I stumbled across this site today while procrastinating - imagine that - and enjoyed it so much, I thought you might like it too ... "Every life has a story" and her cool creations at Paperbag Studios. Check them out when you have a chance to do some web wandering of your own.
still alive - in case you were wondering. Next year I'll know the first week back from spring break is a little nuts at school! My parents are coming to visit tomorrow!! I can't wait to see them and had no idea my shower was white. I really thought it was more beige in color. Lots of cleaning projects this week - and I know they are coming to see us, not the house, but we see them so little I want everything to look nice - and I don't want my mom to think she failed in some way while raising me. ;)
about birthday blogs - some of my most favorite people were born in early spring and I love and adore you and will get my birthday blogs caught up next week. Matt suggested I tell the people I love them by loving myself enough to let go of the pressure of feeling like I'm disappointing anyone. What a concept! So, for now, I'm just glad you were born and are in my life.
I just realized I never posted before and after pictures of my office - so damn proud of myself I can't stop smiling when I'm in here - more later but quick sample:
Refresher of before pics:
And drum roll please ............ a pictorial of my "What I did over Spring Break" essay:
I've received some emails and phone calls from friends wondering how my morning writing thing is going ... more on that in a minute, but first - your support matters to me. a lot. Thank you from the deepest part of my heart to everyone who reads my blog and encourages me in myriad ways to be true to my heart and the stories in my head ... Some days just being able to post something here, or even thinking about what I'd like to post, puts me in that writer mode that makes me a calmer, better human being.
I get all kinds of angsty without writing and am discovering what a difference it makes in may day if I haven't written, after several days in a row of no writing, even if it's a journal entry or post, I can't even stand myself.
So writing in the morning is a perfect way to start the day - perfect may be a stretch because there's still that morning thing to overcome - but still, it reminds me that writing is my priority and the job I have is just that, a job. I love the job and want to keep it for a long, long time but I need to keep focused on the fact that I'm the secretary, and I chose this particular job at this particular time to allow us to meet financial goals and the idea was for it to be the sort of job that worked well with my real work - writing.
It's Spring Break so as many have noted, I haven't been rising at 5:30 to write, but instead have used this chunk of time to catch up on some things and take care of personal business I can't seem to get done during the workweek. My parents are coming to visit - hurray - and so I'm busily trying to pretend that I'm perfect. This dawned on me yesterday when I wondered if there was any possible way to loose thirty pounds in a week. No. The answer is no. So, instead, maybe I can pretend that I live the way my mom raised me - clean, tidy house, ironing caught up, closets organized ... I really do make my bed everyday but that's pretty much it on that list. So, you see I have a lot to do.
Also, as a person who is accustomed to operating under deadline 
pressure - you should know that the Scrapbooking organizational class is almost over and it's time for the "After" picture ... so I'm busting a move in here inspired by a fun day with YaYa - which included a trip to the Container Store - so that I can wear my mortarboard with pride.
It was hard to write in here because of the the fucked up Feng Shui and spending the time to get the office dialed in counts toward my writing goals, in my book anyway because the more inspirational and functional this room is, the better ... I should have an after picture for you by the end of the day.
I am flunking my scrapbooking class. Really, I am. During this process I'm reminded of how when I was younger I'd be cleaning my room and my mom would come in and shake her head with kind of a "what in God's name are you doing?" expression on her face. I have this theory that when you're really delving into an organizing project, things must get worse before they get better. Which I'm currently trying to explain to Matt so he can understand why the current status of the office is worse, much worse, than before I signed up for this organizing class ordeal. I say ordeal, but secretly I'm glad for the challenge and opportunity to prove once and for all that I can do it. You'll see. Currently, I'm about four weeks behind .... but with my new tool Turnabout and my new method of sorting/storing photos, I'll be good to go in no time. Okay, fine - it might also take several garbage bags and discovering the concept of magazine recycling.
Week one: First Class - Intro
Week two: Paper
Week three: Photos
Week four: Tools, Adhesives, Stickers, Die Cuts
Week five: Punches, Stamps
Week six: Embellishements, Fibers, Ribbons
Week seven: Paints, Cosmetics
Week eight: Magazines, Ideas
Week nine: Garage Sale
Week ten: Crop Day
Week Eleven: Last class, Graduation
Back in week 3 of my class, we were supposed to get our pictures organized. To the left is a small illustration of my starting point. Add a few full bins of photographs, scattered photo albums and you've got the picture. To get this organized in one week was a joke. Not a ha, ha joke but more of a "you've got to be kidding!" joke.
After reconsidering how I want to organize my pictures and really thinking about how I scrapbook, I knew that the chronology thing wasn't really working for me. I don't want albums full of pages that capture the third weekend in March of 1998, or whatever. I want pages that say this is who I am, this is who we are ... this is what's important to us ... this is what we celebrate ... that's what I want to know about you, too. With all of that going on in my mind, it was an incredible delight to discover Stacy Julian's The Big Picture.
My first attempt at getting my pictures organized was at YaYa's house - spread out on her kitchen table. Here's pretty much how it went:
"Oh. My. God. Check out this outfit." Mostly we swapped stories and laughed at old memories. Good times, but not much actual work accomplished. Organize Pictures, Take 2, was at my first ever Scrapbooking Crop at the very cool, new Snap n' Scrap in McMinnville. From 6-11:30 I sorted pictures and was stoked about my progress - though I'm still nowhere near ready to turn in my homework.
I copied some of Stacy Julian's categories and came up with some of my own: Places we've lived, People we love, Us, Hardy Times, Oravetz Adventures, College Daze, Martin & Me, Borbeks, Lois Lane and other jobs I've had, Mr. Hardy, Holidays and Traditions, Lake Chelan, etc.
As I sorted, I thought of an additional category that might make a fun, slightly humiliating scrapbook page called "Mistakes I've Made" where I'd feature pictures of idiot boyfriends and my stint as a Mary Kay consultant, seriously, with pink Cadillac dreams and all. But that's another story.
After the pictures are organized into my cool, new photo containers, I'm going to work on creating pages, at random, for a variety of albums. More on this later. When I shared some of these ideas with Matt he said I copied him. He showed me how he organized his pictures years ago - before they all disappeared into the vortex that is my office. He had them in envelopes labeled:
But I'm not at all surprised that Matt had a handle on the Big Picture all along.
Conversations about my passion for scrapbooking often include this question: "But, where do you start?"
And, it's a great question - where the hell do you start? Just Google the question and you'll see a slew of different answers. My answer is this: just start now. Yes, now. With what you have and who you are now. Don't wait to be perfect. Don't wait to have "everything else done." Because scrapbooking isn't about using all the newest, coolest products. It's not about products at all. Scrapbooking, as I see it, is about two things. First, it's about exploring and sharing your stories.
"We write to taste life twice, in the moment, and in retrospection … we write to be able to transcend our life, to reach beyond it. We write to speak with others."
-Anais Nin
"The universe is made of stories, not of atoms" Muriel Rukeyser
Scrapbooking isn't about getting all your pictures into scrapbooks - it's about enjoying and sharing the pictures and stories behind them for today and for when you aren't here any longer to sit with loved ones and laugh at the old times. It's about leaving a legacy ... it's about leaving an imprint. It's about sharing your voice, your perspective.
Secondly, scrapbooking as about having a hobby that is simultaneously socially enjoyable and physically productive. You get together with friends, share techniques and swap stories and go home having accomplished something, a page in your book, or simply the joy of getting together with people who make you laugh and help ground you. It's about friendship and making new memories while celebrating old ones.
Either you're a scrapper or you're not. And you can be a scrapbooker without a lot of pages in your book because it's something that is in you. You know you're a scrapper if you have the desire and drive to combine pictures with stories and the creative element of building the pages in a way that is pleasing to you. Read that again: in a way that is pleasing to you. You also can be a scrapper if all you have is that desire combined with the fear of getting started because you don't want to do it wrong. Or, you want to make sure everything else is taken care of first. Or, you simply don't know where to start.
Oh, yeah - back to that - can you tell I'm passionate about this!? So if you ask me, where to start is finding a source of inspiration and drawing on that. Think about what kind of person you are - how you tackle projects and think up a system that works for you. It's your deal. There's no wrong way to do this.
Here's what didn't work for me - chronological scrapbooking. I tried to fit into this box for years. And my lack of pages proves it. I have sheet protectors full of ideas, but no completed page because I wasn't "caught up." While preparing to teach my journaling class, I decided to do a couple pages just because I wanted to. I loved it! And since then I've discovered Stacy Julian's concept of "The Big Picture" and can't recommend it enough. I'll write more on this later, but essentially Julian introduces this approach: Scrapbook what you feel like scrapbooking. Ask yourself why you want to scrapbook and who it's for. Don't worry about getting "caught up." Just begin where you are now, and enjoy it.
So last Monday I got an email from YaYa asking if I'm going to take the scrapbooking organizational class that night. I really wanted to but had too many reasons not to. I meant to email her back but it was the end of the day before I knew it. Then Amy called to say she signed up at the last minute and asked if I'm sure I don't want to do it. And then, with half an hour before the class starts, I call to see if there's any more room in the class. The owner says I'm already signed up ... Only during the first session do I realize that it is a 12 week long class because it's a 12-step program for the organizationally challenged to allow us to better enjoy our scrapbooking space and time - and to actually get some pages made!!! And there is homework. And I have to show before pictures of my scrapbook space. You don't know how hard I had to restrain myself from cleaning up just a little before taking these pictures:
This is my office ... so proud ... 
For the first week's assignment we have to take pictures of how we store our paper. Yeah. Here's a little visual for ya:
So why do I have FOUR pictures for paper storage?! Because it's not all in one happy, organized space. The only reason I'm posting these pics is because of the promise of the After pictures when I'm done with organizational bootcamp!
Matt and I have had so many arguments over this one space, the disaster that is the my office, mostly because of how self-conscious I am about it because it's the last thing I get to - read that - never get to. So I'm actually really excited about finally doing something about it after years and years of writing: "Organize office" on my list of things to do.
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