My Photos: A Reminder of What It's Really All About

I have been in a real rut lately.  The fact is that I have been burnt out for months.  When I work, I seem to be going at half the pace I used to, so it feels like I am just working all the time when I am not tending to my children.  On those days when I'm feeling especially run-down and under-appreciated (and counting the days until summer vacation is over), I wonder why I am able to plug along day after day.

I took the photo below at dinner last night.  Those aren't fake smile-for-the-camera smiles.  My family is genuinely happy and having fun.  After I took this photo, I realized that they are why I keep going.  I'm going to put this photo on my desktop so, if I ever begin to forget again (maybe while I'm up until 1am working because I couldn't get enough done during the day), I'll have an instant reminder.

Taken with the Nokia Lumia 920

Click here to view all my past favorite photos.

My Photos: Mother's Day Memories

I know Mother's Day was nearly a full week ago, but I am just getting around to sharing my photos now.  The one below was taken with my Nokia Lumia 920 Windows phone and the rest with my D-SLR.  Sometimes I am amazed at the quality of the photos taken with my phone.  When the light is just right, the photos really do come out wonderfully.  I only wish it had a macro setting.

It seems like every year on Mother's Day, I subject the children to a mini photo shoot.  It's a great way for us to see how much they have changed over the coarse of one year.  As always, I am floored at how much each child has grown and blossomed, but more so this year with our daughter.  She is only 6 years old, but seems like she's heading full speed ahead towards becoming a tween.  She needs to slow down.  I don't think I'm ready for it and I know my husband is not.

This is our 6 year old son.  Thankfully, he enjoys being a child and is in no hurry to grow up.  He is quite the charmer though.  Somehow he's learned to turn on that sweet smile along with a little twinkle in his eyes especially for the ladies.  He's definitely going to be a heartbreaker.

Here is our 9 year old son who is the cool big brother.  He is at that special age where he can go back and forth between being a little kid and young man.  On Mother's Day, I could not believe I had been a mom for almost a decade.  Where did the time go?

One more photo of our princess . . .

This year on Mother's Day, I was really overwhelmed with the lengths the children went through with handmade gifts and cards.  The one below was made by our 6 year old son in his art class.  It's a mama bird watching over her eggs in a nest.

The necklace below was made for me by our 6 year old daughter.  I actually have a similar one made by her big brother when he was in kindergarten.  I wore it to Mother's Day dinner at my sister's house Sunday evening.

Along with an elegant ring containing 3 Garnets (my children's birthstones), I also received poems, handmade books, cards, and drawings.  These are all going in my keepsake box and I will cherish them forever!

What was your favorite memory about Mother's Day this year?

Click here to view all my past favorite photos.

Tech Tip: How to Add Existing Verizon Email (an ISP Email) to a Windows 8 Phone

I recently upgraded to a Nokia Lumia 920 from the old Samsung Focus Windows phone.  Even though I use AT&T for my mobile phone service, my home Internet is provided by Verizon.  I use several different emails for various business and personal purposes and a few of them are on Verizon.  My Verizon emails were configured into my old Windows 7 phone, but I could not figure out how to add it to my new Windows 8 phone.  My husband Googled it and it looks like many people are having the same issue with various Windows 8 phones.  Since I finally figured it out, I thought I would share how easy it turned out to be.

NOTE:  As previously stated, I am using an Nokia Lumia 920.  I have not tried this on other Windows 8 phones, but am assuming that it should be similar.  I also did this with my Verizon email, but am assuming that other ISP (Internet Service Provider) emails would work the same way.

How to configure your Verizon email with your Windows 8 phone . . .

1.  Go to "Settings"
2.  Select "Email + Accounts"
3.  Go to "Add an Account"
4.  Choose "Other Account (POP and IMAP)"
5.  Enter your email address and password
6.  Click "Sign In"

Your newly added email should "Pin To Start" automatically.  Each new email you add will be its own tile showing a new email count.  You can "Link Your Inboxes" if you want to only have one tile for email by going into one of your emails, opening the options list, and choosing "Link Inboxes".

By the way, I was able to add my Verizon email to my Nokia Lumia 920 by following the instructions below.  I found the link to these instructions in the welcome email sent to my Windows Live inbox when I activated my new phone.  I never would have seen the email if I had not been trying to add my Verizon emails to Outlook in order to configure them to my Windows 8 phone that way.