Away at Camp

I'm still planning to continue my stories about our California trip. I have many photos to share, but this week, I'm away at a Christian youth camp. I'm the girl's dorm parent for the week, loads of fun!!

(This is a random self-portrait I took while in San Francisco.  All posts needed a photo, right?)

California Adventure Tour cont.

Okay, my dear readers, hopefully you won't mind reading my travel log.  I've got to get these stories down before I forget and this is the best place.  (I realized mid-trip that I should have created the base of a travel log like Ali Edwards, next time I'll do it for sure.)

Day 2 of our California Adventure tour was spent at Disneyland, and of course, California Adventure.  Bright and early we arrived at the gates of Disneyland. I believe around 7:15am.  We waited with a nice sized crowd and then rushed back to Space Mountain to get in line while Richard got Fast Paces to Star Tours.

Smiling faces after the first ride of the day!

Next up was Buzz Lightyear Astro Blasters.  Who couldn't love a moving video game? Buzz and Woody are near and dear to our hearts. Miles grew up during the Toy Story craze and we have more than our share of Buzz Lightyears.  I personally was in tears nearly all of Toy Story 3.

 Killing some time in the Star Tours gift shop!

 The all new Star Tours in 3D opened just the day before we went.  It was exciting.  My only regret from the day at Disney was that we didn't buy the commemorative Star Tours opening t-shirts.

 Love those 3D glasses!

 Then we, mainly Miles and I, got totally soaked on Grizzly River Run.  We got to be the lucky recipients of a very random geyser at the very end of the ride!

 Tower of Terror!!  We braved it!  What a thrill, for me at least.

 In those photos after you get off the ride Emily looks terrified, Richard is consoling her, Miles looks nervous, and there I am just a big ole smile.

Richard and Miles rode the California Screaming Rollercoaser while Emily took on the tamer, so we thought Ferris wheel. 

Although we chose the "moving" carts we didn't realize how much it would move.  We nearly flipped upside down as it went around.  We were screaming so loudly that the boys, once they got off their ride, could tell which cart we were in. lol

Then I rode the California Screaming with Miles.  WOw!  Do you think we like it?

 For dinner Emily and I talked the boys into eating at the Jazz Cafe next to the Brennan's Restaurant in Downtown Disney. Same great Cajun food, but faster so we could get back to the park. And boy did we all enjoy our fried shrimp and po boys. Yummy! We finished the meal off with some beignets.  I felt so bad when Emily told me recently that she couldn't remember exactly what a beignet was like. 

I'll tell you what they are like... heaven with powdered sugar on it!

We finished the evening in Disneyland, saw some of the fireworks as we dashed to our last ride at the close of the park, Peter Pan.  What a terrifically fun day!

We squeezed as much Disney fun into the day as possible and my poor feet were as tired and as soar as I ever think they have been.  I know we all agreed on both points.  We were happy to spend most of the next day sitting in a car as we drove around LA and onto Bakersfield so we could arrive at Sequoia National Park early the next day.

Summer Means Swim Team

For our assignment at GCD Studios this month we were to think outside the box and create a layout with bold shapes and patterned papers.  I loved this little nudge to get me out of rectangles and into circles.  They are my favorite shape to work with although I must admit I forget to use them regularly.

I used a large circle punch to cut my photos and several different patterns out of the Animal Cracker's Boys line and then placed them in a grid with the title.  I layered strips and two larger photos to tie it all together.  Little bits and ink were scattered around. :)

Lastly, I added some wavy stitching to the title and the border to simulate the ripples in the pool.

The little button rub ons and the turtle brad are from the Animal Crackers collection as well.  The turtle was the perfect animal for this page because the mascot for their team was a snapper turtle!!

So get out of your box and go bold with shapes on your next page!

Beach photos continued

As mentioned before we headed straight to the beach after landing in Orange County.  After the ride in the surrey, and waking around on the pier, we went to the water and I attempted to snap a few portrait type shots under the pier. (I've always admired these kinds of shots.)  It was really still too early in the afternoon and the light was harsh.  Eyes are too squinty in most. These are all still SOOC. (Straight out of the Camera) I know I will still treasure these photos regardless of the less than stellar results.

 

 With Miles, he was a little less relaxed. Bless his heart, he was still uncomfortable with ear pressure from the flight.

 I had them stand together and they looked stiff and posed.  I like this one though.

I had Miles snap a photo of Richard and I. Then a random big wave came crashing up, hitting that pole of the pier and soaked us!

This next shot is a prime example of what I deal with in photographing my family. They are a bunch of smarta**es.  lol   We were leaving the pier and I said, "Why don't you all line up under the pier sign?" This is what they did....

Never a dull moment. ;)

I'll be back for more soon.  The sun is shinning and the trail is calling me for a run, and oh, how I've missed it.

Back from Vacation and still swamped!

I can't believe I couldn't carve out time this week to post about our California vacation.  Why is it that returning home from vacation is so hard? We had a wonderful trip. Truly it was so good to spend time together. Lots of laughs and memories we will treasure and hold close to our hearts. And maybe one memory we won't treasure, but it's part of the whole vacation experience and lessons learned.  I am going to share, but it's a story to tell at another time.

For now here are some photos from our first day in sunny California.  We had a very early flight so we could spend the afternoon on the beach.

But our first stop, the very first thing we did was have an In-N-Out Burger for lunch! Wow! It was pretty darn good.  Love that secret sauce!!

Then we took a short drive to Huntington Beach.  We rented this 4 seat bike buggy and had some really good laughs.  Here Miles and Emily stole the buggy from us while Richard and I admired the shore.

Very often, at touristy kind of places, I volunteer to take photos of people together with their camera. I always love it when the offer to take our photo in return. (Rather than me asking if they would mind.)

It was very windy and the water was frigid.  We all put our toes in the ocean just to say we had, but that was enough.

Off to work on some projects that are due today! Have a great weekend.

Flower love

After a long wait, the peony bush I planted last spring bloomed. Growing up in Louisiana I had not ever seen a real peony until I moved to Missouri. It has quickly become one of my favorite flowers.

Unfortunately, each time it was dry enough outside to photograph these beauties in my front yard, it was very windy, which does not provide the optimal conditions for floral photography.

Actually, I've decided that I'm going to have to get myself a macro lens because I really do enjoy this type of photography and have had really lack luster results for the most part.

Here are a few more examples. While the flowers themselves are lovely subjects, the focus is very soft. The peony was taken with my 1.4 / 50mm but these were taken with my "walk about lens" 17-85mm.

Suggestions in this area would be greatly encouraged. :)

Inspiration via Pinterest

Today I'm happy to share my June technique post for GCD Studios which highlights the use of inspiration found on the internet to spark your creative energy. I recently have become a big fan of Pinterest. Soon after I joined, I found this fun and totally hip image in a home decor pin.

I originally pinned this image because I thought it was such an innovative take on a gallery wall.  Later, I thought this design would be fun to interpret into a scrapbook page. Here's what I came up with.

Close up you can see that I decided to just rub ink on the chipboard pieces, so that they would be black but still show up on the black cardstock.  I added some other great chipboard and brad embellishments, also from the Soul Food line for some color and added interest.

I also had a pin for this illustration on my board.

I thought using this as a title was a perfect play on words for the story I was telling.  The story starts with the photograph of our daughter looking great in her new glasses, so obviously, she is seeing more clearly now. The heartfelt journaling goes on to remind her that her true beauty comes from the inside, not what people can't see at first glance.

I hope this encourages you to poke around Pinterest, if you haven't already, to find and collect, beautiful, inspiring things that might give you that creative boost you need next time you sit down to scrapbook. If you'd like to see my other pins or follow me you can do so here.  Happy Pinning!