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.

 

THE CREATURE (Directed by THE Nicholas)! Coming Soon (maybe tomorrow?), to a blog near you...

It's almost time for life to go back to normal...

So I might not be posting much over the next week. I'll try to post some Project Life completed pages before the chaos of preparing for a 13 hour flight with 3 kids and one me ensues. I got a few pages done tonight! I'm very excited since it is hard for me to focus on any kind of memory keeping while I am a visiting. But I finally did it so hopefully I can find some good light tomorrow to take a few decent photos & I can share with you!

It's almost time for life to go back to normal...

 

So I might not be posting much over the next week. I'll try to post some Project Life completed pages before the chaos of preparing for a 13 hour flight with 3 kids and one me ensues. I got a few pages done tonight! I'm very excited since it is hard for me to focus on any kind of memory keeping while I am a visitor. But I finally did it so hopefully I can find some good light tomorrow to take a few decent photos & I can share with you!

 

Classroom Volunteer

Here I am volunteering in my youngest son's classroom last Friday. We made ice cream in a bag. It is really quite fun if everything goes according to plan but it can also be quite chaotic which it was this time. We had 28 students, not quite enough ice and we started off not putting in quite enough salt to melt the ice. There are so many factors that can throw things off a little - afterall it is a science experiment/lesson. Though we did it as a cultural/food activity.

It was fun, none-the-less, and I always relish the opportunity to be with my kids at school every once in awhile.

And you probably wouldn't notice unless I pointed it out - like the patch of gray in my hair? That is due to the awful hair cut and color I got a few weeks ago. The colorist gave me the foreigner price for permanent hair color (almost 4 x what I pay at home) and yet the color is already coming out! Apparently it was actually temporary, not that he did a good job of covering my gray in the first place. Total rip-off! NEVER AGAIN! I have said that before, but this time I really mean it. My hairdresser at home is going to wonder what on earth happened to me this time. I already have an appointment made for the day after I land.

 

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

Me: Today

(I answered these same questions in this POST in April 2011. Click on the link to see how life has changed.)

September 17:

listening: to Paperclipping Roundtable podcast, Planet Money (NPR), This American Life (NPR), Sunday Puzzle podcast (NPR), The New Yorker Outloud, Margie's Favorites Playlist (shuffled)

reading: just finished Love in the Time of Cholera

watching: first season of Curb Your Enthusiasm - Paul's favorite show - we've watched all of the other episodes but he wanted to revisit the first season so he bought the set

eating: homemade multi-grain waffles for breakfast with REAL maple syrup hand carried from home AND for lunch a turkey sandwich with spicy mustard on whole wheat bread (turkey also hand carried from home)

drinking: water, tea & coffee (I brought a lot of Costco coffee beans back from the States so Paul makes a fresh pot almost every morning in our new but very simple coffee maker which makes much better coffee using far less beans than the fancy coffee & espresso maker we inherited from friends who moved and then as a back-up Nescafe with CoffeeMate - gross but I've gotten used to it here in China since coffee beans are expensive and hard to come by) AND the occasional Diet 7-Up & Diet Root Beer when the shops have some in

wearing: my new jeans from Ann Taylor Loft - I finally found a new pair that I really like (it's only take 3 years), dark wash, style: modern boot

feeling: tired after a good workout week, a great deal of bikeriding (yesterday twice back and forth to BCIS, up to Chef Too, then up to Sanlitun for dinner+), a margarita last night and up early to get Reece off to his soccer tourney by 7:15 AM on a Saturday and then a play all morning at Ritan Park with new friends from Adelaide, Australia in Braden's grade at BCIS.

weather: fall is coming. Today is the first day of dramatic change. there is a chill in the air, but the good news is the sky is a beautiful blue and the boys were remarking on how you can even see clouds!

wanting: a nap! and the energy to bake all day (making muffins and cookies for Reece to take with him on Experience China Week this week) and get my guest blog post finished this weekend!

needing: more time in the day and extra money is always good

thinking: I should finally go through that big pile of papers and finish up my Week in the Life album once and for all!

enjoying: a pleasant morning with my two youngest boys as well as meeting a nice new family and happy that Braden has a new friend who lives close and goes to his new school - HURRAY!

(I answered these same questions in this POST in April 2011. Click on the link to see how life has changed.)

How has your life changed since Spring?

Remembering: At Home with My Infant Son

It was one of those historical moments that everyone knows exactly what they were doing when they first found out. It is probably one of the most intense historical moments in modern times.

I've never recorded my own memories of that day and I have always wanted to and what better day than the tenth anniversary of that awful day.

9/11/2001

At the time I had two boys. My youngest was only 10 months old. He didn't sleep well that night and woke up incredibly early. I got up with him and put on a video that he could watch while I caught a few more winks. When the video turned off, the television automatically turned back on. I couldn't believe what I saw. It was around 6 AM PST and only one building had been hit at that time. Matt Lauer from the Today Show was reporting on the plane that had struck the World Trade Center. They were theorizing it was all an accident.

That was until, the second plane hit.

We watched the scene over and over and over again.

Then as Matt was reporting. I saw some kind of cloud from one of the buildings live over his shoulder. The first tower had collapsed. Unbelieveable.

It was my older son's first day of preschool. Would it be cancelled? What was going on? It was a frightening, scary day. Though nothing compared to the hell the people in New York were living through. NOTHING.

Once my older son, 3 at the time, woke up, we turned off the television. We didn't want him to see those images over and over again. He did see it a few times. He wanted to know when the plane was going to stop crashing into the building. It was after he asked that question that we switched to the radio for our information.

School went on as planned.

It was an eerily quiet day. It was a great way to get my mind off what was going on. Being a co-op preschool with a culture of very involved parents, I stayed the entire session as did all the other parents. I was able to lose myself in the events of my son's first day of school. It was comforting.

The days that followed were strange. We were waiting for another attack. I remember the skies were quiet since no planes were allowed to fly for several days. Since we lived on the coast, every so often we did hear a plane. When that happened, it made us all nervous, but every time it turned out to be a military plane patrolling the coast. 

What I learned from the past ten years is that although the world has changed, our lives as Americans are still pretty darned good. Some of us may not feel as safe as we once did, but honestly, we are just as safe now as we were before 9/11. We just weren't aware of the real dangers that existed out there. 

I am so inspired by the survivors and those who died doing heroic deeds. The story that touches me the most is the passengers of Flight 93. I can't imagine being put in their situation. I am also amazed by the people who were victims of the 9/11 attacks and yet took their lives and did great things by serving other people. If I could only be so brave.

"Hot Cross Buns, Hot Cross Buns..."

The muffled sounds of off-key singing and the unsure melody of a recorder came from behind their bedroom door. I had to go investigate. They were standing in the middle of the room, my ten-year-old occasionally instructing his little brother what to do. His little brother trying his best to sing in time with big brother's rendition of Hot Cross Buns on his new recorder. Part of the upper elementary music curriculum at his new school is learning to play.

Sometime in the past couple of days, right under my nose, my ten-year-old must have taught my youngest the words to the song and they had planned this practice.

These moments are the treasures of motherhood for me. I love when kids plan things 100% by themselves and do things together like this. I think they are also the treasures of childhood for kids as well.

What creative things do your kids come up with completely on their own?

I'm linking this photo up at Rebecca's blog for The Simple Things challenge.

 

These creative moments remind me of things I did as a child like plan restaurants with complete menus, linen cloaked table in the livingroom and full wait service by me.

A more similar memory is when my brother and I (audio NOT video) taped the Brady Bunch episode when the Bunch entered a singing contest. On a rainy summer day on holiday in Durango, Colorado while Dad napped in the van, my brother and I wrote down all the words to the songs and memorized them. I still remember 75% of those words to this day.

Do you remember this song?

 

The Brady Bunch was by far my favorite TV show as a child, even though I watched it as reruns. And Cindy, the youngest girl, was my very favorite character.

Do you have a favorite childhood television show? What is it? And who was your favorite character?

 

Project 365 / Project Life: August 20 - September 2, 2011

I have only posted one week in photos since the end of May, but that doesn't mean I have not been taking photos or working on my album. I'm hoping to share my album one of these weeks, but first I'd like to finish my Week in the Life album which is getting so close to being done, I can almost taste it!

Anyway, this week I will post my last two weeks worth of photos in an attempt to do a little catch up.

This past week first and then the week previous will follow:

Saturday, August 27

NO PHOTO - We rode our bikes to Peter's Tex Mex to meet friends for breakfast. One thing that is so fun about living in Beijing is the multi-national friends we've made. This day we met our friends from Italy and our friends from Malaysia. Such a great experience for the kids. In the afternoon I rode my bike to pick up B from his friend's apartment. We grabbed a quick burger at Fat Burger (yes, there are several now in Beijing) and did some shopping at City Shop before riding home.

SUNDAY, August 28

Another lost tooth!

Monday, August 29

NO PHOTO

Tuesday, August 30

The bedside stand of a thirteen year old. The model was a birthday gift and the watch a Christmas gift which he wears without fail everyday.

 

Wednesday, August 31

Braden was reading this book all on his own. He was working so hard to figure out each word.

 

Thursday, September 1

I came into the boys' room on Thursday morning to find Nicholas in this little nest he made out of the bean bags. He was right under the window illuminated perfectly with the early morning light.

 

Photo #2

Learning how to ride his scooter. We try to take at least one lap around the scooter each day. There is a noticeable improvement every day.

 

Friday, September 2

Paul captured this moment. I was helping with homework. Each week in the Home/School communication notebook, the kids in elementary school have to write a few sentences about how things went at school that week. There is a list of sentence starters in the front of the notebook for the 1st graders. 

 

LAST WEEK

Saturday, August 20

This was taken upon request after the kids decorated our water cooler with these lovely stickers. Braden collects pandas.

 

Sunday, August 21

NO PHOTO

 

Monday, August 22

A little self-timer action: preparing for dinner. Reece finishing off his leftover snack from school. Nicholas just returned from our store downstairs with pasta sauce. It's going to be a quick and easy dinner tonight!

 

Tuesday, August 23

Without the long busride there is time for a little playtime after school.

 

Wednesday, August 24

My favorite souvenirs from India. Wood block prints. I chose animals that we saw a lot of on our trip. We even got to ride on a camel and an elephant! Peacocks are native to India and are all over Rajasthan.

 

Thursday, August 25

A Beijing summer rainstorm - we had so much rain this summer, it felt like Singapore!

 

Friday, August 26

We took a walk in the rain Friday after dinner. Luckily there is a dairy queen a couple of blocks up our street. I was happy to get my older kids with umbrellas in the rain. I haven't gotten photos of that since they were much smaller. My youngest covered his face on purpose - he was pretending that he was a smiling bug.

 

PHOTO #2

 

There is something I like about this photo. That tall building in the background has been 'almost finished' since we moved to Beijing in August 2008. It still hasn't opened yet. But we hear one of our favorite restaurants will be opening in the building around the new year. Our fingers are crossed.

If you made it through all of those photos! You are a trooper. Thanks for stopping by. I hope to be back next week with another week in photos and maybe a make up week as well!

How are you doing on your Photo A Day or Project Life album?

 

Ten on Ten

My list is straightforward and simple. No photos and no explanations As seems to always be the case recently every time I want to post something, I'm preparing for an 11 hour international flight across the Pacific ocean in 12 hours. This should be my last one for four months and I welcome that break with open arms!

I was making this list to add to one of my current albums - either A Week in the Life or Project 365/Project Life. Visiting these favorite places are a part of our routine EVERY time we come home twice a year. One of our favorites was dropped on this visit, so it didn't make the list.

PLACES WE GO EVERY TIME WE ARE BACK in AMERICA:

Souplantation    

Trader Joes

Target

Yogurtland

Marie Callendars

Costco

Good Stuff

Islands

Banana Republic

Old Navy

For other 10 on 10 fun, go here.

A Week in the Life 2011: Day 7 (Saturday) in Photos

A few of my favorite photos from Day 7 (Saturday) out of 254 (YIKES!):

Early morning drive to Dragon Boat Race festival.

Go Pirates!

Go Team Pirate!!

Opening ceremonies complete with drumming and Dragon dances.

Playing games while waiting for the race to start.

Team Pirate's turn.

Hanging out in the team tent between races.

Played in the sea (right in front of the team tent) between races.

Our team is boat #6 -2nd place!! Even though it looks like we are in 3rd or 4th place, we are actually in 2nd place. The first two boats are adult women racing against each other at the same time as the elementary teams race.

Celebrating their second 2nd place win of the day. Go Pirates!

Heading home.

Art work brought home yesterday from the last day of Summer School. This is the Hungry Caterpillar.

I am now officially done with the photo portion of documenting my week. Next week, I will do my best to get my album done. I hope to post my plan tomorrow.

A Week in the Life 2011: Day 5 (Thursday) in Photos

Some of my favorite photos from Thursday's total of 147:

My ideal breakfast. Sadly I can only have it when I am in the States.

Dad calls from Beijing to chat before summer school.

A hug for Grandma before driving to school.

Mom and Reece stop for a quick morning snack. I had coffee, R a cup of soup. He made cracker sandwiches. Interesting.

We spent the morning school shopping.

Hoping to find some good deals on books. Prices not so low yet and not much to choose from.

Boys making some of their fun videos. All three of them jumped over the camera as it was recording.

Braden is the camera man as they stage a fake fight.

Mom's afternoon snack. The fresh lime makes it.

More videos and acting. Grandma was gracious to allow them to use her catsup and an old shirt to cut up!

Braden did find a book he wanted for 20% off. It included a read-a-long CD.

Another new book for a bedtime story

Thanks for joining me on my Day 5, Thursday. It is now Saturday and I am documenting my very last day since I started on Saturday. Tomorrow I will post photos of Friday, my Day 6.

Are you playing along too? What is your plan for getting your album done? That is the part I have a hard time with. I have yet to complete AWITL album. I'm more prepared this year and have a plan so I am optimistic. I hope to share more about my plan this weekend.

A Week in the Life 2011: Day 4 (Wednesday) in Photos

Some of my favorite photos from Day 3 (Wednesday):

I stole Ali's idea and set up the camera the night before and used the self-timer as soon as I woke up. I have my camera take multiple photos in a row to give me a chance to set myself up and relax. It can only take 4 in a row and the rest come at varying intervals as my camera catches up to itself depending upon how many I set it for. For this photo, since I was already in place and wasn't moving, I took 4.

My link on Ali's blog for the day (#100)! : )

 

A good-bye hug at the airport. Have a great flight! Hope to see you in Beijing in Fall!

 

When in Beijing, I promised him Red Vines when we were in Calif for our summer visit.

 

Taken out the window of my car. This was one of my dad's all time favorite breakfast places.

 

We bought a new wiffle ball & bat at Ralphs.

 

This dog is motion activated and laughs and rolls around any time someone walks by.

 

The boys planted him behind the couch to trick me.

 

Catching up on some Oprah's that I recorded on DVR. I don't get her in China, though she airs there.

 

Grandma's nightly red wine - doctor's orders! (Really)

 

We've been playing lots of Master Mind this summer.

 

You are never too old for sidewalk chalk. I drew the rainbow. He drew the leprechaun and pot of gold.

We finished off the night with a game of Wheel of Fortune!!

Thanks for looking at my favorite 29 out of 134 total photos for the day. How many photos do you typically take on a day in A Week in the Life?

These are how many I took on my other days:

SUNDAY - 273

MONDAY - 79

TUESDAY - 162

Thanks for stopping by!

A Week in the Life 2011: Day 2 (Monday) in Photos

My favorite photos from Day 2:

*note: many were left out because we have guests in town and I want to respect their privacy.

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OLW MONTHLY BLOG HOP PARTICIPANTS:

Never fear the letter for the August 1 Blog Hop will be in your in-box by midnight tonight. Sorry for the delay, but the show will go on! : )

A Week in the Life 2011: Day 1 (Sunday) in Photos

My favorite photos from Day 1 (Sunday):

Update

Hello lovely blog readers! I am sorry I have not been around much lately. Besides the normal chaos of the end of the school year, two graduating kids (elementary school and Kinder), needing to select new schools for next year at the last minute, and flying to the States for the summer, I have recently been hit with the most stressful situation of all - my husband is quite ill and in ICU in China while I am in the States. I would like to share more details but to protect the privacy of my family, I won't share any more than that as much as I would like to. The good news is that he is making significant strides in the right direction everyday so we are more than optimistic. I will join him at the end of this week. Therefore, I don't anticipate posting much until the next OLW Blog Hop on August 1st. I will be back evenutally, just not sure exactly when.

My Moments In-between

In the past day or two I came upon this blog entry on the Be More With Less website. I'd never heard of it before until Ali Edwards posted about it the other day. I get her feed on Facebook and was intrigued enough by the first few lines to click over to the article.

It's a classic theme that is revisited often, but that does not diminish its power.

We are more than our accomplishments.

We are made up of those Moments In-between. If you haven't already read the article by Courtney Carver, I encourage you to click over and have a read. It is most definitely worth it. She inspired me to make my own list of Moments In-between. And who knows, I just may make it a repeat feature on the blog. What a wonderful way to collect random memories. And of course, my list is just waiting to be made into a scrapbook page!

 

MY LIST OF 'MOMENTS IN-BETWEEN' (April 4, 2011)

*recording the Brady Bunch episode where they sang all those songs on my handheld tape player. Then while my dad slept in our blue VW van through a huge rainstorm while we were visiting his hometown of Durango, Colo., my brother and I wrote out all the words and memorized them to pass the time.

*stopping at A&W Rootbeer for a rootbeer float on those long, hot drives from California to Colorado every other summer with my dad.

*'McDonald's night' at home when my mom would make hamburgers and french fries.

*holding my dad's hand for safety when walking through cities that scared me. I was a suburban girl, so as a child, cities frightened me!

*knowing that from the time he could walk, every time I would squat down and hold out my arms, Braden would run into my arms - every.single.time.

*making fun & creative birthday cakes and cupcakes based on the requests and collaboration of my kids.

*my cat, Yuki-chan, jumping into my arms when I would tap on my chest.

*finding Yuki-chan as a tiny stray kitten and getting to keep her which fulfilled a longtime childhood dream.

*traveling overland from China into Tibet (with my husband & best friend) only to find out after the fact, that it was a dream of my father's to take that same path.

*glowing with pride & being truly amazed at the writing skills of my oldest son.

*baking and cooking with my middle son.

*bringing my cat, Tulus, with me to my Grandma's house - a six hour drive!

*learning to speak Japanese while chatting over green tea (Uji cha) with one of my dearest friends, Yukiko. She with her English dictionary and me with my Japanese dictionary.

*giving kisses to my boys even if they wipe them off immediately afterwards.

*the London flyer ride & tea and crumpets at the Orangery at Kensington Palace with my husband & best friend.

*the best English tea ever at Pendley Manor, Tring.

*staying at a London farm house in the countryside and being fed all the traditional meals, including rich desserts smothered in cream or custard and then retiring to the sitting room for truffles and coffee every night, the gorgeous countryside, walks through the area trailed by our German Sheperd companion

*inheriting my sense of humor & silliness from my dad. (There's not enough silliness & fun in the world!)

What are your Moments Inbetween? Why not use this as a prompt for journaling on a scrapbook page or a blog post. Let me know if you are inspired to do that and link me to your blog. I'd love to read about your Moments Inbetween.