2012 Year in Review Infographic

2012 was the year of the infographic, right? Seems like it to me. The design nerd in me is a big fan, and when New Year's Eve rolled around and I still hadn't checked off "write end of year letter" from my to-do list, I decided that an infographic was the perfect way to go. It may have helped that Merrick recently reminded me of this letterpress card I pinned a long time ago.

This is our third year to send out an end of year card to friends and family (second year to send them via email to save money), and if I do say so myself, this is the best yet. Definitely blows last year's out of the water, but that's not saying much since I threw it together while sick and very pregnant.

I'm glad I went with the infographic. It was much less daunting than the thought of sitting down and trying to write an essay about the whole year. And I looove the way it looks. And since I subconsciously used the color scheme of Elle's* baby book, I can print it, and it will fit right in. =)

Source List
1. Fonts (in order of appearance): Perpetua Titling MT, Sail, Pigeon, Quaver Sans, Mensch, Piron V2, Homestead, Pea Bethany's Doodles, Pea Igna's Doodles, Pea Bhea Script (Many of these can be downloaded for free here or here.)
2. Arrows--this includes a tutorial on how to add brushes to Photoshop that I wish I'd read years ago. I love when people share their talents for free.
3. Graphics: I just googled what I wanted + silhouette and found them (baby silhouette, house silhouette, cruise ship silhouette).
4. I pieced together my own photo template using Paislee Press's DIY Project No. 1.

*I've decided that Elle will be my daughter's nickname on the blog for privacy's sake. Also, watermarks. I don't like them, but the reality is there are weirdos out there who steal pictures and pretend they're their own. I wouldn't blame them. Look at my baby. Hello, cuteness overload. But I'm going to do what I can to prevent stealing.

Austin Maternity Shoot

I always knew I wanted to take maternity pictures. I wanted to document this special time in our lives, our transition from a family of two to three, with some nice photographs. So I asked my nephew Shannon to help us out. He's not a professional photographer (he is a filmmaker), but he agreed to do it because he loves his aunt. I think we still owe him dinner.

It was an exhausting day for me--temple attendance that morning, rushing to a friend's baby shower in the early afternoon, and then getting ready and walking all over creation for this shoot--but I am as pleased as punch with how the photos turned out. I'm so glad we did it. Thank you, Shannon.

No. 4: Visit a Texas City I've Never Been to Before

Yesterday I met my mom in Warrenton, Texas for the huge Show Daily Antique Week that's held there every year. My niece Karly had a tent there for her business and invited us to go. It was so neat to search through what seemed like mile after mile of antiques, crafts, and junk.

I almost came home with this puppy, but Henry said no. I cried a little when we put her back...someday.

Snow Day 2011

There was a lot of hype this week about the possibility of snow in central Texas. It was supposed to arrive late Thursday night. One to two inches, the weatherman said. I know that is nothing to people in other parts of the country, and we realize that's not a lot of snow here too, BUT Texas is totally unprepared for any snowy/icy weather. It's okay if you make fun of us; we like to poke fun at ourselves too. 

Sure enough, around 10 PM a little snow began to dust the ground. Henry and I went outside to check things out and witnessed our funny maintenance man doing donuts in the parking lot in his golf cart. We had a good chuckle about that.

We went to bed Thursday night hopeful for a late start for work the next morning, but I didn't think we'd realistically get one. May I mention that many of the area school districts announced that they'd have delayed starts early Thursday evening while mine did not make a decision until 5 am Friday. Boo...but yay because at 5:30 the next morning, Henry woke me up to tell me that we both got a snow day! An entire day off from work. A three-day weekend. So greatly appreciated.

5:30 AM

Early that morning, when the sun was still hidden, we went out for a walk. We were outside for about 45 minutes, and I really couldn't feel my fingers by the end of our adventure (I really hope you clicked that link above).

Henry throwing a snowball at me

It was perfect. The snow was fluffy and blanketed the ground throughout our neighborhood, but it started melting away early in the afternoon. By one o'clock, we were heading out for lunch at Mighty Fine Burgers and running some wedding related shopping errands. Fun. Then yesterday it was 60 degrees and sunny. Today it was 70 degrees and sunny. Can life get better? I submit that it cannot!

P.S.

I wore my Ninja Dress to church today.

Thanks for buying it for me, sweetheart. I am spoiled, but we both already knew that.

Photowalk Austin: Travis Heights

date: 1/1/11

neighborhood: travis heights

It's Friday, and I don't know about you, but I'm tiiiired. I thought these bright photos might add some cheer to this cold, damp, and foggy day...

not that I'm not cheery under this layer of tiredness...uh, hello, 3-day weekend!!!!!

2010 Favorite Photos

 

 

Farewell, 2010!

Christmas Cheer

I told myself I'd do something fun and creative today, and here she is!

Pictured: table runner & berry tree {Target}, ghetto fab lime green glitter tree {courtesy of my mama}, our pantry door with wreath and some tin decorations we won at a White Elephant party last year, my little tin stocking and panda stocking hanger {courtesy of my mama}, poinsettia tree topper {I want to say Kohl's}, more berry trees and JOLLY sign {Target}, snowman {from my mama} and pillow {purchased tonight at Kohls for $15!}, santa {from my mama, I'm pretty sure, or Kohl's} and ceramic tree {courtesy of my granny, she made it}.

It took entirely too long to make this page, and I'm going to blame that on the new Photoshop. 
1. I had to figure out how to "pop out" my pictures, so that I could drag the layers onto my template. Seriously, how long had it been since I'd last digiscrapped?
2. I think I killed it towards the end. It was just being SO pokey! So, so sloooow. Very frustrating. And to think I wanted to have this done before Henry came home from work. Yeah, right. What I'm trying to say is, I hope someone besides me will appreciate my little creation.

Possum Kingdom

If you would've asked me what it was a few short months ago, I would've said a Toadies' song. But that's not all, my friends. It's also a lake and a state park. Actually, the lake provides the setting for the song, I'm pretty sure.

I saw a spread on it in one of my dad's issues of Texas Parks and Wildlife toward the end of summer, and I decided it'd be the perfect getaway for Labor Day weekend.  Traveling all around Colorado this summer inspired me to visit more of my home state.

The park wasn't exactly what I was expecting. One of the main draws for me was seeing Hell's Gate, but once we got there we were told that we wouldn't be able to access it without a motorboat. I was pretty disappointed.

So we didn't see any of the really big cliffs, but we had fun anyway. We went canoeing and we swam a little bit too. There were bees everywhere, so Henry got to see me freak out when they'd fly ever so close to my face.

After several hours at the lake, we decided to head on to our hotel in a small town called Mineral Wells. We took a scenic route, and on the way we came across this really picturesque spot near a pretty bridge.