me, myself and i

The main reason I upgraded to an iPhone 5 was the camera (and its panoramic function, which I don't use nearly enough!). I also wanted more apps without having to worry about the memory getting too full!

I have been participating in a self-portrait-a-day challenge this month, using the "A Beautiful Mess" app.

Although taking a picture of yourself everyday can seem a bit narcissistic, it can also be a way to practice photography without bugging anyone else.

You can experiment with different perspective.

...and lighting

And sometimes you don't even have to hardly be in the photo at all!

I am halfway through the challenge...won't you play along? :)

project life 2013 | week 28*

{july 7-13}

title card

This week was full of family and friends - just the way we like it.

full spread, no inserts

Lots of people photos this week. (Sorry everything looks so bright and washed out - still working on the best way to photograph and edit these pages!)

full spread, insert right and left

I had a few photos I wanted to highlight, so added a 5x7 insert.

insert, front and back

My bestie and her hubs are so cute. I have known them for over 20 years (her since high school!) and love them like family. They are seriously the BEST.
   The square photo is an IG of the ladies. I love the background paper and didn't want to hide it so kept the mini page simple.

left side

We hung out with some of our favorite people in the world this week. Life is sometimes great that way.

right side

All these photos were from Saturday. And I actually took pics with my big camera - yay me!

Can I just tell you how happy I am, having these photos already in an album for us to look and enjoy? Sometimes I worry about swimming in a sea of photo albums by the time I am 80, but that's a problem for future EE to deal with!

*week 27 is still in the works - we were in NYC and Maine and photos have been printed; just trying to decide how to document everything!

weekend lens | a quiet one

We had a pretty uneventful weekend, spent mostly at home, which is what I like to do.

Saturday night dinner at Radical Eats was our highlight - love the vegan Mexican food! And their chipotle chocolate cake :)

Look closely at this photo; do you see it?

Joe's been busy studying for a Cisco test, which is the main reason we've been laying low. So left to my own devices, I have been working on outfits for Burning Man. Much more on that to come later!

Although Monday is here again, this week will be short for us (summer vacation, part 3 coming up!), so it's all good.

reconnecting

Last night I received a text from a dear friend (she was a bridesmaid in our wedding) who happened to be in town overnight with her family. Because I am old, I was already in my pjs, but wanted to see her so threw on a dress and some lipstick and met her out for drinks. I'm so happy I did...friends who have been there and back again with you are the best friends to have and keep!

38 days...

...until the Man burns! We did some more shopping yesterday which inspired me. I am going to attempt to make a hair piece...we'll see how it goes!

project life 2013 | midway

(Over) halfway through the year...hard to believe!

end page, vol. 1

I am determined to keep the year split into only 2 albums, even though it means that each one is pretty stuffed full. And I kept this page simple: favorite photos of us from the first half of the year, cards from the 2 core kits I have with one stamp of the camera that I have been using on my title cards this year and our last name initial. 

title page, vol. 2

Again, super simple page. We actually took some fun photos the last couple weeks so I used those. A camera stamp and some wood veneers and we're done! I added a wood veneer heart with "us" in the middle to the bottom left photo after taking this pic. I like doing things in 3s but sometimes don't think about it until looking at the page for a bit.

Memory keeping Project Life style is awesome. I love the real time nature, getting recent photos in albums that we can enjoy and being creative at the same time. But I have missed traditional scrapbooking and have been inspired to get some more meaningful, retrospective pages done. More soon!

out of practice

The funny thing, for me, about writing and blog-writing in particular, is that once the words stop, they become hard to re-discover. So this week my goal is to write more - nothing specific, maybe just how our days have been - just to exercise those writing muscles again.

We had a pretty quiet weekend.

Spent some good time with Mommy.

Finally found a good spot to take sunset silhouette photos.

Got my hair did!

Had fun with a "photo booth."

Practiced yoga.

Ate some tasty breakfast tacos.

As always, the weekend went by much too fast! Happy Monday :)

project life 2013 | week 26

{june 23-29}

title card

I am about a week "behind" on this project, but that's OK. And I still love it.

full spread

Because we were traveling at the end of the month, keeping things simple made it easy to finish these pages. One card with some words for every day of the week. And then just drop the photos in. Easy peasy!

left side

We had a family emergency (that is still in progress) so I spent a lot of time with my sister and the boys this week. Funny thing - the iPhone makes it that much easier to take day to day photos, but now the majority of mine are portrait instead of landscape! Luckily having digital templates make it simple to just size down the photo and put it into a horizontal pocket.

right side

The photos don't exactly match the words day for day, but as a whole they capture the essence of the week. Because my weeks run from Sunday-Saturday, part of our vacation landed on week 26 but most on week 27. I added a couple photos to this spread but will use more for next week. Next year I may keep our weekends together but we'll see...

summer vacation, part 2

This weekend we didn't go anywhere but some dear friends came down to visit! Many photos were taken with the big camera and have yet to be uploaded, but we did


...cheer to friendships, newish and oldish.


...admire some extra large Beatles.


...sneak in a selfie where no photography was allowed (such rebels).


...spend some good QT


...savor some interesting cocktails


...love that we have such beautiful people in our life.

project life 2013 | week 25

{Jun 16-22}

title card

This is the last week of PL I have completed. And we have guests coming in this weekend so I think that it will have to suffice for now. Living life is sometimes more important than documenting it ;)!

full spread, no insert

I did something a bit different this week. Father's Day was on that Sunday and I wanted to create a page for our dads like I did for our moms. And I had too man photos from the rest of the week to just use a single page.

full spread, insert right side

So I made the rest of the week as a page and a half. And I kind of like how it turned out.

left side

A close up of our dad's day page. Joe still needs to write a note to his father. Otherwise, I love using these old photos.

insert front

Just a few random photos from the week. I included a photo of my best friend's kiddos - can't believe how tall they are!

insert back

This side was used to document the party we had celebrating the summer solstice with our friends.

right side

And Saturday we threw a birthday pool party for another friend. Both nights were the perfect start to the summer.

summer vacation, part 1

For our first vacation of the summer, we

...walked across a bridge


...played dress up


...saw our favorite city from an island


...danced the day away


...reconnected with family


...took an evening boat cruise


...celebrated Pride


...admired her Lady


...drank tea


...went to the wrong museum


...took a train


...walked across another bridge


...took and overedited a cool selfie while doing laundry


...visited Gram


...ran (and watched) a 10K


...ate lots of good food


...celebrated a birthday


...played golf


...kayaked


...watched the sunrise


...and made it home with no delay or drama!