Holding On...For Sentimental Reasons

I opened my fridge to get my daughter some orange juice this morning and realized we have a 10-year old bottle of water!  

How do I know that it is 10 years old? We brought it back from our honeymoon in Tahiti 10 years ago, that's how! 

We brought it home, along with a bottle of Cristal that we picked up at the duty-free shops in Tahiti, as a reminder of our fabulous honeymoon and how we wanted to go back someday. Our original plan was at our five year anniversary, but with a 3 and almost 1 year old at that time, it just wasn't feasible. So we pushed it off to our 10 year anniversary. Needless to say, that didn't happen either. 

So the bottle still sits there. The funny thing is, my husband is kind of a cleaning freak and likes to throw things out. The fact that he has left it there for 10 years is astounding. 

Are we sentimental? 

Absolutely! 

Perhaps a little crazy? 

Most definitely!

But it bring a smile to my face every time I look at it. And that is certainly a great thing.

Someday, we will go back to Tahiti and brig back another water bottle to give it some company. And let's face it, that is much more economical than a black pearl!!!

What item(s) have you held on to that most would see as a toss away but you hold on to as a treasure?

Free Prints from Shutterfly Giveaway

Who's up for a mini-giveaway to win free prints from Shutterfly?

The first person to like Houses, Couches and Babies on Facebook and send an email to info@housescouchesandbabies.com will win a promo code for 30 4x6 prints from Shutterfly.  (If you already like Houses, Couches and Babies on Facebook, then you only have to send an email!)

Enter now!

101 Free Prints from Shutterfly

Happy 5th of July! Today only, Shutterfly is offering 101 free prints. Just use the promo code PRINTS4TH at checkout. (tax and shipping not included)

Wordless Wednesday

Melissa Vossler Photography

Family Portrait Day

I am so excited!  It has been two months in the making/planning, and we are finally having our first professional photo shoot for family pictures!

So long to the pictures taken by passers-by (as shown above).  I want a big family portrait we can frame.  (Not exactly RHONJ Teresa style, but something I can hang on the wall with pride!)

Sure we have studio pictures of the kids all over the house, but I am so excited to have photos of our entire family. together. smiling. at the same time.

The last time I took professional photos was probably for my own wedding or a friend's wedding.  In those cases, I already knew what I would wear for the photos.  But for today's photo session, I still have no idea! 

Our photographer, Melissa of Melissa Vossler Photography, gave me the following advice on what to wear:

"What to wear? I always tell my clients to dress how they normally would, but maybe kick it up a notch! Bright colors are always ideal....nothing matchy (which means, don't all show up in white polos and khakis!), and don't be afraid of pattern (no logos!).  Most of all, make sure you are all comfortable and feel great! This session should really reflect your family. So if you all are relaxed and kick back - jeans and flip flops with a colorful tank is great. If you want something a little more classic - then dress it up a bit!"

So, that advice knocks out of contention the black top I was thinking of wearing, but that is okay.  I will figure something out.  Luckily, I do have cute clothes already picked out for the kids!

I also asked Melissa what we should expect.  Since our photo session is going to be outside in beautiful Southern California, she kept our role in the photo shoot pretty simple:

"While we're chatting, we'll be walking around and when I see the perfect light - I tell you where to stand, what to do, and then I let you kind of interact. You don't need to know what to do...that's what I'm there for. As long as you feel relaxed and are entering the session with the mindset of having fun - then you'll be golden. :)"

So all I have to do is show up and have fun...now I am even more excited!  Stay tuned for how the photo shoot turns out!

Happy Friday!

A New Camera - Yikes!

We finally bit the bullet and bought a Digital SLR (Single Lens Reflex - had to Google it) camera, or as I like to call it, a fancy camera!  My point and shoot has always worked well, but these days, with gymnastics performances and action-packed soccer games, we can't quite zoom in far enough or just get blurry pictures of our kids running around.  Plus this camera takes video in HD, so it really is an all-in-one piece of awesomeness for us!

I will admit I am a little intimidated by all the buttons on my Nikon D3100 (from Costco, the store I really need to stop going to every two weeks.  It is shocking how they just keep getting in new stuff I like!).  I suppose I need to read the instruction manual, but I am dreading it.   I just want it to work magically for me.  Is that too much to ask?  Since we did buy the camera from Costco, it did come in a nice bundle with 2 instructional videos. I should probably watch those to get up to speed.

(BTW, they are offering a $150 discount on this camera bundle right now at Costco.com and in store, so if you have been thinking about buying this camera, do it now before they jack up the price for the holidays.)

I would love to hear your tips or suggestions on how to take fantastic photos with an SLR camera.  I suppose it doesn't need to be as scary as I am making it out to be. 

The Phillips Photoframe

Thanks to Something Old, Something New, a great blog featuring products and inspirations for weddings and big to-do's, I discovered a fantastic way to display your most important photos..without ever having to print them.

The Phillips Photoframe is a fantastic way to display photos from your wedding, your honeymoon, your kids, or your family and friends. (Perfect for those who have never had a chance to get a wedding album made, but who would love to see the pictures.)

With this frame, you can program it to change the photo every minute, every hour, every month, or every year. You don't even need a connection to a computer to load the photos. You can simply load the photos through a portable flash drive, memory stick, or multi media cards.

Check out the Phillips Photoframe at Amazon.com ($189.00).

Disposable Camcorders - Really?

This morning, a friend told me about an amazing new product that he used over the holidays. Pure Digital Technologies now makes a point and shoot camcorder. This camcorder records up to 60 minutes of video and you are able to playback and delete anything at any time. The camcorder comes equipped with a USB arm so that when you are ready to save your video to your computer, you simply connect the camcorder to your USB port.

From there, you can edit your video to send greetings to family or even create your own movie. (My friend showed me the movie he made and I was thoroughly impressed. He was able to add music, write subtitles, and provide credits.) Once you have downloaded the video to your computer, erase it from the camcorder and start again. And all for a little over 100 bucks! My friend found this item at Costco, but many other retailers carry it.

For your next trip to Disneyland or Sea World, instead of having to worry about your bulky $500+ camcorder, bring the point and shoot camcorder. You will get quality video and not be heart broken if something happens to it.

For those of you that are looking for something even more disposable, Pure Digital Technologies also makes a one-time use video camcorder, that takes up to 20 minutes of video and can be turned into a DVD at CVS and Rite Aid pharmacies. To find out more about these products, check out Pure Digital Technologies.