Remember the last time I talked to you, it looked like this outside my windows?
Well, we’ve gotten past that to something that looks like spring…
As soon as the daffodils bloomed, I was out there with my clippers to bring some spring into my kitchen. It’s been a long wait but they bring a smile to my face.
Much has been going on in my kitchen these past couple of months but very little of it has been cooking, especially the creative type. With my daughter’s wedding this August, I’ve taken over the center island for Wedding Central and started addressing invitations (I know it’s early, but at least I’m getting return addresses all set for the invites and the response cards).
Niki’s bridal shower is tomorrow and her lovely bridesmaids have got that completely under control. I’m afraid that the UPS and FedEx drivers and our mailman hate me right now since a lot of the gifts are arriving daily from those who can’t attend the shower. The first couple of packages started in my kitchen but I soon had to move everything to the dining room. It looks like this…
I’m really enjoyed all of the wedding prep and have tried to keep up with all of your blogs but I’ve been immersed in a wedding project involving a computer (the new Mac), the scanner, and Adobe Photoshop…sigh… I was so used to the Microsoft photo editing package. My project is to scan photos of my daughter and her fiancé from ages 1 to about 18, then merge each age to one photo that will go on each table at the reception corresponding to their age. You know – table 1 will be them at age 1, etc.
I started out thinking “I know how to photoshop pictures, of course I do”. Hmm, there’s a little/lot more to Photoshop than meets the eye so I started with online tutorials using my iPad for the tutorial and the Mac to follow along. Whoa…wait up Jack, slow things down a little – what did you just click on? Since that wasn’t going so well I spent $30 on a book called Teach Yourself Visually. That was a help but still left some gaps of the things I want to do with these photos. Back to Barnes & Noble for a $50 book Photoshop 12 for Digital Photographers. Now my island looks like this…
So you can see that I don’t have any room nor time for cooking but I’ll be getting back to all that at some point because I’ll be damned if Photoshop is going to beat me! You might be thinking, “Well why don’t you just hire someone to do this for you?” The answer is “because I’m stubborn as a mule so I’m not coming up for air until I figure all this out!”
In the meantime I am enjoying keeping up with your blogs although I am a little behind. At least I can thank Celia for keeping me up to date with what’s going on in your kitchens this month. Please swing by to say hi to Celia at Fig Jam and Lime Cordial and take a look at her inspiring IMK post.
Photographs and recipes 
I commend you for your efforts Diane, I am equally as stubborn but think I would have asked my Pete to show me how to do it first and then I would just take over from there.
I bet you will do a stellar job and I can’t wait to hear more about the wedding.
Have a beautiful day and wish I was closer to pop over and have a cup of tea to see if I could help you with anything.
🙂 Mandy xoxoxo
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Oh Mandy I wish I had a Pete around to help me with this. I’m sure once I get it, I’ll be fine but in the meantime I’ve been pulling my hair out. I think Photoshop just has so much to it that you could work on it for years and still find something new to learn.
I wish you could pop in to help too – I’ve got plenty of non-technology projects still to do. Glass painting vases and such is still on my “to-do” list. Now I’ll bet we could have a good time with that one.
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Hi Diane, I am glad spring has finally sprung for you I am a bit of a whizz on Photoshop so if you were a little closer I would offer to help. All the best for the wedding preparations.
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You have no idea what a difference spring has made to everyone’s mood in these parts. I think we all just gave up and hibernated for the past couple of months.
Oh boy, do I wish you were handy for the Photoshop. An expert is what I need. I was going to take an evening class on it (too late now since it’s almost over) but the cost – oh my!
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Ah, spring.. Finally. (I knew you’d see those daffodils sooner or later.) I don’t envy you as the mom of the bride. Good luck with that. As for the Mac and Photoshop … Well, I’ve been using PS since version 2 (late 80s – early 90s), and I converted to Mac around 2007. I’m no expert (though I’ve used both professionally), but I might be able to talk you through something, should you find that you’d like to talk to someone with a southern accent. — Glad to see you here!
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Those daffodils sure made me happy and if you can believe it, we’ve got green grass now and trees with buds on them. I hope I’m doing mother of the bride right – I only get one shot at this. I’ve got a few assigned projects but my daughter is so organized that she has all the major things taken care of.
Oh, could I use a Photoshop expert and I’m not at all surprised that you know your way around it. I may very well take you up on your very kind offer and we could probably work our way around the accents – as long as you don’t mind talking about how to fix the “pit-chas” . In the meantime I’m working my way through this new book which is very good but of course there’s always some little tidbit that they leave out for the clueless!
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I love daffodils and Spring is my favorite season! Unfortunately as we head into winter, Spring at the moment seems so far away!
Thank you for this month’s IMK views also!
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Joanne, we love daffodils because it’s usually our first sign that winter is finally behind us. After the winter we had, it was such a welcome sight to finally see something bloom.
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Keep at it darling, you’ll get there! Photo editing software can be a nightmare, but I’m sure you’ll get on top of it! So nice to peek into Wedding Central, such an exciting time for you! And I’m glad spring has sprung in your garden! xxx
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Hi Celia. I’m just doing the best I can but sometimes I get a little frustrated with this technology stuff and really enjoy going back to doing something that just requires paint and paper. I need to make some name tags that will be hung from keys for the table seating and someone suggested that I could do that via labels on the computer. Are you kidding me?!!! Give me my pen and get me away from the computer.
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Beautiful daffodils in your kitchen and best of luck with all the preparations for your daughter wedding 🙂
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Thank you Moya. It’s nice to have some flowers finally to perk things up in the kitchen. Wedding central seems under control although I’m feeling a bit disorganized right at the moment.
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Hello Diane! How exciting that the long awaited wedding shower commences tomorrow. I really prefer the daffodils instead of those icicles. My son has installed photoshop on my mac. God help me! I think this has a big learning curve. If you want something free and simple then try pic monkey.com, even I could figure it out. Good luck with the festivities.
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Aha!!! I’m not the only one then. I compare Photoshop to something like a Ferrari – a lot under the hood for such a small package. I’m bound and determined to learn this though. Once I get going on something like this it drives me nuts not understanding how to do something. Let
me know how you make out with yours.
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I totally get that you want to do it yourself. I can be like that too.
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They may have gotten the better of me though…as of this weekend, Apple uploaded this change to their photos application which has completely messed up my photos & what I’d been doing with editing in Photoshop. Apparently Apple sprung this on everyone without even notifying their stores so no one knows what to do about it right now except we do know that 3rd party software doesn’t work properly with it.
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How Exciting! A wedding 🙂 and isn’t spring just the best…! I’m sure with practice you will be a wizz at photo shop! Thanks for sharing! Liz xx
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I am so thrilled to finally be able to walk outside without a bulky jacket, hat, gloves, boots, etc… And yes, the wedding plans are fun and exciting.
Liz, I think you might be giving me too much credit with Photoshop…we shall see.
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Diane, you’ve got your hands full, but I just KNOW you’ll beat Photoshop! (Stubborness and tenacity are admirable traits — don’t let anyone tell you differently — you GO, girl.) Thanks for the daffodil bouquet and pre-wedding prep update… lovely things to celebrate in life! xo
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Well I’m working my way through Photoshop but alas, Apple just did a photo update that messed me up. I may just switch over to the desktop which has Windows on it & finish up that project. Thanks for the words of encouragement though – I was in desperate need of some.
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Brava for you! Every time I have to learn a new software program, or a new “upgraded” version, it seems like starting over from scratch…the ol’ brain aches after a while for me! You are indeed brave to tackle this task…happy planning!!
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I never had this much trouble with my old photo software so I have to consider that Photoshop has a lot more under the hood or it could be that my brain is aging faster than I thought!
I’m almost there with the project except I’ve got one problem that I can’t seem to figure out. The biggest problem I’m running into is that the books show you how to perform a particular function but then they leave you hanging with the question…”okay, now what do I actually do with it?” Don’t know if you’re familiar with Photoshop but these “marching ants” all over the pictures are driving me insane & sometimes I just can’t get rid of them.
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I’ve not ever used Photoshop…..sorry, no help from here…
Wonder what the ants are all about? I’ll ask the Hubby to see if he can help out. He’s used Pshop a bit…
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I found out what those marching ants are all about – they circle whatever you highlight with your magic wand to do something with – like cut & paste, etc. Problem with all these books as I mentioned is they get you to a certain stage of the project … like use the magic wand to highlight what you want to cut out. But then they don’t tell you how to cut & then put it on a new background. BUT !!! The good news is that I’ve finished the photos at least enough to be presentable. If I have the time & energy after the other projects to go back, there are certainly some photos that could be touched up a lot but it’s good enough to at least take the pressure off. Of course when/if I go back to Photoshop I’ll probably have forgotten everything I now know.
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So glad your spring finally arrived! It feels like summer already here in South Carolina with highs in the 80s. Good luck with all the photo work!
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It’s funny because we went from that miserable winter to a couple days of spring & then bam…we were up into the high 80’s/low 90’s here. My sister lives in S. Carolina and I’m always jealous when she starts to get the warm weather.
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I grew up I. Wisconsin were spring was one weekend. If you were out of town you missed it!
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Your post made me smile…I can certainly see that you are way too busy to be cooking, photographing and posting recipes. Take care my friend. 😀
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Well Karen – I imagine you’re probably a little busy yourself with the new house – or is that all set now? I’m making progress on a lot of wedding things & would love to start addressing the invitations but geez! people keep moving… should have bought a lot more extra envelopes.
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hmm, looking forward for it my friends….
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lovely daffodils. wow you are busy with all the wedding stuff. i admire your patience with the photos. hubby always helps me with things like that as he is much more computer savvy than me. good luck with it all.
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I’m happy to say that after a lot of anguish I managed to do the photos. Could some be fixed a little? You bet but at least if push comes to shove I’ve got them done and can move on to the next project.
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