Miscellaneous Monday

1. When I saw my wedding DVD box sitting at the bottom of our stairs, I nearly threw Henry to the side and somersaulted myself down to the bottom. It's here....the day we've awaited for almost a year [not to be too dramatic or anything.] We've saved and pondered and anticipated the arrival of these beauties. Feast your eyes on this!



2. You know what that means, right? I'm TOTALLY fiddling around on Photoshop tonight with my hi-resolution images. Now that we have the pictures, all that's left is the wedding album and my ideas are ever-changing. Initially after the wedding I vowed to get the $1200 Graphi studio album because "it's the best, highest quality album you can buy." Yeah, well, spending another $1200 on the wedding.....which was a year ago.....doesn't sit well with my inner tight-wad. So then I convinced myself that a nice $600 from another St. Louis vendor would be just fine. It would still be a high quality flush-mount album but for half the price. Well, now I'm shrinking away from this idea, too. You see, Blurb allows you to make albums yourself. For $50, people.

I'm not stupid, I know you get what you pay for in this world. But honestly, I think a nice hard cover coffee table album from Blurb would be fine. Who cares if the cover isn't made of leather and the pages are much thinner than the bad boy albums? Does it really matter that much?

If I use Blurb I can design it all myself because some kind bloggers pointed me to this blog. And we won't blow our "eternally saving for a down payment fund." What do you think? Totally naive of me to think I'll be satisfied with a Blurb album? I mean, if I hate the quality it's only $50 lost and I could still do the higher quality album. Thoughts, please.

3. It's amazing how much I've changed in a year. I think I've grown up and gotten more realistic, huh? Because there is no way in hell I would have considered this option a year ago.

4. Thinking about album design has me really excited to scrapbook again. And I STILL want to try my shot at a little side business. So if I master Photoshop for digital design, be prepared for a lot of posts about it! And those of you who were interested in my services, gear up!

5. Speaking of wedding photos, I have a confession. I did something very bad. I read a few posts from other bloggers about this little contest they have on The Knot and I could not resist temptation. Now, just so you know, I am a self-confessed recovering addict from The Knot and other chat boards like it. I don't even have them bookmarked anymore! So typing in the address for the website which stole my life away while planning the wedding seemed a little naughty. A little bit like going back to my drug of choice.

Even worse, the contest: it's called "Real Wedding Awards" and it's the first annual, for girls married in 2007. That's me! I have fab wedding photos! And why not post a few of our favorite pictures, right?

I mean, I'm not conceited enough to think my wedding was seriously the BEST wedding of the entire year. Of course, to us it was the best day of our lives and I was quite fond our wedding. But I did not have the $10,000 photographer. At the beach. With the most stunning sunset in all of the Caribbean for a backdrop. In any case, I figure 'What the heck. Why not?' and posted our wedding.

Wanna see which 7 photos I [painstakingly] chose? Check it out here and don't make fun of my stupid title. I had a brain fart, okay? While you are there, why not vote for me as you wish. I think it goes by the number of starts per picture or something? And what are you other 2007 brides waiting for? Get to it!

6. I don't really understand what you win if you do, in fact, have the best wedding of 2007. I think you might be featured in The Knot magazine, website, and so on. And maybe you get trip to Africa. When I confessed my sins to Nate last night he said, "That's all we get if we win? Who cares, then?" True, honey. But a safari wouldn't be bad.

7. While tinkering my night away on Photoshop I also plan to watch The Hills. I wasn't aware that the season opener is on tonight! I swear this move killed my inner TV Queen. She's gone, dead, and never to return. Mostly because we no longer have DVR so I can't stay on top of my shows. It's kind of sad, really. I'm such an old hag.

8. I just realized that I'm shivering because our thermostat is set to 60 degrees. Normally it's a crisp 62 but for some reason we dipped down a bit too low. And now my fingers are purple. Why is it necessary to freeze both inside AND outside in this freaking state? I know it's our fault but I'm blaming Nate and my inner tight-wad. She can be a psycho sometimes.

9. Henry is going through a really crappy phase [no pun intended]. Prior to moving he hadn't crapped inside for months, if not a year. Now? Well it's just one big poop fest around here. Henry managed to squeeze out not one, not two, but THREE massive deuces in the house during the past two weeks. The first time I blamed myself for being too lazy to take him outside. But now I'm blaming him because he's gotten so freaking impatient with us! It's like, "Hey guys I have to go right this second or else I'm dropping bombs immediately." He threatens us, you guys. Before we can grab the leash all hell breaks loose.

It's not truly this dramatic but it makes for a good story, right? He's fine, nothing is seriously wrong with him. He is just going through a phase [note how I'm convincing myself here?]

10. Project "get my butt on the treadmill" is going much better, thank you. This whole marathon thing is for real and I can't hold out for nicer 'outdoor running' weather forever. It's just not happening and my bare minimum is 50 degrees. Which, apparently, makes me a wuss in these parts. But whatev. Nate used his REI rebate money to buy us a Garmin. I don' t fully understand what it does but something about GPS and me not getting lost in Milwaukee while running. Sold!

17 comments:

  1. I think the Blurb books are absolutely beautiful.

    Have you done any digital scrapbooking? I'm afraid to start that - it feels like cheating to me, but my God. The possibilities are endless.

    I'm also a Photoshop virgin, so I may need to invest in that. I fell in love with Picasa, FCOL - Photoshop would instantly win over my heart. Hmm... maybe I should wait until after graduation.

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  2. Wow, high res pics in the mail. That is exciting!

    I am sure you are going to love putting the album together yourself. Plus, you can always upgrade later!

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  3. Thoughts about the album...I don't think you are going to be satisfied with the blurb album. I just don't think the quality is good enough. However, it's $50.00, so I'd definitely try it, and if you don't love it, it's really not a big deal. Good luck!

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  4. Congrats on getting your pictures!
    I have to agree with Kristal, though, I don't think the Blurb book will be good enough for your amazing wedding pics. But.. you have the high-res CD forever, so you can always make one for now, and upgrade later.

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  5. Looks like such a beautiful package that dvd came in. Can't wait to see how the album turns out!

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  6. Beautiful wedding pics you chose! I put mine up there too, feel free to go vote!
    http://realweddingawards.theknot.com/photo/view/Randall-Gallery-Wedding

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  7. I voted for you! I'm a huge fan of your wedding and I hope you win! (plus I know I blogged about the contest so maybe I'm one of the reasons you even heard about it? lol)

    As far as the album goes, I'm torn. I think it's a nice thing to have and worth the money, but if you've got other priorities right now, then go with the Blurb book. I have heard good things about them and I'm sure you'll do a fantastic job designing it yourself.

    Good luck on both counts, chica!

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  8. How exciting! I think you should try the blurb book - like you said, if you aren't totally happy with it you're only out $50. And if that's the case maybe you could give it as a gift to your Mom or your in laws? You'll be ahead on Christmas shopping. And I so support your Knot submission, I voted ;)

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  9. Oooooh, Hooray for pictures! I love, love, LOVE playing with Photoshop. Seriously, it's like crack to me.

    Have fun designing your album. I made albums for our parents for Holiday and they loved them. It was so much fun. I am still working on ours. I change my mind too much. But, like others said, you can always get something nicer and more expensive down the road. But for now, Blurb books are pretty good. And Robin's blog is so helpful!

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  10. Good luck with the contest! I definitely voted as I've been a stalker of your knottie bio for a long, long time... :)

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  11. Stupid blogger won't take pictures that are any bigger but at the same time if I make them smaller you can't see the detail. It lets you click on each picture and you can view the whole thing through photobucket or I posted it here and you can see the entire page
    http://stlwed.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=12812

    Love your wedding DVD cover BTW!

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  12. Hooray for hi-res image dvds! I think $50 for a Blurb album just to see what it's like is at all frivolous, if you can get your inner tight wad to allow it :)

    Also, I realize that you didn't cover weather in this post, but I wanted to let you know that I will try to avoid whining about snow from now on unless we get 5 inches or more.

    Seriously though, you picked a hell of a year for your first winter Milwaukee, what with the record-breaking snow and all :)

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  13. Oops - I meant to say that I DON'T think $50 would be frivolous...

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  14. Love, love, love your contest wedding pics that you posted. The one of you and your veil is my fave.
    My thoughts on your album: I, too, splurged on my wedding photographer, album, and hi-res files. I can't remember the last time I looked at my album, and honestly, at the moment I have no idea where its located (probably in a box somewhere). Five years down the road you probably won't be too excited about your album (you'll be too busy changing diapers and chasing little ones). So I wouldn't go and spend a huge amount of cash on the album unless you are planning to display it or look at it frequently. I would try Blurb, My Publisher, or even Shutterfly has really cool wedding album designs. Remember, you will have the hi-res files forever. So, save up for baby instead!!

    Also, if you are in need of additional prints, you should check out Mpix.com - if you haven't already discovered this awesome site, they produce professional-grade prints for amazing prices. Seriously, I've paid a photographer $40 for an 8x10 and then found out that they paid $1.99 to print it at Mpix.

    Sorry, long comment... but you know I love to talk about photog stuff!

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  15. Just got finished voting for your pictures! They are beautiful!!!!

    I did my own wedding album as well b/c the photographers all wanted a bazillion dollars to do them.
    I found my album here:
    www.weddingalbumdepot.com

    I did a matted album but I am pretty sure they had flush mount albums as well and their prices were great. I was so happy with what I received from them.
    GOOD LUCK!!!

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  16. Um, Julia, four days without a new blog post is TOO LONG!!!

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  17. I was like you and thought that I was going to be happy with a blurb book was so disappointed when I received mine. However, designing it gave me ideas that I want to add into the one we have made eventually.

    If you do go the blurb route make sure you learn about DPI and image size. Some of our high resolution images came out blurry even though on the screen they looked perfect.

    Good luck!

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