Retrospect

documenting life, creating art.

Tag Archives: documentation


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Project Life, so far

I haven’t said much lately about Project Life, but I have, indeed, been keeping up with this fun project. I thought I’d share a little bit of what I’ve been doing.

I’ve just finished the latest page:

One thing that has been a must for me is to keep it simple. Working full-time, being active in organizations and my roles as wife and mother do not make it easy to do this project; I cannot make fancy journaling cards or spots (I wish I could) because I just don’t have the time. I felt badly at first that my album is kind of plain, but for me, the importance of Project Life is to document my life. I try to take at least one photo a day (part of my participation in “Photo-A-Day”), and jot down some details and thoughts on something, even if it’s the photo itself. My album will not be featured any time soon on Ali Edwards’ blog as an example of creative beauty, but I’m just thrilled that I’m still at it, taking my photos, getting them printed and getting down the journaling to go along.

These are just a few examples. Now, as far as how to handle my recent trip to New York, I added one favorite photo for each day, and a journaling card with a quick run-down of where we went on those days:

I am making another Project Life-type album of my New York trip because I have so many photos that I want to use. Consequently, I came up with this idea for using the day stickers in order to document an entire week, then a few days later my mom saw something almost identical on Pinterest. Pretty cool!

So, don’t feel badly if your album isn’t turning out what you wanted it to be; just be sure to document as much as you can, and I either spend 10-15 minutes each day to do that day’s photo+words, or I do a week at a time, but never let myself get more behind than that, or I will never get caught up! Good luck with your Project Life, and I’d love to hear your thoughts on what works for you!


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Life Improvements.

Final assignment for Journey to Happiness: What Matters Most (Big Picture Classes)…complete. I’m ready to continue on my journey to happiness, and to focus on what matters most! The final assignment is to prepare a journal to write down thoughts/actions/progress notes, etc. for the improvements and changes I intend to make in order to make my life happier and more fulfilling. Since the beginning of January, I have noticed that I really enjoy journaling more; writing down notes, words of wisdom I’ve heard, funny jokes, stories, thoughts and what-not. It has been making me feel better about issues, problems or quandaries I may have;  while bearing more weight with the positive thoughts and feelings in my head. This journal will be a valuable tool to keep me on my path to all things good and happy.

[Journal, orange patterned fabric ('FabRips'), and spray mist from Studio Calico.]

Lots of graphed pages for writing, doodling, and pasting photos and ephemera into. Studio Calico also makes these great vintage-looking book plates, too.

I’m still working on Project Life every day. I am so thankful that I finally decided to do this project; I really enjoy it, it’s not terribly time-consuming, and I notice how full and rich my life is…I would not be paying attention to the details as I do now, nor seeing the value of little moments otherwise overlooked. My life is good, and PL keeps me remembering that every day. Some random pages of this week and the last:

I’m not color-coordinated on every page; I don’t have fabulous and perfect-looking journal cards (ala Cathy Zielske); some days have just one photo and other days may have a whole page…but that’s perfectly okay with me. I have been good about taking at least one photo every day, and holding on to bits and pieces to stuff into a pocket for that given day. My pages are pretty random and eclectic, but sometimes that’s how my days are, too. Documenting my moments, experiences, days and weeks is what matters. Date the photos, talk about them a little, relate a story or two, get it on paper, get it into the album, remember.

Thanks for letting my share with you!


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A Week In the Life, 2011 (finally!)

I just completed the finishing touches on my Week In the Life project. It took much longer to complete than I anticipated, but here it is.

I participated in this project last year during the month of May, and I had used this American Crafts binder that still had plenty of room in it (this project doesn’t really take up enough space for an entire album, in my humble opinion), so I used the same album for this year’s edition, as well. The first half is 2010, and I made a “bookmark” as a divider and labeled it for the second half, which is 2011.

Not overly decorated, like most of my albums…I’m a minimalist when it comes to these things. I’ve had too many covers come apart, and it’s just not worth it since they will be put on a shelf anyway.

I started my Week In the Life (WITL) project on Monday, July 25, just like Ali Edwards (the head master/guide/initiator/guru of this annual memory-keeping experience). I ended on the following Sunday, and you may notice that some days have more photos than others. There are just so many pictures I can take at work (HIPAA rules), and at other times, I just plain forgot to get out my camera (really!). Some of the times on the photos may be incorrect because I was literally guessing at times, since I was not very good at writing times down when I took a photo, and it didn’t occur to me to look at the photo’s meta data until after the fact (doh!), and I really didn’t feel like reprinting everything…I’m using so much ink and paper with this!

So, please forgive the fact that this is so imperfect, but the bottom line is that I have documented my life for one week, and it will be really interesting to look back on this later on in the future.

Intro page

Monday

Tuesday

Wednesday

Thursday

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

The end page.

Not showing are the notes I took which I put into page protectors and included in my album.

Originally, I was not going to include these, but then I thought, why not? These are my thoughts and the details of my doings, and it saves me time and money if I don’t rewrite them onto journaling cards. I credit Ali with giving me the idea; I think it’s a good one. Including your hand-written notes and journaling into your memory-keeping makes that memory more authentic and special. Your handwriting is a part of you, and your notes can include some important details you may not want to forget!

This was a great project that you don’t have to wait to do. Once a year, Ali Edwards (aliedwards.com) puts on this project, inviting anyone and everyone who has an interest in documenting their life for one week to participate.  It costs nothing to join in; it’s not a club, and you do not have to do anything you don’t want to. She puts it on during a specific week which she chooses each year, but there’s no reason at all why you can’t decide to do something like this for yourself any time you choose. You can also put your documentation into any sort of medium: an entirely digital album, a mini album, or something like Ali does, but with your own twist on it.  It’s just a form of inspiration which you may take a closer look at your life; pay attention to the little details, take note of what you really do/feel/say/observe/eat during a typical week in your life and document it for posterity’s sake. Can you imagine how your life will have changed 20 years from now? And imagine your grandchildren and their grandchildren getting to experience your life through your eyes, and really getting to know who you are. Fascinating.

Enjoy!

 

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