Botanical Gardens

This summer, I finally came up with a plan to blog somewhat regularly. At least more regularly than once a month. At the beginning of the month, I think up a list of topics and projects to share, and assign them to specific days on a calendar. The best part is, if I don't follow my calendar, it doesn't really matter all that much.

One item in particular has been on my list for some time now. In June, I went by myself (crazy!) to the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens, and I had a grand ole' time. Everything was pretty, and I could take as long as I wanted to take lots of photos, because I went by myself (!).

I loved my photos from that solitary excursion. and I made myself a little mini album because I loved them so, and I wanted to see some of them in print. It was in the making of this album, that I discovered how to make mini albums that I really like. The key being, to add as little as possible. When I start to add more to my mini albums, they start to feel haphazard to me. Keeping it simple, helps the design feel more cohesive. At least to me.

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The reason I finally shared this album now, is that I recently went to the Botanical Gardens in the Bronx, this time just with Dave, (crazy!) and again I ended up with lots of photos that I love. The moral of the story is, going places without children, frees you up to take a lot of photos. The only down side is, that they are not photos of my children. But, lovely photos, nonetheless:

Outside

Summer 2014 is the year we finally got a car, and therefore, it is the year that we finally spent a decent amount of time outside. That mostly took the form of going to the beach and going on some hikes.

These outdoorsy activities are important to me, because they make me feel so, so good; the air; the space; the physical activity. I feel it in my bones.

Nature can be pretty easy on the eyes, too.

Being a boring, old, mother-there are some things I'd like my children to learn as well about spending time outdoors.

1. You don't ALWAYS need a TV or a movie to have fun. (Although, it's nice to come home exhausted from a day outside to an evening of vegging out.)

2. There does not always need to be human created stimulation in front of you that  in order to have fun. 

3. Fun should not always cost money. Except maybe for parking. And post-hike ice cream.

It takes a little practice to learn those lessons. And, my children did not always agree with me about how much fun we were having. But at the end of each outing (if not in the middle), they had to admit that we had some good times. 

Being a boring, old, scrapbooking mother--of course I immortalized some of these lessons with some pretty paper and things.

Is it summer yet?

Write.Click.Scrapbook September

This month's gallery theme is Back to School. Which is a great theme for this time of year, but in NYC we go back to school after Labor Day, so I don't have any cute back to school photos yet for this year. Back to school does mean goodbye to summer, so that is the direction I took. I had a good summer, and I had a lot to say about it; About all the things we did, and about the joy of not doing anything much at all.

After adding the title and that little heart to my photo, I realized that I used the exact same font (by Amy Tangerine) and heart stamp (by Ali Edwards) in a photo at the beginning of the summer. It turns out that that one was to say hello to summer. 

I totally did not mean to do that. I guess I am nothing if not consistent.

Write.Click.Scrapbook September Sneak

It took me a little while to figure out what to make for this month's gallery. Then I realized that this month's layout would involve a lot of words. The rest fell into place rather quickly after that.

See you on the 1st for the rest of this verbose layout.

A Summer Mini Book

I am blogging today over at Write.Click.Scrapbook. There I share my inspiration and process for this little guy, but  here I will share the pictures.