Food Fun Family

My Guy {Afterglow} #PSF

Lolli — Thu, 23 Oct 2014 22:39:48 +0000

Afterglow is back and they are rocking it already this school year!

My daughter’s quartet, Afterglow, performed at their first concert of the year last night, and they brought the house down. I love that in just a year since they first started singing together they have not only improved so much, but they have developed quite a name for themselves among their high school peers and the large Barbershop community in the greater DC area. They already have 2 huge DC concerts coming up in the next month (where they are guest performers at big venues) and I couldn’t be more proud or more excited for them.

Since I accompanied these 4 girls to all of their concerts and camps last year, they call me Mama Laura…and I love them all like daughters. I love that they are so different and yet they mesh together – in voices and in personalities – so perfectly. They just have so much FUN together. It’s contagious.

Here is their second song from last night, their first time performing this song as a quartet in public.

Here’s their performance of Taking a Chance on Love last June, and the very first song they learned together (Jeepers Creepers), performed last winter. My daughter is the tenor (the high voice).

Hosted by Cecily and Lolli

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An InLinkz Link-up

Oooh…It Has Bacon In It! #6SecondsFlat

Lolli — Wed, 18 Sep 2013 19:01:18 +0000

Thanks to Wendy’s for sponsoring today’s discussion and lunch out with my daughter. All thoughts (and video productions) are my own. Learn more about Wendy’s new Flatbreads and the #6SecondsFlat Sweepstakes here.

Wednesdays are my oldest daughter, KitKat’s afternoons “off.” If you haven’t heard about her schedule yet, here’s a quick run-down of her day:

5:45 am – Leave for before-school seminary (religion class)
7:20 am – Drive to the high school for 4 classes
11:00-11:30 am – Leave the high school and drive to the elementary school for internship
2:00 pm – Leave the internship to drive to work (after-school care at another elementary school)
7:00 pm – Come home for the night to study, eat, and sleep

We don’t see much of her. So when she doesn’t have internship every Wednesday, she’s got a couple of hours where we’re able to hang out together…we typically grab some lunch together and watch a little bit of Call the Midwife (I’m attempting to scare her off from wanting a baby any time soon).

Kidding.

Today, we ran out for a quick bite at Wendy’s and each tried the one of the new Flatbread sandwiches. KitKat was quite impressed:

Honestly, we had a lot of fun making the video (it produced more laughs than video footage in the end, especially after her comment about the Flatbread sandwich with bacon in it) and the time together was priceless.

Hurry to try Wendy’s Flatbread Chicken Sandwiches – they are back only for a limited time. We tried both flavors, Asiago Ranch (it has bacon in it!) and Smoky Honey Mustard (only 370 calories). Both were fantastic! KitKat preferred the Smoky Honey Mustard but I was a fan of the bacon. Who can resist a sandwich with bacon in it?

About the #6SecondsFlat Sweepstakes:

It’s pretty simple: 6 seconds could win you $6,000 in Wendy’s #6SecondsFlat Flatbread Sweepstakes.

Tell Wendy’s what you think about their flatbreads in a Vine or Instagram video then send it @Wendys (through twitter, Instagram or Vine) with the #6SecondsFlat tag and then my custom hashtag #betterinbulk6.

Each week of September, one lucky winner will be randomly selected to receive a $6000 prize. Since I can’t enter the sweepstakes, do me a favor and enter in my honor and use the #betterinbulk6 hashtag, K?

Wendy’s is handpicking the best video entries to re-post from their official Wendy’s social media accounts to be featured on the contest website. You could be famous AND rich.

What would YOU do if you won $6000 this month?

Visit the sweepstakes landing page for more information and view the “official rules” at the bottom of the page.

Easy DIY Floral Centerpieces

Lolli — Wed, 05 Jun 2013 11:00:41 +0000

This post is being sponsored by Pledge via Glam Media. As always, opinions expressed within this post are my own.

On the way home from a girl’s night out with my Mother-in-law yesterday, the two of us started chatting about our DIY/ crafting/ decorating skills. While she is typically not a crafter at all, I DO enjoy crafty projects, but I have a terrible time visualizing what I want to create unless I’m looking at an example that someone craftier than I has put together.

My mother-in-law claims that she is not crafty at all (probably about as strongly as I feel about my home decorating skills…in other words, I’m severely lacking!).

The best way for me to be crafty is to have easy-to-follow directions. As long as someone else has come up with the idea first, I can almost always recreate something fairly decent.

The following super-easy DIY floral centerpieces tutorial by Victoria at A Subtle Revelry is perfect for me. I love that the project takes only 3 components and can be easily customized for your party colors.

How to make a quick and easy 3-piece summery centerpiece:

This centerpiece craft takes 10 minutes or less and uses the 3 simple components: a bowl, a foam craft ball and flowers. It’s fast enough that you could whip up a couple of them in no time at all.

See? Even I can create something like this!

I think I’ll leave the after-crafting clean up to my kids… (we tend to make big messes around our house, especially where paper and markers are concerned) so there’s ALWAYS something to wipe down and clean up.

Discover more multitasking, re-organizing and fun ideas on Pledge’s Facebook page.

Pledge® Multi Surface Everyday Cleaner dusts AND cleans at the same time. Clean up multiple messes on multiple surfaces, all while removing up to 90% of the allergens found in dust and leaving the finish of your surfaces unharmed. See how you can dust better and clean more at Pledge.com.

Disclosure: Compensation was provided by Pledge via Glam Media. The opinions expressed herein are those of the author and are not indicative of the opinions or positions of Pledge.

Shoot Video Like A Pro – 5 Basic Mistakes You Can Fix Instantly

Lolli — Tue, 12 Mar 2013 16:06:31 +0000

My husband is guest posting today with a few tips from his area of expertise – video!

When you think of home movies, do the terms “well framed,” “good content,” “excellent lighting” and “superb cinematography” come to your mind? No? Then you must be doing something wrong.

Not really. In my opinion, there is nothing quite as painful as watching somebody’s home movies (even my own can cause heartburn). What seemed like a special moment at the moment, doesn’t always carry the same sentimental value when viewed through the lens of time.

Hours of small children playing on the carpet, birthday parties, chorus concerts and holiday dinners just don’t make for the great cinematographic soliloquy that inspired you to hit the “record” button in the first place.

If you’re reading this, you probably know that Lolli, my wonderful wife, is an avid and constant photographer. You may not know that I am a videographer. When we met, neither of us even owned a camera. It was one of those lucky things that we grew in to as time went by.

I began making movies at the age of 9. My oldest brother got a Super 8 film camera for his 13th birthday, and I was an extra in many of his films. To this day, I often reflect on the many “shorts” we made. He’ll never know how much I enjoyed those times, even though he and his friends were usually trying to ditch me.

Fast forward 32 years (Ouch!). I love making videos. Most of my production time is spent on foreign language videos, but I occasionally escape and make something more artistic and fun. My kids are usually willing to act in a spur of the moment home movie. Our titles include “The Adventures of Super Timothy,” “Nikki’s Kitchen,” “Ghost Dad,” “The Thing with Two Heads,” “The Hunter and the Dinosaur” and many more. We usually film in the basement on a night when mom goes out. Every film is released under the name “A Girl’s Night Out Film.”

So the question frequently comes up in conversation “How can I shoot good video?” There are lots of things that make a video look good, but expensive equipment and great lighting are not what it takes.

Let’s take a look at a few things you can do without buying anything or taking any extra time to film. Home movies are usually spontaneous shots and these tips will work like a charm.

5 Home Movie Tips to help you shoot like a pro

Lead Room (Space in front of the subject)

The next time you watch a movie, notice how when the subject is moving, they will almost always show extra room in front of the person or object. This space will be in the direction that the person or object is moving.

Why Lead Room?

Lead room allows you to see what is going to happen. It creates a more comfortable visual because you can’t see from the eyes of the subject, so you need to be able to see what is happening in the direction the subject is moving. The ultimate effect is that there is no surprise and it is less choppy.

It also helps you tell the story of what is happening. Video making is story telling.

The next time you follow a child across the room, or follow a bird or plane outside, place the subject in the rear third of the frame and keep him or her there as you move the camera to follow the action.

Framing Close Ups (Cut off that head)

It is not uncommon for people to worry about getting the whole subject in the frame, but I am here to tell you that cutting the top of somebody’s head off can be one of the best things you can do.

Here is the deal.

When you get close in on a subject, you are telling the audience that the actual words that someone is saying is important. You are less and less worried about lighting, angle or anything else. The fact that you are getting close makes the statement “listen to this.”

So, when you film a close up, the best way to make that person the true center of attention is to exclude all the details that distract you from paying close attention. Think about when someone wants to whisper something to you. You never look at their clothes or hair. You turn your ear to hear what they have to say.

In film, you zoom in close and focus on the face, mouth and sometimes in extreme cases, focus just on part of the mouth. The closer and more cropped the zoom, the more serious or intimate the message. It mimics real life behavior.

Framing (The Rule of Thirds)

The rule of thirds is the most basic way to make a dry shot look 100% better. Basically, you picture your frame in 3 equal sections divided vertically and then 3 equal sections divided horizontally. So a frame would have a tic tac toe board drawn on it, stretched to make each section even.

You then place your subject close to the left side or right side vertical line. The ideal position in many cases is to have the eyes of your subject very close to the top horizontal line and close to the left side or right side vertical line.

This framing applies to the two previous tips (lead space and close ups). If you follow this, even a basic scene will look remarkably better.

Zooming (Stop Doing So Much)

Here is a really easy tip to follow. Get your finger off that zoom button. Don’t zoom in and out while you are filming.

What is zoom really used for?

Well, it’s not for changing the framing in and out and in and out. Zoom is best used when you are trying to change the amount of background in the shot or getting a closer view of your subjects. But, that is usually accomplished before the record button is pushed on.

Zoom used during a scene is best applied in cases when you are trying to draw specific attention to someone or something. For example, when someone is talking and the mood turns to something very solemn. Or, it could just be that you are trying to focus the attention on the person speaking. It could also be used to change the focus to something going on in the background that is not supposed to be the subject of the scene, but for some reason becomes the central theme.

Zooming Part 2 (Pull Up Luke!)

When filming something moving, be sure to zoom out as much as needed to make the scene look smooth. A moving zoom shot will almost always be very bouncy and make people sick watching it, while a moving wide shot will be more pleasing to the eye.

When Luke was trying to blow up the Death Star, you felt like you were in his ship with him. That was intentional. The bouncy effect is not quite as enjoyable when watching a kid open a birthday present, so keep the zoom wide when there’s action.

Next time you pull out the video camera to capture video of your family, keep these tips in mind. You may not be winning any Academy Awards, but you’ll notice a difference right away. After you’ve captured the perfect home movies, send them in to YesVideo to preserve them for years to come.

Note: I am a YesVideo Ambassador and receive compensation for my time, but all opinions expressed within this post are my own. Like I’ve said many times before, I highly recommend using YesVideo to transfer your video memories onto long-lasting digital format. All opinions remain my own. Also, as a disclaimer, I did own a camera when I met my husband but I hardly ever used it. And we didn’t own a video camera until long after we started having kids.

Step-by-Step Guide to Converting Home Movies into DVDs

Lolli — Thu, 31 Jan 2013 21:23:29 +0000

In the last 17 1/2 years since I got married and had kids, I’ve gathered up quite an extensive collection of home movies. I started out using one of those enormous camcorders recording on VHS, then moved to a smaller camcorder using smaller tapes. Eventually, we bought a video recorder that used mini DVDs, and it wasn’t very long afterwards that I got a Flip camera. I thought the Flip camera was so fancy…until all of my digital cameras (and even my phone) could take videos, too.

Over the years, we caught lots of priceless short videos like this

What was left after so many years and such a variety of recording methods was an overload of media that was incompatible. Some home videos lived on my computer. Others were in dusty old VHS tapes stacked in the entertainment center. And still more were stuck on mini DVDs that could not be read by my current computers.

Every once in a while, the kids would want to watch videos of past concerts – or the day they took their first steps – and it was always a hassle to pull out the appropriate outdated recording device to play back the video.

I knew that I needed to figure out how to put everything in order so that we could enjoy, standardize and preserve our home movies. Luckily, over a year ago, I discovered YesVideo and have since accrued a much more manageable home movie collection. I’ve been asked a few time about the process of preparing and sending your original movies off to YesVideo, and so I wrote up a step-by-step process to show everyone how easy it really is to convert your old photographs and home movies into DVDs.

Step-by-Step Guide to Converting Home Movies into DVDs With YesVideo

The first step goes without saying…but I’ll say it anyway. Gather all your home movies, whether they be on film reel, VHS, 8mm video, DVDs, memory cards, or CDs (did I miss anything?). YesVideo will also convert stacks of photos, photo albums, slides, etc into slide shows on DVD.
Decide how you would like to send your media in. You can order directly from YesVideo’s website and mail your movies straight to them, or you can chose from one of their 34,000+ retail locations throughout the US (retail partners include Costco, CVS, Walmart, Sam’s Club, Walgreens, RiteAid and more).
1. If you’re mailing your videos yourself (I’ve done this and have been SO happy), prepare each separate media by labeling with a Post-It or sticker so that it’s clear which video is which. I always place my videos in a large zippered plastic bag to protect the movies from moisture and then package them in a box, ensuring that there is enough padding that they aren’t going to bump around during shipment.
2. If you would like to drop your videos off at a retail location, prepare your media similarly (minus the packaging–they’ll take care of that). Organize and label before you head out to the store.
Fill out the order form, either online or at the store. What they ask for is pretty basic: how many different types of original media you have, a title for each DVD (plus customized theme and background music if desired), and how many copies of each you would like made. Apply any discounts you may have, enter your shipping address and billing information, and you’re ready to send your originals off.
After you have sent your originals to YesVideo (either from home or from a retail location), they will travel to YesVideo’s Santa Clara, California headquarters (where I was able to tour last year) – the whole time protected by YesVideo’s Safety Guarantee. The transfer process is carefully orchestrated and awesome to watch….but all you need to do at this point is sit back and wait for your DVDs (and returned originals) to be sent back to you.

Along with your newly converted DVDs, you will also have access to your movies on YesVideo’s online sharing site, which I love.

See how easy that is? It’s so easy that I’ve converted DOZENS of home movies and old photos, and the result is more than I could have dreamed of. The kids pull the home movie DVDs off the shelf and watch them regularly. Reliving our past memories together strengthens our bonds and brings us closer together. We laugh together about how silly we used to be, and get nostalgic as we watch Great Grandma play the piano.

What old memories would you like to preserve onto digital media? Start here!

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