girls gone wild...

life at the beach is good and it's gotten even better

~

my sweet, huge hearted friend kim arrived last night 

and 

today we wait patiently for lovable sherry to arrive

~

girl time

something everyone needs and something most men don't understand

{fortunately our husbands all do}

~

happy thursday everyone

i would break...

if my body ever found itself in this position

or 

this one

and 

lord only knows what would happen if i tried this. 

all i know is that it wouldn't be pretty.

all of the people in these photos are my new friends and they kept me thoroughly entertained 

on the green sunday afternoon.

there was jumping, dancing and yoga and i loved every minute of it.

if i were brave and unafraid of hurting myself, i'd be in their yoga class tonight with them.

instead i'll be in my cottage thinking of them. 

why

because it would be just my luck to pull or hurt something major in my neck

and 

since i'm miles away from my favorite doctor and my girlie friends are coming to visit me this week, 

well let's just say "better safe then sorry" and then you can roll your eyes and call me a weenie.

*

words are funny....

i used to pride myself on my writing and lately the words that used to come so easily to me, have gone into hiding. i think they might even be in the witness protection plan, as that's how hard they've been to find.

but

a beautiful baby needs no words

neither do blossoms

i have to admit that on this day, i used many words. their english was broken, but they were happy and trying so hard to take photos. i walked over and asked if i could help. i think they said they were engaged. they handed me their camera. i showed them how to stand and where to put their hands. 

they said 

thank you. thank you. thank you. 

two words that mean so much in any language.

now

seagull feathers everywhere in the sand don't need any words

neither do squirrels that make me laugh 

the good thing about words is that i know they'll come back. that they haven't left me completely.

that even if i don't work hard to win back their good graces, they'll show up.

ready or not.

words are funny. words are everything.

~

so if by chance you see any of my words running wild, lacking their leashes, stop them and check their tags. if you see "belongs to beth" please send them home.

i'm starting to miss them.

*

hey baby girl...

today 

you're twenty four

~

honestly, i'm not sure where the years have gone.

i tell new parents i meet today to enjoy every moment. sharing with them that time truly will fly by and they'll blink their eyes one morning and all of a sudden their baby will be living on their own.

in return, they look at me like i'm crazy.

~

you have grown up into such an amazing woman. 

your head is on so straight. your values are wonderful and you have impeccable manners. 

{not including the burping and farting which seems to be a disease in our family} 

you treat people with respect

and

your handshake is firm.

but most importantly,

you know how to make us laugh and how to love with all your heart.

~

happy birthday sweet girl

you are loved more then you'll ever know

*

i know you were probably waiting for something really cool here for your birthday

but, ummm, we just didn't coordinate the way we did two years ago.

so just in case you forgot how cool your parents and little brother are, here's 

a reminder for what we did pull off for your twenty second birthday.

i hope you smile....big

some of these girls were in my earlier jumping photos. this time they brought their friends.

it was one big jumping party.

even with a one, two, three

JUMP

there are missed counts and i had to take extra shots.

but when you're young, enthusiastic and limber

who cares.

i hope you do something this weekend

that makes your smile as big as theirs.

*

happy hour....

have you ever noticed that every hour is happy hour 

when you're at the beach. or is that just me.

*

ps...that's not our dog, but just so you know, dogs in seaside are treated like people.

which way to go (when picnik is gone)

i have been playing around with every editing program i can get my hands on and have been mostly disappointed with what i have found. many of the alternative editing programs need to be downloaded which irks me a bit. 

i don't want to download something just to try it and then end up finding out that i don't like it.

~

ipiccy is the closet thing to picnik. 

unfortunately everyone is heading over there to try it out and since it's in beta form {a testing mode} it keeps crashing or running at a snail's pace. but i do believe that once they get their head on straight, there will many of you who will love this site and it could very likely become the new picnik.

~

pixlr-express is pretty darn good and easy to navigate, but then there's another pixlr with an editing format that is amazingly photoshop like. if you don't like photoshop, you won't like this one at all, but go there just for fun, since on the bottom of that editing page you have the option of playing around with vintage looks and that seems to be pretty fun and easy.

~

be funky is fun and also easy to navigate and has a few picnik like options. this one is certainly worth playing around with and won't waste your time.

~

picture2life is alright. i haven't played much on there, but i think it looks somewhat promising. i think it's a site that holds onto your photos like picnik did, if you want to go back and find them later.

~

the only downloadable editing program i'm going to use at this point i think is snap seed. i have it on my iPhone and iPad and now they're made it for desktop use and from what i've read, it's getting two thumbs up.

~

photovisi-photoshop express-paint.net-lunapic-aviary-picasa-photoscape-gimp

are the other sites i know about that i either didn't like, are downloadable or i haven't tried.

~

i think this is now where we all need to come together and share what we find, what we know, what we like and what we don't like.

 the one thing i know for sure is that i still love LR3 and am thrilled that i took the time to learn it and that  no matter what, there will always be photoshop.

 but i also know that those can be expensive programs and possibly more then what you really need or want from an editing program. 

i also know that some people over all, just prefer an online editing program.

~

so come on everyone. let's play and share. 

and hopefully, by april 19th when picnik is taken from us, someone will have been smart enough to duplicate it, give it a new name and hand it over to us on a silver platter.

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