Snap! Happy New Year!

Helena has been hosting a weekly photography challenge for a few years now. For 2016, her theme is "Snap!" She has in mind "between 2 and 4 photos that create a visual set." I like the idea of Snap! as a very small photo essay. 

I'm not sure how this will play out, but for my first Snap Set, I'm sharing four photos from New Year's Eve. 

To me, they capture the joy of being young and celebrating with friends, 

of being confident that your life is good,

and knowing you have a bright future ahead.

What do you think? What will you snap this year?

Me on Monday: Holiday Wrap-Up

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday. Before launching in to some year-end reflections and coming year intentions, I thought I'd wave hi on Monday with a quick holiday wrap-up.
What kindof holiday was it?
It was a traveling to southern California kind of holiday, where I organized Family Jeopardy for Paul's family (above). It was a great hit!
It was a tons of presents for the kids kind of holiday:

And a posing with the cousins for the traditional photograph on the stairway kind of holiday:

It was a seeing the movie Creed (and really enjoying it), eating tamales and ham and tri-tip kind of holiday;

It was also a really happy to have my son home from University (and enjoying playing this board game with him); binge watching Sherlock and Jessica Jones kind of holiday;

A champagne on New Year's Eve and

our traditional black-eyed peas and pork roast on New Year's Day kind of holiday.
And finally,

A grading exams with the kitten kind of holiday!
So relieved they're all done.
So, what kind of a holiday did you have?
(This wrap-up is done in the style of Sian's Me on Monday).

Christmas Cards

I sent out two Christmas cards this year - the top one featured a photograph I took in the Still Life photography class. The second featured photos of my kids. Both created using tinyprints, which is a division of Shutterfly. I sent out about 100 cards this year and received more than usual, I think. I was so pleased to receive many beautiful hand made cards from blog friends around the world! Thank you all so much.
I hope you enjoy these and that you had a wonderful holiday. I'll share a wrap up soon, as well as some thoughts on my one little word for 2014 and 2015.

Photo Pairs: Wrapping Presents

A simple before and after pair today. I've really enjoyed posting Christmas-y pairs this month for Helena's Photo Pairs meme. Head over to this link to check out the penultimate pairs.

Me on Monday: Weekend Before Christmas

Happy Monday Everybody! How was your weekend?
Mine was a getting a fresh haircut kind of weekend.

A walking the dogs on the bluffs on a windy day kind of weekend (satisfying #10 on the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt).

A going to see the new Star Wars movies with my two boys kind of weekend (loved the movie and loved spending the time with my husband and son).

A grading an endless number of exams kind of weekend (the cats like to help).
And finally,

A baking cookies for the cookie exchange I attend every year kind of weekend AND
A celebrating kindof weekend because my plate of Italian Ricotta Cookies (ringed with brownie Christmas trees) won the vote for "prettiest cookie"!!! Long time blog readers know that every year I strive to win a prize at the cookie exchange (and rarely succeed).
So, all in all, it was a very nice weekend before Christmas around here.
How was your weekend?
You can check in with Sian over at From High in the Sky to see others who are waving hi on Monday.

Better luck next year! (A Christmas tail)

Weekend before last, we got our Christmas tree. We went for tall and thin this year (our ceiling is 12 feet tall, and it comes pretty close once we put the start on top). We strung the lights and brought out the ornament boxes. The first ornament on the tree?

Same as every year! The Santa Star I made in kindergarten. As an added bonus, it counts as item #4 A Star in the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt. 

Speaking of which, why have one snowman for item #5 when you can have three?
Right now, I'd love to have a photograph of the fully decorated tree all lit up, but no . . .
Because these two

They look so innocent, don't they? But between the two of them, they managed to destroy all the lights on the bottom half of the tree (and a few ornaments to boot)! Well, they're both still technically babies. So, better luck next year!

Photo Pairs: Funky and Formal Christmas Decor

Long time blog readers will know that I collect Nativity sets, and I enjoy displaying them every December. The beautiful, formal one above was made by my mother-in-law. This year, I found a rubber duck Nativity set and couldn't resist it! I think the two of them together make a perfect pair for Helena's weekly photo pairs meme. Check out other pairs on her blog here.

Me on Monday: An Entertaining Weekend

#21 My Own Handwriting

(for the Wintertime Photography Scavenger Hunt)

How was your weekend? I spent some time addressing Christmas cards and doing some online shopping. But mainly I spent time enjoying a wide variety of entertainment.

On Friday, I spent time in front of the TV waiting for my boy to come home for the holidays and watching my husband's favorite Christmas movie:

(I think I've mentioned before that my favorite Christmas movie is Die Hard, but I wait to watch that until Christmas Day). 

Then on Saturday, we headed over to Berkeley where we shopped, wandered around campus and checked out the place where we met 35 years ago!

Davis House Coop, where we both lived our last couple of years of college, looks exactly the same as I remember. Afterward, we went to see a play:

It was amazing! The best play I have seen in a long time and really made me want to get back to attending theater more regularly. 

And finally, went to an old fashioned tavern Sunday afternoon to listen to music.

An entertaining weekend, indeed!

How was your weekend? Check in with Sian at From High in the Sky to see who else is waving hi this Monday morning.

Do you Christmas journal?

Every year when I put out my Christmas decorations, I take out my Christmas Journals and flip through them. I decided last month not to do a journal this year, and, after flipping through my journals, I kindof regret it. Because I love these so much! The box contains 5x7 art journal style cards with all kinds of Christmas memories created in Shimelle's 2006 Journal Your Christmas class. The yellow journal contains instagram photos from 2010 (in a December Daily format) and the 2009 journal contains a bunch of Tim Holtz style tags with journaling about finding the joy in Christmas with teenagers (instead of small children). 

Last year I made a "December Daily" that really focused on a photo a day and captured our life in December. No matter what format I have used, I find that I am really glad that I did it. And I will definitely do one next year. What about you? Do you Christmas journal?

Photo Pairs - Hello from Santa!

Took a walk in the neighborhood the other day and saw this Holiday Camper. I think it makes another festive addition for Helena's Pairs Photo meme. See more entries at Helena's blog. Are there signs of the holidays cropping up in your neighborhood?

Initial Thoughts on Scrapbooking

This month, I'm focusing on scrapbooking, trying to figure out where it fits in my creative life. I really appreciate all the comments you left about how you are thinking about scrapbooking and memory keeping. I got out a note book and started to jot down some thoughts and to-do lists.

My thoughts drifted to three themes: the old Creative Memories Philosophy "Start Current, Stay Current"; the idea that "Done is better than perfect'"; and the need to get something completed while organizing and figuring out where I stand with my unscrapped photographs. So, I decided to start by scrapping the photographs I received in this year's Christmas cards. I kept the layouts simple. I took a couple 6x6 Christmas paper packs and used them on top of plain card stock to create my back ground pages. I used little cut aparts that were included in the paper packs as my embellishments. I have a sample above.

 I have been scrapping Christmas card photos every year since 2001, and I am up to four albums of photos. I love looking at them each Christmas. I had fallen behind in this project and scrapped about three years worth of photos at a crop earlier this year, so it was nice to get this year's photos done so quickly. 

I also did some clean-up and catch-up in my older Xmas card photo albums. Even though I scrapped three years worth of Xmas card photos earlier this year, I hadn't done the journaling on them. So, I needed to go back and do that. I also had to put some pages back in an earlier album and create the cover of my currrent album (above) because it was a naked cardboard album. I created a Christmassy background using patterned paper and cardstock and then added a variety of hand made Christmas cards and post cards that I have received. I do that sometimes - incorporate the artwork sent by my blog and scrapping friends into my Christmas layouts. I kindof wish I would have painted the album cover edges, but, hey, done is better than perfect!
The other thing I'm working on this weekend is making three very simple photo books at Shutterfly featuring Clara's track and cross country photos from the last three seasons. I'll probably print out some running photos and scrap them on paper, too, but I really want to get the bulk of her photographs printed in a format that she can keep.
I also ordered some photographs from Shutterfly off my iphone of recent events that I can work on scrapping once they arrive. It was a somewhat frustrating process and am looking for alternatives. I also worked (unsuccessfully) on figuring out how to order photos from a new photo lab because I really like higher quality prints of photographs from my big camera. I'd welcome ideas from people in the U.S. about which photo labs they use for higher quality prints and also where you print photos from your iphone.

ZIZO #33: Christmas Cards & Best Wishes to You!

It's Christmas Eve here in California, and I'm enjoying some time writing Christmas cards. Yes, I know they won't arrive before Christmas, but I'm still happy to send holiday greetings around the world. And I really love receiving the same.  I keep my cards in a basket on the Christmas mantle, and you can see a few of them above. Since it's Wednesday, I thought it was a good opportunity to take a pair of photos for Helena's weekly photo meme "Zoom In Zoom Out." 
It's also a good opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas!
Most years, I send out two different types of cards. Hand made cards for my arty friends that I know will appreciate them and a photo card for family and friends. The latter includes a brief letter on the back of the card. Here's what I wrote this year:
"2014 was a good year. We enjoyed music (everything from Luke Bryan to Drake v. Li'l Wayne) and sporting events (World Cup, Giants winning the World Series and *soon* the Rose Bowl). We rebuilt our decks and remodeled our bathrooms. Clara turned 16 and got her driver's license. Henry transitioned from freshman to sophomore at University of Oregon, moved from the dorms to the Sigma Chi fraternity house, had a summer internship at Coaching Corp. in Oakland and traveled to Memphis where his club soccer team placed third at the national tournament. Maria and Clara volunteered at the Peninsula Humane Society, and they brought Frida home from the kitten nursery. Now, Clara volunteers at Guide Dogs for the Blind and raises backyard chickens for her egg business. She also runs really fast - she was the League Champion in Cross Country. Paul and Maria will celebrae their 30th Anniversary this month!"
I hope you and yours have a wonderful Christmas!!!

Christmas Club: RSV Christmas Trees

Henry and Clara, 2014

At Christmas, we go to the Rancho Siempre Verde Christmas Tree Farm . . . 
We have been going to this tree farm for about thirty years, since before the children were born, and before we moved into our current house 25 years ago. There are so many memories associated with RSV Christmas Trees that I thought I would share a few for Sian's Christmas Club storytelling gathering (you can read other Christmas Club stories here).
The RSV website promises "no plastic Santas, no long lines, no parking lot style Christmas trees just a relaxed rural farm, with very friendly people and a diversity of beautiful trees." And that's exactly what you get. It's a magical place, and we return year after year . . . 
It's a "cut-your-own tree" farm. Which means you wander around looking for something that might be able to be shaped into a traditional looking tree, then you saw it off at the base, and get it to the baling station where they will wrap it up and help tie it to the top of your car. If you want, they will drive a tractor over to your felled tree and bring it to the baling station. They will even let your little kids sit on the driver's lap and "drive" the tractor! 

2011 - Henry and Paul with our tree

2009 - Henry helping to bale the tree

But, RSV is about so much more than the trees . . .

Clara 2013

Henry and Clara, 2010

The tree swings are one of the best things about RSV. They have them scattered throughout the farm, and we all love playing on them.

2013 with Aria and Gypsy

RSV is also a great place to bring dogs. Aria and Gypsy love going there, and it was the absolute favorite place for our previous dog, Buster. We used to call our annual trip to RSV, "Buster's favorite day of the year." He loved it so much that when he passed away, we buried a cast of his paw print at RSV at the foot of a tree. And every year, we go visit Buster's tree and think about what a good dog he was.

2009 - Scrapook page about Buster's tree (read full story here)

We always picnic there and sometimes roast marshmallow on the bonfire to make s'mores. I love wandering around and taking photographs with my camera. Paul usually makes a wreath at their wreath station.

2009 Paul and Clara making wreaths

2013  Paul and his wreath

We have so many other memories about RSV Christmas Trees, like the fact that . . . 

My friend, Karen of Random Reflections, lives 3,000 miles away in New York. But she's been to RSV. I think she went on the rainiest, muddiest day possible and left with quite a story to tell . . .

One year (1988, maybe), Paul and I moved house during the holidays. We moved from our first apartment to our first condo. And we moved our tree! We had already visited the farm and put up the tree, so when we moved, we un-decorated the tree, moved it, put it back up and re-decorated!

2014 - our RSV wreath on our front door

And one last confession about RSV. We actually have an artificial tree now and no longer go there to buy a tree. But we still go . . . to have a picnic and make wreaths, to swing on the swings and let the dogs run wild, to make memories and experience the Christmas magic!