pocket life week 25: farewell to greece

Today I am posting on the Citrus Twist Kits blog and sharing details about my PL Week 25 using the August kits and wanted to post here as well:

Saying goodbye to Greece was so bittersweet. While we had a wonderful final week enjoying time with family, the beach and little day trips, it was also a difficult ending knowing we would not see some of our favorite people or our favorite place again for a year or more. So the photos are a little bit of all the good of those few days...

I combined the kits with some digital elements and Silhouette cuts. It's true to my style now and using the three together makes my pages feel more complete. I LOVED the exclusive 3x4 cards this month - especially the two I used on this page ("I love you to the moon" and, "This is where I want to be")...

 Greece, you were good to us!

project life: greek style!

I have documented the first two weeks of our vacation and am currently working on the third. The July Citrus Twist Kits happened to be travel themed and were absolutely perfect for recording memories from this trip. I was happy to work with the Pocket Life, Travel Add-on and Stamp Add-ons for July. The CTK exclusive stamps in the Pocket Life kit this month were the second in a series I designed for the club and I am thrilled with how they turned out! These pages are only the highlights from our trip. More on that at the end of this post...

{Week 23: Greece Week 1}

Flight details, my little travelers, beach playground and a lovely beginning...

 Awesome food, beach weather, relaxation. I made a little vellum bitty bag using my Silhouette to hold our boarding passes (the "Fly Away" card in the middle)...

 {Week 24: Greece Week 2}

More beach days, more good eats, goofing around with cousins, gorgeous scenery and the catch of the day...

 Week in review, catch of the day at the fish docks, favorite beach photos, Father's Day at sunset and family...

So, where are the inserts? The rest of the thousandS of photos? I have a plan. Since this is our normal vacation spot, I've decided to make a separate PL album just for Greece. Each time we go there will be a new divided section for that trip. I love the idea of being able to flip though multiple years of photos in the same locations, with the same people and seeing growth and change. I've ordered the Jade Core kit, need to choose an album and will make that dedicated album SIMPLE. As this year was my third trip to Greece, I will be going backward and beginning that album with our honeymoon photos. The beginning of our family! Stay tuned :)

hello, can you see me? back to blogging...

It's been a month. And a few days. Funny how an international vacation, followed closely by a local vacation kind of throws things off! I'm back and will try to get back to my at least weekly posting!

Greece was incredible. The boys were amazing travelers. The weather was near perfect our entire stay. The sea was crystal clear. The food was, well, come on, it was Greece ;) And on that note. A little glimpse into what we ate...Instagram collage style:

In order from top left: giant apples, giant donuts, amazing pizza, hand cut oregano fries. spaghetti, cucumber and tomato salad, beach frappes, frappes at home, bouyatsa, grilled octopus, fresh pastries, greek groceries and tiropita.

And, a layout using two of my very favorite photos of the boys from our trip. I stretched myself and shot in manual most of the time. I was thrilled with the results! What a difference a few settings make. This layout is using my July Citrus Twist Pocket Life kit, featuring my second exclusive stamp designs. The title was designed and cut with my Silhouette and attached with twine.

Be back very soon with two weeks of Project Life from our trip!

greece: proof positive...

Lest anyone wonder if our vacation actually happened, I managed to borrow a computer in order to share a few photos of the last two days of our trip off of the third and final memory card.  While the best of the photos and stories will need to wait a bit longer, this is a good mini-snapshot...

G loving "our beach" and the billions of pebbles.  We call this our beach as it is the closest to our house, about a three block walk. See the little brown dots in the surf (click photo to enlarge)?  We are calling that The Great Jellyfish Invasion of 2011.  Not stingers but, annoyingly slippery slimy little guys.  By the end of the trip, we decided to just ignore them and have our fill of the beach regardless:

Our house, looking up from Mr. Boom's grandmother's patio.  The glass doors open to the living room (left) and dining room (right). This main veranda was G's favorite playspace.  Though it doesn't look deep at this angle, it is a large expanse that is basically an outdoor room off the living area that then wraps around the dining room and kitchen:

Dinner out at a pig roast restaurant - traditional Greek country salad, saganaki (fried cheese), potatoes (order "potatoes" in Greece and you'll get what we call fries) and, of course, the roast pork:

G checking out the pig illustrations on the package of wet naps after dinner:

View from one end of our house to the other on the verandas (from the end of the master bedroom in the back of the house, down to the dining area in the front) .  G loved running up and down the length, running his hand along the rails:

Three generations - Yia Yia (grandma), Mr. Boom and George:

Mousmoula!  G ate dozens of these during our trip, right off the tree.  After some research by Mr. Boom, we believe here they are known as loquats. This particular tree overhangs the veranda of the master bedroom:

G spending time with his cousin Katarina. Look at that face!!!

The view from the master bedroom veranda. The forefront is a lemon and orange grove: