life. photos. scrapbooking.

Week In The Life 2012 | Second Half Report

It's done. One week. In the can.

I took the task pretty lightly. Didn't let the intensity of the documenting get me in a tizzy. It was always on my mind, of course, but I tried to make it work within the confines of my priorities.

I lived my life exactly as if I didn't have this "tag along task." I felt if I approached it with that attitude - it would yield a more authentic end result.

Now... I will say - I hope that I did an adequate and accurate job with my data collection - because I have no clue when I'm going to have the time to actually sit down and build the album.

I have a ton of work in the pipeline for May... multiple sessions each week. Great for business - but lousy for the scrapbooking vice.

Of course I don't wanna let it go too long... or I'm afraid I'll never come back to it. I'm thinking of putting myself on some kind of chip away at it program. Finish one day a week maybe? That doesn't seem too hard.

I'll share my progress - however slow it may be. :)

Here are some photos straight out of the camera (no fancy shmancy photoshopping) from the latter half of the week...

:)

 

Yay! Mimi's here!

Painting my toes at 12:30 am

Weekend getaway bag...

Whatcha doin' Meems?

Quick errand...

Morning art class...

Cuddle.

Monkey climbing...

Saying goodbye to my babies...

Road trip with my girl Coty! Heading to see some art.

Three guesses on how I did this... Leave a comment!

Mojitos at the Four Seasons Georgetown.

Mmmmmmmm. And yes - there was a line at 10:01 am.

Worth the wait!

My dapper Dan.

Somehow I convinced him to allow me to take a simple snapshot of him. Usually he rolls his eyes and makes a dumb face. 

In contention with the Georgetown Cupcake for best thing I ate this weekend... It's called a "stone puppy" from Stoney River steak house... Poppy seed dough ball flash fried and served with cinnamon butter.

Lord have mercy... I wanted to retract my dinner order and have them bring a bucket of them to the table.

Week in the life note taking...

One of my favorites from the whole week. Taken from inside the car as we crossed the Bay Bridge on our way home on Sunday. Very accidentally cool. Can't wait to spiff this one up in Photoshop!

Dadeeeeeee~

 

Miss thing didn't want Mimi to go... Tried to make an escape with her.

Somebody else was very sad to see her go too.

Later that day...

Naptime.

Mini grocery run.

Oy veh.

Welcome back!!!

Week In The Life 2012 | Half Time Report

Well.. it's the half way point for this year's WITL and I thought I'd check in.

As I said, I'm keeping it VERY simple. Journaling on Ali's Daily Sheets and shooting exclusively in JPG with my camera with a few snaps on my iPhone to supplement. And gathering small bits of "stuff" to incorporate into the finished product (i.e. mail, grocery receipts, etc.).

The following images are straight out of camera... no adjustments yet. I really only had time to download and sort last night.

One thing I will say is... overall - I'm kindof feeling less "gusto" about the project this time. It's just not on my mind all day long like it was back in 2010. I have a lot more going on now with work and a second child, mind you. But - even still - I really thought I'd be more excited about the process.

Because of my lackluster attitude this time - I really feel as though I'm not capturing our life as creatively as I could be. As I was reviewing my photos thusfar, I'm seeing that they are just as lackluster as my attitude.

Don't get me wrong here - I am uniquely interested in how our life has changed and how it has stayed the same - so I think my motivation for doing it this time around is purely for record keeping and comparison.

I'm glad I didn't participate last year. I think it would be a little much. I'm kinda thinking mabye once every 5 years would be a good pace for this project.

I think downloading and sorting was a good exercise for me to do last night. I needed a minute to review. To refocus, reenergize. To RE- MEMBER that if I'm going to go to the trouble to be the family historian - that I should embrace that role and have some fun with this.

Quit thinking of this as another thing on my "TO DO" list and get busy having a good time with it.

Ok self? That was your little half time pep talk. Get in the game MAN!

------

Ahhhh well. These are just random thoughts - I should probably save my summation for the end.

Back to the matter at hand. Here are some slices of life so far... lackluster as they are.

The Daily Sheets... in poor light.

Breakfast...

Packing lunches... that the damn dog eats before I get the kids out the door...

Sup, dude.

Sorting...

Raisin Bran laugh

Mount Saint Stinky Socks

Editing!

Baking!

Fighting....

Reconciling...

Sleepyheads...

Messes...

Errands...

How is your week coming along?

Week In The Life 2012 | Thoughts on it all.

Hey cats.

So this week is going to be just a little bit more than just the ordinary run run run.

Yesterday I began the super-charged documentary Week In The Life project for 2012, created by Ali Edwards.

Some thoughts about this process that I'd like to share...

A few months ago when Ali announced that this year's "week" would be April 23-29... I wrote it all big and bold across my day planner... on what was, then, a big empty week. I remember thinking - even if this week looks crazy when the time comes to roll up my sleeves - I'm not gonna balk... or back out.

After all, that's LIFE. To try and postpone this project for a more "suitable week" - would be a futile effort. If I wait for a convenient time - I'll be waiting forever. And believe me... on Sunday afternoon - when I starting thinking, "Holy crap - tomorrow I have to start WITL!"... I wanted to postpone. It's just toooo much!!!

I had to coach myself back into my conviction that I had just a few weeks ago. It's ONE week. All I really have to do is COLLECT the data right now... Take photos and write stuff down. And collect a bit of life ephemera to spice up my album when the time comes to sit down and put it all together. Don't over think it, Katie.

So really - yesterday morning was the first "prepping" for this project that I did. Meaning - I simply printed out Ali's daily sheets and got to work snapping and jotting things down. Period.

Keep it simple. There's no wrong way. And most of all - scrapbooking is FUN - there's no place for stress in it.

So! Since simple is the way to go here - I'm also going to be doing a mostly digital album when the time comes to put that all together. I'm going to be using Ali's WITL Digital Templates from her 2011 journey.

Since I did not participate in 2011 - these layouts are totally new to me. I purchased them awhile ago when I decided I was going to partake in 2012.

I must say though - her new 2012 templates are pretty dope. :)

I've also decided that I'm going to be shooting the entire thing in JPG and on my iPhone. I'm not messing around with a bunch of RAW files of Pegher family snapshots. I'm not trying to create any prize-worthy art here. Just life as-is.

And you best believe I'll be using my peeps at Persnickety Prints for the print fulfillment. :)

I am actually quite excited about this week ahead. It might be crazy - but it's also going to be a lot of fun to document. Every day this week - something different is happening.

My mom is coming Thursday to babysit the kids for the weekend while Clark and I enjoy a day or two away. I have a family to photograph on Sunday evening - and a newborn to photograph one day this week too.

In between - I'll have lots of noses to wipe - diapers to change - and peanut butter and jelly sandwiches to make.

LIFE LIFE LIFE LIFE. It just keeps coming at us (thank heaven!) like a speeding train sometimes.

Are any of you participating right now???

Love to hear if you have any "keeping it simple" methods!

xoxo

 

 

 

Digi Layouts & Freebie Templates!

So last weekend whilst on our trek to Western PA for the Easter Holiday... I did some digi scrappin in the car on my still-alive-and-kickin' early 2000's model MacBook.

God bless that machine. It has a big fat dent on the outside... and still loves me.

I tossed some photos on an external drive and set to work. My process was this... 

1. Assess the No. of photos I wanted to incorporate.

2. Use a notebook/pen in the car to sketch out a rough design.

3. Begin building the layout starting with re-creating the sketch from the notebook into a Photoshop Document (PSD).

4. Adapt the basic design as needed, while adding the actual elements.

 

Here are a few of the results ::

8.5 x 11 Layout

Using this PSD based on my notebook sketch as a base.

DOWNLOAD THIS TEMPLATE HERE

Here's another example ::

12 x 12 Layout

And I started with this PSD I created from my notebook sketch...

DOWNLOAD THIS TEMPLATE HERE

 

And another :)

12 x 12 Layout

With this as my startup template...

DOWNLOAD THIS TEMPLATE HERE

I also put together this two page 8.5 x 11 spread but did not create a freebie download for this one...

Left Side

Right Side

You'll notice that the finished designs were adapted somewhat from the original sketches... That's just part of the creative process, I guess.

So I uploaded these to a new printer - PERSNICKETY PRINTS... because my beloved ScrapbookPictures.com is now out of business (sniff).

I submitted the order on Friday at like 4pm...  and by 5:30 - I got an email that my package had already been printed and shipped.

Well zip-a-dee-do-da!

I'm interested in seeing the quality of the prints. From the reading I did on their website - they use nice quality paper and offer pro finishes. Sounded super legit to me.

And - their 12x12's are only $1.99 - as opposed to $4 or $5 from some other reputable labs. I think I ordered 12 layouts (a few were two sided spreads)... 8 - 8.5 x 11's and 4 - 12x12's.... and the shipping was a flat $5.

I'm pleased so far.

I'll let cha know how they turn out.

Hope you guys had an excellent weekend!~

xo