Sunday, April 25, 2010

Week in the Life

When I read last week that both Ali E and Cathy Z were doing A Week in the Life, I decided to give it a try. Though I was not able to take hundreds of photos a day or even journal each day, I discovered a lot about myself and my life, some of which I can't wait to scrap:
  1. Objects and things are not important to me. I was impressed by the really cool shots Cathy took of everyday items. I just couldn't do it. With the possible exception of anything from October Afternoon and my coffee cup, I am not that attached to things. I make do with what I have.
  2. Concurrent to that point, I feel like I am defined by the people I am with and the things I do. Those were the vast majority of my photos.Take the shot at the top of this post: I was on my way to the school carnival with the family when I noticed Dominic and Derick walking side by side in opposing jerseys. I took a few pictures, already envisioning a page called "Divided loyalties."
  3. I did not take pictures of the most arresting images from this past week. Why not? I was too busy experiencing them. Here's a few of them: the boys spontaneously hopscotching their way into school; a pile of calculators, iPhones, iPods, car keys, and other valuables students traded me for the textbook they forgot to bring; the tick that stopped my first hour class (I'm kind of glad I don't have a picture of that one actually); the smell of the cherry and crabapple trees that surrounded my home this week; Dominic going down the big waterslide at the community center today; both boys' faces when I called them Dowan and Rominic accidentally; my first stamp club meeting on Monday; singing in choir this Sunday to the congregation's applause. This list alone will turn into a scrapbook page.
  4. I don't want to scrap a ton of these photos. I think I may pick a few from each day that grab me as I'm going through PSE editing them.
  5. I may not journal them either. Maybe I'll just write about the day a little. I guess that is journaling. Never mind.
Here are some of the photos I took, among my favorites:

This is as close to a picture of the big story of the week as I can get. That would be an Icelandic volcano. Wow. (And you can see abit of where I scrap--I store my most used stuff in our living room,a nd I scrap on a lap desk in the easy chair.)

The past couple days were full of rain and antsy boys. They decided to develop a rock collection and went outside, putting rocks in boxes, and lugging the boxes back to the house, where they used the rocks to create interesting play areas for their Star Wars action figures. Brilliant.

I actually took a few photos of myself. This one I still have an eye infection (ergo the glasses), and we're actually in the downstairs bathroom during the statewide tornado drill on Thursday. Forgive his demented smile; Dominic thinks it's hysterical.

This one I took after I shot the photo of Derick and Dominic at the carnival. Even though I appear to have something in my teeth, and Rowan is giving me his standard cheesy grin, I love this photo.

This might be the best photo I took all week, of my bleeding hearts right after the rain.


This shot is poor quality, but magical in that it's such a close up of a rabbit--though I get a little Elmer Fudd on the X%&#! rabbits. I do garden, you know. (BTW, that "Community Pit" sign at the bottom is directly over the space where I store my scrap supplies, LOL!)


Maybe the funniest picture of the week, Derick playing Dominic's quarter sized violin.

It's easier to get a good shot of Dominic and Rowan than it is to get a good shot of my cat. Here she is, looking adorable and in her favorite spot: in the chair where I sit so she can drape herself over me. (This is the easy chair I scrap in.)

I have now run out of the pictures I printed last week, a bad thing since I start LOAD next week. If memory serves, I won't have time to edit when I do that, so I'll have to work hard this week to send in a photo order, most likely of the photos I took in December. So as odd as it may seem, I plan on spending the month of May scrapping the winter holidays. Go figure.

3 comments:

BabyBokChoy said...

ah... yes, the objects, the objects indeed, several years worth of articles in CK of Ali's objects... I've always wondered about them, you eloquently described part of how i feel in your point one.

Diana said...

I didn't do WITL but I thought about it a lot. I just don't have the energy to document/chronicle everything, but I love the philosophy behind it, and I like that it makes you think about what you do each day, the whys and the wherefores.
I've also been getting ready for LOAD... thanks to you, actually! I have a good few layouts lined up, hopefully enough to get me through the first week then I'm counting on the momentum kicking in... .

Stephanie said...

This is so beautifully written and encapsulates much of what I feel, as well. Thanks for sharing.