The One that's really LONG.

What I blog about. hmmmm...

I like to blog about real life. I like to take pretty photos and document the fun stuff of life. I have some goals, however, to also expand my creativity and make blogging more interesting. That might mean doing more projects and taking more photos! Somehow I think that's what I need.

Life has been a little BLAH here in November.

I'd like to change that. If you are a regular reader, I would love a little advice on what people like to read! I guess I will write a little synopsis of the current stuff I do, so that way anyone can add a suggestion.

1. I do Project Life. I'm a tad behind posting about it (yeah, like six months) but I'm pretty up to date with my actual book. In the past two years I've lived a life that is pretty "documenting" oriented. I save receipts. I steal business cards from restaurants. I methodically print photos and round corners and stick my stuff in little pockets. Its a fun adventure, and not one I'm planning on quitting any time soon. I plan on taking more photos of my pages in the future!

2. I scrapbook. Even though I also do Project Life, I also love to play with pretty paper and embellishments. Matty tells me that I do a little too much! Because I document stuff pretty much daily, when it comes to scrapbooking, its all for fun! That's how I like it.

3. I play in the outdoors. I run. I camp. I am kind of an active gal and I love to write about it. Somehow its nice to brag about how fast I run a race, or how I feel accomplished when I learn how to swim. Its fun to share something that's such a big part of my life.

4. I hardly cook, but when I do I love to blog about it. Every now and then I get a burst of energy and decide to take photos of my cooking process or my daily dinners or my super healthy Paleo foods. And I'm always up for taking pictures of treats and desserts, even when I don't make them myself.

5. I take pictures. This may have been implied in the previous four points, but I thought it deserved a line all by itself. Whether its instagram or fancy camera, I pretty much photograph daily! I'm still not great, but I love the challenge of capturing a moment in a pretty way. That's pretty much how I see photography. I take pictures because I like to remember. And if I am remembering, it might as well look good, right?

6. I have a pretty full life when it comes to friend and family. I do love to share random adventures that I have with Matt and others. Seattle is an amazing place. We may think that we are bored all the time, but when I look through my Picassa album, I'm pretty much convinced that we do lots of fun things. I'd like to do even more. This includes trying new restaurants and traveling to more local areas around Seattle.

7. I travel. Okay, not really, but I do have a ton of Europe photos that I haven't shared yet. Mostly just haven't had the time to write the words to portray such an amazing adventure. I'm not sure that this would be an interesting to topic to read about, so let me know!!

Thanks for reading, if you got all the way to the end. Please, ladies, (or anyone) give me some suggestions on how I can improve what I write. I would love any constructive criticism please!!

Love Jenn

The One with Photos of Home...volume 2

So I am thinking that once a week I will upload some around the house photos. This week they weren't very exciting, but I'm sharing just the same! I will keep trying to improve my photography and come up with interesting things to take pictures of.

We still have pumpkins still brightening up our dining room...

 Evidence of my newly painted nails. I really like this color and so far three days later it hasn't chipped!!

 Flashy has spent most of the week curled up in his favorite chair. Even when he's healthy, he LOVES this chair. Any time anyone gets off the chair, it only takes minutes for him to steal the seat.

 Here is part of my mantle. The only new thing is that I have added the corks to the clear vase. I want to collect enough so that I can make something cool. Until then, here they sit!

 Pretty fresh flowers from TJ's! I love having brightly colored flowers in the house.

 Evidence of Matty's pistachio eating habit. These are his favorite! And there's his blue light in the background. That thing is super helpful in the fall months as we are losing more and more daylight.

 And here is a lovely bathroom shot! Why not? That low flat jar is my coconut oil body butter. That stuff is from Trader Joe's and its INCREDIBLE!!

So there ya go...just some everyday photos of home. Again, hopefully next week photos will be more exciting. I will certainly try!!

The One with Photos of Home

Here are some random photos taken in our place this week. I didn't really clean up, just took some photos of the way our house looks on a regular day, but of course now with pumpkins and gourds on the table and orange leaves outside.

 

 

 I think I will try to take more indoor photos in the coming weeks. I love this season and I love being indoors this time of year. Tonight I made Paleo muffins and Hannah made spiced cider and we have just been totally relaxing.

The One with the Photobook

 Finally my Europe photo book has arrived!! I love LOVE love it. Its simple and small and very easy to read. Now, whenever anyone asks to see my trip photos, I can just hand them this book and be done! I am glad I spend those two whole days getting sick of photos. It was worth it!

 It was super easy to drag and drop photos into the book. I just had a whole lot of them...that's what took so long.

One of my favorite pages was from Cinque Terre where I recorded our wine tasting adventures. I made a photo into an entire page!

I finished the book by adding a lot of extra photos to the back. It was a way to add photos I loved into the book that didn't otherwise fit. I got my book from Shutterfly. Just thought I would share my excitement!!

The One with all the European coffee

This is my first attempt to share some photos of my recent trip to Europe. Let's start with something small, shall we? 

I will give you a small warning...I am pretty sure this may get repetitive! Its all about the coffee that I drank in Europe, and only now have I discovered how many coffee photos I took! I can't leave any out, right?

So here we go!



My first coffee was at an amazing bar in Amsterdam. A cute cat lived in the bar and I loved that. Joy ordered for me because I was so nervous. (For no reason of course...everyone in Holland speaks English)

I was thrilled that my coffee came with a little cookie! Seriously, these Europeans know how to live.

I took a photo of these great containers at the house we stayed at in Holland:

The second coffee I purchased was black coffee and it came with a little cream, sugar and (again) a cookie. I was thrilled, of course.

Coffee in Germany was quite varied. I tried drip coffee...

A Latte Macchiato:

A Cappuccino:

All came with a little cookie! Joy noticed that the free cookies are smaller in Germany.

On my last day in Germany I was treated with a coffee made from home. One of Joy's friends had us over for breakfast and she made me a cappuccino with a fancy machine. Unfortunately the process was fun, but the taste was pretty bad.
 
Coffee in France was a bit varied. The first time we ordered coffee, we got espresso:

The next day I ordered a cappuccino and I got one with enormous foam and a bit of chocolate dust!

Another time, I ordered coffee and got drip coffee, but it was really a double espresso, I'm sure. In France, the coffee always comes with sugar cubes! It was interesting putting sugar in my coffee, since I usually just stick to cream or milk.

This photo just shows a shot of Espresso that I recieved with my lunch, which was a sort of egg tart.

One night in Annecy, we ordered dessert (tiramisu!) and I got a delicious cappucino, also with a little chocolate dust.

Coffee in Italy is something else. I must admit that despite trying all kinds of coffee in France (except for French press....couldn't find that anywhere!) we really decided it was not the greatest. But Italian coffee really lives up to its reputation. Its AMAZING.

My first cappuccino was in Milan at the train station. Its a bit of a cheat because it had caramel sauce on top, but I'm not ashamed of that...it was worth it. You can see a peek of that canoli behind it, also a delicious choice.

That same night when we got to Monterosso I had a cappuccino after dinner. Its pretty typical in Europe to finish your dinner with coffee! I don't mind.

The next morning I got another cappuccino with my cream-filled croissant. (I could do another blog post on those!)

Coffee in Venice was more about the experience than the coffee itself. This first photo is of our coffees at San Marco square where we watched the dueling pianos. This tiny drink cost 7 Euro! Oh, and there was a 6 Euro cover charge to just sit there and watch the concert. Maybe not something I would repeat, but it was a fun experience.

This next coffee was at a fancy place near Rialto....another expensive place of course. The furniture and silver trays are fun. This is yet another 6.5 Euro cappuccino.

This last photo was taken in Rome! We sat on the corner of Piazza Navona in the rain and I ordered a coffee with whipped cream. So they brought be a whole cup of it.
 
 So I will leave it there! That's enough coffee, eh? I have to say, coffee is what I miss most about Europe. We've got our espresso maker out and I'd like to make more cappuccinos. Somehow its just not the same. But I will keep trying!