Glimpses of Spring

Pulling out some old photos which remind me of Spring.
This was my sunroom in The Borrowed House.

Thanks to Pat, for recommending Picmonkey, and to Cindy for recommending Ipiccy. Both are easy and fun editing programs to play around in.


Ok, I still like large photos though.

Both of these editing programs seem a little more user friendly than Picasa, at least to me.

Not sure if I'll continue to watermark. This was just a play session. As my friend Dayle said, watermarking really doesn't prevent piracy. But it is a nice credit especially if you use Pinterest.

My city of romance, Savannah. 

I would love to sit and listen to harp music while enjoying the cool breezes of spring!  

Waiting on these to bloom in my backyard.
 
It's time for the azaleas to start blooming too. Imagine my horror when I walked outside a few days ago and saw the neighbor had chopped down the entire row of azalea bushes between our yards. He said he was tired of trimming them. boo hoo!

Closing the chapter on the tech stuff. Thanks for letting me rant the last couple of posts. Time to move on because this blog is devoted to pretty!

Still time to sign up for the giveaway- here!

Picture Perfect

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Isn't it nice that we no longer live in the day where everything has to be picture perfect? Growing up,  I attended many Home Interior parties with my mom. They would make a "grouping," usually consisting of a picture, 2 sconces and a shelf.  We probably would have thought something like this was a mess.

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It's nice to have the pressure off and just hang what you like. By the way, if anyone has tips on how to photograph a picture under glass, please share. This room has open sunlight in the day and a light fixture at night. Both reflect.

I found this great fox hunt picture, navy blue mat and all at a local antique market. Marked down to $16. Sold!

This is all I will do for now. We have someone interested in our house and we haven't even put a sign up yet! Hoping and praying!

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More on the photo storage and resizing issues - Two more suggestions made: join Google+ to acquire more free storage or embed your photos from a host site like Flickr. 

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I thought it would make things easier by downloading Picasa. However, it proceeded to download every single photo and file off my computer. Felt very invasive! I'm sure there was an opt out button somewhere in the original process that I missed. Seems crazy that you'd have to go into the tools menu to opt out for each of your files. I can't be worrying about that. I'll go back to Picnik for now or just skip this whole ordeal of resizing!

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Reminder- E.W. McCall Giveaway! Enter now if you haven't already. Winner will be announced on Friday. 
Posting my thrifty find of the foxhunt picture to Coastal Charm!

Studying

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Thanks for the responses I received yesterday concerning my photo storage issue. I am studying and discovering a ton of information. Since we are on the topic of studying, photos of studies are included to pretty up an otherwise boring subject.

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Most of you know about these things but some don't.  I don't like a long post but bear with me since many have asked. I'll break it down in very short and simple terms.

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The first thing I learned is Blogger automatically stores your photos in Picasa albums. This is how your space is recorded.

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Secondly, everyone has a limited amount of space. To find out how much space you have, log into Picasa. Enter your gmail account and password. All of your albums will appear. An indicator of storage used/storage available will be at the bottom of the page.

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Thirdly, when you run out of storage, you must purchase more. The cost starts at $5 per year and is an automatic renewable fee. See here.

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It seems resizing photos is a must. Most photos from other sources have already been resized. But for your personal photos, there are a variety of editing programs to choose from. Most of you use Picasa.  I use Picnik but have never resized for blogging. Unfortunately, Picnik is going away on April 19th, thanks to Google. But there is rumor that Google will be re-branding it, keeping fingers crossed. I find it very easy to use. Some other editing programs are iPhoto for Mac users (don't I wish,) Photoshop, Paintnet, Gimp, Photobucket and Flickr, just to name a few. 

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Claudia from Mockingbird Hill Cottage explains how to resize and what numbers to use. There are many tutorials out there on this but she keeps it simple.

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The most compelling reason to resize photos is to avoid bogging down your blog and decreasing its speed. Susan  and Amy first tipped me on this. Read My Blogging Journey for some good information.

Bloggers Alchemy also has a great post on how to optizmize your blog and measure its speed. I checked mine and it's 1.8 seconds, thankfully.

Another reason to resize your photos is to avoid piracy. A resized photo can't be copied as well. 

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Many of you watermark your photos for this reason. Amanda has an informative post on that.

I tried it out on Picnik myself. 

Hooray! Resized, edited, and watermarked! Well, let me tell you why I'm not that happy about it. One word- t.i.m.e.


I mean really people. How on earth do you find time to do all of that? I'm coming to the conclusion that I must be a very slow person. Slow mixed with maybe a touch of perfectionism. 


I've spent around 3 hours researching and putting this post together. That is half of my day considering after 3 p.m. my time no longer belongs to me but to my family. 


I have a hard time justifying putting that amount of time into anything that's just a hobby. But, I'll press on and try to fine tune things so it's not so time consuming. I just don't like the idea of going through x number of steps to download my photos.

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Every time I think about throwing in the towel, I meet someone who inspires me. Like this past weekend when I met lovely Lois who reads my blog. It gave us an instant connection. I'm having a GIVEAWAY in her honor. Please sign up if you haven't already. 

What is the difference between an office and a study? Well, "in my book," a study usually has room for more than one person, includes extra seating and shelves of books. A fireplace would be an added bonus! A study is also referred to as a library. These are the kinds of things I really enjoy studying!

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Enjoy your weekend!

Pink and Bloggy Wisdom 4

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"Blogging should be fun, not a chore!"

Tip submitted by Rondell of Something Nice and Pretty.

Posting to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound

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Have a little fun today!
Out of town and will catch up with everyone next week!

Pink and Bloggy Wisdom 3

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"Join linky parties!"

(This week's blogging tip submitted by Sherry at Blue Ridge Altered Art.)

I jumped the gun last week on Beverly's celebration, so Happy Birthday again to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.  

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Sherry makes a great tip encouraging us to join linky parties. They are the best kind of party to attend because we don't even have to leave the comfort of our own homes.  But if we could...

I'd love to invite you to one of these- 

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Outdoors seems like the perfect way to start the summer.

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We are having company this weekend and I'm really looking forward to spending time on the back porch sipping lemonade and visiting. Keeping fingers crossed that it won't be too hot. 
Hope you have a relaxing holiday weekend!

Pink and Bloggy Wisdom 2

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"If you attend (link up to) a party...always speak (comment) to the hostess."

by Linda of Coastal Charm, who by the way, is hostess to an awesome party,  
Nifty Thrifty Tuesdays.

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I'd say that's just good party manners.

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Speaking of parties...
Beverly of How Sweet the Sound is celebrating her 3rd Birthday for Pink Saturday!

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 Thank you Beverly for being such a gracious hostess for 3 long years!  That's dedication.

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Posting to Pink Saturday. 


It seems to be a busy time of year with end of school activities, graduations and weddings.  We are headed out of town for some celebrations.  I'll catch up with you next week!
Have a "sweet" weekend! 

Bloggy Wisdom

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"Be yourself, everyone else is taken."

During my recent giveaway, I asked friends to share the best blogging tip they've ever received or learned.  There were so many good ones, I've decided to share them one at a time -  now referred to as "bloggy wisdom."  

The above quote is by Julie of The Harward's Circle Cliff Views.

Posting to Pink Saturday at How Sweet the Sound.