Weekly Moment of #Gratitude - Thanksgiving Edition #WhyImGrateful

It seemed appropriate that this week's 'Weekly Moment of Gratitude' be posted on Thanksgiving Day!

What I am grateful for:

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Just Being Here! -  Last year in October I began a Medical Roller-Coaster that I'm still sorting through. But considering 2012 started with a Specialist telling me to 'get my affairs in order', I'm fundamentally grateful just to have been able to wake up and have the gift of this day. This very day. The right here, the right now.

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - A Home Cooked Meal! - After a full year in and out of hospitals for month long stays, I am happy to be eating a home cooked meal that I can actually stomach!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - My Home - With so many in the North East devasted by the Hurricane, I'm grateful for the roof over my head!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - My Blogging Blessings! - Despite the uphill battle that this past year has been for me on a personal (as well as physical, emotional and spiritual) level, blogging has brought many wonderful blessings and many wonderful people into my life and for that I find myself feeling profoundly blessed and grateful. For all the brands both long term brands who have been with us since the begining, and for newer brands I have had the chance to collaborate with this year, I am grateful! (Special Shout Out to Britax, Duane Reade, Mami Innovative Media and Collective Bias for the wonderful opportunities working with you has presented me with!) And for all the wonderful blogging conferences I had the opportunity to attend, and learn and grow as a blogger (BlogHer, Niche Mommy, and the Fashion Forward Conference!)

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - My Family - They say hospital stays and prison sentences show you who your friends are, so to the friends and family who have shown me so much love and support through this incredibly difficult year, Thank You!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Ascending Butterfly - I'm grateful for YOU butterflies! I never thought my simple love of butterflies and seeking inspiration in the day to day would grow into such a large community. And for readers who emailed me, and sent me messages of support via our social media channels during my hospital stay I wanted to thank you all again for your kindness and support!

What are YOU most grateful for this week Butterfly?

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What are you grateful for today? I'd love for you to write in and share what you are grateful for this week. The more you say it, the more you speak it, and the more you live in gratitude, the more you will find reasons to be grateful for, and the more reasons that the universe will send you to be grateful for. So join me on this journey of gratitude and inspiration. And you can post here daily (even though my list will be posted weekly).

Remember, attitude really does determine altitude.

It is OK to *Re-Tweet* the link to this post and You can find me on Twitter here (@Tracy_Iglesias) Twitter love: re*tweet by copying and pasting the following into your update field at Twitter:

OK to RT: @Tracy_Iglesias This Week's 'Moment of Gratitude' and Active Giveaways!  - http://tiny.cc/n4Thx

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Giveaways!

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ ENDING SOON: Purex with Oxi and Zout Stain Remover! I can't give you Laundry Service, but I can give you a Free Product Coupon {#Giveaway}

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ Super Cute Overload:  Win a Gund BOO and a mini BOO too! {@Rafflecopter #Giveaway}

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Gratitude Journal Reco:

For those of you who are interested in keeping a gratitude journal this year, here is my recommendation and where to purchase it:

Make this Your Best Day ever, Bless and Be Blessed!

HAPPY THANKSGIVING BUTTERFLIES!

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FTC Disclosure: This is a sponsored post, I am a Britax Latina Advisory Board Member, Digital Hispanic Outreach Blogger Brand Ambassador via Mami Innovative Media. Being an Ambassador comes with additional incentives, however all opinions expressed herein are 100% my own. Journal Recommendation uses an Amazon Affiliate Link. Questions about our Disclosure? Please visit: http://www.ascendingbutterfly.com/p/disclosure-policy.html

Kodak MY HERO!!!

Technology hasn't quite been my friend this year, shortly after my laptop died, my printer died too. Like many people do, I vented via Social Media to my dead printer manufacturer, sadly to no avail. So I reached out to a few other printer manufacturers and the first to answer my plea for help was Kodak! We are a three generation loyal Kodak Camera family but had never tried out their printers before. I have actually used only 2 printer manufacturers, one at work and a different brand at home, but we are talking over 10 years using those 2 brands exclusively.

This year has been thrusting me head first into change of all kinds, some I was ready for, others not so much, but this time around I will say it's been a phenomenal change!

Kodak was kind enough to send Ascending Butterfly their KODAK HERO 7.1 All-in-One Printer!

KODAK HERO 7.1 All-in-One Printer in retail packaging!

ABOUT THE KODAK HERO 7.1 All-in-One Printer:

Print specifications
Print speed	photos: borderless KODAK Lab-Quality 4 × 6 in. photos in as little as 28 seconds documents: 8.5 ipm in black / 5.5 ipm in color automatic two-sided printing
Print resolution	9600 optimized DPI for high-resolution color photo printing / 1200 × 1200 DPI for highest monochrome text resolution (default)
Paper size	borderless photos from 4 × 6 in. up to 8.5 × 11 in. documents from 4 × 6 in. up to 8.5 × 14 in.
Paper capacity	100-sheet paper tray (20 lb) and separate 40-sheet photo paper tray
Mobile printing	print on the go from your smartphone, computer, or tablet using Google Cloud Print enabled apps  send emails and attachments to your printer from anywhere, using any email capable, web connected device with KODAK Email Print Service  print photos directly from your iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, BLACKBERRY, or ANDROID device with the KODAK Pic Flick App
Copy specifications
Copy speed	first copy output time (FCOT): 25 seconds[8]
Copy features	copy up to 99 copies at a time on a 20–500% scaling or fit to page range adjustable brightness and quality
Document size	copy up to 8.5 × 11.7 in. or to 8.5 × 14 in.
Scan specifications
Resolution	2400 DPI optical scanner (CIS), 24-bit 9600 interpolated DPI
Scan features	scan multiple photos simultaneously and get separate files automatically scan and edit documents with optical character recognition (OCR) Perfect Page scanning technology[9]corrects your scanned images so they look better than the original scan to PC, Google Docs, email, memory cards, USB flash drive, network folders
Document size	scan up to 8.5 × 11.7 in. or to 8.5 × 14 in.
General specifications
Connectivity	built-in Wi-Fi, 802.11 b/g/n Google Cloud Print ready[10] KODAK Email Print Service ready[11] iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, BLACKBERRY, or ANDROID device with the KODAK Pic Flick App[12] USB 2.0 High Speed DPOF / USB / PictBridge port
Supported memory card formats	print without a computer using memory card slots—SECURE DIGITAL (SD)/SECURE DIGITAL HIGH CAPACITY (SDHC), MULTIMEDIA CARD (MMC), MEMORY STICK (MS)/MEMORY STICK PRO (PRO), and with adapter: MS Duo, miniSD, microSD/SDHC
Display	3.5 in. color LCD touchscreen
Power consumption	ENERGY STAR qualified
Dimensions	[W × D × H]: 17.5 × 17.0 × 7.5 in.
Weight	16.5 lb (includes power supply, ink, paper)

• Specifications
• System Requirements

Package Contents

• KODAK HERO 7.1 All-in-One Printer
• KODAK Black Ink Cartridge, 10B
• KODAK Color Ink Cartridge, 10C
• KODAK 3D Glasses
• Power supply and adapter cord
• Setup Guide
• User Guide
• KODAK All-in-One Printer Software CD
• NOTE: USB 2.0 cable sold separately and required for non-Wi-Fi PC/MAC printing

Warranty

Product one year from purchase (with proof of purchase)

System Requirements

WINDOWS

• MICROSOFT WINDOWS 7, VISTA Home Basic, or XP-Home (SP2 or above)
• INTERNET EXPLORER 7 or higher
• INTEL CELERON 1.2 GHz or compatible processor
• 512 MB memory
• 500 MB available hard disk space
• CD-ROM drive
• USB port

MACINTOSH

• MACINTOSH OS 10.5 or higher
• POWERPC G4, G5, or INTEL-based MAC
• 1.2 GHz clock speed
• 512 MB memory
• 200 MB available hard disk space
• CD-ROM drive
• USB port

KODAK HERO 7.1 All-in-One Printer - Lid up to show scanner in use!

My Take:

I took the time to really put this printer through it's paces and it has not let me down in any way. I love that I am no longer tied down to a computer to print, I can print from literally anywhere, including Google Cloud, which is pretty awesome for me, because a lot of my contracts and NDA Agreements come to me via Google Docs or DropBox, I can scan my emails while on the bus or train and set anything that needs to be signed to print, and they are all waiting for me when I get back, which is super convenient. I don't even need my computer on to print from a device or memory card, how SWEET is that?

Another reason I love this printer is the crisp Kodak Print Pictures. And here is a tip for you: If you find yourself at an event or traveling and your device runs out of memory but you need to keep snapping away, don't worry, send the existing pictures to your printer! You can scan them later to make yourself a digital copy, but still keep your memory card clear to take more pictures and not miss a special moment because you are out of memory. This printer has certainly saved me at a few events, I was able to send photos to my printer and then keep shooting!

And because I'm in a tiny NYC apartment that is cramped for space, I love being able to eliminate another cord/wire!

I also love that it keeps track of supplies for me, it let me know that I am currently running low on paper, and that was my last ream, so it's off to the office supply store for me!

It comes with a great trial version of ArcSoft Scrapbook, here is a page I created for the #windowstyle contest during #BlogHer

I have also used it to restore old photos, and I've been impressed with how much better the pictures look when I scan them in with my new Kodak HERO 7.1! To show you a specific example, check out this post from July 13th - Always a Bridesmaid, Never a Bride! Is it because I avoid the bouquet toss? <-The photos used in this post were scanned in with this printer, and they were in pretty bad shape in terms of being  bent when I removed them from the photo album with a small bit of yellowing on one of the photos also. The scan brought back details I honestly can't see in the original picture! And this has been the case with older photos I have scanned in to both restore and preserve them in a digital format.

Get Social With It:

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ -Twitter @KodakCommunity  @kodakCB @KodakPrinters

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Like on Kodak on Facebook

Ƹ̵̡Ӝ̵̨̄Ʒ - Be Pinterest Friends with Kodak!

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FTC Disclosure: While Kodak did provide me with a Kodak HERO 7.1 All-in-One-Printer, no monetary compensation has been received in exchange for this review and all opinions are 100% my own!