While I've always joked that I am the gold medalist of one-armed picture-taking, I now think I would also take the gold in having the most unfinished photo albums. I ventured into the wide world of Creative Memories at that tender high school age when the naive and the idealist collide and you feel like you will be 80 years old, looking through years of beautifully crafted pages of happy memories and fun trips.
Wrong.
Until today, I would have turned 80 and the picture record would still be stuck somewhere in 2003. However, as I've learned from years of psychology, you can't go backward, you can only go forward...you eat an elephant one bite at a time...start small...make little goals and mark them off as you go...etc. etc. etc.
Well, I'm not very motivated by all the small talk, it seems. I am, however, powerfully motivated by jealousy. Ha! Thanks to my sweet and very organized friend Ashley, who has beautiful bound photo albums from EVERY TRIP she's been on and also a HUGE hand-prepared scrap book of her first-born son, Nathan's first year, I was moved to get busy!
Ashley told me of a few websites to try such as Snapfish or MyPublisher. I had tried Snapfish in the past but didn't get far at all. I got discouraged and gave up. But MyPublisher is a downloadable program that you can work on at your own pace. One year after the fact, I decided to try my hand at this "online" photo album by memorializing a super fun girls trip to Chicago (to celebrate a birthday, see the city, and go to WICKED!) in October of '08.
So although it only took me a day to complete, this program from MyPublisher was slow, didn't have as many layout options as I was hoping, and was a little tricky to navigate at times. Not only that, but it ended up costing a pretty penny, as they only throw in expensive FedEx shipping options! Urgh.
But, I finished! I made an entire album of a trip in a day! Okay, so now, I have several other trips that need to materialize into albums instead of just a file folder on my computer. And I have the bug...of accomplishment...which is powerful...and so...I sought out another program and decided I'd try my hand at yet another album!
I downloaded Picaboo (Picassa Web Albums version of an online photobook). Clever name, and clever program! This program was quick, had several fun background options, made much more sense, and was good bit cheaper (with coupon codes). I finished my entire Romania Medical Mission trip album in just a few hours, and this album had much more of a journal feel as I had a ton to write about!! They layout options were perfect and the program was so much easier to navigate.
WOW! Two photobooks in two days!!! I'm on a roll....
But wait.
I need to be patient and wait for the finished product before I pour more money into this. Wisdom. I need to be wise! So...I will wait for the books to arrive and see what kind of quality they offer before proceeding with the China trip, the high school girls reunion beach trip, etc etc etc....
Just thought I'd share my fun accomplishments!
