Enjoying the Small Things

Enjoying the Small Things

The Perfect Summer Art Project: Mixed Media Photo Collages

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Last week, the kids did a photo art project that they not only loved, but the finished product turned out so cute.

I shared a few of the steps on Instagram Stories, but so many of you messaged that you wanted me to share it again, I thought I’d put it in a more permanent place here.

I love this project because it’s great for any age–toddlers to adults. That’s the fun thing about art.

To start, you’ll need:

–watercolor paints and paintbrushes
–random collection of art goodies for collage such as sequins, glitter, rhinestones, beads, torn up pieces of colored tissue paper, small silk flowers, etc.
– a black and white photo printed on card stock paper
– glue

You can use a photo you already have, but it will work best if subject is dominant in photo with clear or blurry background–or you can take a new photo. For Lainey’s collage, I found a picture I had taken a few weeks ago of her against the sky. For Nella and Dash, I took a new photo of them outside against a white paper backdrop I taped on my garage door.

Turn the photo black and white, but make sure to add a lot of brightness and contrast to get that crisp “pop”.

Print the photo on regular 8.5 x 11 card stock paper. Using watercolors, paint areas of the photo where you want to add color. Add a sunset behind the subject, make rainbow hair, get crazy.

Set up a smorgasbord of collage supplies and glue other media to the photo. Let dry and display the finished college somewhere special.

It’s the perfect technology replacement project for summer break and also a great ones for friends to do together.

One more thing on this Monday: I’m offering one last photography course for the summer due to repeated demand for support with the entire process of getting photos from camera (or phone) to album. Do you feel overwhelmed with all your photos and don’t know how to organize them or turn them into something you can enjoy? Do you dream of having albums with beautiful cohesive layouts but don’t know where to start? Do you need some inspiration this summer for themes to capture and a process for organizing those photos and getting them off your device that will stick? Check out Framed! From Camera to Album.

We’ll have one live kick-off call next week (recorded so you can watch it if you can’t make it), I’ll support you with weekly guidance emails throughout the summer; and then when we all return from our summer adventures, you’ll receive lessons on what to do with those photos and how to put them together in a summer album that isn’t just willy-nilly. Hope you can join us (the community is so much fun!).

St. Augustine

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(Long post warning, but I have so much to say about St. Augustine!)

We just returned from the first of our summer adventures–a trip that was originally going to be to North Georgia, but we decided we didn’t want to be in the car that long. Brett suggested St. Augustine (5 hours from us–8 if you count construction traffic and torrential rain on the way there) because I’ve been saying for years I wanted to visit. I’m so happy we ended up there because SO CHARMING–not to mention the fascinating history buried in every corner of the city.

I’ve never been so enraptured with a city’s history. After our historic carriage tour, I spent the evening in the Internet abyss of St. Augustine research, from the story of Henry Flagler who founded much of the city’s landmarks (and his three wives) to the important role the city played in the civil rights movement. Bonus–GHOSTS! St. Augustine is widely known for being haunted, a little fact we had a lot of fun with. We didn’t go on any of the ghost tours the city offers, but we did create our own nightly ghost explorations on our neighborhood walks, assisted by Lainey’s ghost app that alerted us to several ghosts lurking in deserted homes and properties.

Where do I even begin with this city? Let’s go back–way back to some of the history here. I took one historic tour and basically consider myself a St. Augustine tour guide now, so humor me. St. Augustine is our nation’s oldest continuously occupied city.

Many original houses and buildings restored from the city’s earliest days still stand, and most of the surrounding structures are reconstructions of buildings that were destroyed so that much of the city’s history and Spanish architecture has been preserved. You can feel that history everywhere–mostly on St. George Street and the narrow side streets that hold hours of exploration with restaurants and shops.

We knew we wanted to visit the fort on this trip, and it didn’t disappoint. Castillo de San Marcos, the oldest and largest masonry fort in the continental U.S., is now as a national park. Built in 1672 (when construction began–it took 20 years to build!) out of coquina stones, it served to protect and defend Spain’s claims in the new world. It can actually be classified as a castle, complete with thick walls, battlements, towers and a moat. Thank goodness the skies were a little gray the day we visited, cooling us down a bit (it was HOT).

As with everything else in St. Augustine, of course there is an interesting ghost history with the fort as well, especially the story of the secret lovers whose skeletons were found in the dungeon.

The top of the fort made me very nervous though–low walls, lots of openings, no railings…Dash.

 

Much of the city’s most impressive landmarks can be attributed to Henry Flagler, a Standard Oil partner with John Rockefeller, who arrived to St. Augustine in the 1880’s, bought up much of the local railroads and attempted to establish St. Augustine as a winter resort for elite Northerners. He poured money into the city, commissioning a fancy New York architectural firm to build a number of extravagant churches and buildings, including the Ponce de Leon Hotel  which is now Flagler College. I took the Flagler College tour alone one morning, and it was impressive–another opportunity to learn more about the fascinating stories behind the city’s history but also a great way to see inside the old hotel. It’s like Hogwarts inside! The college houses the largest collection of Tiffany glass, and the Tiffany windows alone in the building are insured for $132 million.

I highly suggest a historical tour of the city–Old Town Trolley offers many, but we took the horse and carriage route. It was one of Vacation Brett’s famous spontaneous splurges (I love this about him on vacation). He saw a woman stop to feed her horses where the kids were playing, walked up to her and whispered, “How much to take my family on a tour?” And two seconds later, we were all climbing in.

I think my favorite history of the city was found in Lincolnville, the neighborhood where we stayed and a community founded after the Civil War. It contains the city’s largest concentration of late Victorian Era homes and played an important role during the civil rights movement. A reader sent me this article while we were visiting, a story I did not know but am so glad I read. It made me appreciate so much more the history behind the charming streets we walked every day and the beautiful homes we passed, many of them looking no different than I imagined they did then.

And finally, all my favorites from this trip, so many of them suggested by you all on Instagram (I always get my best travel recs from you!):

First, as touristy as some of these destinations may be, there’s something about that old Florida tourist vibe that makes me feel so nostalgic. I grew up going to Florida on vacation, visiting my grandparents while they wintered here in their Airstream and later visiting cities like Tarpon Springs and Orlando with friends. I love how so many parts of Florida feel like they’ve never changed–the old seafood restaurants, the shell shops, the tourist boutiques that sell salt water taffy and orange bubble gum balls next to “Wish You Were Here” post cards and shell necklaces. We did all the touristy things, and we loved them.

In the St. George Street area, we loved Pizalley’s Pizza…

Prohibition Kitchen late at night…

Mayday Ice Cream (the Parent Trap flavor with Oreos and Peanut Butter!)

Casa de Maya
We ran in the back covered patio there because it was the closest building when it started pouring and ended up trapped there for two hours. It was magic–kids played games and we drank cold beer.

Cousteau’s Waffle & Milkshake Bar (the Pele Dos Santos flavor–nutella and bananas–SO GOOD!)…

Theatre Magic Shop (the kids loved this sweet little place, and we came home with three tricks)

Hyppo Popsicle

We also loved Davenport Park with $1 carriage rides (made a sweet memory there watching the kids under the carousel while we huddled under an umbrella and it poured around us)

Vilano Beach

And our very favorites were tucked in our neighborhood. We walked to Preserved restaurant for dinner one night, around the corner from our house, and enjoyed an enchanting evening listening to old cocktail music with wine and the most delicious dinner ever.

My favorite from the whole trip was Ice Plant, a few blocks from our house–loved it so much, we went twice. It looks like an old factory (and originally was an old ice plant) and feels like something out of the Prohibition era. Vintage bar, cozy and dark at night and known for their cocktails and ice pairings (who knew–ice is an art!). We had the BEST salty dogs there. And all the food is farm to table.

And a block from our house was The Blue Hen, a famous breakfast favorite. Darling retro decor and out-of-this-world biscuits with peach butter. I was smitten with all the old Pyrex and Tupperware.

We walked a lot, felt safe everywhere we were–even late at night–and made a lot of sweet memories in the house we rented. Best hide-and-seek house ever.

Grateful for adventure and my favorite people to adventure with…

And now I just got off an hour phone conversation with my brother, the history buff of the family, gushing about every little detail of our trip, this city, and all the stories we learned.

Collecting Evidence for Narratives

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Good morning from the front porch swing of the sweet little home where we are staying in St. Augustine, our nation’s oldest city. The sun is rising, the birds are singing, and I am currently looking out at a row of friendly houses, their yards framed with ivy-covered picket fences and their rich history of stories ripe for our imaginations as we walk the neighborhood numerous times a day, taking in every little detail in the architecture of these charming streets.

“I bet there are ghosts in that one,” Lainey suggests for every other house.

“That one looks like something you’d love,” Brett points out as we pass one with a particularly lovely front porch. “Old and decrepit,” he adds laughing.

It’s been a little while since our family has taken a vacation together, and while it is my most favorite thing in the world to adventure together away from home with this crew, it is also a great opportunity to observe the make-up of our family under the microscope without the distractions of daily routines that smooth out our edges.

I am fascinated by the power of the mind–or maybe it’s just mine–that so quickly wants to write narratives and even more quickly finds evidence for those narratives. Vacation is the perfect time for my brain to write narratives, and here are some examples of how simple observations can turn into dangerous stories if I let them (I don’t).

Observation: I said yes to all the glorious local treats on Day 1 of vacation, and my pants are consequently a little tight.
Story brain immediately tries to write: You are out of control, nothing fits; this is the downward spiral of your body.
Evidence Collecting Process if I buy the story: Brain is on high alert and notices everything–the way things fit, the way I feel, that glance in the mirror, etc.–as evidence for its story. “Ughhh, I shouldn’t have eaten that” is repeated multiple times a day to keep the story going. Everything is usable evidence, and I’ll be reminded multiple times a day that the story my brain is trying to tell me is true. Major damper on happy vacation vibes.

Observation: Dash looks so old! He’s changed so much since last year.
Story brain immediately tries to write: Time is going by too quickly, we’re all getting old, the kids will be moving out of the house tomorrow, and the window to this phase of motherhood you’ve loved is closing so fast.
Evidence Collecting Process if I buy into the story: Stare at kids all day, imagining this time gone. Every look they give, every phrase they say, every move they make is evidence for “see-they are changing too fast.” Happy moments suddenly become sad because they are fading. Scarcity mind grips tightly to everything, scared of losing it. Major damper on happy vacation vibes.

Observation: Brett is sleeping in on vacation while the kids and I are already ready, have eaten breakfast and are anxious to start our first adventure.
Story brain immediately tries to write: He’s always like this. You do everything. He does nothing. You’re too different. You have passion for life, he doesn’t.
Evidence Collecting Process if I buy into the story: Every thing he says and every move he makes suggests that yes, I do everything and am more passionate about life. We carry on throughout the day while I simultaneously (and exhaustingly!) gather evidence for my case. Silence treatment involved. Conclusion: we are doomed. Major damper on happy vacation vibes.

Do you see how this works? If you tell yourself that no one likes you before you walk into a room of people, you will see nothing but proof of your story. Every mannerism, every whisper, every comment will be noticed as hostile and suggestive that yes, you are definitely despised. If you enter that exact same situation with the mindset that you are loved and accepted, you will give everyone the benefit of the doubt–of course that comment was not meant to hurt you because that person is not out to get you, and you are loved!

I find the antidote for not buying these dangerous narratives isn’t just shutting them down. It’s replacing them with powerful narratives that make me feel grateful and happy–ones that keep my brain busy collecting evidence with the same ferocity it attempts with the negative stories.

When I look at my family on vacation–flaws and all–and tell myself, “We are so lucky to make these memories together–this is so much fun!,” everything that follows becomes evidence, solidifying my story. The coffee I enjoy on the front porch. The way we hold hands on our walk. The way Lainey tips her head back when she laughs at Dash. The satisfaction in the observation that we all can fit on one bed to watch a movie at night. The delight on Dash’s face on our carriage ride throughout the city. The feeling of Nella curled up, sleeping next to me ten minutes into Despicable Me 3. Gratitude for Brett’s relaxation and the fact that he feels comfortable enough in this cozy little house to sleep in.

One of my favorite things about vacation is choosing my narrative and having a long stretch of time and space together to collect evidence. There’s a walk to breakfast now begging for delightful details to be noticed…more from St. Augustine soon!