project 365: 06.22-28.09

{06.22.09: monday} i've tried hard lately to include quiet time in my morning routine. most nights i'm just too tired to stay awake...& being that i'm not much of a morning person you can see how a quiet time of prayer & reading has been hard to fit in....


{06.23.09: tuesday} after getting dressed for work, i walked outside to water the flowers with 10 minutes left to my 'time of departure' (i like to be punctual...). little did i know that my pant legs would be soaked by the time my watering task was done.

{06.24.09: wednesday} i started sleeping with my review books. scandalous, i know. but i figure that if God's wants to experiment with osmosis on my brain, i might as well be ready. i slept hard on tuesday night after an intense BodyPump class & managed to kick the books off my bed. in the midst of my REM sleep cycle, i awoke to a giant crash as the book went flying toward the wall. i woke up the following morning to find that i'd almost destroyed the book's binding...maybe it'll make it look like i've been studying more....?


{06.25.09: thursday} with my preceptor at Continuing Medical Education (CME) classes, i had two full days to study. i took advantage of it...& also took advantage of the beautiful 90-something-degree weather here & spent a good portion of the afternoon outside. my lovely canvas bucket hat was a purchased at the end of last summer for $1.00 at GAP--i've burned my face too many times to prevent wrinkles at age 50...i figure this will at least prevent more damage!


{06.26.09: friday} my sweet 81-year-old Grandma in Arizona sent me a (belated) birthday present. she recently moved into a (deluxe) assited living apartment complex & seems to be enjoying herself... when i opened this box i found the most creative packaging in history: used styrofoam cups as padding. apparently this is the frugally green version of bubble wrap.


{06.27.09: saturday} we did a little rearranging on the parental homefront--i now have a "study station" in my room--free from the distractions of good food, a full pantry, & my crazy sisters. i am not, however, protected from the 16 & 17-year-old clothing scavengers that appear in my room at least three times each day...

{06.28.09: sunday} a day just like a Sunday should be :) a phone call AND webcam session with jon, church (with cake!), a nap, catching up on blog-reading, and suprise ice cream treat with one of my favorite families!

project 365: 06.08-21.09

{06.08.09: monday} celebrated my 25th birthday (wow, already?). but because the kitchen & food was mostly packed away, we had to improvise: angel food cake, frosting, trail mix for toppings (apparently there is a #25 on the top...), a noodle for the candle (note to self: noodles don't light very well), plastic plates & forks...& tissue for napkins. what you can't see is the apples my mom sliced to adorn our water glasses (in lieu of lemons, which we'd already given away) & the haphazard dinner we ate that night. a birthday to remember :)


{06.09.09: tuesday} a preview of our dinner picnic. tuesday was, by far, our busiest packing day. the house seemed full (& was!) in the morning...& with a little help lifting the heavy objects, it was mostly cleared out by the time we sat down for a carpet-picnic dinner in our bedroom (the only floor space not yet cleaned) at 10pm. the rolled up 'thing' behind us was our bed for that night--the memoryfoam mattress topper covered with old sheets. best sleep i've had in a while.

{06.10.09: wednesday} we finished packing the second POD & surface cleaned the house (according to the provided checklist). this photo was taken around 11:30pm. jon sent me flowers for my birthday (thanks jon!!)--sunflowers & lilacs :) the perfect accessory to our hotel room--and the empty used-to-be-dining-room.


{06.11.09: thursday} jon called in the middle of the night on thursday. in our hotel room, the bathroom was the only place i could escape to. so there i was in my underwear & tanktop, with freshly manicured toes (thanks mom!), bed-hair...sitting on the toilet in the bathroom. we tried for over an hour to get webcam to work but the network connection was too slow.


{06.12.09: friday} the car transport company finally got their truck out of the shop...& the nice smiley man picked it up on friday evening. timing (God's, not ours) was perfect.


{06.13.09: saturday} after getting voluntarily bumped from our flight back home, we spent the night in Atlanta with family.

{06.14.09: sunday} two days traveling, a few run-ins with airport staff (& almost security!), i'd never been so relieved to see the open spaces & windy river of the town i'll call home for the next year :)


{06.15.09: monday} my first night back at the parent's casa & we filled our evening with salmon, wine, & talk in the crisp (non-humid!) air outside on the deck. i forgot how much i love summers here!


{06.16.09: tuesday} putting my face on for the day...jet-lagged, emotionally drained, & exhausted after a somewhat sleepless night, i needed the extra eyeliner in my morning routine.


{06.17.09: wednesday} a clear picture & sound when jon called. :) our conversation was cut short because he was needed elsewhere...but i got a little sneak peak at what his morning routine was like...


{06.18.09: thursday} my preceptor called in sick...giving me a FREE full day to study! i studied most of the morning & at least a few hours in the afternoon--just long enough to realize i've got a long ways to go before i feel remotely ready for Boards in September.


{06.19.09: friday} on call...luckily, no phone calls in the middle of the night. the family was out of town...& i caught up on computer work--with a surprise webcam opportunity with jon thrown in the mix. i'll take those surprises anyday.


{06.20.09: saturday} drove to yakima to visit the Clark's. my little brother had grown a lot since the last time i'd seen him...a few extra pounds and a LOT of extra energy.


{06.21.09: sunday} HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!! we spent the day talking, movie watching (UP!! such an adorable have-to-own-it movie! and it's even better in 3-D!!!), & eating...couldn't ask for much more than that!

project 365: 06.01-07.09

monday: reading material for the evening (Primary Care in Otolaryngology)


tuesday: tomato, spinach, & egg "omelette" for breakfast (in quotations because i try to avoid using too much egg--don't care for the taste, but eat it for the source of protein)


wednesday: cleaning out the pantry--filled SIX bags to donate to the local food bank!


thursday: had to use the leftover baking ingredients...& just happen to have all the mixin's for chocolate chip cookies...bummer


friday: had the gym almost to myself at 7:30pm...


saturday: spent the morning dumping out old, weed-filled potting soil & scrubbing the planters for storage


sunday: frantically looked for the car keys for at least five minutes before church...only to find that they spent the night in the keyhold; good thing i dead-bolted & chain-locked the door, huh? {this is one of jon's biggest pet peeves!!}

project #2: christmas book.

Christmas wins the “favorite season” award in this household. And truth-be-told, Jon usually starts the Christmas music around October. The sleigh bells & jingle swells are welcomed by me, though…I kind of like the season, too.

I bought a double-pack of photo albums about 4 years ago…& while one was filled up immediately, the other sat unused in a box. Around the time of the guest book idea, I ran across yet another idea from Becky Higgins: a Christmas book. This basic Target-brand photo album was perfect…



Being that it is our favorite season & we try to make the most of celebrating it each year, I thought it would be fun to have a book holding the memories surrounding that glorious food-filled jingle-belled holiday season!



Things started out much the same way—I started with a basic sketch that would be relatively consistent throughout the book. Becky’s book is large—but as she shared it via a video on her blog (video is on Nov. 9, 2007), I realized just how cool something like this year-after-year could be! (call me crazy, or nutty, or a paper-nerd…).

{see!! it isn't done yet! this is a page for favorite Christmas memories/tradition in each of our households growing up...}

{Christmas 2006}

I wanted each year to contain a photo of us from that season & the Christmas card we sent out—which, as you’ll notice was included only in 2008 since our lazy selves didn’t send a card out the year prior. In other years, I just substituted another large photo. The smaller photos show other parts of the holiday season—cinnamon rolls, time with family, etc. And the journaling gives a brief description of what we did on & surrounding Christmas.


{Christmas 2008}

Again, although I’m warming up to the idea of digital photobooks (from MyPublisher, Blurb, or Shutterfly), an annual book like this needs to be added-to…hence my paper & glue indulgences (sorry Jon…I LOVE YOU!!).



As time goes on, I’m excited to be able to look back & remember what our lives were like on Christmas each particular year…


{Christmas 2007...& please don't mind the small picture on the lower left...thank Justin & Beth for that one...}

This can obviously be adapted (without making it overwhelming) to any holiday, event, or season…a “birthday” book (oooo!! That’d be fun!!), Halloween book, etc. I try to not let myself get caught up in the “industry” of scrapbooking (& trust me, it IS an industry) because it is all-too-easy to get overwhelmed with self-induced expectations that you are not doing enough. Add to that the realization that my kids are not going to want 37 volumes of “family scrapbooks” to lug around…& we get projects like this one :)

remnants.

With all this moving happening around here, I’ve come across some ehemm…interesting things I didn’t know we owned. Take, for example, the 30+ guitar picks I’ve found in textbooks, change jars, even the underwear drawer. Or perhaps you’d like to know that we have 4 jumbo sized bags of rubberbands? Or 5 sets of measuring cups (the result of college days + graduation gifts + living apart for two years + wedding presents)? Or more CD cases than I can shake a stick at?

Our homes, mine included, often become the dumping ground for things we love—love at least for the short-term.

Around midnight each night I’ve walked down the cluttered hallway toward our bedroom when the thought of just starting over has entered my head. Starting over with STUFF. Starting over with our color-coordinated closets & fuzzy rugs on the bathroom floors. Because the truth is that while our STUFF sits in storage boxes over the next 12 months, I won’t likely miss most of it. Sure, I’ll miss the comforts of having it around—those twinkly candles during movie night & the handmade pillow covers to welcome each new season—but the bulk of it will go unnoticed over the next 365 days.



Her house was loved—it was obvious from the clean blue carpet & the cinnamon smell that penetrated each nose wandering through the house. Their belongings from years of marriage were lined up against the walls, kitchen cupboards open & closet doors flung wide. The jewelry was arranged in glassed-in-boxes in the guest room; crystal vases & china dishes sat on the large dining room table. The same table their meals once rested on, made by loving hands & consumed by hungry tummies.



I didn’t know her—I didn’t know them. But my senses took in their lives.

Clean carpets. Cinnamon. Freshly oiled woodwork, dusted glass figurines. Stacks of old newspaper, jars of chipped dominos.





She cared about her home. She cared about the things in her home. And while the remnants she’d left behind made it obvious she took pride in their humble homestead, something more was present.

A faith, perhaps? The old shelf filled with bibles from the late 1800’s pointed to a family history of Trust.



A love, perhaps? The aprons now hanging in the kitchen once collected dust & sweat from homemaking—her lifetime occupation.

Whatever it was, it was a HOME. Stitched together by a marriage, working hands, & love for one another.

What does your HOME say about you? What remnants will it leave behind? And most importantly, is "it" saying what you want it to?

project #1: guest book

I’ve had this project on the back-burner for quite sometime now. And, like my other scrapbooks, I drew out a basic sketch that would be followed through the entire book.



The idea originally came from Becky Higgins (a scrapbook “celebrity”, if you will—did you know those existed??!). She & her family moved several times before settling in Arizona…& along the way she documented where they lived & who visited them.



I took the idea & ran with it, figuring that because we don’t know our plans in or out of the Army, the frequent moving it would likely bring deserved to be remembered. I though this would be a fun way to remember our many “homes”…& the people that stayed in them.





In all honesty, this took me less than an hour to put together…since the pages are so basic & take very little paper. I journaled beforehand…ordered the pictures via 1-hour photo…& pasted 'em on.

Each "home" page has at least six photos of inside the house--usually the most important rooms. The story of how we came to live there, what happened when we were there, things we liked/didn't like about it, etc. is in the long description below the 4x6 photo. I also included the address & dates we lived in that particular house/location.

Each "guest" portion has three simple fill-in-the-blank: WHO, WHEN, & WHAT. WHO came, WHEN they visited, WHAT we did together...

I’m really warming up to the idea of doing exclusively online digital photo books…but with something like this, I needed to be able to add to it over time. I’ll admit that my indulgence in paper & glue also needs to be satisfied :)

Nonetheless, my main motivation for keeping up with this (sometimes overly expensive) hobby is the reminder that I would love to have something like this from when my parents were our age. I would love to see the houses my grandparents lived in...& what their kitchen's looked like. I hope that someday, avoiding water damage & natural disasters, this book will be flipped through by our own kids in their mid-20's--at which point they'll wonder why i'm such a horrible decorator :)