Tuesday, October 4, 2011

I fall in love with your Http://...

I have to say that I fall hard in love with new websites. 
Hard.
When I was pregnant with Tink I was SO into Huggies Mom board. It was amazing to find out SO much about things, about babies, life, life with babies, having a life with babies. I was a dedicated fan and chatted daily all the way up till I had Buzz.

Once I had Buzz I got hooked on True Mom Confessions I was SO into it I was just a yes/no from being a moderator, but went with no because I knew I couldn't dedicate to it.

Along came Blogger. Well I have to say I fell in love. 
At first I thought I had to be a writer, like my dear friend Sass was. But she explained it's more like a journal. A way to get people to read you, comments are the best ever, and to try out the SITS girls, we were some of the first to join, and I won their first BIG giveaway (still wear my 'Comment Junkie' t-shirt!) 

They were a regular blog that featured other bloggers. Almost like a place for all of us bloggers to meet each other. Loved it. I made, and still have friends who are bloggers, I've never met before, and may not ever. But our blog stories, weather they are the same or complete opposite connect us to learn about each other, and to realize that we are not the only crazies out there. And on that note, we may not be that crazy after all.

That was Feburary 2007 that I met Blogger, that spring I found SITS girls, and 4 years later, 3 blogs later. I still think it's one of the best sites and communities out there. 

Along came MySpace. I loved it. I loved blinkies, wallpaper, and all things to make my page about me. My friend D and I were excited to find all of our old friends, but some of them were stuck on this 'Facebook' page and so we joined the boring, naked blah world of Facebook JUST to stay in touch with those friends.

And then everyone started going to Facebook... and stopped checking their MySpace page. (I think mine is still up and active, I SERIOUSLY need to delete it) and now Facebook... well you know Facebook. And for those of you reading this 5 years from now, who knows what FB will be, or if it will still be THE site to be on. 

Trending sites are amazing, this world moves so fast, and technology is just growing at a ridiculous pace. 
I love change, and for that matter I can't wait to see the new 'Timeline' Facebook Page. Some of my friends are jumping the Facebook ship already and running to the Google+ site. A Facebook wannabe. 

Change happens and it's good. I for one am SUPER excited about the 'Timeline' Facebook makeover. I'm hoping they give us a warning, not like last time they moved things around and everyone bitched for 2 days about it. 

I do have to say people probably laugh when I tell them I still have AOL as my email. It's the free AOL, and yes I've been a member since 1998, same email too. So I evolve with the rest of the world, love change, but if your a good site and your good to me. I'm dedicated to you and most people think your paying me to brag about you. (I do this with products too. I think CBS reality shows and Starbucks coffee are great examples of  how I go on and on and on...)

And onto the last two sites that I NEED to survive lately. One is Shutterfly a FREE picture storage site. That also gives you the luxury of making your own brag websites, and rewards you with free prints the more you upload to them. I make wonderful cards, photo books, and SO much more through them. The are a great company that I stand behind.
BUT let me say this, you can edit with Shutterfly. BUT it's limited... hop on over to a free photo editing site and your day is complete. Let me tell you just a few months ago I came across Paper Momma's blog and she had links to 5 different free editing sites. 

It was a toss up to which I should choose, so trusting the advice of my wonderful friend Sass, I went with Picnik  which is a cute site, that is SUPER easy to navigate. It's free, or for $24.95 a year, you can get more editing tools. Let me say I've been addicted since July and I am SUPER excited about the free part!

Note that Picnik does NOT store pictures. It just edits them! Right soooo... check out something I just realized almost 3 months later with Picnik... you know that cool black and white picture that those expensive mall stores take of your kids and pop just the color they think is right. And charge you out the wazoo for the shots?! 

Here's a brilliant idea. Take your own shots. Upload to Picnik. Edit. Store to Shutterfly and print.
Check out what I did while tinkering with some parade shots I took on Sunday...
 Parade Pass out, I JUST colored the kids...


This one's my favorite of the color pop. JUST Buzz's Wuzzy Bear blanket. LOVE it.
This was color pop, with some white haze around the edges and the Combustion set at about 76%. I want to know what sites float your boat. If it's Google Map (LOVE the Traffic button, and the street level is awesomely creepy!) Weather.com is a must, Youtube is of coarse on the list, oh AND I Tweet on Twitter... when I remember. You can follow me at @JCat_McGack over there. 

Happy Tuesday!

JCat




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