Lindsay Ross Blog

Always watching

He was laying on the couch watching the iPad like this. He looked over at me and said “This is how dad sits.” (with his legs crossed like that, not so much with his hands spread out on his face)

Most of the time it feels like my kids don’t listen to a word we say. But they’re ALWAYS watching. And they’ll more often do what we DO. They watch. And then they imitate. Definitely makes me more aware of my actions even more than what I say. What do they see me DO? And is that what I want them to do?

Questions I ask myself all the time.

What makes a person memorable

I’m kind of obsessed with the idea of “story”. And living a good life story. Creating a life story. I was first introduced to the idea of life as a story by Donald Miller in his book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years

Since then I have been following Miller’s blog and get e-mails from him every once in a while. That kinda makes it sound like we’re friends. 🙂 I subscribe to his blog. But still.

The last e-mail I received really stood out to me and I didn’t want to forget it. And it’s something I’d like my children to read one day, so I’m including parts of it in this post. If there’s ONE thing I want to teach my children, it’s to be kind. Always. And to everyone.

“Bill Murray is making a name for himself…Other than the obvious that he’s a great actor, here’s his secret: He’s MEMORABLY KIND.
By memorably kind, I mean he does more than open doors or lend you his umbrella. He’s quite creative about his kindness, actually.”

He goes on to describe a story about Bill Murray on an elevator in a hotel when a guy got on and recognized him. The man told Murray he was a fan. Bill nodded and smiled. The fan walked “sheepishly out of the elevator”. When they got to the entrance, the fan went one way, Murray went the other way.

“Then, suddenly, Bill Murray turned, ran toward the man and tackled him into a shrub. He sat up, pointed his finger at the man and said Your friends will never believe this happened!

There are more stories…Once when asked for an autograph, Murray refused. But he did spend the better part of the rest of the day with the young fan shooting a scene on the guys I-phone that he could his friends and post on Facebook.

And there’s more. He tweeted he was in a certain city and if anybody was throwing a party he wanted to come. He then made appearances at several parties that night.

Why is Murray so cherished as an actor and a man? In my opinion, it’s because he’s creatively kind.”

This is the part of the e-mail that really stood out to me:

“What being memorably kind is about is showing the world there’s goodness in it, there’s kindness and grace. I’ve a friend who says we are supposed to go around putting little feathers of kindness on the internal scale people use to measure good vs evil.“

That good vs evil scale could use as much kindness as we can give it. Collectively, we tip the scale towards the good side instead of the evil.

Don’t just be kind, be memorably kind. I love that.

Where should I print my pictures?

I get asked this question alot.

My answer: It depends on what you’re using the pictures for.

I know most professional photographers will say to only get your photos printed at a professional lab. The only time I disagree with this, is based on your answer to the question, “What are you using the pictures for?”

If I am printing pictures 5×7 or smaller and they are intended for an album, like Project Life, I print my photos at Costco.

I did a test print of several different photos at four different printing labs: Costco, Walmart, Walgreens, and a professional lab. The photos at Walgreens turned out a little green because I forgot to uncheck the “auto-correct” button on their site (I always recommend turning OFF the auto-correct). The quality of the 4 different places was comparable but the coloring and “brightness” of each photo varied a bit. The key is to do a test print first and make sure you like the “look” of the printers there. It’s hard to see a comparison accurately over a computer screen since all monitors show colors differently. But this gives you an idea of how the photos can look a little different from place to place. Some people who are looking to decorate their homes might look into getting printed wall art to had that extra bit of art to their walls. If you are interested in finding out more about about getting your photo printed on acrylic to add your wall art, there are some companies out there that could help you to achieve this method.

Keep in mind when printing anywhere, what you see on your screen isn’t necessarily what you get from the printer (unless your monitor is calibrated to that specific printer). I have learned that Costco prints tend to be a little “dark”. So before I send them to Costco I lighten them up a little (bump up the exposure) through some editing software. All of the photos in this wall collage I did are from Costco.

OR I print my 4×6 photos at York Photo online. If you google “free 4×6 prints” a code for 100 free prints to york photo should pop up. You can use that the first time you order prints from them. They also have sales on their prints all the time so I have a folder on my desktop with pictures I want to print and I wait until there is a sale and then send a batch of those pictures in to be printed.

If I am printing bigger than 5×7 or printing anything large that will be hung on my walls, I use Pixels Foto and Frame (for the Utah readers, it’s on 90th S. and State Street in Sandy) or Persnickety Prints (in Orem, Utah)–Persnickety also ships for a flat rate and their customer service is unbeatable. Online I use Persnickety Prints or Mpix. These are all professional printing labs with affordable prices.

I use Persnickety for regular prints (they’ll do custom sizes which I love to do) and I also use them for matboard prints like this one:

Mpix has a bunch of novelty photo items like calendars and photo books and cards along with regular prints. I also use them for printing stickers and business cards.

Any photos I print I use a matte or lustre finish instead of glossy. Makes them look better in my opinion.

If you have never printed somewhere before and don’t know what the prints will end up looking like, just send a few photos to be printed. Then if you like how they look, you can send a bigger batch for prints.

I have been using Persnickety Prints the most lately. They do printing for Instagram pics (square photos) as well as Project Life album sizes (3×4’s). I also love their polaroid type prints and various sizes of square prints. They specialize in 12×12 prints (that work great with the Project Life app) and they make 5×5 mini photo books that work perfect with Instagram prints or as a custom book.

For some ideas on an incredibly easy way to document your family story, check out the Project Life App. It’s “scrapbook” cheating in the palm of your hand.

And for ideas on how to display photos in your home, you can check out several ideas of Wall Displays using photos here. And for even more, you can follow my Pinterest board “Photo display ideas”.

Twinkle Lights. Or why I have Christmas lights up in my house all year.

“When we reach out and share ourselves–our fears, hopes, struggles, and joy–we create small sparks of connection. Our shared vulnerability creates light in normally dark places. My metaphor for this is twinkle lights (I keep them in my house year-round as a reminder).
There’s something magical about the idea of twinkle lights shining in dark and difficult places. The lights are small, and a single light is not very special, but an entire strand of sparkling lights is sheer beauty. It’s the connectivity that makes them beautiful. When it comes to vulnerability, connectivity means sharing our stories with people who have earned the right to hear them…”
Brene Brown, Daring Greatly

(image from Internet)

I loved Brene Brown’s story about twinkle lights.

I know sometimes I don’t share my stories, or my “light” for various reasons. Sometimes out of embarrassment, or fear, or sometimes because I don’t even recognize the stories as important. It’s not something I’m proud of, it’s just truth.

But I have found when I share my light and my stories, when I stay true to me, and embrace what I have to give the world, I feel more whole. Brene calls it “wholehearted”. I live and love with my WHOLE heart. And when I allow my light to shine, I in turn encourage others to do the same. And though my light alone isn’t strong enough to light the way, when we all combine our lights together, we change the world.

Sibling love

I am constantly grateful these two boys have each other. To play with. To love. To wrestle. To terrorize. To just BE together. What a life-long blessing to have a sibling to grow up with and be an integral part of your life story. Though we didn’t plan to have them so close together, I am thankful it worked out the way it did. Caleb adores his older brother and I hope it always stays that way. And Carter refuses to sit by Caleb at meal time because he’s “too messy”.

They keep me oh-so-busy. And I’m already dreading the day they both go to school and I’ll be buddy-less during the day. Boo. Double Boo.