I wanted to do something completely out of the norm and special for my husband's 30th birthday but nothing felt like a right fit. Scott was really disliking the thought of turning thirty so the common 30-year-old themed birthday parties swimming around Pinterest ("Dirty thirty, "thirty blows", etc) weren't fitting. I wanted a theme that was positive, inspirational, but still silly and fun. That's when I came up with the idea to throw him a Rocky Balboa birthday party to help him "Rock 30"!

My husband is a huge Rocky (1-4) fan so it felt like the perfect fit! Especially when recalling that he air-boxed to Eye of the Tiger at one of his grade school talent shows... yup. Perfect!

I searched the internet for party ideas, but other than a few cake designs I had ZERO luck finding any pins or ideas for a Rocky themed party. So here you go Pinterest!

 Ideas for a positive 30th birthday party for the Rocky Balboa fan Or anyone needing a reminder of why they are going to ROCK 30!

Pic of Rocky fighting Mr. T... because Scott is turning thir-T! Huh huh? :)

 

What I Did

Everything including the theme was a surprise to my husband so I needed simple decorations that would be really easy to put together the night before but still look awesome!
So...
- I put a red tablecloth on the table.
- Threw up red, white, and blue streamers.
- Added red and white balloons here and there.
- Cut out a large circle of yellow construction paper and taped it to 3 strands of streamers to create a  "SCOTT ROCK'S 30" championship belt.
- And printed a few table-sized Rocky Balboa portraits to scatter on the table.






30 Gifts for 30 Years
The decorations were simple (I ran out of time to do all of my ideas!) but they gave a bold impression and a perfect place for me to put my "30 GIFTS FOR 30 REASONS WHY YOU WILL ROCK 30".
I found the 30 gifts for 30 on Pinterest here, but added my own spin by adding a little message to coordinate with each gift. Each message listed one reason why I thought he was awesome and would rock 30. I won't lie, if you decide to do something like this... it was A LOT of work! Wrapping 30 presents and writing 30 personalized messages takes MUCH longer than I anticipated it would, but seeing how great it looked on the table and seeing Scott's expression when he walked in made it completely worth it!





 Conclusion
He absolutely loved the theme! I played songs from Rocky while he opened presents and neither of us could stop laughing! Not only did he know all the songs, but he knew what movie and which scene they were from. Nerd. :)
Later in the evening I gave him another surprise by inviting friends to slip into our house while he was off on a run. He totally caught us in the act, but it was still great!

I sure love this guy. He doesn't get spoiled very often so it was fun to go a little above and beyond for him this year to show him how much I and others care about him.

Birthday kisses for Daddy

Why Scott's Awesome #16 "He's training for another triathlon!"

One of his gifts, a pair of sunglasses. After opening them he runs to the computer to show me a picture of Rocky wearing a pair just like them... I am good!

One of the last photos I took of Scott and Alexa before he deployed.

 All feels right in the world with this guy back home! Seeing him walk up to us and embrace us for the first time in 6 months felt amazingly unreal. In the photo below you can see that Alexa was shy at the airport but less than an hour later she was snuggling and bringing him books to read. She always was a Daddy's girl. I'm so glad she warmed up to him so quickly. It melts my heart to see my two favorite people reunited again.

I created a new local photography Facebook group called Clickin Military Mamas. It's a group for women in the Kaiserslautern Germany area who love photography and are looking for a place to share, improve, learn, and grow as a photographer or passionate photo taker.

This week we went on our first CMM shootout and while freezing, it was awesome! Here are a few images from every photographer who came to the shootout!


Tanae Sorenson






Rebecca Olson















Jenny Lewis


Kyra Wells

I've been playing around with a new photography technique this week called free-lensing and I am in love with the creative possibilities! Free-lensing is when you shoot an image with your lens unattached and slightly removed from the camera. Holding your lens up to the camera (instead of attaching it) and tilting it slightly creates a tilt-shift effect in your photo that's visually interesting and just plain fun!

I used free-lensing while photographing my daughter the other day. It started snowing outside (the first of the season) and I used the technique to help the viewer feel her curiosity and strong desire to go outside.






If you'd like to try free-lensing but aren't sure where to start, you can watch my short video that I made for the CMM Facebook page, or read my quick how to steps below. Speaking of CMM! If you love photography and are a military member living in Kaiserslautern Germany, you might want to check out the Clickin Military Mamas Facebook page. We go on shootouts, share images and support, and just have fun exploring photography!



BASIC FREE LENSING STEPS:

1. Make sure your camera strap is around your neck. (Once you separate your lens you want to make sure you don't accidentally drop that camera body!)
2. Make sure your lens is switched to Manual Focus and not Auto Focus.
3. Remove your lens, but not very far! I like to rest the lens inside the camera as if I were about to reattach it. (Keeping it close also lessons the chance of dust getting inside!)
4. With the lens "resting" in the body of the camera, look through the viewfinder and very slightly tilt the lens back and forth while using your pointer finger to swivel the manual focus ring. When you find your desired focus point, take the shot.

This is not a normal everyday photo technique so don't feel frustrated if you can't put a tilt shift effect exactly where you're hoping! Keep playing with it and have fun with the creative possibilities! Like everything in photography, it get's easier with practice.

If you try free-lensing out and love what you've created, come share it on Clickin Military Mamas!

Happy experimenting!

It poured, sprinkled, and drizzled all day every day this week. Alexa and I enjoy getting outside so between the energetic rain and her tireless cold, we were both starting to feel cooped up. Luckily the clouds took a break and even parted to give the sunshine time to play on the puddles and dance on our faces. We chose a path above Obernarnbach and it was lovely, but the chilly air refused to be ignored so it was a short one. Even so, it felt wonderful to be out walking, exploring new trails, and enjoying nature again.