I went to a crop with friends last Saturday and had a blast. I took my laptop, little Epson Picturemate PRINTER, and all my SIMPLE STORIES stuff so I could try and get caught up with my PROJECT 365. I’ve been seriously lagging, gurl … mmm hmmm! I’ve continued to take photos every day (well, I thought I had, ha) but I hadn’t scrapped or journaled anything since (gulp) early February.
At the crop, I spent the better part of 7 hours just choosing, editing, and printing 10 weeks worth of photos … yep, 70 photos! Yike, that was intense. As I went along, I realized that I hadn’t been taking an actual “photo a day” like I thought I had. There were definitely 7+ photos per week but some days I had none, other days I had 10, kwim? So printing out my photos took WAY more time than it should have, because I had to first print out photos that had for each actual date, then try to find “filler” pics that weren’t day/date-specific to fill in the blanks with.
I thought about just switching my project from “photo a day” to “7 photos per week” but I couldn’t bring myself to do it. Yet in a weird way, I hated the “fibbing” that I had to do in order to have a photo to print for each day. Isn’t that psycho weird? I know. I can’t help it. I also hated that it took so much extra time and effort … It made something that should’ve been fun into a chore, a hassle, and that’s SO not what I want this project to be.
So I came away from that little nightmare experience recommitted to taking, literally, a photo per day. I put a Post It note on my kitchen cupboard that I’ll see every day to remind me. I definitely have no shortage of photo subjects, I just get so busy, I forget to take the photo sometimes. My photo today was of all the (non-perishable) stuff that was still sitting on the kitchen counter from my Costco trip yesterday. I HAYTE putting Costo groceries away. They’re even worse than regular groceries. Can I get an “amen”?!?!?
That might seem a silly thing to take a photo of, and pre-Project 365, I never would have taken that photo. But I think it will be a fun thing to look back on in years to come … “The things we used to buy at Costco and how mom hated putting them away so much, they would stay on the counter for a day or two.” Cuz that’s real life around here, folks! And that’s what my Project 365 is all about.
I’m sorry to say that I don’t have any completed pages to share. Since I was SO far behind, I decided the best way to get caught up was to use a “one step at a time” approach. Instead of printing the photos for a week, choosing the papers, embellishing, and journaling, I got ALL the photos printed and put in the page protector slots (or at least an approximation of where they will go). Then I chose the Simple Stories paper/strip/cards I would use as the base for each open slot. And that’s as far as I got.
Now I need to embellish and journal 10 weeks worth and I’ll be caught up. Well, let me rephrase that: I’ll be caught up through April 11, 2010. And then I’ll be only a week ~ no, make that two ~ behind, LOL! Wish me luck that I can get caught up by this weekend … that’s the goal.
If you’re doing Project 365 this year, how’s it going for you? Please tell me you’re not in the same dire straits as I am! And if you’re not doing Project 365, doesn’t my post make you happy that you’re not?!?!? Yeah, that’s me, a cautionary tale for Project 365.
DON’T. Let this happen. To you.
7 Comments
Oh girl, you so knew I was coming here didn’t you? Mmmwwwhhhhaaaahhhaaaa! I’m so happy you are kinda, sorta, maybe caught up! I’m honestly in the very same, exact, kinda sinking boat. This is quite a job we’ve tackled, but I still have faith it will all be worth it and we’ll be so very happy to have this family treasure we’re creating. Someday we’ll probably have a little great granddaughter or something that will look at our album and say, “Oh look Mommie, gg Angie was just like me! She couldn’t finish anything, either!” ha! Hoping to steal some time for myself this weekend and get all caught up as well. Love your blog…always have, always will. ♥
I had the same problem…since day one! I just changed up the project to fit my style more. I love taking pictures and love capturing everyday moments…but I kinda suck at following through. So here is my variation…I jot down a few random things everyday in my planner (log my memory print at home planner) or on little notes that I have in my pocket ( I am a nurse so I have a scrub jacket that always has a ton of scraps of paper of misc things to do, grocery lists etc…). At the end of the day I take any notes, recpeits or other junk and staple it onto my planner page. As far as pictures go I am a hit or miss POD taker. I always have me camera out and will snap pic’s most days…just not always what fits my “journaling” so when I have a few minutes I go back and grab a few pictures that to me represent the day or weeks events and then just add the highlights from my planner. Sometimes if I am lazy I just pull the post it or scrap of paper out of my planner and slide it into my page protector. I don’t in general edit my photo a day photos….to me they are suppose to be real…so the chaos in the background, random dirty dish in the foreground and/or the tv show what life is really like in my house on a daily basis…in fact the more of that stuff in the picture the better…I have a 2 year old and a 7 month old plus a husband…CHAOS is my daily life!
So my advice is just roll with it! Don’t stress! Filler pictures are suppose make life easier not more difficult! lol!
Good luck catching up…or better yet just start again with now!
Pictures!!!! I want to see pictures!!!!!!!!!!!
Love your writting.
I was planning on doing Project 365 last year. I have a note book, journaled everyday and took photos everyday. Know what happened, well the journaling is still there and my photos are still in my computer, ya you got it, I did not do ONE page.
So onto this year. I bought an album that I thought should work,took my pics, had the perfect way I wanted to do it by journaling on the photos ( I am computer illiterate by the way). But instead I started up my blog and my pics are on there and others still in my computer.
Ya not sure if it will happen this year either. And actually I am bummed about it. As I think that this is a cool project.
I’m attempting the P365 for the first time this year. Considered it for a long time but finally took the plunge this year. My work life is very hectic at the beginning of the year and I’m always exhausted after the holidays. Knew there was no way I could start a big project like this on Jan. 1. Instead of doing the calendar year, I started at my birthday and am going to document the final year of my thirties…that’s right, the big four-oh is next year. Yikes! My b-day was April first so I’m not very far into it. I have taken a photo each day which I think is my biggest challenge. No pages done yet. Page protector pockets have been purchased and I’m going to attempt to put things together this weekend. The goal is to do a month at a time. Surely I can find time to do that…right? Right?
Love your blog. Like the new wider columns a lot.
I’m totally right there with you! I need to journal from March 1st on, and I need to print out pics from March 16th on! Catching up will be a project this weekend, I think. :)
I was doing Project 365 (I started in May last year, got off to a litlte late start), one month before finishing my computer had the ultimate breakdown and I lost 3 weeks of pictures. So devastating. I felt like a failure when in reality it was my computer that failed me (and the fact I hadn’t backed up anything since the beginning of March). Good luck with your project! I hope everything works for you and remember back up your files!!