PL2017 - Week 22

We're enjoying the last few days of summer around here. 

School starts back in a few days. 

This week I've been getting the kids up early, making them go to bed at a decent hour. Needless to say, there has been a lot of grumbling and complaining.

Tuesday morning is going to come as quite a shock, to Miss Madelyn especially. She is going to have to be boarding a school bus at 7:15 am. There haven't been many times, when she's had to be up before 7:00 am during the school week. The exception of course is for a few early weekend ringette practices. I think her wake up time will need to be sometime between 6:15-6:30... I know I'm not looking forward to it. To poking the bear... Next week will be brutal for all of us. 

We'll just have to take it one day at a time. For the first time in her life, it's possible she'll fall to sleep exhausted at the end of the day...  

Yeah... I heard that too. I'm not sure there's anything that exhausts her... We'll just have to wait and see. And hope. 

Here is Week 22 of my project life album.

• Shopping for grad clothes... It's usually painful shopping with this boy, but this trip we had a lot of laughs.
• Service project with the Girl Guides, painting yellow fish on storm drains.
• Camping trip to Two Jack Lake in Banff. We booked this camping trip when registration opened back in February. Lucky us, we had a great weekend weather-wise. 

The following Sahlin Studio product was used: 

You are Here Kit 

You are Here Journal Cards 

PL2017 - Week 21

Still puttering along with project life. I'm definitely a bit behind, I'm not sure how that happens, but I just go with it. Still loving this form of memory keeping. Still...

This is from week 21, that happened back in May. I struggled to find enough photos to fill this week, so I fixed that by cutting down a 12x12 page protector. I actually like how there are occasional different sizes within my album. 

• A trip to the orthodontist for Miss Mad.
• Miss Libby, always wanting a snuggle.
• Shopping for dress pants with the boy. Painful, but successful. 
• Messy hair, don't car. The t-shirt couldn't be more accurate.
• Still getting bundles of flowers... Lucky me. 

The following Sahlin Studio product was used: 

For Real - Elements

For Real - Journal Cards 

Solar Eclipse - 2017

You guys... A week ago Calgary experienced our first solar eclipse in a long, long time.

I know that I was in elementary school, when the last eclipse was in town. [I absolutely just dated myself] I have a vague recollection of it. That and the concord, that went over our city, breaking the sound barrier. Two things that have nothing to do with one another, but two things I have vague memories of...

Anyway, Monday August 21st, we were to witness a solar eclipse, and see 81% of totality.

81% seems like it should get at least dusky... Right? Wrong. 

I'm not going to lie. 81% of totality, ended up being pretty disappointing. If you didn't know the eclipse was happening, you wouldn't have even realized the change in light. The light change was very subtle. A little bit more 'golden'. Inside the house, was more noticeable, it was much duller.

We had purchased eclipse glasses, and I had made cereal box eclipse viewers, which turned out very cool. It was so easy to make, and you got a real good look at the eclipse.

We brought out lawn chairs and parked ourselves in the driveway, for a front row show. It didn't disappoint.

Here are some photos from that day:

It was really hard to get any decent photos, trying to take them inside the cereal box. But it worked so well, you really got to see the shape change as the moon passed across the sun.

And, it wasn't all exciting... Mad made sure she had some reading material handy.

One thing I didn't realize, is that you would be able to see the eclipse in the shadows, such as leaves. I saw that later on the news, and wish I'd known that fact.

I'd also like to check out the next total eclipse... I want to see totality. That just got put in my bucket list.  

Vegas 2017 [August Template freebie]

We went to Vegas last weekend. We went to celebrate a friends birthday. Both Barry and I have never been there before. It was HOT. Crazy hot. It took my breath away every time we left air conditioning. Barry was right, it was a 'dry' heat. In that, you didn't get completely saturated, as you would have had you walked out into hot and humid. We just walked out into hot.

But for this girl, for which 25 degrees Celsius is ideal... It was hot as balls. [Yes, I typed that]

I'm a fair weather girl. I don't like it too cold, and I don't like it too hot... 

I wanted to create a layout of our trip. A fun reminder of our weekend away. 

I ended up using Sahlin Studio - August template freebie. [Click here to find it] Available for the month of August only. 

This template is cool. It's got all sorts of layers and diagonal lines. 

At first, I tried very hard to get my photos into the diagonal spaces, but I wasn't happy at all with how that looked. It's nearly impossible not to cut photos off. 

I changed my strategy. I filled all the diagonal sections with paper, and then laid my photos on top.  At first I wasn't totally happy with that either. It looked a little bit chaotic. 

And then I thought, Yes. Chaotic. 

That totally goes with the theme of our first trip to Vegas. For me, it was absolutely a sensory overload. The sights, the sounds, the smells.... Everything was larger than life. People walking down the streets and in the casinos at all hours. Traffic noise on the streets. The blocks of walking between casinos. The noise inside the casinos [slot machines and the constant din of people hooting and hollering] The amount of people walking the streets. The shocking amount of children walking the streets and inside casinos. [This is absolutely not a stop I'd have on my family vacation destination, but that's just me] And the heat... Did I mention it took my breath away every time I stepped outside?

To be honest, I was really surprised that Vegas wasn't more volatile. With alcohol available EVERYWHERE, people drinking everywhere. It was surprisingly clean, and I didn't see anyone fighting. I did however, see a lot of stumbling... Very much out of my comfort zone for sure. 

Here is my layout:

We did have fun. We did gamble. We lost some money, won some money. I may have walked down the street with a gigantic beer. When in Rome, right? 

Would I go back? It's still too soon to say. I need more time to let it all sink in. I'm not saying never, but I'm not in a rush to find the next deal. 

The following Sahlin Studio product was used:

Project Mouse - Celebrate - Bundle 

PL2017 - Weeks 19 & 20

Here we are, nearing the end of August, only a couple more weeks left before the kids head back to school. Eeks. July always seems so dreamy. August seems to fly by. 

Here are my PL pages for weeks 19 & 20:

Week 19:

• A fella and his dog...
• Madelyn was asked to participate in the Maker Fair which was held at Telus Spark. She had a crystal growing exhibit. She worked on this project at lunch time and after school.
• Graduating to Pathfinders. 
• Silly post-it note on her cereal box. Warning her brother to stay away. 
• Grade 9 portraits.
• Playing a game, while his sister had friends over.
• Amazing sunset. 

Week 20:

• Walking Miss Libby, I found a cluster of crocuses. 
• 51st Anniversary celebration.
• Last ever elementary field trip. Too bad the weather was so dreadful.
• Trip to Medicine Hat, to meet up with friends. So thankful for these friendships.

The following Sahlin Studio Product was used: 

Week 19:

You are Here - Kit

You are Here - Journal Cards

Number Journal Cards  

Week 20: 

All About this

Paper Piercing Stitches

Number Journal Cards

Roots [ release August 2015]