Category: Photo Organization Coach

Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking

Happy Birthday to the CLUB!

Jane Sadek

MEMORY KEEPING: MAKING THE MOST OF THE CLUB

Making a Memory Keeping Promise to Yourself

I have never talked to anyone who said, “I have no interest in memories.” I talk to a lot of people who are misguided or haphazard in their methodology of preserving their memories, but everyone wants to be able to share their images in some way. I also talk to people with a great desire to save, organize and share their memories, who keep putting it off anyway. They say – this summer, next winter, when my children are older, when I retire, when the wedding is over, when I get back from vacation, when I have more time, when I have more money,…you get the idea.

I say, “Make a commitment to yourself to get started,” and the CLUB can be that way. Any project needs tools and for Memory Keeping most people need to begin with some Storage and perhaps some Digitization. So the first thing they ask is, “How much is Storage and/or Digitization?” Then the excuses begin.

I should answer their question with another one, “What’s your budget for getting started? Do you have $30 a month to devote to this?” That’s what the CLUB can do for you. It takes your $30 every month (or $60 or $120 or whatever in intervals of $30) and helps you get your memories, saved organized and shared.

How does it help? Well, the CLUB is your Memory Keeping savings account and you earn lots of interest! Every penny you put into the CLUB remains yours, because there is no fee, and your dollars never expire, so it’s a great way to save up for what you want. But there’s more!! Your membership gets you 5% off everything you buy and it’s stackable with most deals FOREVER offers. Let’s say Digitization is 40%. Then as a CLUB member, your discount would be 45%, it’s that easy.

Another amazing feature of the CLUB is free storage which is added to your account every quarter. Say you join at $30. I did, back in 2021. Since then I’ve gotten 9 GB of free storage, which translates into approximately 1350-4500 stored photos (according to the size of my images).

The Happy Birthday Bonus

I’m taking the time to explain this to you now, because if you join this month (or add to your current membership), there’s a Bonus Double Storage Award. The quarterly award for a $30 membership is half a GB, but in September you’d get a whole GB. For $60, you get 1 GB quarterly, but in September you’d get 2. And with $120 you’d usually get 2, which with this deal would get you 4! Amazing!

So, How Much Should You Invest?

That’s a good question and it depends both on what you can afford and what you want to accomplish. FOREVER has created a couple of handouts to help you decide.

The first shows examples of four CLUB membership levels and how you could use them if your goal was to have Storage and Video Streaming. It includes how much per GB you’d end up paying for your storage and how much you’d have left in your CLUB account at the end of the month to spend or save towards other items you want.

The second is actually a worksheet for you to plug in the items you’d like to invest in and figure out the level of membership that would get you to where you’d like to be.

Join The CLUB and Start Saving Now

At FOREVER, belonging is a tool for you, not an income source for the company. How many things do you pay for on a monthly basis, just for the privilege of belonging, but you get virtually nothing back or perhaps they offer some package of gifts you can’t use unless you already spend a certain amount with them? Yes, I know it’s infuriating.

FOREVER is different in every way. It’s free to join FOREVER and you immediately get 2GB of storage FREE – that’s $50 worth of storage by the way. You also get a $20 Welcome Coupon which you can use on your first purchase for pretty much anything. You also get a free app for your phone so you can synch it with your FOREVER account.

If you go ahead and join the CLUB when you join FOREVER (which you should) you’ll also get a 5% discount on whatever you buy from the very first transaction. You can use the dollars you invest immediately or save them for something big. The third month you belong, you’ll get your storage bonus. There’s a whole list of other benefits you may or may not need.

Here’s another bonus for CLUB members. By using your CLUB dollars to purchase products on FOREVER’s payment plan, you avoid paying a lot of interest on your credit card. If you use your credit card to buy 10GB of Storage outright and you carry a balance on your account, you will pay interest on that purchase from day one. If instead, you use your Bronze Club Dollars, you’ll only add $30 to your credit card balance each month, making it much easier to pay off or pay down.

I have a Bronze Membership. It covers my monthly pixels 2 Pages membership. Another friend has a Bronze Memberships to pay for a storage plan and her p2P membership. Someone else pays for a video streaming plan out of her membership. What will you get with your CLUB membership?

DESTINATIONS, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, Scrapbooking, Shopping, TRAVEL, United States

A Few Snippets Before Heading Home

Jane Sadek

MEMORY MAKING: HANGING WITH THE GIRLS

Yes, We Were There for The Love Life Conference

Before abandoning the conference completely, I will share a couple of incidents. One was good and one was bad. Let’s start with the good. On Friday morning we were running a little late and as we struggled to find a seat, someone approached Deb and asked her if we wanted to sit up front. Are you kidding? Would we rather be front and center or up there in the nosebleed section. Of course we wanted to move up front.

I’m guessing some group wasn’t making it to the session and they wanted it to be filled up for the people watching online and the videos which I am sure they sell. We certainly weren’t invited back up front for the rest of the conference, but it was exciting to be so close you didn’t even need to look at the monitors. It’s the only time in my life I’ve been glad I was running late!

The second incident of note was not as pleasant, but it was the same day. When we left that night we were ragged. Stomping all over San Antonio in the heat, eating big meals and drinking margaritas had taken their toll. It didn’t exactly energize us to sit for hours in the dark, listening to the various speakers.

We made our way across the parking lot and the car was in sight. I was going to drive, so I wanted to put my stuff in the trunk. I squeezed between two cars parked nose to nose and suddenly I was down. It was one of those bone jarring falls that leaves you stunned and my leg was really hurting. What’s more I was concerned about all my stuff. Where were my glasses which had been on my head? Was the traveling tiara in my tote bag? Billfold? And so forth and so on.

The fall had been bad enough to draw the attention of others who were wanting to call 9-1-1. I didn’t want that to happen, but I wondered what was the matter with my leg. I had on a pair of jeans which had not torn, but I knew beyond a shadow of a doubt something had scrapped up my leg and knee. Then I started looking for the reason I fell. Lord knows I can be clumsy, but even though I didn’t know WHAT it was, I knew I’d been kneecapped.

While everyone else discussed my need for a hospital, I looked for the culprit. On the front bumper of the car I squeezed past was some sort of implement. I have no idea what it was used for but it was sharp and it was at least four inches long – just enough to trip me up!

Being the brave soul that I am, I drove back to Shana’s just as I had said I would do, even thought Deb was wishing I would drive to some hospital. When I got to Shana’s and looked at my leg, things were worse than I thought. I had scrapes and bruises from falling and whatever the implement on the front of the car had been, it was sharp enough to actually cut my leg. By the time we got there, things were swelling. Nurses Deb & Shana got to work on me. In the morning I was much better, but it had been quite a fall.

A Return to Palmer’s

Back in 2016, my friend Shana was thinking of starting a coaching/retreat business. She now runs a very successful concierge business with three Texas locations, but back in 2016 she was in transition. Deb and I went to the retreat and had a great time. It’s when we discovered the wonders of the San Marcos Outlet Mall and we ate at Palmer’s.

Shana, Deborah and I had set aside Saturday night for ourselves. Shana had a local watering hole she wanted to take us to, but for dinner we wanted Palmer’s. Deb and I adore anything al fresco and Shana had warm memories of it from her college days, so that’s what we planned on doing.

On this particular visit, the service was a little off and the food was not the best, but their patio is so amazing, I’d go back tomorrow. The picture you see at the top of this post is one I snapped. Totally awful pic of me, but sharing for the other two.

A Return to Brahmin

Then Sunday morning it was time to return to the Metroplex. We said farewell to Shana and our first stop was the Brahmin store at the San Marcos Outlet Stores. We got there a few minutes before the store opened, so we waited. As soon as they opened, Deb swooped in, grabbed her clearance bag and we were on the road back home.

And that’s the end of this tale. Next week we’ll move on to Cali 2024, the Friends and Family Tour. Don’t miss Memory Keeping on Wednesday and Memory Sharing on Thursday!

Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking

Memory Sharing in Analog and Digital

Jane Sadek

MEMORY SHARING: CREATIVE MEMORIES & FOREVER

First Love & New Love

Traditional scrapbooking is my first love. It’s where I started and it’s the reason I started this business in the first place. I love tactile photos and memorabilia. I love building a page with papers, embellishments and tools I can hold in my hand. I love to pull a great big old traditional scrapbook into my lap and turn the pages. Sometimes I ease off the page protectors and actually read inside the documents and brochures I have in the albums. It’s my favorite thing.

Digital scrapbooking is my new love. I love learning new things and there is always something to learn about the Artisan 6 software. I love the flexibility of reducing or enlarging photos, memorabilia and elements with the click of a button. I love the pixels 2 Pages Online Community, the Productivity Challenge and Online crops. I love that my finished digital photo albums are smaller, trimmer and more portable than my behemoth traditional albums. I love that I can grab things off the internet to add interest to my pages. It’s my new favorite thing!

The Roadblock

Most people can’t imagine what format to use to share their memories with the future, because they can’t see past the mess. They see the boxes of photos, slides, tapes, memorabilia and who knows what else and then push it aside. It seems overwhelming. It’s easier to kick the problem down the line and pretend to yourself that some day you’re going to have more time and/or money or that your kids will take care of it.

That’s where I come in. We look at your mess together and can discuss your options. Until I see your mess and understand your resources, I can only guess what those options might be. Once I’ve seen the mess and understand what you want, we can come up with a plan. The plan can be anything from all traditional solutions you do on your own to totally digital solutions you turn completely over to me, to any combination of format and labor. We can pull items to use for a particular project or we can take care of the whole thing.

That’s My Magic!

Trying to explain to anyone exactly what I do is hard, because the truth is, when it comes to memory keeping, I do it all. I am not partial to any particular method of sharing your images. I don’t need for you to go traditional, so I can get a custom album project. I don’t need for you to embrace digital photo books and gifts, so I can make a commission. My goal is to walk beside you whatever type of project you choose and help in whatever way you need. I’m in it for to preserve the legacies of generations to come and no matter how we go about that, I win – and you will, too.

Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking

July’s Facial Recognition Deal

Jane Sadek

MEMORY KEEPING: BOGO DEAL- BUY STORAGE GET 5% OFF FACIAL RECOGNITION

The Focus is Storage, but the Deal is Facial Recognition

Storage and Facial Recognition are NEVER on sale – NEVER! So, when FOREVER says, “Buy Storage and get 5% off Facial Recognition,” then it’s time to pay attention. First, because Facial Recognition is never on sale and because at FOREVER, 5% off is really 10% off and you also get 5% off the Storage with the CLUB.

But (You Might Say) I Already Have Free/Cheap Storage with Facial Recognition and AutoTagging!

Unless you already have FOREVER storage, then you do not actually own any storage, because we’re the only ones selling permanent online storage. Anything else you may have is either storage you have been given a free temporary license to use or you are renting the license. That’s what I blogged about last week. To learn more, see this post.

You don’t want to risk the loss of your precious memories. You want them available to your family when you are gone, so you want permanent online Storage that you own and if you’ve got that, then you also want Facial Recognition.

So, How Does 5% Off Become 10% Off?

I’m glad you asked. FOREVER has a savings plan called the CLUB. It offers 5% off pretty much everything you can buy, including Storage and Facial Recognition. So, if you are a member of the CLUB, you get 5% off Storage and Facial Recognition any day you want to, as well as anything else you want to buy. This month, in addition to the 5% off Storage and Facial Recognition, you’d get another 5% off Facial Recognition for a total of 10%.

With the CLUB you invest in Memory Keeping at a set amount and every penny of that money is yours to spend as you want, but now it will buy you 5% more. You can either do this one month to take advantage of this deal or like many of my clients you can invest every month, so you get 5% off all the time and once a quarter you get free storage, based on the amount you invest.

If You’ve Never Bought FOREVER Storage

If you are new to FOREVER, then you can either buy storage outright or you can buy it on a 24 month payment plan. Let me show you some sample purchases!

Regular Outright Purchase of 10 GB Storage + 1 YR Facial Recognition = $309.98 (a good value!)

Example 1: Same Purchase in July with this deal and CLUB $288.88. Then stop CLUB or continue, your choice. (You saved over $20!) Without CLUB you only save $12.99.

But let’s say you’d like get started with your memory keeping with a $30/month investment. I’d recommend Example 2: Invest in CLUB for $30 a month for 24 months, buy Storage on 24 MO Purchase Plan and 24 months of Facial Recognition(2 annual purchases). Your first month you’d spend about $100, but only $30 a month after that and you’d have so much more. Instead of 10 GB of storage, you’d have 14 GB, because of the quarterly storage gifts. You’d also have a second year of Facial Recognition AND and about $325 of your own investments to make purchases at 5% off. This is just one example of the way to do it. What you actually would invest and how you use it is up to you.

If You Already Own FOREVER Storage

If you already have FOREVER storage and have almost filled it up, then this deal should be a no brainer. Buy what you need and take advantage of the Facial Recognition deal, at $117 using the CLUB. And remember, the more storage you buy at a time, the cheaper it is per GB!

Let’s say you’re a CLUB member and you don’t REALLY need any storage, but you really, really want the Facial Recognition deal. I can offer you a 2GB Storage package that will qualify you for the FR Deal. The CLUB price would be $47.94 for the 2GB and $117 for the year of FR for a total of $165. Subtract the CLUB dollars you have in your account and you might have enough there to cover it.

Let’s Talk About You!

These are just examples I pulled out of the air. You might need more storage. Perhaps you’d like to purchase permanent Facial Recognition rather than buying the annual subscription. Maybe you’d like to budget more than $30 a month for Memory Keeping. Whatever you’re specific needs are, I’m happy to run the numbers for you.

Image of Joyce Meyers 2023 Love Life Conference in the Alamo Dome
DESTINATIONS, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, Scrapbooking, TRAVEL, United States

Joyce and San Antonio

Jane Sadek
Fall Photo Opp at San Antonio Plaza
Crowning Around

MEMORY MAKING: JOYCE MEYERS’ LOVE LIFE 2023 IN SAN ANTONIO

It Wasn’t Love Life 2022 in St. Louis

There, I said it. There were a few great moments, but the impact I experienced in 2022 just wasn’t there, even if all the loud music was. We did not sign up for 2024.

That’s not to say there weren’t some good moments. I just didn’t feel as if I got as much out of it as I did the year before. I can’t point to a single moment or thought that impacted me significantly, but lightning rarely strikes twice.

But I Loved Life in San Antonio

If you’ve been around this blog long, then you know I love San Antonio. If I could only have one travel destination for the rest of my life, it would probably be San Antonio, but I’m glad I don’t have to make that choice.

Staying in New Braunfels with Shana and being at the Alamo Dome kept us from our usual center of activity, but we loved the time with Shana and the walking was good for us. All in all it was a great trip. Here’s a few highlights.

signs on the walls and ceilings of Guadalajara Grill in San Antonio
We loved reading all the signs!

Guadalajara Grill for Lunch

When Love Life broke for lunch on Friday, job one was to find a restaurant that wasn’t already filled to capacity with other Love Life attendees. That meant we walked and walked and walked and walked a little more, but finally we landed at Guadalajara Grill. Google is trying to tell me it was a four minute walk, but we must have gone the long way.

It was a fortunate stop. The food was great, but the best part was the signs all over the walls and the ceiling. Even though the restaurant was not as inundated with as many people as some we’d passed, this was a popular lunch spot, so we plunked down at the bar, margaritas and decided to enjoy ourselves.

We explained out conference dilemma to the man behind the bar and while he didn’t seem all that sympathetic, we did seem to get seated pretty quickly. On our next trip to San Antonio (and there will always be more trips to San Antonio) we’ll certainly eat at Guadalajara Grill again.

Chart House Restaurant in Tower of the Americas

So, one of my favorite places to eat, bar none, is the Chart House Restaurant in The Tower of the Americas. Not that I could find any of my own photos of it. I stole this one from their website. I love the food and the view is wonderful. And it’s a special place. People get dressed up to go there. Not all of them anymore, unfortunately, the usual grunge was visible on this visit, but it’s everywhere, so I have to live with it.

Deb and I tried it first in 2015 and we still feel the same way about it. So much so, that on the way back from Guadalajara Grill we stopped at the Tower and made reservations for dinner. Take that all you Love Life attendees filling the other restaurants. We had a reservation.

I did a good job of describing the the experience in the post linked above, so no need to go over it all again. Just click the link. Was it still as good Yep, for me it’s a must-do every time I go to San Antonio.

Lunch on Saturday

By Saturday we were a little tired of shuffling around the Hemisfair Plaza battling for dining space. We squeezed out of the morning session as soon as we dared and made a beeline for the first luxury hotel. I can’t remember which one we landed at. The meal was both mediocre and expensive – well at least the margarita was expensive – but we enjoyed the break and headed back to the final session, which we also scooted out of early. We were going out with Shana that evening.

Check in Wednesday for Memory Keeping and on Friday we’ll be creating something fun for Memory Sharing. Then next Monday I’ll wrap up a few details from this trip and we can start thinking about California!

Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking

Point, Click, Print, Share

Jane Sadek

MEMORY SHARING: FOREVER – SIMILAR, BUT NOT THE SAME

What’s Similar?

Most of us have gotten photos printed online or at the local drugstore. Many of us have used the fish or the fly to create Christmas cards or Graduation announcements. There’s lot of places to create photobooks, calendars, coffee mugs and such. And while there are horror stories out there of missed deadlines, poor quality and lack of customer service, the truth is millions of people, everyday, use these services and are satisfied with the product they receive. So, why should I get you to change to FOREVER?

Well, First & Foremost, There’s ME!

I don’t want to get you to change to FOREVER. I want you to change to ME! The Fish, the Fly and all the rest of them are big online corporations focused on volume and profits. To accomplish what they’re focused on, they have to have competitive pricing and their quality has to be acceptable. But they’re impersonal and they’re not local.

On the other hand. I’m local. You know me. You see me at the grocery store. We belong to the same organizations. I’m focused on affordability and one of the reasons I represent FOREVER is their quality, which is superior to anything I’ve seen. Shop local is a thing! I eagerly offer my services to you. Give me a chance!

So, Who in the Hell is FOREVER?

Let’s say you want to shop local and support me, but a part of you may be thinking, “but I’ve never heard of this FOREVER.” Until a few years ago, neither had I – and do you want to know why? FOREVER spends zero dollars on advertising. Someone I trusted told me about it and it took a while for me to embrace it. Even after I got the whole “storage you own rather than rent” part, I clung to my traditional scrapbooking and regarded the whole “Create & Print” thing with skepticism. It didn’t help that I wasn’t much of a personalized photo gift person. My first year with FOREVER, I still sent out cards from the fish!

Try It, You’ll Like It!

Reluctantly, I stuck my toe in the water – first with a photo book. (The first I’d ever made, by the way.) Then I got a personalized planner, then Christmas cards and soon I was off to the races. Then my customers started making things I’d never considered, like calendars and blankets. Those were cool, too.

Over time, almost by osmosis, I began to realize how superior FOREVER print projects really were to everything else offered out on the internet. I certainly loved everything I made, but more impressive was how thrilled my clients were – clients who had been using the competition for their projects and were in awe of the quality and ease of FOREVER.

What’s more, FOREVER offers better quality at a savings. Don’t believe me? Well, it’s the truth. Think about personalized print providers in the same way you do airlines. When you get online and start comparing prices, it’s easy for Airline A to appear cheaper than Airline B in the initial comparison – but then there’s luggage fees, seat assignments, boarding policies, seat size and a zillion other things that mean you’re not going to be able to compare apples to apples. And if you’re part of a loyalty program with Airline C, that starts a whole ‘nother comparison.

Same thing here. You go online and try to decide who has the best deal on, let’s say, photo books. First, we all know everything is on sale all the time. You almost couldn’t pay full price if you wanted to, but they sling around savings percentages, like a gunfighter slings bullets. But guess what – the savings are only on the “standard” book! Like the airlines, everything else is a la carte, so the savings don’t extend to other things like extra pages or premium paper or a lot of things. FOREVER doesn’t charge extra for “premium”. Their “standard” products are what you upgrade to with other companies. What’s more, when it comes to extra pages and other added features, whatever the initial discount is, it applies to everything in the project, including extras.

And the loyalty program? Don’t get me started. This blog post might go on forever (pun intended).

All, I ask is you try it! One photo book, coffee cup or calendar. Compare the process, compare the prices and compare the product that arrives at your home. Here’s the link to get started: https://www.forever.com/ambassador/jane-sadek/create-and-print/

Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking

What You Don’t Know Can Hurt You! Part I

Jane Sadek

MEMORY PRESERVATION: THE PROBLEM WITH FREE

Sampling the Status Quo

Chances are you use one of the companies on the chart above. You’re probably getting the service for free – or at least you were in the beginning. And whoever you’re using they’ve probably sweetened the pot with features like free facial recognition and automatic tagging. Why in the world would you consider paying for permanent storage from a company you may have never heard of? Well, maybe I can give you a few reasons.

Guarantees the Safety of Your Files

Have you read the terms and agreements of your cloud service? Probably not. You just assumed a big household name like Amazon or iCloud, would do the right thing? Right? Wrong!!

Virtually every other cloud company besides FOREVER actually informs you in their terms and agreements you are merely being granted a license to use their cloud space. By uploading your images there, you agree to release the licensee from any liability. They are free to delete, compress, share or transfer your images as they see fit. In fact, they probably will also warn you to have your images backed up elsewhere. Is that what you thought you had signed up for?

Perhaps you did know that stipulation, but you thought that was just the way things are and you had no idea you had any other options. Well, there is a cloud provider who will guarantee the safety of your images for your life plus 100 years. It’s called FOREVER.

No Data Mining

Do you know what data mining is? Remember when Facebook got into trouble for sharing information about their users? That’s data mining. Most (virtually all) cloud providers offering free or cheap storage data mine. They tell you they data mine in the terms and agreements, because that’s how they can afford to offer you free cloud services. You’re the product, not the customer. When they offer you other “free” stuff like facial recognition and automatic tagging, it comes along with you giving them permission to mine your data even more specifically than they could without these services.

Perhaps that’s OK with you. I didn’t see any harm it in when I was a captive audience to their services – but now I really understand the way it works and I want no part of it and I certainly don’t want them having any part of me.

No Advertising

As to Advertising, most of us have gotten used to it, so it may not be as compelling a reason to consider FOREVER as some of the other things I told you about today. We’ve gotten almost to the point we don’t even see the ads at the top, bottom and sides of our screens. You’ve probably got a pop-up blocker on your computer. Who cares? Right?

Well, once you have experienced a cloud without any advertising, you’ll care and when you couple it with the relief of secure storage that won’t be data mined, you start to understand how FOREVER is very different from whatever cloud storage you’ve been using.

You think about these things I’ve told you about today and next week, I’ll reveal a few other things you might not have realized about your free/cheap cloud service.

DESTINATIONS, Fashion, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Restaurants & Bars, Road Trips, Scrapbooking, Shopping, TRAVEL, Travel Planning, United States

What a Girl Loves!

Jane Sadek

MEMORY MAKING: OUTLET SHOPPING & MARGARITA DRINKING

Woman wearing a crown in a McDonald's
Me wearing the Traveling Tiara

WHY ARE YOU WEARING A CROWN?

So, one of my all-time favorite networking groups is Polka Dot Powerhouse . My particular chapter had a little thing they called the Traveling Tiara and I’d been selected to wear it for the next month. Most of the women get it and they don’t do much with it. Not me! I carried it everywhere I went and posted lots of photos. This first one was at a McDonald’s somewhere between Dallas and San Marcos.

SAN MARCOS OUTLETS

The next stop was the San Marcos Outlet Mall and we got there just as the stores were opening. We were girls on a mission. Deb needed a Brahmin bag. The last time we’d been down this way, back in 2015, I’d convinced Deb she should invest in a Brahmin. It was a little out of her intended price range, but she did it and she loved it. Eight years later, she was still carrying her Brahmin during the fall and winter, but now she needed one for spring and summer.

We parked out front and went in to handle all their stuff. I helped Deborah pick out a beauty from the clearance department and then went to see the billfolds. I didn’t really need one, but it was about the only item in the store I might fit into my budget. Eventually, I became aware of the fact that Deb’s purchase was not going smoothly. In fact, I’d handled all the billfolds several times and Deb was still waiting to check out. There was only one lady in front of her, but the cash register was down.

We waited a little longer, but nothing was happening. Finally, our stomachs let us know it was nearing the lunch hour, but Deb really, really wanted that bag. At least she did for a while and then she decided maybe the hold up was a sign from God. She’d put the bag back on the shelf and if we had time, we’d stop back by on the way home. If we had time and the bag was still there, then she was meant to have the bag.

GRUENE’S GRISTMILL

To begin with, for the uninitiated, “Gruene” is pronounced like the color, green. It’s a lovely little shopping and eating town right next to New Braunfels and the Guadalupe River. The Gristmill is a wonderful riverside restaurant that I try to eat at every time I pass by on nearby I-35. It’s like getting kolaches in West, you just do it.

Is it the best food you can get in Gruene? No, but it’s good enough and while you wait for a table (you ALWAYS have to wait for a table) you sit in their great little beer garden and the margaritas are marvelous. The Gristmill did not disappoint. It was a gorgeous day for the beer garden, so I enjoyed my margarita while we waited for a table.

I can’t remember what we ate, but I bet it included the onion rings. We love them and used to always get them. (Now I’m gluten free, so I wonder what I’ll eat next time! I won’t be having my usual burger either.)

HEADING ON DOWN THE ROAD

Next stop was Shana’s house where we got situated for our stay. Deb took a nap and I marveled at her cat who looked just like our Princess, who we’d lost not all that long before this trip. So, it almost seemed like I was seeing a ghost! FYI – the top one is Princess!

Joyce’s conference was going to begin at 7, so the nap ended and we got back on the road. Doors opened quite a while before we got to the Alamo Dome, so we didn’t exactly have optimal seats, but we enjoyed the opening festivities.

Afterwards, we made our way back to Shana’s, so we could turn around and do it all the next day. I hope you’ll turn around and read my blog post on Wednesday. We’ll be doing some Memory Keeping and on Friday, we’ll Memory Sharing!

DESTINATIONS, DFW Metroplex, Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking, Shopping

Let Your Linens Do the Talking

Jane Sadek

MEMORY SHARING: THROWING IN THE TOWELS

FOREVER’S Latest Thing

Photo Books and Coffee Mugs have been popular ways to share memories, but FOREVER has come up with something a little out of the ordinary for your next photo gifting, to yourself or others: Towels! And guess what, the fish and the fly don’t have them.

Three Options & You’ll Love Them All

BEACH TOWEL

Let’s start big – a big 30″ X 60″ beach towel big. If you choose to use the Create & Print feature on FOREVER, there are two pages of templates for you to personalize, including one called The Big Picture, where you can fill the whole towel with a picture you love. If you use one of the other fun templates, you get to personalize them with colors, fonts and orientation. Add your name to be sure no one can claim it. If you can’t find what you want, let me know and I can design it in Artisan for you and I’ll have a blank page to start with.

The towels have a poly front with the print and a cotton terry back, but that poly front is not one of those water repellent polys you might have tried to dry off with in the past. It’s soft and absorbent it dry you off quickly and comfortably. The towel are machine washable and you tumble them dry.

GOLF TOWEL

These waffle weave wonders will please all your athletes, not just golfers, but their design is based on the traditional golf towel with a grommet and metal hook. However, add it to your gym bag or any other sports bag! You might even want to hook it from your scrapbooking tote. Don’t let that “golf” word deter you.

This towel is 16″ X 25″ and it’s a cotton/poly blend which is durable, absorbent and convenient. Like the beach towel there are all kinds of designs in FOREVER’s Create & Print templates for you to customize or you can start your design from scratch in Artisan.

TEA TOWEL

Tea towels are a great gift for many occasions and something we all need for ourselves. You know those tea towels that have hilarious sayings on them. Have you ever wished you could change the wording just a little bit to fit someone you know? Well, now you can.

Looking for the perfect wedding gift? They’ll love seeing their name and or monogram on personalized tea towels. And housewarming gifts? Their name and new address, right on the towel. And how about recipes? Think of this as a whole new way to share that recipe you’ve become famous for.

Waffle weave, like the sports towel, and the same size, but without the grommet & hook, you can make these up in both vertical and horizontal designs. They are a little larger than a standard placemat, but imagine a meal where your guests find their place by finding their face and the placemat goes home with them as a party favor. Cool, yes?

I just ordered this one and I can’t wait to take it to the next potluck I attend. I’m thinking I’ll be having them standing in line to order their own! Thanks for sharing memories with me and come back on Monday for a little Memory Making!

Memory Keeping, Photo Organization, Photo Organization Coach, Photography, Scrapbooking

A One Stop Digital Shop for Memories

Jane Sadek

MEMORY PRESERVATION: IT’S ALL THERE!

The Way It Seems

To the casual observer, which is most people, Memory Preservation has many sectors. It seems as if cloud storage comes from one place, media digitization comes from another and genealogy comes from some place else completely. Then there’s a whole world for print. You print photos here, Christmas cards there and calendars someplace else. Video streaming is another area of expertise. Most people don’t have an idea where to begin.

And there are some big names in the business – Google, iCloud, Amazon, Legacy Box, Ancestry, Snapfish, Shutterfly – the list continues. They’d be good right? Everyone knows them.

The Way It Is

In reality, there is a single company which offers all these things and even more:

  • Permanent cloud storage you own and superior media digitization
  • Restoration and colorization of faded and damaged images.
  • Professional genealogy support and training for amateur genealogist.
  • A media migration program developed and heartily embraced by professional photo organizers and genealogist.
  • High quality, but affordable, print offerings, second to none.
  • The world’s premiere digital scrapbooking software, digital art and an incredible online community of camaraderie, support and training for digital scrapbookers.
  • Private video streaming with auto-play and no ads.

Are you wondering why you didn’t know they exist? Well, at the very inception of the company, it’s founder decided FOREVER was going to be different. Instead of setting aside a huge amount of their capital for marketing, they instead invested in the best technology available, because at the core of the company would be cloud storage people owned rather than rented and instead of the average Memory Keeper going to multiple companies to get the services they needed, they’d be able to get what they needed at the very place they stored their precious memories.

FOREVER is not even structured like the usual for profit business, where the point is to create income for the board of directors and stockholders. Instead, the board of directors are responsible for creating a profit to support the business, while providing a benefit to their customers. The benefit is permanent cloud storage which is owned rather than rented and remains available to the owners of the storage and their descendants into the future, long after the initial investment is made, without any additional rent or fees. Currently FOREVER guarantees that benefit for the owner’s lifetime plus 100 years, but the goal of the company is to provide the service forever. Profit to maintain and promote the company is generated from all the other services offered by FOREVER to complement their core service – personal cloud storage for your memories that you own.

That’s not the way the rest of those companies operate. The focus of those companies is their bottom line, especially those offering you free or cheap cloud services. If you read their fine print, you’ll see their goal is to mine your photos for information they can sell to advertisers. You’re a source of income. Not a customer! And if they do upgrade you to a higher level of service, that service only lasts for as long as you continue to pay them rent.

If you’d like to make your life easier, by consolidating your Memory Keeping activities into one service and you’re tired of being taken for granted by companies who use you rather that serve your needs, then we need to talk about FOREVER. Call me for an appointment at 972-971-5263 and I’ll buy the coffee!