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.
