Brought to you by the letter "S"

At the beginning of every year I tell my students that my life revolves around the letter "S." Allow me to explain:

• My husband's name is Stephen and I heart him
• Our daughter's name is Shyla and I heart her
• I heart Starbucks, and could go there everyday
• I heart Subway so much I could do the Jared Diet
• The diet-cherry-limeade from Sonic is to die for
• I spend a lot of time, money, and energy on Shutterfly.com

This post is about my love of Shutterfly and all-occasion (but especially holiday) cards! Enjoy, and if you've never used Shutterfly before, you need to. Right now! Well, when you're done reading this post.

Take a look at some *some* of my shutterfly creations:

We had these notecards made of Shyla when she was about 3 months old. We used them as "thank you" cards and "just writing to say hi" cards.

We used these Valentine's Day cards to celebrate...well...Valentine's Day!

We recently used these cards to say "thank you" and just to show off a really cute picture of our little girl.

In addition to cards, we do an annual Forgacs Family Photobook, occasional themed photobook, order 4x6 prints, and canvas prints (which, BTW, are lovely).

As it is already mid-November (can you believe it?) we've (okay, correction, I've) been thinking about our annual holiday card. We recently had family pictures taken and are anxiously waiting to see them, with the hopes that there one good enough to use!

Do send holiday cards? I look forward to it every year. I love picking out the card, finding the right picture, addressing the envelopes, and I LOVE receiving cards. I love that I exchange cards with friends and family that I see weekly and also with friends and family who I see maybe once a year or even less. Holiday cards are quick and thoughtful. They are easy, make people smile, and make great keepsakes.

Here's what we've done in the past (side note: the reason I was able to find all 3 of these is because every year I write a short novel to my husband on the back of one of our holiday cards all about how much I love him and our live and yadda, yadda, yadda):

In 2007, two months after we got married, we sent these New Year's cards because they were pretty!

In 2008, we sent this Christmas card to announce that we were expecting a baby!

Sorry it's sideways, but in 2009 we sent this card to show off said baby.

So...2010....I'm thinking of:

THIS ONE or

THIS ONE or

possibly THIS ONE

What do you think? To be honest, those are my 2nd, 3rd, and 4th choices because I want you to be surprised when you get yours in the mail, of course. Do you have a favorite?

What other photo products do you like or use? I used Shutterfly once to make luggage tags. I loved them.

HOW ABOUT MUGS

OR CALENDARS

What do you do for the holidays? Do you use Shutterfly? Does your life revolve around a particular letter?