WITL 2014: Monday

I'm so happy I decided to embark upon this project again. I absolutely love the results. I love that Ali inspires so many to do this!

 



 

WITL 2014: Saturday, 11/1 - Glo Run & Girlie Giggles

Welcome to Saturday. It was quiet in the house this morning. After trick or treating last night, Summer slept at Ally's house. It's been a busy week and I was very thankful to get to sleep in. Hubby and I had a leisurely chat over a cup of coffee.

Continuing on my weight loss journey includes working out. Checked that off for the day with the Jillian Michaels, Shred it with weights video. Whew, that's quite a workout. Definitely needed a long, hot shower after that!

Took advantage of the fact that everyone was home at the same time and snagged a FAMfie (Family selfie) on the deck.

Keith surprised me with flowers (photo courtesy of our son). An adorable bouquet of pink roses. Have I mentioned that I love this guy?

Bryce is lobbying for new computer parts and/or a new gun for Christmas. Today we sat down with him to double check to make sure that all the supporting documentation for his college applications had been submitted Also, we checked to make sure his ACT scores had been requested as well.

Summer and I had dinner at Firebirds with Mari, Jenni & Abby before doing the Glo Run. We had quite a few laughs and dinner was delicious. We enjoyed the warmth before venturing outside to the windy, chilly course around the Towne Center.

All us girls got all 'glowed' up and we started our adventure out on the course.

This race wasn't nearly as exciting as the Color Run we had done together just two months ago.

After the anti climatic ending of the race, we took the girls to Sweet Frog. We chatted and laughed some more as Abby entertained us with her silly antics and Summer made everyone giggle with her 'what ifs'... what if I had arms like ElastiGirl? They definitely had a lot of fun with that one!

Daily Digi Download Day. Love the first of the month when the new Digi Files are released and I get to download megabytes of digi goodness!

Fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow after a busy day!

WITL 2014 - Tuesday 10/28: The Stories & Photos

Welcome to Tuesday. This morning Keith's alarm woke me up at 6:30am. Ugh. I love that I can just rollover and go back to sleep though. He was kind enough to participate in this journey and sent me the photo of his office this morning.

Summer wasn't feeling 100% just yet so I let her stay home again. She hasn't missed any days so far this school year so I figured better safe than sorry. I downloaded a kindle book on Missy Franklin for Summer to read and she loves it! Why wouldn't my swimmer girl love it?

Laundry is piling up. I usually do a load every day but I've been slacking lately. Just kinda forgot that the laundry doesn't do itself! Luckily, since I'm working from home again today I can work in my PJs for the morning.

It's chilly today. One of the perks of working from home is being able to take a hot shower during my lunch break. Perfect for a day like today! My company is celebrating it's 20th anniversary this month so I took a few moments to call in a catering order for the party we have planned for Thursday.

I've been doing the Medifast program since March and I've lost over 60 pounds so far. The pre-packaged food is pretty good and it simplifies the whole dieting thing. Luckily, Keith has joined me on this quest. It makes it easier having someone else in the household eating like me. They just came out with potato chips. I am a potato chip fiend and I'm thrilled that I can have some each day for a snack attack and still stay on plan!

Since we didn't have to scoot out for practice early, we actually got to have a weekday family dinner. We eat pretty simply. Tonight was grilled teriyaki chicken with broccoli and a salad.  Keith was nice enough to do the grilling to let me finish up a work project and then, as a bonus, he cleaned the kitchen. Have I mentioned that I love this guy?

After dinner, Summer had to finish reading the book Rikki Tikki Tavi for English in order to take a quiz the next day. I joined Bryce down in his man cave to work on finishing up college applications. We had a very productive evening and managed to get 4 out of 5 applications submitted. And, they're early! Can I get a woot, woot?!

The kitchen table is the catch all, for after school and after swim stuff...

Last season, Summer injured her shoulder and is still not fully recovered enough to do the Butterfly. She is doing physical therapy at home in order to strengthen it enough in order to be able to do all four strokes again. She really misses it and wants to get back to it badly.

After dinner, Keith and I took Lady for a two mile walk. My friend Janis called to check on Summer since she wasn't at practice. When we got home from our walk, I continued working on the giant pile of laundry and then enjoyed some guilt free Pinterest browsing and TV viewing (watched Revenge and Last Man Standing). I stayed up a little too late and didn't get to bed until 11:30. Definitely not conducive for getting up at a reasonable time tomorrow.

WITL 2014 - Monday 10/27: The Stories & Photos

So happy to be embarking on this journey once again! The last time I did a Week in the Life (WITL) was in 2011. I love going back and looking at that completed album. Yes! I did say complete - that feels so good.

This time was a little less overwhelming though. I did some prep. That involved buying a new charger for my camera's battery, planning a kit for the layouts (I'm digi so that meant creating a smart collection in Lightroom for kits, word art, templates and embellishments I plan on using), taking a whirl at prepping some of the main pages, printing out Ali Edwards' Daily Planning Sheets and making sure that either my iPhone is in my pocket at all times and/or my DSLR is my new accessory for the week.

It also involved, in true Paul Revere style, warning my family that "Week in the Life is coming! Week in the Life is coming!" They have been forewarned that by the end of the week, they will indeed be seeing spots and there's a good chance I'll take photographs of them while they're sleeping...

Here are some of my favorite shots from today:

The day can't start off right without a cup of coffee. I doesn't hurt that Minnie Mouse smiles at me as I drink it... It's too bad that Summer isn't feeling very smiley this morning. She woke up with a stomach ache . No school for her today.

Gotta keep the body healthy, I take these everyday. Call the school to let them know Summer will be out.

A positive message to start my day

Time to get to work. Summer uses my computer at night to watch Netflix or Right Now Media. I'm stuck cleaning up her mess before I can get to work. Around 11am, the sick child and the puppy dog come meandering downstairs. Lady finds her sunny spot to lie in and Summer finds a book to read. No school equals no TV/screen privileges and she's knows better than to even ask.

Around noon, I enjoy a refreshing Cherry Coke Zero while finishing up payroll taxes and jamming to Pandora. I send off the music related question to my Mom (we're working on the Two Views class from Cathy Zielske.)

My car is in the shop today. It drives me crazy to feel stranded (first world problem, I'm well aware). Of course though, my car won't be ready until 5 which is the exact same time that Bryce has to leave for the station and Steph has to pick up Jillian. There go Plan A and Plan B. Must explore Plan C in order to pick up my car, which thankfully by the end of the day should no longer sound like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

So thankful that I have a job that allows me to work from home most days. 

So I can be around for silly moments like this

and this...

and reactions like this...

And sweet faces like this... And do you see that sweatshirt? That means this boy is graduating in June. Trying to steal every photo I can while he is still here everyday.

We're enjoying the switch to fall, and all the excuses it brings for pretty decorations.

And, then it's off to swim practice for my girl. I do laps around the school while she does laps in the pool! 

And as a bonus, I get to hang out with my friend Steph! She was kind enough to squeeze in taking me to get my car before she had to pick up her daughter. After all she says, "that's what best friends are for!"

There are many more great photos from today. So very thankful for that!

Project Life 2011: Week 25 (7/24-7/30)

 

Another wonderful week. This was part of my week in the life project and I chose to continue to capture the everyday in my PL while getting a whole lot more detail into my WITL.

 

Got this cute little gift card holder when Summer and I went to Five Guys for a burger. I thought it would be a good idea to reference my Week In The Life binder inside this project so everyone would know where to go for more juicy details.

Totally loving my sharpie right now for making titles a la Ali Edwards.

Week in the Life 2011 – See binder for more details from this week.

Monday
Summer’s ear infection, 1st time to get blood drawn. Patchy & Bryce to movies. Treat @ Rita’s. Taco’s 4 dinner. Finish Eric’s baby book. Blog about Camp Ellie.

Tuesday
Summer still in a lot of pain. Dropped boys at Game haven for the day. Worked at Beltone for the afternoon. Sat in on meeting with Jill re: marketing. Mom & Karen like Camp Ellie blog post. Watched movie with Summer. Picked boys ups at 11pm.

Wednesday
Dropped Bryce, Pat & Mark at KD. Working with Jill on Beltone marketing. Target for school shopping with Summer. Lunch at Five Guys. Summer and I went to Cars2 in 3D. Reschedule riding. Pick up at KD.

 

Thursday
Drove from VA to NY to bring Patrick home after spending Bryce’s birthday with us. Stayed at Babs’ for dinner & Twister :-). Boys watched Veggie Tales videos the whole way with Bryce narrating, so funny!

Friday
Summer finally slept thru the night. Went swimming with Danielle & Eric. Dropped Durango off for transmission service. Took Bryce to get his airsoft gun fixed but they were closed. Played Farkle, were very silly with place cards. Chilled with Mom & Dad

Saturday
Went to pick up car – sticker shock - $800 because I needed brakes too :(. Strathmore for bagels – yummy. Waiting for Babs & fam to come over. Can’t believe I have to leave tomorrow already.

h – Week in the Life – 2011

Love that shot of the Verrazzano Bridge – it means I’m almost ‘home’.

This was my Tuesday

up at 6:30 to wake Bryce up
me dressed and face on

make him breakfast,
pack his lunch
talked about being more organized in school and planning ahead
also helped him make a plan for earning money for an expensive video game he wants that comes out in 7 weeks
pack Keith and Summer's lunches also
7:05 Usher Bryce out the door to the bus, get my morning hug and kiss
feed the fish
check kids' grades on PASS - Bryce 97 on history quiz - yes!
check bank balance - need to find out what the recurring pmt from verizon is???
check email
wake up Summer
put in a load of laundry

7:30 walk Lady (listen to Paperclipping Roundtable podcast on my ipod)
got to listen to my Fab4 in the last two days: Stacy Julian, Ali Edwards, Cathy Zielske, Becky Higgins
feed the dog
help Summer with her shower
put outfit together for Keith
make coffee
empty the dishwasher racing the coffee pot, I won!

check on Summer
return text messages to two friends
feed Summer breakfast
remove wheels from her sneakers for PE today
practice for spelling test and talked about horseback riding lessons (she wants them bad!)
take Lady with me to walk Summer to the busstop

walk the dog again (accompanied by PRT)
folded and put away a basket of laundry
switched wash to dryer
make a shake for Keith and fix his coffee before he leaves for work

made all three beds, time for coffee!
9am - finally get to sit and have a cup of coffee :-)
pay a few bills online, research weird bank charge
find out how much Bryce's christmas list stuff is going to cost me

research local horseback riding lessons
checked the blogs of my Fab4
decided to test drive Becky Higgins' Project Life Monthly View - will see if I like the setup - really wish she would create the digital kit rather than make it only available on her site, but we'll see
was getting too many bookmarks on my favorites bar, reorganized and created folders for those I don't use daily
blogged about getting Christmas album designed already, just waiting for photos from everyone
texting with Julie to check on kids and see if they want to come to Fleeton for the weekend with us
walked the dog again (I know 3x and it's only 10:10am - she is totally spoiled, but she gets me off my butt regularly throughout the day

ate the last of the long stem chocolate covered strawberries my sister sent me for my birthday
10:20am out the door for an eye doctor appointment - Julie is coming along for the ride
talked to one of Jimmy's clients, they want AntiVirus software, will have to check later
11am eye dr appt, arrived early - what a miracle! - eyes got worse of course (it's been 2 years), said I now have a slight astigmatism in my left eye but it shouldn't affect my prescription for a year or two - based on my description of my recent eyesight he said I may need - ahem - reading glasses in the next year or two as well - no, no, no - c'mon eyes don't let me down, I already have to wear contacts to see far away - don't make me wear something to see close up too - that's just not fair!
lunch with Julie at Wendy's and browsing around the mall, bought the cutest little shoe-socks for Isabelle, they look like Mary Janes with socks underneath them, but it's all one piece, so cute! - home at 12:45pm
Julie wants to do a book for her daughter Sophia for her upcoming 13th birthday so we spent some time browsing thru some of the books I've done and showing her different options. She seems overwhelmed because she's NEVER printed any of her pictures, we need to remedy that quickly
showed her some of the many pics we have at Fleeton and the stash of baby clothes I'm getting ready to send both of my sisters, cute boy stuff for little Eric and adorable girl stuff for baby Isabelle
also checked out Fleeton on Google Earth so she'd get an idea of where we are going this weekend
client called back, left message for Jimmy

stopped by Giant to get milk, bread & and meat for dinner burgers
3pm - just sat down for my 2nd cup of coffee
Bryce worked on sewing badges on his Boy Scout sash {pic}
pulled together a few photos to scrap a baseball page for Bryce
3.45 Summer home, hear about her day
 she is Cardinal of the week, she gets Lady all crazy after school

4.15 parent teacher conference, Summer is doing very well in school

5pm took Bryce to get a haircut
went to Petco to try to get a mouse for the snake, they were sold out but we were able to get him a new house to hide underneath
picked up Keith's dry cleaning
got home, said hello to hubby, planned dinner, walked the dog (talked to Julie to let her know that our plans for Fleeton were a-ok and it was alright for her to bring the dog)
psyched for our weekend, now to have dinner and
get Summer's homework done -eeekk - this after school time goes so quickly (Keith was nice enough to cook dinner so we could finish the pile of homework she had, including make up work from the day she missed last week)
clothes still not dry, put it on for another cycle
Bryce wants his favorite sweatshirt to wear tomorrow, so put in another load of laundry
dinner at 6:30, now 8pm, just finished Summer's homework, Bryce off to shower, summer off to change in pjs while I walk the dog (again)
8:20pm me into my pjs early tonight, kids winding down - but Bryce still in the shower
checked laundry, clothes still damp - yet another cycle (and yes, I remembered to clean out the lint trap again) Summer wants to snuggle - how can I say no to that
added some journaling to the page I started about Bryce earlier, moved some elements around, now I need to let it marinate for a day and see if I still like it
updating the rest of this post, now 9:10 - off to switch the 2nd load of laundry and then off to la-la land
- reading through everything we did today and looking forward to getting some sleep -that 6:30 alarm comes way too quickly