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Saturday evening after Karsten's bath time Brian brought him outside to play in the grass. Yes, I realize it makes no sense to take the clean baby outdoors, but once in awhile we like to break rules around here!
The light was good which of course meant that Mommy brought her camera outside too.
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Whether your a "project lifer" or just someone who likes to take photos it can be easy to get into a photography rut. I have been a proud "project lifer" for 3 years and have managed to take at least one photo every day. But here's the thing...now that I'm a Momma many of my photos are of my baby. He's so cute and is truly the center of my attention most of the time, so it's easy to take photos of him. But, the truth is, there is more to my life than him...shh...don't tell him! It's important for me to continue with my hobbies, make time for myself and my husband, and have an identity other than Momma!
In an effort to keep my creative juices flowing I've created a 30 day photography challenge. My hope is to create a new one each month. I've placed this on my refrigerator door as a reminder to take photos of different things. Will I stick to this list each day? No...because life happens and there are still days where I will want to take photos of my cute baby or other things but this will serve as an inspiration to capture little details of my everyday life.
Because I've been a project lifer for several years, 1 1/2 of them before becoming a Mom, I've heard many singles or childless people question whether PL is for them. Yes, absolutely PL is for you too! It's called Project Life; not Project Mommy or Project Family or Project "my life is perfect, so I'll document it!".
I've created a pdf of the following idea sheet. If you find this helpful please leave a comment! Thanks so much! You can download and print the pdf below.
Download 30 Day Photo Challenge 812
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The Denver Zoo
After dropping Aunt Gail off at the airport we had 2.5 hours to kill before we needed to be back at the airport to catch our 7:30 flight. The only idea we could come up with was to take Karsten to the Denver Zoo. I was surprised to find out the Denver Zoo is rated #4 for American Zoos. San Diego is #1 and I think St. Louis is #2. I grew up with the St. Louis Zoo, so I always have high expectations of zoos.
Brian and I were so excited to show Karsten different animals. He's watched several Baby Einstein Animal videos many times and loves it. I think he really enjoyed it. He was laughing outloud with the tiger was playing in the water with a big white ball and he babbled when he saw the sea lions and bears. I've edited these photos to be 4x4 for Project Life, which is why they are square here.
My Boys....love them SO much!...and look how dark K's legs are!
Question: Is this a monkey or ape?
I'm pretty sure I'm going to blow this up and frame it in K's room.
ANSWER: It's an ape...monkey's have tails!
That sums up our last day in Colorado. We had a wonderful trip and I know we'll return soon...it's just in our blood to love CO!
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I'm almost caught up on Project Life...which is exactly the beauty of Project Life...it's simple and easy to put a week/layout/2 page spread together. Some weeks I'm feeling more creative with my pages, other weeks it's just photos and journaling and I'm good with both.
This week covers the fourth of July...so maybe I'm not quite caught up...I'm still working on it.
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I think that week 26 marks the half way point in the year...welcome to week 26 of Project Life!
This week I added a page protector with 9, 4x4 slots to document my cousin's wedding. This particular page protector is from We R Memory Keepers.
This was one of those weeks where I didn't take a photo each day, but took many photos of particular events. Karsten's first haircut is documented on the left page, Kate's wedding is documented in the insert page, and other random things are documented on the right page.
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We spent the first part of our departure day in Breckenridge. Aunt Gail had never been to this adorable little mountain/ski town and absoutely loved it. It's SO different than Vail....not nearly as fancy or expensive. I hardly walked into any stores in Vail because I knew I couldn't afford anything more than a sweatshirt and post card (which I bought btw).
We found this fabulous toy shop in Breck...seriously one of the best I've ever been in....and now that we have a child we were sucked right in. Had he been older we certainly would have been tempted to buy more, but we did buy him this adorable neck support. I've been looking for one that was cute...and this one is too too cute. He thinks it's great fun!
We spent a couple of hours walking around.
I want to do this someday...get a canvas, easel, some paint and paint outdoors.
I loved this shop in an old house with the banners hanging outside!
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Our second day in Vail began with breakfast at our "residence" followed by a couple of mile walk along the stream. It was just beautiful outdoors and we were all so happy to enjoy the mountain air!
Then we headed into town
and had some ice cream (for lunch)
and then we came across this car and I had to take a photo of it because I knew Kelly's son, E, would think that this Volvo was his dream car :)
We took Karsten out of this stroller and let him walk and crawl around a bit...he loved the colorful flowers!
and Aunt Gail took my camera so I could be in some photos!
the flowers and hanging baskets were gorgeous!!!
this sphere was outside of one the shops and I thought it was so pretty...so I took a couple of photos
The thing that K liked more than anything else in our residence was this large bowl filled with 3 balls. They were quite heavy, but he would take them out of the bowl, put them back in, and climb in and out of the bowl. It kept him entertained for quite awhile
Because it was raining we decided to have a late lunch/early dinner at the bar in the Ritz. I had these yummy hot pretzels with dipping sauces and heirloom tomato gazpacho...and a mojito. I've decided that I'm not a big gazpacho fan...it was kind of like eating salsa with a spoon.
The next morning we were up really early so I took a walk to Starbucks enjoying the crisp morning air and then enjoyed my latte on our balcony.
and I took one last shot of Aunt Gail and Karsten before we headed to Breckenridge
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AHHHHHHH...I finally checked something off my to do list that's been written and rewritten for months.
I became an Amazon Associate and added a link to my Amazon Store over in the right sidebar, under Categories. Friends are frequently asking me suggestions about Project Life, Cameras and Equipment, Books to Read, etc. So, I finally created an Amazon Store where you can find many of the things I use in my everyday life that were purchased on Amazon.
Currently my Amazon Store categories are as follows:
I will certainly add more items to these categories in the future. If you purchase an item by clicking the link to the right and buying it from my amazon store I will earn a very small amount. I'm honestly not doing this for the money, although a few dollars here and there would be nice, I'm doing this so you can see what I use and love. I won't put just anything on there...just things that I truly believe in...things that make my life easier...things that have been tested and approved my the Moore Family!
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We stayed very near Lionshead Village in Vail, CO. Lionshead Village is a newer development with restaurants, hotels, shops, and the like. The Ritz was a good 20 minute walk into Vail Village, but only a 5 minute walk to Lionshead Village. To say that this area is quaint and just darling is an understatement. The village is built around the most adorable hotel Arrabelle. It has a quintessential Austrian vibe and to say that I couldn't get enough of the painted buildings is an understatement. I took lots of photos because every angle was cuter than the previous!
there were several of these huge flower carts in the area
There were bicycles everywhere!
The scenery while walking from Lionshead Village to Vail Village.
After admiring Lionshead Village we walked to Vail Village where they were having a huge farmers/artisan market. I could have spent lots of money, but my self control took over and I only bought a bag of granola. I will say that I regret not purchasing one of these handmade baskets.
the produce was so pretty...can produce be pretty? I think so!
Karsten was so happy to be out with all the people. He absolutely loves people watching.
Vail (day 2) coming soon!
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As you know, Brian and I LOVE Colorado. We've been 7 times in 10 years of marriage. If we could live in Colorado, we would. So, when Brian's Aunt Gail called asking if we would like to join her on a trip to Vail we couldn't pass it up. Then, when she mentioned that she had gotten a great deal using Marriott points to book 3 nights at the Ritz-Carlton we really knew we couldn't pass it up! Brian and I certainly cannot afford to stay in luxurious accomadations like the Ritz and we weren't about to pass up an opportunity to spend time with Aunt Gail in Vail...at the Ritz-Carlton.
To say that this place is the nicest place we'll ever stay is an understatement. The service was impeccable, the surroundings gorgeous, and the accomadations superb! We had a 2 bedroom residence with 2.5 baths, a gourmet kitchen, a dining area, a living room, laundry area, and a den. I took some photos, but the light was bad, so they don't do the residence justice.
We had a crib for Karsten, complete with a bag of baby goodies. We ended up putting Karsten in the den to sleep, which worked perfectly.
master bedroom--we took this bedroom because it was closest to den--the furnishings were gorgeous
master bathroom--somehow I didn't take a photo of the tub, which was huge!
the den
the dining area looking into kitchen
in dining looking to living room--the other bedroom was through that doorway
living room and balcony off the living room
kitchen complete with Bosch appliances
the exterior of the Ritz in this beautiful yellow color
pool area...the pool was heated, but we never got in. We did enjoy sitting outside one afternoon as a storm blew over the mountains
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