What do all these buttons do?

I’m sure you are starting to figure out by now that I am a pretty BIG High Dynamic Range (HDR) fan! I’ve already had one HDR guest poster this week and this will be my second.  I seriously can’t remember who referred me to Deno’s website (my memory is horrible), but I’m so happy they did.  Since I’ve been referred, I’ve been on his website every day just looking around at all of his fancy High Dynamic Range (HDR) photography.  He can turn simple subject matter (things that you would never even think of photographing) into some serious kick a$$ art!  He rocks!  If you’d like to visit his website, you can find it at What do all these buttons do?  You’ve got to love his blog title too!

Have you guys met Melanie?

Since I came across her blog a few months ago, I’ve been totally hooked!  I mean who doesn’t love to see pictures of an adorable little boy?  I’m always excited to see what Jax is up to.  What boggles the mind though, is that she is fairly new to photography and her pictures are fabulous!  She has a great eye, fresh perspective and her processing is so much fun!  This is one talented mama!  And if all of this wasn’t enough, she posts very relatable content which is always a pleasure to read.  Of course it’s hard to believe something when you haven’t seen it for yourself so I hope you’ll take a hop on over to Happy Jax.  Oh, and if you like photo challenges, don’t forget to link up to her weekly Finagle a Foto Challenge!

Routine, Routine, Routine

What do I have in store for you today?  Another wonderful guest blogger that’s what!  Natalie blogs about everything from personal experiences, to give-a-ways, product reviews, and recipes, etc.  And you can always count on adorable images of little E?  Who is little E?  Well you’ll just have to visit her website over at Growing up a NJ WIFE & MOM to find out!

Sunset over Nice, France

So I told you I’d have some guest bloggers for you this week. I don’t think I mentioned how awesome they would be though. I can’t tell you how glad I am to have been referred to Akseli’s site.  His work is truly amazing!  Some of his shots actually have taken my breath away.  I seriously could look at them for hours!  If you’d like to take a peek at his website, you can find it at Blogs for Photos.  Happy viewing!

I’m nothing but a Finagler!

On vacation here in Sarasota, FL so I’m a little less wordy than usual.  I know it’s not Wednesday or anything, but it really should be allowed on the other days of the week ;o)  Sorry for such a short post, but if you had a gorgeous beach in your backyard what would you do?  So, let’s see, you can stay inside and write OR swim in the warm waters of the Gulf of Mexico, build sand castles with the white powder sand, soak up the sun for some much needed Vitamin D, and relax and let the gentle breeze cool you off!  Hmmmm, it’s a toughie I know.  I’ll let you think about it.

The Missing Link – Week 7

Have you ever felt like something was missing from your life? Well, it could just be one of the links below. Hence my post title! You may ask yourself "Is she serious?" Well the answer is "No, I'm definitely NOT serious." I'm just feeling silly. Seriously though, I thought I'd share some of my favorite links with you in an effort to spread the love. What's better is that I thought I'd make this post a weekly thang! No that isn't a typo. I told you I was feeling silly. So the links below may not complete your life, but I'm hoping they, in some way, add to it. I separated them into categories for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

Something wonderful in store for you!

I don’t know if you read my post HERE but I am going to be away next week on vacation.  After publishing a post just yesterday asking if anyone may be interested in being a guest blogger on my site, I was sorting through several emails of interested parties.  And here I thought I wasn’t going to get much interest at all.  So I’m not a loser.  Whew, it’s a good thing!  No, I’m just kidding!  I just love ragging on myself!  On a more serious note, though, I just wanted to give a BIG shout out to all of the interested parties (you know who you are) and say THANK YOU so much! 

Anyhow, now I know you are going to miss me terribly while I’m away but, chins up, I have something wonderful in store for all of my forty followers readers.  Since I will be leaving early Saturday morning, I have lined up some great guest bloggers to post in my absence.  I’m VERY excited to have each one of them!  So excited that I can barely contain myself! 

Each of my guest bloggers posts will contain a brief introduction by me and will contain a link back to their little parts of the blogosphere where you will be able to visit with each of them.  I really hope you enjoy what I have lined up!  I wish you all happy reading and, oh, viewing too!  You have to admit sometimes the images are the BEST part!

As a reminder, I recently added the Google Friend Connect gadget to my sidebar for those interested in joining the site. You just have to scroll down the page a little to see it. Additionally, I just published a Contact Me page to the tabs below my blog header where you can either email me or follow me on Facebook, PInterest, and/or Instagram! Happy Navigating!

New Pics… Does my Nana see?

Livvy and I will have these moments of pure love.  She’ll be sitting on my lap (stomach to stomach) and she’ll just look my face over like she is trying hard to remember the details.  I’ve memorized her face; her eyes and every speck of gold and green that shine through, her mouth and how she holds it slightly open when she is watching TV or staring off into space, her cheeks and how they get ever so flushed when she is only a little warm, her hair when her ringlet curls fall so softly against the top of her back.  It is moments like this when I’ll turn my head up towards heaven and ask my nana “Are you seeing this kid”?  And I truly wonder is she seeing how amazing my baby is?  How beautiful she is both inside and out?  How happy she makes me?  How not a day goes by that I don’t wish that they could meet.  I know that my Nana would have just eaten her up and I almost feel bad that she never got the chance to.

New Pics… Interested in being a guest poster?

So here is the scoop.  The family and I are taking a trip next week to Sarasota, FL where we will be staying in a very nice condo on the beach for a whopping 7 days!  We are looking forward to getting some much needed rest and relaxation.  Well as much rest and relaxation you can get with a toddler.  We are even more excited to take the little one to Disney World for the first time!  We can’t wait to see the expression on her face when she meets Mickey Mouse in person!  I hope to have some really great pictures to share with everyone next week! 

 

I do plan on posting next week and joining some photo challenges.  “Some” being the key word.  I usually join multiple photo challenges per day but next week I am limiting myself to one photo challenge per day.  And although I love reading everyone’s blog and usually visit on a daily basis, I am also limiting my blog reading while on vacation which means my comments may be few and far between.  I apologize now but I have to make time for the family on this vacation.  I have a secret though.  I really will miss reading your blogs while I am away.  Seriously, if it were up to me, I’d never take a bloggy break!   

 

In the meantime, I was wondering if anyone would like to be a guest poster on my blog?  If you are interested, please feel free to send me an email.  Just click on the Email Me button in my sidebar.  You would really be doing me a favor.  Since I don’t have many followers yet (my page view stats aren’t too shabby though), I can’t really say that posting on my blog would offer you much in return.  I would, however, be truly grateful! 

New Pics… Creating a button for your website

Did you start your blogging website without really knowing anything about HTML?  I did.  Blogger made it so easy to create a website without having to know code which was nice.  If you want to customize, however, that’s a different story.  I’m always looking up code online.  You know stuff like ‘creating image code’, ‘removing page titles’, ‘centering and image’ and my most recent search ‘creating buttons (thumbnail pictures) with scrolling text underneath'. 

New Pics… My future’s so bright that I gotta wear shades

How was everyone’s weekend?  We lucked out over here in New Hampshire!  Saturday and Sunday were both 80 degree days with completely clear skies.  Seriously, I don’t think I saw one cloud the entire weekend.

Alivia and I spent our days outdoors!  Awhile back a neighbor had told my mom about a pond in our town but I never got the chance to see it.  On Sunday, however, we decided to go just to check things out.  Well I’ll tell you, boy have we been missing out.  I’ve only been living here for about six years and this is the first I’m hearing of this?  It’s crazy!  I was pleasantly surprised to find that it was clean, water was warm, and it even allowed for kayaking, canoeing, fishing, etc.  How nice is that?

New Pics… She’s going to be the death of me

I seriously don’t know how I make any time for blogging.  Alivia has been glued to my hip.  Yesterday was the worst.  It seemed like from the minute she woke up in the morning to when she went to bed at 8:00 pm that night, she was in my arms.  Every other minute all I heard was “hold”, “hold”.  When I couldn’t hold her than all I heard was whining, but mostly crying followed by the overly dramatic hunched over mope.  I never felt so bad in my life and you can’t even imagine the cramping I’ve been getting in both arms.  It’s like I just had the hardest workout of my life!  Last night, in an effort to give myself a break, I thought I’d run an errand when my husband got home.  Saying goodbye to Alivia for the night was the worst feeling ever.  When she realized that I was going out she started crying and shouting “hold mama”.  It was horrible and all of a sudden my heart sort of dropped and there I was standing there in a pool of guilt.  Like I was doing something wrong.  I fought the overwhelming feeling to just stay home, wiped my tear filled eyes, took a deep breath, and walked out the door.  This kid is seriously killing me.  She is going to be the death of me.  I know, I say it all the time but it’s so true!

When I told my mom this story she said that I am still the death of her.  I will continue to be the death of my mom no matter how old I get.  She told me as if I were going to be surprised or something.  I get it though.  I already realized that Alivia would be the death of me until, well, forever!  That’s okay though.  I signed up for this!

The Missing Link – Week 6

Before I go into my whole introduction to The Missing Link, I just wanted to let you all know that I created a button that goes right to my Missing Link page where you will find all of my previous The Missing Link posts.  If you missed my previous posts, please feel free to visit the page and steal my button too!

Have you ever felt like something was missing from your life? Well, it could just be one of the links below. Hence my post title! You may ask yourself "Is she serious?" Well the answer is "No, I'm definitely NOT serious." I'm just feeling silly. Seriously though, I thought I'd share some of my favorite links with you in an effort to spread the love. What's better is that I thought I'd make this post a weekly thang! No that isn't a typo. I told you I was feeling silly. So the links below may not complete your life, but I'm hoping they, in some way, add to it. I separated them into categories for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

The Versatile Blogger Award

Go me; it’s my birthday!  Go me; it’s my birthday!  Nah, I’m just kidding.  It is, however, a great day to be a blogger!  I was nominated for the Versatile Blogger Award by the wonderful Jeni and Kendel over at Two Shades of Lovely!  I can’t thank them enough!  I’m really VERY honored especially since I’m fairly new to the Blogosphere and have been working really hard to meet other bloggers with similar interests!  This award will allow me that very opportunity.  Please feel free to click on the button below and it will bring you to the Versatile Blogger Award website.

New Pics… Very Attractive

I thought I’d share this Instagram photo with you.  What?  Do you like my toe nail?  I know you do.  It’s very attractive!  It may be a little too short.  I’m trying to grow it longer.  It’s weird how my big toe always grows the fastest.  I think there is something seriously wrong with my other little piggies.

New Pics… A Pigtail or Two

Guess what?  I finally made a button for this little ol’ blog o’ mine!  If you are interested in buttoning up, feel free to steal it!  You will see it in my sidebar.  The reason it took me so long to create one is because I wasn’t sure how to do it.  I finally had some time to do some research online and found a tutorial.  I would have attached the link to the site, but the code provided was incorrect.  After many tweaks, I finally fixed it.  I’ll try to do a future post about creating buttons incase you do not know how to create one yourself. 

 

On a different note, I just tried the patch on Alivia’s eye yesterday.  It didn’t go as badly as I had pictured it in my mind.  I had this idea that if she saw mommy wearing it, she may want to wear it too!  I actually saw a hint of a smile when I first put it on.  She thought we were being pirates together.  I ran around the house saying “Ahoy mates!”  Yes, it was quite the sight!  She quickly realized it wasn’t that fun after all.  I struggled with her a bit to keep it on, but in the end she won.  She finally ripped it off.  I don’t want to force it too much.  I don’t want her relating the patch to fighting with mama.  I will introduce it slowly but persistently in hopes that she, at some point, will be a little more cooperative.  I’m supposed to be patching her eye for about 20 – 30 minutes a day.  Even if I can get it on for 5 minutes at a time, I will be happy.  In case you are a little lost, I wrote about Alivia’s Intermittent Exotropia in some previous posts which you can find HERE and HERE.

New Pics… Whipped & Wimpy

It is a My days with Alivia have been getting more difficult.  She continues to be clingy but it worsens each day.  I noticed she was warm a couple of days last week so I took her temperature to find she had a fever.  Other than being a little more clingy than usual, she was showing no other signs of being sick.  I soaked it up to teething and gave her some Advil to reduce her fever and help with any pain that she may have been experiencing!  Since those fevers, she has been doing much better.  The clinginess, however, has not lessened.  Not that I really expected it to.  She has been wanting me to hold her 24/7.  If I don’t, God help me!  She usually has a temper tantrum complete with bright red cheeks, choking on her saliva, moping, drooling, and arms extended reaching out for mommy.  It’s horrible to watch. 

New Pics… Mother’s Day

So, how was everyone’s Mother’s Day?  I got some beautiful flowers from Alivia and the hubby!  They must love me bunches!  Thought you’d like to see just how beautiful the bouquet was.  Gorgeous colors right?  And who doesn’t love roses?  Especially white ones!

The Missing Link – Week 5

Have you ever felt like something was missing from your life? Well, it could just be one of the links below. Hence my post title! You may ask yourself "Is she serious?" Well the answer is "No, I'm definitely NOT serious." I'm just feeling silly. Seriously though, I thought I'd share some of my favorite links with you in an effort to spread the love. What's better is that I thought I'd make this post a weekly thang! No that isn't a typo. I told you I was feeling silly. So the links below may not complete your life, but I'm hoping they, in some way, add to it. I separated them into categories for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

New Pics… Alivia’s 2012 Photo Book

I’ve been working like crazy on Alivia’s 2012 photo book.  My goal is to complete one for every year of her life.  I thought it would be something nice for her to have when she’s all grown up.  With the amount of pictures I’ve been taking, though, it’s going to be more like 2-3 photo books per year.  It’s only the beginning of May and I already have close to 75 pages in her photo book now.  I wanted to be able to share the link for everyone to check out my photo book, but I’m nowhere near done.  Instead, I thought I’d offer a sneak peek.  In case you are interested, I am using Mixbook.  I spoke about it in a previous Missing Link post which you can find HERE.  I love the software.  It is very easy to use.  They also have a large selection of backgrounds, clipart, and fonts to work with.

Almost truly wordless and another Freebie

I can’t do it.  I can never publish a post with no words at all.  Seriously, though, this post is going to be a lot less wordier than any of my previous Wednesday posts.   I usually draft my posts the night before but I will not be home on Tuesday night so if you can believe it I am drafting this on a Monday night.  For Tuesday,  I have planned a girls night out with my sister and mom for an early Mother’s Day celebration.  My sister and I bought her tickets to Burn the Floor.  I can’t wait to see the show.  I’ve seen it once before, but many many years ago.  It was one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. 

Anyhow, I can’t let a Wednesday pass without linking up to all the Wordless Wednesdays out there.

I Heart Faces May 2012 Photo Challenge

I Heart Faces is having a May 2012 Photo Challenge that opens today for submissions.  This months theme is “Hey Girl!”  If you are interested, be sure to pay them a visit and link up.  I’ve included their instructions on how to link up a photo below.

New Pics… More Freebies and a Photo Challenge

Do you know how I drafted this post?  With Alivia in my lap moving around as if she had ants in her pants.  She was grabbing my glasses, playing with my hair, and calling out parts of the face.  Eyes, nose, ears, cheeks, etc.  She has been crazy clingy lately.  I have no idea what’s going on.  She has been crying if I don’t hold her.  She has been getting very upset even if I get up to get a drink, go to the bathroom, anything that requires me to be away from her if even for a couple seconds.  This is like separation anxiety to the extreme.  Now I have to get up and get her some water.  Wait for it.  Can you hearr the wailing?  I can’t carry her with me everywhere, she is way too heavy for her little mama.  Seriously, I’m 93 lbs. and she is about 24 lbs.  Shall I do the math?  She is more than a quarter of my weight!  To say I’m weak would be putting it mildly.  I lack upper body strength badly.  You should see the size of my scrawny arms.  Don’t mind me while I rag on myself!

Just a few photo challenges

I hope everyone had a splendid weekend!  Our weather wasn’t too bad this past weekend.  It was about 62 degrees on Saturday but overcast and around 65 degrees on Sunday with partial sun.  Hey I’ll take what I can get. 

I had a very busy weekend.  It was sort of non-stop from Saturday morning right up until 8:00 pm on Sunday when I placed Alivia in her crib for the night.  I went clothes shopping for myself on both mornings, then a little walk around the neighborhood to get Alivia some fresh air, some chores around the house, and a visit to my sister’s.  I’ve been trying to get Alivia outside every chance I get since I’m pretty sure we are supposed to get rain after Monday for three days straight.  

A Fix for Posting Issues and a Photo Challenge

I’m seriously afraid to jinx myself here, but I feel the need to say “I think I figured out a fix for my posting issues.”  Wait, let me knock on wood. 

So here’s the deal.  And before you get too excited, I should clarify one thing.  I think I figured out a fix for my posting issues within Windows Live Writer.  Unfortunately this fix did not work in the Blogger interface.  If you haven’t read my Issues with Posting and Why Isn’t it Working posts and you are currently experiencing issues with the Blogger interface, please feel free to read them HERE and HERE to catch up.  If you already read them, than guess what?  I think I found a fix.  Not sure it is going to work for everyone but I thought I’d share my findings anyway.  Okay, so are you ready?  Originally I was formatting my posts with justified paragraphs.  I don’t remember what made me remove the justification (maybe pure desperation) but I did and wouldn’t you know that since I haven’t experienced any problems.  Again I’m knocking on wood.  What, I’m not superstitious.  Anyhow, now that I’ve been able to whip Windows Live Writer into shape, I highly recommend it.  You will have way more control and flexibility over your post content.

Shoot. Edit. Submit, Fabulous Friday, and FIF at IHF

What is wrong with me?  Seriously?  I link up to Shoot. Edit. Submit every Friday and here I am this morning already visiting other blogs to leave comments thinking that I am done posting for the day.  It’s been a crazy week with just me and the little one at home and the hubby off on a business trip in Sin City.  Yeah all of my weeks are crazy, how can they not be with a toddler, but this one was especially busy and exhausting. 

The Missing Link–Week 4

Have you ever felt like something was missing from your life? Well, it could just be one of the links below. Hence my post title! You may ask yourself "Is she serious?" Well the answer is "No, I'm definitely NOT serious." I'm just feeling silly. Seriously though, I thought I'd share some of my favorite links with you in an effort to spread the love. What's better is that I thought I'd make this post a weekly thang! No that isn't a typo. I told you I was feeling silly. So the links below may not complete your life, but I'm hoping they, in some way, add to it. I separated them into categories for easy navigation. I hope you enjoy them as much as I have.

New Pics… A reason to celebrate the overcast day

Alivia and I actually got out of the house yesterday regardless of the overcast, almost rainy, damp and chilly day.  We didn’t go far, just across the street to my mother’s house.  It was nice to get some air though especially after being stuck in the house for the past two days.  I could tell that Alivia needed to get out too!  We were both going a bit stir crazy.  Here’s a reason to celebrate the oh so gloomy overcast day!  It’s fantastic for taking pictures!  You don’t have to worry about harsh light, shadows, squinty eyes, etc.  As long as it’s not raining, you are good to go!  So get out there!

New Pics… Why isn’t it working?

Okay, I’m seriously stumped.  I am writing this as a follow-up to my Issues with Posting post which you can find HERE if you haven’t already read it.  I received a comment from Sarah over at It’s on the tip of your tongue that she was using Windows Live Writer (WLW) and loved it so I thought I’d give it a try.  This very post, as I type it now, is being drafted in WLW.  Before this post, however, I tried a couple of tests.  Unfortunately when I hit that little ol’ publish button my posts were reformatted again.  Some of the reformatting included the removal of justified paragraphs and the insertion of additional spacing between paragraphs and pictures.  I just can’t seem to get away from that one!  It’s literally driving me MAD I tell ya!  I still would like to give a BIG thank you to Sarah and others that offered wonderful feedback, but I am really starting to wonder if it’s something in my own system.  Perhaps a glitch of some sort? 

A Revamp

I gave my bloggy site a little revamp which included widening my post column.  I wanted to add a little color although I'm sure I'll revert back to my neutral color palette at some point.  This means that I can now attach 600 px wide photos to my posts instead of measly little 515 px wide photos!  Although I shouldn't say that really.  515 px wide is fairly large for a single photo.  If you are, however, posting collages in this size the images start to get too small for my liking.  Such a shame when you have such beautiful shots to show off.  Anyhow, this will be my last post with these smaller sized pictures.  Yay! 

Issues with Posting?

Now onto more frustrating things...

I hate to be a complainer, but I've been experiencing some problems with Blogger.  When I draft my posts and format them exactly the way I want them, the minute I hit that Publish button, my formatting changes.  When I say formatting, I am referring to the spacing between lines, paragraphs, pictures, etc.  For example, let's just say I single space between paragraphs and double space between pictures (using the enter/return key), then I publish the post only to find it has completely reformatted itself.  Once in a blue moon Blogger will remove line spaces, but mostly it will add additional line spaces between content so that there are HUGE gaps of empty space between paragraphs and pictures.  Then my posts look sloppy.  Additionally, I draft posts that I am not ready to publish at that very moment so I will save and close them.  The next time I open these same posts to make updates, the formatting is entirely different.  It is quite frustrating to say the least.  Sometimes I have to go into that post and reformat it multiple times (usually 4 or 5 times) for it to finally be correct.  I'm way too anal to let it go.  So now that I've vented, I feel a little better.  I wanted to show you what I mean, so I've attached screen shots of the way I format my posts (pictures 1 & 2) and screen shots of the way Blogger reformats my posts (pictures 3 & 4).  Damn you Blogger!