cocoa daisy: spreading our wings

here is the first layout i made with the july cocoa daisy kits.  the alphabet in the kit is just perfect for the long titles that i like to do.  this is the layout you can see peeking out from behind the intro page in my 2015 album.  do you see the tiny bird nest in the first photo?  i love how it adds so much to the story on this page.

"bistro" add-ons will be available for purchase to nonsubscribers tomorrow!  in the meantime, don't forget to check out all the inspiration in the july gallery!

cocoa daisy: stamping sensation

we've got a stamping post up on the cocoa daisy blog today.  there are lots of lovely pieces of inspiration there featuring this month's stamps, including a video and flipogram.  don't miss it!

washington dc: smithsonian sculpture garden

i had intended to leave d.c. at 3:00 to avoid rush hour traffic and get to our hotel 4 hours away in plenty of time.  after walking the monuments, however, g mentioned that he wanted to go see the imax.  we talked about it and ended up staying and leaving d.c. after rush hour (sorta) at 6:00.  i'm not sure if rush hour ever ends in d.c., but it wasn't too bad.  we didn't get to our hotel till 11:00 that night, but that was okay too since we had a reservation.  it's good to be flexible sometimes.

so, we had some time to kill after the imax and as we wandered the streets we got to enjoy several beautiful gardens that we wouldn't have if we'd rush out of town earlier.  in the flower gardens, g graciously sat on a park bench and waited on me to finish photographing all the pretties.  i was a little surprised, though, at how much he enjoyed this sculpture garden.  he came up with his own names for all the sculptures as we walked through.  such fun times.

washington dc: smithsonian butterfly garden

along the front of the smithsonian museum of natural history there is a bird sanctuary (if you look closely in the triceratops jaw you can see a nest!) and then the entire ally down one side has been converted into a butterfly garden.  it is such a gorgeous and tranquil place right in the middle of the city.

washington dc: george washington university

isn't this just the cutest statue of albert einstein?

after walking the monuments, we were a little tired and i had the brilliant idea to find a metro link close to where we were and ride it back to the smithsonian.  we did find the metro, but it didn't really seem any closer than walking back the other way.  there was the side benefit, however, of seeing something we hadn't seen yet. instead of backtracking.

we didn't realize where we were going, but ended up on the campus of george washington university.  it was really cool!  i saw the dorm where jaqueline kennedy stayed when she went to school there.  plus, how cute are these little doors?  i guess people were a lot shorter back in the day.

we stumbled upon a little urban garden on campus.  you know i was all over that.

we finally had to ask someone if we were headed in the right direction, which we were and just six blocks to go.  they also were very helpful in pointing us in the direction of a chinese buffet.  g had been jonesing for one.  we both had to pick cactus thorns from our fingers as we headed there, however.  grabbing the cactus and surrounding weeds for this floral photo opp was not my best idea.

washington dc: the monuments

originally i planned on seeing all the monuments, including the white house and capitol.  i had found a walking trail map of them online that showed a 5.7 mile loop.  on day two, however, we were already tired of all our walking on day one plus had other things we wanted to do.  g really wanted to see the washington monument and reflecting pool and i really wanted to see the lincoln memorial, so that's what we set out to do first thing.

as luck would have it, we passed the world war 2 and korean war memorials on our route.

i totally teared up at the world war 2 memorial and again at the lincoln memorial.  thank goodness for sunglasses.

g, on the other hand, wanted to know where the fish were in the reflecting pool.  what?  "i thought there'd at least be some koi?"  yea.  he assumed the reflecting pool was one big stocked pond.  made me laugh.  and so typical.  at least there were ducks.

we got so lucky with the weather.  overcast and low 80s both days.  awesome as we had left the upper 90s with a heat index in the 100s in nashville.

"in this temple as in the hearts of the people for which he saved the union, the memory of abraham lincoln is enshrined forever."  the photographer in me wanted all the people gone for this shot, but really, the people are the reason.

the korean war memorial.  g was especially interested to see this one as his papa was in the korean war and had been telling him about the battery pack that he carried that must have looked a lot like the one the soldier in the foreground is carrying.  this trip was such a great experience for the two of us in so many ways.  stay tuned.  more to come . . .