Friday, April 17, 2009

And They're Off!!!!

Good Morning HLA!!! Did you know that HLA and I, Heather, share something in common?

We were both born in Kentucky, home to one of the greatest 2 minutes in sports history, The Kentucky Derby. What probably only our Kentucky readership knows is that the greatest 2 minutes in sports becomes the greatest 2 weeks each year as they kick off all the fun and exciting events that surround the Derby.

Tomorrow marks the official start to Derby action with "Thunder over Louisville", an amazing air show which lasts all day long and is capped with a fantastic fireworks display that is set to 20 minutes of themed music, and then for two weeks straight the city will be one Derby event after another. There are chow wagons and parades, sports events and bed races, the list goes on and on. And, of course, we couldn't let Derby go by without embarking in our own Derby of sorts.

Tomorrow as Louisville begins their 2 weeks of action so too starts 2 weeks of action at HLA. Be prepared for the greatest 2 weeks in HLA history as we begin The Give-away Derby.

Yes, you read that right. Each day for 2 weeks (lasting until Kentucky Derby Day, May 2nd) not only will you get a creative concept a day but there will also be a prize up for grabs as we up the ante and create our own thunder on the internet. Each day will be different so you just need to know to check in early, read the post, and see what you need to do that day to win.

But of course, HLA couldn't just settle for 2 weeks of give-away action...Claudia began our give-away journey yesterday when she offered up a $25 Target giftcard which will be delivered to the person who came the closest to guessing the total in Matthew's "College Fund". I couldn't let her show me up so today we have a give-away as well which means we are actually embarking upon the greatest 2 weeks and 2 days in HLA history!

It is, of course, Free For All Friday and so today we revisit Tera's dilemma posed last week and creative ways to display digital photography so it doesn't sit on your computer unused. Obviously we've got a few fun ideas from our March Madness participants with "Shutterfly books" and "Animoto" but I'm sure that each of you has a few thoughtful suggestions of your own so be sure to post all your creative ideas for Tera today.

My idea?

I grew tired of people always asking me if I had a picture of Lily with me at the most inopportune times (at a meeting, a conference, on my way out to my car)...certainly I am no slack at taking pictures but I could never remember to carry a picture around with me, that is until my Mom gave me a digitial keychain. This keychain, like your typical digital photoalbum stores a number photos and recycles which is on display during a pre-determined interval...hook it on your keyring and voila! Never caught off guard without a picture again.

So today I'm giving away not one but TWO digital keychains. Each keychain in question holds over 50 photos and has a 1.5" display. Here's how you can win them:

Keychain #1 will be sent to the lucky reader who can offer (as determined by Tera) the most creative way for her to utilize her digital photos.

Keychain #2 will go to the reader who in a (high, low...AHA) battle guesses the number of photos in MY digital library which began the day Lily was born (6/1/2007). I'll commit to checking on at least every hour to tell you which guesses are high, which guesses are low until someone hits it right on.

Signing off until tomorrow (when another giveaway occurs as we celebrate the 18th of the month!)...

49 comments:

Melanie said...

I'm going to guess 1973.

Heather said...

Melanie...Low



(Also let's clarify...one guess per person until I come in and give high, low or aha then you are welcome to come back and guess again)

Peggy said...

Love that key chain idea. I've had a few patients show me their entire family on those things... ah, sometimes I really don't have time for that, I gotta answer phones. But, I'd love one, I'm looking for a new key chain!

Tera's dilema.... love our digital picture frame, I'm sure they have come down in price now.... we have it on any time guests are over, they enjoy standing there watching the show.

Start a new hobby and take a class on digi scrapbooking. Google Digi scrapbooking, there are a lot of places on line doing this creative endeavor. Right now, all my pictures go to labeled disks, I have fun creating the cover like an album, inside I do little captions of dates and places this particular disk covers.

My guess 2472

Off to work @@

Tera said...

I'm excited to see what people have to say today :)

I'll be back to check in later tonight...after work and getting my car an nice oil change.

Heather, my guess is 4380.

Kat said...

I will guess 2298.

My way of sharing digital photos is Picasa! It is a program that is installed on my computer that instantly organizes my photos as I download them, plus I can edit them directly through the program. I can also upload them to the online version where Picasa sends out an email to my friends letting them know that there are new pictures to see. Then they (or I) can order prints from where ever I want and Picasa will send the chosen pictures to the site for me. All I have to do is pay! I am not good at managing my digital pictures, so I love that Picasa will do most of the work for me!

Cheryl Houston said...

So we have digital scrapbooking, or regular scrapbooking, digital keychains and digital frames. Photobooks~ and you can get those at all the online photo stores like Shutterfly, Kodak Gallery and Snapfish. And you should always back them up on some form of CD, Flashcard or such... right Heather?

I said I was going to contact my friend with one to one and I totally forgot. I will shoot off an email just after this comment posts.

Their are sites like Photobucket, Flickr and I think Kat shared Picasa. You can post your favorites on your own blog to share with family and friends.

I'll guess 8,000 photos.

eknoxuk said...

Yikes, I'll guess 3000, but I think that's more pictures than I've got for all 3 of my kids!
Grace just saw the picture of the Derby horse and said she wants our next house to be a farm so we can have horses. I guess KY has stuck with her!
I like that our computer does a slideshow of pictures as a screensaver. My 1 1/2 yr old will sit and watch it for a long time and its bigger than the frames!

cassie p said...

YAY Thunder! Since moving to southern IN (just 10 minutes north of Louisville) seven years ago, it has been a learning experience as far as Derby festivities go. Thunder is fun, and so is the rest of it! This year I will actually be able to go to the wine-fest with my mom!

My suggestion would have been the shutterfly books because I offered that up before! But Heather already covered that for me. I always just post my pictures to facebook to share with friends and family.

I am going to guess 11000! Heather is a picture taking machine.

Heather said...

I'll be checking in every hour on the hour until we have an AHA!

Peggy 2472: Low
Tera 4380: Low
Kat 2298: Low
Cheryl 8000: High
Erica 3000: Low

Heather said...

Cassie 11000: High

Chaotic Kristi said...

lesse...baby... 6/1/7...a pic a day, more on special occassions like birth. mommy holding baby, holidays.... um, 5013?

I have a flick account for art & pets... handy, when I have the time... sigh...

maureen said...

My guess is 5600 pictures.

My sister-in-law ordered coasters from shutterfly and I must say they are just adorable. I told her I wanted a set for Mothers Day.

she also ordered DVD's of a picture montage of her kids. It is not expensive at all. Shutterfly has such awesome ideas.

My other sister-in-law found wallpaper border that looks like photo frames and you insert all pictures of your family into. It is a hit when people come over!

Have a good day HLA

I actually posted 2 days in a row!!! Im trying to be a good girl

Melanie said...

Guess #2: 6125

I LOVE Derby season in Kentucky, especially Louisville. This is going to be so much fun and will give me a nice distraction from waiting for the baby!

Tera, one of my friends printed out a bunch of her favorite pictures in black & white, then bought a bunch of cheap frames at discount stores/yard sales, etc. She spray-painted the frames all the same color then covered an entire wall with the framed pictures. It was awesome and really didn't cost her very much.

cassie p said...

6311?

Anonymous said...

7111
aka Peggy @@

Mandy said...

I'm guessing 7199..

heather said...

Chaotic 5013: Low
Maureen 5600: Low
Melanie 6125: Low
Cassie 7311: High
Peggy 7111: High

See you at 11!

Heather said...

Mandy...I'll squeeze you in...

Mandy 7199: High

b.k.root said...

My guess is 6,532 photos

b.k.root said...

Hmmm... how to use your digital photos... Well, I need help with this myself.

I think it's important to make a habit of still getting photos printed. I think we hesitate to get photos printed since they're all digital nowadays, but in my mind, the digital factor just means I don't have to get every single picture developed.

Cheryl Houston said...

Brian~ Will you email me at cherylopry@gmail.com? I have a question for you. Thanks.

Heather said...

11 o' clock and only one guess in the last hour?

Brian 6532: Low

Kat said...

6892?

Cheryl Houston said...

Okay the site I was talking about is called:

www.holdmymemories.com and if you do nothing else today you MUST log on to the site an watch the Homecoming video. Tissue alert!!!

I had our family portrait done with Studio One to One and you can see those in this post:

http://opry.blogspot.com/2007/05/much-overdue-update.html

Anonymous said...

7043
aka Peggy @@

cassie p said...

i guessed 6311 last time (not 7311)...

Unknown said...

Sorry I'm late posting from my phone
Cassie 6311 low
Kat 6892 high
Peggy 7043 high

Heather said...

Everyone must be at lunch...no guesses in the 12 o' clock hour...off to a meeting...back in an hour....we're narrowing in on the AHA!

Also be sure to keep the creative ideas flowing for Tera!

Katie said...

Just stopping in very quickly. Its a preview day at JMU today so I have been giving tours of my building all day! My guess is 6623.

Melanie said...

6720???

Anonymous said...

6747?

Heather said...

Alright...just 2 o'clock and you guys are narrowing it down.

But...we haven't had any fun photo ideas in a while...keep the comments rolling!

Katie 6623: Low
Melanie 6720: Low
Anon (you can't post anonymously because we can't get your winnings to you if we don't know who you are =): 6747: High

Tera said...

Tera here...checking in from the car dealer...geting an oil change.

My guess: 6734

I love all of the ideas...I've got two favs so far!

Heather, where can you get the keychains?

b.k.root said...

Can we guess again?

6,731

Heather said...

Yes Brian you can guess once every hour until a winner is named.

Tera, you can find digital keychains at most department stores...here's a link to one at Target:

http://www.target.com/Digital-D%C3%A9cor-1-5-Photo-Keychain/dp/B001GD0HTY/qid=1239998151/ref=br_1_41/184-1647379-7079257?ie=UTF8&node=10824691&frombrowse=1&pricerange=&index=tgt-mf-mv&field-browse=10824691&rank=pmrank&rh=&page=1

Heather said...

Tera 6734: Low
Brian 6731: Low

Melanie said...

6740

I'm normally not that competitive, but I love this game! :-)

Kat said...

6732?

Cheryl Houston said...

Does anyone know what the high and low number is? It's been a busy day here and I haven't been able to keep up.

SO NOT LIKE ME!!

Claudia @ Highlowaha said...

Wow! Am I missing out on the highlowaha fun or what?!?!?!

I am down and out with some horrible cold/allergy attack. I dropped the boys at school and have spent the rest of the day underneath my covers.

I'm going to jump right in and hope it's not too late. My guess:

6972

Anonymous said...

From what I can tell... 6747 was to high and 6734 was too low....
6745

aka Peggy @@

Anonymous said...

6744

Why not do a photo blog?

Heather said...

Alright it was a busy hour of guesses...you guys are getting close...I think we'll have a winner in the next hour:

Kat 6732: Low
Melanie 6740: High
Peggy 6745: High
Claudia 6972: High (FEEL BETTER SOON!)
Anonymous 6744: High

Katie said...

6738

Kat said...

6737?

Heather said...

Katie 6738: High
Kat 6737--AHA!!!! You got it!

At 5 pm just as I pack up my stuff to head home we have a winner!!!

I do, in fact have 6737 digital images in iPhoto.

But don't forget the fun isn't over yet...you can still win the 2nd digitial keychain by posting your fun and creative ideas for Tera...the deadline for that will expire tonight at 7pm CST...good luck to All and Congratulations KAT!!!!!

Kat said...

Are you SERIOUS?!?! I am so excited! This has made my day. I can't wait to show off my digital photos on my new key chain!

Heather said...

Kat...I am SERIOUS!!!

A battle that began at 8:29 for you and ended at 5...I'd say you deserve the win!

Stacie said...

I think I missed the deadline, but I love digital photos turned into calendars or into JIGSAW PUZZLES! Seems like a really fun idea, especially for kids. All available at Shutterfly.com (and probably lots of other sites).