Elfing Around the House

Last year was our first year to play along with the frenzy known as Elf on the Shelf. My then four-year-old daughter really got into it. She was better behaved in the month of December than she was all the other 11 months combined. (Yes, I know how that sounds. Don't you judge.) You better believe we were going to continue with this little Elf tradition.  I'd like you to meet Mr. Fred Jack Tubbington...

Fred Jack made his arrival on Sunday and on Monday already had a special little project for my girls. My teen daughter loves the spirit of all things Christmas and is happy to play along to make things fun for her little sister. 

Fred Jack's letter to the girls with directions. 

Peppermint Hershey Kisses ready to plant in the sugar 

Camryn was completely enthralled by all of it. She couldn't stop looking at him for the longest time. 

She took the directions very seriously, as all good little girls should. 

Here she is "watering" her peppermint Hershey Kisses with kisses.

After all the planting and watering and kissing was finished the girls went to bed. When the awoke the next morning this is what they found... 

CANDYCANES

Does your family have an Elf on the Shelf? I'm really bummed they didn't have the girl elf last year because now I'm wanting her! Have you come up with some creative ways for your elf to interact with your kids? We'd love to know. If you've done a blog post about it, leave a link to your post in the comments and we'll be by to check it out. Also, one of our housewives, Mrs. Hart,  hosts an Elf on the Shelf link-up you can participate in. 

I wish I could take full credit for this fun candycane project, but I found it where else but, Pinterest! 

You can also find ideas on Instagram under the hashtags #elfontheshelf #elfingaroundthehouse . 

~Mrs. Albright 

Looking for creative ways to top Day 1, like a....

You Might Call It a RHOK Out...

So, the housewives decided to try another weekend RHOK Out again last weekend. We'd had many requests for a weekend get-together and we were feeling pretty good with the RSVP's. But, it turned out to just be the housewives, hubbies and a few close friends who actually showed up. Yeah, not thinking the weekends are the time for RHOK Outs!

It didn't really matter to us though, as we had a terrific time! We met at Baker's Street Pub & Grill to hear Uninvited Guest perform. They are a great dance band playing fun music from the 80's! Baker's Street is personally not my favorite place to be on a weekend night. It's too crowded and such a "meat market", if you know what I mean. However, you do get to see things you might not typically see on a Monday night!

We were joined by two former RHOK Housewives - Mrs. Edwards and Mrs. Coco. It was great seeing them again. It had been too long. Thank you, girls, for coming!  My dear friend Kris also made it out to hang with us. We were missing Mrs. Hart though. She was sick. Boo! I, along with Mrs. Priss and Mrs. Montgomery brought along our hubbies. It made for a fun couple's night out. We need to do that more often. I love that I actually love these ladies AND their husbands.

Me, Mrs. Priss, Mrs. Montgomery, JennyKate (former Mrs. Edwards), Christy (former Mrs. Coco) and Kris.

The housewives minus Mrs. Hart

And, now, for a few candid photos of our evening....

Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery

Mr. and Mrs. Albright

Look who we ran in to? It's our RHOK friend, Patrick. He was there with his beautiful girlfriend. It was nice to meet her.

Yes, Mrs. Priss is wearing lots of glow-in-the-dark hoops on her ears! 

We are sorry you weren't able to come hang out with us. You missed a good time. We will be planning future RHOK Outs. What night of the week do you think is best for RHOK Outs? Where would you like to see us host future events? We'd love your feedback.

P.S.
I just wanted to remind everyone who uses the iPhone app Instagram of our upcoming Instameet next Sunday, March 11 at McNellie's Pub, downtown Tulsa at 12:00pm. I know the 12:00 time is not convenient, but it's a worldwide meetup and Instagram set the time. We would love to meet you and learn about your favorite editing applications and tips. We will then go on an Instawalk in the downtown area.

Please follow our local group on Facebook - Instagram918


Please be sure to invite your friends that use Instagram as well and share the Facebook page with them.

Mrs. Albright
Rockin' the RHOK Out, like.....

Insta-What?!

I, along with a couple of the other housewives, have posted about the iPhone app Instagram in previous posts. Instagram is a fast, easy way to share your life in pictures. But, it really is even more than that. It is giving average people the ability to be artistic with the pictures they take on their iPhone. Yes, as of right now, Instagram is only available on the iPhone. But, don't fret none. Android will soon have an Instagram app. I can't wait for more of my friends to join this fun community.

I love connecting with others who have similar things in common, those that are local and those whom I can learn from. Let me tell you, there are some incredible iPhoneographers out there. It amazes me what the camera on the mobile phone can capture. The following are just a few of my personal Instagram pictures.

You'll notice that every picture I posted was edited in some way or fashion. As addicted as I am to Instagram, I am just addicted to editing apps. I have 6 folders on my phone FULL of editing apps. I don't just use one per picture either. There are times when I will use 3-5 different apps to edit one picture. 

I'm really excited to share some news with you! Every year for the past four years, Instagram has done a worldwide Instawalk. What is that, you ask? It's when someone organizes a time and place for people to meet up and walk around and take pictures and then tag them with the same tag so that everyone can see what you've captured. Well, as far as I can tell, the 918 area hasn't participated in the previous Instawalks. We are about to change that this year. Woot! 

The worldwide Instameet/Instawalk will be held on March 11, 2012 at noon. Literally people from all over the world will be gathering in their communities to share ideas, tips, editing apps, etc., and then taking a walk and capturing pictures. 

We hope you will join us this year on March 11 at 12:00pm at McNellie's Pub in downtown Tulsa. We will gather there first for introductions and a time to talk "shop." 

In the meantime, we'd love for you to join us on Facebook - Instagram918. Please invite anyone you know in the 918 area code who uses Instagram to join us on Facebook and to join us on March 11.  When you join the group on Facebook be sure and go to the documents and enter your IG name so that we can follow your gallery. And, if you'd like, feel free to share some of your favorite pictures on our page. 

If you'd like to follow the Housewives on Instagram, you can find us as:

• dawnsdiversions 
• nightowl918
• sharhonda
• jonnibaloney
• ajsouthern

I thought I'd take the time and share some of my favorite editing apps with you. Some of them are free and some actually cost anywhere from .99 cents to $5.00. What's neat is that sometimes these apps will run a one day to one week special and you can get them for free. Sadly, I have no patience and can't wait for when they are free. Thank goodness I have a supportive husband who actually enjoys what I capture with my phone and what I can do with the pictures. Whew! 

Here is a list of apps I use, in no particular order:

• Camera+
• Filterstorm
• iDarkroom
• CameraBag
• qbro
• PhotoStudio
• Fotolr PS
• Filter Mania
• ScratchCam
• Dynamic Light
• Be FunkyPro
• Photo Wizard
• Diptic
• Squaready
• Photo Toaster 
• MagicHour
• Blender
• Pixlromatic
• ScribeIt
• iCameraHDR
• Phoster
• Snapseed
• Phonto
• PhotoForge2

If you haven't stepped out and used some editing apps on your iPhone pictures, now is the time to do so... even if you don't use Instagram. I'd recommend any of the apps that I've listed. 

If you use other editing apps I'd love for you to share what they are in the comments. Also, if you aren't in the 918 area code and use Instagram and would like to share some of your favorite photos with us, please feel free to post them to The RHOK on Facebook. 

If you think you'd like to join us on the worldwide Instawalk please go HERE to RSVP for the event. 

~Mrs. Albright
Capturing life one picture at a time and posting it on Instagram, like.....

Instagram: My New Addiction

I admit it right now, publicly, I tend to struggle with addictions.... app addictions to be exact. I'm pretty sure I have a love affair going on with my iPhone. Don't worry, my husband is well aware. Even if he doesn't admit it, he certainly enjoys his as well. He has a love/hate relationship with Scrabble. At least once a week, he threatens to delete the app.

My favorite apps, until very recently, were Words with Friends, Scrabble and Bejeweled Blitz. I don't play Bejeweled Blitz as much anymore, but I'm still heavily involved with Words with Friends. I'm continually in games with Yogi, CaraBee and Mrs. Schmitty, Alyssa & Leslie. Thanks, guys, for always playing. (If you play and would like to start a game with me, my name is dawnsdiversions.)

But, it isn't Words with Friends that I want to share with you about today. Today, I want to tell you about the coolest photo app EVER! It's called Instagram. It was created for the iPhone, iPad and iTouch, but I think you can access it with Android now as well. You'll have to do some Googling to find that out.

On Instagram, you can take or upload your picture and then choose one of twelve filters to apply to your photo before publishing. The filters are easy, by a click of the button, and make your pictures fun.

Mrs. Sinclair is the person responsible for my IG addiction. Just when I got the hang of IG down, she posted a picture in a collage or one with words added to the actual picture. But, because she is cool and takes pity on those less talented, she is quick to help when asked.

I'm getting a bit ahead of myself. Let me give you my description of Instagram. It is its own social network. Imagine Twitter and Photography put into a blender and then poured into the most beautiful glass for all the world to see and comment on. Ahhhh.......

You can follow your friends from your contacts, friends from Facebook and from Twitter. You can even follow people you do not know, just like Twitter. What makes it better than Twitter, in my opinion, is you are not limited to 140 characters. You can reply back to people who comment on your pictures, just like Twitter, by using the @ symbol. You can also use the # hash tags, like Twitter. You can "like" your friends' pictures, just like on Facebook. I've become a little obsessed with creating unique pictures to get a lot of "likes" so I can someday be featured on the "Popular" page. (Did I just admit that out loud?!)

What's really cool, you can publish your picture (and caption) directly to Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, your email and Four Square. It is A W E S O M E.

There are some uber talented photogs on IG. I'm learning so much. I'm also looking at EVERYTHING as a potential picture to be uploaded.

I've become addicted to several other photography-type apps to use for editing before ever uploading to IG. Here are a few, in no particular order, that I love to use with my pictures:

• Filterstorm
• iPicEd
• Framed Lite
• Label Box
• ScribeItLite
• PerfectPhoto
• Label Maker
• Diptic
• Camera Bag
• PS Express

I love photo-editing apps. Do you have a favorite that I didn't list? If so, please share. Remember, I'm addicted and it's okay to feed this kind of addiction. 

Okay, let me quit rambling and just show you some of the pictures I've posted on IG.

I took this picture to show the world my gray hair. The before picture is SOOC (Shot out of camera - iPhone, in my case) and the after is after having a filter applied to it in Instagram. 

Picture was not edited, only has a filter applied from Instagram.

Again, this picture was taken with my iPhone 4 and uploaded to IG where I added a filter. 

This picture was edited with one of my photo-editing apps and then I used Label Maker on it to add the text. I then uploaded the picture into Instagram and added a filter. 

I edited with a photo-editing app and saved it. I then uploaded to Labelbox and applied the cute text and then saved. Last, I uploaded it to IG and added a filter. Wa-la! 

While looking through my photos on my phone I came across a picture my teenage daughter took of herself. I uploaded it to IG and added a filter and this is how it turned out. I LOVE it. 

These are all pictures I took while in downtown Tulsa. I used my photo-editing apps and then saved them. I then used Diptic to place them in a collage and saved them. And, can you guess what I did next? YES! I uploaded it to IG. See? You're catching on already. 

This picture was taken with my iPhone 4. It is completely unedited. When I uploaded it to IG, I chose NOT to apply a filter to it. It just didn't need one.  

Are you ready to download Instagram if your phone has it? I hope to have several new followers as soon as you do. You can find me on IG under dawnsdiversions. You can also find the other housewives as well: nightowl918, jonnibaloney, ajsouthern, ShaRhonda, and Jennykate77. 

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I guess by now, you realize this is not a MckLinky Monday post. The housewives met last week for a meeting. We have decided to suspend MckLinky Monday for the time being and host a new link-up. The new one is called In Your Neck of the Woods. We will be hosting it on Tuesdays instead of Mondays. 

What is In Your Neck of the Woods, you ask? It's whatever is going on in your corner of the world. It can be a random picture of something unique to your area, it can be something that happened in your area. That beautiful sunset you saw?  Post it.  The questionable outfit you saw at WalMart?  Post it -- but be sure to blur the face or something.  Show some respect for your fellow man.  Show us the interesting, funny, beautiful things you see around you, wherever you are in the world.

It will be nice & easy to join in because it is really up to your discretion what you chose. You won't have to wait to see what the topic is going to be. You have the freedom to share what you want and still link up with us. We can't wait to see what you are going to share.

And...........the new button (you can grab from the sidebar!)

Mrs. Albright,

Feeding my addictions like....