BlissTV- Morning Routines from Blissful Media Group on Vimeo

This year the goodies started before we even left for the airport – Blissdom’s main sponsor, ConAgra, sent us a package with fun items for those we left at home – coupons for lots of free food (including Blue Bunny Ice Cream – YUM!), popcorn with a big bowl to serve it in, and one of Hallmark’s fun musical cards – mine played the chicken dance…over and over and over…

Once again, our  bags at BlissDom came from Land’s End – thes have to be the most durable, handy bags on the planet – I use mine for everything!! Inside was a treasure trove of treats – a beautiful necklace from Lisa Leonard and The Vintage Pearl, dogtags and labels from Mabel’s Labels, makeup from covergirl, candy, yummy new socks, chips, gift certificates, a Harry Connick CD…we were definitely spoiled.

I do have a few goodies for you too – courtesy of my friends at The Hip Hostess and Lee Jeans – Lee has provided me with several of their “Curvy” (read:plus size) jeans to try and I love them! They are the best fitting jeans I have tried in a long time. Debbie at The Hip Hostess is as gracious (and Hip!) as the name of her Aprons implies – I own at least 4 of her gorgeous aprons, and it’s easy to see why -

This one is  called “Melon Splash” – perfect for spring- and it’s even cuter in person!

So, my lucky chickies, Lee is offering you 20% off any order til February 28th at Lee.com by using the code BLISS20 – make sure you try the fit finder too to determine the right style and fit for your shape!

And The Hip Hostess is offering 15% off by using the promo code GETHIP at checkout – make sure you check out the Cherries print - it looks fabulous over jeans and a cute tee!!

Or that a man with a red rubber ball could make me rethink so much about parenting, life and even blogging?

…that I would get to hang out for a bit with one of the most amazing writers/photographers/moms I know?

Or that I could feel like a 15 year old giggling girl just by being within 2 (TWO!!!) feet of this guy:

It was a joy to see faces I knew from last year, and to see new faces too – there never seemed to be enough time to sit and talk, even though that’s all we did!

I also lucked out in the roommate department again this year – I had the hysterical, smart, and truly lovely Stiletto Mom as my roomie -

Can you stand the fabulousness??? In case you live under a rock, that is Miss Alli kissing my roomie, and is the fabulous behind the BlissDom Conference along with Barbara and Paula. They gave us an inspiring, wonderful weekend, and I am insanely grateful they chose to include me again this year.

NEXT UP – Shwag, the photography workshop, love for ConAgra and who the heck is George Duran?

Who knew leaving home was so much work? This time tomorrow I will be in Nashville, hanging out with 500 of my new (and old) BFFs. This is my second time at BlissDom, co-conducting a photography workshop with some AMAZING women.  Oh yeah, and THIS guy is gonna be hanging out with us…

Yowsa…I may need to leave room in my suitcase for him.

No rhyme or reason – just 5 links that cought my eye:

• There is a lost art to writing thank-you notes..Her Southern Charm shares how to make the mundane simple and fabulous.
• This has GOT to be better for you than the original – DIY Hot Pockets.
• I LOVE the Family Rules Canvas that I have been seeing around lately.  Tatertots and Jello made a great one – she also made an adorable one for a friend.
• I have this yummy recipe set aside to try this month – LOVE gingerbread!
• There have been tons of Getting-ready-for-blissdom posts lately (and even a couple NOT-going-to-blissdom ones), but this is one of my favorites

Yeah, me too..ALL the time. Unfortunately not all of us can afford photoshop, but there IS an affordable , fun alternative – Picnik! I heard about picnik right after they launched and it has been a lot of fun to see all the goodies they have added since the beginning. The best part is it’s FREE. There is a premuim membership that is $25 a year, and allows you to do some pretty fun stuff, but all the edits I will do today are available on the free version…

Last week we had a HUGE snowstorm (hey, it’s California – any snowstorm is huge to us!). This was one of my favorite images from the day and my wordless Wednesday picture:

Not a bad picture, decent composition, captures the scene…but it could be better.

I opened up the photo in picnik, and chose the exposure tab. I slid the top slider (exposure) to the right to about 25. Then I boosted the contrast a bit – about 10.

After that, I went to create, then effects, and chose “vignetting” (vin-yetting) – which is really just a schmancy word for “framing”. I didn’t edit it much beyond what the standard setting is, and here is the after:

Much better, don’t you think? It just LOOKS colder in the after picture!

Now it’s YOUR turn!! I have installed this nifty plug in on my blog that lets you upload your own pictures to the comments! Show me your favorite photos and tell us how you edited them…I will post a couple next week and who knows – maybe we’ll have a special drawing!

PS – me and a few of my fellow picture-loving friends will be doing a fabulous one on one wisdom workshop at this years Blissdom in Nashville – You are signed up for it, right?