Nihao, Cupcake!

Ella Publishing May Take 12 Challenge :: Stepping Back in Time [China-Style]

It is time for yet another Ella Publishing Take 12 Challenge!!

CONFESSION: My twelve photos are not actually from May 12th. Shhhhhhhhh! I had a very special day on May 11th. I had a very special day on May 13th (Mother's Day). On May 12th... not so much.

Don't get me wrong. We had a fun day, but it was not a day that was conducive to good photos. Nor was I in the mood to force myself to take photos, as much as I tried.

I call myself "The Moody Photographer." And when the mood isn't there, I don't take photos.

So, I decided to do my layout with the TWELVE photos that did inspire me. On the 11th I went on a special tour with a group of other moms who live in Beijing. We went to a village just outside of the city. It is the one place in the world that makes the special glazed tiles (many 3 dimensional) that adorn the buildings at The Forbidden City, the city gates (including Tian'anmen Square), the temple buildings in the parks, etc.

It is a workshop where they mine shale in the local mountains. They turn that to clay and packing molds by hand, they create these amazing decorative tiles.

After which, they dip them in glaze (made from cobalt, copper & iron) and fire them in old fashioned kilns. 

 

I love these mock old Chinese coin brads I got from Michaels. They come with two other Chinese-esque brads that are equally as cool/beautiful.  

One reason this trip was so meaningful to me was that I have taken ceramics classes at various times in my life; for two years while in Japan, one summer in college when the visiting professor told me I should be an artist and in California with my kids at our local community center. [How cool that they had Mommy & me ceramics classes,no?!]

I chose this paper from the Far East (Die Cuts With a View) paper pack because the crackling reminded me of the dried mud turning into clay in huge troughs at the front of the workshop. 

 

I wanted the attention on my photos so I chose a sketch (Template 1 in the Template packet) from the Ella Publishing Take 12 Guided Inspiration Kit. And I LOVE how it turned out. The photos are definitely the stars of this layout. They tell the stoy.

There is more journaling I would like to add, so I might add a 6x12 insert and if there is space, I might add a few smaller accent photos along with my journaling.

I just loved this day. 

I loved interacting with the artisans, being able to be right in the heart of their workshop - literally stepping over the wet clay shapes waiting to go into the drying room (essentially a giant oven).

This is the drying room. Notice how the pieces are different shades of grey? The darker pieces are the wet ones and the lighter grey ones are almost dry and ready to go to the glazing workshop.

It was like stepping back in time to simpler times before over-litigation and the chaos of the modern world got in the way.

A day like this is one of the magical treasures that seem to happen or find you when living abroad. It's a wonderful surprise to find amazing things that still seem undiscovered. Hard to find any more!

Oh! I almost forgot! The best part was that we got to take home some of these amazing tiles. The lady who organized the tour is fascinated with the mythical creatures on the tiles that adorn the roofs of the Forbidden City. 

This is my lion.

It is this fascination that inspired her to arrange the tour. She worked on our tour guide the entire time trying to convince him to let us purchase a tile or two and he finally broke down when she told him, "My life won't be complete until I get to take some of those animals home!" With that, they opened up their storehouse and we had a great time shopping in the dark, dusty (such thick dust you wouldn't believe it) store house, picking out our treasures that cleaned up very nicely. 

This is my dragon.

To see all my Flickr photos from the outing, including photos of the village with a faded painting of Mao Zedong (I'm pretty sure that is who it is) on one of the walls and a train rushing past within mere feet of us as we stood on a bridge, click here.

To see all of my past Take 12 Layouts and the corresponding posts, go here.

More inspiration from the Take Twelve Design Team:

Like the Car
Janette Carter-Kincaid
Scrap Inspired
Scrappy Wife, Happy Life
Day by Day
Right Here-Right Now
The Scrapbooking Haven Diva
Scrapworthy Lives
People of the Scrapbook
My Little Blessings
Life is Sweet
A Swoop and a Dart
Endless Possibilities
Yeah, Write

Visit Ella Publishing Co. to link up your layout or photos for a chance to win this month's prize.

 

Monster Eyeball or Fruit? And other Photography Challenges...

I am having fun over at Ella Publishing doing as many of their daily challenges as I can as part of Spring Training 2012.

They have a photography coach who challenged people to use window light to take a nice photo. This is something I used to love to do when taking portraits of my kids. I still do it when I want to pose my kids for some reason, like the photo above.

Braden picked out this fruit from a vendor in front of our apartment. He couldn't wait to get it home and see what the inside looked & tasted like. And after he did, he thought it looked quite like an eyeball, so a photo was in order according to him. I pulled him over by the window, made sure my focus point was on his eye (a good portrait always has the eyes in focus) and I got this classic shot! I love the serious look on his face.

Another assignment gave us tips on how to get natural expressions from small children. But I figure a fun, fake expression from an 11-year-old would do the trick especially when he was the one who asked for the photo.

I used natural light from a window again. My subject being parallel to the light source producing flat light.

Don't worry! Nobody was hurt for this photo! My son went to a film workshop and learned how to make real(?) looking fake blood and he was having some fun with it.

Gotta love boys!

I'm linking up at DebDuty.com for This & That Thursday. Visit her blog to check it out.

My Life in Maps

Margie's World Travels

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

I've spent most of my time in the US, Europe and Asia. I must expand my horizons to other continents one of these days. After all, some people consider Eurasia just one continent. If that is the case, then I have only visited two continents. I have 4 or 5 more to go! I better get on that.

Margie's US Travels

Make yours @ BigHugeLabs.com

I know there are a few states missing. I must ask my mom what they are. When I was three, my family drove cross country in our blue VW van to Florida where we took a boat or an airplane (again, I need to ask my mom) to the Domincan Republic. If you look at the map, there would be no way for our family to get to Florida overland without hitting at least one or two more states, but which one(s)?

This would be a fun give away if I had something to give away. Unfortunately, I don't have anything, but you can guess for fun and I will ask my mom and let you know soon! :)

The one and only memory of that trip that sticks out in my mind (I was only three after all), was sitting in the back of the van (or maybe wandering all over the van and even sitting in the front seat because we never wore seatbelts back then and often sat in the front with my dad) and arguing with my father. He would say, "It's MY-ami!" and I would say, "No! It's MY-am!" At that time, I honestly thought everyone had an ami. I really did not understand it was a city or even what a city was. I just remember enjoying that "argument". 

I was just over at Katie the Scrapbook Lady's blog and she posted a map like I did. I've done these maps before, but she is the one who reminded me of it today. GO over and check hers out!

Ella Publishing Take 12 Challenge :: The Best Part Layout & Another Story from the 12th

I had so much fun with this layout. We had a party for my youngest son on the 12th of this month so it was easy to get 12 photos. There was more to my story than a birthday party. It was all about how the party came together. It was truly a family event. I could not have pulled it off without the help of my entire family especially my two oldest sons. 

I wanted a layout that allowed me to tell the story I wanted to tell and I found it in the Ella Inspiration Kit. The design you see was perfect! I could show the highlights of the party on the left and BEHIND the SCENES on the right. BEHIND the SCENES is also one of the themes suggested in the Inspiration Kit and I love how it inspired me to tell this deeper story of my son's party.

JOURNALING READs:

The best part of this party was behind the scenes. Even Dad remarked after it was over that this was one of his favorite birthday parties because we all worked together to make it happen. And now that it is all over, I wish I had more of those photos. If I could do it all over again I would take some photos of Reece drawing each treasure hunt clue in amazingly accurate detail (I did save the clues), Reece & Nicholas planning out the treasure hunt and planting each clue, Nicholas planning secretly to be the Birthday Santa, hiding in the ayi closet ready to give out the goodie bags at the end of the treasure hunt, Mom searching the internet for the perfect Superman “B” image to print out and trace for the birthday cake, Mom printing out Superman & B logos to wear for the “photobooth”, Reece helping mom set up the backdrop for the photobooth, our neighbor Kristin stopping into the store to look for balloons after mom texted all of her friends to be on the lookout, Dad cutting up the yellow paper for the scrapbooking we ran out of time for, Mom planning out the cake with Braden and making the design happen with chopsticks and frosting.

 

The journaling spot is also from the Ella Inspiration kit. Isn't it cute?

Visit Ella Publishing for more information! And don't forget to go to this Ella Blog Post to add your layout or 12 photos to the linky party and your chance to win (linky closes on the 18th - see end of post for exact time it closes).

Visit the rest of the Take 12 Design Team:

Alizia

Amy

Angela

Jennie

Stephanie

Van

Valerie

Monika

Lisa D

Janette

Lisa O

 

ANOTHER STORY FROM the TWELFTH

There was also another amazing story to be told on the 12th of this month but for privacy reasons I cannot share the photos. I had the amazing privelege of meeting the new family of one of the children I care for at the orphanage I volunteer at every week. The family who had just adopted her, was in town an extra week or so waiting for their new daughter's passport and they asked to meet with some of us volunteers. I was so excited. She had been away from the orphanage for only one week and the first thing I noticed when I walked through the door was how she was a completely different child. She was animated, instead of sullen, she was smiling instead of somber, she was affectionate, instead of crying, she smiled and laughed and giggled more in that hour than I had ever seen her do in the year+ I had known her at the orphanage. She looked at her new parents and big sister with such love and adoration, it was astounding. I couldn't believe a child could bond with their new family so quickly and that she could so quickly become the child she was always meant to be. I had always felt so strongly, if this little girl could just have her own family, she would blossom. But I had no idea she would blossom so quickly and that she had so much potential to ever be that child I met just a week later. 

Many of the children at the orphanage have special needs. We don't always know all of their details so we often wonder. We had said that she was so somber and rarely interactive in a distinct way that we wouldn't be surprised if someone said she had special needs and yet we wouldn't be surprised if they told us she was perfectly normal. After that meeting, it became clear to me that she is perfectly normal and she is now exactly where she should have been since birth! What an amazingly lucky little girl to be with a family so full of love! It warms my heart to think about her sleeping safely in the loving arms of her new family in her fresh PJs, squeaky clean hair and adorable rosy red cheeks.

If only her little friends still at the orphanage will be so lucky.

 

Just Reece & I

We took this photo, after we returned from our lunch, just Reece & I. He chose the new Burger King near our house. Special time spent together with some good conversation. I can't believe he is a teen. He's so grown up. I never could imagine when he was the active toddler, that we would ever make it to this stage in life. IT seemed so far away that it was too hard to imagine. And yet here we are! Life is amazing. He is a truly remarkable child. So smart & creative and committed. I can't wait to see where he goes in his wonderful life.

I am linking up at Anderson Family Crew because I think Embrace the Camera is one of the best blog ideas ever. Thanks for hosting!

Red Chinese New Year Dragon Cupcake Cake with Chocolate Pretzel Wings

My youngest son's birthday landed on Lunar New Year (Chinese New Year) this year. And as you may know, it is the year of the dragon, so what cake is more fitting than a red (color of celebration) Chinese dragon cupcake cake for the occasion?

My middle son was born in the year of the dragon, so this is his year too! Quite a serendipitously special year for our family since we are living in China, to boot! And this is supposed to be the best year of the dragon as well as the best year of the 144 year cycle (12 cycles of 12 years). Not bad!! 

I'm especially proud of those chocolate pretzel wings that I came up with an hour before we had to leave the house to take the dragon to school. My original idea was a horrible failure, in fact, I knew as soon as I opened the package of the fruit tape that it wouldn't work, so I didn't even try. When in doubt, turn to melting chocolate - it is so easy and you can make anything you want. 

I drew the outline and bones of one wing, put the drawing under waxed paper, I traced the three bone areas with a thick line of chocolate and then placed the pretzel sticks down, Then I filled in the wings and coverd the handle pretzels with a lot of chocolate. Then I flipped the drawing over, traced it through to the other side, followed the same steps as above to make a new wing that was the mirror image of the first wing. Then I placed them in the refrigerator for around 30 minutes and they were done! I did have to saw off the ends with a serrated knife because the handles were too long to stick into a cupcake. But otherwise they worked perfectly! PHEW!

And here he is with the goodie bags he made for his class. (I'll post more details about these in a future post.) That is his drawing of a dragon dance complete with lanterns. THe back side says Happy New Year inside a latern surrounded by fire works. I did not coach him on these drawings but based on the amount of detail they include, there is no mistake he has spent half of his seven years in China!

There's nothing like making a cool dragon cupcake cake (special cakes made by mom are one of our family traditions) and putting together some homemade goodie bags to make a little one smile! It is all about the simple things, isn't it?

I'm linking up at Simple Things Sunday today.

True Stories from The Jing {Bikes & Italian Food}

Tonight we rode our bikes to the new Annie's just south of Central Park & east of The Place for dinner. We parked our four bikes directly in front of the restaurant door & 2-3 meters from a guard box. The area had two security cameras pointing at it.

We had a wonderful, leisurely dinner at Annie's (a local kid friendly Italian place with consistently good food & reasonable prices - hard to find in Beijing) with impecable service including free make your own pizzas for the kids, fresh bread basket and extra special treatment to the kids.

The manager checked on us more than once, but the service was not agressive or pushy, just attentive.

When we left to get our bikes, the one bike that was locked to itself and not locked to a tree was gone. The manager at Annie's immediately came to our aid and accompanied my husband to the building's room with security cameras. After 20 minutes of looking around the lost bike area and talking with the security guards, it was determined that the camera was too dirty to find any footage of our missing bike.

It seemed illogical that someone could take a bike that had a lock around the tire past the two guards directly next to the bikes and make it past both security cameras without being seen. And funny that both security cameras were too dirty to view any footage.  Hmm...

The kind manager at Annie's never left my husband's side and they walked around the property to see if they could figure out what happened.

Just when they had given up, they spotted the bike, hidden behind a wall! Who knows why it was there or how it got there, but the lesson learned is:

1) Lock your bike to something when in the CBD (About 15-20 bikes weres stolen in broad daylight (all parked together) about a year ago right outside The Place.)

2) Eat at Annie's because not only is the food good, but the service goes above and beyond expectations. And in our experience, they look after their customers. A big thanks to the manager at Annie's!

 

I posted this story to our Yahoo group (for foreign passport holders living in Beijing) as a warning to neighbors and as a thank you to a local business for helping us out. I couldn't pass up a good story that we will want to remember so I copied and pasted for the blog today. Our oldest son is so excited that we found the bike. He loved the excitement and you could feel it when he came to report to me that they were checking the security camers to see if they could locate the bike. I'm so glad this story had a happy ending or else it would be the third bike our family had lost in Beijing!

I'm linking up at Sian's blog for Storytelling Sunday. She hosts it the first Sunday of every month. Do you have a story to tell? Post it on your blog and join us!

And since I totally forgot to link up last month, I wrote my story a couple of weeks later when I realized it. Here it is, if you care to read.

Enjoying the (sometimes) Crazy Culture of My Host Country...

We have been living in Beijing China for over three and a half years now. That is half of my youngest son's life. In all honesty, I am ready to move home. I love where I am from and miss so many things about it. But never the less, one of the things I do enjoy about living abroad, even in Beijing with its horrible air quality (worsening by the day), chaotic streets, and lack of concern for safety, there are some things I really still enjoy.

New Year's fireworks is one of them. I love the craziness. I love the huge fireworks I get to see out my window almost every night for two weeks.

This is the firework that was let off the roof of the apartment building across our courtyard (not a big courtyard, mind you - basically a small park). It is on the top of the building where I used to live. You can see the windows of the penthouse apartment. Rumor has it they own the apartment complex and I am pretty sure letting off those fireworks is illegal. But that has never stopped anyone around here before.

They have cracked down this year and there are definitely less fireworks near our apt this year as we live in the heart of the central business district and near (two blocks away) the skyscraper that burnt down two years ago on during New Year's. 

If you don't worry about the safety issue, [those fireworks in the first photo are bouncing off the building right next to mine (in my same apt complex of four buildings)], it's really fun and exciting. So far I have not gotten burned or lost my home to a fire!

I've learned to appreciate the dragon dance, especially now that all three of my children have been involved in it on some stage at one time or another. It is exciting especially with this being the year of the dragon and all.

I also love ICE CHAIRS which are unique (as far as I know) to China. I've posted about them before and we went again this week during the New YEar's holiday, so you will see me post about them again soon. The boys said they forgot how fun they were. Dangerous, but fun. Give three boys sharp stakes to push themselves around willy nilly on ice and someone is bound to get hurt, right?

It's those simple differences that allow me to appreciate the unique life that I am living.

I'm linking up at Simple Things Sunday.

 

BLOG HAPPENINGS

*You might like to check out the Layout A Day Preparation Blog Hop from Friday here. It's a great challenge and begins Feb 1st - join us!

*Come back on Wed, February 1 for the One Little Word Blog Hop when members of Ali Edwards' Big Picture Classes class share their assignment from the month.

*On February 5, we will have our monthly FAMILYx12 blog hop where we support each other in taking a monthly family photo. Email me (link on the side bar) if you want to join us!

The Brady Bunch was my all-time favorite TV show!

On our recent trip to the States for the holidays we took a road trip from California to Durango, Colorado. I did this many times during the summer with my father and my brother. My father was born and raised in Durango and loved to go back in the summers. We would drive through the hot desert sun in the blue VW bus.

My dad made some of his own alterations to that van to make it somewhat of a camper. He used bungee cords to strap a Coleman cooler, that sat upright and was designed like a refrigerator, to the back of the passengers seat. Then on top of that sat a heavy plastic gallon water tank that when laid flat worked as a sink. It was a pretty ingenious invention. The sink was molded into the side of the water tank. I hope you can imagine what I am describing. The faucet was a pump and it even had a little soap dish molded into it as well. It also had a drain with a plastic plug. My dad took a clear PVC pipe, hooked it up to the drain and threaded that through the back of the seat (but not through) and down through a hole that he made in the bottom of the van. When we pulled the plug, the water would drain out into the street below. He never allowed us to use it while he was driving, though. We were only allowed to use this when we were safely parked at a campground.

That was back in the day before it was law to wear seatbelts, so we never did. If one of us kids were sitting in the front seat and he had to slam on the breaks, out would shoot his arm to prevent us from lurching forward. Of course, if it were a real accident or emergency, his arm really wouldn't have done much. But out it went anyway.

I also remember curling up in the shade and falling asleep because the desert sun was so hot. It was the only relief I could get from the smoothering heat. The van had no air conditioning.

My dad was a huge napper. One day when we were in Durango and it was pouring down rain. My dad decided he needed a nap. So there we were parked on Main Street, Durango with my dad asleep in the back of the van and the rain pouring so hard against the van windows that we couldn't see out. 

At this time I was a huge fan of the Brady Bunch and had taken my trusty tape recorder and taped one of my all-time favorite Brady Bunch episodes. The one when the Brady kids (Greg, Marcia, Peter, Jan, Bobby & Cindy) became a music group and sang in a contest to buy their parents a silver platter for their anniversary. Anyone remember that episode?

Anyway, I brought my tape recorder and that tape on this trip, so the way my brother and I passed the time while my dad was sleeping was to write down all of the words to those songs and memorize them. I can still sing almost every word to those songs to this day. SUNSHINE DAY.... everybody's laughing! SUNSHINE DAY... everybody's singing! SUNSHINE DAY.... everybody seems so happy & gay! It's a Sunshine Day!

How did you pass the time when you were a kid before the age of endless gadgets we are in today? Though, I guess that portable tape recorder was the very beginning of the gadgets we have at our disposal today, huh?

I wanted to link up to storytelling Sunday (the first Sunday of every month at Sian's blog), but I keep forgetting to have my post ready by then so I decided I would publish this to my blog any way and if I forget on the first Sunday of February, I can link this story up anyway since I love the idea so much!

Let's Put the "Scrap" Back in Scrapbooking, Project Life Update & A Giveaway

Another big day at the blog! I wanted to take a blog break (I have so much to do to get ready for my trip home), but there is just too much going on to stay away.

It is the first Project Life Tuesday of 2011. With my committment to keeping up with PL this year, I couldn't miss the first one. So, I am posting my photos from the first week and some layout updates from 2011. I'll post my first layout of 2012 next week with this week's photos. That is my plan for 2012.

I also just realized it is TEN on TEN over at Shimelle.com. I missed December, so I can't miss January, too! My original plan was to list my top ten favorite online scrapbook classes, but I totally forgot about it until a few minutes ago, so instead, I thought I would feature my TOP TEN pages in the photo album of my six months in ENGLAND in 1990-91.

While I am visiting from China, I am staying with my mom. She is kind enough to store all of my beloved photos so my only opportunity to revisit these wonderful treasures is during these trips home. This album was the last album I made before I 'discovered' archivally safe scrapbooking. I was excited about my new hobby, but wasn't about to take apart the album that took me so long to finally complete (five years). I'm still not ready. Yes, the photos are probably disintegrating, but I don't want to disemble it until I know how I will preserve it in its next home.

The FIRST photo above is from the top of the World Trade Center in 1990.

2 This was our visit to New York City in 1990 on our way to London. It was the second visit of my life. This day we were meeting up with my friend who was visiting her friend who worked at the World Trade Center. Little did we know what would happen at this location 11 years later. I did not stay in touch with him, so I have always prayed that he was not working there (or escaped) by the time 9/11 happened.

 

3 I love all of this memorabilia that I collected from my trip there. LOVE IT! I was able to work in Britain for six months as part of an agreement our governments had (and may still have). Any student can automatically get a six month work visa.

 

4 Did you notice what is missing from this album? Yep! Journaling. Not one ounce of it. I need to fix that, don't I? This is my friend from college who grew up in England. He happened to be visiting for the first time in ten years and was nice enough to meet us first-time international travelers at the airport to help us navigate this new big city. I was beyond nervous. My friend had HUGE suitcases. I had suitcasees too but not as many and not as big. Anyway, I was so nervous we wouldn't get them on the Tube in time for the doors to close.

Here is lots more memorabilia. I love including maps! LOVE IT! You can also see the business card and receipt for our hotel in the Merlyn Court area. It was known for being slightly dodgy and for having a lot of Aussies. They are a dodgy sort, you know! (Of course I am only teasing!)

 

5 More amazing memories come flooding back. It was my birthday and we were doing whatever we did in London (looking for a job or maybe exploring the city) and I just happened to run into two friends from college! This is the only time this has ever happened to me while traveling or living abroad. My husband, who went to a significantly smaller school, is always running into people from his university. He may not know them, but he meets them. I NEVER do. But that is another story. It was a great surprise running into these friends on my birthday so far from home! WHat are the chances? Do you see the note tucked under the photo? That is the note they left for me arranging a meet up later that day. I love that I still have it.

This page isn't beautiful but if that is not scrapbooking, what is??

 

6 My rental agreement, my rent book, my checkbook (from a foreign country, no less - such excitement for a 21 year old who had only ever been to Mexico, which to a So Californian feels like an extension of California), my bank card, etc, etc. I only had the cash that I earned and a few hundred dollars I brought with me. It was quite a lesson about living within my means!

 

7 My best friend from college came to visit me (She is the only friend or family member that has come to see me every place in the world I have lived. And she just called me today to tell me she has purchased her ticket to visit me in China!! HURRAY! Her record will be 4 for 4! I feel a mini book coming on...) Another map!

 

8 Don't you love my text on this page? I used to do this all the time - collect letters and phrases from magazines, save them in envelopes and add them to my photo albums.

 

9 Our work Christmas party. Don't you love my Eddie Bauer sweater? I worked there part-time in college. This was my first introduction to the English Christmas cracker. I love then and think they are so fun. Now we can buy them in the States and my kids got to pop some on New Year's Eve (only because I forgot to bring them to our Xmas celebration).

 

10 And here I am with the other employees in the home department at Debenham's in Cambridge. I went back in 2008 but didn't find any recognizeable faces. It was fun to have my photo take in the home dept with a pan and in front of The Grafton Center, the mall where this store is located. So many memories there...

I love adding memorabilia to my beloved photos. It tells a richer story even without journaling. That is why I am loving Project Life! Not sure I would have continued the project for the third year if I didn't start adding all the goodies. It is so easy to do. Much like the magnetic albums I used before my discovery of the scrapbooking we know today.

 

PROJECT LIFE

 

I only managed to complete three total pages. I was so poud of myself and thought I was so creative, but when I woke up the next morning to see what I had gotten done, it all looked so plain! (I'm saving my Amber kit to use on my 2012 album so I only brought the grid journaling cards to the States with me. I'll be reunited with the rest of my supplies on Friday.) But nevermind, plain means done and lots of stories told, right!?

 

 

I am using the date cards as a filler because I have premade date cards waiting for me at home.

 

Here's a glimpse into what I have started for my 2012 album. I've stuck it into a broken three ring binder temporarily until I am home so that I can keep it organized while I work on it. As you can see, I am slipping memorabilia into the pocket that corresponds with the day. At this rate, I won't have any room for journaling cards! I may take some of these things out, but right now, they stay. See the brown tag? I put the plastic string around the middle ring. I kept that because it goes to a fun water bottle and it is significant since I haven ot been drinking enough water lately and the fun bottle is meant to encourage me to improve on that.

The Sound Bites card was also put on the middle ring. My son bought that toy with his own money and he has been annoying us all wiht it ever since. It makes fake sound effects and each sound effect is listed on the back of the card. ON the front of the card, I plan to glue a photo of my son where he is holding the toy.

 

 

I cut up the Trader Joe's CC Joe-Joe's box because my son kept sing a little ditty about the cookies and for about a day we assumed he had made up the words until we noticed them on the side of the box! So typical of him. Such a jokester! And his favorite gum is Big League Chew.

 

See? I saved a Christmas cracker crown from our New Year's Even crackers this year. See a connection with my photo from the album I shared above? I feel a scrapbook page...

 

Of course I saved that adorable picture my six-year-old drew. I need to ask him who and where it is. I am including the page I ripped from Family Fun magazine because I might want to make the project next Xmas. I am more apt to see it and remember it for next year, if I stick it in my PL binder! And it shows the craft trends of the times.

To see everything PROJECT LIFE On my blog, click here.

I'm linking up at The Mom Creative for Project Life Tuesday.

Oh, and here are my photos for the week:

 

No dates today. I need to get to bed!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks for stopping by and helping keep me accountable with my PL album. I still ahve to post the last three photos from 2011 and my seventh photo from the first week of 2012 and my title page for my 2012 album. That will all come next week! Along with more PL inspiration around the web.

 

I have a great giveaway today (Tues). I was going to include it in this post but this one ended up so long, I decided to put it in a separate post. For details on my TAKE TWELVE Inspiration Kit giveaway, go here.

2012 Project Life :: 366 {Catching Up with the Photos}

I haven't posted any daily photos since we left Beijing on December 15, so I am catching up today! ENJOY!

 

December 10, 2011

This seemed to me like the sweetest horse. He was a bit leery of me but at the same time seemed sweet. Once I was close to him to take a few photos, I notice how tired, and mangy he looked. Then I noticed his back left foot. Do you see how he isn't putting any weight on it? Poor guy. It means his food is injured and he obviously has a long way to go to get home. This photo was taken at the very center of Beijing. It takes a long time to get out of the city from here by horse!

 

December 11, 2011

Looking over old drawings they have saved in their three ring binders especially for favorite drawings.

 

 

December 12, 2011

We decorated the gingerbread house the night before (and waited until morning for the good light, to take the photo). It is always a very fun family activity. We got the kit at Ikea. It was the first year they offered them at the store in Beijing. Christmas stuff gets more plentiful every year in the capital.

 

 

December 13, 2011

Braden has several friends who ride on his bus and who also live in our apartment complex. Therefore, we often have friends come over to play after school. If I have some extra cupcakes in the freezer, I sometimes let the boys do some DIY cupcake decorating. Braden's friend had already eaten his cupcake, and the one he is holding he made lovingly for his little sister.

 

December 14, 2011

The first grade curriculum included exploring other cultures so on this morning, they invited parents to come to the school and teach the children about their own cultures through games, songs and other activities. The morning was finished off with a huge spread of foods from all over the world. Braden asked me to bring Rice Krispy treats to represent America.

 

Photo #2

It was the night before we left for the month to visit friends at home in the States for the holidays. We HAD to eat the gingerbread house before we left. This is what was left after the three little pigs, I mean, boys huffed and puffed and ate their way through!

 

December 15, 2011

On the way to the airport after picking the boys up early from school.

 

December 16, 2011 - no photo

The kids took a ton of silly photos on the plane with their own camera, so I need to get one of those. I do think they took several photos of the very strange airplane food they served this time. It was true mystery meat!

 

December 17, 2011

Early Christmas celebration with Grandma. We were all going to Colorado to ski and most of what she got them was warmth and snow related. Here Reece is wearing his little borther's new hat and the "garish" (Grandma's words) Christmas sweater she got him for Xmas that he doesn't like at all. He says it is "geeky" or "dorky" - I can't remember which term he used. But he couldn't remove that sweater fast enough. How quickly they change. There are so many things he just refuses to wear these days. He often comes home off the bus with a short sleeved t-shirt on, his winter jacket stuffed in his backpack and it is 32 degrees F outside and WINDY! So glad I am not a teenager any more. Brrrr!

 

 

December 18, 2011

We got an early start and drove all day long (sun-up to sundown) to reach our destination of Durango, Colorado. The drive itself wasn't as bad as we were anticipating, but the mood of our children was a different story! Jetlag, 14 hour road trip two days after 12 hour trans-Pacific flight equals a lot, I mean ALLLLOOOOOOTTTTT of bickering, teasing and picking on the youngest brother.

 

 

December 19, 2011

The long drive was worth it when we woke up the next morning to find the view from our condo was this! THis photo taken by one of the kids using one of their digi cameras.

 

 

December 20, 2011

I have found myself surprised at home amazed Reece has been by the natural beauty we have seen on this visit home from Beijing. But then I realized since we live in the city 10.5 months out of the year, he doesn't get to see much of it. I was lucky growing up to visit Colorado at least every other year and as a young child we did lots of hiking and spent our summers at the beach. Although Reece's earliest years were spent mostly outdoors, hiking in some incredible national and state parks right in our own neighborhood (literally), I didn't realize how little he has seen of this in the past 4 or 5. He wanted to take photos of every gorgeous view and then when we returned to So Calif, he has taken photos of several beautiful beach sunsets already. Makes me want to move home even more so we can take this kid camping.

His one request on our trip was to take him to a National Park.

 

December 21, 2011 (I think this date is Beijing time so it is really 12/20.)

Our second day of skiing. Braden took a rest day and hung out with Grandma. He took this photo for us. Not bad, huh?

 

Photo #2

This cabin belongs to my father's cousin. My brother and I stayed here with some collge friends one year when we came to town to ski. This cabin is on the way into town from the ski resort.

 

Photo #3

We had to squeeze in our visit to Santa before it was too late! We found this guy at the local Durango mall. It was a fundraiser for the local 4H. Reece didn't want to visit Santa this year - it was the first time he had no interest. He really is a teenager.

 

December 22, 2011

It snowed ALOT during our last day of skiing. So much beautiful fresh powder. It was like skiing in powdered sugar. It felt exactly like powdered sugar under my feet. But the top of the mountain was FREEZING!

 

Photo #2

We skiied until the slopes closed, stopped for a yummy Mexican dinner and then it was back on the road until after midnight.

 

December 23, 2011

Our hotel in Utah, just outside of Zion National Park, touted that their restaurant had the "best food on Route 48" (I think that is the right number.), so how could we go any where else? Not to mention, the hotel and restaurant were run by a very nice family. The hotel was nothing fancy and slightly thread-bare but it was clean and had nice acoutrements, nice soap and lotion in the bathrooms (better than our hotel in Petaluma), a microwave and good TV, a family suite with two bedrooms and one bathroom, to boot. For only needing a 7 hour sleep, it was the perfect place. The food wasn't bad either, but I wish I took a photo of the fried bread they called a scone! All of my English friends would laugh. Despite that, everything else was tasty and nicely made. THey even gave all three kids free hot cocoa with a huge dollop of whipped cream on top! If we ever pass through that way again, we will be sure to stay again.

 

Photo #2

We spent the morning exploring a bit of Zion National Park, a lot by car and a little by foot. We even managed a visit to the visitor's center.

 

December 24, 2011

Christmas Eve dinner prepared by my brother-in-law who is a studied chef! The food is always delicious in this family. There is a professional chef, a dietician and two other siblings who love to cook (my husband included) at a close to gourmet level.

 

December 25, 2011 - Merry Christmas!

Despite playing with a hammer and nails when he wasn't supposed to and incuring these horrible injuries, Nicholas was all smiles on Christmas day. Lots of playing with cousins - all five of them were in heaven. My sis-in-law wants them all to come up in the summer since she said her kids were entertained the entire time we were there.

 

December 26, 2011

We stayed the morning and then it was time to get back in the car again to go see my 85-year-old aunt & 90-year-old uncle and some cousins before heading home the next day. Here Nicholas was saying good-bye to his uncle.

December 27, 2011 - No Photo

My cousin is sending me some. I did a terrible job of taking photos even though I carried both of mine every where I went. I just never used them. What was I thinking? I probably wasn't! :(

 

Dember 29, 2011

We had dinner at one of my very favorite places. The best part of this visit is that a branch of this restaurant opened right near my mom's house. It is so close, that we can walk there. Perfect! The other perfect thing is that it is in the same strip mall as Trader Joes and Yogurtland. Ahhhhhh! Angel's are singing. And they ahve THE BEST Shrimp Tacos EVER!

 

PROJECT LIFE INSPIRATION on the WEB

I happend upon this blog today and I really liked her style. Her album or her blog posts are not up to date, but I thought her unique style warranted a look. It is simple, engaging and attractive.

http://agnes-and-family.over-blog.com/categorie-11771067.html

 

I might update this post later today with some PL album updates, but no promises.

Have You Heard of the TAKE TWELVE Challenge at EllaPublishing? And OLW Giveaway Winner

I've been invited to be a part of the Take Twelve Team for Ella Publishing Co.'s new Take Twelve photography and scrapbooking challenge.

I couldn't be more excited! It's my very first design team! Yay! And I'm even more excited about the challenge itself.

The idea is to take TWELVE photos on the TWELFTH of every month in 2012. (So cool!) I think it is a really great way to get a snapshot of your everyday life throughout the year.

As many of you know, I already do Project Life. I do the PHOTO A DAY approach for the most part, but what my album lacks is a deeper view of my everyday. I did a Week in the Life this year too, but we only got an indepth view of our lives for one week and only in the summer. So the reason I am excited about this project is because I will get an indepth view of our everyday lives TWELVE times a year, one time a month, through every season, through various changing routines and there couldn't be an easier way to do it with the...

Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit.

This kit includes five complete products in one!

You'll get:
12 monthly photo checklists
12 bonus project ideas
12-month mini-album idea
12 layout sketches by Donna Jannuzzi
54 printable journaling lists + .png files
24 printable titles + .png files
24 printable calendar accents + .png files

So much flexibility with this kit. So much inspiration. There are even easy to use digital templates! It doesn't get easier than that. I'm itching to make something already!

In fact, we have a trans-Pacific flight on January 12th so I am excited to see if I can come up with 12 photos during a strangely short day as we lose most of our day when we cross the international dateline. But then I'm always up for a challenge!

And another huge bonus is that our year-long tour guide is Elizabeth Dillow. I love her approach to scrapbooking. She inspired me with her project, Your Life Hour by Hour with this article at Ella Publishing.

Here is the layout (template by Kim Byrns) I came up with for that challenge:

And the post that includes the rest of the photos I took on that day.

These are my kind of challenges!

Are you interested?

There are lots of ways to participate!

• Get a free email reminder sent to you on the 11th of each month, so you'll never forget to take your photos. Click here to sign up for our email list.
• Take 12 photos of your everyday life on or around the 12th of each month. Need ideas for what things to photograph? Get our Take Twelve Guided Inspiration Kit!
• Turn those 12 photos into a scrapbook page, using your own supplies and ideas—or get help from the sketches, journaling lists, printable titles, and mini calendar accents in our Take Twelve kit.
• Visit our blog on the 12th and the 19th of each month to see Take Twelve layouts from our team and from other readers too.
• Enter your layout into our linky party on the 19th of each month for a chance to win great prizes from our sponsors.
• Feel proud of yourself for making a commitment to preserving precious memories this year.

I look forward to seeing what you will create. It should be a really fun year.

 

GIVEAWAY WINNER

The winner of the spot in Ali Edwards' ONE LITTLE WORD class at Big Picture Classes is:

Congratulations, Vicki J!

Please email me (link in the side bar to the right of my blog) and I will send you everything you need as soon as possible so you can get started on the class right away! I hope you will join us for our ONE LITTLE WORD Blog Hop on February 1, Vicki J! We'd love to have you.

 

PROJECT LIFE

I promised an update of my Project Life photos and my album today but I am exhausted, so I'll have to put it off until tomorrow. So sorry!

And sorry for the late publishing of the giveaway winner. A big thanks to everyone who stopped by and left a comment! And thanks to Big Picture Classes for the giveaway!

EDITED on Jan 9, 2012: I have a giveaway coming up that you might be inerested in! It should be posted in the next 24 hours or so.

FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop {January 5, 2012}

Welcome to the first FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop of 2012!

Every month on the 5th, a small group of us have a blog hop to keep each other accountable in our efforts to take more family photos throughout the year. Our goal is one family photo a month.

How lucky that the blog hop landed on a Thursday because not only do I get to use my photo for the blog hop, but I get to use it as my link up for EMBRACE the CAMERA at The Anderson Family Crew Blog. I love participating and try to as often as I can.

The goal of both events is to encourage ourselves to get in front of the camera with our families and loved ones so it is a perfect match!

My family photo this month was taken on our family holiday in Purgatory, Colorado the week before Christmas. It was my husband's idea. My father was born and raised in Durango (25 miles from Purgatory) and loved it. He took us every other summer when we were growing up. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1989 and I have only been back once. My husband had never been. It is a gorgeous place and definitely holds a very special place in my heart so it was wonderful to see it again. It has changed alot, but it is still the quaint, charming town I remember. Now, we hope to go back again but this time in the summer as there are even more things to do there at that time of year, as there are in the winter. I can't wait to go camping, hiking, jeeping and finally ride the narrow gauge train from Durango to Silverton.

 

Here's a bonus photo of me with my kids and mom in downtown Durango in front of the historic Strater Hotel where my father worked as a bellboy in his youth.

 

A nighttime view of Durango all decorated for Christmas.

 

And another family photo in Zion National park on our way from Durango to Northern California to be with family on Christmas.

 

GIVE AWAY

Before I send you off on the blog hop, I would be remiss if I didn't tell you I was having a HUGE giveaway on my blog right now! I have one space in Ali Edwards' ONE LITTLE WORD class at Big Picture Classes to give away. Comments are open until 9 PM PST tonight. Read the giveaway post for more details.

 

CLASSES

Anyone else taking any classes this year? I am! Right now I am doing TWELVE. with Stacy Julian at BPC, Reclaiming My Time with Karen Grunberg, ONE LITTLE WORD with Ali Edwards, 12 Days of Christmas with a bunch of teachers at BPC and have just signed up for my very favorite...

LOAD!  

Anyone else doing LOAD? I have been participating since 2008 and haven't missed one yet. It's intense, but so much fun. What is LOAD? It stands for Layout A Day - so basically you produce one layout a day for a month and Lain supplies motivation, prompts (optional) and even video inspiration for the first time!

 

OFF YOU GO...

Now on with the blog hop! Next on the list is Ruth. If you should get lost along the way, there is a complete blog hop list and the end of the post, so you can return here to find your way.

 

Margie   http://xnomads.typepad.com/blog <--- You are HERE.

Ruth   http://www.chattycraftyartypig.blogspot.com  <--- Go here NEXT. 

Jo           http://www.mrsbeee.blogspot.com

Monica   http://questtoperfectimperfection.blogspot.com

Patricia  http://patoliveira.wordpress.com/

Carol Anne    http://www.scrappingthoughts.com

 

MORE STORY BEHIND THE BLOG HOP

The reason I started this hop is because I realized after a trip to Singapore and then a trip to Kyoto, Japan, that I never took a family photo during either amazing trip! How could that happen? Then, I saw a post on Tara Whitney's blog last December that she made a goal to take a family photo once every month in 2010. Her photos were wonderful. Many are just her family hanging around the house. I don't think any of them are formal and posed but they are all very fun. I was so INSPIRED and knew I had to try this. I was lucky that some blog friends wanted to play along. They have guaranteed that I won't forget my goal. And the month when I did forget, I cheated! As long as I take a photo at a time when the month hasn't ended some where in the world, my photo still counts. 

Because the most important thing is that we get more family photos. The time that our loved ones are with us is fleeting, so capturing ourselves together as we are now, is priceless.

At Our Thanksgiving Table

I saw this idea on my friend, Kiley's blog, so I am copying it. Check out her cool blog, here.

• Ten adults and thirteen children from ages 1 to 13.
• Americans, Swedes, British, Kiwis, Italians
• Turkey, cornbread stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, lemon broccoli, arugula salad, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, falafel
• Pumpkin pie (baked in a square casserole dish), pecan pie (made by 11-year-old Nicholas in a proper pie plate), chocolate cream pie (made from scratch because all stores were out of chocolate pudding mix and baked in a square cake pan) & custard cake with pine nuts
• Savignon Blanc, Merlot Malbec, Budweiser (brought by a friend because "Americans drink that on Thanksgiving"), and a variety of yummy wines brought by our guests
• Apple Juice, Orange Juice, Sprite & Coke for the kids  

I cannot say the day went off without a hitch. It was a last minute Thanksgiving and the hour or two before dinner was served was noticably chaotic as we tried to get everything on the table while it was warm. I don't think we succeeded but with all we had going against us, I think things turned out pretty good.

Afterall, we didn't decide to have Thanksgiving at our house until late Sunday night (just 8 days ago). We didn't send out the emails until Monday or Tuesday. My entire week was booked, Paul was in Singapore Tuesday & Wednesday, we have a small oven that barely fits a turkey and a stove with two burners, so the fact that we pulled it off at all is something to be grateful for. 

The plates were borrowed, we didn't have quite enough cutlery for a matching set for all of our guests, we borrowed wine glasses (we only had four), I forgot to plan plates and silverware for all of the kids but luckily I had paper plates, no fancy napkins, and no two coffee cups were alike (they've all broken since we have kids and a tile floor), dinner was served 90 minutes late but in the end the food was tasty and the company divine!

If you celebrate Thanksgiving, I hope you had a wonderful day!

Discovering the Power of Written Communication...

Braden surprised himself last Sunday by reading his very first chapter book all by himself. I loved when he told me he was finished with chapter 2. I could tell by the way he said it that he hadn't believed he would be able to do it until he actually did it.

So exciting to witness an emerging reader. He makes such an effort and is reading every word that he sees. He is also constantly asking me how to spell words.

Discovering the power of words and written communication is such an exciting time! 

A Bad Haircut Doesn't Dictate the Evening

I didn't make it into a photo this week, so I used one from last week. This was taken by people from the event (Chi Fan for Charity). They went around to each restaurant and took a photo of each table. I will refrain from the self-depricating thoughts I have about the photo and say that I looked better than I thought I would since two days before the event, I had the third worst haircut I've had since moving to China and I feared having my photo taken. Being able to put my hair up in a clip saved me. I still haven't worn it down and that was two weeks ago!

Haircuts in Beijing are worth an entire post to themselves. It is near impossible to find a decent hairdresser and they all, regardless of skill, charge exhorbitant prices. I pay more than double here than I do at home in LA and it is not because they use high quality product like at home. The other thing I can't stand is that I cannot find an efficient hairdresser to save my life! At home, to get my hair cut, highlights and low lights, I am in and out in two hours. This latest cut... want to guess how long it took (for the same treatment I get at home)? FIVE HOURS! Yes, it is true. FIVE HOURS. Contrary to popular belief, I do have a life out side of the beauty parlor. Apparently my latest hairdresser didn't realize that.

I was about to go insane. It took all of my will power, not to jump out of that chair and run for home. He just kept cutting and cutting and I kept saying to myself, "Please stop. I need to get out of here. Please don't cut off so much that it takes another year to grow it out." What made it worse is that he is an acquaintance of ours and extremely nice. It was painful for me at the end. And then he told me the price. It was ridiculous like every where else I have tried. Never again.

And the evening was fun despite my haircut!

Linking up at Anderson Family Crew Blog.

Chopschticks – Beijing {Chicago Improv All-Stars}

via chopschticks.com

We went to this event last night: The Chicago Improv All-Stars in Beijing at the Hard Rock Cafe. I wasn't sure what to expect because one never knows what kind of quality you will get in Beijing. Even if the price is high, that is never a guarantee the show, the food, the product will be good.

Luckily, we were pleasantly surprised. The show was excellent. The laughs were plentiful. And the drink prices quite reasonable. I'm so glad we went. Apparently many SNL stars come from their improv troupe (2nd City) in Chicago.

Last weekend, we attended the Chi Fan for Charity event and I bid on one of the silent auction packages. The improv tickets were in there. And I feel like I really lucked out. If I didn't have three kids who needed supervision, I would probably go again tonight! I LOVE a good belly laugh.

What makes you belly laugh?

Top Ten Self-Timer Madness Photos {10 on the TENTH}

Today is Thursday, so whenever I can, I link up at Anderson Family Crew blog for Embrace the Camera. It is also the 10th of the month and that means I link up at Shimelle's blog for 10 on the TENTH. This made my TEN list easy to figure out:

My Top Ten Self-Timer Photos (several already seen here on past Embrace the Camera posts)

PHOTO 1: I just posted this last week for the FAMILY x 12 Blog Hop (email me if you are interested in joining us on the 5th of every month) and I'm posting it again today because I promised to explain how I did it.

Step 1) I set up my tripod and had everyone get in their places. We took about ten shots in the FIRST POSE. Then we DID NOT TOUCH the camera. THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! We moved positions, taking care that nobody was in the same spot as someone else was in the first photo. This is also a crucial detail. I set the self timer again to take ten consecutive photos in the SECOND POSE, again being very careful not to move the camera. I touched it as little as possible when I set the next round of photos. (I just had to press the shutter button and then run as fast as I could into position.)

Step 2) I selected the best photo from the first ten photos of POSE ONE, and the best photo from the second ten photos of POSE TWO.

Step 3) I opened both of these photos into Photoshop (this would also work in Photoshop Elements or any photo editing software with layers).

Step 4) I opened a NEW project and grabbed each photo (POSE ONE & POSE TWO) and dragged and dropped them into my new project. I made sure the photos were lined up exactly so that when I erased parts of the top layer away, every thing in the photo would be a seamless transition.

Step 5) I used the eraser tool to erase any part of the image that was blocking a person in the photo on the bottom layer. On parts that are tough to erase due to people being in close proximity to each other, I magnified my image so I could see more detail and have more control over what I was erasing.

ALTERNATIVE way to make the same picture WITHOUT photo editing software: If your camera has a Multiple Exposure feature (my film SLR had this option but my current DSLR does not; all higher end DSLRs will have this feature and many higher end point and shoots should have the feature as well - check your camera's manual).

Step 1) You would set up your camera on a tripod the same way as in step 1 above. Again, you would set your camera to take a self-timer photo, but this time you only want your camera to take ONE photo. This is crucial.

Step 2) After that first photo is taken, have everyone in the photo, go to their second position using the same precautions as I mentioned in step 2 above. TOUCH THE CAMERA IS LITTLE AS POSSIBLE and as GENTLY AS POSSIBLE. Take the second photo. Since you are using the MULTIPLE EXPOSURE function, the second photo will be taken right on top of the first photo and your photo will already be merged. No need for post processing (excpet perhaps to refine your image as you would normally do).

With the second method you may want to take four or five multiple exposures by repeating steps 1 & 2 four or five times (or more) to be sure you get a good final image. Step 1, then step 2, then repeat. Good luck! And let me know if you try it.

#2 Self-timer photo: this was taken right after Paul was released from the hosptial after his harrowing ordeal this summer.

 

#3 Self-timer photo: I took Braden to the pool this afternoon for a mommy-Braden swim. Just for fun! If it weren't for Embrace the Camera, I would never think to lug my camera with me downstairs to the pool, but I am so glad I did. This pool has been a big part of our lives here in Beijing.

 

#4 Self-timer photo: Ok, so this is not exactly a self-timer photo but it is self-taken. I just like it. It was taken in the reflection of a mirrored building we used to walk past on the way to my youngest son's school last year.

 

#5 Self-timer photo: I posted this one just a couple of weeks ago. My son was helping me make waffles and he wanted me to have a taste.

 

#6 Self-timer photo: another one that I took myself. This is us in the back of a pedi-rickshaw. We took this on Friday night. We were going out to dinner for my son's (on the right side of the photo) eleventh birthday. I hate the way I look in this photo but I had to include it because of what my youngest son did. After taking the photos I would look at them and complain about how horrible and ugly I looked. I also said that I looked like a boy. I had just gotten my haircut the day before and didn't like it at all. Anyway, my youngest had a piece of paper and a pen with him. He was writing with the wind blowing in his face, paper on his knee. He showed me the paper a little while later. It said, "You are not ugly." and "You are not a boy." So sweet!

 

#7 Self-Timer Photo: I've also posted this one before. My son had a day off school while his brothers didn't so we played a game of Lego Harry Potter. I like the angle of this one and that we are in the middle of a game.

 

#8 Self-Timer Photo: Lunch at my son's school last year. Pretty fancy, no? With linen table cloths and napkin holders. The kids set it all themselvs as well as clean up, including folding the table cloths! Pretty impressive!

 

#9 Self-Timer Photo: Just a fun and romantic photo of us cooking dinner together. We were making lasagne.

 

#10 Self-TImer Photo: Last but not least, my oldest son and I playing Scrabble. A rare occasion because I usually don't like to play. But I love to play all board games with my children.

Thanks for stopping by. For more ten on ten lists, go to Shimelle.com and for more lovely Embrace the Camera photos, go to Anderson Family Crew blog.

 

      

Oh, I almost forgot! My good friend, Ella (a Kiwi), who I met here in Beijing, just started her own blog with her sister, Talia. Ella still lives here in Beijing and her sister lives in Australia. They are off to a good start, head on over to In My Cabinet and check it out. Leave them some words of encouragement if you have a moment.

 

Happiness Blog Hop {November}:: Mindfulness

Welcome to my blog for the Happiness Blog Hop hosted by Stephanie at Scrapworthy Lives.

A little background on the hop for those of you that are new here. Each month Stephanie of Scrapworthylives.com chooses a theme for the hop based around themes in Gretchen Rubin’s book: The Happiness Project: Or, Why I Spent a Year Trying to Sing in the Morning, Clean My Closets, Fight Right, Read Aristotle, and Generally Have More Fun. Basically all themes from the book are applied to the overall theme of SCRAPBOOKING and how it leads to more HAPPINESS in our lives.

This month's theme is MINDFULNESS or in other words, PAYING ATTENTION.

In no uncertain terms, I see how scrapbooking makes me more mindful of my life. This has happened in direct ways and indirect ways. 

For example, many of the scrapbooking projects that I participate in by nature cause me to pay attention to the details of my daily life.

For example, A Week in the Life, a project inspired by Ali Edwards, requires me to take photos of as many ordinary details of my life as I can. For the entire week, I am conscious of taking photos of ordinary details that are important to our everyday lives like where we eat our meals, what we have for breakfast, what we might wear for the day, how we relate to each other around the house, how we get places, what our surroundings look like, where we go each day, etc, etc, etc.

I also pay more attention to the paper and other ephemera that surrounds me. I decide what to keep that will represent our daily lives. For this week, I pay attention to every thing. In my efforts to create this album, I am mindful of how to tell a story that accurately represents our daily lives in that week.

 

I find that the daily practice of a photo a day and recording (as much as I can) in my Project Life album is also a catalyst for AWARENESS.

 

SCRAPBOOKING is indirectly responsible for me coming upon writing prompts like the one below that I found today on Lee's blog (who I 'met' in an online scrapbooking class). Prompts like these cause me to pause, reflect on my life and record some of the mundane, yet important details of my life right now.

Not to mention, filling out quizzes like this makes me HAPPY and always has. Maybe it is because it causes me to be mindful and pay attention to the details of my daily life? What do you think? Do you like quizzes?

1. Who was the last person you held hands with? Braden, my six year old, after I had picked him up just a few hours ago at the bus in our apartment complex campus. I remember noticing how soft his skin is.

2. Are you outgoing or shy? Both. Socially, I have grown to be outgoing. As a child, I was definitely SHY! Now, I am only shy when it relates to my own accomplishments and then I am PAINFULLY shy. Only a handful of friends IRL even know about this blog! 

3. Who are you looking forward to seeing? My friend, Diane, when she (hopefully) comes to visit me in Spring.

4. Are you easy to get along with? I think I am easy to get along with. But the older I get, the less I worry about it.

5. Have you ever given up on someone? Yes. But I do keep the door open, so to say. 

6. Do you enjoy school/work? Yes, especially now that I only study/work on something I want to do.

7. What person do you think about most often? It rotates between my three boys and my husband depending on what is going on in our various lives.

8. What does your most recent text say? "No problem. I'll be at The Place at 1. See you then." (The Place is the name of the mall next to my apartment.)

9. Who did you last speak with for over 30 minutes? Emilie when we were out taking photos today.

10. Do you believe in good luck? I believe in being prepared for good luck and taking advantage when it finds you.

11. How do you feel in a big crowd of people? If they are raucous then I might be nervous or scared especially if I have my kids with me and I'm worried for their safety, otherwise I'm excited because there is probably something fun going on. And I'm used to crowds after living over five years between China & Japan.

12. What was the best thing that happened this summer? My husband survived & fully recovered from a scary brush with full-blown sepsis.

13. Would you kiss the last person you kissed again? Yes, by all means.

14. Do you think there is life on other planets? Yes. 

15. Do you still think about your first crush/love? My first crush was in Kindergarten or 1st grade and I just told my kids about him the last time I was at home and we walked past his house. His family hasn't lived there for a long time.

16. What bad habits do you wish you could break? Lately it has been spending too much time on the computer. I've already improved and plan to keep whitling it down within reason.

17. What's the first thing you do when you wake up? Take my Synthroid for my thyroid.

18. Did you dream last night? About what? Not that I can remember. I also need to get more sleep so I can have time to dream.

19. Who is the most comfortable person to be around? Abby, Stacy, Diletta, Yukiko, Paul

20. What made you happy today? Getting back to yoga after a week off and having a really good class.

21. Which celebrity would you want to date and why? George Clooney and I might be talked into Brad Pitt. 

22. Do you enjoy playing sports? Yes. But I don't play much.

23. When was the last time you wrote a thank you note? In September for two very nice birthday gifts.

24. Would you rather live without TV or music? TV. Now with the internet, who needs a TV?

25. Are you currently keeping a secret from someone? No. Last week I was keeping my son's birthday gift a secret!

26. Do you think age matters? Yes.

27. What was the last store you went into? Jenny Lu's for food.

28. What is your dream job? National Geographic Photographer choosing my own stories and paid in full before I fly to the job in its extremely exotic and gorgeous location covering very friendly and fascinating people. :)

29. Do you believe in second chances? Yes.

30. Do you smile at strangers? Yes.

31. Is your voice quiet or loud? Loud.

32. Would you rather go to space or to the bottom of the ocean? Space. 

33. What are you most afraid of? The death of my children or husband.

34. What is the nicest thing someone ever said to you? I love you.

35. Have you done anything you hope no one ever knows about? No. 

36. If you could write a book, what would it be about? Photography - because I would like to be that good.

37. Do you enjoy bubble baths? On a rare occasion.

38. How would you describe your perfect day? On holiday in a location similar to Hawaii (I love the warm weather and warm ocean water), a relaxing swim, a massage, homemade ice cream, a healthy yet delicious breakfast, Wahoo's shrimp tacos for lunch, a few hours to take some great photos doing fun things, playing a game with my whole family, a nice quiet dinner with my husband having a good glass of wine and chatting. 

39. Would you rather lose your vision or your hearing? Hearing.

40. What astrological sign are you? On the cusp of Virgo & Libra.

41. Do you know the meaning of your name? If I do, I can't think of it right now. I was named after my parents' friends' girlfriend!

42. Do you prefer indoors or outdoors? Outdoors especially if it involves nature - I'll take beach or mountains.

43. What was the name of your first pet? Tulus the IV.

44. Do you have a crush on someone right now? No, unless you count my husband.

45. Where would you travel if you could go anywhere? Nepal or Europe, maybe the Italian Riviera.

46. What do you do during an awkward silence? Talk.

47. What part of your body do you love most? My legs.

48. Who did you last say "I love you" to? One of my children or my husband, I can't remember since we say it most days.

49. Did you make your bed this morning? Yes.

50. Are you who you want to be? I'm well on my way.

 

This is also perfect material for a future scrapbook page. Perhaps I'll make one and post it for you at the next blog hop. Because as we all know, scrapbooking definitely makes me happy. I think all the steps to making a scrapbook page, from taking photographs, selecting materials to use, to crafting a page, all require mindfulness. Maybe that is why it makes us happy?

 

If you are so inclined, copy and paste the questions and answer them on your blog and be sure to post a link to your answers in the comments. I would love to pop over and hear more about you!

 

And I still plan to sign up for Your Story Matters to bring even more attention and awareness to my own story - not just my kids', who I tend to scrapbook and photograph 90% of the time. That said, I am planning a Top 10 List on Thursday of my best Self Timer Photos for Shimelle's Ten on 10.

 

I plan to particpate in  www.onedayonearth.org which takes place this Friday 11.11.11 when the world will come together to DOCUMENT ONE DAY around the globe. What better way to bring AWARENESS of all kinds of interesting things in our world to one another? Check it out and why not join in too? I think it sounds like an incredibly cool project.

 

And before I send you off, an article I found the other day on happiness. I love what he says about routine and how he reduces every day stress in his life. I'm taking it to heart and trying to see how I can incorporate those behaviors into my own life. His answers weren't necessarily ones I have heard time and again. Give it a read and let me know what you think.

Dr. Weil Interviews Dr. Oz at Everyday Health

 

Next on the hop is Nuggets. If you should get lost along the way, feel free to come back here for a list of all the blogs or find your way to our host, Stephanie at Scrapworthy Lives. Thanks, Stephanie for hosting! It is always a lot of fun. 

Thanks for stopping by. I hope you'll come back again.

 

Fun Mama

Kiss & Tell Scrapbooking

Melissa’s Blog

Nihao, Cupcake! <--- You are HERE.

Nuggets <--- Go HERE next.

Our Life with Spiky Potatoes

Pie for Breakfast

Scraps & Sass

Scrapworthy Lives

Scrap Your Life

Slice of Life

Take a Picture and Remember This

This Kalil Life

1200 Some Miles

Scrapping Mojo

Your Memory Connection

The Best Monster Cupcakes I Have Ever Made!

It was my son's birthday on Friday. One of our traditions is that I make a fun cake or cupcakes in the theme of the birthday child's choice. Nicholas insisted on these monster cupcakes. I had to alter them from the original version which used far too much frosting and have proven difficult too transport. I stayed up past his bedtime Thursday night decorating. He came into my room early Friday morning waking me up saying, "Mom, those are the BEST monster cupcakes you have ever made!" What could make a mom happier than that?! 

He repeated the same sentiment multiple times throughout the day and into Saturday. I'm so glad he appreciates my efforts. I do find it humorous that they are only the second monster cupcakes I have ever made, but I'll take an enthusiastic compliment like that whenever I can get one!

It's the SIMPLE THINGS like a heartfelt compliment from a newly eleven year old boy that warms my heart and makes me smile!

Here is Nicholas with the 18 friends he invited to his birthday party at school.

And this is the cupcake cake I made for his birthday party on Saturday! He told me he specifically chose this design because he thought it would be easy for me to do and he knew I had been working hard on the last minute (less than 2 days, but that is a story for another blog post) party. He has his moments, but most of the time I couldn't ask for a sweeter, more thoughtful son!

Happy Birthday!

To see anything about FUN CAKES & CUPCAKES on my blog, click here.

The Broken Plate: Storytelling Sunday

 

As many of you know, our family has been living in Beijing, China for the past three+ years. When we first arrived we had the desire to expose our children to the local culture and were hoping to have them learn the language. My husband who used to fly back and forth for business before we moved here, found a local international school with a section for foreign passport holders. It seemed the perfect place for our two older boys to experience the culture and learn the language. They did learn the language and experience the culture, but that didn't mean it was a healthy place for them to spend their days.

Our oldest ended up being harrased by his Chinese teacher for not knowing any Mandarin (he was tested before entering the school, so they were completely aware of his level when he started), and our middle son who was only seven years old, was left without adult supervision at lunchtime with a bully who we found out later, hit him so hard in the head, his ears rang for two hours. When I confronted the school about this problem, their solution was far from adequate, so I removed him early and kept him at home for the rest of the year. 

We then found another school that was fairly new to the international school scene. We were very impressed. They touted themselves as a bilingual/bicultural school. Half of the day was in English, half of the day in Mandarin Chinese. They would learn PE (Physical Ed), art, math and language in Mandarin and everything else in English. They believed in respecting the child and teaching them appropriate ways to treat others. We thought this would expose them to the positive sides of Chinese culture and protect them from the local habits of shaming children and comparing them publically with their fellow classmates. Unfortunately, the school grew too big for itself and couldn't maintain its original goals. The staff felt overwhelmed and was not well trained. I remember clearly the day this first became apparent to me.

The school was having a fundraiser organized by the students to raise money for a charity. The community was invited for the fun booths and a bakesale. I was walking around with my youngest son enjoying the activities. I was approached by a Chinese woman I had never met before. She didn't speak any English, and I had limited Mandarin. We pulled over a parent who was bilingual to translate. The Chinese woman, who it turns out worked for the school, explained to me that Nicholas, my middle son who is very mild mannered and rarely gets into trouble at school, if at all, had purposefully broken a plate in the cafeteria. She had told him to bring a plate from home to replace the broken one and she wanted to verify that this solution was OK with me. If I hadn't already lived in China for 2 and a half years, I probably would have thought that I misunderstood her. I would have thought it was a strange request! Nevertheless, I was still half surprised by what she was telling me. "Yes," I told her, "I do need that plate." Coincidentally, many of my plates had been chipping and a couple had broken in the past month or two, so I really couldn't spare another one! 

I told her I had another plate in my cabinet that was white and would match the cafeteria plates better, but it was larger. She said that wouldn't do. It was too large. Funny thing about the plate from my cabinet, it was a grey, flat plate and the plate that got broken was actually a white, bowl, though they were of similar size. 

My other suggestion was that my son do some chores to earn money to pay for the broken plate. To me, that was the best option since it was a consequence that affected him. Taking a plate from my cabinet was a consequence for me. She told me not to worry and gave me my plate back. 

Before we ended our conversation though she wanted to request that I tell Nicholas he shouldn't play on the swings while he is waiting for the bus after school. Of course, I agreed. 

After the fundraiser, I had a chance to talk to Nicholas about the plate incident. He swore that it was an accident. Knowing his personality, he is much more likely to do something like that carelessly than ever break something on purpose, especially at school. He told me incredulously, with his older brother, Reece, chiming in in agreement, that not only did she insist relentlessly that he did do it on purpose, she took a photo of the pieces of the broken plate and put it in a Power Point presentation to show to the entire school as an example of how not to care for things at school. In addition, she announced it to the entire school at an assembly! My oldest son, verbalized quite clearly how much he, in no uncertain terms, hated this woman and it was not even him she was targeting in this situation.

I also asked Nicholas about the swings and he said that this woman already told him not to play on the swings several weeks ago and he hadn't done it again.

A week or two after the broken plate conversation, Nicholas came home on the bus quite concerned. This same woman told him that he wouldn't be allowed to take the bus the next morning. Shocked, I wanted more information. She was angry that he was watching another boy play on the swings and she didn't want him to do that so she banned him from the bus the next morning. Ridiculous, I thought. Another consequence that inconvenienced me and not my son. Surely, there were more productive ways to handle such a minor and arguably silly infraction.

This finally prompted me to contact the school. I told them everything that she had done. I hadn't mentioned the Power Point presentation or the announcement to the entire school before, because I assumed one of the administrators would have heard it and set her straight. But now that there were more incidents and I was feeling like this woman was targeting my son, even harrasing him, I was getting seriously concerned. 

The morning bus monitor never said a word that my son couldn't ride the bus so he rode the bus without incident. The school responded with a stock email that they were concerned too, would investigate and get back to me. Three or four days passed without a response. I was getting angry. I wrote back thinking maybe I had missed the return email. "Oh no," she wrote, "it had been a busy week and they hadn't had a chance to meet with the lady yet." I was livid! I am concerned one of their staff is harrassing my son or at the least using inappropriate and potentially damaging means to discipline him and likely the other children as well, and they are too busy to meet with her!? What!?

Absolutely not OK. This is not what I expected from the administrators whom had responded adequately in the past to much less serious concerns. I continued to wait for their response. In the meantime, my oldest son, aged 12, had a confrontation with the same broken plate woman. Whatever she did drove him to cuss at her! Totally out of character for him!

I received an email from another staff member, we'll call her Talia, who told me about the incident, not mentioning the name of the person who Reece cussed at. I had my suspicions, though. Talia wanted Reece to write a thank you letter and deliver it in person. Under normal circumstances, I would be in full support of the consequence, but since I felt it was largely the school's fault for not having addressed my concerns and hopefully, remove this woman from interacting with children, I had a hard time holding my son fully responsible. And sure enough when I got both sides of the story, asking for more information from Talia as well as my son, I had to agree with my son that he was treated unfairly. I would have felt powerless and unjustly punished if I had been in my son's shoes.

We talked about what he could do differently next time and frankly, he didn't have a lot of options. He complained that the few teachers he did trust at school were always too busy to help him, even during class time. And he was treated unfairly, the thing he (and several others) were punished for, had been approved by another supervising staff member. 

I told Talia and the school director that none of this would have happened if they took care of my other concerns promptly. I also told them that the bigger concerns were lack of appropraite supervision in the gym, one staff member undermining the other in front of the students, slow responses from the administration. I felt my son writing a thank you note, was the least of their concerns. 

I did have my son write the thank you note as I wanted him to know disrespecting another person was not OK regardless of their behavior. We emailed the note to Talia asking her to pass it on to The Broken Plate woman. I told Talia that I did not want my son to deliver it to her in person. I no longer trusted the school and I wanted to limit any face to face interaction between my children and this woman. Talia strongly encouraged me to have my son deliver the note in person, offering that she would accompany him. I refused and requested she respect my decision as his parent. I wanted to limit any face to face interaction between my children and Broken Plate lady to avoid any further problems.

These series of incidents, include many more details I have left out for the sake of length (can you believe that since this is soooo long already!?), made me lose all faith in the adequacy of the school's administration as well as many of the key staff members. Needless to say, we chose to move all of our children to a new school this past fall and we are much happier (so far). I have learned to reserve my judgement until we are really far into the year. But already, we are getting much more real communication from the teachers and have a more accurate idea of how our children are doing in school. And so far, no strange stories of shaming or inappropriate discipline.

 

Luckily, we can laugh about it all now and the Broken Plate incident is a family joke. We saw this ad in a taxi the other night and laughed that Broken Plate woman was still so upset by the incident, she paid to have this ad put in taxis across Beijing. I hope that even though my children have had to endure these difficult situations, they know that we love and care for them because we have made efforts to correct the situation once we realize what had been going on.

It has been quite a learning experience for me living here. There is so much we take for granted being from a developed nation. I have lived in three other countries besides China (including my home country of the US) and there is far less I can take for granted here than any other place I have lived. 

I'm linking up at Sian's blog for Storytelling Sunday. She hosts it the first Sunday of every month. Do you have a story to tell? Post it on your blog and join us!

 

To read more STORIES on my blog, click here.

Simple Things Sunday - Halloween Cupcakes

My boys LOVE when I make these whimsical cupcakes. For any special occasion at school, I am always expected to come up with something cute & creative. Of course, I don't mind but on those days (like this past Thursday), I was not feeling creative at all and really wanted to slap on some frosting and cover the cupcakes with sprinkles. But my kids actually said, "But, Mom, you can't let us down! We told our friend that your cupcakes are the best. And we have to win." Well, those weren't their exact words but it was something like that. They did say, "You can't let us down!" So funny! Everything is a competition to boys. They did say it was a competition. But I can guarantee you the cupcakes made by the other mom tasted better! (I use a mix & canned frosting - shhhhhhh!) I'm sure mine were cuter, though! Haha! :)

 

To see anything about FUN CAKES & CUPCAKES on my blog, click here.

Even more Halloween cupcake ideas in my photostream on Flickr.com.

31 DAYS of CREATIVE INSPIRATION:: Day 13 {Creative Habits}

My middle son was letting me taste his waffle.

This is the 13th post in a 31 Day series: Creative Inspiration. Check out all the posts here.

Today is Self-Timer Madness Day. I've been trying to use the self-timer on my camera more regularly. I want to make it a HABIT.

Habit is a very important part of being CREATIVE.

Basically a habit is the act of repeating something on a regular basis.

Which could also be loosely (or not so loosely) defined as practicing.

The more you practice, the more you experiment, the better you become at something. Anything. Even art or photography.

To be creative, you need to make time for your habit. Do something creative EVERYDAY even if it is something little. Taking a picture with your smart phone is creative. Making a card is creative. Doodling is creative. Writing a letter is creative.

If you are frustrated by your lack of creative pursuits, make a committment to do what you want to do for a week straight. If you want to improve your painting, paint a picture every day for a week, no matter what and see what happens. I bet you will be surprised how happy you feel. (I'm talking to myself here too - I'm thinking next week sounds like a good time to start!)

Tomorrow I will give you some ideas on creative habits you can participate in online. Online communities are a great place to get support in creative habits.

Before I go, here are a couple of other gems of me and Nicholas we took today. My dad would have said, "Nicholas isn't mean!" That was Dad's way of reminding me that "I" never comes first in grammar. I should have said, "Nicholas and I!"

Nicholas was home sick today but as he started feeling better later in the day we spent about an hour Skyping each other and instant messaging for fun. He was in the next room. Silly boy! Nothing like useless technology to make a ten year old boy happy. He's a big fan of emoticons.

And here are our feet. Just for fun!

I'm linking up at The Anderson Family Crew blog today for Embrace the Camera because documenting ourselves with our family is that important! Thank you for hosting this each week, Emily. It is an important creative habit and if it weren't for this weekly challenge, I would show up in a lot less photos! Go on over and link up. It's fun!

Want to see other Self Timer Madness posts? Click here and here.

What creative habit do you want to pursue?

 

31 Days of Creative INSPIRATION Series 

Introduction

Day 1: Design Your Own Cupcake

Day 2: Storytelling Sunday

Day 3: Scrapbooking (Week in the Life Album)

Day 4: Everyday Photojournalism (Project 365/Project Life)

Day 5: Family Photo Fun - FAMILY x 12 BLOG HOP

Day 6: Links to Creatively Inspiring People (all writing a 31 Day series)

Day 7: Healthier (But Still Delicious) Cottage Pie

Day 8: Photo Walk

Day 9: Fun Photo Story

Day 10: Drive By Travel Photography

Day 11: Project Life Weekly Photos

Day 12: Project Life Album - Catching up

Day 13: Habit

Day 14: Creative Habits Around the Web

Other topics in the works for my 31 Days of Creative Inspiration Series: 

Photography - I answer the question, 'How do I know if I should buy a DSLR camera?', Family Photo Fun ideas from around the web.

Recipes - my husband's delicious salsa, HealthIER (Yet Still Delicious) Recipes

Scrapbooking - My favorite mini album, 30 minute scrapbook challenge

more Cupcake Ideas, craft ideas...

AND LOTS, LOTS MORE (I'm posting for 31 Days straight, remember?!)

And to find more than 700 other blogs participating in the 31 Days series, go here. There is a huge variety of topics to choose from.

 

31 DAYS OF CREATIVE INSPIRATION: Day 10 {Drive-By Travel Photography} 10 on 10 @ Shimelle.com

This is the 9th post in a 31 Day series: Creative Inspiration. Check out all the posts here.

Today I hope to inspire you with 10 special travel photos on the 10th of the 10th month for Shimelle's 10 on 10 link party. Anyone can join - it's simple. Blog about any ten things of your own creation on the tenth of the month, go to Shimelle.com and link up.

My husband and I came to Beijing in 1997 right after we were married. We stayed for three days and did all of the typical tourist things. We took photos at all the expected places, Tian'anmen Square under Mao's portrait, The Forbidden City, The Temple of Heaven, etc.

What we forgot to take pictures of were the ordinary things - the crowded buses, the two line subway, the large boulevards dominated by bicycles, the blocks and blocks of old courtyard homes (hutongs), the street food, the people.

Now that it is 2011, Beijing is unrecognizable to me. It looks nothing like it did when I was here 15 years ago. I would love to look back at my Beijing holiday photos and remember how it was back then. To see how truly remarkable the change has been.

But I can't. I don't have any photos.

With the way I take photos these days. So. much. of the everyday. It is hard for me to fathom how I took virtually no 'everyday' photos back then.

What was I thinking?

No foresight for what was to come. None! 

Our first camel sighting in Rajasthan.

I want to remember what is unique about the places I am fortunate enough to visit. The tourist attractions, I can buy a postcard if I have to. The everday sights, the back alleys, the back roads, the villages - it is up to me to get those on film.

Now when I travel, I cannot take enough photos. I thought I took a lot before. I refuse to admit how many photos I take in a day now. It's embarrasing.

But now I have gems like these.

 

Do you know what is unique about all ten of the photos in this post?

Each one was taken from inside a moving vehicle. 

Imagine if I didn't get these amazing sites captured on film? 

In fifteen years, this India, which is developing rapidly, will be unrecognizable. I want to remember these places how they were when I got to visit this past June.

The photo above and the one below were taken from inside a Toyota 4 Runner with the windows tightly rolled up and the A/C blasting - Rajasthan is SIZZLING HOT in June.

This photo was taken out of the back of a rickshaw. That's my husband on the back of the motorcycle with the son of the owner of our Haveli (centuries old home) where we were staying. He picked us up from the station and arranged for a motor rickshaw to take us there. Paul couldn't fit with all our luggage (5 daypacks). Later in our trip we would count 15 people in one motor rickshaw, so I'm not sure why we couldn't manage one more person in ours!

This photo was taken from the back of an open air gypsy (jeep type vehicle) returning home from our camel safari.

I'm linking up at Shimelle.com today for 10 on the 10th.

 

5 BONUS DRIVE-BY PHOTOS

I find this photo humorous for some reason. Do you think it's funny? If so why? I can't quite figure it out. Does it seem like a quirky ad for coconut shampoo?

I love the glimpses of the everyday in these photos.

Most of them are straight out of camera (SOOC). I think they will look even better if I spend a little time cropping some and brightening them up. I shoot in RAW, so as many of you know that typically means they are a bit drab until they get some loving care.

I'm dying to crop out that edge of the cart on the right of the photo below. That will make that picture so much cleaner.

You don't need a fancy camera to be a DRIVE-BY PHOTOGRAPHER. In fact, I know a few of these photos were taken with my Canon Point & Shoot on SPORTS MODE.

 

You can see the glare from the car window on this one. I'm in the 4 Runner again.

I had hardly a moment to frame these photos, so as you can imagine I had far more pictures worthy of deletion than saving.

But look how many are worth saving.

I took this one out the window of our train while it was leaving the station. Is it just me, or does it seem counterproductive to SWEEP off a train track.

 Tomorrow is Project Life Tuesday. Not only will I be posting my photos, but I'll give you a peek into my album.

 

 

31 Days of Creative INSPIRATION Series

Introduction

Day 1: Design Your Own Cupcake

Day 2: Storytelling Sunday

Day 3: Scrapbooking (Week in the Life Album)

Day 4: Everyday Photojournalism (Project 365/Project Life)

Day 5: Family Photo Fun - FAMILY x 12 BLOG HOP

Day 6: Links to Creatively Inspiring People (all writing a 31 Day series)

Day 7: Healthier (But Still Delicious) Cottage Pie

Day 8: Photo Walk

Day 9: Fun Photo Story

Day 10: Drive By Travel Photography

Other topics in the works for my 31 Days of Creative Inspiration Series: 

Photography - I answer the question, 'How do I know if I should buy a DSLR camera?', Family Photo Fun ideas from around the web.

Recipes - my husband's delicious salsa, HealthIER (Yet Still Delicious) Recipes

Scrapbooking - My favorite mini album, 30 minute scrapbook challenge

more Cupcake Ideas, craft ideas...

AND LOTS, LOTS MORE (I'm posting for 31 Days straight, remember?!)

And to find more than 700 other blogs participating in the 31 Days series, go here. There is a huge variety of topics to choose from.

31 DAYS of CREATIVE INSPIRATION :: Day 9 {Fun Photo Story}

This is the 9th post in a 31 Day series: Creative Inspiration. Check out all the posts here.

I know I promised a post on chocolate toppers for cupcakes that kids can make, but it didn't work out for today. I promise it will come sometime within the next 22 days.

Today I wanted to share a cute little photo set I put together of my 3 boys. Since we now have a teen and a pre-teen in our house, we have seen a marked increase in the eye rolling around here. We were talking about it over frozen yogurt the other day and it turned into a little silliness with everyone giving it a try for the camera. I don't mind eye rolling at all when this is the result! There's not enough silliness in the world.

WHAT I WAS THINKING ABOUT WHEN I PUT TOGETHER THE PHOTO SET

These weren't necessarily the three best photos of the lot, but they were the best of all the photos that were the most alike.

To put together this set, I chose the three photos that were the most alike in 1) orientation (horiz vs vert) & 2) composition. Once my photos were selected, I edited the first photo in Lightroom to my liking, then I selected the other two photos and synchronized the settings. This guarantees the set has a consistent feel and look so it looks as if it goes together.

[To SYNCHRONIZE your photo settings in Lightroom, select PHOTO from the menu bar, DEVELOP SETTINGS from the drop down menu, then SYNC SETTINGS.]

 

NEW NAME & UPDATED BLOG BANNER

If you are regular reader of my blog, you may have noticed that I changed the name of my blog a couple of days ago. When I first started this Typepad blog almost two years ago I never planned to remain for long, so I never really gave the name any thought. Then when I was making my blog banner several months ago now, I came up with a name in a pinch so I could get the blog banner done and see how it looked, again not giving much thought to the name. Anyway, I hated that name! I never liked it and I especially hated it when people would refer to my blog using that awful name (My Creative Days in Beijing - BORING & AWKWARD). Anyway, I finally decided it was time for a change, so I came up with Nihao, Beijing!

I love making cupcakes and one of my favorite idea books is called Hello, Cupcake! Nihao means "hello" in Mandarin, and I thought it sounded cute together, so that became my new name! I hope it isn't too limiting since cupcakes are only some of what I share on this blog. 'Cupcake' is also a term of endearment so I hope that helps it seem general enough. Not to mention, cupcakes are trendy right now and it gives my blog a cheerful feel, I hope.

You may also have noticed that I changed the color scheme. It is a simple change, but I like the feel of the blog much better now. I may continue to tweak things here and there, so don't be surprised if things look different from time to time. It's still me!

 

A NOTE ABOUT my 31 DAYS SERIES

Ok, I'm starting to think my 31 Days series should have been 31 Days of Photo Inspiration since I keep coming back to photography. It is just what I do all the time and in a pinch, it is easy for me to put another photography centered post together. I really want to get back to creating things outside of my camera. This 31 Day Series was meant to be a catalyst to that, but instead that extra time is spent on the posts rather than creating. I'm not giving up, however, non-photography posts coming soon! Unfortunately, not tomorrow!

Tomorrow is all about TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHY. I'll share some fun things I did on my trip to India this past June. You won't want to miss it!

 

 

31 Days of Creative INSPIRATION Series

Introduction

Day 1: Design Your Own Cupcake

Day 2: Storytelling Sunday

Day 3: Scrapbooking (Week in the Life Album)

Day 4: Everyday Photojournalism (Project 365/Project Life)

Day 5: Family Photo Fun - FAMILY x 12 BLOG HOP

Day 6: Links to Creatively Inspiring People (all writing a 31 Day series)

Day 7: Healthier (But Still Delicious) Cottage Pie

Day 8: Photo Walk

Day 9: Fun Photo Story

Other topics in the works for my 31 Days of Creative Inspiration Series: 

Photography - I answer the question, 'How do I know if I should buy a DSLR camera?', Family Photo Fun ideas from around the web.

Recipes - my husband's delicious salsa, HealthIER (Yet Still Delicious) Recipes

Scrapbooking - My favorite mini album, 30 minute scrapbook challenge

more Cupcake Ideas, craft ideas...

AND LOTS, LOTS MORE (I'm posting for 31 Days straight, remember?!)

And to find more than 700 other blogs participating in the 31 Days series, go here. There is a huge variety of topics to choose from.