Personal – Page 22 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Personal January 22, 2018

Week(s) in Review

Happy Monday! We flew back to Houston two weeks ago, then had a weird off-week trying to get back into the swing of things, then the girls’ school was canceled (and the whole city basically shut down) for two ice days last week, so I am praying that this week we can get back into a routine. Holidays + Durango + ice days = chaos for the last 6 weeks, and I’m such a routine person. I need some order restored to my life.

To make matters a smidgen worse, my hardrive that houses every single photo I’ve taken since 2010 broke on our last day in Durango, so I have been in a funk about that. I’m working on temporary drives while trying to restore it (finally taking it to a new place tomorrow), so I haven’t been taking too many pics as a result. With that said, there are quite a few below! This weekend was so fun – we saw some of our best friends, bounced a trampoline park, ate dinner with our families, and took birthday photos for Emi.

Cheers to the start of a good week and hopefully some normalcy! Ha.

Week in Review January 9, 2018

Week(s) in Review

Happy New Year! We’ve been on vacation in Colorado, so combine that with Christmas/holiday chaos, and I haven’t done a review post in three weeks. I think that’s the longest I’ve been behind in years. While I know nobody has been sitting at their computer, waiting for the post to go-live, I do like to stay on top of these posts – mainly because I go back and reference them all of the time. My grandmother once asked my mom what a blog was, and she told her that it was an online diary. Ha, not far from the truth!

Anyway, there are a bajillion photos below that include the week leading up to Christmas, then Christmas, and subsequently our trip to Durango. We head home at the end of this week, and I’ll be so sad to leave. We really do love it here. It is so good for your soul! I checked off all of the items that I wrote on my to-do list when we first got here, and I’m feeling ready to tackle work/life when we get back to Houston.

Without further adieu, photo galore!

Personal December 29, 2017

Emi at Eleven Months

I am in total denial. Our little Emilia is eleven months old today. Her first birthday invitations are out – how in the world are we here already? 2017 has certainly flown by. We flew to Durango on Wednesday, and wow, I had forgotten how difficult it is to hold an active tot down for 4.5 hours (total) on airplanes! Ha. At eleven months, Emi is getting into absolutely everything, eating any and everything put in front of her, standing up on her own, but not showing too much interest in walking.

Her hair is always unruly and is a strawberry blonde/auburn color, her eyes are blue-blue, she has only two bottom teeth (gummy like her big sister, who only had two at her first birthday as well!), she makes the funniest little scrunchy nose when she smiles her biggest smile, she will pull out any bow when she realizes it’s in her hair, and she says Mama (least often, sadly!), Dada (all day, every day), Baba, and Behhh (for Belle, exactly like Isla did). Her favorite food this month was definitely blueberries and her Baba’s vegetable soup. She still naps twice a day, waking up around 7am and going to bed around 7pm. Her favorite person oscillates between me and Isla, but loves her daddy so much. She always lights up when she sees him in the morning after he gets back in town the night before. She experienced the worst cold she’s had thus far earlier this month. It was so sad to see her snotty, runny eyes, and coughing non-stop. Emi loves to give high-fives and to clap. At Christmas Eve service, she was thrown off by the loud music, but when the songs ended and we would all clap, she went crazy.

She is such a joyful little baby and we love her so, so much. I feel like the luckiest person in the world that I get to be here mama. I love you, Emi Girl!

Mom Talk December 28, 2017

The Ultimate Photo Book Guide

The two topics that I receive most questions about (via Instagram’s Direct Message or email) are printing photo books and managing photo storage. Alas, a post that covers both in great detail is very overdue, but actually very timely, given that most people start to think about printing photo books at the end of every year. Plus, most photo sites have great discounts right now (50% off everything at Mixbook until 1/1/18 at midnight, 50% off everything at Shutterfly until 12/28/17 at midnight, etc.).

If you’re new to Snapshots & My Thoughts, then you may not know about my ~~love~~ obsession with photo books. I started printing them in 2006, during my first year in college, and have printed many ever since. Beginning in 2010 (the year I graduated), I began to make an annual photo book in Shutterfly. I would pick a theme, but customize almost every page to my liking. Looking back at the early books, the designs are cringe-worthy but I absolutely love them. I would also print books for vacations and other special events. In 2013, I decided to do a photo-a-day book for Isla, which was quite the undertaking. I am so glad that I documented every day, because it’s amazing to watch her grow page by page, but with sweet Emilia, I am doing a photo-a-week, and you can see the transformation just the same (with much less work involved!). I will share these layouts below!

Every year, I would update the annual book at the end of every month, occasionally falling a month behind but always staying rather up-to-date. Well 2017 happened – a second baby, a busy work schedule and a husband who travels every week for week and alas, my fancy, customized-per-page Shutterfly book didn’t happen. Which I’m still coming to terms with, since I’m one for consistency and routine! I did, however, fall in love with another company in the transition.

I was introduced to Artifact Uprising a few years ago, as I used them to make our Christmas card in 2015. Last year, I decided to invest in one of their layflat books (which are pricier than Shutterfly, beginning at $179 for the 8.25×11 size that I love) for our family photos. Then in February, I chose to print Emi’s newborn photos in another layflat book and seeing the quality of these two ultra-thick, fabric bound books, I was hooked. I printed five layflat books total in 2017!

Fast forward to November 1st, I had this huge cloud hanging over my head: our annual photo book, which had two months of content in it, needed lots and lots of work (and time!). October through December are my busiest months, and I knew I couldn’t spend the time I needed to make the Shutterfly book I wanted. The obvious alternative was Artifact Uprising, as I knew if I couldn’t have ultra-designed, I wanted ultra-simple and white. I couldn’t wrap my head around spending $250+ on each book (I knew I’d need multiple books for how many photos I took this year). I decided to try their hardcover books, which begin at $79 for an 8.5×11 book. I chose the 50 page option, which allows you to fill 99 pages, and managed to get January through March photos included. Filling the pages went so quickly, and you can even chose auto-fill. I’ll go into detail on the uploading process below. I ended up having five books total, but could have done less if I had chosen to do the 150 page option for each instead (allowing you 199 pages) of 50 (allowing 99).

All in all, I am so in love with our 2017 annual photo books. It was not the cheapest option, but I used two Artifact Uprising coupons to bring down the cost (more on coupons in the FAQ section below!). I know that the interest in printing photo books is out there, as people always reply to my Instagram posts or stories saying that much. So, I pray that this post helps move you to action! Print those photos – whether that be prints or books. I love Artifact Uprising’s motto: Inspired by the disappearing beauty of the tangible. I stand behind that – if photos stay on digital devices, we are slowly losing the beauty of the tangible printed photos, which tell stories that generations beyond us can cherish.

There is a lot of content in this blog post. First, I’ll cover details on the books I’ve printed before: annual Shutterfly photo books, photo-a-day/week Shutterfly photo books,annual photo books using Artifact Uprising hardcover photo books and special occasion Artifact Uprising layflat photo books. This is probably my most personal post ever, as I’m actually sharing links to many of our family’s books. Let me tell you: when I made them, I had no intention of them ever being viewed by anyone outside of close family or friends, so they include very personal photos and details, but I really do want to help inspire people to make books, so I feel like it’s important to do this.

So, let’s begin!

Personal December 19, 2017

Week in Review

What a glorious weekend! It was already a great week Monday through Saturday, but at 8:32pm on Sunday, December 17, it became the most amazing week ever because one of my best friends, Meredith, gave birth to a perfect angel, and less than two hours later, another best friend, Amanda, gave birth to another beautiful baby girl, Charlotte, right down the hall! Can you even believe it? I am so lucky to have been at the hospital and got to share some of the most joyful moments ever! I’m still on Cloud Nine from the whole thing!

This week in review is short because I need to catch up on everything else in life, but some highlights include visiting with another best friend, Brittany, photographing Piper’s closet/nursery (it’s the cutest and you’ll get to see soon!), spending quality family time this weekend – we ate lunch at the new Dish Society (it was delicious!), photographing Meg’s son’s birthday party (cutest theme – paint wars!), attending Isla’s Christmas party at school, and photographing Alex (twice!). Isla had a sleepover with her cousins and hasn’t stopped talking about it! So sweet.