we have an astonishing number of pictures like this.
batch processing in photoshop elements
Getting pictures ready for the blog takes a tremendous amount of time. They need to be resized for the web (so my site loads in less than 9 hours), watermarked (remember, stealing isn’t nice.), edited, cropped, buffed and polished… then they’re ready.
I’m tired just thinking about it.
Recently I attended a seminar during CE Week in New York City run by Techlicious founder Suzanne, and she shared how to batch process pictures in Photoshop Elements. *cue angels singing* This has saved me a tremendous amount of time when preparing pictures for blogging. And it is so simple – I wanted to share it with you!
First, create a new folder and put the pictures you want to edit in it. This is especially helpful if you’re like me and you never empty your memory cards, so there is tons of random stuff on there. Now you’re ready to go work in Photoshop Elements.
{sidebar: I have Photoshop Elements 7.0, so your version may look ever-so-slightly different.]
Step One:
Under FILE, click on Process Multiple Files. Your screen will then look something like this. Don’t panic. Stay with me.
Step Two: Choose Your Pictures
Select the file your pictures are in. Then create a new file for the edited pictures to go in. This will also protect your original files, just in case.
Step Three: Rename {optional}
Sometimes I will choose to rename my files, to help myself stay organized and then they are saved online in a more SEO relevant way. In this case, I’m processing pictures I took on a trip to visit a dairy farm with Horizon Milk, so I used the super creative name “HorizonFarmTrip.” Now all my pictures are labeled horizonfarmtrip1.jpeg, horizonfarmtrip2.jpeg and so on.
Step Four: Resize
Designate a size and resolution for your pictures.
Step Five: Watermark
Write the text you wish to watermark your pictures with, your font, size and your location on the pictures.
Click OK and you’re set! Your screen will look like this as it takes all those huge pictures and optimizes them for the web and watermarks them for you:
Then TA-DAA! Its done! Its so incredibly easy – and saves me tons of time in my blogging.
a day on the farm with horizon
Last Thursday, we went to visit a family farm as a guest of Horizon. I was thrilled: we are very committed to organic dairy in our family and we’ve been eating more whole foods and buying from farmers markets and such , so I was so excited to give the kids a chance to see how food (or milk, in this case) gets from the farm to our table.
We drove about an hour north of where we live outside Philly to the farm of Barry and Barb Byler in New Tripoli, PA. There we were joined by Jo-Lynne, Trina, Stephanie and Brandi and we all learned about what makes his farm organic, how organic dairy farms differ from conventional farms, how he cares for his 100+ cows using natural, holistic methods to maintain health and how he balances farm and family.
My girls were thrilled to see the animals. Barry, who studied genetics at university, has a variety of breeds of cows – they were so interesting. Not the typical black and white cows you often see. With the rolling green hills, the barns, the flowers… all under a blue sky… it was simply gorgeous.
The kids listening to Mr. Byler explain how he rotates the cows throughout his various pastures.
Colin amused himself by drinking his weight in Horizon Milk Boxes.
I liked hearing about how Barry balanced his farm and his family. This was truly a family farm: his son was driving tractors and his daughter was helping out as well. He was talking about how when his kids were little he started getting up at 3:30am so that he would be done with the evening milking in time to spend time with his kids before bed. It was interesting about the day-to-day working of a family farm.
My kids loved the calves. There was a tiny premature calf who was so tiny. The kids thought it was so cool that he ate with a bottle.
Ellie was thrilled because Mr. Byler told them that the calf was still scared of people, but he let Ellie pet him. It made her day.
All the kids loved the trip – seeing all those animals up close is so exciting for our city kids!
After seeing this farm up close, I am more committed than ever to the importance of giving my family organic dairy. I truly believe it is one of the best things you can do for the health of your kids (read why here). I was impressed by Horizon’s commitment to converting acreage to organic (whether owned by Horizon or not), how they lowered the sugar in their chocolate milk so it can be in school lunch programs, their emphesis on pasture grazing cows and high standards of animal care, and their continued commitment to supporting family farms. This is a company that is a prime example of how it is possible to help the environment, produce healthier food, support farmers… and be profitable at the same time. Did you know they even have a HOPE program to help farmers transition to organic? We need more companies like Horizon!
Thank you so much, Horizon and the Byler family, for hosting us. We had a wonderful time!
disclosure: i was provided with a gift card to cover gas and tolls, as well as lunch on the farm for me and my family. as always, all opinions are my own.
frozen mango daiquiri
This is amazing. Sweet and fruity and so refreshing!!
You’re welcome.
Frozen Mango Daiquiri
4 oz light rum
1 lime, peeled and halved
2 tbsp sugar
1 cup frozen mango chunks
1 cup frozen pineapple chunks
2 cups ice cubes
Blend. Enjoy. Repeat.
Linked up with
fashion friday
Somehow its Friday again. Where does the time go? This past week has been a blur of catching up on work, swimming lessons, playdates, laundry, unpacking, 4th of Julying and learning how to take care of our new hermit crabs. Which is not as simple as one might think. Luckily, I’m pretty sure hermit crabs have been around since before the dinosaurs, so they’re probably pretty hardy creatures.
Anyway, all this to say I was too busy to come up with a theme, so we will just find some random pretty things to oooh and ahh over.
1. The Quantum Blouse from Anthropologie is gorgeous. It would look amazing with white jeans in summer, then transition really well to fall. I can’t decide if I like it in orange or neutral more. (Actually, I love the orange more, but I cannot wear orange. So I have to go with neutral.)
2. I saw this Athena Blouse at the beginning on the summer and thought it was adorable. And now its on sale!
3. You know I love Boden coats – their fabulous trench is on clearance with tons of sizes left!
4. I really like this Ombre Tank from Loft. (Also on sale! I’m all about sales today!)
5. I haven’t ventured into the color-blocking trend, but this dress from Old Navy is tempting me.
6. Yummy. How cute would this be with skinny jeans?
Happy browsing!!
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keeping close across the miles
Our family is very close – but far. Almost all of our family lives in other states and several live in different countries. The Internet has totally revolutionized our relationships. My husband grew up living overseas, far away from family. He grew up writing letters to his grandmothers. Phone calls were very rare, as they cost several dollars per minute. Even now, the majority of our communication with his parents, who still live overseas, is via email.
Just yesterday, I was chatting with my cousin who is deployed – how amazing is that? I remember my husband’s grandmother talking about how it took weeks to get letters to her husband during the war… Can you even imagine? Now it seems like the world is just a bit smaller, we’re all just a bit closer, even when we’re far apart. We especially appreciated email when my brother-in-law was deployed, as we were able to stay in touch easily. We didn’t hear from him too often (since he obviously had to write to his wife and mom first ;-), but through email, we were able to share our lives here and see a glimpse of what he was going through.
I will never, ever forget when we opened up our emails and found this picture:
How hilarious is that? I believe his email said something like, “You just can’t make this stuff up.”
It continually amazes me that – through email – I can see the ultrasound of my pregnant cousin in England, chat with friends in Malaysia, send pictures of the grandkids to my in-laws in India, and discuss important decisions like shoes with my sisters… all virtually instantly on my computer. Its truly miraculous. And it makes our living so far from family just a little easier to bear.
Thank you to Yahoo! Mail for sponsoring this post about staying connected. I was selected for this sponsorship by the Clever Girls Collective, which endorses Blog With Integrity, as I do.
cars 2 + mattel = happy colin
You all know how much my Colin loves Cars. After months and months and months of him asking “Can we see Cars 2 today?” (sidebar: Why do they release movie trailers so early?), we finally saw Cars 2 this weekend. It was fabulous. Colin was THRILLED, laughing and cheering and making stage whispered comments to me throughout the whole thing.
Of course, one of the most exciting things about Cars 2 is… more cars! Colin has about ten Lightening McQueen cars. See?
the lightening tower
And about eleven zillion other character cars. But when he started seeing new Cars characters in the store, he noticed. And wanted them all!
Colin was thrilled to get a few Cars toys in the mail, courtesy of Mattel! They are already well loved! The Mattel Die-Cast Cars are the best – we had a few plastic ones and they broke so easily. And they never win races on the racetracks we have! Even Colin knows the difference and prefers these. He says these cars are “SUPER COOL!” and “FUNNY!” He especially loves the Light & Sounds Cars – and I love that they say more than one thing. It makes them way less irritating than other talking toys. Here we are sharing! (Sorry his face is cut off. I’m a super camera person like that.)
Mattel has TONS of Cars 2 toys that look super fun. I highly doubt we’ll stop with just these four. Colin is dying to get his hands on the Grand Prix Race Launcher and the Tokyo Spinout Track Set! Friends, Family… your Christmas and birthday shopping for Colin is complete. You’re welcome.
disclosure: we received some cars from mattel to facilitate this review. all opinions are mine. or colin’s.
wordless wednesday: two wheeler!!!
beach week
A week at the beach is amazingly therapeutic.
fashion friday: beach chic
I’m laying on the beach today. I love the beach. My kids love the beach. My whole extended family loves the beach.
We’re beach folk, we are.
And, in honor of my vacation, we’re talking beach chic! I thought I’d share my favorite beach outfits. Not that I’m going to post pictures of myself in a bathing suit on the Interweb. {Pauses. Reconsiders. Remembers she has three kids and is now solidly in her thirties. Proceeds to roll on the floor laughing hysterically.}
Anyway, I have two standard beach outfits. Outfit one begins with my favorite black bathing suit…
Sidebar: I wrote a post last year about my magic bathing suit – basically, its 5 black separates from Gap that I bought on sale and clearance. Its fantastic. I can interchange them depending on where I’m going and how skinny I feel. I highly recommend this method of swimsuiting!
Anyway, its the black suit topped with this adorable tunic I bought from Athleta during a major clearance sale for like $10.
My other one is this really cute polka dot tankini…
Sidebar: Another tip. Repeat after me. “Mix up your necklines.” Notice that one of my tops is a halter top and the other is strapless. Well, it came with a removable little strap, but I lost it in true Melissa style. But mixing up your suits will lead to less severe tan lines. If you desperately love that one halter top swimsuit you invested in, then wear it 75% of the time. And buy a cheap-o one to wear occasionally. Trust me.
Anyway, I love this cute little suit I picked up at Target last year (mine is black, though). I usually pair this with my Little Travel Dress by Athleta (also bought during that super sale). The Athleta dresses are amazing – you can roll them up and stuff them in your beach bag all day and when you put it on, its wrinkle free. Perfect if you decide to go grab dinner after the beach! They are expensive, but watch the sales for a few months and you can pick one up on the cheap! They’re worth it! I promise!
Oh, okay. Here’s one bathing suit picture. Because I love you all so very much.
*smooch*
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