Travel Turtle travel | crafts | culture | life | fun | family

Happy Thanksgiving to all my friends celebrating this great holiday.

I wish I could be in the US to celebrate, but since I can’t, I am going to embrace this holiday the best way I know.

I am thankful…

• … that my little boy will get to experience his second Thanksgiving (and the first time he’ll be able to try the food)!
• … for a husband who understands me at my best and worst.
• … that my parents made the trek to Germany for the second year in a row and even though their relationship with my son is mostly through skype, I’m thankful that these past two weeks have been filled with them bonding in such an amazing way. (ie. my son prefers when they hold them and takes the time every morning to “say” good morning to each of them.)
• … that although Thanksgiving isn’t celebrated in Germany, there are Christmas Markets in town that will bring a lot of holiday cheer to our 4th Thursday of November.
• … for the opportunity to live in a foreign country at this time of my life and to meet a diverse group of people that keep my life here fun.
• … that I found a hobby that is meaningful, creative, and challenging and filled with people doing awesome things every day.
• … that the internet has made communication so much easier for everybody, but especially appreciative of this fact during the holidays when I’m away from my family, or needing a little bit of home.
• … for pumpkin pie.

I recently returned from a short road trip. We stayed in Colmar (a small town in the Alsatian region of France) and using that as our hub, we travelled around other parts of France, Switzerland and the Black Forest. Here are some random observations I wanted to share:

• We stayed in the Petite Venice area of Colmar. It was getting ready for what can only be a spectacular Christmas Market that starts tomorrow. Many of the buildings had elaborate decorations they were putting up, plus the street-lined decorations – this is going to be one festive place.
• Whenever I spotted a macaron shop, I stopped and had one (or two). My favorite flavors are chocolate, pistachio and intense vanilla. I actually tried to make macarons from scratch when I lived in the states. I had never had one before and I wasn’t too impressed. I always try one whenever I see them because I’m convinced I’ll like them. It’s safe to say that this is the trip when I realized that I do like them, as long as I stick to the flavors I mentioned. I especially like the chocolate because it tastes like uncooked brownie “dough” with a crusty outside. Yummy!

• Lauterbrunnen is one of the few places in the world where I felt I had to take a picture every second. This Florida girl just can’t get over how beautiful this area is.
• Whenever I looked at the photos of the mountains I took, it looked like a painting. That picture above? This doesn’t even seem real to me. I know I was there and I witnessed this place first hand, but it’s hard to believe this type of place exists. Also, this picture above? Technically above Lauterbrunnen. We took a lift up the mountain and then a train farther up the mountain to get these views, but I don’t remember the specific town we were in. I just know is was well above Lauterbrunnen.
• We were originally going to stay in Lauterbrunnen instead of Colmar, but the hotels are closed for 3 weeks in November. When we got there, we found out that most of the restaurants and shops were also closed. We were able to find a place that had delicious food and some souvenirs (as well as a small grocery section that had fish-sticks called “crack-sticks”) – so we didn’t have to starve . Considering that 95% of the town was closed, I was surprised by the number of tourists. I’m so happy that we were there during this time. As much as I love to have more choices when dining or shopping, this is the type of place I wanted to experience in a more peaceful state. But, don’t get me wrong, I’ll be more than happy to go back when people are skiing, places are open, and the town is packed.
• What I did not see in the Black Forest: Black Forest Cake, Cuckoo Clocks, a black forest.
• What I did see in the Black Forrest: A valley area inside hills and forested mountains, little villages, lots of cows, many people enjoying outdoor activities from biking to walking and jogging in all age groups, the city of Freiburg, waffles with hot cherries on top.

One thing I love about Germany, guaranteed colorful flowers throughout the year.And the town of Munster has some of the nicest pothole covers I’ve ever seen: (I read in a travel photography book years ago to take pictures of these. I try to remember, but don’t always. I’m glad I looked down while I was in Munster.)

After doing the digital version of Project Life for 2011, I’m going to try out the paper version for 2012. I think I’ll enjoy having the project in my hands from the get-go and playing with paper. However, the mere size of the PL albums has me a little nervous. I just love that the PL:digital is a smaller book. I’m also a bit sad that they decided to go with Shutterfly for the digital albums this year, only because I think it’ll be a great platform, but I’ve already decided to go the traditional route. (I’ll reevaluate when the Shutterfly stuff is released, though… I’m flexible!)

I am so excited that there is a creative team set-up now (however, I think there should be a PL:digital team member). I think this will really help me keep on track and try new things. I’ve been reading blog posts and taking notes on the methods that I think may be helpful for myself.

Here is how I plan to approach it:

• Each week is the two week spread. I will alternate between design A and design D because I take a lot of vertical pictures and want them in their intended form. For me.
• I will look at the week as a week instead of a bit from each day. This will help with the flow of the design for the week and help to ease the tension of having only one picture from a cool event.
• I was originally going to try to do an art journal for each week in place of PL (all the blog posts about PL have convinced me to do otherwise). Instead one of my 4×6 slots will be devoted to the week’s art journal – page. From past journaling experiences, these really give me an insight to the things I’m thinking and doing in my life and I’m glad to have them be a part of the book.
• Other than the page protectors, I will order some journaling cards. One set. I will use one of the spaces in the 3×4 spot for dates instead of the larger slot.
• I will work from my stash, but I really don’t have much since I do not have a lot of space. So, I will order supplies to help my stash every quarter.
• To start off, I am going to cut some 4×6 and 3×4 papers to use the first quarter by the end of November. At least 12 4×6, and 24 3×4. If I don’t finish this by the end of November, I may need to reevaluate my decision to even do the project in the first place.

I went to one of my favorite stores yesterday and found some products that will be a fun addition to my project life kit:

The graph paper on the top, is 4×4. The two papers on the side are 4×2  (there are about 30-40 sheets each) and the little clocks (so cute!) come in a pack of 30. I’m in love!

Thought I’d share my gratitude journal today. It’s the first time I’ve done one, but I thought this would be a good time to do it. Other than it being Thanksgiving month, it’s also my son’s birthday month, my parents are visiting and we’re going on a short road trip. Lots to be grateful for!

I did a quick cover and on the inside alternated between cardstock and patterned paper. I used some of my favorites. I also used paper that I was never to fond of as 12×12, but liked in the 4×6 format (by the way, this is a 4×6 album — or is it 6×4)? For the individual pages, I embellished a lot of them (I think I got carried away), but left some of them blank for pictures I don’t plan to crop. The embellished pages were largely inspired by Kelly Purkey’s work or sketches (not all of them, though).

Let’s take a look. (Oh, and you’ll notice below – I decided to just add my 11 moments on 11/11/11 here instead of a separate layout. It just works better for me to do it this way.)

Last month, one of the blogs I read posted about Felicity.

And just like that, my life changed. Felicity has consumed my every moment since that post; in between trips to Paris, cooking, and sleeping.

Here’s my Felicity story.

I was in college when this show started. The first year of the show, was my first year of having roommates that were also friends. We made a date to watch it together every week.

The following years, I watched the show on and off until it was over. (I have since learned that Felicity’s haircut in Season 2, combined with a switch to Sunday night might explain why the show lost viewership.)

Watching this again, brings back so many memories of the me from the late 90s early 2000s. My college experience was a lot different than this dramatic television show (thank goodness!), but it was a time for me when friends just showed up at my apartment. Where we had group meals, stressed about boys, school, our future.

Then there’s New York City, a place I have always loved and this setting just reinforces that love.

However, what I’m also noticing are the little details. The things that were so much a part of that specific time, but has a different perception today.

• V-tech phones: I had the same exact one Felicity had in season 3! And I love that on the show, not everyone (in fact, very few people) have cell phones. I know I didn’t have a cell phone in college.
• Fancy coffees at fancy coffee shops: Dean and Deluca is still a special, rare event for me, but even back then there wasn’t a Starbucks on every corner (at least not in Orlando). Now there are several on my old college campus alone. The point isn’t whether or not Starbucks is a fancy coffee shop, or a Iced Latte Machiatto is a fancy coffee – to me, back then, anything that wasn’t a free refill mug at Dennys was a fancy coffee in a fancy coffee shop.
• The PC v. Mac debate. I didn’t remember that the debate existed back then and even though there are still many loyalists on both sides, it’s not something that’s talked about so much. (Oh, you’re a mac! vs. Oh, you’re a pc?)
• Barnes and Noble. Felicity mentions this in the first season, that she couldn’t find the book she needed anywhere, even B&N. My best friend from high school went to a college that had a B&N on campus and I remember being jealous because my campus didn’t have one. I think there was only one in Orlando, now there are two on my old campus and several within a few minute drive from my old campus. Back then, I think B&N was the first chain bookstore to have casual seating so people could sit and read while drinking one of the fancy coffees. The last few times I made it to a B&N, there were few comfy couches, mostly being replaced by wooden chairs. Not that same inviting atmosphere as before. (And, I’ve been told that B&N recently did a major renovation in their stores that make it even more different than what it was before).
• Going right up to the gate at the airport. When Felicity has to go home for Christmas, Ben goes to the airport and goes right up to the gate. A few years ago, my parents and I were taking different flights to the same destination. We were all connecting in Atlanta where we would then continue on to Boston together. I went up to the gate to meet them and it was so surreal. I truly miss being able to do that now.

Seems that lots of people are sharing earlier scrapbooking layouts. I thought I would pull out some of my old ones as well. Now, I did scrapbook before this, but it was more glueing pictures and memorabilia to paper. I don’t consider it scrapbooking in a modern definition of buying specific papers and embellishments. The pictures below are from when I started specifically buying papers and embellishments for scrapbooking. Most of my supplies are from Joannes, Michaels, or possibly a LSS and were all circa 2002.

“First Dates”

Things to note: I was cheap! I picked 8.5X11 paper simply because it would need less to fill up the space. I printed pictures on regular paper (at school – free!). I bought the ticket shaped black piece die cuts (remember when there would be bins filled with diecuts at the craft stores) and traced the shapes so that I wouldn’t have to buy more than one. I love the 3 small pictures on the bottom right. I love that I had my then-boyfriend’s (now husband’s) journaling on the right (and you can’t see it, but it’s a list of 10 things he loves about me… aww), but hate that I didn’t do any journaling in the space I provided for it on the left.

“Birthday BBQ”

Things to note: I hand cut all the pictures (in fact, in all these layouts everything was hand cut). All but one photo was actually printed at a photo place. I really liked to keep the colors in the paper in one family… not much variety in the spread.

“Bahamas”
Things to note: I loved Jolie’s Boutique stickers, which is funny since they’re so expensive and I was really cheap. Also, I branched out and used two colors! See the title at the top? That’s me tracing the letters from the computer onto an aqua vellum sheet. Yep… cheap!

“New York”

Things to note: This is the last one. If you count the red in New York, I’ve now branched out to THREE colors. I really loved using themed stickers, which meant that I would only buy embellishments when I had the photos. Two of the above photos were printed for free at the school’s computer lab.

Looking back at these, the big thing I recognize is that I only did two page layouts (I hated the idea that facing pages wouldn’t match.) I always had to mat my photos, otherwise it didn’t feel right. My titles aren’t clever. Just statements of facts. Not that they are better now, but, I really didn’t try too hard. It seems that I also didn’t like to use the same product (paper, stickers) for more than one layout.

Thanks for looking.

Happy Veteran’s Day and a special thank you to my own dad who is retired Air Force and is currently landing at my local airport with my mom in tow to spend two weeks in chilly Germany!

(P.S.: Don’t forget today is 11/11/11 and is a fun day to document if you can. “11 things I did on 11/11/11″… I’ll post my layout next week.)

I really love working on my December Daily albums. Even last year, when I couldn’t do much, I loved it. This year, though, I decided to really spend a ton of time on the foundation pages the month of November so that I only have a little to add the month of December – you know, the stories and pictures. I’m saving most of the stickers, buttons, ribbon and stuff to use as last minute additions… but, I’m trying to get a lot of details down now.

Here’s my cover:

And stuff at the top, sticking out of the album, those are my date place holders on post its. It has both the day of the week and the date. I’m doing a two-page layout for each day, but I’m not doing them consecutively. Having the date place holders help me so that if I’m inspired to do a detailed layout that will have a big picture, I’ll know that I want that to be a Monday. If I am going to do something with a lot of pictures, that will be towards the end of the week.

I’ve only completed a few days so far, but here are my favorite two:

Day 2

The little page divider is a piece of striped vellum. I punched out a stamped circle, folded it in half and put a Bella Blvd. number sticker. I’m doing the same thing, same paper, circle, sticker for every date. Here’s a look at the back side:

Just a simple date stamp.

As you see, I have made space on this two page spread for 4 small photos or journaling. It’s easier for me to do that at this point, than to worry about those details later. I will know that whatever I do on December 2, I’ll want several photos. If I don’t have the space, I can just add something generic (such as lists or embellishments or something).

And here’s Day 4: (with my son’s hand, he’s trying to get into some DD action!)

This is another thing I decided to do this year, and why I need the month of December to work on my album. I have bookmarked some of my favorite 12×12 layouts that I’m using as inspiration. These take a little more time to work on, but I’m having fun with this and I’m looking forward to the challenge. I have kept the right side blank and made a note to myself that I want to put a full-size photo there, and put any journalling directly on the photo. I don’t have to stick to these notes later, but I think it’ll help me so that I don’t see blank pages and think I’m forgetting something. (Here’s the inspiration behind this layout, by the way. Mine is not nearly as good as the original, but I still love it!)

I’ll post the rest of my pages later in the month, unless I get excited again and want to post a few more sneak peaks!

Thanks for looking!

This is my third year with the december daily.

One of the things that gets me really jealous when I look at other DDs is the cute little phrasing/title-ing/journaling that people do. My solution was to start writing down things I have seen that I like and I wanted to share that with my blog readers in the hopes that someone will have more to add.

Here are some great titles or phrases that I like:

• ‘Tis the Season
• Sending Christmas Cheer
• It’s beginning to look a lot like Christmas
• I’m dreaming of a White Christmas
• Winter Wonderland
• Joyeux Noel
• Deck the Halls (Or any part of any Christmas song)
• Fa La La La La (technically a part of the song above, but I think this is a fun holiday phrase and a good way to use up extra “a” stickers)

I am ashamed to admit this, but, I did not enjoy making this mini-album. The thing is, I ignored my most basic of conditions for creating mini-albums on the go – don’t do it with a packed itinerary.

Last week we went to Paris, I created the bones of the album about a month or so ago. I was really excited to do this album and even created a week-long series on this blog with hints and tips for doing one. Then, we just had mishap after mishap. At the end of every day I was simply too exhausted to try to work on my album, even for a few minutes.

Looking back on it, I blame accessibility. Our hotel room did not have any space to lay everything out, so it was often crammed under something or stuffed somewhere. Even though I drastically reduced the supplies I brought, I was using the little desk space that was available for putting all of the things I needed to keep out of my one-year-old’s reach. The hotel didn’t have drawer space for me to unpack, so I had to live out of a suitcase (which I never do when I travel for more than 1 night).

One of my suggestions during my mini-series was to journal on the go. We didn’t have the time even for that. At restaurants my H and I took turns feeding the little one and eating and we didn’t get too many opportunities to just sit (and the ones we did get, I didn’t feel like pulling out even a pen – I just wanted to sit). I usually write on trains/metros, but because of the stroller and the crazy crowds, we found ourselves standing 90% of the time.

I actually skipped working on the journal two days and then made up the time when my H took the little one out for a bit and I stayed inside. I did finish the album (except for the photos) the night before we left and opted to not write anything about our last day there. I am ok with that.

Here are some lessons learned for me and this point of my life, mother of a little boy who is super active and lover of packed days.

• Use a smaller journal size. I think 4×6 may be a good size for now.
• Bring journaling paper. I used pattern papers that weren’t journaling friendly and didn’t really have a good place to journal.
• Bring my tiny attacher. I often just wanted to get things attached and call it a day.
• If I want any other decorative piece (stamping, stickers) I will do that either before or after the trip. Remove the expectation that I’ll have time to do either during the trip.
• Bring a hole punch – mine broke before I left. I had to use my scissors to cut holes into some of the items.