Michele Holcomb

week in the life:: sunday

observations: anna is not fond of her photo being taken - i have many shots of her moving, doing and making rather than looking at the camera - i like that i was able to catch her in her element; our week was truly the norm - no grand adventures, laundry on the couch waiting to be folded, a fridge needing to be restocked, and bedrooms that still need tidying up.

gratitude: thankful that winter bowling has ended - i'm looking forward to a month of free sundays.

favorite moments: dre turning around to indulge my craving of vanilla ice cream.

**used Ali Edward's Week in the Life pdf's for my journaling prompts**

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Celebrating the daily routines and everyday simpleness of our lives. This post is part of a series hosted by Ali Edwards.

week in the life:: saturday

observations: i am more relaxed when the house is in order - my version of relaxation and dre's version are completely opposite - he doesn't understand my way; today was all about errands, cleaning and reorganizing.

gratitude: it's a wonderful feeling to have a family love your child as their own; thankful for a sweet treat from starbucks - caramel macchiato.

favorite moments: when nyna walked in at 8pm from being gone all day with a friend - my heart was happy to see her; anna and i watching iCarly at 10:30pm.

**used Ali Edward's Week in the Life pdf's for my journaling prompts**

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Celebrating the daily routines and everyday simpleness of our lives. This post is part of a series hosted by Ali Edwards.

week in the life:: friday

observations: a few of the kids weren't as excited to do the 4th grade memory keeping project - i'm feeling uninspired as well.

gratitude: happy for dre that he was able to spend some time with his friends; thankful to be able to donate even a small amount for a friends upcoming Susan G. Koman walk; dre coming home with Pho Bac, strawberry shakes for the girls and a mango shake for me.

favorite moments: walking shiloh around the neighborhood; nyna practicing her recorder for an upcoming performance; hearing anna giggle late last night while watching "Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chip Wrecked".

**used Ali Edward's Week in the Life pdf's for my journaling prompts**

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Celebrating the daily routines and everyday simpleness of our lives. This post is part of a series hosted by Ali Edwards.

week in the life:: thursday

observations: day-dreaming about home decor changes that i want to make; i took less notes today - feeling the pressure of deadlines and school projects that need prepping; i didn't write as much about our day to day happenings and i'm okay with that.

gratitude: thankful that i had time to get some projects off of my to do list without interruption.

favorite moments: an impromptu tea party with handwrittern invitations, orange juice, milk and powdered doughnuts

**used Ali Edward's Week in the Life pdf's for my journaling prompts**

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Celebrating the daily routines and everyday simpleness of our lives. This post is part of a series hosted by Ali Edwards.

week in the life:: wednesday

[mosaic by Big Huge Labs]

observations: i felt a dull headache coming on as soon as i left nyna's class - definitely need to eat something substantial in the morning; capturing our days like this makes me more aware of the things i want to change; i need to take more photos of dre & i together - my focus has always been the girls.

gratitude: grateful for afternoon treats (chocolate chip cookies) from the company in honor of administrative professionals day; thankful that nyna does not mind me coming to her class and teachers who are open to parent volunteers.

favorite moments: watching nyna bravely tell the truth as the music teacher asked the class if they've been practicing their recorders; watching anna's joy as she continues to develop her skills in tumbling; grandpa gene showing up to support nyna's gymnastics recital.

**used Ali Edward's Week in the Life pdf's for my journaling prompts**

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Celebrating the daily routines and everyday simpleness of our lives. This post is part of a series hosted by Ali Edwards.

week in the life:: tuesday

[mosaic made by Big Huge Labs]

observations: we all unwind a little differently and move into our respective places into the house. i like that we give one another that space for quiet time; i could feel my attitude changing - a combination of bickering children and taking a work call from home. 

gratitude: thankful that dre is looking forward to celebrating our anniversary in june as much as i am. to my surprise, he made reservations for ruth chris restaurant.

favorite moments: a conversation with nyna- (she makes me laugh)

• nyna: "i had a nightmare!"
• me: "about what?"
• nyna: "i had really long hair on my legs." 

**used Ali Edward's Week in the Life pdf's for my journaling prompts**

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Celebrating the daily routines and everyday simpleness of our lives. This post is part of a series hosted by Ali Edwards.

week in the life 2012:: monday

mosaic by big huge labs

observations: nyna's extra tired this morning - she definitely needs to get to bed extra early tonight; i'm feeling extra tired myself and will be doing the same; i miss dre's random phone calls during my work day.

gratitude: so thankful for our new stove. definitely the highlight of my day as i was able to cook an actual dinner for the first time in a few weeks; checking the mail to find the new issue of Better Homes & Gardens; thankful for an unexpected call from my brother.

favorite moments: nyna on santa - "I get it now why Santa uses the Norad Tracker. He puts his magic in the boxes even though you buy them. Why didn't you just tell me that?"; seeing anna in her space listening to music; nyna putting on her dramatic play wig, my boots, and pretending she has a british accent. 

**used Ali Edward's Week in the Life pdf's for my journaling prompts** 

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Celebrating the daily routines and everyday simpleness of our lives. This post is part of a series hosted by Ali Edwards. 

cupcards {to go} card share & week in the life

Happy Monday!

I just have a quick share of a couple of cards I made with the April CupCards {to go} kit. This is one fun party kit filled with bright spring/summer colors. I'm slowly replenishing my stash of birthday cards. It's nice to have a set ready to go when the girls have parties to go to. I need to get better at giving them out to some of adults in my life:) Below are two of my favorite designs this month.

I pulled out the cuttlebug to create the dotted patterned paper. It's been awhile since I've use it. I'm contemplating on whether I want to get the Silhoutte. I'm sure that it would come in handy for the girls' projects too.

Check out the additional designs from the design team here. They definitely blow me away each month. A few kits are still available. Check it out here.

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[photo and words processed at picmonkey.com]

This week I'll be joining Ali Edwards (and the web community) in documenting a week in the life. I so enjoyed capturing our days last year with photos and words.

My goal for the week is to focus on taking a bunch of photos and writing down the happenings of our days. Depending on what I capture this week will dictate on how I put it all together. Looking forward to seeing what unfolds this week and being inspired by all of you.

week in the life:: all done

Yay! My week in the life album is done. The satisfaction of completing this album has me giddy! Really...it does. I'm one to start a project and get bored mid-way, so this feels like a really big accomplishment.   And now I can say that this is one of my most favorite projects ever! I love this project. I love these photos. I love my family. I'm so ecstatic that I decided to play along.

ALBUM STRUCTURE - each day is broken down in the following order:

• daily opening page on the left
• hourly daily sheet on the right
• 2 page photo collage with type journaling from my daily blog posts
• Closing page

***note: click on the images to enlarge***

MONDAY

I created a cluster of tags for each of the opening pages using avery shipping labels and Ormolu blank scallop tags inspired by Ali E. and Lisa Truesdell. I love this look and know that I'll be using it again in other projects.

I added a simple tag with stamped sentiment from October Afternoon and a date stamp at the top of each page.

Below is a close-up image of what's on each of the collage pages: labels from October Afternoon & zig-zag stitching and on the opposite page is a simple Ormolu embellishment. I added the same patterned papers for the opening page and collage pages for consistency.

TUESDAY

On Tuesday & Friday, I added in a 5.5x8.5 photo collage (pictures taken by my daughter at my parents' house). The page protectors are from We R Memory Makers; journal cards are from Studio Calico; "Everyday Life" tag from October Afternoon adhered with the Tiny Attacher.

WEDNESDAY

THURSDAY

FRIDAY

SATURDAY

SUNDAY

CLOSING PAGE

I included a simple closing page dedicating the album to my family. As for ephemera...I had a small collection of reciepts and some mailers that I added to 5.5x8.5 page protector. I wasn't really sure how to incorporate it throughout the week being that I didn't collect much of anything. So this will do. 

 

WHAT I WOULD DO DIFFERENTLY

Honestyly - Nothing. What really worked for me is that I didn't have too much on my plate creativity wise. I focused solely on this project with the goal of getting it done.

 

supplies

• binder/page protectors: we r memory keepers 8.5x11 binder - kiwi; we r memory keepers page protectors 8.5x11 and 5.5x8.5
• cardstock: bazzill dotted swiss salt and white|op
• patterned paper: webster's pages nature's storybook; october afternoon - roadmap dew drop inn; lilybee french couture; crate paper - blue hill collection: sky; making memories - noteworthy addie pattern stripe; collage press - grayson hall collection; scenic route - sumner kincaid avenue
• letter stickers: basic grey
• embelliments: ormolu flair buttons, basic grey & bazzill brads
  
• tags & journal cards:: avery shipping labels, october afternoon, studio calico
  
• stickers: 7 gypsies labels
• buttons: autumn leaves
  

week in the life:: in progress

[click image to enlarge]

Taking photos and written documentation for seven days straight took a little bit out of me. I haven't taken any pictures with my point and shoot camera all week. Totally not the norm for me.

I had planned on letting these stories live here on my blog and not make an album. I was happy with what I captured that I didn't think putting them into an album was needed.

As I was editing photos for another project, I took a quick glance over at my week in the life photos folder and I was immediately filled with gratitude. Grateful to have captured a little slice of life. I can tell you right now that my photos aren't the best. There are dark ones, the blurry ones, off color ones...and once in a while there are those photos that take my breathaway.

So with that...I decided to put this gathering of photos and words into a place that my family can easily look at when they feel like it.

[click image to enlarge]

I'll be back with the finished album in a few days.

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Celebrating the daily routines and everyday simpleness of our lives. This post was part of a series hosted by Ali Edwards July 25th-31st, 2011. For more information on a "Week in the Life", click here.