Most of our possessions are out of boxes, but now I'm finding piles of things that don't have a home yet. Ah, the many stages of moving and unpacking. I'm spending today catching up on laundry, working on a very Seuss DIY for Seuss week at Amelia's school next week (photos coming soon!), and listening to this tune. Violet and I are loving to dance to this song! I find it even more endearing that the lyrics were written by kids and then the songs are performed by professional musicians. Awesome.
Hooray for new features! We don't purchase a ton of apps for our iPad or iPod Touch, but when we do purchase an app and ends up being awesome, I like to share this information. It's nice knowing the $.99+ is money well spent.
The first app I want to share is Toca Hair Salon by Toca Boca. This was one of the very first apps I downloaded for the kids and it has been a complete and utter hit. It costs $1.9, but it's so worth it. I originally downloaded this for Amelia since a hair salon game seemed right up her alley, but Oliver has enjoyed this game just as much as Millie. Both kids have played this app for than any other app I've downloaded.
Kiddos can choose from six different clients whose hair they can cut, shave, color, wash, blow dry and more. Josh and I have even played with this app. The game is (in my opinion) awesome visually and inspires creativity. My kids have proven the replay-ability (totes a word) of this app over the past 7 months.
If you want to give it a spin without investing the $1.99, Toca Boca put out a free, very similar app at Christmas: Toca Hair Salon - Christmas Gift. In this app you can style Santa's beard and a Christmas tree -- for free!
We love Toca Boca apps in this family so look forward to my next App-tastic! posts also covering some of our favorite Toca Boca apps.
Moving has been so ugh. It's been an unusual move with circumstances unlike any move I've experienced before, which has really thrown me for a loop.
Normally I get all my stuff moved in one, I'm fully unpacked within three days and life resumes by the fourth day. We've been in our new home almost two weeks and I'm still unpacking and we still have a few belongings scattered around in storage and at my mother-in-law's house. Having half of your possessions with you and half in storage has been frustrating to say the least.
On top of all that weirdness, Violet and I became very ill last week. We came down with croup (thankfully no one else in the family caught it!) and spent a solid week looking like this:
I managed to do a lot of unpacking despite my condition, but Violet also being sick put a huge damper on my progress.
Since I'm always looking for a bright side, the good thing about having so much of your life in storage for a few months is that you really get a new perspective on what you need and what you just hold on to for no apparent reason. I've donated over 20 bags and boxes of clothes, toys and miscellaneous items to a local charity during that move, which is a win-win for everyone, especially since we've downsized from a 3 bedroom, 2 bath house to a 2 bedroom, 1 bath duplex.
I'm slowly easing back into my blogging routine! I know this song is virtually everywhere right now, but it has been lodged in my brain for weeks. Enjoy!
Has it seriously been almost a month since I blogged?!
We have sent the past 4 weeks looking for a new home, preparing to move, moving and now we are in the unpacking phase. I just felt too overloaded to blog on top of everything else.
We are moved into our new home so I should be back to my regular blogging very, very soon!
I do post-processing on almost every single photo I take in Photoshop CS5. I am not the most versed in Photoshop, so I depend on actions for almost all the edits I make. I am a huge fan of Paint the Moon actions and use them almost exclusively for my photos. They are awesome for portraits!
This is my before shot of Oliver playing in the snow this afternoon. It's a decent photo on its own, but I wanted to kick up a few details.
And this is my after shot....
I used three different Paint the Moon actions to achieve this after photo. I knew I wanted to bring out Oliver's face, the texture in the hat, the texture of his coat and I wanted it to be more obvious that the snow was still falling when I took the picture.
First I used the Intensity action from PTM's Fresh Wonderland TWO. That deepened the texture in the hat, but made the coat and buttons even darker than before. Next I ran the All Together Now -Vintage action from PTM's Picture Perfect Portrait. Finally, I cropped a wee bit off the right side of the image to help center Oliver in the image and ran the Soft Burnt Edges action from PTM's Picture Perfect Portrait set three times. Ta da!
The second image has more texture, detail and interest than the original and it only took a few mouse clicks. The big challenge with actions is choosing the right ones for your image. Two images taken seconds apart can require two totally different combinations of actions. Some images may even only require use of one action to make them great. It all comes with practice and becoming familiar with your actions.
I'm a few days late posting these, but my first week of Project 365 was a success. I've done a great job remembering to capture a little slice of life every day.
While I'm taking part in Project 365 to improve my photography, I mostly want to capture a little moment of our lives every day. At the end of the year I plan to have all photos printed into a photo book.
Enjoy Week One!
Day One - Traveling with Violet
Violet waking up from a nap on a 3 hour drive to my Dad's house.
Day Two - New Snow
The first snow of the season and of 2012.
Day Three - Squishy Face
Need I say more?
Day Four - Playtime
Playing on the floor with Violet.
Day Five - Floating Away
Playing with my new wireless shutter release.
Day Six - New Shoes
My new shoes, taken by Amelia.
Day Seven - Shopping with Mommy
Just picking up some groceries with Oliver and Amelia.
