Jennifer Woodbury

Why We're Not Traveling for Thanksgiving This Year

Around this time every year for the past five years, we've been getting ready to board an airplane and spend Thanksgiving with Matt's parents in St. George, Utah. My kids don't know this holiday any other way. To them, Thanksgiving is always spent with cousins, aunts, and uncles they don't get to see very often. It's about making gingerbread houses with Grandma Kathy. It's when Matt goes golfing with his dad. And even for me, Thanksgiving is now about enjoying a little desert air before heading back to face an East Coast winter and stuffing myself with turkey and Cafe Rio. It's also about figuring out how in the world we're going to get a full-sized gingerbread house through airport security intact on the trip home.

So I'm a little sad to report that we won't be flying west for the holiday this year. Part of it is that the trip just seems like a lot of effort considering we can't stay as long as we used to now that Ella is in school. But most of the reason has to do with this:

This was Lucy on the plane as we were getting ready to take off to Orlando for our Disney trip back in September. She looks angelic, doesn't she?

Well, this was her after that flight on the Magical Express bus to our Disney resort:

Yeah, that bus ride wasn't so "magical" for me or anyone else who was lucky enough to be on board with us.

So this year, instead of flying for five hours we'll be driving for two to spend Thanksgiving with cousins, an aunt, and an uncle who we luckily do get to see fairly often. We won't have Grandma Kathy to help with the gingerbread houses but we will have Grandpa Paul (aka my dad) visiting from Oregon. Maybe Matt can play pickleball with him instead of golf? Sadly there's really no replacement for Cafe Rio, but there's always my old standby Panera Bread. And at the very least, we won't have any gingerbread houses stuffed into overhead bins this year... or screaming and belligerent one-year-olds sitting in a window seat.

Project Life Q&A

I apologize in advance for the wordy post and lack of pictures, but hopefully this answers all the questions I have received.

How do I print my photos to fit into the sleeves? Where/how do you get your photos printed each month with the rounded corners?

All my photos are printed in the standard 4x6 size. I order them from Persnickety Prints, because their color seems to be a lot better than local 1 hour photo places like Costco, but it's cheaper than using a pro lab like WHCC. 

I round the corners myself using this EK Success Corner Rounder (the small size, in the yellow color). It's very fast and easy, but of course you don't have to round your corners. This corner rounder does mimic the rounded corners of the journaling cards included in the Project Life kits quite nicely though.

How do you put your photos of the day in the format with the script and circle date?

The date overlays are by Ali Edwards and you can purchase them at Designer Digitals. You can buy the entire year or one month at a time (here is January). They are actually on sale right now through November 16th, so it might be worth buying them now if you are interested. I love them, as I do most anything Ali Edwards does, but I probably won't use them every day next year like I did this year.

They are easy to use (after using them over 300 times this year, I pretty much have it down to a science). Just open up the file for the date you are using and rotate if needed (I always rotate 90 degrees clockwise to fit my horizontal photos). If you want the border/date to be white instead of black, just add a color overlay. To do this in Photoshop you just go to Layers -> Layer Style -> Color Overlay. Open up your photo and make sure it is sized to 4x6 inches at 300 pixels/inch resolution. Then just drag the date overlay onto your photo, center it, and flatten the layers.

How do you subscribe or create the calendar for your pictures a day? Is there a website or did you create this on your own?

The calendar format for my photo a day blog is a template offered through my blog provider, Typepad. If you don't have a Typepad blog the only other thing I've come across that is similar is this site:

http://shuttercal.com/

If anybody else knows of something like this out there, please let me know!

How do you organize your photos on your computer to prepare for the project? iPhoto, or something else?

I am a huge Mac devotee, but for some reason I have never embraced iPhoto. I think it's because I prefer to have control over what my files are named and where the originals are located on my hard drive. I save all my original photos in folders by quarter (2011 Quarter 1, 2011 Quarter 2, etc.). When I choose which photo I want to use for my photo of the day, I edit it and save a copy in a folder titled Photo a Day 2011.

What camera(s) do you use for your POTD? Do you do much editing before you print/post your pictures? Are you a manual photo taker or automatic setting kind of gal?

My camera is the Canon 5D (original model). The lens I use 95% of the time is the 24-70mm f/2.8L. I have used my iPhone camera for a few of my daily photos, and while it is much more convenient than using a DSLR camera, I am rarely happy with the quality so my big camera goes pretty much everywhere with me. Maybe that will change when I hopefully upgrade to the iPhone 4S at the end of the year.

I usually keep my camera set to "P" mode, which is basically automatic except I control ISO and white balance. That way, I won't miss a shot if I'm trying to capture something on the spur of the moment. If the lighting is tricky, or if I have more time to get the shot, I will either use aperture priority or full manual mode.

I do edit each photo at least minimally. I do adjustments in Camera RAW (tweak exposure & contrast), and then usually do a curves adjustment in Photoshop. I don't really use any actions. I have followed a method similar to this for a very long time too, and it always gives me great results.

Can you let me know how to get it? Which products did you have to buy separate from the kit to make it work the way you did?

Here are the basics of what you will need to get started:

• A binder: I use the basic black binder from We R Memory Keepers. Becky is coming out with some brand new binders next month from this same company, and you can see the details about those on her blog. 
• Project Life Core Kit: There are two versions available right now: Turquoise and Amber. I used the Amber edition this year. Next month, two new versions will become available: Cobalt and Clementine. You can see close ups of what they will look like here. I plan to use Clementine for 2012. If you really want to stick with the very basics, you can always just buy these simple grid journaling cards to start and go from there. Actually, I'd recommend buying those plain journaling cards anyway; I love them and they are really versatile. 
• Photo Pocket pages: If you buy this big pack, it will get you through an entire year. If you tend to shoot more vertical photos, you may want to check out this new design as well. 

Those are the basics. If you want to add in extra photos + memorabilia throughout the year, these are the products I find myself reaching for most often:

• 12x12 page protectors for horizontal 4x6 photos: I find I use these mostly for vacations or other times when I have a lot of extra photos. 
• 6x12 page protectors: I use these for cards and folded programs. 
• 6x12 page protectors for horizontal 4x6 photos: I use these when I just have a few extra photos to include. 
• Regular 8.5x11 page protectors: I use these for school work or anything else printed on standard-sized paper that I want to include.
• Flip up page protectors: These are great when you just can't pick one photo for a certain day.
• Big envelope pages: These are a new product so I haven't used them yet, but I do have them and I think they are going to be really useful going forward. 

Project Life

You may remember when I talked about 2011 being the year of story for me. While I never blogged any more about it, I have in fact kept the word "story" at the forefront of my mind this year. One of the biggest aspects of the word "story" for me this year was a focus on documenting my family's story. In whatever form it takes - journals, scrapbooking, blog posts - documenting has always been hugely important to me. After taking a year off, I started up my photo a day project again this year, but as I mentioned back in January I was also searching for a way to record our lives in a more tangible way. Since I haven't done any scrapbooking in quite a while, I have been making promises to myself for ages that I would somehow get my family's photos and stories off the computer and into something that they can actually touch and see. I always thought I would put my previous years' daily photos into photo books, but almost four years after starting that project, it still hasn't happened.

Enter Project Life.

I started using this brainchild of Becky Higgins at the beginning of the year, but I wasn't sure if I would stick with it and how it would work for me.

Well, it's now been almost a full year and I can tell you that I've stuck with it. And loved it. I finally feel like I have a way to record our daily lives in a way that is manageable (read: simple) and also meaningful. I always thought I was strictly a digital girl so I am surprised at how much I love having an actual, physical place to print and store my photos. (Although speaking of digital, there will soon be a digital Project Life as well.) I think what I love most about this format is that I also feel like I now have a place to put all that extra "stuff" that I want to keep but never knew where to store before: programs, cards, and artwork for example. I just put extra page protectors in the middle of my weekly layouts. For example, here I included extra photos from Claire's birthday back in March and a story about leprechauns that Ella wrote in school:

Without fail, whenever I am working on my Project Life album I turn to Matt and say "I can't believe how much I LOVE this." Truly, it has filled a gap I didn't even realize existed. And the best part is that my kids ask to look at it all the time. Which truly is the whole point anyway.

This is how I have used Project Life in 2011:

• I take daily photos and post captions/journaling in my photo a day blog. I try to never get more than a week behind, although I have been as much as two or three weeks behind at various points during the year.
• I have tried to take all my daily photos horizontally in order to fit the design of the album. It was actually much easier than I thought it would be. I still have plenty of vertical photos included as extras. There were a couple of instances when I didn't have a horizontal photo to use, and in that case I merged two vertical photos together (examples: July 17th & September 26th). This year, there actually is a new page design for vertical photos, but I will probably stick with the horizontal design.
• Since I don't have a photo printer, I print out my photos about once a month and put them in the album. I have a file where I save all the extra items I want to include, and I usually add them to the album at the same time I add in the photos.
• I fill out the journaling cards as I have time. I am a few months behind right now, but since I have all my journaling already saved on my photo a day blog, I'm not too worried about it.

These are some changes I'm considering for Project Life in 2012:

• I will still stick to the one layout per week format, but I may not worry so much about having a photo for every single day. As long as I have enough various photos + extras from the week to fill a layout, I will be happy.
• I'd like to involve my kids more in the album, especially Ella now that she can write. I thought this was something I would do in 2011, but it just never really happened.
• Handwriting all the journaling cards can be time consuming, so I'm considering incorporating printed versions of digital journaling cards in 2012.

I'm posting about Project Life now because the new 2012 versions will be released soon, and now is the perfect time to think about possibly doing this yourself for 2012. I use it for my daily photos, but it can really be used in any way you want. If a weekly layout is too ambitious, a monthly layout would work just as well. The beauty of it is that it can work for anybody, whether you are a current scrapbooker, former scrapbooker, or never scrapbooked a day in your life.

I'm also excited that I have been asked to be a part of the newly formed Project Life Creative Team. I was absolutely floored to be asked by Becky to be a part of this team, but I am really excited to share more with you this upcoming year. I truly love and believe in this method of documenting our stories.

For more inspiration, check out Ali Edwards' Project Life posts. She has been a huge inspiration to me (in many ways) and I love what she always says about Project Life: It can be anything you want it to be. Truly, it can.

And for even more inspiration, check out the rest of the Project Life Creative Team:

• Deb Duty
• MaryAnn Perry
• Monica McNeill
• Marcy Penner
• Liz Tamanaha
• Michelle Wooderson

Any questions? Let me know and I'd be happy to answer them!

Our Fall: The Cliff Notes Version

Chapter 1: Apple Picking

Chapter 2: Pumpkin Picking

Chapter 3: Halloween (The One Where it Snowed)

I really loved the girls' costumes this year. Ella was The Cat in the Hat, which was perfect for her. She has loved that book since she was in preschool, and I really credit Dr. Seuss with helping Ella learn how to read.

Claire was Madeline, a costume idea I have had in my head for her for well over a year. She has always reminded me of Madeline. I think it's the hair. I was worried she wouldn't go for it, but she ended up absolutely loving the costume.

I tried to keep the book character theme going with Lucy, but in the end I just went for the cute factor with this puffy strawberry. I think I made the right choice.

And for the first time ever, Matt and I weren't total Halloween party poopers in the costume department. We wore Thing 1 and Thing 2 t-shirts to coordinate with Ella's costume. Yes, perhaps we could have taken it one step further with a pair of blue wigs, but people seemed to appreciate our effort nonetheless.

Claire was a bit disappointed that I didn't dress up as Miss Clavel, but a nun costume was more than I could muster this year. There's always next year though...

Lowering the Bar

Winnie the Pooh movie night.

One of my obstacles in life is that I have always been something of a perfectionist.

I don't say this to try and give myself a back-handed compliment, like the way you would answer a question about your greatest weakness in a job interview by actually talking about a disguised strength instead.

Yes, being a perfectionist means that if I do something I will always give it my very best, but it also means that sometimes I get bogged down in unimportant details, like when I spend more time making sure my blog posts have the correct punctuation than I do in actually getting my thoughts written down.

And sometimes it means I don't do the things I want to do at all because I know I can't do them "pefectly."

Take, for example, family movie night. A couple of years ago, there were a lot of movie night ideas floating around the blogosphere; elaborate events complete with themed props and treats. They were so creative and adorable (check out Heather's and Maegan's ideas here and here, for example) that I couldn't wait to have our own amazingly fabulous movie night. The thing is, I just never could find the time to make those spaghetti and meatball cupcakes so we could watch Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.

And so months went by as I waited for the weekend when I would finally have time to plan the "perfect" movie night. And then one Friday night we ordered pizza, popped some popcorn, rolled out the sleeping bags, and just watched a movie. Without a coordinating craft. Or a fancy treat.

Now our simple Friday night movie nights have become something of a tradition. And lately I have noticed Ella's excitement building throughout the week ("Mom, today is Wednesday... we are getting close to movie night!"). Now that she's been in school for a couple of months and is busy with activities, these Friday nights to relax and spend time with her family mean so much to her. And to be honest, I look forward to that time just as much as she does.

All of this got me to thinking: what if I had kept waiting to make those cupcakes and we never got around to having movie night at all? It made me sad to think I might have missed out on seeing my three girls lined up in a row in their sleeping bags every Friday night.

Mostly, it was a reminder to me that as parents it's okay to lower the bar sometimes. We are all trying to do the very best for our children, but that doesn't mean we have to be the best at everything. I admire my amazingly creative mom friends, but as long as I have a child who likes to pick food out of the garbage can and eat it (I'll let you guess who), anything more complicated than popping some popcorn just isn't in the cards for me.

Thankfully, my kids seem to be okay with that. And surprisingly, I'm okay with it too.

The Thing About Disney

So, here's the thing about Disney.

It's crowded.

It's really hot (even in late September, it turns out).

It's exhausting.

And I LOVE IT.

I can't explain it, and you can tell me all day long how over-commercialized it is, but there is just something magical about stepping into the park and walking down Main Street.

It's fun to track down characters...

... and go to the pool when it just gets too hot.

Boat rides to the Magic Kingdom are a relaxing change of pace.

And breakfast with Winnie the Pooh and friends is a must, although Lucy was unimpressed with Eeyore (and pretty much every other character she came across).

But she was even more unimpressed with her "magical" first haircut experience at the Harmony Barber Shop. Have you ever seen anyone look so devoid of emotion while looking at a pair of Mickey ears? There's a reason we call her Poker Face.

However, contrary to the majority of the evidence, she did crack a smile or two on this trip.

In fact, while Claire was hiding her eyes on the Haunted Mansion, Lucy was laughing and shouting "Boo!" at all the ghosts and goblins.

We spent most of the trip hot and sweaty, but happy.

(In case you were wondering what it's like to take a picture of a 1-year-old, this shot gives you a pretty good idea.)

We collapsed into our beds after arriving home (only after unpacking first, of course), but that may have had more to do with the 2.5 hours Matt and I spent wrestling Lucy on our epic flight home than it had to do with the trip itself. Now that we've had a few weeks to fully settle ourselves back into real life the question is: when can we go back?

P.S. I think it's safe to say the urgent care curse has officially been broken.