Our Life in Photos - Project Life 2011 (Nihao, Cupcake!)

Last year I bought the Project Life kit designed by BeckyHiggins.com

I did really well with it until about late April when I started peetering out. I still took photos, but I stopped printing and eventually I stopped marking my POTDs (Photo of the Day). That is the label I use to keyword. But I certainly didn't stop taking pictures, in fact, I started taking more than I ever have in my life. I enrolled in a couple of photography courses at Beijing Center of Photography (beijingcp.com). I have plenty of photos to fill my album even if I didn't take one photo every day. My plan is to finish the year in weekly chunks. If it works to do one photo a day, then I will. If not, I will do seven photos for a week. I'm excited to include some of the photos I took as part of my classes.

I did not buy a kit this year, but so far I have taken a photo a day. And I am continuing to mark my photos POTD as the year goes on. I just love taking everyday photos. I love having my camera with me just about all the time. I have also started taking photos of the city around me and of people that aren't part of my family. I am dabbling a little in street photography. It is so much fun and a wonderful way to 'see' the city. And hopefully I am doing a small part to help capture this city as it is before it's all been leveled for more and more blocks of ugly shopping malls sans shoppers.

But I digress, this post is about my week in photos. I'm not sure exactly how I came across Project Life Tuesday today, but I did. And realized TODAY is Tuesday! So on a whim, I am participating this week. And maybe if the stars align and I stay enthused throughout the year, I'll put these wonderful photos in an album for 2011 (and post again on PLTues). But for now, this is just a recap of our past week in photos.

Sunday, January 16

How could I not take a photo of this set up? All of the mini figs are waiting in line for the bathroom! Braden was so excited to show me this little scene that he worked so hard to create.

Monday, January 17

The morning sun out our living room window. I tried to figure out how to open our dusty screens but to no avail. We live in a tall apt building so it is not up to me when the windows are cleaned. Not bad through a filthy window! You can see the China World (Guo Mao) building - tallest one in Beijing as well as the construction going on right outside our window. I watch those cranes all day. The operators are right at my eye level so I have to make sure my curtains are always closed when I am getting dressed in the morning! Our bedroom window faces this same direction.

NOTE: To get the sun to look star-like, I closed my aperture down all all the way (highest f-stop, in this case f22) and increased my shutter speed until I got the silhouette look I wanted. The key here to get that star effect is to close down that aperture. If you are not comfortable shooting in manual, you can shoot in aperture priority. Thanks to Kiley over at Gogovivi.com for reminding me of this cool effect.

Tuesday, January 18

I was all about taking photos in front of this window this week! We moved our 'new' antique-ish table over to this window and we are loving it. Braden often eats his breakfast over here as he likes having a view. Notice he is eating our favorite so easy to peel and extremely delicious fresh Mandarin oranges, often called Cuties in California.

Wednesday, January 19

This is definitely reflection of this past week! I have been in the kitchen non-stop baking and cooking up a storm. This morning I was making scones for my book club friends. I had already made cinnamon rolls but was sure they wouldn't turn out. I thought I killed the yeast but I think I ended up adding too much butter to the filling and that made them dense and heavy. My first attempt at scones from scratch turned out really good, if I do say so myself. I got the recipe from my new cookbook, New Best Recipes Cookbook by Cooks Illustrated Magazine. I highly recommend it. Not a bad recipe from it yet! I also made two birthday cakes, a few dozen cupcakes (including lots of decorating), chocolate chocolate chip marshmallow waffles (birthday boy request), a batch of oatmeal raspberry scones and a few slow cooker meals.

Thursday, January 20

Here's this window and table again in the morning light! Paul at his laptop and Braden eating his breakfast in his PJs. And you can see our one houseplant that is surviving but never looks very good.

Friday, January 21

Braden didn't have school on Thursday or Friday due to parent teacher conferences. We were walking to Jenny Lou (an import market) to get some Crisco for some crescent roll hotdog snails we were planning to make later in the day and came upon this street seller. Amazing looking delicious strawberries for sale! Just what Braden wanted to serve his friends at his birthday party on Saturday. If we have time, we are going to turn them into mice by adding slivered almonds as ears, mini chocolate chips as eyes and think red licorice strings as tails. Braden kept asking me to have a strawberry, but I had to say no until we got home and I could wash them properly. That kids loves fruit more than candy!

Saturday, January 22

Braden's birthday party at My Gym, Beijing. It was such a fun party for the kids. The leader does such a good job keeping the kids entertained. The party itself was not run nearly as well as the ones back at home or compared to the party we had for Nicholas the weekend before at Best Science, but that is what mom is for! And of course I made one of my famous cakes! Braden had a fantastic time and LOVED having all of his friends around. This is his first big friends party. He loved it.

Thanks for looking at my photos. Let me know what you think.

Don't forget February 1st is the One Little Word blog hop for the class over at Big Picture Classes.com taught by Ali Edwards and it starts HERE on my blog. If you've picked a word for 2011, you might enjoy seeing what all the blog hop participants have come up with for the month of January and hear what has happened with their One Little Word. If you are student in the class and would like to particpate, you have until Friday to send me an email and we'll get you signed up!

And come back tomorrow for Best Shot Wednesday as well as a picture of the cake I made for Braden's 6th birthday party this past Saturday.