Major mojo

Admittedly, despite 'what I do', I haven't scrapbooked much of anything for a while. A long while. ... I was feeling staid, bored and inspired by a lot of other scrappers and artists, but I, myself, was suffering from a bit of inspirational paralysis.

Not anymore. I have my scrappy mojo back! The kind where I go to bed thinking of page layouts and wake up hoping that at some point in my day I get to stick a picture on a mat and put it on a page.

Today won't be one of those days. Sadly.

But I have a sneaking suspicion tomorrow, the first of May, will.

Perspective

My Week in the Life project took on a life of its own. It was sure weird to not grab the camera as soon as I woke up yesterday morning, and it was sad that i don't think I took a single picture. Nothing to record my life on April 26, 2010. It was a full day - with lots of discussions, funny moments, and ideas exchanged. It was one of those days that, for a Monday, had a lot of meat to it. Not life-changing stuff, but a good day for sure.

And I didn't record a single moment of it with my camera. I didn't journal a single thought, action or idea. The day is recorded only in a flurry of emails and an entry in my gratitude journal.

Looking back over the 217 photos I've whittled my week down to, I felt a huge sense of accomplishment - both for undertaking this project, and for my life in general. Lots of the same things happen every day - regular life - and it is evidence why I have trouble remembering details sometimes. Life's moving fast, and there's lots of minutia to our days - much of it inconsequential, but much of it also poignant, important, and worth remembering.

And if we don't record some of it somehow, how are we ever going to remember how special our life truly is?

This week is seriously turning into a ball-buster, with not much time to do anything, let alone think! I'm off to the mainland tomorrow, and I have a million and a half things to do before I go, one of which is to completely layout my project that I'm working on all weekend - SHEESH!

But its all good. This week in the life project has its merits - I actually can't wait to start slapping photos down next week, so baby, I'm getting my scrappy mojo back.

Out to the studio to power layout before the morning gets away from me!

A week in the life day one...

More than 60 pictures (whittled down to just over 40 - but like HUH? how am I going to showcase all the best ones - they're ALL good!).

7+ little 3x3 cards full of journalling.

Much wondering if what I'm recording (photo and journalling) is 'significant', but I might not know that for a year or more when I look back on this album.

My eyes are tired... recording it all is tough stuff! ;o) (not really - its actually fun) I'm trying not to *edit* my thoughts too much. My days aren't all unrealistically entirely happy - neither are my thoughts, so why should I only write the sunbeams and moonbeams parts of my day down? I'm getting down and ugly.

ok... maybe not REALLY. But I am being honest. Hopefully I have the courage to transfer these recorded words into the album....

And we're off!

Its only 7:15 and I've already taken 22 pictures of my day! oy.... I shudder to think how many photos could be taken by the end of this week, but I think I will selectively go through them at the end of every day, so as to not be overwhelmed by images.

But I'm stoked... was awake at 5:14am, just waiting for the day to begin.......

Lofty goal?

This morning was probably the first morning in a month that I didn't wake up before 7am. I actually stayed in bed until about 8, and now I look at the time, and I think 'wow... on a normal day, I'd be going on hour five by now!' My intentions were good, but I allowed myself a bit of leway, as I have a VERY busy and exciting week ahead.

Yesterday was one of those days where inspiration was coming at me from all angles, and here I have no photos to prove it! That will not be the case for the next seven days, as I embark on a pretty ambitious project (especially for someone who has not really devoted much time to scrapbooking in many recent weeks!). I've decided to play along with Ali Edwards' A Week in the Life. Aside from my travelling adventures, I've never really documented every little thing about my life before. My mind is always so wrapped up in 'monumental' album projects - eg. baby books, our Paris album (still not yet started - ugh), that the thought of a current day-to-day everyday project has always really appealed to me. I've always envied those memory keepers that are documenting their regular life - not just the big events. Big events are intimidating. Real life is easy. {snicker snicker}

Its a really busy week coming up, and I did contemplate just doing it on another week that's a little less 'full'. But how boring would that be? How disallusioned am I that I could really think that any week of my life wouldn't have a big enough snag to put off such a lofty project?

Snag or no snag, busy or not, its happening. I'm not organized at all for it, but later on today I plan to do some creative 'organizational-idea-lifting' from some gals who've done it before and have it down to a science. Or art. I'm the type of person who really can't envision starting a project by just jumping in, and that is for the most part what I'm going to do. eeeee!

Exciting.

And I'm hoping that by the end of April I will have an album to show for it. !!!

Ode to the lilac

There are about two weeks every year that are my favorite weeks of the year for scent. One scent. For me its so intoxicating it takes me right back to childhood - to potent memories of spring. And then it takes me to the year when I was 22, and I could fill my house with this loveliest of scent. That year my girlfriends and I filled every vase we could with these beautiful blooms and I could not believe my joy at having that beautiful aroma fill my house.

Lilacs. Truly one of my favorite smells on the planet.

In my last house, we had two lilac trees that my sister in law had planted, but they were so crowded out by other bushes that all they produced the last couple years we were there were two pathetic little blooms. Even so, those blooms were gathered up into a vase in my house so I could enjoy their sweet scent for those amazing few days.

And then we moved to this house. Jackpot! I now have two huge established lilac trees that produce both soft purple and white blooms in huge quantity. Of course the most perfect and beautiful of the blooms are a little harder to get to, but I'm patient and determined. These babies only last for two weeks in April every year and then they are gone for another 11 1/2 months.

This morning I walked out into my living room after I got up, and instead of the mouthwatering aroma of espresso being my perk-me-up, its my lilacs. I have them all over the house, delicately scenting our lives. Until they begin to wilt and ferment a bit (yes, they take on a certain smell when they go - really quite strange), I will enjoy every moment of lilac season.

I will close my eyes and think back to childhood spring. I will close my eyes and think back to my 22nd spring. I will close my eyes and feel grateful for yet another gift we are given as the owners of our home.

Hmph

Spending far too much time reading about, salivating over and envying others' creativity rather than spending time on my own creative pursuits.

road block.

creative doldrums. ho hum. blahhhhhh

But I am reading this fascinating book . I absolutely love reading about how real women live their lives today, what has brought them to this moment, and what they feel makes them tick. Mary Pipher's writing style is so simple and her story so honest. She makes me feel ok that I don't know what the hell I'm doing with my life half the time.

Easter week collage

The creative well feels pretty dry this week, so I thought I'd throw some images together from the last few days. Spring shearing, Easter egg hiding, yummy eating, botannical bliss, wallstone and a display of cutie-patootie kinder creatures for good measure.

Laws at work

Its been a while since I've really paid attention to serendipity or anything to do with 'the universe at work', but I had a run in with the universe in just the last hour, which was way cool.

Our accountant has moved up island, and informed me that if we wanted to get our personal tax stuff together (like I promised her I would last week), she would be picking up stuff from her drop box here in town tomorrow morning. {Nothing like a deadline to get ME motivated!} Now, I don't know why I've put off doing our taxes... I know we're getting a nice chunk back again this year. I've been diligently putting everything tax-related in a folder in my cupboard all year. Everything's there. There's no boogie-tax-man going to stake claim on my firstborn. Its all good, right?

Right!

So, motivated little me organizes all the paperwork (locating a couple 'lost' documents from my 'afterschool pocket') and puts it together and tallies up the totals. In the meantime, our mailman delivers the mail (mostly bills these days, but I still rush out to get it because I LOVE getting mail). AH HA!! Unexpected cheque in the mail from our government! LOVE IT!

{universe 1 - me 1}

Then, as I'm adding our tally of Home Renovation Tax Credit receipts, I see the Toilet Rebate Form I'd sent in over 4 months ago. Haven't yet received a cheque... Hmmm.... maybe all is lost on that, and we're not getting a cheque after all. WRONG! I decide to make a call to the regional district to see what the deal is with our rebate. I happen to talk to a gal I know, who tells me that we should be expecting our fun little cheque in the mail in the next couple weeks. YIPPEE!!!

{universe 2 - me 2!}

So, call it Law of Attraction, or call it whatever you want. The universe (or someone, or something, or just plain me) decided to reward me for my procrastination by saying "YES!" And in the span of the 45 minutes it took me to get my income tax shit together, $250 pretty much unexpectedly fell into my lap.

Geezzz.... I wonder how much this income tax refund will be?!??

I LOVE the universe!