March 22, 2011
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Scrap: Chicago
My brother and his friend Jessica visited me once upon a time in 2004. They wanted to see Chicago and my brother had a great deal at the Crowne Plaza because at the time he was working at a sister hotel. Jessica was also able to pull some strings at some of the touristy places through her job as well. My brother really gets into the history of the places he visits so once again he proved to be the walk-your-feet-right-off-your-body tour guide.
Weekend vacations are so thrilling because, at least for me, I want to get my weekend’s worth! I like them busy and packed with goodness. That is how this trip was. I hadn’t ever been a tourist in Chicago – it was new to me. We saw Navy Pier, the Hancock Observatory, and the Shedd Aquarium (even a dolphin show!). We also saw a lot of historic buildings and bro told all.
This layout used the rope trick again for the brochures, some coins from tourist machines, tickets, hotel key (apparently that’s pretty standard for me…), my CTA transit card, some things cut from brochures, and the Chicago sign I bought at a scrapping store. You can see I’ve started to cram things onto my pages. This isn’t everyone’s taste, but I have been drawn to scrapbooks since seeing really old ones where the eye never stops traveling. Loaded with information, photos, and memories.
March 21, 2011
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Scrap: Vegas region
Like the Puerto Rico spread, you may also have seen some of these photos since they also were recently posted. Boy’s family went to celebrate my sis-in-law’s 21st birthday. We were there for a long weekend – the first day or so was spent doing the Vegas thing. We also saw Cirque du Soleil which amazed us.
I used loud colors with a hint of gaudiness because, well, to be frank, that is how I feel about Vegas. We flew on Hooters Air, which gave us these little box lunches that had “Fun” and “Fly” cut out on them so I utilized them on my page. A Margaritaville napkin. Hotel room key and business card. Boarding passes. Maps, brochures, tickets. I bought some gambling stickers and whatnot to spruce it up.
Then Boy and I spent a lot of time outside of the city. We saw the Hoover Dam, the Valley of Fire, and drove around sight-seeing. On this page I got creative with using string through grommets so that the map could be pulled out later. I also got a little more creative with the matting. And yes, those are palm tree swizzle sticks. Think outside the box when you scrap, it is amazing what will work!
March 20, 2011
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Scrap: Puerto Rico
My most favorite thing to scrap is travel. Loading the pages with mementos and such really stir the memories associated with them, and you can pick up so many things to use! Plus, they are great for showing others your vacations instead of just photo after photo after photo.
You may have already seen some photos from this trip which I recently posted. In 2004, we went with our friend Jesse to San Juan, Puerto Rico over Halloween weekend. School must have gotten pretty busy because I still have a packet of things to scrap for this trip.
(I have these 9×18 inch envelopes which I take on my travels, collecting all kinds of things to scrap with. It is an awesome idea because then when I get home, I label the envelope(s) and set it aside until I can get to it. It keeps all my things organized and easily stashed away. Try it for yourself, it will amaze you, the simplicity of the idea!)
This spread tells the story of our arrival and plans to see Old San Juan and Camuy Caverns. It also showcases our Bicardi trip. I used a map, a postcard, the timeshare business card and room key, our boarding passes for the airline, and lots of things cut from brochures to spice it up. I also got crazy with cutting our photos. I bought one die-cut (“Our Vacation”) and used some puffy tape squares to make some things pop off the page (unfortunately, this is kinda lost in the photo).
February 12, 2011
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2005 Las Vegas
I thought I would carry on the theme of long-ago trips since there are more photos to spare. In 2005, we went to Vegas for Boy’s sister’s 21st birthday. It was another weekend expedition. The family met up with my mother-in-law’s good friend Denise who lives in California. Boy and I quickly learned that we hated Vegas. Yes, you read that correctly – we are definitely the black sheep of the American culture. It was generous of Denise to lend us her Jeep so that we could explore the region instead of being cooped up in the most tacky and resource-guzzling city known on Earth. Oops, did I say that out loud?
The first day we spent with the family touring the common sites: the hotels, the shops, the casinos, and the strip. If we were into consumerism, gambling, and drinking it might have hooked us. But alas, we are boring old souls. We did check out Cirque du Soleil though, which was amazing. I had no idea the super cool things that can be accomplished in plays. No photos allowed of course:(
The next day we discovered the vast expanse of the desert. We stumbled upon the Valley of Fire State Park and some super cool petroglyphs.
We also found some desert dwelling lizards and the silliest looking rabbit you ever did see, the jack rabbit. I learned first hand what a real echo is like. That was awesome. We found an oasis, too. These are things I had only ever heard of in theory but seeing them in real life was so very cool.
We spent the last full day checking out the Hoover Dam and its area. It was more of Boy’s thing than mine – cool to see how big it is and all that but the touring of the turbines and such did not do it for me.
I’m glad Katie got to celebrate her birthday in a big way just like she wanted with all the family, but I’d be happy never going back to Vegas. That’s just me. The region was fun though, so I’m not at all sorry we went:)
February 10, 2011
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2004 Puerto Rico
More photos that I thought lost:)
In 2004, we went with our friend Jesse to San Juan for Halloween weekend (how posh does that sound?). His parents had a time share so it was a pretty cheap holiday.
We walked around San Juan each evening, and planned one big tour a day. The last day I fell really ill with a wretched hardcore cold of some kind, and I think my ear drum came close to bursting on the plane (in fact, I honestly believe there is permanent damage and seriously the pain was almost too much). Aside from that, the trip was awesome. The only regret I have is that it was pre-anthropology class and I was definitely there as a tourist instead of being interested in the culture, so I feel like i missed out, but I didn’t think this way at the time!
We first toured Old San Juan and the Fort San Felipe del Morro. Our bus driver was very nice and his son tagged along for the tour. We did a little window shopping, learned to order Subway in Spanish (as I said – pre-anthropology days! Plus we were not given much time to eat), and experienced the giant fort. My favorite part was seeing where the prisoners were kept (this theme is true in any of my visit to castles). Here, they drew ships, dreaming and wishing their fleets would come rescue them.
We also visited Casa Bicardi, which was a little lost on me since I don’t like rum. The tour was neat and we were given free samples to taste in their outdoor pavillion. Beautiful weather as I recall. Of course, any sunny day with green grass is beautiful to me at this time of year…
We also spelunked in the largest cave system in the Western hemisphere at Rio Camuy Caves. I’ve been in a few systems before, but nothing like this one – you can kind of see the scale in the arial view below. The Camuy River runs through it in parts. Our camera at the time was not up to snuff for low-light so very few photos turned out well.
We finished up with a view of the largest single-aperture telescope in the world at Aricebo Observatory. Essentially, it is used to understand space – measuring rotation speeds, identifying asteroids, and what not. It also functions as military intelligence locating spy satellites, and searches for life beyond Earth.
Okay, now I’m really itching for summer!
February 9, 2011
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2006 Yellowstone Roadtrip
In 2006, I decided I would like to go on a field school for anthropology sometime. The idea was scary – to be somewhere completely foreign in both language and culture, without anyone you know and for an entire month. So I decided to see what being away for a while alone would be like in my own country. If I couldn’t handle that, well, there was no point for further thought on the field school, eh?
Originally, there was no destination. I had one week of vacation and I drove west, turning around mid-week. Zero. Destination. Do you know what that feels like? Giddyness. No stress of getting someplace in time to do something, no stress of getting lost – the entire focus was on the journey itself. And do you know what solitary travel is like? Perfection. No one to compromise with, no argument over the temperature of the car or the loudness of the speakers, and no one to annoy with frequent pee breaks. And in the end, a complete growing experience.
I did this trip on roughly 1000 dollars. About 650 was gas, if I remember correctly. I saved on food cost by bringing bread and cereal and then buying tiny amounts of milk and lunchmeat each day to last in my cooler. I saved on hotel bills by inadvertantly (and unexpectedly) sleeping in my car for a few nights. See, without having a destination, I did very little research and chose my birthday week in the hot hot heat of August, right? Which incidentally coincides with Sturgis Bike Week. That was quite an experience in and of itself! But all the hotels and campgrounds were full so…yeah.
Oh, why the outdated post? Well, I had thought these photos were lost forever!! But Boy surprised me by finding them. Some are still missing but we found the bulk of them, yay!
I crossed the great Mississippi River and it was a lot…less great…than I was expecting. Maybe it’s great elsewhere? I stayed overnight in Iowa next to this archaeological site that you could volunteer on but they were closed for the day. I almost went to Denver but decided I wouldn’t have time. Then I found a dinosaur dig that I registered for but getting lost prevented me from making it in time so that was cancelled too. Then, the photos begin:
The rock formations out there are a geologists dream. Having just taken a geology class, they were even more fascinating than if had I known nothing about them:
I rode a Giant Jackalope, crossed the Continental Divide, saw a lot of waterfalls, and discovered I was standing on the edge of a super volcano (and having taken said geology class, it was a little daunting).
I saw miles and miles of devastation from a forest fire, listened to a short lecture about buffalo, and saw Old Faithful (among many other beautiful sites).
I had to spend the first night in my car once I entered the park, down a super duper dark gravel road, to some random campground (outside of the park, beyond the filled hotels, in the state of Wyoming), passing signs about grizzlies and freaking myself out about the whole prospect. It was like 2am by the time I could stop to sleep – no other cars or people that I could see. Creepy. I had tried to avoid contact with Boy or anyone during my trip except to text my locations, but I needed some control over my imagination – bears ripping open my sunroof trying to attack me for my box of food. I almost peed in my pants (literally too – I had to go so badly but there was no way I would walk to the little shack!!) Thankfully he convinced me to get out of the vehicle and at least pull my blanket out of my trunk, as I found out harshly that the nights up there are COLD.
But then I found the buffalo. I have gobs and gobs of photos of them – August is mating season, wouldn’t you know, so they were swarming. I saw babies and beefy males fighting (in fact I have some vids where they pushed into my car!). Stunning experience. I limit it to this one photo though because I was fascinated to learn that they could swim. Who knew?
Then on my way back I almost went to Mount Rushmore. But the idea of blowing up nature’s beauty to make faces of people, as if they are more important than nature itself? RIDICULOUS. Tacky, gawdy, AWFUL. (And then later during cultural anthropology, learning how devastating that must have been for the local natives? Heartless.) I stopped at Devil’s Tower instead. And was surprised to find that the locals still practice their beliefs there.
And then I found a little bitty ranch where I could feed the uber adorable prairie dogs. So cute!!
My car and I made it to the Badlands next. I found them appropriately named. I walked to the end of one of the little walk ways, snapped some photos, and left right away. The Badlands? In August? Not a good idea, unless you want to waste away to dust and bones in a matter of minutes. Oh, and there were signs about some snakes I wanted to avoid…
A funny surprise on my way back, the Jolly Green Giant!
It was an amazing experience. I suggest it to everyone. People say “What would I do? I would be bored! I need to know where I am going, though” and bla bla bla. Really, what are you afraid of? Quit being silly and drive:)
November 19, 2010
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our first anni:)
#1 = 09/09/2010
A bit late in coming, as this happened in September. We stayed mostly at my aunt and uncles cabin in northern michigan (thank you Judy and Bill:D:D:D), visited sault st marie for a train ride in canada, and ventured around the UP a bit. It was incredibly relaxing – Boy even felt good at being disconnected from the internet and phone and therefore all things work-related. Workaholism is a terrible thing :P
Story in photos:
Beautiful cabin
February 6, 2010
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france: saturday 091909
Our last real day in France:(
We spent it relaxing in Palavas. Our hotel was the one of the blue ones in the middle.
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france: friday 091809
We had breakfast at the hotel in Palavas – see what I mean about it being sheik? :)
Then, we headed out to Nimes, one of the great cities of ancient roman architecture.
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February 5, 2010
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france: thursday 091709
This day was the day we made up for missing Carcassonne. We were in the heart of Cathar Country – it is named so after a kind of inquisition period, where the Cathari religion was being exterminated. (Interestingly, the phrase “Kill them all, God will know his own” is traced back to this period.) The people often hid in local castles of sympathizers or built their own. These castles were also used later during the French and Spanish border wars, and you can see bullet holes and such. We visted four – Lapradelle, Peyrepertuse, Queribus, and Aguilar.
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france: wednesday 091609
We went to Narbonne on this day. Its a wonderful city – lively and restful and historic and modern all at once. They have preserved part of an ancient Roman road, which was cool. We also experienced just how nice the French are – we parked at a meter and I was trying to read it to know what to pay, but it was confusing me because it said something about being free, but i couldnt make out when. So, to be safe we started to put money in and this lady ran down the length of the parking lot and stopped us, to explain that during lunch, parking is free. There were many other instances of overly helpful and caring people – not at all what I had heard about the way Americans are treated.
February 2, 2010
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france: tuesday 091509
Today was scheduled for Carcassonne, the whole reason I convinced boy to go to France. It was quite a drive, and we got food at a gas station on the way. I also included a picture of the gas prices at the time (euros for litres of diesel).
January 28, 2010
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france: monday 091409
Today was a very exciting day for me! We were to go visit the Lascaux II cave, an exact replica of the original cave, housing some of the oldest known paintings on the earth. I remember taking an ancient art history class, and thinking this was very cool. And once I learned about it in my first anthropology class, the gears clicked and my brain started churning and I found my area of interest.
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January 22, 2010
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france: sunday 091309
In the morning, we stopped at the Monkey Forest, where we had croque monsieurs for breakfast and then hand fed popcorn to Barbary Apes (which are actually macaque monkeys, not apes – yes there is a difference!). I can now check off something on my ToDoBeforeIDie List – i met a primate! Several in fact, and I wish i could have stayed to watch more closely but we had to get going to our next stop, so a few hours would have to suffice.
Then we drove to Sarlat-le-Caneda, where we stayed at Hotel des Recollets. Inside the greater part of Sarlat is a pedestrian only medieval village, which is where we stayed. It was filled with great architecture and cobbled streets. Our exhaustion caught up to us and we slept many many hours, so there arent very many photos to share.
January 21, 2010
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france: saturday 091209
After our wedding, we drove to the Chateau de la Treyne, on the Dordogne River – another breathtaking place.
This day included a pre-breakfast breakfast (with strawberry juice!!), a hot air balloon ride at Rocamadour, breakfast (with kiwis and personal quiches!), walking around the chateau’s grounds, and a gastronomic dinner that is not possible to imagine (and without photos, youll have to try to imagine it anyway).
January 20, 2010
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france: friday 091109 v2
We want to share with everyone a special thank you for:
Joi Mahon, at DressFormsDesign for helping me pull together ideas and designing my gown and boys suit. And for introducing me to Megan.
Megan, at PrincessLasertron for creating an awesome corsage and boutonniere, and for inspiring Ruthy. Most importantly though, for inspiring me to make this site and seeing the possibilities of taking crafting more seriously.
Ruthy, at SomePlaceInNJ for creating a very special bouquet and accessories and being there from the get-go.
Sonia, for the most beautiful hair i have ever had in the history of everness.
Matthew, for being the man to marry us just the way we wanted.
Andy, at Andrew Johnstone Photography, for the photos of course, and for feeling like he was a *part* of our wedding.
The abbey owners, for understanding our lateness and giving us such a special honor to be married there.
My bro, for adding his artsy touch to some of my photos.
And definately not least, Caroline, from Chateau and Villa Weddings, who planned it for us and rescued us later.
Each of you added to our wedding and made it truly special. Merci beaucoup a thousand times and then some!!!
(^ altered from original)
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January 15, 2010
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france: friday 091109 v1
Okay, okay. These upcoming post have been delayed an unreasonably long time. But without further adieu….This is the day we got married! (Well, as you would have read before, we were legally married on the 9th, but had our symbolic ceremony on the 11th.) Originally, I tried to coordinate everything myself, but I ended up hiring a wedding planner, Caroline, from Chateau and Villa Weddings. She was so great to work with and really relieved our stress – even after the actual wedding part, she was kindly at our service. Every penny was worth it, and I highly suggest her services if you are planning a European wedding.
We had the ceremony at the Abbaye de Fontfroide, near Narbonne. It is stunningly beautiful, you just need to see it in person.
Our attire was made by Joi Mahon, of Dress Forms Design. She was great to work with, even though she is out of state for me and I never got to meet her in person. She has such energy that I knew she would be able to help me. This was the main part of the original inspiration for my gown, made by Rosetti Costumes and Bridal Gowns.
November 3, 2009
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france: thursday 091009
We landed at the Charles de Gaul airport and it was absolutely huge. We walked so far to get to our next flight, but the staff were all friendly. We were able to get our tickets changed without a problem so that we could continue the rest of the flight together.
We got the cutest little rental car. They even gave us a free upgrade to a convertible! A Citroen C3 Pluriel, special edition Charleston. Check him out, we called him Charles;)
October 14, 2009
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france: wednesday 090909
Bright and early, we headed off to the courthouse as sneakily as possible. Although we were the first people there, the offices communicated to each other about as well as eggplants do to dogs. So, after an hour and a half of waiting, we finally met with the judge and she read us a little ceremony. Boy and i kept it as legal and dull as possible, since we were having a symbolic ceremony later. Although the thought had crossed our minds while waiting, we did not miss our flight, but Courtney (our ride to the airport) was already waiting for us by the time we got our other errands caught up.
Then the very long plane rides began. First, OHare to Cinncinatti. Although we ordered our tickets months in advance with Expedia, our seats must have been changed because we werent sitting with each other from Cincinnati to Paris, or from there to Montpellier. In Chicago, they were able to change the first set, but we had to change the other once in France.
Our plane was already on final call by the time I took this pic, or i would have taken it again. But see the people loading? Yeah, we were suppose to be down there!
August 19, 2009
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nyny day 6 and 7
DAY 6
In the morning, my brother had to run an errand, so I stopped at the Young Designer Market, which was literally like 3 doors down from his apartment (as was a big group of graffiti). No photos were allowed, but I saw a lot of cool things. He was right – it was like walking into etsy in person (i learned on the trip that etsy is brooklyn based). Trouble with that is that etsy tends to be expensive, so I didnt buy anything. Lots of talent, and the sparrow motif still thrives.
August 14, 2009
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nyny day 5
We got going super late today – i slept in, spent some time doing nothing, and then got a very important call from….my realtor! The last showing I had, on friday, enticed someone to make me an offer. It was a little lower than I wanted, so we decided to counter and see what happened, but in the meantime, I had to find a kinkos to print, sign, and fax a form to her. We walked to one on our path only to find out we had to go twice as far in the other direction to do what we needed to do. Did i mention to you that its been HOT here? Heat + power walking != pleasant meandering.
The places tend to blur together for me, but here is the list: Little Italy, ChinaTown, Ground Zero, Wall Street, Battery Park and Battery Park City, and Tribeca.
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nyny day 4
This didnt actually occur in New York. A few years back, i met a chica named Ruthy on my fieldschool in Peru. She happens to live in New Jersey so we coordinated a day during my trip here to get together.
Carrie took me on the subway early in the morning on her way to work so she could help me get a ticket at Penn Station. Once that was done, we parted ways and I found myself in a giant train station without a clue as to what to do. But I managed, even if new yorkers are assholes, and made it to Woodbridge, New Jersey in one piece.
Ruthy and her bf Juan picked me up and we had breakfast at The Reo. Its one of her favorite diners so i had to check it out. I got a yummy yummy belgian waffle with strawberries and whipped cream.
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August 13, 2009
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nyny day 3
My brother had an appt so luckily it was right next to Central Park. I explored there for a bit while he was busy. After his appt, we wandered through the park to get to some other area of New York. Here are some random photos from the park:
August 12, 2009
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nyny day 2
Bro and I walked around Nolita in the daytime so I could see it better, and stopped over at SoHo (South of Houston – pronounced “House-ton”, not like the Texan city). One of the places we stopped at was The Evolution Store – it was really cool, but I dont know how I feel about the real specimens being for sale (from babies to adults, articulated or not). I am also still adjusting to being in the city so my photos are few and far between (not to mention the difficulty to see things when you are worried about tripping on the crazy sidewalks of doom) but i saw this cool window display of floating dandelions and grass.
We came back to the apartment to chill out (90 degree weather and walking around a city = not a cool time). Considering his two roomies have chinese backgrounds, I assume Ill get to try different things that I normally wouldnt eat. For instance, for lunch, I had some pork buns – they were very neat and would be good with any filling i think (they were kinda bagel-ly).
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August 11, 2009
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nyny day 1
I have this teeny weeny laptop boy sent with me, rather than my macbook. It is a lenovo s10, and althrough he really likes it, and it fit better in my carry-on, i kinda sorta hate it. So bear with me if I dont keep you up to date as much as i had hoped.
Day 1
My flight left Chicago at 7pm and was due in NY around 10, but Laguardia had us circle around a bit to ride out a storm they were having. Luckily there was no storm for me, although there was some turbulence. Eventually, the captain came on the speaker to let us know that Laguardia put in a 50 minute ground stop and we didnt have enough fuel to keep circling. Therefore, we diverted to an airport in Allentown, Pennsylvania to refuel and wait to be put back in the landing queue. I finally arrived sometime after 11. Bro and his girl picked me up and then we waited for about another half hour for a taxi (the cab drivers didnt realize that there were late planes coming in, due in after the usual scheduled last landings). So, while standing there for a ride, I watched the clock tick over to my birthday! Another year older, smarter, better, and this time – leaner;)
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July 16, 2009
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france itinerary
Today, I called the country of France.
I have to do this several other times, all for reserving the hotel rooms, but it was probably one of the most stressful things I have done. (Kudos to Vonage for giving us free Europe calls;)
I intended on speaking French and seeing how far I got, and always staying super polite. I made a list and everything, just in case I got nervous and forgot what I needed to say.
Instead, the first words out of my mouth after bonjour was ”est-ce que vous parlez anglais?” She put me on hold and handed me off to another. She did speak English, but with a terribly thick accent, and then over the fuzzy phone and all, I just got really tense. BUT after several repetitions on both our parts, we did it! Yay! I would not have been so nervous in person – I managed in Peru with a language I never studied, having a pad of paper always at hand, so that people could write the words down.
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June 16, 2009
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committed
I have no crafts to speak of, nor photos to share, but after much delay in deciding our france trip, we have finally committed.
Our tickets were quite a bit more than originally budgeted for, but I hope to pick up an extra hour here and there at work before we fly. We leave September 9 (09/09/09 – how cool is that?!) and return on the 20th. Dang, thats a long time! I am really surprised this whole thing is happening because boy is quite the workaholic and doesnt like to even be gone for a Saturday-Sunday venture. His new employee is the catalyst for this change, and I hope it will continue in the future.
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