Alicia Bull's Digital Muse

New Shutterfly Gallery!

Thought it would be fun to share the new Shutterfly Gallery links and how you are able to share a book on your blog. It is pretty darn cool!

Click here to view this photo book.

Look What We've Been Up To!!!!!!!!!!!

Yep, this is our lovely family. We just happen to be standing on the edge of McKena Beach in Maui. We had 11 days of absolute paradise over the holiday. (That would be why you have not received your Christmas cards yet. Lame, I know , but honest! I got a good chunk done on the plane and plan to send them all out early next week!)

Here are a few more pictures! This is Camden, Bennett, McGuire and the little one is our nephew Hudson!

So, this photo above is a bit U2 ish (you need to be a person of the 80's to recognize that!) But it was just some fun in the sand!

The photo above is a Christmas morning photo. Each boys got an I-touch from Santa! They are in HEAVEN!!!!!

This beach was located at the very end of the Lava Fields in Maui. It was the most incredible snorkeling spot. ---So private. Two local boys climbed up a coconut tree, picked a coconut, crushed it with a rock and gave it to us to eat. Absolute paradise!

This pic. says it all. We had such a wonderful time as a family!

Ciao, Alicia

BAD BAD BLOGGER!

Yep, Shame on me! I am issuing a good old fashioned scolding to myself. I guess I want to lay a line of excuses on you all but there really is no excuse to not stay on top of communication. Life has certainly not been boring lately. Activity with life, family (the boys), holiday preparation, real estate work, Shutterfly work, and of course the terrible flood. Chehalis is the heart of the terrible storm and flood and we are very grateful that our home was not damaged. Unfortunately, so many of our friends, co-workers and neighbor were ravished by the water. It is hard to describe. Thought I might start by sharing a few photos.

So, this is a photo of our children (and some friends) standing down on I-5. Yep, standing smack dab in the middle of I-5.

Thought you might find this photo interesting. This is a picture of the State Patrol Headquarters in Chehalis. This picture pretty much sums it up---EVERYONE WAS EFFECTED!

Ciao-

Alicia

Elvis Lives!

Elvis Lives! Well, not really, but my children think he does. :-) To make a long story short, one of my twins (age 7) has become obsessed with Elvis Presley. His babysitter told him about the "King of Rock" and he has been hunting down Elvis Presley paraphernalia everywhere he goes. I must admit it is a bit overboard but in some sentimental way it is lightly cute.

So, I have to tell you what happened last night. I was in my bedroom and hear Elvis singing in our living room. I walked into the room and there were my 3 boys (--reminding you, they are 7 year old twins and a 5 year old) on their laptop watching Elvis on YOUTUBE. Youtube!?!?!?! Yep. I said, wow, how did you get to this and Bennett looked at me, with a quite frank look, and said, uh, mom, I did a Google search, it took me to YouTube and then we clicked the link!

UUUUHHHHHHHHHHH----------------WHAT? When in the world did my 7 year old little boy learn to do a Google Search and view YouTube.? Last I checked I had to turn on the computer, enter his password and log onto the internet for him. He said he has watched me do it and just knows how now.

Moral of the story: your kids are watching you and its never to early to sit down with your kids and start setting some computer guidelines because apparently they have the World at their fingertips at a very early age. Monitor the sites they visit and block the inappropriate ones. I know our Boy's computer is going to be getting a major security overhaul now that they are Google Searching and we are going to have to discuss some guidelines!

Elvis Lives! (On YOUTUBE!)

Ciao-Alicia

NEW SHUTTERFLY BLOG!!!

I am soooo excited to finally be able to send you to the brand new Shutterfly Holiday Blog link. We have been working very hard to offer an incredible area of inspiration for you. It has been such a great experience to work with all of the talented designers and of course the talented Laura Dox from Shutterfly. She is incredible. So without further ado.....................

SHUTTERFLY HOLIDAY BLOG!

I hope you will leave comments, interact with us all you want on the blog! :-) Most importantly, I hope you will check back to it often to gain continued holiday inspiration!

Ciao-Alicia

Utilizing the "DO NOT CALL LIST"

I wanted to share a great link : https://www.donotcall.gov/default.aspx

This link is the link to register your home phone or cell phone to the "do not call list." Registering will put your number on the list until 2012. Pretty cool. Nothing bothers me more than the telemarketing calls at dinner time!

I was able to register 3 of our numbers all at once then went back a second time to finish up with our 4th line. It was as easy as entering our number, e-mail addy and clicking. Hope everyone else finds the link useful!

ciao-

Alicia

My oh my, it's Shutterfly!!!!!!!!!!!

My oh my, it's............................   

Big news came from Shutterfly this morning during our Las Vegas Memory Trends Launch Breakfast. Shutterfly is now offering square single prints in 8 x 8 and 12 x 12 sizes. Yippy!

You gotta love Shutterfly standing up and taking notice to the Scrapbook Market!

Ciao-Alicia

Keeping it social!

Ahhhh, I love social events. I love meeting new people. I also love  hanging out with friends that I haven't seen for a passing time. Monday and Tuesday were  all about the social networking that takes place in business and in life. So, here is the bad news, I didn't take enough photos. Ok, so actually I didn't take any pictures at our Shutterfly DSAT Dinner. The good news is that I had an awesome time getting to know the DSAT members and the Shutterfly Team. It was so great to get to know the wonderful talent behind all the digi art I have been using for so long. What an amazing group. The Shutterfly team that attended the dinner is so inspirational as well. They are top notch people that are very plugged into the industry and leading Shutterfly with confidence and care. It's great to see.

So, the few photos I did get were very meaningful.  The first photo goes out to my girlfriend Angie Pedersen. It is MT#2 that we have spent the day cruising the floor. (ok, we started by having lunch then hitting the floor). She is a total hoot and a complete wealth of industry knowledge. She and I have been in close contact lately because of the wonderful launch of www.digitalscrapbookingday.com . I will write more about that on in a week or two , but in the meantime check out their site.

Guess who took this photo above????????? Stacy Julian! We were laughing pretty hard when I handed her my camera and asked her to take a photo of Angie and I. She is definitely usually on the other end of the camera. So, guess who my next photo is with? Yep, the lovely Stacy J! What an inspiration. When I hear her speak I feel like I have fallen into creative heaven. She just makes sense to me. I like to think that I speak her language (or aspire to!) Stacy, you are always so sweet to me and so darn creative. I just love that combination! :-)

So the last couple of months have been a journey with Shutterfly. One of the most exciting projects for me has been the honor of forming a relationship with Stacy, Paula, and Casey at Big Picture Scrapbooking. These three are an amazing team and are a delight to work with. (Paula, you and I will do lunch real soon, I promise!) Shutterfly is teaming up with BPS to do some wonderful classes focused on digital and how to utilize Shutterfly in that process.

By the way, yep..........Angie took the photo below. I know it is so important to give credit where credit is due! LOL!

Which leads me to the last but certainly not least photo with  Renee Pearson. First, if you read my blog on a regular basis you know that I LOVE RENEE's KNOWLEDGE. She makes me want to learn more, do more, be more. I guess that falls deep into the definition of inspiration. That pretty much sums Renee up, "INSPIRING."  (Renee my dear, it was nice to finally hug you, to chat with you after dinner and to dig into your creative mind during our meeting. I just love ya and look forward of more to come.) I am so excited that Renee will be teaching a cutting edge digital class called "Deliciously Digital." You can see the registration via the link here : http://www.bigpicturescrapbooking.com/deliciouslydigital.php . I highly recommend the class. The end product is a wonderful recipe book created by the class members printed by Shutterfly. I can't wait for the class to begin and hope you will join Renee for the experience!

Next post is going to be all about the brand new Shutterfly products just launch this last week---STAY TUNED--The news is HOT!

Ciao, Alicia

Memory Trends 2007

I am at Las Vegas prepping for some great Shutterfly events that will announce some exciting new Shutterfly products. I will post about those in a day or two so check back to get the scoop.

The day I arrived I had some down time and was thrilled that my sister-in -law Scottie flew in from Florida to stay with me at the Venetian. We had a wonderful time together. We went shopping and got to meet Pete Rose. He signed a baseball for each of us and let us take photos. Thought I would post a pic. of that.

This is me and Pete. He was very social and seemed very friendly!

So, after the Pete Rose experience we headed over to the wax museum at the Venetian and took our pictures with Elton John. This is Scottie with the life like wax sculpture. It was pretty freaky because they looked very realistic.

Our evening ended with joining up with the Shutterfly group and heading to the Bellagio for the "O" Cirque Du Soleil show. It had to have been one of the most incredible things I have ever seen. Bizarre, creative, mysterious and breathtaking all wrapped up into one. I highly recommend it to anyone visiting Vegas.

The next couple of days are going to be filled with hanging out with some of my favorite people and meeting a whole new group of friends. I really look forward to it, will share some pictures, and of course will give you the low down on the awesome new Shutterfly news.

ciao- Alicia

Coming up for a quick breath

It is so hard to do sometimes, that is , slow down, take a breath, enjoy what is going on around you. I have to admit, I need to heed my own advice right now and slow down at least for tomorrow and breath a bit. I have been in meetings all week , non-stop , back to back and in the meantime I am trying to prepare my household for my absence starting Saturday morning at about 6 in the AM until about 11 PM on Tuesday night. Simple details that I handle need to be put down to help with the boys. John, lucky for me, is what I call a "do it all daddy." He pretty much picks up the ball with the boys and has no fear. He is insanely involved in our daily life. For being a man that runs our family business with my father and is pulled by high demands during every minute of his day he always manages to put us at the top of his list. It is incredible. (I guess my point is, while the family will miss me, they will be well cared for!)

So, you know where I am going? Ahhh, Viva Las Vegas Baby! Heading out Saturday to prepare for an incredible few days at the Venetian with Shutterfly. We are going to be pulling the Digi Scrap Advisory Team together for a dinner, doing some fun activities together like going to the "O" show, and having a launch breakfast. We have been planning for some time now and it is all coming together. It is going to be a very fruitful few days. Can't wait!

A little fun side note--I talked my sister in law Scottie into coming out from Florida to stay with me. (Otherwise that big ole room at the Venetian would have echoed!LOL) We have not been together since Maryann passed away so we are really due for some fun.

Well, really, really what I wanted to do was share some special pics with everyone tonight. They are not the perfectly posed pictures you might be thinking but just simple first day snaps of my little men and their new teachers. McGuire is an official kindergarten and let me tell you my heart ached for days. A mommy thing I guess!

Mac on the first day of  Kindergarten! He was so excited and cute!

This is Camden and Mrs. Vermillion (Mrs. V just so happens to be Camden's Godmother!)

This is Bennett and Mrs. Amrine (Mrs. A is a dear friend)

This is McGuire and Mr. Blair (Mr. Blair use to be my teaching partner!)

JB and the boys. We do a photo from behind every year holding John's hand. Someday soon all 3 boys are going to tower over their dad! :-)

Looks like the little boys in my life are in EXCELLENT hands. So glad I came up for a breath  this evening to reflect on how very blessed we are!

ciao-Alicia