Put your Blackberry Down and talk to your WIFE!!

That’s right you heard me if you are reading this right now I want you to lay your Blackberry down, slowly walk away, and have a face to face conversation with a loved one.

The other night while having a wonderful salad from the Jason’s Deli salad bar with my dearly beloved, Nick,  I had an epiphany.  The technology that we all love (me included) that is bringing people together and making communication easier is also simultaneously putting everyone further apart. Now I do not want anyone to take this the wrong way, I love all the new ways we have to  communicate with one another. My personal favorite is Facebook, to me you do not exist unless you are on Facebook. It is one my main modes of communication with friends and family. I have actually fussed at my sister for not using her Facebook account. I told her that is where it is happening- Get to updating that status! I still use e-mail (and could not live without it either) but Facebook gives me more options! Blogging is another example, not necessarily a new one but new to me and I have actually seen more people getting in on it. Everyone has something to say about something (good or bad) and they are putting it out there for the world to see. Freedom of speech at it’s best! Twitter is another social networking option that has really caught on. I do not have a Twitter account as I am trying to keep my digital life as simple as possible and it would just be to much . That being said Twitter can really be used in great ways by helping both businesses and people stay connected. Most recently Twitter was a major communication tool in the election protests in Iran. Which was very cool! (the Twitter communication not the protest).

Now for the Blackberry the device which brings all the communication modes I mentioned in the previous  paragraph together along with texting and receiving phone calls. The ultimate way to stay plugged in! Again I am in no way saying that the Blackberry itself is a bad thing. In fact I know they are very useful for many people in many situations. However, at times they make it nearly impossible to have a face to face conversation. I have found that most Blackberry users are so addicted that are not able to ignore a single e-mail coming through long enough to complete a simple conversation.

So I say this to all you Electronic device users out there (not just Blackberry) lets not forget simple common courtesy.  When someone is having a face to face conversation with you do not check an e-mail or a text IT IS RUDE! Lets not let the simplest form of communication be ruined by the more complex devices.  I am all for technology but lets remember our manners while using it.

Whatever happened to Jem and the Holograms?

I am a “Child of the ‘80’s” and being such  I played with all the essentials 80’s kids toys, seriously Teddy Ruxpin was disturbing!!! I had all the 80’s kids clothes . . .everything in NEON of course! I honestly remember layering my neon socks in elementary school. AND I watched all the 80’s cartoons and shows! Now I am sure that most of you have caught on to the latest movie trend of turning 80’s cartoons and toys into major motion pictures. The wildly popular Transformers, which I have blogged about on here before and now the latest 80’s cartoon turned movie G. I. Joe.

 

Now growing up and being a bit of a girly girl I never played with either GI Joe or Transformers, I considered both to be icky “boy stuff.” I feel a bit left out with all these nostalgic feelings people get about the Transformer’s and GI Joe movies. I just can not identify with them, I am not saying they are bad movies ( I have yet to see GI Joe so it is hard for me to comment) but just that an entire demographic of people is being left out. Specifically, the Barbie toting girls of the 80’s. I am not proposing a Barbie movie because lets face it would be REALLY bad!!! The cartoons were honestly never very good. Nor do I want to go see Care Bears or My Little Ponies.

All that being said I have found one cartoon that could potential be made into a film and would bring back that girly 80’s feeling . .  .(drum roll please) . . . .JEM and THE HOLOGRAMS!

Yes, lets bring back Jem and watch her duke it out with the rival  band the ever evil Misfits. It could even be a musical . . .ohh yeah!

I have attached a youtube video below for any of you that need a Jem refresher. And for now it is all we have till someone comes to there senses and makes the movie. I’ll be waiting!!!

I ♥ Picsee Studio

I decided at the beginning of the year that I wanted Nick and I to have some professional outdoor pictures made so I began scouring the internet and polling friends trying to find a good photographer.  Luckily for me my friend and co- worker, Stefanie, sent me a link to Picsee Studio. She had gone to King College with Jennifer, one of photographers/ business owners, at Picsee. I was hooked from the 1st time I clicked on the website! The images on the Picsee web- site were full of life and had beautiful light. They were truly  breathtaking!!! I talked to Nick and he was not totally jazzed about the whole picture thing (he hates having his picture made) but thought the images on the web- site were stellar so he gave me the go ahead. The things he does for me!!

Okay . . .before we go any further with this story let me explain why I decided we needed pictures. Well, pictures have always been very important to me I might be a little crazy over excited about having them all over the house. My Mom says whenever we have kids we will have the walls papered with there pictures. AND maybe we will :) Also I was very disappointed with our wedding photos, I kinda cheaped out on them in the wedding planning budget and well this was on instance where I got what I paid for. In my wedding photographers defense the lighting in the church where we got married was not great and he did not have all the professional equipment ( I knew this going in). So from me to all the bride’s to be out there- PAY FOR PICTURES! 

Now back to our regular scheduled programming . . .

I contacted Picsee via e-mail from there “contact info” on the web page and heard back from Jennifer within 24 hours. She and I talked on the phone and set up a date and time at the 1st of May,I wanted to have pictures made in the spring when the grass was green. Jennifer also discussed with me a location and I was totally clueless. She suggested Tipton- Haynes a historic site in Johnson City, but said we could leave it open since we were a couple a months away.

I was totally stoked about the pictures  and Jennifer was so helpful when I talked to her.  I even e-mailed her once to discuss outfit colors and selections and she was super helpful and sweet. I started shopping for tops for me (any excuse for new clothes right?) and then starting matching my shirts to something for Nick to wear (don’t think he got anything new out of the deal). Also while I waited for spring and the green grass to come I started to check out the Picsee Blog on a regular basis. And OMG there was and still is a lot of WONDERFUL stuff happening on the blog. Sweet babies, beautiful weddings, Picsee news, etc.  If you have never been to there blog you must go and join the addiction, and become a Picsee Blogstalker!

Now for the main event PICTURE DAY! First off kudos to Picsee for some heads up customer service. About a week prior to our pictures I get a call from Jennifer wanting to reschedule. She had been watching the weather map and there was a good chance of rain  the day we were scheduled.  So she asked to move our date up and asked if we would mind having our photos made at an old abandoned warehouse in down town Kingsport. I am going to be honest this was where I got a little skeptical, but Jennifer was so stoked about it and I loved all of Picsee’s creative images so I trusted her! On our picture day we got to meet the other 2 ladies that make up Picsee- Christy and Becky! Both were absolutely awesome and so sweet! Jennifer and Christy were our photographers for the session and the warehouse turned out to be part of the old Kingsport Foundry. Jennifer and Christy had us all over the property and took tons of shots. We even got some sun flare, which I learned that day and when I saw our images was a very good thing!  Nick and I were kinda nervous at the beginning (modeling does not come naturally to us) but totally loosened up at the end. Even camera shy Nick “smiled with his eyes” a tip he learned from all those ANTM reruns I made him watch.  We both had SO MUCH FUN!!!

Then came the anxious wait for our moment on the blog. Did I mention they post there favorites from your session on the blog as a sweet little sneak peek. Well, they do and ours were AWESOME!!!  So glad I trusted Jennifer on the warehouse location. What was equally AWESOME was when we got access to our full gallery a few weeks later. I had in mind where I wanted pictures in our house and even how many I might want, but when I got our gallery I was totally overwhelmed in a good way! I couldn’t pick! I had favorites but they were all so good, I wanted ALL of them! We met with Jennifer for our ordering session at Picsee’s studio a few days later and I found out I could get most of them! Let me just say that the ordering session was fabulous!!! Nick and I got to sit on a couch at the Picsee studio and see our images on a huge flat screen tv. We could see the image resized, in a collages, we could pick “yes, no, or maybe.” This was FABULOUS for the indecisive April.  And bless Jennifer she was so patient through all our indecision and showed us all options possible. At the end of about 2 hours (like I said bless Jennifer for her patience) we had settled on several 8x10’s and 5x7’s for ourselves and family members, our favorite image in a 16x20 to go in our master bedroom, and a slim line photo book (my anniversary present) where we could get about 45 of our favorite images! How awesome!

The slime line book was actually custom designed by Picsee and I got to preview and approve it prior to it actually being printed. I could not have been more excited when I got my photo book preview e-mail from Becky! She said that they had added some great vivid and moody colors and were really excited about the way it looked. I think the phrase “smokin’ hot” was even used, and she was so right!  Below are some pics of some of the great things we got:

The cover of our SMOKIN’ HOT slime line book designed by Picsee

A page in the book, I love how the pages lay flat!

One of our favs in a 8x10

The 16x20

 

If you are look to have professional photo’s done I highly recommend Picsee Studio. Jennifer, Christy, and Becky were so great to work with and the heart they put into what they do shines through in the finished product. They  have put a smile on my face not only looking at my own images but those of others on the blog. What more can I say . .  I  ♥ Picsee Studio!!!!