snapfish.com and Miami Walgreens: 50 Photos for $5 Through August 16 Code: WALDIME

My friend Monique and I were griping on the phone the other day about how all this technology that is supposed to make things easier and faster can sometimes make things more complicated. Photos, in particular, are what we were discussing. You know--we all have digital cameras now. And with those digital cameras, we have more control, more options....and a longer *&*^ To Do List. Forget the old days, when you would shoot a roll of film, drop it off at the drugstore, pick the photos up a few days later. If you were ambitious, you would put the photos in an album, and maybe get the best shots reprinted to mail to the grandparents. But if you were like many of us, you would flip through them, show the fam, and then throw the whole envelope in a box or drawer labeled "Photos." Done.

Now, I take some snaps at a birthday or on vacation with the digital, and here's a sample To Do List that hangs around in my brain:

* take the pics off the camera and put them on the computer in My Photos--in an appropriately labeled file, of course

* look through all 150 pics and find some cute ones, upload them to Facebook with funny labels so everyone can admire my adorable family

* find THE cutest one to use as my Facebook profile pic for a while

* upload the whole, huge batch to snapfish.com so those who are not addicted to Facebook can see the "Photo Album" and admire my adorable family

* send emails to friends and family with link to Snapfish album or Facebook album

*why not make some prints to mail with those birthday thank you cards? that would make the grandparents SO happy! OK, so now sort through the huge batch of photos again and pick a few to reprint. Go back to Snapfish and select photos to print.

* Or, do I want to make a cute photo greeting card that says "Thank You" to send as the birthday thank you cards? I'm inspired! Let's do that right away! I will take the memory card from the camera down the drugstore and use their machine to create a masterpiece photo "Thank You" card by cropping the photo, changing color backgrounds and messages, and redoing the card design three times while Elle plays at my feet by rearranging their floor level disposable camera display (thank god she is a little OCD toddler--this activity really does occupy her for a good 20 minutes.)

Seriously.

So I was psyched to discover that now, you can choose an option on snapfish.com to "print photos to Walgreens". I've used this a couple of times when I've wanted a few snaps printed to enclose in a birthday card or something, and have needed to mail right away. You choose the photos you want prints of, choose size, and they are ready at the Walgreens of your choosing within an hour. It's 19 cents a print for 4 x 6-- a lot more than getting them through the mail from Snapfish (9 cents each for 4x6.) But then again, if you only need five or six prints, you have to factor in shipping (99 cents at the least) or take time to choose other photos that you'd like prints of.....argh!!! See what I mean? That's why I'm excited about the 50 prints for $5 deal that snapfish.com and Walgreens are running through August 16. Use the code: WALDIME when you check out to get the deal. Looks like the grandparents will finally be getting those birthday thank you cards!

photo credit: idemidem/sxc.hu