Day 25: From Yesterday

I make these plans in my head that on days that Nick doesn't have school, we're going to stay home all day.  I think I'll actually accomplish things at home like cleaning window sills and organizing kitchen drawers and the list of 50 little things and stack of papers that I regularly just avoid.  And then the day happens and I plan to only drive back and forth to school and we're eating breakfast and my mom calls and reminds me that I'm driving her to the airport and I decide that "while we're in that direction..." we should stop at that one farm stand and at the store for mealworm treats and grit and oyster shells for the chickens... 

We made it home by lunchtime and I did manage to completely clear and clean one section of the kitchen counters and shelves, not a small feat. Throw in a few tantrums over car doors not closing and not being able to play outside for 5 more minutes and we topped it off with grilled cheese and tomato soup for dinner and called it a day.  It's so crazy how a completely clear counter and opening a drawer to it being organized can make you feel so insanely accomplished.   

I'm spending 31 days writing and sharing a series about Documenting Your Everyday this month.

 Click here to see all of the posts as they're added and follow along.  

Day 16: All of the Stuff

Photos, snippets, memories...they're beautiful, they're bits and pieces of our lives.  But...WHAT ON EARTH DO WE DO WITH ALL OF IT??? 

STUFF makes me crazy.  I'm not a keeper.  I don't have piles and piles of art from kids, just a few that are especially sweet and meaningful.  But, photos...oh the photos...I'm not exaggerating when I say that there are thousands and thousands of them.  At my last check, my camera has taken 60,093 photographs.  I got it in 2008 because I wanted a camera with a faster shutter speed to capture my moving 1-year-old.  I decided to actually learn how to use it in early 2010 when I took a fluke beautiful photo of my daughter in the snow (where I now know that the perfect conditions of open shade and a big blanket of snow as a huge natural reflector helped me out) and realized that I really could get some great photos of my kids if I just learned how to use the camera and I haven't stopped since then.

I obviously haven't kept all of those photos, but I'd estimate that between different computers and hard drives I have at least 10,000 personal photographs from the past 5ish years.

It's overwhelming, but you know what they say about how to eat an elephant, right? Stay tuned, later this week I'm going to have some specific suggestions for you with what to do with all of your memory-keeping and photo stuff!

I'm spending 31 days writing and sharing a series about Documenting Your Everyday this month.

 Click here to see all of the posts as they're added and follow along.  

Day 2: Right Now

Today was: school drop offs and pick ups, time alone with a cup of coffee and a keyboard to edit and document and write, Parent's Night at Pre-School.  

Drinking: a cup of coffee in the morning to try to curb the soda habit and tea in the afternoon

Listening to:  The same old stations, today I turned on Frank Sinatra.  I'm kind of in a rut with my Pandora stations, anything you're loving right now and want to share? 

Watching: The Grownups -Too much tv after hardly any all summer. We're working our way through all of the inappropriateness of It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. So many good shows finally are back! My current favorites - New Girl, The Mindy Project, Parenthood, Nashville, Modern Family, Parks and Rec.  I don't like it, but I watched the end of Breaking Bad anyway-  I couldn't stop! Can't wait to see again soon - Orange is the New Black, Call the Midwife, Downton Abbey. The Kids - The Magic School Bus and Mighty Machines (endlessly)

Reading: Love in the Time of Cholera / Junie B Jones is Captain Field Day / Mrs. Piggle Wiggle's Magic / Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs / Richard Scarry's Cars and Trucks and Things That Go

Wishing: for more money, but thankful for always having just enough

Feeling: excited for her to start Girl Scouts next week

Thankful: endlessly for Grandparents nearby and the relationships my children are able to have with all 4 of their grandparents

Finishing: an Artifact Uprising book of the first 6 months of this year on Instagram

Enjoying: this perfect fall weather 

Planning: Halloween costumes, Christmas presents and traditions and schedules

Want to share, too? What's going on in your life right now? 

I'm spending 31 days writing and sharing a series about Documenting Your Everyday this month. Click here to see all of the posts as they're added and follow along.  

*Note/Disclosure: Amazon links are affiliate links. 

Day 1: Why I Document

It's a cliché:  I document because I want to remember.  I have a terrible memory for details and I know I'll forget things.  So I choose to write about it or photograph it.  I waver on how self-indulgent it is to document it publicly here, but at the end of the day I'm glad it's here. The number of photographs have gotten a little out of hand and I regularly wonder what on earth will happen to all of them long-term, but for the moment it just feels good to do something to document because it forces me to stay grounded and present.  I don't click away with a camera non-stop.  I've gotten a lot better at that (and love the way Sheena talk about it here) but I capture things I want to remember.  The imperfect, the messy, the sad, the sweet...it's all there.

And as I get started on this 31 Days of Documenting the Everyday adventure and share a bit more than my normal, there's one thing I want to make so so so so so so clear that I've slowly accepted: I don't think your days and moment have to be perfect to deserve to be captured.  There's never going to be a perfect, but there will be your kids and life happening right in front of you and that is absolutely enough, that's all you need to capture.

I'd love to hear from you! Why do you document or want to start documenting more? Let me know in the comments below! 

I'm spending 31 days writing and sharing a series about Documenting Your Everyday this month.  Click here to see all of the posts as they're added and follow along.