{Week in the Life - Wednesday}

Good morning all!

I'll get to my pictures for Wednesday's Week in the Life in a minute, but I think I figured out how I'm going to do my layouts for this project next week and I wanted to share. Originally when I started, I thought I'd do a collage a day or something just to give a snapshot, but there are times when I've been able to take more pictures and times when I forget or haven't been able to. I was thinking it might be better to do snapshots of times during the day and include pictures from that time over the course of the week.

So, maybe one time will be morning routines, one will be the commute to work, one will be work, and one will be evenings. I don't know if I'll use those for sure, but just to give you an idea. Then I can include all the pictures I've taken in the mornings and journal about my typical mornings from the time I get up until I leave for work.

My days are filled with a lot of routine. I rarely do the same things throughout the day, but I can pretty safely say my schedule is as follows:
4:30am -5:45am - get ready for work
5:45ish am - 7:00am - driving to work
7am-4pm - working
4pm - 6ishpm - driving home/running whatever errands need to be run in Omaha
6ish pm - 9pm - evening chores/crafting/spending time with Mike & the dogs/dinner/etc.
9pm - bedtime

Now that that's established, there isn't a whole lot more to say on the subject of what I do all day. I'd much rather show shap shots of those blocks of time all at once to give a much better picture of what that routine looks like.

I'm still planning on including this in my Project Life album. I know a lot of people are making separate albums for this project, but I really think it will compliment my Project Life well, and I want the two things to be linked together going forward. I'll probably do a 12x12 spread for each of the time periods, along with journaling cards. I know I have extra page protectors that came with the Project Life kit, so I might just use those, or I may figure out something else entirely to give the Week in the Life project some uniqueness within the album. I'll probably decide when I'm assembling everything next week to see what works best.

Alright, enough of my rambling...here are the photos from yesterday:

First - I took less pictures than normal yesterday. My phone battery was dying and I'd forgotten my charger at home, so I was pretty conservative while I was at work. (I also feel like I have enough pictures of work, except for some things like the outside of the building).
Second - Mike's still doing a great job with taking his pictures (I asked him to take 2 per day). Yesterday, he sent me one of his office and one of his drive to work since it was foggy and raining.
Third - I took a few more "at home" pictures last night, until my phone died completely. For whatever reason, I've haven't been motivated to do much around the house this week, and I've basically been sitting on the couch, watching DVDs, looking at recipes, brainstorming ideas, and above all else, avoiding the ridiculous heat. I think I may be able to focus more on the home stuff tomorrow evening when Mike doesn't work late and this weekend (at least I hope so, or those days are going to be pretty empty!)

If you haven't had a chance yet, sign up for the (free) Big Picture Classes class on Week in the Life. I've been loving connecting with the ladies on the message boards and looking at the gallery for inspiration every day. Everyone has come up with such great ideas, I can't wait to see the finished product!

Have a happy Thursday everyone!

{Week in the Life - Tuesday}

Hi kids,

Day 2 in Week in the Life was about the same as Day 1. I took a reasonable amount of pictures, and remembered to take a few after I got home from work. That's been the biggest challenge for me, taking pictures around home. Which is backwards from most people, I think, but I just get caught up in what I'm doing and forget to take a picture. I also don't carry my iPhone with me at home like I do at work, so that might be part of it.

Here's the majority of the pictures from yesterday (a few won't upload, for some reason):

Things I want to remember:

When I was taking pictures first thing in the morning, my iPhone suddenly went black and wouldn't turn on. I was in major panic mode, thinking I'd lost all my notes and pictures on the phone. I figured it out once I got to work, but it's very clear how dependent I've become on the technology in my life.

A couple of the pictures were taken accidentally, but I included them, because why not?

I made stroganoff for dinner, which is one of Mike's favorite dinners, because it's too freaking hot to grill out right now (as we normally do during summer months). It was weird to stand in the kitchen and cook something I normally consider a "winter meal" but Mike was happy he didn't have to wait until the weather cooled off to have it.

My brother and I were texting about my nephew's school supply list, and I realized how quickly he is growing up. Michael is 5 years old and about to start kindergarten. I cannot believe it.

I have a to do list around the house and with crafty things that is easily longer than my arm, and yet I did nothing last night but watch Gilmore Girls DVDs and cuddle with Molly. I needed the night off, so I took it.

I hope everyone's WITL is going well! Thanks for the sweet comments yesterday, especially about Mike's participation in this project. He is extremely supportive of whatever I do, and this project is no different. There may be a little grumbling, but I love to see things from his point of view.

Happy Wednesday!

{Week in the Life - Monday}

Hi folks,

This week is the Week in the Life project I've been talking about! If you're a friend of mine on Facebook, you've seen most of the pictures I'm posting already. Uploading them to an album in Facebook has done a couple of things for me: 1) it's keeping me on top of getting the photos off my camera (in this case, my iPhone), and 2) it's helping me see the big picture. I love looking at the album as I upload and seeing all the pieces of my day come together like that. I've been writing little notes along with the photos, but not really telling the whole story. I'll probably use my blog for that, and journal as I go along.

So, here we go :)

This was my view on the way to work on Monday. Normally, I'm asleep in the passenger seat on the way to work (because we carpool), but the husband has been working a lot of overtime lately and we've been driving separately.

My first stop when I get into the building at work. Must have my morning caffeine. And apparently, I'm too lazy to put soda in the fridge at home and just take one from there.

First things first in the office...Dr. Pepper and my name tag. I have 3 name tags, and I rarely remember to wear them, but the State of Nebraska is in our building this week, so I'm being extra careful about following the rules.

My heap of a desk when I walked in this morning. This is exactly how it was left on Friday afternoon, and is pretty typical of Monday mornings. I can't wait to leave on Fridays, especially when I work late (like I did last Friday).

I saw this quote on the Big Picture Classes website and thought it was so perfect that it would be the quote on the day I started this project. So, of course, I took a picture of it!

I decided I would try to find a different way to show the date on each day of this project (just for something challenging). This is my date stamp for received invoices, set to yesterday's date.

The WITL message board on the Big Picture Classes website. If you're doing WITL and haven't checked this out, I highly recommend it! I spent quite a bit of time on the message board yesterday looking for ideas and inspiration and connecting with others doing this project.

Here's a screenshot from my flight confirmation for a trip in August. We've only been taking about one flight a year since we got married (which is less for me and more for Mike), so I'm excited to be making reservations! I also thought it was funny that it tells me how much I saved at the bottom since I'm into saving money lately.

Mondays usually = headaches for me. I also have issues with photographing paperwork, but I managed to when I dumped my Aleve out on the desk. I spent most of my work day yesterday figuring out logistics for an upcoming event.

This is huge news in our family since we love football, and because an upcoming vacation will involve an NFL game. Another funny thing...when we were younger, my cousin and I used to laugh so hard at our grandma for taking pictures of things happening on TV. And here I am, taking pictures of a computer screen. I guess I've come full circle.

I asked Mike to take at least 2 pictures a day of his version of our life. I would have loved to see photos from my dad's point of view or Grandpa's growing up. Memory keeping seems to be a one-sided thing a lot of the time. But, Mike jumped on board and sent me this picture of him in his headset at work.

I have almost no words for walking into Hobby Lobby and seeing Christmas decorations.

The more I think about it though...this is how my world works, looking forward about 6 months. At work, I'm planning events for the fall already. With my craft projects, I'm planning for this in October and November, and brainstorming projects for Christmas gifts. I guess it's not that outrageous.

Traffic as I was running errands through Omaha after work. This isn't something I'm used to seeing, even on the way home from work normally.

Home. After such a long drive home, I breathe a sigh of relief when I see this sign because I know I'm almost there. I also laugh a little to myself, because it's such a small town...my high school class was bigger than our population.

One of my favorite parts of the day is checking the mail. If Mike is with me, we try to anticipate what we'll have (anything but bills, hopefully), and I usually ask, "What do you think I got for free today?" because I've ordered coupons and samples that I don't even remember.

A blurry picture of Miss Molly, begging for attention (as usual). I love seeing her at the end of my day...so full of wiggles.

And the Abby, before I let her out of her "box." Poor poochie whines the second I walk in the door until I let her out. It's kind of cute.

Politely waiting to go outside and play. She wants out the second I get home. Molly is content to cuddle with me for awhile (especially since we started keeping her on a leash to keep her from visiting the neighbors. A mile away.)

Here's another one of Mike's pictures, from doing chores with the cows. I don't know what the dogs were doing when they were "helping" him, but they came back in the house smelling like cattle too. Gross.

That's that for Monday. One of the things I want to remember being thankful for is the technology that's part of my life. I think about how much harder this project would be if I didn't have access to an iPhone that uploaded the photos I take automatically, and well...I don't ever want to go back to that :) So many of the pictures I take stay on my camera and then get uploaded to my computer and forgotten about. It seems like such a waste to not really enjoy them.

You'll notice the difference in the looks of the pictures...I'm shooting mostly with the Instagram app for iPhone...they have a ton of great filter options that I love using. I'll probably stick with it going forward for the week, because it makes the process fun, which keeps me going.

One last note: seeing all these pictures together, here on my blog, or in my Facebook album makes me realize that I lead a very busy and full life. Sometimes it's easy to get discouraged in the scrapbooking world because we don't have kids yet - so many projects, albums, and layouts center around children and family (and that's great!) But, it makes me wonder from time to time why I would even really want to focus on memory keeping until we have them. And then I think about how I'd like to know what my parents' life was like before my brother and I invaded it. Or what my grandparents' lives were like before they had kids. It would be so interesting to read about that since most of the stories I've heard are about life after kids. I hope someday that my children and grandchildren will want to look and photos and read stories about Mike & me and our lives.

I hope you're enjoying this project if you're doing it. If you aren't doing it, it's not too late to start, or to pick a week in the future to do this project! 

Inspiration

Becky Higgins shared this on Facebook yesterday, and I am so inspired (and thrilled to see others who love Instagram as much as I do!)

Check out Cathy Zielske's blog for some awesome Instagram inspiration. Cathy created these awesome templates too, so check those out!

Layout credit: Cathy Zielske

Check out Cathy's blog, Becky Higgins' blog, and friend Becky on Facebook for loads of amazing inspiration.

Here's a few pictures from Instagram of my day yesterday (clearly, I love the filter options):

I'm so glad I got my iPhone and found these apps before the WITL project, coming up next week. I've already taken more pictures in the last couple of days than I did all last month! 

What apps are you using to capture life as it happens?

Happy July

I could make a bunch of excuses for why I haven't blogged lately, but the reality is, I just haven't had time for it. I had always planned to take a bit of a summer break so I could work on actually being creative instead of just talking about it, but the creativity hasn't happened, and the break sort of happened without realizing it. Whoops.

 Anyway, needless to say, my life has been extremely busy since I last blogged. I can't even update you on it, because I don't really remember what all it was so busy with, except for work, work, work, life, and more work. There was a period in there where I didn't even pick up my camera for weeks unless there was a major event going on.

Because it's such a pain in the rear to remember to take my camera every where I go (which makes it extremely difficult to complete my Project Life), one of my demands for a new phone was a decent camera. Enter my new iPhone. So far, I love it, and am already taking more pictures to document our life! (I'm using the Instagram app for editing, which I love.)

From my carrot pickling adventures on Saturday

Have you seen that next week, Ali Edwards is hosting her annual "Week in the Life" project? She blogs about her supplies here. I did this project last week, very poorly, and never put the album together even after all my planning. I decided this year, I would try again and incorporate it into my Project Life, adding extra layouts for additional pictures we capture. Yes, I said "we." Since the husband has an iPhone now too, I asked him to take 3 pictures a day to contribute to the album. It will be nice to have his point of view on something. (Don't tell him, but if he doesn't mind too terribly for this week, I'm going to ask him to take 3 pictures a week to include in the Project Life album.)

I posted on my Facebook about starting a group for the WITL project...so far, I have one friend who's a taker. I'd love to have more people keep me accountable for this project, so let me know if you're interested! (And friend me if you haven't already).

So, that's what I have coming up over the next couple of weeks. I've been getting craft fair flyers like crazy, which means it's probably time for me to start making stuff to sell. Which means lots of crafty time, which I love!

I hope your summers are going well :)



I Feel Like...

...Like all my posts lately have been me apologizing for staying away too long. But, I am sorry.

...Like there aren't enough hours in a day to do what I need to do.

...Like I need to find something to sacrifice in my daily schedule, but I can't actually bring myself to do it.

...Like I'm letting everyone down.

Yeah, it's not a happy post. Today, I'm not very happy. I wasn't yesterday either. I hate that, but it is what it is.

We had an extremely fun and blessed Easter. I needed last weekend. I have to remind myself of that, or this week will seem really overwhelming (I did nothing last week but cook and have fun...which means I have much work to catch up on this week.)

I wanted to post one another reminder about my friend's Susan G. Komen 3-Day benefit, coming up this Saturday night! I'm donating the Nest album that I talked about in my last album. Here's hoping it will actually be done by then!! I'm setting this goal for myself: done by Friday so I can post pictures on the blog and show you what's on the (silent) auction block!

And to end on a fun note, I'm working on an aisle runner this week for a party in honor of the royal wedding! I'm not into all the buzz surrounding the wedding, but I am into this party! I think it's going to be a total blast, and it's really fun for me to bring my VDC projects into my work life!

Okay, happy end of April all! I doubt I'll be back until Friday (possibly very early Saturday morning) with the pics of the album. I'm keeping my fingers crossed :)

Well...

These photos have nothing to do with the post, except that I wish I was writing from my patio with a cup of coffee next to me, instead of from a desk.

I really didn't mean for almost two weeks to pass before I blogged. Seriously, that time flew by (I thought it hadn't been more than a few days.)

We have been so busy these past 10 days or so, both with work and with our personal lives. I say we need some time off, but that seems to fly by too and I feel like we waste it, even though I know we need to relax.

We travelled to Cozad and attended Brent & Saranne's beautiful wedding. I couldn't be happier for them, they're such a great couple and so obviously in love. Cozad is a really cute little town too...I love small-town Nebraska.

I spent the majority of my time last week working in my craft room when I wasn't working in my office. It seems like I'm moving from one project to the next, which I really love, and my to-do list just keeps growing in the meantime (which I'm not so sure I love). Right now, I'm working on the Nest mini album, a thank-you card order, and wedding invitations. Here's the sample that the bride & groom chose (though we'll be making a few adjustments to it shortly...)

Forgive the quality of this picture...I had to pull it from the PDF of the invitation samples I had sent

That one of my favorite things about making wedding invitations - they're completely customized. That was big when I planned my wedding - I wanted little details that no one else had.

In other news:

• We added 10 more cows to our bunch, bringing our total to 13 for the summer. I'm thinking (hoping) my husband is done with cows for the season, but who knows with him.
• Molly and Abby are LOVING the spring weather. The ticks are loving Molly and Abby. Disgusting, right? This is something we've gone through every summer with Molly, but fortunately, her coat isn't terribly thick. Abby, on the other hand, is a husky. She seems to pick up everything with her coat. I start to panic around this time of year (although it seems earlier than ever) because Molly had Lyme disease her first summer on the farm, and I never want either of the puppies to have to deal with that again. It was horrible.
• We've been hosting a furniture sale at work for the last couple of weeks, and I was able to score some really awesome pieces for not a lot of money. I figure if they're inexpensive, I can experiment with painting them.
• In painting news, I actually got color samples up on my walls in my dining room and picked a shade of gray I think we'll love. Just have to go buy the paint one of these nights and get started getting it on the walls!
• Omaha has been building a new ballpark downtown for the last couple of years (much controversy I won't get into), but we drove by it the other day on the way to the airport, and it is beautiful! Mike was able to get us tickets to the first game that will be played there (Nebraska vs. Creighton), and I can't wait to go! (And I really don't like baseball, so that's saying something)

And, finally, the most exciting thing to happen to us in awhile...

Mike won a cruise!!!

Yup, how awesome is that?? His work was having some contest, and his name was pulled from the hat (along with 9 other people). We haven't gotten the details yet, but what we know right now is that we can basically go anywhere we want for 3 nights/4 days, and we have a year to use it. I'm trying not to look too hard until we actually know what the restrictions are, but we would both love to go to Alaska. We know that cruise won't qualify for the 3day/4night restrictions, but are hoping that we're able to upgrade for a reasonable price and head there this summer. (And if we can't, then who the heck are we to complain about a Caribbean cruise?) We were both shocked that he won (heck, I didn't even know about the contest!), but feeling so blessed that he did. I can't wait to know more of the details so we can start planning our trip!

That's all for today! I hope everyone has a wonderful day :)