Blue Bliss

Stressful Times

I don't know about you but I can use a little stress relief most days.

I work hard to stay on a daily schedule of exercise and meditation/prayer early in the morning before I start the work part of my day but I still feel like I'm rushing a lot trying to get everything done.

I'm sure part of it is because I'm not the most efficient because I get easily distracted by small things that need doing.  

I struggle to stay in the moment (which is why I talk about it so much!) and not worry about looking ahead, all while constantly thinking of the next few things I need to get done every day and throughout the week!

Then there's just been a lot of sad news too. 

It's been tough. I have two friends who've lost precious family members to Covid. One lost her father and the other lost her brother.

My heart and sympathies go out to everyone who has lost someone.    

I hate this virus. 

Blue for Stress Relief

I gave blood this morning which I do a few times a year.

Instead of my usual reading and list-making (while I'm laying there waiting for my pint to drain out) I pulled up my website to test it on my phone since I've recently added some new photos. 

One of the photos I added was Blue Bliss - the above photo. I was reading about how blue is a peaceful and calming color and it's good for stress management so thought I'd test the theory a little. 

Instead of continuing to look at my site and worry about what needs doing, I just sat and looked at the photo.  

Did it work? 

It did, but I'm not sure if it's because it was a mostly blue photo or because it was a photo of the ocean and cloud-filled sky which I love so much!

It did feel good, though and I relaxed into the moment. There are some times when you simply have no choice but to rest for a minute and giving blood is definitely one of them.

Website Announcement

I'm not much of a techie so working on my website can be stressful and time-consuming, but I want to take advantage of all the features my web provider offers. 

So, I've put in a lot of time on the website this last week, and I do have an exciting announcement.

I'm now offering coasters on my site!

They're an added medium under most of the photos. 

I disabled the coaster option for some of the photos where the photo just won't work on a coaster but most of the photos offer the option.

If you do decide to get some coasters, please take a careful look at the preview when you click on the coaster option. All of the photos look different on coasters because coasters are square which changes the aspect ratio of the photo.

Here's a screenshot of the print preview for a regular print:

Here's a screenshot of the preview for the coasters:

A significant portion of the photo gets cropped so it fits on the coaster.  I have no control over how the photo gets cropped because it's an automatic process.

I'm super excited about offering this option, and I hope to offer some other options soon - we'll see!

It's always a painstaking process for me to get new things up and running on my site, and it's just not in the budget for me to hire a tech person, so bear with me. 

I did notice a quirk when I was testing the site that I'll message my website provider about. Sometimes when you click on the coaster option, the preview doesn't come up. In that case, if you click on the "click to enlarge" link, an enlarged preview should come up. 

De-Stress Yourself!

If you're feeling stressed, sit and look at Blue Bliss for a few minutes and take a few deep breaths. Let me know if it works!

Wishing you a stress-free and happy week, and see you between the raindrops.

xoxo,
Susan