 2am this morning.
And Josh still managed to leave the house by 6:30 am for work.
And Dad, I take it all back...you proved yourself to be a true fan by staying out past your bedtime.
That's just a new favorite of Annie (I took yesterday afternoon), with a new scratch on her face, which has absolutely nothing to do with my post today.
I started using Quick Stop Photo about 6+ years ago.
I wasn't a scrapbooker at the time, but I was really into photography (although I wasn't any good at it).
When someone told me about Quick Stop Photo, I remember thinking, I'm not going to use any lab called "Quick Stop Photo"...that would be like "Quick Stop Dentistry" (I was a dental hygienist for 11 years).
I just (wrongly) assumed that if their focus was on being "quick", then their focus couldn't be on "quality".
So it took a few more recommendations before I was willing to try them.
I loved their quality.
I loved that they were a third generation family owned lab.
I loved that they had been in business since 1949.
And I found out that they were called "Quick Stop Photo" because they were the first lab in the country to offer 1 hr. services.
So that's who I've used for years now (minus a brief stint when I moved 4 hours away from the lab and made the mistake of thinking I could find the same quality elsewhere).
It must have been a few years ago that Quick Stop Photo started a spin-off branch of their lab geared towards scrapbookers, called Scrapbookpictures.com. The best thing for me was that they started offering almost 30 different print sizes, a lot of which are unique to scrapbookers (like 12x12's and 8.5x11's) and that I could choose to have my photos printed in color, B&W or sepia (which, when I had a film camera, was a huge relief because it meant that I didn't have to sweat over the decision of whether to put color or B&W film in my camera anymore).
And even though I have a really nice 12x12 photo printer at home, I end up with a cheaper and better quality print from Scrapbookpictures (so I only use my home printer when I am in needing something ASAP).
I also use Scrapbookpictures as a back-up form of storage for all of my photos.
I store almost 40,000 photos on their site for free (well technically, I have to order 1 print a year for them, so it costs me more like 16 cents).
I organize my photos on Scrapbookpictures the exact same way I organize my photos on my external hard drive at home (it's easier to find photos when they are organized in the same manner).
I've got a folder for 2004, 2005, 2006, etc.
And then, inside each of those "year" folders, I've got 12 "month" folders (01 for January, 02 for February, etc.)
And then, inside each of those "month" folders, I've got specific folders by event.
So, for example, inside the October folder for 2006, there are additional folders that say "Cole's birthday", "Pumpkin Patch", "Halloween", etc.
So my goal is to take all of my pictures off of my memory card each day (I take pictures almost every day). I don't leave them on my memory card because it's hard for me to remember later if I've downloaded the pictures from the card or not and also because I've had a few cards go through the washing machine and dryer (and no, they don't work afterward). Plus a card is just like any other piece of computer equipment, which is prone to failure (although cards are more stable than computers).
So I take my pictures off of my card and save them to my computer.
I have an external hard drive (it's a Maxtor 500G hard drive that I think I paid about $150.00 for) that is hooked up to my computer and is set up to automatically back up all of my photos and all of my artwork for Creative Imaginations at 2am every morning.
I don't delete the photos from my card until I know they were succesfully backed up to my external hard drive.
So then, my photos are on both my computer and my external hard drive (because I always want to have two back-ups).
And then my goal is to daily or weekly back up my photos from my computer to Scrapbookpictures.
Once they're backed up to Scrapbookpictures, I take them off of my computer (but they are still on my external hard drive), so that they aren't taking up too much space and slowing my computer down.
And again, I've got two back-ups.
I feel pretty comfortable with that system. If my external hard drive crashes (and I've had two of the crash), then I can have Scrapbookpictures copy all of my photos to disk and send them to me so that I can put them onto a new external hard drive. I don't worry about Scrapbookpictures losing my photos as they themselves have multiple sources of back up.
I don't use the CD's as a form of back-up (but I talked about that awhile back - you can look for it in the "Photography Tips" section of my blog).
I am planning on setting up a second external hard drive as a third source of back-up, just because it would be more convenient than having Scrapbookpictures copy all my photos to disk the next time one of my external hard drives crashes.
The thing with computer equipment is not a question of if it will crash or have problems, it is more a question of when it will crash or have problems (that's just the downfall with computers and computer equipment).
It takes a bit of time to learn how to navigate the Scrapbookpictures website, but once you figure it out, it's really, really easy.
You just set up an account with them (if you don't have an account with them already, you can use the code QAZ937 to get 15 free 4x6 inch prints).
From there, you can start organizing your folders and then you can start uploading your digital photos via a high speed internet connection (it takes a long time to download your files).
Scrapbookpictures does not automatically resize your photos to meet their size limitations (some labs automatically resize your photos), so even if you've got a 12megapixel camera, set at it's highest resolution, you won't have any resizing issues.
Once you've downloaded your photos, you can select which ones you'd like to order and add them to your cart. From your cart, you can crop, select your photo sizes, choose color, B&W and/or sepia, choose matte, glossy and/or metallic paper, add borders in any color, etc.
And if you have any problems at all, they've got amazing customer service. Just email doug@scrapbookpictures.com and he'll take care of you.
And, they've got a flat $2 shipping rate within the US (no matter how big your order is).
And good news for me...I'm done going through and deleting all of my digital files for 2006 and 2007 (I've just got 2004 and 2005 left to do).
Hoping to get it all done today so that I can take advantage of the 12cent prints Scrapbookpictures is offering (which ends tomorrow).
This morning, she was at the hospital under general sedation to have an ear tube removed.
But just a few hours later...
Love that girl.
Just wanted to share that they opened up registration this morning for the classes I am teaching at Memory Lane in Quakertown, PA on October 26-27.
Looks like the Photography Q&A class is already full (but they're taking a waiting list and we're going to try to figure out a way to get everyone in).
Can't wait!
ETA: they just added 12 more spots to the Photography Q&A class.
They fought all morning.
It was starting to look like Coley was going to spend the better part of the day in time-out.
And then, when I got concerned because the house sounded unfamiliarly calm & quiet, I went to check on them...
What I wouldn't give for it to always be like this.
Mr. Handsome (who may look like an angel...but has been a real stink the last couple of days)...
Lost another tooth.
Shot both of these in the front yard with my Canon 85mm f1.8 lens (a really good portrait lens).
Answering a few questions too:
1. I print up everything at www.scrapbookpictures.com. I've been using them for over six years now just because of their quality, prices, customer service. They are actually called Quick Stop photo, but scrapbookpictures.com is their spin-off for scrapbookers. Love them.
2. The water park we went to the other day is in South Medford off of Stuart.
3. The baby bracelets that I have for Annie are all gifts from different friends, so I don't have a particular link for them. I did a Google search though, using the words "baby bracelet" and found a few sites, including this one and this one (but there's a ton more if you Google it).
Sorry if I've missed any questions (you can always repost them).
Josh has been wanting to take the kids to Wildlife Images.
It's out in Merlin (about 20 minutes away).
And just a good way to spend a couple hours on a Sunday afternoon.
Annie checking out a bobcat.
Coley is every tour guides nightmare (a six year old with a bazillion questions).
Ross and Courtney Lee at the badger cage.
A Grizzly bear checking out Courtney.
More questions.
Annie and Ross.
Annie, about to have a melt-down.
Questions anyone?
We took Josh's fishing boat up to Howard Prairie today.
Put the boat in at about 8:30am.
It's funny, because every time Josh takes the boat to the lake, he gets "boat-envy" (he's got a little 12ft. aluminum boat).
But it was just Coley and Annie and Josh & I, so we all fit.
The harsh, direct, overhead sun was lovely.
She doesn't have a clue that she's going off the ba-ba in a few days (she's 18 months old, so it's overdue).
That's Josh, getting the fishing poles ready. Annie playing with a bobber. And me with the jeans on.
I refuse to wear shorts, regardless of the weather. I have huge, irrational issues with my lily-white sausage legs (which of course, are lily-white because they haven't seen the sun in six years).
Coley's first catch ever (Cole & Josh take the boat out all the time, but Cole's never caught anything before).
It was a little bass that he had to put back, but he was still crazy-excited about it.
And Josh's big catch of the day.
It's been so long since Josh has worn the Beaver's camo hat that I had completely forgotten how much I dislike it.
And a little sweet pea, who despite the smile, pretty much hated the whole trip.
Wearing the life vest made her upset.
And when she's upset, she likes to pinch her neck...but the life vest was in the way.
Coley summed it up this afternoon when he said "This is the good life".
Indeed, little grasshopper.
I have such an issue with deleting photos.
So much so, that I simply don't delete any.
If I take 242 photos of Annie playing with a ball and a couple of popsickle sticks...I save all 242 of them.
It's, of course, a storage issue (I've saved 36,000+ photos since I went digital four years ago).
And lets pretend that I live to the ripe ole' age of 87 and continue taking photos at the same rate...
My kids will inherit just under 600,000 photos.
So I started deleting all the excess/bad photos yesterday.
Took me awhile, but I got through all of 2007 (I'm guessing that I deleted about 1/3 of my photos, which may not seem like much, but by the time I get done, I will have deleted about 12,000).
So with my new calculations, my kids will only inherit 400,000 photos.
And I happened to stumble across a few new favorites of Annie (who gets a ridiculous percentage of blog-time) in the process.
ETA: Annie's cousin, Taylor, ends up with all of Annie's "hand-me-down" clothes (so no plans to Ebay them).
1. Dinner at Bella last night was soooo good (that's Courtney Lee in the background).
2. I haven't been taking too many pictures lately. got a new camera (Canon 5D) and have had huge problems getting used to the focusing system. Had a bit of a breakthrough last night though and think I finally nailed down the problem (I've always shot in "One Shot" mode, which seemed to work beautifully with my 20D, but for whatever reason, I'm having better luck shooting in "AI Servo" with a few tweaked custom functions on the 5D).
I had just about decided to sell it and go back to my 20D - so I'm pretty excited about the whole thing.
3. The T.V. cabinet in my living room is from Target.
4. The Scrap Fever dates in the UK are April 4-5, 2008 (not sure what I'm teaching yet).
5. Annie learned how to say "Annie".
6. I'm still tired.
7. Typically, a quick shutter speed (1/1000th of a second or faster) will catch water droplets (from the last post at the water park). I shot everything with my 50mm f1.2 lens.
8. Josh started a push-up/sit-up spreadsheet for me too. 34 push-ups (totally girl-style though) and 4o sit-ups (we timed each one for 60 seconds).
9. Can't think of anything else.
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