Photobooks & Traditions

It was just over 6 years ago that Christian and I and 40 other foreign students landed in Finland for our semester abroad. On day one of international student orientation, Christian and I first laid eyes on eachother and spent the next 6 months completely inseparable. Then the time came for each of us to return back to our home countries. We were bummed out...really bummed out but we knew we wanted to be together. So we did! We visited each other every 2-3 months for a year until the day I graduated from college in California, then moved with him to Amsterdam. 

But during that year dating long distance, Christian gave me the best gift ever...

A PHOTOBOOK.

I opened the package from him several months after we had left Finland and there it was: a beautifully crafted masterpiece of photos from our 6 months in Finland as well as pics from me visiting his hometown (Maastricht) for the first time and him visiting me in California for the first time. It is definitely one of my absolute favorite gifts I've ever received.

The book captured all of our favorite moments including his comments here and there (in his not-yet-perfect English, which was and still is so cute and funny to hear...and I hope his English is never perfect!). I still look at this photobook often. It embodies such a special year that brought our two worlds together and I knew he put alot of work into creating it. 

Little did I know that these photobooks would turn in to our very own tradition--we have created one every year since. 

I take tons of pictures, but how often did we go back and look at them? Now we have all of our favorite pictures compiled into annual photobooks. This year was no different! We give ourselves January of every year to create these small works of art and our 2012 book should be delivered any day.

Once we receive our new photobook, we take each book off the shelf and look each of them together (and also do so several times throughout the year!). It's an amazing way to laugh and smile about how great life has been to us and to see precious memories we've been lucky to create together.

I love making these photobooks so much, that we made one for Christian's dad after our road trip in the Great American West (Christian's dad's first trip overseas AND he's a sucker for Cowboy and Indian stories). I also made a book for my parents after our roadtrip to Normandy and Tuscany last year. I even asked my bridesmaids to be in our wedding by making mini photobooks for each of them with funny pictures of us throughout the years (then the last page had my favorite pic and the words "Will you be my bridesmaid?").

I've become a big fan of Blurb for making photobooks (I used My Publisher for our 2008 and 2009 books but prefer Blurb ever since I gave it a try with our 2010 book). Blurb is so easy to use, has tons of customizable photo layouts and themes and the quality is top-notch. I won't lie though...it is so time-consuming just with choosing what pictures to include...but the finished product is SO worth it.

Sometimes I just cannot wait to end each year so we can add yet another photobook to our shelf ;). 

{Books from 2008-2010 and the book Christian made me...I love that he put a pic of himself on the front..haha.}

{Our 2010 book flipped open to pics from our Morocco trip}

{Our 2011 book and NYC}

{Our 2012 book--the newest addition! Well the digital version until the book is delivered...}

{The Blurb software is ridiculously easy to use--drag and drop, baby! The pics are a bit grainy because of my computer screen}


{And once the book is uploaded and being printed, you can log-in to your Blurb account and view the digital version, email to friends and family or share on Facebook or Twitter. You can even sync your blog so you can make a photobook of your blogposts...pretty neat!}

Capture the Colour

I couldn't have been more excited to have been nominated by Daryl to participate in Capture the Colour! The contest asks for travel bloggers to submit their best red, blue, white, green and yellow photos...and a pretty hefty prize of £2000 will be given from TravelSupermarket.com!

Here are my Capture the Colour submissions!

BLUE

I snapped this picture while waiting for a ferry in Athens, Greece. During this time in Athens, the riots and Greece's economic problems were in full-swing. After 20 minutes of carefully choosing his newspaper, he retreated to the nearby cafe where the waitress had a coffee waiting for him. It seemed that this man continues his newspaper-coffee routine as he always had...Greek politics aside. 

GREEN

This photo was taken in Toiano, Italy, right in the heart of Tuscany. We rented a house near a vineyard and set out to explore the area. What is not pictured is an old, abandoned Tuscan villa. Once we peaked around the property, we left through a gate that opens out directly onto the vineyard. For a split second as we walked away from the gate and through the tall grass, we felt like the villa and the vineyard were ours.

WHITE

Every year in April, some people are lucky enough to receive word of World Pillow Fight Day! For 1 hour in major cities across the world, pillows and feathers fly through the air and people forget their age/occupation/responsibilities and get to be kids again! I snapped this picture at the pillow fight in Dam Square in Amsterdam, Netherlands. For the next two days after the fight, a random feather would fall on our shoulders or we'd see one floating through the air...and we couldn't help but just smile while our inner child squealed with delight :).

YELLOW

I took this picture at the Orange County Fair in my hometown in California. There were multiple things to love about this moment--a warm California summer's night, the smell of funnel cakes in the air and the idea that I was back in California from my current home for the past 4 years in Amsterdam. What I loved most about this picture is that this guy took his 6 children for a night at the fair and I'm sure that trying to keep track of 6 youngsters on a Friday night is no easy feat---but in this moment, he could watch them all at once...and he was smitten while doing so. Together with his stylish hat, he made fatherhood look effortless!

RED

The entire city of Istanbul, Turkey, was an amazing experience--an Eastern metropolis and bustling city made the Western world feel long gone. This photo was snapped inside the labyrinth of shops called the Grand Bazaar. I stood in this hallway for some time just people watching, letting my eyes feast on the realization that this way of life had continued so efficiently for thousands of years. I saw it as not just a 'marketplace' but a testament to the countless traders and journeys over the centuries that created the grandeur of the Bazaar.

Now my nominations for those talented bloggers I know would make a killing at this contest!

1. A B and C the World: Serious wanderlust meets love! What more could you ask for?

2. This Battered Suitcase: This girl has a real eye for color and an off-the-beaten path travel mentality...the best way to travel I think!

3. Peace Love Wander: I'm such a sucker for Siena's beachy posts. Gorgeous!

4. Eyes/Ears/Mouth + Lens: I love how Lauren's pics capture the atmosphere of a place.

5. The Travel Designery: Lorena had me at Jordan, and Syria and just about everything she posts!

Love your travel blogs, girls!!