Two posts in one day!  I think that’s a first for me.  I’ve been going through all of my photos from the past few days and have created some collages to share here on the blog.  I’m loving participating in Ali Edwards’ Week in the Life this week.  It’s been great to practice and experiment with my “big camera” which I don’t always take out on a regular basis since it’s so easy to snap away with my iPhone.  I’m still using my iPhone for a lot of photos this week but I’m also making a conscious effort to use my DSLR and try to figure it out.  It’s amazing what a camera can do in manual mode and I love learning how to make tweaks to improve my photos.  I have a long way to go but for now, I’m just enjoying the process of learning and trying out different settings.

As I mentioned earlier, I’m sharing my Week in the Life photos as part of my series of “40 PEEKS”.  These photos fit perfectly in this category and will give you a glimpse into my life right now.  Here’s what happened on Tuesday:

Tuesday stories included:

• A walk in the neighborhood.  I love my Fitbit and love tracking my steps each day.  I’m pretty sure if anyone was watching me today, they would have thought I was crazy trying to take pictures of that “SLOW” sign in the road!
• Dhimant making lunch while on a work call and then eating as he continues to work.  This is pretty much his daily routine.  Those who say working from home is easy has probably never done it.  He works all.the.time and works really, really hard.  I know from my own personal experience of working from home for five years, it often means working way more than working in an office.  It’s hard to turn off and is ALWAYS there!
• Pancakes – I love them!
• Catching up on printing photos for Project Life.  I like to work in batches and printed 3 weeks of photos this week.  Even though I have a printer at home, I still like to print my Project Life photos at Costco.  We no longer have the 1-hour service at our location so I can pick them up a few days later or have them mailed to me for free.  This time I opted for them to be mailed to my home.
• Dhimant went to a hockey game with Joe and Justin.  Go Tampa Bay Lightning!

If you missed my post earlier today, you can view my Week in the Life photos from Monday by clicking here.

I know.  I haven’t posted in quite a while.  I’m not exactly sure why since I have things I want to post but I guess I just got involved with a whole bunch of other projects.  I’ve been on an organizing mission lately.  I’ve been super inspired by some blogs I’ve been reading online and started purging and reorganizing things throughout my home.  It started with my kitchen pantry and has since extended into our kitchen drawers, the refrigerator, bathroom cabinets and master closet.  It’s such a good feeling to get rid of stuff I don’t need or want and have whatever is left in its place.  However, in the process, I inadvertently neglected my blog for a few weeks.

But now I’m back!  I’ve still got lots of stories to tell and am hoping to post more regularly.  I’m participating in Ali Edwards’ Week in the Life project this week and it’s given me the kick in the pants to take more photos and tell more stories.  Ali is a master storyteller and is inspiring others to tell their stories too no matter how ordinary or exciting their lives may be.  So I’m telling mine.  I think it will be really cool to look back years from now and see what we were doing this random week in October.  Nothing special is happening this week for us – it’s actually pretty uneventful but that’s ok.  I’m focusing on things that we probably take for granted and would never think to document and I’m documenting them this week.  I also thought this project would be perfect to include as part of my series of “40 PEEKS”.  The photos I share will definitely give you a peek into my heart, home and daily life.  Here’s a look at photos from Monday:

Stories from Monday include:

• Getting my thoughts and gear together to begin this week-long project
• Breakfast right now
• Spending time on my computer checking email, reading blogs and shopping at Studio Calico’s monthly reveal
• Skincare products we currently use
• Continuing on my organizing mission and searching for bins at TJMaxx to put in my fridge
• Grocery shopping at Whole Foods for items with minimal ingredients and seasonings to avoid aggravating my stomach issues which I’ve been battling all year
• Dhimant’s weeknight exercise routine
• One of our favorite Monday night TV show – The Blacklist
• Dhimant’s LOVE for ironing!  I’m not kidding – he finds it relaxing and loves to iron while watching TV
• Daily dishes

Nothing too exciting but it’s life right now.  I’ll be back soon with my photos from Tuesday.  Hope you’re having a great week!

The page I’m sharing today is very special to me.  It includes what is probably the first photo ever taken of me and my mom right after I was born.  It’s one of the first times I’ve used a “vintage” photo on a layout and I hope to use more in the future.  Unfortunately my mom passed away in 2003 and I still miss her every single day.  I miss talking to her daily and seeing her smiling face.  I miss so many things about her and losing her is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to deal with.  So when I came across this photo of us, I knew I wanted to put it on a really special page.  A pretty page.  One that screamed “girly” to record our first moments together.

I came across a layout by one of my scrapbook idols, Wilna Furstenberg.  I love everything she creates and have taken both of her Art Classes and am now currently enrolled in her Art and Design class over at Big Picture Classes.  She just has a way with soft colors and a dreamy effect on her pages and I want to scraplift everything she makes.  The page below is something I lifted from her a while back but never shared here on the blog.  I love how she mixes different manufacturers on her pages and how she achieves such a feminine look.  I mixed things up a bit with my title and decided to use a vintage looking label with some wood veneer from Studio Calico and a roller stamp from October Afternoon.  Thanks so much, Wilna, for your ongoing inspiration!  🙂

The other day I shared a layout I made using the Penny Arcade kit that I received from Studio Calico a few months ago.  I really loved that kit and actually made several layouts that I scraplifted from various designers.  Today I’m sharing a layout that I lifted from another Maggie – Maggie Holmes.  I love the simplicity of her layout, the bold pattern and all of the stitched details.  I found a photo of my husband and I at a lunch date we had earlier this year to celebrate my 40th birthday and it coordinated with the papers perfectly.  I’m taking my scraplifting marathon to a whole new level this year and have been churning out pages like crazy lately!  I’m really enjoying the process and love that it’s getting me to use more of my supplies!

Today’s page is one that I scraplifted from the talented Maggie Massey.  I love how she used the cool Ashley Goldberg paper from the Studio Calico Penny Arcade kit and how she used strips of paper with the tissue fringe paper.  Such a great way to showcase so many products from the kit.  The photo is from a little breakfast date Dhimant and I had at a great bagel shop at the beginning of this year.  Thanks so much for the inspiration, Maggie!  🙂

I’ve been scrapbooking a lot lately.  I have a huge stash and have been trying to slowly work my way through it by scraplifting layouts created by my favorite designers.  A while back, a friend and I went to a weekend crop and spent the entire time lifting layouts from Kelly Purkey’s Sketchbook class at Studio Calico.  Over the last few weeks, I’ve been putting the finishing touches on those layouts and plan to share some of them here.  My favorite one is the page I’m sharing today.  I love those cute skyscraper die cuts and was so happy to find the perfect photo to go with the “city” theme of this layout.

Back in 2012, I was traveling A LOT for work and went to New York more times than I can count.  On one of those trips, my husband came with me and after I was done with work, we both took a couple of days off to be tourists in NYC.  We ate, walked, saw a show and had a fantastic time.  I love how this photo captures the essence of the New York – the crowds, traffic, tall buildings and “busy-ness” of the city.  Such a wonderful memory captured on such a fun, colorful layout!

 

Another week in the books!  Week 34 is pretty simple with minimal embellishments.  I used cards from my Amy Tangerine Project Life mini kit as well as some items from my Studio Calico kits.  You can see some sneaks of layouts I’ve been working on from Kelly Purkey’s Sketchbook class in the photos below.  I went to a weekend crop during Week 34 and a friend and I had a great time scraplifting several of Kelly’s pages.  Still need to put some finishing touches on many of them and hope to share some of them here soon.  Hope you’re having a great week!

Today marks the anniversary of one of the most tragic events in US history: 9/11.  I spent that day 13 years ago in New York City in the middle of all the devastation.  I thought it would be fitting to share my story here today as part of my series “40 PEEKS”.  This story is one of many defining stories in my life and I wanted to preserve it here on my blog so I never forget.  I don’t think it’s possible for me to actually forget but over time, some of the details become less clear.  On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, I wrote down my story and then created a layout which was heavily inspired by the talented Laura Vegas.  Here is the layout and I’ve typed out the journaling below in case it’s hard to read on the image.

Journaling reads:

“Ten years ago, I was there to experience it all.  I worked on Wall Street & took the PATH train to the World Trade Center every morning.  On 9/11, I went to work about 15 minutes early b/c someone needed to use my computer for a training session.  I had just started the job 4 weeks earlier & the rest of my “start class” was coming in that week.  We were in a conference room on the 22nd floor when someone came running in about the plane accident.  We ran into another conference room & could see the first plane hanging out of the WTC & it looked like it was “raining” papers everywhere. Shortly after we heard about the second plane & knew it was time to get out of there.

I remember running to my desk (on a different floor), grabbling my stuff & calling my mom to tell her I was ok & that I was leaving.  She hadn’t heard the news yet & I remember her telling me to get out of there & go wherever I needed to go.  I headed out of the building with some colleagues (who I barely knew since I had only been there a few weeks).  No one really knew what to do & we were all standing amidst the papers that had been flying all over downtown.  At the time, I lived across the Hudson river & my way out of the city was through the WTC & there was no way I was going back there.  I found one of my newbie colleagues & we decided we were going to try & walk across the Brooklyn Bridge to where she lived.  However, as we were figuring out a plan, we saw a TV through the glass windows of the Charles Schwab office next door & saw that the Pentagon was hit.  We knew it was time to run.

We started heading down Wall Street towards the water when all of a sudden, it sounded like bombs going off everywhere…and then the smoke debris filled the narrow streets downtown.  We all started to run in a panic & the only place we couldn’t see smoke was towards the water so that’s where we went.  We ended up by a dock that wasn’t actively being used.  We had to jump a fence (heels & all) & just stood on the dock praying someone would come save us.  As we looked back into the city, there was smoke everywhere & thousands of people running towards us.  We thought for sure if we didn’t get “bombed”, we would die in the river if that dock broke.  Some of the guys were ripping apart their shirts & sharing them with us so we could cover our mouths/noses from the smoke while we waited…

Luckily for us, a ferry boat came by & picked us up.  There was a lot of confusion, people pushing to get on & people wanting to go to different places around the city.  I didn’t care where the ferry was going, I just wanted to get off the island.  We all got on, put on life vests & prayed.  We heard the boat was taking us to NJ which was perfect for me since I lived over there & my family was on that side as well.  It didn’t matter where they dropped us off…I would walk somewhere if I had to.

At this point, we still didn’t know what was going on.  We thought the city was being bombed & had no idea that all the noise & debris was from the first building falling.  While we were on the ferry, I tried getting my cell phone to work so I could call my mom again but couldn’t get any service.  As I had my head down looking at my phone, everyone on the boat started freaking out & screaming.  I looked up from my phone to see one of the towers completely on fire at the top & the minute I looked up, the entire building crumbled to the ground right before my eyes.  The panic increased & all I wanted was to get off that boat.  We all thought our boat would be bombed in the middle of the river & felt extremely exposed out there.

Due to the severity of the situation, the ferry dropped us off in a different spot that originally planned…which for us, worked out perfectly.  As we got off the boat, I looked up & saw my building not too far away.  I lived on the 23rd floor & there was no way I was going up there but I had a plan.  I had a car in the garage & we were going to try & drive to my parents’ house who lived about 45 minutes away.  I took 4 girls from work with me who I really didn’t know but we all just stuck together throughout the experience.  We got in my car & drove away…completely terrorized.

We were part of the fortunate group that got out that day.  We got on one of the first ferries out of the city & had a safe place to stay for a few days.  The girls from work stayed at my parents’ for a few days until they could get back to their homes safely or have someone pick them up.  We had no idea what actually happened that day until we got to my parents’ home & turned on the TV.  I don’t think any of us will ever forget the details of our experience.

I am very lucky that so many little things worked in my favor that day.  If I didn’t go to work 15 minutes early, I would have been underneath that building when it fell.  We got lucky that we didn’t head towards Brooklyn & got one of the first ferries out.  And we were very fortunate that we had someplace safe to go.  There were so many less fortunate & so many people who lost friends & family that day.  It was such a tragedy that I don’t think anyone will ever forget.

There are so many loved ones who never made it home & never got to say goodbye.  So many whose lives ended way too soon.  I’ve never written my story before but I’m glad I did today.  I’ve always wanted to preserve it somewhere but never had the heart to sit down & get it on paper.  Now, 10 years later, I think it’s finally time for me to document my 9/11 experience.”

Last weekend I went to a crop at my local scrapbook store and spent the weekend scraplifting layouts from Kelly Purkey’s Sketchbook class at Studio Calico.  The class came out a while ago but I didn’t get a chance to use all of the fabulous inspiration until this past weekend.  A friend and I decided to work our way through many of the lessons by lifting designs from Kelly and her class contributors and we ended up making (or at least starting) seven different layouts!  I think that’s a record for me since I usually spend more time socializing at crops than actually making anything – but that’s part of the fun!

Here is one of the layouts we made which is a direct lift of one of Kelly’s designs.  I love the little die cut car and love how Kelly used it repeatedly in a grid design.  I knew I had the perfect photo from a road trip to Charleston last year and it made for a fun layout.

I still need to put some finishing touches on the other layouts we made last weekend and will continue to share them here over the coming weeks.

Do you scraplift?  It’s one of my favorite ways to get my creative juices flowing and it’s a great way to use up supplies if you have lots of them on hand.  With all the layouts we created last weekend, I think I actually used up an entire kit for the first time ever!  Very exciting!  🙂

Week 33 included lots of time sprucing up our house (both inside and out) and time with friends.  I was also excited to hear that one of my Project Life spreads was being featured on the Elle’s Studio blog as this week’s Project Spotlight so I made sure to get a screenshot of the post so I could include it in my album.  Sadly, Week 33 was also the week we heard about the passing of Robin Williams.  I like to try and include bits of news and current events in my album from time to time as I think it will be a nice memento to have in the future.  I loved the tribute to Robin Williams that Apple posted on their website and used a screenshot to capture it here.  I also loved the brush script file that Geralyn from In A Creative Bubble shared on her blog.  The quote she used was just perfect and I wanted to make sure to include it on this week’s spread.

I mixed four different Studio Calico kits this week and love how I can combine different kits to create my spreads.  Again, I’m finding my Project Life style to be “flat” and simple and love using just photos, cards, journaling and a few additional touches here and there.

So what’s your Project Life style?  It’s taken me quite a while to figure out mine but I think I’m happy with how it’s evolved over time.  I’m sure it will continue to change and I think that’s the fun part of the creative process.  Hope you’re having a great week and thanks for stopping by!  🙂