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OUR TREE - AMM JANUARY KIT  Since it was our first real tree in ten years, I decided it was worth commemorating.        BLISS - AMM JANUARY KIT  I love this photo and the sense of calm it gives me. Journaling is under the flap in the bottom. MOMMY TAKE PICTURE - AMM JANUARY KIT  Journaling Reads: When you were born, I took your photos constantly and you never objected. (Well, you didn’t have much choice.) As you grew up, you went through a phase were you were very annoyed when I approached you with a camera. “No picture,” you’d say over and over again. Those months, most of the photos I captured were angry, frustrated, or annoyed faces. I didn’t mind too much, I loved those faces almost as much as the happy ones since they were all different parts of you. I figured I should capture all I can while you still let me take any photos. I thought that eventually you’d find clever ways to hide from the camera. I have been preparing myself for that day. But, today, you completely shocked me. You walked up to the camera, gave it to me, and said “Mommy, take picture,” and you gave me the sweetest smile. I didn’t care that the light was terrible and that it would be blurry. I captured the moment and thanked my lucky stars. HOLIDAY LIGHTS - AMM JANUARY KIT  GOOGLE 2007 - AMM JANUARY KIT  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - PAGE 30 - LOOKING BACK  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - PAGE 29 - PHOTOS FROM CHRISTMAS    MAYA ROAD - THANKFUL           I am so thankful for you David. CREATIVE CAFE - NOTES  CREATIVE CAFE - JOURNAL  I am not fully sure what I will use this for yet, but I like the loose feel of it. Maybe I will keep it for journaling ideas.  CREATIVE CAFE - DAVID - YEAR THREE  This is year three.       CREATIVE CAFE - DAVID - YEAR TWO  This is year two.       CREATIVE CAFE - DAVID - YEAR ONE  Trust me that Danelle's designs were much prettier. Also, she has hard plastic see-through covers for the albums but I wanted to use those elsewhere so I took them out. It was three albums of 12 pages each, so I used them to commemorate David's first three years since he will be three in five weeks. This is year one, when he was a teeny-weeny baby. Each page has a chipboard that comes out and there is one photo on each side. I didn't photograph the photos since they are not new.       THE END OF 2007 I've never been fond of years that start with odd numbers. Despite the fact that David was born in an odd-numbered year, I've just sort of disliked them. To be fair, 2007 was a pretty good year to me. For the most part, I was perfectly healthy and made some progress in all areas of my life. It was my first full-year of not-at-home employment since David was born. I spent the first part of the year doing two different positions and working myself way too hard. Thankfully, I woke up somewhere along the line and changed my job so that I work with products I feel more passionate about. I also got to meet some amazing people through this new position and am working daily on enjoying it as much as possible. 2007 was mostly the year of scrapping and creating art for me. I did 270 pages of minibooks or layouts. I applied for DT positions and was blessed to get one at my favorite place: A Million Memories. I also submitted a few pieces of work and one got accepted to be published in an upcoming Lisa Bearnson book. I read over forty books. That's not nearly as many as the years before, but considering the full-time job and the full-time scrapping, I'd say that's pretty good. I took over 10,000 photos. Most of them are David or layouts but there are a few trips here and there. To San Diego. To LA. To Fitzgerald National Park. To Pismo Beach. Here's some of the stuff I didn't do: I spent a lot of quality time with David and Jake and yet it wasn't enough. I didn't lose weight. Actually, I gained weight. I didn't hang out with my friends enough. I didn't keep in touch with people enough. I didn't write my novel. I didn't blog enough. I didn't exercise at all. I didn't go camping enough. I didn't spend enough quiet time to enjoy life. These things will be rectified in 2008. It's an even year after all. SLOW DOWN - ART JOURNAL  Rushing into action, you fail. Trying to grasp things, you lose them. Forcing a project to completion, you ruin what was almost ripe. JOURNEY - AN ART JOURNAL  This is also the year I want to concentrate on the journey and not the destination. As this is the pensive time of year for me, I've also been reading the Tao Te Ching and I will be incorporating a lot of its quotes to my journal this year. This year, it's about slowing down, letting things go, stopping trying to control, taking what I get, and being present. It's all about the journey. Enjoying every moment of life and not trying to cram everything in. I picked a Rusty Pickle minibook to do my journal in. Its size spoke to me. It's 6.75" by 11" or so. Big enough canvas to give me space but not so big as to be intimidating. I hope to do a page a week or so. It's a "gated" journal so it opens from the middle. Here's the back cover.  Of course, I also picked journey as my one little word. Here's to a fantastic journey in 2008. YEAR-END SALE AT AMM If you're looking for fantastic year-end sales, A Million Memories, where I am a Design Team member is having a sale. 10% off if you use the code 1231 at checkout And here's the beautiful photo of our January kit which I had the luck to work with and will be posting layouts from really soon:  Happy Holidays, may your year be filled with wonderful memories to capture on scrapbook pages. JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - PAGE 28 - WEAKNESSES  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - PAGE 27 - SLEEPING IN   NO WORDS NEEDED  Another layout with the Zoe Line by KI Memories Love, Elsie thanks to the wonderful ladies at A Million Memories. I DADDY  Another layout with the Zoe Line by KI Memories Love, Elsie thanks to the wonderful ladies at A Million Memories. CLICK CLICK  Another layout with the Zoe Line by KI Memories Love, Elsie thanks to the wonderful ladies at A Million Memories. SCRAP RESOLUTIONS 2008         WHY I LOVE NYC         AUTUMN LEAVES - WHY I LOVE NYC        JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 26 - THE DAY AFTER  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 25 - CHRISTMAS DAY  FITZGERALD MARINE RESERVE  Happy Holidays. CREATE - FOR INSPIRATION           JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - PAGE 24 - CHRISTMAS EVE  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - PAGE 23 - STOCKINGS  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - PAGE 22 - LEFT TO DO  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - PAGE 21 - YOUR HOUSE NOW  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - PAGE 20 - UNEXPECTED  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - PAGE 19 - LETTER TO SANTA  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - PAGE 18 - DINNER  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - PAGE 17 - THE PERFECT GIFT  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - PAGE 16 - THANKFUL  SONGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY  Here's small version of the journaling: 1. Son of a Preacherman - my DH, his roommate, and I played this on repeat non-stop (night and day) for over 5 months when I was in college 2. Something to Talk About - first week of college, my first set of friends played this on continuous loop for a Freshman talent show and we used this song to cheer us up all throughout college 3. Cinderella - This is a song from high school, always always cheers me up. The journaling is about how hard it was to find the CD for it since I had no idea who sang it. 4. The Wrong Way - DH and I listened to this over and over again, driving from NYC to Boston, where our parents were to meet for the first time 5. Making Love Out of Nothing At All - My favorite memory ever, a few weeks after DH and I started dating, we were at the airport, returning home for the holidays and I was on the plane, listening to this song, looking out of the window, when I saw him at the terminal waving at me (even though he couldn't see me). He waved the whole time until my plane pulled away. Here are the rest of the pages:      KEYIF  HAIRCUT  AMORE AND OPAPA  ORNAMENTS  Here is the back: 
MOM AND DAD  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 15 - VISITORS  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 14 - CHRISTMAS SONGS AND CAROLS  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 13 - OPENING PRESENTS  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 12 - HOW THINGS ARE CHANGING  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 11 - OUR TREE  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 10 - WRAPPING GIFTS  SCENIC ROUTE - DECEMBER SIX  Journaling Reads: December 6, 2001 was a special day for me before it began. I had been preparing for an interview that promised to change my life. In the months before, I had decided to walk away from my Wall Street job and do something more purposeful with my life. I applied to Teach For America and got as far as the interview process and my interview was scheduled for December 6. I still remember every detail of that day clearly. It was exceptionally hot for December in New York City. My interview went smoothly and I was feeling exhausted but hopeful on my walk home. Large Christmas ornaments decorated Madison Avenue and I was so much in the spirit by the time I came home that I told Jake we should go see the Rockefeller Center tree that night. The tree has always been a favorite of mine but that year was even more special than usual. Due to the terrible events of September 11, just a few months before, the city had decided to decorate the tree with only red, white, and blue lights. To my surprise, Jake agreed to take the trip. He even said he wanted to see a particular view that we’d seen on TV. He’s not the romantic type, so it did strike me as a bit odd but I was too tired to think. When I woke up from my nap, I asked him if we could go to the bookstore instead but he insisted that we go see the tree. On the way out, he put on his jacket and I reminded him that it was actually quite warm outside, but he wouldn’t leave it at home. Another hint that should have made me realize something was going on, and yet I had no idea. As we walked around the tree, to the angels, I stepped up on one of the benches and leaned over just to show Jake the view he’d claimed he wanted to see. I turned around to make sure he was following me, and then I saw that he was on one knee with a beautiful blue box in front of him. It took me a few seconds to realize what was happening and I instinctively kneeled to his level. He asked, "Will you marry me?" I just leaned over and kissed him as a bunch of strangers cheered and shouted their congratulations. I’d always told Jake that I wanted his proposal to be extra romantic. It had to be a good story to tell our kids. But after seven years, I had totally given up and figured we’d end up at City Hall. It turns out I was wrong. He still managed to completely knock me off my feet. The very next morning I found out that I made Vice President at my job. A few days later I got accepted to Teach For America. It was one of the best weeks of my life. Needless to say, I will forever cherish the memories of December 6, 2001 and never again underestimate Jake. SCENIC ROUTE - UNBOUNDED  SCENIC ROUTE - ADVENT CALENDAR  Under each day is a little thought from that day attached with velcro. JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 9 - NEW TRADITIONS  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 8 - AROUND TOWN  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 7 - PRESENTS  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 6 - THE BEST AND THE WORST  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 5 - COUNTING DOWN  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 4 - THE PERFECT CHRISTMAS  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - CHRISTMAS CARDS  JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 2 - SNOW  Today's prompt was about the snow. Writing about the weather. One of my few complaints about living in California is how it doesn't snow here. Ever. Most of the time, I don't mind that. But, for me, Christmastime is all about being woken up when the first snow falls. Making snowmen. Cuddling up and watching it all fall. David won't get to experience this as a little boy. Thankfully, we can get to a lot of snow with a short drive from here, so each year, we'll have to take one weekend to go play in the snow so David can have fun. It won't be the same as running out the door with your pajamas on at night, but it's still better than nothing. I specifically didn't put a paper snowflake on this page since it's all about the lack of snow. More of the Scenic Route papers I received as part of being on the A Million Memories DT. Big thanks to both Scenic Route and AMM. One day down. JOURNAL YOUR CHRISTMAS - DAY 1 - MANIFESTO  I meant to mention that I am using a 5x7 minibook by 7gypsies that I took apart. I wanted something small and manageable but big enough that I could use photos if I wanted to. Today's prompt was about writing your manifesto. Your intentions behind doing this album. I wanted to do this for many reasons. Partly to create something everyday, but I could have done that with any album class. I picked this one cause Christmas is my favorite time of year. Despite the fact that I am Jewish and grew up in Turkey where there's almost no one who celebrates Christmas the way American Christians do, Christmas makes me much more happier than any other holiday. Maybe cause I grew up with Christmas trees (even though we called them New Year's Trees) and ornaments, and lights and presents. Or maybe it's that the cold, cozy time of year just makes me giddy. Either way, my intent for this journal is to take this time of year, write down my observations and see if I can create some traditions for my family so I can find ways to create our version of Christmas, Channukah, and New Year. Maybe it will look like all of them, or maybe like none of them. But it will definitely be ours. Something we can personalize and internalize and love. More of the Scenic Route papers I received as part of being on the A Million Memories DT. Big thanks to both Scenic Route and AMM. One day down. Journal Your Christmas - Cover  I wanted to keep the cover very simple and I might go back to it at the end and go crazy with it, but for now it's just plain and subdued. For the first few days (at least) I will be using the Scenic Route papers I received as part of being on the A Million Memories DT. Big thanks to both Scenic Route and AMM. Let's see if I can do this for the next thirty five days. |
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