Project Life -- Week 1

Wow, my long stretch of days is over and I plan to relax and enjoy a few days off now.  I'm excited to share week 1 of my Project Life with you.  This project was so fun to put together and I'm looking forward to the following weeks.  Hoping to make myself stick with it and have a great finished product full of our families memories from this year.  

Here is the first page of week 1.  Used a photo from Pinterest that I loved to show the washing in 2012.  I'm a beach girl so this just seemed appropriate to include.  And it fits with my thoughts for the previous year.  I'm happy to wash away 2011 and look ahead to 2012.  Love that I was able to use an Instax photo also.  I'm enjoying the retro look and feel of the polaroid images.  

This is the right side of week 1 and I included a few pieces of my week:  a list from my trip to Target and a little part of a "brain" that  I used at work one day that week.  Also included a picture of a dinner we had that week, made by my mother in law.  

And here is the full spread.  I'm pretty happy with how this first week turned out.  It is a pretty good representation of our week.  I want to include more photos of my family in the next week.  I have to get my boys used to seeing me with my camera a lot more often.  My oldest son, Zachery, really doesn't care to have his picture taken these days but he is going to have to get used to it.  My little guy, Benjamin, is pretty easy going most of the time and just smiles and hams it up for me.  

I am extremely happy with my new Epson R2000 wide format printer and loved being able to print my photos from the convenience of my own home.  It made it simple to work on my pages.  No stopping and waiting to pick up images from my local Costco or Target.  

I am also super happy to finally have a workbench and my own creative space in our new home.  It's not ideal (as in a complete room to myself) but it will do for now.  The bench I bought is actually a kitchen island workspace in a butcher block style but it is actually perfect for using as a scrap table.  It is waist height so I can stand and scrap which is easier for me.  I like the perspective of being a little above my projects.  Plus it has several drawers and a place for baskets as well.  I will share photos when I have it a little more organized.  I am planning to put some shelves above the bench to store a few items as well.  I'll be looking for interesting ideas for small spaces in the coming weeks to help me plan my own space.  

Coming soon....

I had hoped to be posting my week 1 of Project Life today.  Unfortunately working 12 hours shifts doesn't always leave a lot of time to get things done.  I had to work this weekend and spent the day today catching up around the house.  Errands to run, getting my new printer set up (so I can print my photos from home), and general cleaning up.  I did get my week 1 finished and I'm happy with how it turned out and excited to start on week 2. I will take photos  of my layouts tomorrow and share them then.  Two more days of work ahead then finally some time off.  I'm hoping to get out there and take some good photos. 

A good day.

Yesterday was a good day.  The kind of day where you feel lucky to be alive & breathing fresh air, where your kids are actually in good moods and give you very little attitude, where you have a yummy, home cooked dinner and a nice, relaxing evening.  I spent the morning figuring out this whole blog thing.  Its a big 'ole world out there and there is quite a learning curve.  I'm glad I persevered and came up with a design that makes me happy.  I intend to keep learning and to change things up as I go along.  Hooray for a comment on my first day, too!


I continued to document little things for Project Life and took several pictures throughout the day.

0800--Dropping off my youngest son at school this morning.  All bundled up cause it was actually a little chilly this morning.  

Mani/Pedi.  This afternoon I got to enjoy a little time to myself, a little pampering.  It's nice to make time to take care of me, to recharge.  

And lastly, a quick trip to Target, my favorite store, to pick up a few essentials.  

I have to work all weekend, but will try to find some ways to document a little of my day and evening as well.  Looking forward to putting together my first week of Project Life either Sunday or Monday.  

Welcome to my blog....

Welcome to my blog!  I decided to start this blog for several reasons.  First was to document my daily life.  I often get bogged down in the everyday routine of life (work, cooking, cleaning, etc...) and I forget what simple joys can be found in my daily existence, in my families daily existence.  I want to challenge myself to see all the reasons to be grateful for the little pieces that make up our days, weeks, months.  All the in-between moments that I will miss when they're gone, that are the most special.  I also wanted to have a place to share my photos (you see, I have big dreams of being a REAL photographer someday) and lastly, to share my Project Life album.  

I've been a scrapbooker for over 8 years now, although I haven't done much in the past several years due to life circumstances.  I've followed Project Life with Ali Edwards and Becky Higgins over the past couple years and have been tempted to try my own Project Life album but never had the courage (or the time, I thought) to actually dive in and DO IT.  But this is a new year.  This is a year of fresh starts for me, in more ways than one.  I want to focus more on the little details of my life.  So I have decided that this is the year I will do my own Project Life.  I ordered both the Cobalt and Clementine kits (I couldn't decide between the two) and I have my title page all ready to go.  

I have been jotting down notes about my week using my iPhone (a tip I read from Deb Duty) to help with my journaling & I've been taking photos with my new Instax camera, my iPhone, and my big camera (Nikon D300).  I'm so excited about documenting my families stories, about putting words + photos together.  I am already starting to look at my life in a whole other way.  I am determined to complete all 52 weeks.  


I have a feeling 2012 is going to be a great year!