Saturday, August 21, 2010

Coming home

I took a week off and went to China again. I have mixed feelings about our trip to Hainan. The hotel we stayed out was so new that we were the first guests to stay in our room. There was a simply divine breakfast buffet every morning -- I'm sure that is my favorite way to start the day.  The restaurants were wonderful and we spent so many happy hours in the incredible pool! I have to say this was the nicest hotel I've ever stayed in.

Because it was so new (literally it had just opened its doors the week before we arrived) there was still a lot of construction. Nothing loud and intrusive, but the beach was fairly unfinished. Out in the water there were still huge jagged rocks so it wasn't a very fun swimming area. Since I'm not an ocean swimmer anyway it didn't bother me so much, but the kids and hubby were disappointed.

Its a developing country and island and there is still construction and poverty all around. The country really needs to improve its trash disposal and recycling systems. The biggest downer for me was when we went "snorkeling" which ended up being scuba diving. It was a short dive, one on one with a licensed scuba guide. We re-use the air tanks until they are empty, but of course each diver is given a new mouthpiece. As we were getting into the ocean from the jetty, the guide would take off the previously used mouthpiece and just throw it into the ocean under the jetty. It was sad. There are similar cases of just tossing out the trash like that everywhere you look. The section of beach just in front of our hotel was clean, but when we took a walk down the coastline it was literally covered with every imaginable kind of trash - so thick we couldn't even walk in certain places! Its always good to come home.

Unfortunately, I've had to step down from a few of my CTs. I loved the designs and designers, but need to focus more time away from the computer right now. I hate to quit something, I have feeling like I'm letting these wonderful designers down. A friend of mine told me not to feel too badly about it though - I am opening the door for another scrapper out there to become the next CT member. I love that way of thinking!

I thought I would miss scrapbooking so much that I would jump right back in, but I didn't even turn on my computer for 24 hours after we got back. It was a weird feeling. Of course I couldn't stay away from scrapping long and was back into my happy little bubble after a few days. So without further ado, here are my pages from the past two weeks.

using Vita Fortunata by Quirky Twerp
page template by Studio Dutchie

using Evening Bloom by Studio Gypsy
page template from Ingrid's Templates set 5 by Ingrid Fasquelle

page template from Easy Breezy pt 11 by Busy Bee Designs
also used Teen Spirit by K Studio

page template from Easy Breezy pt 10 by Busy Bee Designs
also used Sweet Ladybugs and Love is in the Air by Boutique Cute Dolls

page template is from Inspired by Sasha by Darcy Baldwin (limited edition at SSD)
also used Walking on Sunshine by Tracie Stroud

Thank you so much for stopping by!

3 comments:

LOFT said...

Your pages are just beautiful, Holly! Better to have quality than push the quantity to the point you don't even enjoy it, right? Interesting how polluted it was on your vacation. I read that in Singapore you can get a ticket for chewing gum. That's neither here nor there I guess. I agree, it's always nice to get back home. :)

Ingrid said...

Some of our friends visited China a couple of years ago and told us the same about the trash ! So lame ! As for scrapbooking, i totally know what you can feel ! I had to quit 3 CT's in the past and it made me really sad but your friend is right ! Doors are wide opened for another new CT member ! There absolutely no reason to be sad about it ! :)

Louisette said...

Lovely pages scrap China is great country hard life for people in campain country, i travel 10 year ago
Greeting from Belgium
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