What are Your Favorite Photo Editing Apps & Sites?

If you blog, social network, do marketing, merchandise through photos, are a photographer, or promote anything or anyone using photos you took...  which photo editing app or site do you rely upon?   

This was taken and uploaded to PicMonkey which is my favorite website photo editing page.  Great options and right now it has very clever Halloween ideas for your photographs.  Hats off to my husband, Matt Ceule, who let me vampire up his handsomeness.

This gourd photo was taken with my Droid phone app, Instagram.  It's strictly a phone app and not a website to manipulate photos, unfortunately, for I really like the options.

What do you use?

Perk #11 of Working From Home: Wahlberg, Football & Strangle Hold

Has Technology and Social Media Given the 2012 High School Seniors the Lowest Reading Scores in 40 Years?

Is technology and social  media adversely affecting our tweens and teens in school or... are they just evolving faster?

A rather jolting report came out yesterday, Sept. 24th, 2012, about how unprepared our 2012 high school graduates are for college.  The Washington Times hammered it home by pointing out "Perhaps even more troubling than the college readiness number are the 2012 READING scores. The average score on the SAT's reading portion fell this year to 496 out of a possible 800, its lowest mark since 1972 and down from last year's 497."  Data: High school students aren’t ready for college - Washington Times http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/sep/24/high-school-grads-reading-skills-hit-new-low-most-/#ixzz27UIr3Czr 

My knee jerk reaction is to point a finger the huge surge in cell phone use over the last 5 to 7  years and the ebonics it takes to communicate quickly and efficiently through texting.  In fact if we all strtd typin in textanese, it wud come off a lil mor lik dis form of shorthand n not full words. Cud u handle that? F ur a tween or teen, u cud.   As an adult, I still have to read my 14 year old son's texts out loud.  I suppose if I saw these styles of writing every day in communication with everyone, I'd be pretty darn good at it too.

I heard this summer that nationally, high schools aren't assigning novels that exceed 200 pages anymore, because the students can't maintain the attention for that long.  Sad, strange, makes me furrow my brow and I wince at what they are missing.  However... is this us evolving?   Is it simply we are adapting the way we communicate using our environment of rapid fire technology and availability to so many people at once?  Are our attention spans shorter or are we merely wanting as much information as possible?

I think youth adapt embraced changing the way they communicate because they can. They aren't bogged down with mortgages, insurance rates, raising other humans. They are at a glorious age where they don't fully appreciate or understand the power of effective communication... yet. It's the whole frontal lobe still developing and not understanding the power and consequences of their words, the angst of youth, it's all about  me, I want it now type egocentric lifestyle they are submersed in. Ah, the good old days.  Eventually, they'll want to read and re-read a great novel, a love letter that you want to hang on to for the rest of your life, a poem or a speech that will rattle you to your core.   It's just not their job right now. So they can take traditional methods and tweak them as they see fit.  I don't even think they know we are watching.

    

Our society is certainly more visual than we've ever been.   Instagram and Pinterest's lightening speed rise to popularity are a clear testimony to that effect.  Using a photo in a post on Facebook has proven more than likely to yield greater engagement from friends/followers.  This excites the Facebook algorithms and you're rewarded by getting more of your  messages out to a larger portion of your fans/followers. Even as adults, we are so stretched with our availability, multi-tasking and multi-communicating, we don't really have time to read, but we do have time to see an image.  Infographics are a fantastic summary of a study with graphics, all on one page. See the one at the bottom of this page by http://www.commonsensemedia.org/teen-social-media-infographic .  Great information in a short space. Yes... I have time for that.

If you're an adult and you're reading this, what are you doing?  Are you evolving with technology and with the teens to twenty somethings?  Are you sitting back in  your chair with your arms smugly crossed over your chest and smirking because you think it won't affect you?   Are you kicking and screaming with full on resistance to your keyboard?  Where are you and what is your plan to continue to communicate effectively with the world, with generations, as it evolves around us?

For more thoughts, Here's a blog I posted 2 years ago about how typing classes may be replaced by texting classes. Soon a s d f and ; l k j will be M.I.A.  

Gentle Reminder...

Basic Reasons Pinterest Will Appeal to You, as it did ME

Are you on Pinterest yet?   Do it.

It's motivation, inspirational, hilarious, sultry, informative, educational, delicious... really, which of things do you not want?

Motivational.  You've got it. Love this one. It's on my "Life" board. Take a gander at the motivational photos too.

Sultry. Loads of gorgeous men and women.  Like the handsome Matt Bomer in this photo. The debate for who will play Christian Grey in movie version of the book, Fifty Shades of Grey, is a hot topic on Pinterest. Here's my board "My Boys" so you can see many more men that make our hearts skip a beat.  You're welcome.

Inspirational.  You can't log on without finding inspiration from everywhere. Like this one from my "Garden" board.   I'm always looking for ideas to reflect my family inside the home and OUT.

Humorous photos are always a favorite. This one just makes me smile. I've put it under my favorite category, "Weird Things I Like"  mostly because I didn't know where else to put it. You'll like this board.  It's the board of misfit toys.

.
When you first go to the Pinterest home page, it'll ask you to submit your email for a message to join. If you'd like to cut through all of that, give me your email and I'll send it to you immediately. If you have a Pinterest board you particularly enjoy, I want to see it! Post it for me here and I'll follow you.

Happy pinning!
Alexis

Hey 19

We met when he was 19.  
One of my top 5 all time favorite bands is Steely Dan.  
Today is our 19th wedding anniversary.   


In light of this wonderfully thoughtful and funny gift from my romantic man, I  may have to rethink my list for arbitration time... 

also known as, our anniversary.




Thank you Matt.  I don't know how you'll top this. 

The JoyKill of Social Networks...SPAM Hits Pinterest

I knew it wouldn't take long and now that I've seen one spammer, they are flooding the site.  *Sigh*  I clutch my heart and hope to goodness these un-fun spammers don't ruin this wonderfully visual new social network, Pinterest. The photos are lovely and as an information resource for all that is cool, crafty, cooking, clothing and kookie, it's my favorite "time suck" website.

There several ways to SPAM, but these on Pinterest tend to present themselves as one thing, when you click to inquire more, it leads you to another.  Here's an example.

See the darling baby in a lobster costume in the chef's big cooking pot held by his mommy?  I've put a big circle with a line across it to make it easier for you to identify.  You want to know more about that adorable costume?  Forget it, if you click the link you got shot to this website http://healthchildren.net/preserving-your-babys-dental-health/   Uhg.  The user who posted it has 45 boards on Pinterest and only 1 "like".  The jig is up!

Here's an interesting infographic on "social spam" and the lower part on how to be a good social content provider to networks.   Twitter recently took several "Spam Companies" to court!  We're hoping they win.
HAPPY PINNING!

Shoulda Woulda Coulda... Now I Am!

Grilling out in winter, that is.  I should have been doing this all winter!  
In Kansas City, this has been a non winter event.  3" of snow, total. Last year, 42", the winter before 41".  Not sure what's going on, but no one is actually complaining over here.

Plus, inspecting my backyard, my HOSTAS are coming up!  That usually doesn't happen until the first week in April.  Bonus.

Droid Photo a Day - Feb 22nd Car Thru Storefront

Someone had a bad day.  Fortunately, no one was hurt.

(used Enhanced Process on PicPlz.com for Droid)

These Shoes Ruined My Knees

Yes, these innocent looking shoes.

They are simple saddle shoes. 


I wore them from 4th grade through high school, cheerleading. 

Jumping, cheering, they supported me as I supported the team as the base of every pyramid, wearing them in and out of school, on and off school season. There is no arch support, they are slippery as heck (great for hanging on the back bumper of cars and hitching a lift up a steep hill on a snowy day) and really, what goes with a clunky black and white shoe?


Truth be told, they are my favorites. I created a slew of wonderful memories in them.  Some I could tell you, some I would rather not.  Saddle shoes were crazy comfortable and they worked well with jeans, which are a staple of my current wardrobe.  


I want to thank Candice Riddle who posted them on her Childhood Memories Board on Pinterest.  Take a look... and be ready to have your head swirl in memories!

My knees haven't heeled completely, but I'm willing to blame lots of other fun activities in my 20's and 30's toward the damage done to them.  I'm ready to trade in my nurse looking Sketchers Shape Ups for the awesomeness of the saddle shoe.

If you know where I can get saddle shoes, leave me a comment.