This is the little guy I worked with at my photography session Saturday morning. It was BRIGHT AND EARLY.
I had my two photo shoots yesterday, and since then, I have been “working” every free moment, sorting, editing, finalizing photo files. I just can’t help myself. I love it. Who knew work could be so much fun?
I could get used to this.
We’ve really started to officially transition to fall here in New York. The air is starting to get a little bit crispy, the weather a little bit cooler, the days a bit shorter.
And after the day I had (busy, busy!), all I wanted was a pumpkin ale.
My cousin happened to post her recommendation for the best pumpkin ale on Facebook last night, and since it’s brewed right here in N.Y., we decided to check it out at the store. We found it, in the form of a 22 oz. bottle. And it was quite pricy for beer. But we picked one up anyway, just to try it.
All hail THE KING…
We actually weren’t all that impressed with it. It was a bit sweet, which is weird for beer. It’s fine for a once-in-a-while type thing, but I think we’re going to stick to some of the others. When we were at the store, we also picked up a 6-pack of Jack’s Pumpkin Spice Ale, which was good. But I think our favorite is still Saranac’s version, which we purchased several times last fall.
Just another reason to love fall. Gotta love pumpkin ale!
Dear Mama,
I’m sorry for flattening the couch cushions.
I’ll work on evening out the other ones… at least they’ll all be equally flattened, right? Any time you find yourself feeling angry, just remember how cute I am.
Love,
Tessa
Tonight, we tackled #50 on my “101 in 1001” list: Start a newlywed map.
We’ve been talking about doing this for several weeks now, but as with pretty much everything I do, I had to research it to death. What size map should we get, what color map, what frame would we use, what color map tacks? We debated, we procrastinated, and then… we finally pulled the trigger.
Then, we had all of the supplies, and all we had to do was actually make the thing. And tonight, we decided it would be our after-dinner project. We are thrilled with how it turned out! I just want to keep going into our den to look at it.
The gist is… you mount a map on foam core, frame it, and then stick tacks into all of the cities you’ve traveled to together. Of course, you display it on your wall. I love maps as art anyway, so I’m happy to put a map up in our house. The tacks marking our travels really just add a personal touch to it.
Here is our final supply list as well as costs:
– 36″x 24″ world map (executive version) from Mapcenter.com = $12.99
– 1 box medium map tacks (black) from Mapcenter.com = $4.79
– 36″x 24″ piece of foam core = $7.50 (with 50% off coupon at Michaels)
– 36″x 24″ black frame, glass removed = $27 (on sale, 55% off at Michaels)
– Elmer’s spray adhesive = $3 (with 40% off coupon at Michaels)
Total cost for this project, including shipping, tax, etc. was approximately $60-65.
Note: For the foam core, I could not find a piece that was 36″x 24″. All of the ones I found were 30″x 20″, which is obviously way too small. What I did find, though, was that the foam core trifold display boards (the ones with the big board in the middle with two smaller boards that fold out on the sides) had a 36″x 24″ piece as the middle part, so I bought one of those and then we cut the side panels off.
For more information and instructions, be sure to visit Jordan’s detailed post.
Obviously there are a lot of options for you to make this map your own–varying types of maps and colors, different map tacks, and endless frame options. Have fun with it!
Also, after we have kids, we plan to use a different color map tack to mark the places we’ve gone as a family. I think our kids will probably get a kick out of being able to see all the places they’ve been. We hope to still take trips as a couple (and leave the kids at home!), so we’ll keep the black tacks for marking those solo trips as well.
It’s nice to think about starting this now, and having the map stick around in our family for a long, long time. So I guess it’s best to not really call it a “newlywed map.” I think “family travel map” is a better fit.
Go forth… travel… and start your own maps! :)
We only went away for three days, but I feel like I’ve been running myself ragged this week just trying to “catch up” from being gone–at work, at home, and on my blog. I’m doing OK, but I find that I can’t organize my thoughts enough or concentrate on one thing long enough to put together a coherent blog post.
Instead, this will jump around quite a bit, with a little of everything! Get ready to read some of the thoughts rolling around in my head, none of which are really worthy of individual posts.
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At this point, I’m happy to say that with this post, I am officially caught up on my blog. For now. I intended to blog from Chicago since our hotel had free internet access, but every night, I just wanted to relax. Looking back, I can’t believe I managed to blog every day of our honeymoon last year. At the time, it didn’t even seem like a big deal, and it’s not like it really took that much time.
Who was that Heather? I’d like to have her back.
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One thing I failed to mention about Chicago… it’s currently in the running to host the Summer Olympics in 2016. I had no idea until we were visiting and I saw all of the advertisements everywhere, and also heard about it on the city’s local news.
But how AWESOME would that be??
I can’t imagine a better city to serve as host. The other candidate cities are Tokyo, Rio de Janeiro, and Madrid. I don’t know how good Chicago’s chances are, but if it does get chosen, I’ll go ahead and say right now that we would seriously be looking into making a trip to the Olympics.
Not only do I love Chicago, but I loooooove the Olympics. The final selection will be made on October 2. I’m anxious to see what happens.
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The day before we left for Chicago, I did a “portfolio building” photo session with a coworker’s son. “Porfolio building” = I offered to do it for free. It went really well, and I’ve spent the last few nights furiously editing the photos to put together a little collage to display at her son’s first birthday (totally cute for my coworker and her family, and totally awesome advertising for me).
Speaking of his first birthday… this same coworker has hired me to photograph the birthday party. I’m still only charging about half of what I probably should be charging, but since I’m just starting out, I’m feeling OK about that. At this point, I’m just excited that people actually want to hire me.
Speaking of HIRING me… I actually have a second paid photo session on Saturday morning. It’s to take photos of my friend’s son. So Saturday’s going to be busy! I have to do his session in the morning, then head over to photograph the coworker’s son’s big birthday in the afternoon. Fun, fun!
I’m working hard and getting excited about the payoff I’m starting to see. I’m afraid to dream too big, but I’m looking forward to seeing what the future holds for me…
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My aerobics classes started up again on Monday night. Well, actually, kickboxing started on Thursday, but I had to skip it since we were flying to Chicago. I’m back on my schedule of step on Monday nights and kickboxing on Thursdays (and regular ol’ gym on the weekends, as time permits). So last night was my first class, and wow, it was nice to get back into it. It’s nice to have a break over the summer, but I always sort of want to kick my own ass once I realize how much I’ve let my fitness level slide in those 2.5 months off. Stupid. But the good news is that I’m really not all that sore, so I might not be in as bad shape as I thought. Thank you, 30 Day Shred.
Since I brought that up, I feel the need to confess that I stopped doing The Shred the second week in August. I’m seriously not cut out for DVD workouts. Yes, 20 minute workouts are appealing. But HOLY CRAP did I get bored with it. Sure, the elliptical is boring as hell, but I keep myself entertained with reading my books. I’d much rather spend 60 minutes reading on the elliptical than spend 20 minutes following along with Jillian Michaels, knowing every word she’s going to say before she even says it. Knowing the workout by heart made it seem impossibly and torturously long.
The good thing is that I felt so guilty for giving up the 30 Day Shred that I actually started going to the gym more often. Funny how that works.
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Now that our weekend in Chicago has come and gone, this is the first time in over a year that we have not had our next vacation already planned. We’ve done quite a bit of traveling over these past 15 months of marriage. First came Hawaii, then Charlotte, then Vegas, then Seattle and San Francisco, and finally Chicago. Since I’m a planner by nature, we always had the “next” thing planned. Now? Nothing. It’s a weird feeling, and I’m not sure I like it. Since we got married, I’ve liked always having a trip to look forward to.
We’d like to remedy this by planning our next vacation, but there seem to be a lot of variables. Mainly, where do we want to go? And when? We have quite a few places on our “list,” but we’re sort of having trouble prioritizing. I think some research is in order.
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I’m feeling the need to tell you that when I did a Google Image search for “Ketchup Day” for this post, I came across a picture of ketchup cake. I love me some ketchup (like, seriously love) but even I think that ketchup cake is wrong on so many levels. I’m thinking that those crazy, ketchup-loving Canadians must be responsible for that. ;)
Anyway, I think that’s enough randomness for one day. But this was actually really fun–perhaps more “Ketchup Days” are in the cards for Heather Drive?
About
I'm Heather. I'm 33 and have been married to Michael for seven years. Together, we have two beautiful little girls we love more than anything, and a miniature dachshund who drives us crazy. I'm a full-time working mom who has very little time for my own "stuff" these days, like home improvement, cooking/baking, cake decorating, and photography. Despite the team not making the playoffs since 1999, I'm STILL a Buffalo Bills fan, which I think speaks to my loyalty AND sense of humor. I can't wait to pick up the pace with travel again some day... you know, when we're done being ruled by tiny fists. Welcome to my blog.
