Ali Edwards's Blog, page 97
March 20, 2021
The Story Basket | Special Guest Susan Brochu
Today, March 20, is World Storytelling Day. Today we celebrate the art of storytelling. While the tradition of this day focuses on oral storytelling, we're honoring the spirit of the day: sharing our stories, no matter what form that takes. We're excited to have our special guest, community member Susan Brochu, sharing her fun and inspirational method for tracking her stories.
Hello everyone! I’m happy to be here today to share how I keep track of the important stories I want to tell. I see stories all the time: in photos, in nature, in music, in quotes, in my daily life. So many things can spark a story idea for me. When inspiration strikes, I tend to jot down notes on whatever is handy and so I end up with scraps of paper all over the place.
A couple of years ago I started a Story Basket to help me keep track of all those little bits of paper, and I recently updated it to make it even more organized. I use an extra basket that I happened to have but any container, like a storage box or shoebox, would work just as well.
I use the story sparks cards from Ali’s Story Kits to hold the ideas I have for using those kits. If I have any photos or Story Kit components that I know I want to include with those stories, I’ll add them behind the cards so that everything is together when I’m ready to work.
I file the story sparks cards alphabetically in the basket, attaching a little post-it with the story theme written on it to make searching for a particular theme a little easier.
If there’s a little piece of chipboard or a small item I want to save for a story, I slip it into a small plastic bag and staple it to an index card so it doesn’t get lost.
If I have a story that doesn’t correspond to any kit, I just write the notes onto an index card, add a post-it with a brief description, and file it in the front of the basket.
The end result is a basket filled with lots of stories ready to be told!
We hope you enjoyed Susan's post and found something to inspire your own storytelling. Make sure to find Susan on Instagram here.
March 19, 2021
Day In The Life™ 2021 | Bringing It All Together
In this week’s Craft The Story video (Episode 11) I’m sharing my process for bringing together my words + my photos into my 2021 Day In The Life™ album.
It's been really fun to see how people have been telling the story of their day. I love seeing the variety of different approaches - there's room for all kinds of different ways to document your story.
When I started looking at how I wanted to bring my content into this album I decided that I wanted to include more than nine photos (nine was the original number based on the "around here" cards from the kit). As you'll see below I ended up adding in even more journaling - words + photos for the win. I knew I wanted to keep this project fairly simple in terms of the overall design so I came up with a little formula for myself to follow to make space for the words and photos I wanted to include this time.
Let's dive right in to the process video (supplies + links listed at the bottom of this post):
Here's a look at my album via images. I'll be adding to this album later in the year after the second documenting day that will happen some time in the fall.
I started my album with the "day in the life" transparency (this was included with the album) and added two of the tiny chipboard hearts to dot the "i's" in the title.
I printed my photos to be 7 inches wide x 4.25 inches tall and on top of this one I added Storytelling Basics White chipboard numbers and a word/phrase sticker.
I used this We R Memory Keepers hole punch for my holes this time.
For this project I decided to add a reason why page that is adhered to the back of my first photo. I added a large "around here" stamp (coming soon with the Week In The Life™ release).
I added the date and one of the large fabric circles (stitched) on top of my title card. I'm planning to use the rest of those large circles on a traditional layout in the coming months.
At the top of this card you can also see where I added the chipboard tabs. I added ten of the chipboard tabs to my five page protectors holding the "around here" journal cards. I added a chipboard to the front and to the back of the cards (see this process in the video).
From there my album follows a straight-forward design formula. I added journaling directly to the "around here" cards by running them through my printer. On top of those cards I used the mini chipboard hearts to check the box below the title. On each of my photos I added three word/phrase stickers from my stash.
In between all my photos I added more words. I was so happy to write up a little something to go along with each one of my photos this time. I set these up in Illustrator (with borders for easier cutting) and left space along the edge for hole punching (you'll see me make a mistake related to this in the video + then fix it) and adhered my journaling back to back.
Along the outside edge of each of these smaller journaling cards I added a folded over piece of rainbow stripe washi tape. I stapled it in place and then added a chipboard heart to the front and the back.
And repeat.
I did add one of the speech bubbles on top of this photo of Anna and then decided to leave the rest for the second documenting day later in the year.
Day In The Life™ 2021 Kit + Album (digital options here) Large "Around Here" Stamp (coming with Week In The Life™ release) Prompts Story Stamp (includes small "Around Here" stamp) | Digital version available here. Assorted past word/phrase stickers White Chipboard Numbers Rainbow Stripe Washi Tape Epson XP15000 Printer Epson Matte Presentation Paper Tiny Attacher We R Memory Keepers Hole Punch
In Case You Missed It | March 19
Happy Friday, friends! Welcome to the latest, In Case You Missed It. Just a reminder that this is a quick post that will happen every Friday afternoon with all the updates and links that have happened throughout the week. So, let's get to it:
Did you grab your St. Patrick’s Day freebie over in the shop? Ali created a great set of three quotes celebrating Irish culture. Find it here.Today begins our Retirement sale for the Story Planner Collection. Grab pieces from this collection for up to 70% off! Find the collection here. Don’t forget about our retiring digitals sale. We’re offering 50% off select digitals from now till the end of the month. We're retiring some of our older digital items, but before we do, we want to give you one last chance to shop them—now through the end of the month. Please note, this does not affect digitals you have already purchased. Find them here.Our creative team is sharing their projects using the April Stories By The Month Kit over on the blog. You don’t want to miss the beautiful pages these ladies have put together. Read it here. Ali's next video in her Craft the Story YouTube Series is still planned for today, Friday, March 19th, but will be posted a little later. She’ll be sharing her completed DITL album and process (also watch for her blog post). Make you are subscribed to her channel for notifications when she posts new content.
We’re so grateful to have you all as members of this community! Thanks for joining me today and have a great weekend!
March 18, 2021
AE Creative Team | April 2021 Stories by the Month™ Physical Kit
Stories of finding beauty. Stories of home and new routines. Stories of life right now. Today we are delighted to share the lovely projects made by our awesome Creative Team using the April 2021 Stories by the Month™ Physical Kit. And just as a note: although this kit is currently sold out, last month we were able to add more subscribers from the waitlist and we hope to do the same this month.
As always, we are so grateful to our Creative Team for sharing their stories and creative inspiration with all of us!
March 16, 2021
Day In The Life™ 2021 | Special Guest Ashley Horton
I always love to sit down and work on a project like Day In the Life. One thing I love about this project is how easy it is to document my photos and words with the DITL Kit. Having the coordinated products + digitals takes all of the guesswork out of my documenting!
This year, I decided to complete my pages within the week following DITL (March 9). I got started that afternoon, actually, and worked on my title/date card and first spread, so I could get a feel for the way I wanted my pages to look. I kept the title/date card fairly simple and used a roller date stamp with one of the Felt Messy Circles from the Kit.
Since I wanted to work in a 6x8 album, I used the 6x8 4A Page Protector. I liked that this size allowed me to use a 3x4 photo on top and the Around Here 4x6 Journaling Card on bottom. This left me with a second 3x4 space, and I decided to mix in some of the Journaling Cards from the Storytelling Basics collection to complete the page. I love that all of Ali's collections coordinate so well together.
When I work on this type of project, I go into what I like to call "assembly line mode". This is just a quick and easy way to knock out a project in a short amount of time. My steps for the DITL album included printing my photos, stamping the time on each photo (with the Storytelling Basics 4x6 Weekly Stamp Set), choosing a 3x4 and 4x6 journaling card for each page, deciding on and placing my embellishments and finally adding my journaling. I decided to type out my journaling and add it to each Around Here card, to make it easier and more uniform.
One of my favorite embellishments included in the DITL Kit was the Felt Messy Circles. I used some of them by placing them on the journaling cards and stitching around the outer edge. I also used a couple of them as dividers. The larger circles worked great on a transparent sheet cut down to 6x8. I temporarily adhered them to the transparency with washi tape and then machine stitched around it. This way, I didn't have any adhesive showing on the backside of the circle, since I had not planned to cover the back of it with another embellishment.
Now, I have a completed project on hand, with plenty of supplies left in my Kit for this year's second DITL! I hope you can use some of these ideas when you are putting your words + photos together in your DITL documenting!
We hope you enjoyed hearing from Ashley! Find more inspiration from her on Instagram here. Stay tuned for more community projects this week, as well as Ali's completed project and process. As always, thanks for being here.
March 13, 2021
Bloom Story Kit + April 2021 Stories By The Month Kit
This month we are focusing on stories related to the theme of Bloom.
As many of you know, I love flowers. I grow them in my yard and I purchase them at the store and I simply find that they bring me so much joy. Growing flowers is sometimes super easy and at other times can be much more challenging and can depend on all kinds of factors - just like growth in our own lives. This month we are telling stories of blooming - the ways both we and others bloom in life.
Initial story ideas for this theme include:
Where are you blooming in your own life right now? Often there is a long period of dormancy before flowers bloom. Is there something in your life that is growing under the surface right now? Tell that story.
Watching others bloom can bring up both feelings of pride and of jealousy. Tell a story of watching someone else bloom and how that impacted your own life.
PLEASE NOTE: The following kits + add ons will have a delayed shipping date due to items being stuck in the port in Los Angeles. We anticipate being able to ship these out to you the week of March 22nd.
The
Story Kit™ includes:
Here's a video overview of the
Story Kit™ and Add-On options this month:
STORY STAMP™
The Stamp Set:
Here's a video overview of the Story Stamp:
DIGITAL STORY KIT™ (Included with the STORY CLASS)
Your digital kit and the classroom and any Add-Ons purchased will be available to you on the 15th once your card has been charged for the month.
Here's a look at what's included in the Digital Story Kit™: And a couple peeks at the layouts I created with the kits this month in addition to the one featured at the top of this post (f
ull details, including process videos and how-to handout, are included with subscription):
Again, thanks so much for subscribing and/or considering my
Story Subscription program! If you have any questions about this program please let me know below in the comments.
Stories By The Month™ kits include 4x6 chipboard, 3x4 and 4x6 cards, a 3x4 stamp, a sticker sheet, and an embellishment (wood veneer, cork, etc).
Here is a full look at the kit:
And a video overview:
This subscription is a great option for those who are looking to tell more calendar/everyday life sorts of stories.
Add On options are available to all Story Kit™, Story Stamp™, and Stories By The Month™ subscribers
(this excludes Digital Story Kit/Story Class subscribers since you don't have any part of your subscription shipped already).
Current and new subscribers can select + purchase Add-On's via your new drop-down menu access under your user name in the top right corner of the site.
Depending on product availability subscribers may be able to purchase the Add-On's after the Add-On period has ended and regular shop shipping rates will apply because they will ship separately from the kit.
March 12, 2021
In Case You Missed It | March 12
Happy Friday, friends! Welcome to the latest, In Case You Missed It. Just a reminder that this is a quick post that will happen every Friday afternoon with all the updates and links that have happened throughout the week. So, let's get to it:
We have received communication from our warehouse team that shipping for all of our subscriptions (Story Kit™, Story Stamp™ and Stories By The Month™) will be delayed until the week of the March 22nd. These items are stuck at the port in Los Angeles and we are hoping they will be released soon and arrive to our warehouse by late next week. Please reach out to our Customer Service team if you have any questions! We sincerely appreciate your understanding. Don’t forget! Today is the last day to subscribe and receive the Connect Story Kit. The next kit, Bloom, will go live Saturday, March 13. Learn more here.This week a new class, Hybrid All Year Round, went live in the AE Classroom. Join creative team member Jennie Rey as she shares fun and creative ways to play with your Stories By The Month Digital Kits and shows you how to bring them to life on paper. Learn more here.We were so blown away by the photos and stories you shared this week as a part of documenting a Day In The Life. Ali shared a blog post with her photos + stories and free download. She plans to work on her album beginning next week. Read her blog post here.Ali's next video in her Craft the Story YouTube Series is live. In this week’s video (Episode 10) Ali's talking about full page photo foundations, using what you have, stories of gratitude, and showing you her process for bringing it all together + the choices she makes along the way. Find it here.Our creative team is sharing their projects using the Connect Story Kit over on the blog. You don’t want to miss the beautiful pages these ladies have put together. Read it here. For the rest of March, we’re offering 50% off select digitals. We're retiring some of our older digital items, but before we do, we want to give you one last chance to shop them—now through then end of the month. Please note, this does not affect digitals you have already purchased. Find them here.Don't forget! In Case You Missed It is also posted over in the Craft The Story Facebook Group. If you haven't joined, we wholeheartedly invite you to do so. We're so proud of the community we've built over on that platform. Find it here.
We’re so grateful to have you all as members of this community! Thanks for joining me today and have a great weekend!
Full Page Photo Foundations + Gratitude + Using What You Have
In this week’s Craft The Story video (Episode 10) I’m talking about why I like full page photo foundations, using what you have, stories of gratitude, and showing you my process for bringing it all together + the choices I make along the way.
Let's dive in:
Here's a look at my completed page:
Full page photo foundations are one of my favorite ways to approach storytelling. The basic idea is this: rather than using cardstock or pattern paper as the base of my page I love using photos. I take photos with this concept in mind and look for opportunities to include more white space when I'm composing my photos which results in space on my photos for embellishments + words. White space in photos doesn't mean it's white - it just means it's an area/space around/surrounding/between your subject. It's also called negative space. It can be something like the grass in this photo, the sky, cement, etc.
This layout is a 12x12 but you can also do this in really any size.
In the video you'll see me try out a variety of different ideas before settling on this simple grid of circles on top of my photo. I used these circle stickers as home for my thankful list and paired them with gold puffy numbers and a One Little Word® phrase stamp. For this project I used a Micron pen from this pack.
SUPPLIESEpson XP15000 Printer Epson 13x19 Photo Paper Fiskars Paper Trimmer Past Day In The Life™ Tags (digital option) March 2021 Stories By The Month Kit Storytelling Basics Circle Stickers Storytelling Basics Gold Puffy Number Stickers One Little Word® Phrases Stamp Action Story Kit Fabric Add Ons Micron Pen Set Memento Black Ink Circle Stamp Block StazOn Black Ink Foam Adhesive Squares Chipboard from past projects Plastic Sunshines from past kit Rolling Date Stamp 12x12 Album
March 11, 2021
AE Creative Team | CONNECT Story Kit™
This past month we have been documenting stories of connection, both with others and ourselves. And today we are delighted to share with you the projects that our Creative Team made using the CONNECT Story Kit™.
And just as a reminder, tomorrow, Friday, March 12th, is the last day to subscribe and receive the CONNECT-themed products.
As always, we are so grateful to our Creative Team for sharing their stories and creative inspiration with all of us!
Day In The Life™ 2021 | Words + Photos + Thoughts On Documenting
Thank you so much to everyone who joined in for our first
Day In The Life™ community documenting day for 2021.
In this post I'm going to share my words + photos with you and then next week I'll share how I'm bringing it all together in my album.
To start off I'd love to share an article that Jane recently shared in our One Little Word® Facebook Group:
Finding Beauty In Everything, Through A Camera Lens. As I read through it I was nodding along because it resonated so much with my experience of photographing daily life.
I loved her perspective so much. Yes, yes, yes. There's always something new to see even in the basic routines of everyday life - it's one of the big reasons why I come back to these documenting projects again and again. Looking through the lens of our cameras gives us a huge gift if we are willing to be open + curious about the stories of our lives.
I took around 100 photos of my day using my iPhone and my DSLR. I will use a small fraction of those for my actual project (this is a personal choice and part of the way I "craft my story") and the rest will be available to me to support other stories I might want to tell about our everyday life right now. You don't need to include every single photo to tell the story of your day. Many of the photos I took are similar angles to photos I've taken over the years and I adore that aspect of this project - some things are the same and some things are different and that's what's real. Of course there is a photo of Simon in his bed - I've been taking that shot since we moved into this house over ten years ago (now I need to locate all those photos so I can tell that particular story + show the passage of time).
For some reason this particular documenting day experience felt different for me. I'm still not sure exactly why but I was feeling a whole lot of joy as I went about my day with my camera in hand and a goal of capturing what's real about our life right now. Everyday life photos will always have my heart. I think that I've been taking fewer photos in my daily life overall and that might have contributed to the joy of feeling like an explorer in my own home with my camera.
For this first documenting day I used the lens "around here" as I took photos. In my head I kept thinking "around here we do this" and "around here we do that." My plan is select nine of the following photos I'm sharing below and use those as my guide for telling nine stories about our life today. For today's post I'm including more journaling than I might in my actual album or it will be consolidated to work with my the nine photos in my album. Today I'm just letting myself write.
Here are a few things I thought about while I was editing and narrowing down my photos to share in this post.
Let the dark parts be dark. I continue to work on not equating light and bright photos as "better." If the room was dark or had dark areas when I took the photo I want that to be evident in these photos so I'm working on not over-editing them. It's a work in progress.
I loved using the camera app on my Apple Watch as a remote to start the self-timer on my phone. I've known about this feature for awhile but yesterayd was the first time I actually used it multiple times throughout hte day. It is so easy and such an awesome way to set up shots with me in them.
Most of the photos I took were shots that included a person and stuff around that person. I'm really interested in capturing people doing whatever it is they are doing. When I look back at past Day In The Life™ photos there were many times I took more photos of "stuff" - this time I was more interested in the what my people were doing.
I used my iPhone camera for convenience and my DSLR for a few other shots throughout the day. Using my big camera in this way for these kinds of photos always makes me want to use it more. I'm excited to use it more for Week In The Life™ coming up in May. As always, the best camera is the one you have with you.
I intentionally took my photos horizontally this time knowing that I was going to be using them in the 4x6 size in my album. PHOTOS + WORDS
Here's a look at my photos along with some writing from the day (I used the Notes app on my phone to capture words throughout the day). I'm also including some thoughts/details/ideas about the photos themselves in italics to help you think about the kinds of photos you might want to take in the future.
Let's dive in:
Around here my mornings go a little something like this: Up at 6:00am. I listen to the geese coming home for the warmer months as I open the door to let Ernie outside. I stand there for five minutes and they just kept coming + honking as they make their way across the sky. I think of Mary Oliver + how she was so excellent at the art of noticing + documenting what she saw in the natural world and then writing about it. I stand on the porch as I pick up the rolled up newspaper and take a deep breath in the crisp air. I am awake and alive and I give thanks. The noise of the coffee grinder for my first cup. The sound of the cat food hitting the bottom on the bowl. The gentle rattle of the thyroid med bottle as I shake one into my palm. The overall quiet of a time of day when I’m the only one up in the house.
Photo Details/Ideas: This shot was set up by planting my phone on a chair and then using my watch as a remote for my camera.
Around here the first daffodils are starting to open up. I know this because I’ve been looking at them every day as I take a little walk around the yard waiting for them to say hello.
I still love a classic looking down at my feet with drink in hand photo. As I look back at all the photos I took I also really appreciate the simplicity of this shot. Lots of my everyday photos are full of the stuff of life - which I treasure - but I also like balancing that out with some shots that are more visually simple/close up like this one.
Around here if you walk outside and shut the door you are likely to lock yourself out which is exactly what happened to me on this particular morning. I got the gift of walking through the wet grass in bare feet around to the front of the house to let myself back in via our keypad lock on the front door.
Around here this cat is treated very well. We've tried a cat water fountain for him but this is his obvious preference. This is another sound of my morning: the faucet running in the downstairs bathroom and a cat lapping up the running water while sitting on the sink.
Around here Anna is the first kid up and the only one in in-person school right now. I hear the sound of the bathroom door closing and know that she is up and will be downstairs shortly.
Around here I'm back to driving Anna to school on the weeks she is at this house. She gets out of the car at precisely 7:56am - it’s become a joke. I am thankful she has the opportunity to be in school. After I drop her off I drive over to Molly’s for our Tuesday morning walk. I listen to NPR’s Up First + The Daily on my drive and think about the full day of work ahead. Molly ends up needing to reschedule after talking to some contractors who were working at her house. On my drive home I call a couple friends to check in. One of the gifts that Covid has given me is a deeper appreciation for checking in with friends in quick + simple ways. I want to hear their voices.
Around here some of the ski stuff from this past weekend is still on the big table in our family room. It will probably be there until the kids head to their other houses on Friday.
Don't forget that you can adjust the height of your shot - meaning I use my body and crouch down lower so that the pile on the table is straight in front of me vs. shooting down onto the table.
After the morning drop off I head straight upstairs and make myself a cup of mushroom coffee in my office and start working on deliverables for upcoming product releases.
I took this shot as an example of how I was using the remote on my watch to click the shutter on my phone. I set up my phone on a shelf on the opposite wall in my office to take this shot. A couple things I love about this photo: (1) it shows more of the story - literally and (2) I don't clean up before I embark on this project - keep it real people.
I head downstairs around 10am to have my first interactions with the rest of the family. Simon was on his way out the door to get his passport photo + go to an apportionment to get his passport renewed (no travel planned just getting it taken care of). Elliott, who shaved his head last night to support a friend, walked through the kitchen on his way out to the music room and we were all joking about the experience all over again. Aaron was making himself breakfast (toast with bacon + avocado) and was planning to head to Costco. We confirmed that we would be buying a car from Katie for Issac (kid driver #2) and he was stoked to learn the news. Audrey was the last to come downstairs around 10:15am (her school starts around noon) and asked about what to do if she has a sore throat.
I took about six photos of Simon walking toward me after he said what he said to Elliott (which was super funny and from a movie of course but not appropriate). This was the best of the bunch. I love that he's in motion and that you can see Aaron grinning. I also love that there are dishes all over and the dishwasher is open - it's what's real especially on a day when I have deadlines.
Capturing them as they are is the goal.
Around here I'm working on Story Kit projects for the next theme.
Around here people eat at a variety of times. Generally everyone makes their own breakfast + lunch and then Aaron or I will make dinner. Issac, Elliott, and Audrey are all in online school at this time. The boys start at 8:30am and Audrey starts at noon. Simon has a couple online classes at the Community College and then goes flying with a flight instructor a couple times a week. We've finally seemed to find a rhythm with online school (just in time for the transition back to in person coming in the next few months). The boys have really thrived but it's been more challenging for Audrey. I'm constantly reminded over and over that there is no one-size fits all approach to any of this.
Around here Simon has gotten into Star Wars video games. My favorite is when he plays with his friend Jeffrey.
Around here I still get the paper and often read it at lunch.
For this shot I knew I wanted to include a photo of what I was eating and decided to set up the shot with the paper underneath. I like how it grounds the photo in a piece of time/adds context vs. just seeing it on the black table.
Around here during the day my people are all engaged in their own stuff - school or otherwise. I love walking around the house and peeking in and seeing what they are up to and what's happening for them in their own individual stories. I also love that the McKercher kids get it and let me take a photo of them doing whatever they are engaged in when I knock on their doors. I’m thankful for their trust.
My approach with photographing teens is to knock on their door and ask permission to take a photo of them engaged in whatever it is that they are doing. I generally snap one or two and then say thank you and move on to the next thing.
Around here the Kramer photo is still on the wall in the Simon's room and this continues to be one of my favorite ways to capture Simon. It's the best. When I took this photo I was very aware that there might not be many more opportunities for me to take this photo of Simon. He's got some plans for the fall that include an independent living set up - I am so excited for him to get to enter a new chapter in his life.
Around here I've been doing the TEAM Plans Full Body Fit workout. I do it three times a week for about 30 minutes. I'm on week four of the first round and I honestly feel really good. It's just the right length of time for me and three days a week is really doable. No excuses. I just go out to this small space in our very messy garage and get it done.
Picking up Anna from school in the early afternoon in the middle of a downpour. SHe's in 6th grade now and the middle school kids are able to walk from school to a little market. It makes for an easier pick-up and I get to wave at my friends or stand outside their cars and chat for a few minutes. Flower crown + uniform + sour candy + Doc Martens are basically Anna right now.
For Christmas this past year we set up loft beds for the girls. It's been a really cool change in their room. They've also got these LED lights that change colors. I regularly walk in there and have to cover my eyes because the lights are a little too much for their old Mom.
Around here Audrey is working extra hard to stay caught up with online schooling. It's been a challenging transition for her all around but she's really starting to find a rhythm that works for her and I'm proud of the ways she's worked at finding a system that works for her. It's hard because it's hard.
Around here I know I will miss when this season has passed. Obviously there are things that I won’t miss about this past year, but for our family I feel like we’ve grown stronger as a team and that is a gift I don’t take lightly.
Around here when the kids are at this house we both work in the moments we can in between checking in with everyone (are you caught up/what are you working on/do you need any help/did you brush your teeth/did you do your job/have you done anything today that doesn't involve a screen/etc).
Around here Aaron and I have been pretty committed to doing yoga together just about every day before we transition to dinner stuff. We've been doing Yoga With Adrienne videos - usually less than 30 mins - and I have come to really value this piece of our day. Not only do we get to move our bodies together but we also get to have a general check in about the day as we move into the evening.
After multiple conversations about what to have for dinner we decide on taco soup. Around here most of the time I cook because I like to cook.
Around here Simon is the master of unloading the dishwasher. It started as a way to earn his phone a few years ago and now it's just something he does every morning or other times during the day when the dishwasher has finished. I love these kinds of shots - especially for stuff like the single piece of bacon that someone left on the counter from the morning (the story is that it fell on the ground and someone planned to feed it to the cats at some point).
Around here people are often on different schedules. Sometimes we eat all together and sometimes we don't depending on who is doing what and when.
Around here my picture taking during this project slows down in the early evening hours. I laughed to myself at that realization because it makes so much sense considering how I experience my day: early to rise + early to bed (happily). I’m almost always the first of all of us to go to bed - I get in bed even earlier than the girls most nights now + Aaron continues to own the title of “best tuck-ins.” I took this last shot downstairs right before I headed up to get in the bath + open up a book (+ maybe watch an episode or two of Adventure Time with Simon once his evening zoom class is done). I’ll be out by 9:30pm at the latest.
Around here Aaron makes the bed most mornings and it's one of my favorite things to come to this space in the evening and climb into bed.
Around here Simon and I have been making our way through all the episodes and finished season 3 tonight.
Around here she's in the in-between years of child and teenager. I'm here for it.
Aaron took the last couple of shots. I texted him as I started to fall asleep and invited him to take a few of what happens after I fall asleep.
It was a full day and I'm so thankful for the opportunity to capture it as part of this project. It always grounds me in what's real for us right now and helps me remember to embrace and celebrate each of the different seasons we experience.
As I mentioned above I'll be sharing my process for bringing my words + photos into an album mid-late next week.
Download the March 2021 Day In The Life™ title word art here.
If you'd like to learn more about finding your own photo vision + voice be sure to check out my Lens Of Joy workshop.
