Project 365 sharing

An evening of dueling laptops. At least mine is prettier than Tom's work one:-)

In theory, Project 365 is about capturing one photo each day but some days it is hard to pick one photo. Plus I would like a little more interest to my pages instead of just 7 basic photos each week. So I made this collage with photoshop of Nora's abstract painting.

The bag pile from when we return after a crazy Tuesday. Including Nora's backpack, Madison's backpack, Madison's lunchbox, my gym bag, my change of clothes bag for after work, a grocery bag and my purse. I guess for us, you can measure how busy the day was by how many bags we needed. And this was a busy one! I left the house at 7:20 and got home at 6:45 and in that time I went to work, taught art to a kindergarten class, ran to the grocery store, accomplished drop-offs and pick-ups of the girls and went to the gym before coming home and throwing the bags in the corner to deal with later.

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So that is the fun side of Project 365.....on the dark side is that cute little kit that you see over in my sidebar. Doesn't it look fabulous? With page protectors to hold your photos and journaling cards for each week, all coordinating papers, embellishments and journal cards cut to the correct size so you just slip them in the pages, a fabulous album to put it all in and so much more. So what's the problem???? I don't have it! Weeks of hearing it will be sent any day, finally getting shipping confirmation to only receive a box with one book and NO KITS (although the invoice stated the kits were included), to once again be told it would be shipped out any day, to now get word that my order is back-ordered and it will arrive at some time in February...... I will believe it when I see it!

Brrrrr

The morning have been so cold lately. The only benefit is the beauty of the frost on the branches. I am feeling ready for spring, but I guess that will be awhile..........

Project Completion

One window is complete, well almost complete. I plan to do a family photo shoot this spring to get a cool family picture put in but this one works for now. This photo doesn't really give a good perspective of the project, but it was hard to get the right angle. The photo is 24x24 inches square to give you an idea of how big the whole thing is. I think it looks great and is just what I was looking for. And it is nice that after 30 months, the bare red wall finally has something on it.

I am hoping to turn the leaded window turned into a coat rack this weekend. Stay tuned for more details.

HOPE

Here is photo # 20 on the journey to 365.

Madison colored this in her classroom while watching parts of the inaugaration. I was quite disappointed that it was my work day and I missed most of the festivities and had to catch them later on the news. It was fun watching parts with the girls and having them relate to where it was happening and realize that we stood at those exact spots this fall. I am very thankful for our DC trip to help them feel a bit more engaged in this whole process.

I realize I am probably raising a bit of a "nerd" with Madison and I am quite all right with that fact. She is very interested in history and politics and remembers so much more than I ever can. I often have to send her to daddy for further information once her questions go beyond my limited knowledge base. Here she is last week making a Happy Birthday banner for MLK jr. She felt it was appropriate and who am I to stop such genuine sincerity:-) She also created an I Have a Dream banner.

At school they wrote dreams for the world, country and community. Hers were:

world - No more battles

country - No more littering

community - More books at the Black Diamond Library (because it has much fewer books than the other local libraries:-)

So I went to bed with such a feeling of pride, hope and faith that things can improve in our nation. I have HOPE that Madison (and Nora) can grow up being able to use all their gifts and talents to be helpful, caring and hard-working citizens who have pride in what they do and where they live.

So...... I will get off my political platform and just leave you with this link that brought tears to my eyes. I know that not everyone feels this change is the best for our country, but reading this makes me know that there is HOPE and with EVERYONE working together we can make strides ahead.

My Resolution

Here is day 8 photo for Project 365. Yes, I am well aware that almost every person on the planet makes the resolution to exercise more when the New Year arrives. And I have also made that resolution every year over the last decade. BUT this year is DIFFERENT. I am sure of it and have made some specific changes to ensure that I am on the right path.

Step 1 was to shop around for gyms and sign up. After a 6 month hiatus it feels good to belong to a gym again. I feel I found one that meets all my needs from fairly close to home to decent childcare to great classes.

Step 2 (and this is the big one!) for the first time ever I am using a personal trainer! I have never felt the need for one. I have the knowledge on how to work out and figure I can do it on my own. But I know that I have never had anyone to feel accountable to. So I would stop a set when my muscles started to ache or stop the elleptical 5 minutes short of my plan. Tuesday I had my fitness assessment with the trainer which was difficult. My body hurt alot, but my pride was crushed even more. I was an athlete, in my former life, and still view myself as that person. I then realized that I had work to do to regain even a glimpse of my athlete status. So today was day one of training. He pushed me until my body ached and then pushed me farther. My legs hit fatigue to where they were shaking. And it felt GREAT!!! Working up a real sweat, having my muscles let me know they remember these type of workouts.... Now I may have different feelings in the morning!!

Step 3 is one that has to wait until February. And that will be signing up for the Danskin Triathalon. I have talked about this for 4 years and always found an excuse. No excuses this year! I will do it (or some other triathalon).

I will keep you updated!

Project 365 - week one

For 2009 I am working on this fun album/scrapbook to document our daily lives. The hope is to take one photo for each day of the year. I know that there will be days where I don't get a photo taken but I am sure I will easily have 7 photos for each week. And then I will be using this kit to document the week with the photos and journaling. (journaling being a big emphasis for me, as I am great with taking the photos but need to get better about writing down the funny quotes, cute stories, specific details.......)

My hope is to add the photos weekly into my flickr account to help keep track of them with a little journaling blurb. So I have put a new "logo" on my side-bar to click on to see my 365 slide show. So here is a glimpse of week one of the project, no amazing photgraphy but it shows how we spent our time.

If you are interested in doing the project, don't let the fact that you have missed the first few days deter you!!! No matter how many photos you end up with it is a great thing to look back on at the end of the year. There are many ways to document it too! Just a normal photo album, blog, flickr account or at the end of the year you could make a shutterfly book with all your photos! What a treasure it will be for you and your family for many years to come. Whose in??

Happy New Year!!

Happy 2009 to everyone. I hope that this is truely a year where you are able to work toward your goals and feel accomplishment in your life. I know that is my main focus this year. I have numerous goals floating around in my head and I really need to get my thoughts narrowed down and get them written and posted with a plan of action. Certainly one goal will revolve around scrappin'/photography (project 365 - more info later on that one!) and one goal devoted to physical fitness (joining the gym hopefully tomorrow but still considering going for the triathalon that I have talked about for the last 4 years) and then some focus on home organization (that will be the tough one for me to complete).

As for our New Year's Day celebration?? We had an exciting night at McDonald's. Can you believe it?

Last year on this day we vowed we would not eat at McDonalds for the entire year and we met the goal. So as a "treat" we allowed ourselves this one day to splurge before continuing our commitment and crossing out another fast food restaraunt off our list.

The girls were so funny getting dressed this morning. They wanted to wear nice dresses and their best necklaces for dinner at McDonald's. And then Madison requested I straighten her hair, which is only reserved for really special events. Please note that she is in an indepent stage and is insisting on doing her hair most days so the pony tail was completely done by her. It is taking every ounce of inner strength not to fix it most days, but she feels so very proud and is doing a fairly good job (for a 6 year old). So I bite my tongue and make sure to point out to everyone we see that she is doing her own hair!!!