Wedding Bouquet Display

For some time now, I’ve been keeping my eye out for a glass cloche or dome at thrift stores. I wanted them for my wedding bouquet, which I had left sitting in a glass vase (without any water) so it had dried out nicely. I wanted to further protect it from elements like water and moving people. I had checked online too and the size that I had needed cost upward of $45 which was a little too pricy for a piece of glass in my opinion. (The ones below start from $89! They are pretty though.)

photo from www.wisteria.com

So here’s my shabby chic inspired version for displaying my wedding bouquet:

 The Lanstalle lantern for candles purchased from… Ikea. Though it may not be as airtight as the cloche, I’m still pretty happy with how it turned out. And since dust mostly settles from on top, I covered the air duct at the very top of the lantern with a round piece of contact paper.

Now my wedding flowers are happily sitting in their new home, protected from the elements. (Well mostly at least.) And the price of this glass lantern? $14.99. Wanting to save does make you think out of the box! Or in this case, in it.

Enter Project Life

Whee! I'm super excited! I think that's probably why I couldn't sleep last night!

My Project Life Kit arrived yesterday! 

So um, what's Project Life?

It’s called a complete scrapbook system but that’s not how I like to think of it. (I really don’t like scrapbooking!) What it is, is a complete, easy to assemble album complete with journaling cards for you to jot down little notes about the photos. It comes with monthly dividers, title cards, journal cards, stickers, even a date stamp! There’s no need to cute anything, just choose where you want things to go, slip your photos and journal cards and you’re done!

There’s no need to cut anything, punch out anything, go back to the store for matching accents, everything you need is right in the awesome Becky Higgins box. (There are photo albums dedicated to this box alone!) And what kind of timeline you use, is up to you! There are 54 photo pages that come with this kit, including one page for a front, one for a back so it you can use it one page per week. Or day. Or month. Or however you like.

Here’s a better photo from Amazon. com, where Project Life kits are primarily sold.

I was so excited to start using Project Life I begged Gerard to let me open it already even if our anniversary isn’t for another two weeks. (Traditional gifts for anniversaries call for paper. I'm not complaining! )My excuse was that I wanted to document our whole first year of marriage first, starting with a few wedding photos, our honeymoon, our first apartment. I’m not following a specific time format, I just want to chronicle all the adventures we’ve had in the last 12 months. Maybe my next kit I’ll do weekly! Who knows 

What really appealed to me about this kit, were the journaling cards. I love to write, I love to jot down my thoughts and photo books don’t really give you that opportunity. With Project Life, I can take a journaling card and write a few sentences for every photo in the album. It’s like a photo album and journal in one! And if you like, you can insert a few mementos like ticket stubs, receipts, and other things too!

The only slight, slight downside is that the photo pages are only set for horizontal photos. But you can buy additional pages that feature vertical photos. I’m actually just buying more photo pockets, period!

So I’ve spent a good part of the day uploading photos to seehere.com, Fujifilm’s online print service. I’ve always preferred Fuji to Kodak but I’ll save my thoughts on seehere.com for another day.

Have I piqued your interest? For more about Project Life, check out beckhiggins.comwhere they’ve got all sorts of info, inspiration, and additional products for Project Life. There’s even a digital edition! And a whole community of Project Life users who share their ideas.

I’ll give you a peek at my first few pages as soon as I’m done.

Unexpected Encounters

Today was marked by unexpected encounters.

The first one was with the DMV lady at window 14. I've come to her window several times, as this was the second time I had to take my driving test. She is always so warm and cheerful, an unexpected change as I know the DMV work environment has not been very upbeat lately, (most likely due to being understaffed as gauged from the terribly long lines and 45 day waits for appointments.)

So today, lady at window 14 merrily wished me luck on my exam, reassuring me that I would pass this time.

My second encounter was with the man who gave me the driving test. Apparently my appointment was not on his schedule (which understandably would have irritated him) but he gave me a driving test anyway. I was already thinking that was enough to merit another failure or at least an unhappy tester!

But instead of being irritated, he was very patient and calm. In between giving me instructions, we carried on a quick conversation starting from was this the car I regularly drove. I told him yes, it was a sort of wedding present from my husband for when I found a job because I had just moved here from the Philippines.

He asked me what my husband did and I gave my standard reply. "He's a chocolate scientist! He does research and development for a chocolate company." He was certainly amused by my reply! He said that he'd heard of similar jobs but had never actually known anyone who had such a job. He asked what I did and I told him I was a teach. "An English teacher?" he asked me, and I said yes. He wasn't surprised.

When we a certain corner, I pointed out that that was where I made my critical error on my last driving test, his reply was " Not this time."

Once parked, he took a few minutes to write some notes before informing me that I had passed! Woohoo! California highways, here I come!

Before I could calm down from my excitement, he thanked me! He said it had been a delight and that he had enjoyed talking to me. Apparently he's had some rough encounters with other drivers and I would figure that his job isn't the easiest thing on earth. I can only imagine some of the people he's had to deal with. Then he sent me off to get my license and wished me luck on the job hunt.

Now I know these encounters may seem ordinary to some but in a world where people are always in a hurry to move on, it's wonderful to come across people who stop and take the time to make a difference in your day. Whether it be sincere words of encouragement or an unexpected conversation, these exchanges are memorable. And in the DMV nonetheless!

So I took my temporary license and skipped home to show it off to my husband. And now I think I've got a letter to write to the DMV, commending those two people for wonderful service and uncalled-for -friendliness in an unexpected place.

On the Rescue of the Chilean Miners

I've been glued to the news, along with the rest of the world, watching the rescue of the 33 miners who have been trapped underground, in Chile, since August 5. After 69 days of being trapped underground with no sunlight, they're being hoisted one by one, to the surface. Remarkably, the men seem to be in good spirits (as what I've seen from the news) and I feel this rescue to be nothing short of a miracle.

Photo from the Los Angeles Times

And while I watch this, I can't help but think of the strength of the human spirit and the suffering we are capable of enduring. The rescuers, along with these men, serve as inspiration and reminder that together, we are capable of doing anything.

My friend tells me that at the Chilean Embassy in Washington D.C., there's a big screen rigged up for people to watch the rescue and quite a crowd has gathered. Though I may not be a Chilean national, I'm still a human being and I can't help but feel the triumph and joy, that these men are being saved.

Enough things go bad in this world. Enough disasters, enough lives taken, enough natural resources destroyed. But sometimes, sometimes, something like this happens to really remind us how truly lucky we are to be alive.