Software Price Comparison & Mackenzie’s Birthday Bash!

First, for those that are here to view pictures of Mackenzie’s birthday bash, feel free to scroll right down pass my ramblings!

If you’ve been following me, you’ll know that I purchased the Macbook Pro with Retina Display last week!  I made a trip to Best Buy this weekend to check out the prices of Photoshop CS6, Lightroom 4, and Office Home & Student.  I started a price comparison at home and found Amazon to be the least amount for all three programs.  Even though Adobe was offering $50 off when you buy two software programs together, Amazon was still the cheapest.  I thought I’d share my price comparison information with you in case any of you were in the market for the same programs.

The Missing Link – Week 15

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.

In the market for a desktop?

I just wanted to apologize for being MIA lately.  I’ve been putting all my free time into researching a new desktop to replace my old and VERY slow HP laptop.  I’ve been having so many problems with my laptop, I’ve kind of been waiting for it to die already.  I guess I’ve just been lucky! 

I decided on a desktop thinking I wouldn’t be able to get the specifications needed for photography in a measly little laptop.  Apparently I was wrong.  After careful consideration, I bought the Macbook Pro with the Retina display!!!!!!!!!!!  Can you tell I’m a little excited?  No, I’m not typing on it at this very moment (unfortunately).  Since I customized it, I had to order it online and it’s estimated to deliver around mid August!  Not sure I can wait that long! 

Intermittent Exotropia Update

First, if you unfamiliar with Alivia’s Intermittent Exotropia, you can find some previous posts I’ve published about it HERE.  

It’ll be about two months that we’ve been patching Livvy’s strong eye to treat her Intermittent Exotropia and she’s been tolerating it fabulously!  We started out with around 25 – 30 minutes and are currently patching for about an hour now!  When I first started patching I was noticing her eye deviate a lot less.  At around the month and a half mark, however, I started to see it deviating more frequently.  Not quite as frequent as when we weren’t patching at all but never the less, more frequent.  In the beginning I was hopeful that the patch was going to be a successful treatment but now I’m not so sure. 

Jake

While on vacation in Cape Cod, we had the pleasure of visiting with my sister’s Niece-in-law (NIL) and her 3 month old baby, Jake (or as they like to call him, Jakey)!  So this is my sister’s husband’s niece (his sister’s child).  Let’s call her Bianca.  Why?  Well, ‘cause that’s her name!  So Bianca and Jakey stayed with us for a night and I took every opportunity to snap pictures of this cutie!  Let me just warn you, this infant is ALL boy and man does he have a set of lungs on him!  He has the cutest little infant cry ever!  Really, though, Jake is such a good boy.  He sleeps well, eats well, and poops well!  What more could you ask for?  You know what I love most though?  That adoring look that an infant gives to his mama when he’s all snuggled safe in her arms.  You know that one where they just look up at you as if you were a super hero?  Assuming they even knew what a super hero was of course.  Oh how I love that look.  With that said, I’ll start you off with this photo of Jakey looking up at his mama with his BIG eyes…

The Missing Link – Week 14

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.

Do you want to be button buddies?

I think this is such a great idea and was wondering if you’d like to swap buttons with me?  You know, I’ll post your button in my sidebar and you do the same for me!  A little like scratching each others back I guess!  If you are interested, feel free to email me and we can discuss.  You an find my email button in my sidebar at the top of my page.  My buttons are readily available on my buttons page in a variety of sizes so I’m sure you will find a size that works best for your bloggy site.  If, however, you need a different size just let me know so that I can customize to your request.  Just be sure to contact me first so that I can grab your button as well!  Okay, so there is my request.  Out there for all to see.  I guess I’ll just sit back and remain hopeful that someone will want to be button buddies with me!

Google Tutorial & Back to School Printable!

Sometimes I take for granted the small resources that I use to make my blogging easier.  It’s only when I get a question from a reader that reminds me I really should share my resources.  So a BIG thank you to Natalie over at Growing up a NJ Wife & Mom for asking how I loaded a .psd file into a Google document.  I already replied to Natalie’s inquiry but thought I’d share with all of you incase you were curious also.

Getting to know me…

I thought it might be fun to share a few things about myself.  Well, 10 things to be exact.  It also allows all of you to find out if we have similar interests or things in common which is always nice!  I don’t know about you but when I find I have something in common with someone, I instantly feel closer to that person.  It makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside!  Anyhow, here it goes:

Melasma anyone?

Apparently at some point during pregnancy my body responded with a “hell yes” to this question!   Wondering what Melasma is?  Does the term “pregnancy mask” spark any type of recognition?  I read a little about this while I was pregnant but never looked into it.  I guess I really should have.  Two years later, after giving birth to Alivia, I have been battling with what I thought were age or sun spots when all this time it was Melasma! 

Did someone say “food”?

I guess it’s a recipe kind of week!  This will be my second recipe guest post for the week!  Who doesn’t love food, though, right?  Skye, from First Time Mama – First Time Blogger is sharing some of her favorites below and boy do they sound delicious!  Incase you are not familiar with the lovely Skye, here is a quick recap:

- Wonderful Mama to the beautiful and adorable Julianna.
- Posts unbelievably cute photos of her little one.
- Photography lover and learner.
- Blogs about everyday life and experiences.

And, sorry to all the Bostonians out there, this mama is a Yankees fan!  Yeah I’m sneaky, I got this little tid bit of information from her About Me page.  You go Skye!

Okay, okay, onto Skye’s post!

Removing objects from your photos

So, what’s on the agenda for today!?  I have a little tutorial for you from Becky over at Finding My Creativity!  What can I say about Becky?  Hmmmm, where do I begin?  I’ve been following and corresponding with her for quite some time now and she is just one sweet mama!  That’s right, she’s a mama to the beautiful little girl you see in the blog header below!  Adorable right?  She’s also one unbelievably talented photographer!  If you haven’t visited her bloggy site, you are missing out!  I hope you’ll take the time to hop on over and visit Miss Becky!  I’m sure you’ll find some fun posts to read and gorgeous pictures to ogle!  Enjoy!

Crock Pot Chicken

Oh boy, do I have a surprise for you.  Well not really a surprise since I made mention of the lovely Kyna over at Great Expectations in last Friday’s post.  The recipe, however, that Kyna is sharing today IS certainly a surprise.  That’s right, I can keep secrets! 

So have you guys met Kyna?  I just love her blog header.  Nothing better than chubby legs and with legwarmers no less!  Kyna is an aspiring photographer and blogs about everything from everyday happenings & personal experiences to yummy recipes (like the one below).  Did I mention that she usually throws in a couple adorable shots of Ellie (her daughter), or mouth watering foods like Crock Pot Chicken?  Try not to drool on your keyboard!  Okay, enough of my ravings.  I’ll let you see for yourself!

 

 

Hello all of you lovely Cropped Stories readers! My name is Kyna, and I blog over at great expectations.

 

The Missing Link – Week 13

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.

Happy 4th… (freebie holiday collage)!

Hey there!  I have something special for you guys today!  I created a 4th of July collage!  For my sample, I took pictures of Aliva’s 4th of July dress which, I thought, went perfectly with this collage.  I hope to get some tomorrow of her actually in it!  I’m sure these will be a lot more interesting.  Although, I’m not quite sure the dress is going to fit her.  I’m thinking it’s a bit too small!  It’s a good thing I kept the tag on and have the receipt.  Something tells me we may be taking this back!  I hope not though!  I’m keeping my fingers crossed.  I really should have tried the dress on her today.  You think I would have thought of that sooner when I had the darn thing out and she was actually awake (she’s in bed now).  My brain is mush today and it’s only Wednesday.  I’ve been extra busy over here trying to clean the house and prepare for a vacation that we are taking in 3 days!  Woo hoo!  Yeah, I’m a nut.  I start preparing for a vacation a week in advance.  I admit it!  I just hate to forget anything.

You’ve got me begging… (& Freebie)

Okay, you guys are not going to make me beg are you?  Okay, okay, then, here it goes…

PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE, won’t you even consider being a guest blogger on my awesome bloggy site?  We would love to have you!  Still, NO?  Than, how ‘bout a bribe?

I created a fun printable below.  I’ll turn my head and you just take it.  In return, though, you promise to write a little something for my readers.  What do you say?  Deal?