An Arizona summer isn’t complete without monsoon rain. When it comes, it really comes. And we can’t get enough of it.
Some of us are more content watching from inside. : )
Archive for July, 2010delighting in the downpour.Thursday, July 29th, 2010recent POTDs.Thursday, July 29th, 2010In the world of Project Life, and specifically for those of us who are capturing a slice of life every day, POTD is an everyday term. It stands for Picture of the Day. Our kids have even started having an opinion of what they think should be in the POTD for our family’s yearbook. Love that. It’s been a while since I’ve shared some POTDs, so here’s a look at some recent shots that help to illustrate our family’s story. I’m a re-arranger. In our home, I move things around on a regular basis. This is the latest arrangement in the middle of our kitchen table. It’ll likely be different in a couple weeks. This photo illustrates my interest in home decor as well as one of my personality traits (I rearranged my bedroom furniture all the time as a kid.) Reminder to moms who are creating books for their kids & families: Don’t forget to include yourself, your hobbies, your quirks, your interests. You are just as much part of the story. ———-
We are so grateful that Porter (7) and Claire (4) have such a special friendship and get along really well. One of their latest “things” is that Porter massages Claire’s ears. I’m serious. Totally random and totally sweet. This photo illustrates Porter’s caring nature and represents their sweet relationship. ———-
Last night’s dinner: French Dip sandwiches. One of our favorites and the kids’ first time eating them. Click here for the recipe. This photo illustrates an everyday occurrence and basic human function — eating. It’s part of life and therefore, part of our story. ———-
Our oldest niece has left for college. I’ve been thinking about Kyra a lot and wondering how she’s doing. So excited that she is going to experience life away from home. So excited for what is in store for her — educationally, socially, spiritually. So this was part of our text conversation this past week. This photo illustrates a family relationship, how texting is a part of our world, and how I personally embrace new beginnings in life. ———-
Speaking of new beginnings … our baby is learning to swim! Crew has had a handful of lessons and I work with him as much as I can. Every day he has had a lesson he is extra snuggly with me. And I dig it. Particularly because David is the main recipient of Crew’s snuggles at home. This photo illustrates how much this sweet boy really does loves his mama and how much I eat it up when he slows down enough to snuggle with me. ———-
The other night Porter wanted to watch some spy show. I wanted him to hang with me in the office while I did some projects. A few minutes later he handed this to me. I had no idea he was working on it. Honestly, I think the boy knows I’m a sucker for his art. Very manipulative, isn’t he? Of course I fell for it. This photo illustrates how Porter uses art to communicate his deepest desires. (Note: I scanned the art.) ———- Every day there is something worth recording. Actually, there are a thousand little things worth recording. But even just taking a picture of one thing, writing one story or anecdote — these all add up to illustrate the story of our life. Even if it’s not every day, I know that so many of you are doing what you can to tell your story. I just love that. my mom, the giver.Tuesday, July 27th, 2010I’ve introduced her here on my blog more than once. This is my mom. Hi mom! (She will be surprised to see this post.)
One of my mom’s best traits is that she is a giver in many ways. Last week I posted these thoughts & pictures about taking pictures of words, particularly when traveling. A few of you recognized a name special to you in the picture of Finnish name plates. My ever-so-thoughtful mom took notice of those blog readers and tracked down name plates for them. For real. So now she has these name plates and wants to send them to those readers. For real.
She cracks me up — and yet — it really is so thoughtful. SO, cute blog readers who left a comment about one of these names — you know who you are — please send your shipping address to this email address and my mom will send you your name plate. For real. Know what might be fun? If any of you have met my mom (she has accompanied me on many trips back when I used to travel & teach on the road) … feel free to leave a comment to say hi to her, and maybe mention where you met her or what impression she had on you. This will make her day. In fact — feel free to say hi, even if you haven’t met her. : ) (No, it’s not Mom’s birthday. No special occasion. I just love her. That’s all.) scrapbooking travel pictures & becky gets deep.Monday, July 26th, 2010I’m getting this question a lot: What do you do with your travel pictures? Do you do a photobook, photo album, layout? Please tell me because I don’t know where to put all the pictures I take in my travels.
————– It’s an excellent question and on a lot of our minds … so let’s talk about it. I’ll tell you what I do (you’re going to get a healthy dose of my personal scrapbooking philosophy) and I invite you to share what you do with your vacation/travel photos. Everyone needs to do what feels right for them. Do what works for you, not what you think you “should” do because you’ve seen so-and-so do it that way. Let’s just share ideas and inspire each other, right? Right. WHAT I USED TO DO. For years and years and years, this was my system: After traveling somewhere I would add that trip to my list of layouts-to-do. It was right there on my handy-dandy list right along with birthdays and holidays and momentous occasions and school pictures and … you name it. Anything and everything I wanted to scrapbook went on this list. I’m an organizer. That’s what I do. When time allowed, I would get around to creating those layouts, one at a time. This layouts-to-do list was always long and I never felt like I could get where I wanted to be, which is current. WHY THIS NO LONGER WORKS FOR ME. I have this innate need to feel like I’m on top of my pictures. As a lifetime scrapbooker, I was finding it impossible to keep up with my wishful thinking of countless layouts. I wanted to play with my kids instead of spend gobs and gobs of time putting layouts together. I enjoy the art – don’t get me wrong – but it can be oh-so-time-consuming. We all know it. So my list got longer and longer and I wasn’t actually doing any scrapbooking with our pictures — travel and otherwise. I evolved in my philosophy and approach to scrapbooking. I evolved to a place that is do-able. Realistic. Fun. Focused. And my pictures? I’m scrapbooking them. My list? I’m so over that. WHAT I DO NOW. Pardon the shameless plug, but I have two words – Project Life. This is how it works for travel pictures: We go somewhere. We come back. I go through our pictures, narrow down, and organize them in our iPhoto library. And then … I choose one picture per day to represent our travel. I add that to our ongoing Project Life book (I personally prefer the digital version). Those travel pictures receive equal treatment to every other picture that goes in our book. That amazing hundreds-of-years-old building we saw? Just as important as Crew learning to feed himself, Claire lining up her stuffed animals for a tea party, Porter losing a tooth, the vegetables we pulled out of the garden, the friends we hang out with. The little stuff in life is just as important as, if not more important than, the big stuff. It should all be included in telling our life story. WHY THIS WORKS FOR ME. I am a practical woman. Like really, truly practical. I try to do what makes the most sense and feels right. So for me – for our family - we now have our pictures and stories actually being recorded and preserved in a format we can enjoy, instead of making a list of scrapbook pages I’d like to do “someday”. If you see me in person and ask about it, you’ll have a hard time shutting me up because I am that passionate about the system and its ease and its flexibility. I want this to help so many people (scrapbookers and non-scrapbookers alike) because it has helped me. WHAT ABOUT THE REST OF THE PICTURES? I knew you’d ask. : ) We took a lot of pictures on our recent trip to Finland. After narrowing down, I have exactly 573 pictures that are now stored in iPhoto. Will I scrapbook all of those? Of course not. Would that be nice? Sure. Is it realistic? Heck no. There are thousands and thousands of pictures in our iPhoto library that aren’t being scrapbooked. I’m over it. Sometimes we browse through our pictures on the computer. Sometimes we incorporate our favorites into our home decor. Sometimes we share random pictures with loved ones. Sometimes we make iMovies with the pictures. There are so many other ways to enjoy photographs outside of actual scrapbooks. ABOUT THAT LIST. Going back to what I said about “do what works for you” — I do realize that there are many of my readers who are true-blue-traditional-layout scrapbookers. I love that. For those of you in that category who are also list-makers and who would be interested in keeping an ongoing list like I mentioned (because it works for you), I’m happy to share that list format again:
So … what works for you? word up.Thursday, July 22nd, 2010Yes, I am fully aware of my nerdy side. Titling blog posts isn’t my greatest strength. Here’s another travel photography tip: Capture the WORDS where you go. This is another often-overlooked element of your experience visiting another place. Look at the signs. Notice names, titles, headlines, slang, lyrics or anything else in written form. Taking pictures of these types of visuals will further capture your traveling experience. This applies whether you’re enjoying a staycation or traveling somewhere where the language is different than your own. A handful of pictures from Finland … since that’s what’s fresh in our iPhoto library.
Remember looking for ANYthing with your name on it when you were a kid? So fun. Hey, if anyone needs a unique baby name idea … for the love of food.Wednesday, July 21st, 2010I don’t know what it is about photographing food, but I find myself staring at edible delights from behind the lens on a regular basis. Sometimes it’s to accompany a favorite recipe (for crying out-loud, I finally posted a new recipe!). Sometimes it’s to capture the essence of what our taste buds experience on special occasions. For those of you doing Project Life, consider photographing what you eat. After all, food is part of your life story just as much as anything else. Think about it from all angles. The examples shown here are “special occasion” foods because they’re from our travels abroad this summer. But don’t overlook that bagel you have almost every morning for breakfast or Mom’s famous meatloaf that you enjoy monthly or the snack you reach for while working on the computer. By the way, the last picture is my personal favorite. If that doesn’t tell the story of how delicious the dessert was, I don’t know what will.
besides the destination itselfMonday, July 19th, 2010A little reminder today to those who are about to travel: If you put all of your focus completely on the destination itself, you risk overlooking the actual journey. Whether you’re taking a road trip into the mountains or flying half-way across the world to explore another country, be in the moment. Appreciate your journey for what it is. Pay attention to the details. And photograph them. They are just as much a part of the story. I’ll share some examples of the kind of pictures to think about taking on your next adventure. These are from our recent trip to Finland and Estonia but remember — the ideas apply to your travels, no matter where you’re headed. First of all, the packing. I would have loved to see how my parents packed back in the day. I gather & sort my outfits on our closet floor in preparation for packing. Details worth recording, don’t you think?
What kind of electronics, chargers, and the like do you pack for your travels?
What about any itineraries, passports, and other travel documentation? By the way, I picked up this snap-closure clear envelope at The Container Store (they’re so easy to find at Target and WalMart and just about anywhere) … and it was the most handy thing ever for our trip. It held our documents and passports but memorabilia along the way. For those of you who can’t stand loose papers, pamphlets, receipts, ticket stubs, etc. this is a really wonderful tool for traveling and keeping it all together.
And by the way, so is this skinny notebook. This is where I journaled brief notes from each day of our travels so I’d remember some details, the spelling of certain places, and other little things worth noting. I believe I picked it up at WalMart? Notice there is no thick binding, so that’s why it’s really terrific. Skinny and flat and I kept it in my handy-dandy clear envelope.
Think about how you get from here to there. Car, train, bus, plane … whatever and however. Like most of you, I have a favorite bag that goes right along with me. It’s right there beside me during the whole journey, my trusty travel companion. It deserves a picture. (PS – Yes, that’s my JoTotes bag. LOVE.)
What about ticket stubs and other memorabilia? Back in the day, I’d save that sort of stuff. Now I photograph it and toss the originals. That’s a personal choice but it works for us. Less stuff and yet, we still get a visual of those things.
And don’t forget about currency for those of you traveling out of the country. It’s something you use while you’re abroad. It’s unique to that corner of the world. So capture that. Again, this is part of the story.
project life loveThursday, July 15th, 2010
Thank you, friends. I appreciate the messages and comments about how Project Life is helping you with your endeavors to preserve your memories and do something with your pictures. Many of you seem to be spreading the word (especially to your “non-scrapbooking” friends) and I want you to know how much I appreciate that. You’re awesome. 1. Yes, I am working on the next version of Project Life to release in time for Christmas. Same kit with new, updated designs. The kits on Amazon right now are the last of this year’s design. When they’re gone, they’re gone. 2. If you’re outside of the U.S. you can order HERE. 3. Want to do something with your pictures, but not so much with a physical scrapbooking kit? If digital is your preference, click HERE for the scoop on that. Personally, I’m doing the digital version for our family’s Project Life. I know everyone has their personal preference. That’s why we’re offering both options. Take your pick. : ) 4. If you use Project Life and want to share this on your own blog, you can grab the graphic (you’ll see it right here – on the right side of my blog). Project Life is back in stock!Thursday, July 15th, 2010the pet we had for 36 hours.Thursday, July 15th, 2010Two nights ago the kids found a teeny tiny gecko in our little bathroom closet. Didn’t bother me one bit. Welcome to desert living. Somehow 3 people in our family got the idea that this little creature would become our pet. As of this morning, the baby was still safely kept in a red plastic cup with a few scraps of what my kids thought my be good food. Um, are those onion peelings? Why, yes. I do believe they are. Um, nice.
So this morning was one of those mama-knows-best moments. I had a pep talk with the kids. Explained that the two options were: 1) we keep the gecko and it will die — because my gut tells me that it absolutely will die. I’m sure of it. We’re not in a stage of life where taking care of pets is our best skill or interest. Option 2) we let the gecko go where he can survive and thrive and enjoy desert living the way he should. There was much resistance at first but after I explained that geckos have families too, my kids’ hearts softened. And then it was a quick, “Okay!” Okay!? Just like that? Sweet. So off we went to the backyard where we released our little baby gecko friend.
The kids wanted to name him Jaxon. After all, whether you have a pet for 10 years or 36 hours, you still give him a name, right? So … farewell, Jaxon. Hope to see you around. Thanks in advance for eating whatever little critters around here that we’d prefer to keep out of the house.
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