An open letter to friends and family

As we have discussed with many of you, the current plan for our family is to relocate to the Portland, Oregon area. This relocation will be happening ASAP - but realistically that ASAP will have to wait until we get jobs and can feasibly move the kids. This means the earliest we will be in Portland is the summer.

Now, with this impending move, Jeff and I have spent a great deal of time "cleaning out the closet" - in the most literal of forms. The school year has been (almost unbearably) hard, and I've not really had the time for anything that I have really enjoyed in the past. I am finding myself trying to desperately remove all those "extra" time suckers I have on my plate. Even my beloved scrapbooking, which most of you know is something I have always adored. I'm also eliminating unnecessary clutter and belongings. Partially because I don't want to move them, and partially because I don't need the excess anymore.

Enter, also, social networking and the easy nature of posting pictures for all to see. Facebook has allowed me to connect to so many friends that I have ago lost touch with. The uploader and captioning tools are also easier to work with. Sometimes a blogger post would take me HOURS to complete (if google is slow, and there are a lot of pictures). It's easier to share the family's comings and goings on Facebook. Not to mention you get a daily impression of how the family is doing through my status updates.

Those close to me also know that I have recently discovered a love for photography. Which means I am taking a LOT of pictures. Pictures I would love to share (and do, on the aforementioned Facebook). But when I have to upload to Facebook, doing it here seems repetative. Most people who log into this blog ALSO log into Facebook. I was using this site as a "diary" that I could download into book format. But I can create the same sort of "book" MUCH more quickly by doing it directly. Not creating a blog format, downloading it into book format, only to have to completely edit the layout and content to fit the change in context.

So, this means that this will (likely) be my last blog entry for the family. If we are not already "friends" on Facebook, please add me! You get lots of updates there. I've also started up a Flickr account under TeacherMomHollee. If you are on flickr, you can link to ALL my photos there. In fact, now that I have unlimited uploads and storage, I'm seriously considering putting up all my old photos. What I love about flickr is that it's connected to snapfish, which makes it WAY easy to print your own photos. Since I now do most of the portrait sittings on my own, it makes it easy for people to get their own copies of whatever photo floats your boat.

As time allows in the future, I will also be continuing my foodie blog. I really miss cooking, developing recipes, and writing about it. So as this school year wraps up, and I'm able to re-discover the bounty of the Pacific Northwest, I think you'll be hearing from me LOTS there.

I will leave this up for a while, until I can get this blog published into book format and figure out a way to back it up on a harddrive somewhere. I just didn't want friends and family continuing to watch for an update when I determine I would likely be "updating" elsewhere.

Love to all,

The McNamee Family