The Before 30 Bucket List

When I was just about to turn 20, I wrote a list of goals to accomplish over the next ten years. Those goals were mostly stupid, and I think I realized that they weren't all that important to me because I've lost the list. These are the things I remember from the list: I wanted to get a real job, buy a car, buy a house, get married, have a baby, get a tattoo, see John Mayer in concert, see Weezer in concert, go on a road trip through at least five states that didn't include the Dakotas, have my writing published, and go to Europe.

I've done seven of those things. I still plan to do two of them someday, and there are another two that are completely off my radar at this point.

The problem with the list was that most of my goals were not accomplishments. I didn't really have to work to achieve most of those goals, and so, there was no sense of pride in fulfilling them, and there isn't much heartbreaking in not reaching them. At 20, I wasn't looking for fulfillment. I was thinking about reaching the markers of adulthood. I didn't even list graduating college on that list because I took it for granted that I was brilliant and would have no trouble doing so.

I'm six months from turning 30, so I feel like it's time to start evaluating what I REALLY should have accomplished before I turned 30, as well as what I should accomplish before I turn 40. The fourth decade bucket list will be a work in progress over the next six month, but today, I'm ready to share my "Before 30" bucket list with you.

1. Run a 5K.
2. Make my office/scrapbook space perfect.
3. Pass the middle grades Social Studies GACE test.
4. Re-do/refresh our bedroom, including paint.
5. Make curtains for the guestroom.
6. Make curtains for the living room/kitchen.
7. Finish the second book in the Song of Fire and Ice series.
8. Complete our wedding scrapbook (okay, really this is a 5 year anniversary goal, but our anniversary is a month and a half before my 30th birthday, so it is part of this list, too).
9. Reduce my wardrobe to the pieces I actually wear and expand it to include more functional pieces.
10. Finish my home management binder (more about this later).

I'll be sharing my progress on these goals over the next few months. My birthday is September 15, so I'll be updating on or around the 15th of the month until then.

Project Life: 2013 Week 17

Yes, these photos are older, but I just completed this layout two weeks ago! Weddings in Project Life really intimidate me! I don't want to give them too much weight because Project Life isn't about telling other people's stories, and it's not about the big events, but weddings are still part of our life. We have to travel, take time off from work, buy or rent clothing...and those are all things that should be in Project Life. So, I constantly find myself struggling to give them enough importance but not too much importance. 

This time, though, I think it's okay that it takes up a little more room. It's the wedding of my husband's only brother, Tyler, and his wife, Jenny! I can't believe it's been nearly a year since we flew to Connecticut for this. It felt like the two years they were engaged lasted forever, but the past year has flown by. I'm sure the newlyweds would also agree!

This week features pages from week 17, April 22-27, 2013. I normally end my spreads on Sunday, but because Saturday was my brother-in-law's wedding in Connecticut and Sunday was the beginning of trip to Michigan, it seemed like it made more sense to make this "week" just 6 days.

Only two photos were taken in Georgia this week - the photo of my hair looking AMAZING without being straightened thanks to my new shampoo, and the photo of my favorite sculpture in the Atlanta airport.

See? Well, probably not, thanks to the glare from the page protector, but my hair seriously did look awesome after three months of using Suave Keratin Infusion shampoo and conditioner.

I am making a point to use all the geo tags and arrows I've accumulated over the past few years by documenting our travel routes in Project Life. You can see how I used both on this page.

The only photo Trevor or I took the night of the rehearsal dinner was the selfie of me in the hotel mirror. The picture doesn't properly convey the horror of that hotel. OMG. It was bad. 

We did get pictures from my in-laws later on, but since I had already printed these photos and added them to the album, I left them out. I couldn't justify adding another insert for this week!

For the actual wedding ceremony, I picked a few photos that were very self-explanatory. I paired them with the MAMBI ring card and a PL wedding mini kit card I dressed up with some Bazzill shimmer cardstock from my stash that almost perfectly matches the bridesmaid dresses and ties (Trevor got to keep his tie, so I matched it with that). 

For the reception, I did some journaling to explain who is in some of these photos and where we were. Though it's unlikely I'll forget those details, I know that someday, my future kids or nieces/nephews who didn't exist may want those details. 

The letter V with the date was originally intended for the front of the insert, but I felt like the ring card needed to go on the front with the photos of the ring exchange, and I wanted Tyler and Jenny's names on the front, so I swapped the two cards around after the spread was completed.

The gray and white cards are from the Project Life mini kit, and the purple cards are cut from the same Bazzill shimmer cardstock as the couple's names on the previous page.

{Supplies: Studio Calico May 2013 scrapbook kit, cut files from the Silhouette store and from Studio Calico, Silhouette Cameo, Project Life wedding mini kit, chipboard arrow from Studio Calico January 2013 Scrapbook kit, MAMBI pocket card wedding collection, Dear Lizzie roller stamp from March 2012 Studio Calico Scrapbook kit, American Crafts Precision pens, Colorbox blue ink, AC embossing powder in Denim, Bazzill shimmer cardstock, and Paperbilities pearl letter V}

2013 Album Title Page

{Supplies: SC Project Life kits, Project Life Vintage Travel Core kit, SC Scrapbook kits, Ever After font, Honey font, Silhouette Cameo die cut machine, cut files from the Silhouette online store}

These photos are terrible, and I apologize. I used my iPhone, and I had no idea that I would be sharing these images on the blog when I took them. I was really just intending to text them to a friend to show her I'd been productive during the holiday break. However, tonight, I'm bored, so I've decided to schedule a couple posts, and I just kept coming back to these images. I don't want to re-shoot them at 10 p.m. at night, so we're just going to live with them!

The star with the 2013 badge was rescued from my failed December Daily album. They are mounted on a piece of thick transparency film, back to back so the adhesives didn't show. 

All of the cards, with the exception of the "In Review" and calendar cards, are from the Vintage Travel line that is a Michael's exclusive. The two exceptions are from the Studio Calico Project Life kits I received last year (I subscribed from January through October).  Most of the embellishments are from the Studio Calico kits I've received since beginning my subscription in January 2011. Kits more than a year old are broken up, so I can't tell which specific kit the items came from, but I know what came from the kits still. 

This is the opening page of my 2013 regular scrapbook. Essentially, what you are seeing are pages 1 and 2. Page 3 will be a map showing where we traveled in 2013. The fourth and fifth pages will be my monthly two-page spread for January. At some point, I want to do a brief video explaining my album organization. I basically have two albums running for each year - Project Life and my "regular" scrapbook. The structure of my regular albums revolves around something called "Project 12," in which I've committed to creating a two page spread summarizing each month of the year as soon as I can following that month. Events for that month fall after the P12 layout. This way, even if I don't create a layout for a specific event, it's at least summarized, and I have 24 pages in my album at the end of the year.

Winter Storms

Last Tuesday night, Georgia began to experience some serious winter weather. We had freezing rain/sleet on Tuesday night followed by Snow on Wednesday night. We were out of school for two days because so many trees and power lines came down, making roadways impassable and power scarce. I was blessed to keep power, water, and internet at my house, so I just got cozy and enjoyed my extra time at home!

Day one:

Day 2:

Happy Valentines Day!

{created using the Rhonna Designs app + Instagram}

No matter what or how you're celebrating, I hope you have an amazing day! My kitties and I are snuggling while we wait for Trevor to arrive late tonight. He and I will celebrate tomorrow instead. 

On reconnecting with my purpose...

I have been watching a lot of PBA 30 right now - Public Broadcasting Atlanta. It's one of the few channels that comes in clearly on our rabbit ear antenna in the bedroom. I'm not going to complain because I finally have access to Downton Abbey and Sherlock as they are first run episodes.

Yesterday, I was sick in bed all day. I literally did not leave the bedroom until 4:30 P.M., and it was just for a few minutes then. I spent the whole day sleeping and watching PBA 30. There was an episode of "Priceless Antiques Roadshow" and there was a documentary on Mel Brooks.

Now, these two shows may not seem like they have anything in common, but they did. You see, each of them contained the line "When I was eight years old..." The line was spoken first by one of the antiques experts on "Priceless Antiques Roadshow" and later by Mel Brooks in his documentary. Each of them had connected to his passion, his purpose at the age of eight. I marveled each time at how amazing it was that these men had found their purposes at such a young age, and I felt envious.

When I heard Mel Brooks say it, I also thought about how I couldn't remember having a strong desire or aptitude for any one career when I was a child. That is, until I averted my eyes from the TV and instead looked upon the bookshelf.

Eight was when I started reading chapter books and fell head over heels in love with reading and writing. I just about wore out my Little House on the Prairie books. I eventually started writing my own stories, too. I had dreams of being a published writer.

Those dreams came to fruition in college, when I started writing for my school's newspaper. I wrote for the paper for three years. I wish I had started sooner, but I honestly didn't have the courage to start sooner. It took a lot of urging from a really good friend to get me to apply. It was a huge shock to see my first story on the front page of the newspaper's first issue.

Since college ended, I've drifted away from that purpose. The only regular writing I do now is to update my Facebook status or Twitter account. I'm hoping that I can start to reconnect with that purpose by blogging more. I have no expectation that I will ever write for another newspaper or see my name on a bound book, but I do still love and enjoy the outlet that writing gives me. I genuinely appreciate the sharing opportunities available via the blogosphere. Of course, I would still be writing this somewhere even if blogging weren't an option.

I'm truly excited about this new adventure, about blogging more regularly, and about reconnecting with that purpose I found at eight years old. I really think this is something that will connect with my One Little Word for 2014, joy. Because, honestly, if there isn't joy in reconnecting with your purpose, where can you find joy?

One Little Word 2014: Joy

I thought about many different words for this year. I even went as far as to create graphics for two different words, but I just couldn't commit to them. Then, this weekend, I was looking through my necklaces, trying to choose one to wear to Ikea on Saturday morning, and my Origami Owl Tagged necklace jumped out at me.

find joy in the journey.

My word came to me immediately. Joy has been on my mind ever since our church's women's event in December. The main point of the presentation was that joy is really like an unflappable peace, something that transcends our circumstances. Being a worrier, being the person that can always think of ten ways everything can go wrong, I know I need that kind of peace. It seems especially important given the changes coming our way this year - Trevor's new job, the uncertainty of my whether I'll be at the same school this fall, and turning 30. 

I need peace. I need joy. I need to not worry.

So this year, I'm all about joy. Finding joy in my journey, finding joy in the everyday, finding joy in the most mundane places. This is my mission for 2014. 

What's your mission? Did you pick a word for 2014? Tell me about it in the comments. I might even share some responses on the blog next time I discuss my one little word.

Oh Snap!

{Supplies: Basic Grey paper pad, Recollections cardstock, Silhouette Cameo machine, Bebas New font, camera cut file by Amy Tangerine, and background cut file by Lori Whitlock}

My friend Jessica, who began Bridges Photography last year, turned 30 last week, so I had to incorporate the camera theme into this card! I started by resizing the background cut in Silhouette studio. I then typed my sentiment directly onto the cut file. I backed the background piece with a black paper from the same Basic Gray collection. The camera is also backed with the same black paper. It was so much fun working with one 6x6 paper pad that I ended up making several cards from that same pad that night.

Why I Failed at Doing December Daily in 2013

The above image is the totality of what I accomplished with my 2013 December Daily album. I knew I had set myself up for failure -- I decided on November 30 that I wanted to do an album. I did what you see above that afternoon, and then I really didn't touch it again until I dismantled the album on January 3.

There are a number of reasons I failed with this project.

1. I didn't plan ahead. I didn't have any idea what I was going to use or how I was going to create this album. Truth be told, I was using the skeleton of another December Daily that I started but didn't finish. I kept trying to keep it the same but make it drastically different all at the same time. This, obviously, meant I was doomed to fail from the start.

2. I didn't have time in December. Which is why Ali Edwards and all the serious December Daily people make their foundation pages in November. Seriously. This was a huge part of my problem.

3. I didn't take or print any photos. Well, that's a bit of a lie. I took a ton of photos. Most of them were of my cats. Yes, there were some of them being adorable around Christmas trees and presents, but I'm not doing a December Daily to document my cats' holiday season. I'm doing it to document the people's holiday season. On that end, I failed miserably. I took no photos on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day with my family, and absolutely none a few days later when we went to Minnesota to be with Trevor's family...and none when Trevor and I opened our gifts together at home.

4. I didn't write anything down. I could have overcome the lack of photos since this isn't necessarily a photo a day project (but most people do seem to document that way). I just didn't put pen to paper. I could have written about my feelings this Christmas, jotted down my wish list, shared Trevor's wish list, or written about our time with our families. I just never did.

5. I just didn't have a big drive to do this. I did a December Daily in 2009. That was the year Trevor and I got married, and I felt a HUGE drive to document our first married Christmas. Each of the following Christmases, however, has pretty much been the same: decorate the house, fly up north for a few days to see each family, fly back, open our presents when we get home, celebrate New Year's Eve at our house, and then it's the new year. Somehow, I thought this year would be different, but it isn't. I know it will feel different if we have children, if I'm pregnant one Christmas, if we move to a different place...but until then, I know I won't feel the same drive to do the album if I'm trying to do it as I go along like I did this year.

Going forward in 2014 means planning better. I am determined to do one more December Daily before we have children. Knowing how crazy life can be during the fall and winter, I'm going to start my album earlier. Like, January.

No, seriously, I ordered a bunch of stuff from TwoPeasinaBucket.com, and I'm pulling things from my Studio Calico kits. I'm planning to do most of my album over Martin Luther King weekend because I have three days off, but Trevor will be working two of those days. Plus, I have a 9 day break in February to finish it, too. I'll share more about my plans and process on the blog as I get further into the project.

Right now, I'm working on organizing my office and getting ready to do some serious crafting in 2014.

5 for Friday: 5 things you'll see from me this year

Revamping a blog takes work. So does developing the vision for a new blog. Today, I thought I'd lay out a bit of what my vision is for this new blog.

1. Five for Friday - an assortment of lists of five things. Pretty self-explanatory. It's going to run the gamut from lists of scrapbook supplies I love to my five favorite TV shows of the moment. Or it could be a completely random list, too. This is probably going to be my most constant feature for awhile because I have tons of ideas for this one.

2. An increasing amount of content - I'm pulling back from some of my other commitments in order to have more time for what I really want to do. It's going to be a slow process, so that means that I will be slowly adding more to this blog as I gain more time for it.

3. Projects! I have been doing a lot of collecting and not enough doing these past few months, so it's time for me to get back into the habit of making and sharing my projects (which might be tougher - I've relied on a number of challenge blogs to get my mojo going, and at least three of them quit at the end of December).

4. Videos - This is going to be a first for me. I'm going to be sharing a few short videos on my blog. I will warn you, they will not be great quality - I'm planning to record them with my iPhone! These really aren't going to be technique heavy. Instead, they are going to be glimpses into how I organize things in my albums and in my office, and I hope they are never longer than five minutes in length.

5. Personal content - This is NOT a craft blog. This is my personal blog. You might end up seeing my personal photos here, my favorite ice cream shop, recipes, all sorts of things. There is a lot I want to share with family and friends who don't Facebook, so those things will be going here, too. I'll do my best to use tags so that if you just want to see the projects, you can skip the personal posts.