Today was the elementary school performance of Honk!, the Broadway version of the Ugly Duckling. I have absolutely no photos because I was tied up videotaping the shows for DVDs that will be distributed to the cast (no pressure!). I’m hoping some of my friends will take pity on me and send me some photos that I can post. The kids did a great job!
Category Archives for Products
Shutterfly
As many of you know, I make an annual photo book using the online service, Shutterfly. The book is usually around 100 pages, and I buy copies for the grandparents so it’s a substantial investment, but I think it’s worth it. The kids love to look at the books and it’s fun to look back over the years. If I didn’t buy the books, the photos would likely stay on my hard drive until I worked up the energy to make a photo video, which hasn’t happened in a while.
Anyway, I really like Shutterfly’s system, and I’ve been happy with the quality of their photo books. But just before Christmas the kids were looking at last year’s book and I noticed that some of the pages were falling out. The kids can be pretty hard on stuff, so occasionally a page gets ripped, but there were several pages that were completely separated from the book.
I emailed Shutterfly, and they immediately credited my account for the full price of a replacement book. This book was a whole year old, and it was pretty pricey – around $150!! All I had to do was go into my saved projects on their site, reorder the book, and they shipped it. I didn’t have to return the other book, and they even paid for the shipping on the replacement. I’m really impressed, and I would highly recommend Shutterfly.
And since I’ve been lagging behind on the blog and have missed some of this year’s photo-ops, here’s our 2010 photo book for your viewing pleasure:
Zulily
My mom sent me a link for this website (http://www.zulily.com/invite/lgreene153) a few weeks ago and they have REALLY cute and unique stuff for kids, babies, and moms. Each day there are a bunch of different items available at a discount, and if you sign up to receive their “daily deals” email using the link above, $10 goes into my account!
If you see something you like on a daily deal, snap it up, because there is a limited quantity of each item available. I bought a couple of Christmas presents today so I guess I’ve officially started my shopping.
Canon Rebel T1i
When I was getting ready to go to Costa Rica I realized that I HAD to upgrade my camera. I hesitated because it was right after Christmas and I didn’t feel like I should spend the $$, but I got a great deal on Amazon.com, and my friend Rob did the research and told me what to buy so I just took the path of least resistance and went for it.
I’m so glad I did. I LOVE this camera – seriously. L-O-V-E. Aliya did her project for the research fair on bees, and when we were at Old Sturbridge Village last weekend she saw a bee on some flowers and asked me to take some photos for her project. The photos came out so great! There were some challenges with the papier-mâché and clay beehive but after the structural collapse I had the brilliant idea of re-inflating a balloon inside until it dried (I had to pop the first one before putting it in the oven to speed the drying process). It’s looking sort of like a brown clay balloon, but Aliya put it all into perspective when she said, “Don’t worry about it Mom. We’re in second grade. They don’t expect that much.”
Anyway, here’s one of the bee photos (click on it for higher resolution). Isn’t it cool?? And if you think it’s easy to take a photo of a bee, give it a go.
On the Wagon
I fell off the Zumba bandwagon a while back. I don’t remember how I got derailed but it can happen so easily – an illness, a business trip, a husband who plays Over-The-Hill soccer at the same time as my favorite class…
I’m very task- and goal-oriented so whatever tasks or deadlines I have looming are what gets my attention. By the time I get through the critical stuff, it’s 2 a.m. and a little late for Zumba. Luckily, my company is starting a walking challenge, and my office has a team. We’ve each committed to walking a certain number of steps each day from June 7th to August 1st (coincidentally, my birthday), and we will log our progress online. I signed up for 10,000 steps and I received my official company-issued pedometer today. I’ll be interested to see how many steps I walk on a regular day…obviously not enough.
I like to be as efficient as possible, even though this is out of my control most of the time these days. I’m always at the mercy of someone else’s needs, so I have to be even more efficient if that’s possible.
To get the most out of walking, I took the advice of a couple of my friends and bought a pair of Skechers Shape Ups. They look a little like orthopedic sneakers, and they made me feel kind of drunk at first, but I wore them all day today and I definitely felt different muscles in use. I wasn’t sure they’d be for me because of my past foot problems, but when I heard that my friend’s foot doctor recommended them, I was all in.
I got mine at DSW ($99) and they had quite a selection. I’ll be very interested to see the results of 8 weeks of 10,000 steps per day wearing Shape Ups. If nothing else, I wore them all day and my feet don’t hurt so I give them two thumbs up. Joe Montana likes them too.
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MUngyi8R-qo&hl=en_US&fs=1&rel=0]