Summer Vacation + Scrapbooking

Today marks the official start of summer. At least on the calendar, if not in the weather. Boo on more rain and grey skies. Anywhoo, I've always found that I scrapbook less in the summer as I'd prefer to be outside soaking up the vitamin D, vacationing and enjoying the short-lived warmth that we get in this corner of the world. Add a new babe on top of that and my time to indulge in this hobby is really limited right now. That got me thinking about a class I took last year at the Paperie - Finish Line Scrapbooking by Stacy Julian.

The essence of the Finish Line Scrapbooking process is that you sit down with "limited time, limited space and limited product" and a "commitment to under-planning and under-thinking." Anyone who scrapbooks knows that you can literally spend hours pushing stuff around a page, selecting the perfect products and take days to finish just one layout. But with the finish line process, you select just 25-50 photos, a few sheets of coordinated cardstock and patterned paper and no more than 50 embellishments, along with a few other bits and bobs and go to town. Theory is in just a few short hours you'll have a completed album.

"Not possible" you scrapbookers say? I didn't think so either, but happily discovered it is. When the Paperie hosted a class around this process last year and I decided to scrapbook our summer vacation pictures, knowing that otherwise I'd never get around to doing it. That our 2008 honeymoon pictures are yet unscrapped is testament to this! While I started out doubtful, a completed album came together in just two evenings, a total of about 5 hours. Is it perfect? No. Is it what I would have created if I'd used my usual style? Nope. Is it done? Yep and I love it.

With the limited time at my disposal these days, I got to thinking that I should use this process again over the next few months to get a few scrapbook projects off my to-do list. In the meantime, in honour of the official start of summer, I thought I'd share my imperfect yet perfect album about our 2010 summer vacation with you:

Our 'Mini-American Road Trip' mini-album.

We took 10 days, crossed 4 states and had 1 helluva trip.

We started in Washington, DC. It was super hot while we were there, but that
didn't stop us from taking in all the sites around the capital of the US of A.



Next stop on the road was Cleveland, Ohio. Home of the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame
where we lucked into a special Springsteen exhibit - Des is a huge Springsteen fan!

Cleveland is also home to Momocho, a Mexican restaurant with the best Mexican food I've ever eaten.
It was featured on Guy Fieri's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives and we could see why. So delish!

On our way out of Ohio, we hit Cedar Point. What's an American Road Trip without a roller coaster ride on the second-tallest and (when we rode it) second-fastest roller coaster in the world followed by Johnny Rocket milkshakes?? 

We also stopped in Pennsylvania, but I didn't scrapbook that - even though it was the reason for our trip! Des wanted to check out the Cars at Carlisle show, so we spent a couple of days in Hershey, PA. I checked out the amazing spa at Hotel Hershey followed by lovely outlet shopping, while Des checked out mopar cars on a grassy field. Heaven for both of us.

After PA, we moved onto Chicago, Illinois. Loved it. We took in the main tourist attractions...

 

and some amazing food at Brazzaz, a Brazilian Steakhouse, and Chicago-style hotdogs at Portillos



and an awesome architectural boat tour. The buildings in this city are amazing!

And, at each stop on the tour, we enjoyed many glasses of vino and one another's company. Love.

At the back of the album, I decided to include a couple of pockets for our paraphernalia.

So there you have it folks, a quick and dirty look at last year's summer vacation in the quick and easy album.

This year, we're sticking around our own country with a short excursion to Halifax, NS and perhaps a few jaunts around this lovely province of our own. What about you?