A Week In The Life - the chatter thread

[julifish]

Traci started us off with some inspiration and a place to post our layouts...but I want to talk strategy since I'm determined to actually finish the whole week this year with enough to scrap.

So what are you doing to document your day so you have something to journal?

I am taking notes because I've already realized that I'm not going to remember enough to add to my pics to make it really meaningful unless I write a few things down. I think tonight I'm going to make myself a little hybrid notebook for all my thoughts for the week, things I don't want to forget and have my kids write in it too (it will be pure torture for them - awesome!).

I'd love to hear what your thoughts are on this project and any strategies you have for keeping things fresh each day.

[taracotta7]

I am doing this! I printed off Ali's pdf's for the week. I think it is going to help me stay on track and remember things that happen through the day. You can go here to print your own if you like.

[ColleenSwerb]

I thought about doing a notebook, and then I decided to KISS it and not make it too complicated and printed out Ali's pdf sheets. I'm going to keep them in my purse with a pen so I can jot things down during the day, and make note of what photos I take.
This week I'm focusing purely on journaling/taking notes, and snapping photos. I'll worry about the album later.

[Traci Reed]

I do my pages daily so I normally don't take notes..to me the pics tell the story pretty easily

[TheHybridMess]

I'm gonna try to do it daily too. but I am taking a few notes hear and there.

[MommaTrish]

I'm going to try to do it daily.

[crecia27]

I handed my husband the first 2 pages of Ali's handout last night and asked him to help me with documenting. Here's hoping!

I'll have to take notes too!

[Joana1n]

My game plan - take photos w/my phone. I'd love to have awesome photos taken with my dslr but honestly, it's a much bigger pain to use and I miss lots of candid stuff b/c my kids are such CHEESERS when I bring out the big camera. I'm also jotting down stuff on Ali's printouts. If I find myself away from it, I'll twitter/FB whatever it is I want to remember and then will go back at the end of the day and review my feeds to catch up.

I spent 10 minutes reviewing the day before bed last night and caught up on my notes. Then I uploaded all of my photos to a new blog.

[tanyiadeskins]

I have never done this so I have no strategy lol. I am going to take a bunch of pics and see what works later. I have a pen and a little notepade with me and can mark down times of anything specific, etc. Also, I told the girls and my dh what I am doing and told them if they have anything specific happen that they want to include let me know. I really do now know if I will be able to scrap it as I go though... that might be a tough one.

[Traci Reed]

For times, you can also look at the info about your photo in PS, ctrl+alt+shift+i brings up all hte exif data on your photo including time.

[scrap2day]

I printed off Ali's PDFs. I'm still not sure how exactly I'm going to put it together.

[eranslow]

Another who printed out Ali's PDFs. I really have no clue how i am going to do this while I am at work tonight though. Hubby doesn't really like to take pictures - but maybe I'll bribe him.... lol

[SweetMelissa]

I printed out Ali's pdf to help me. I find that I write the notes down with no problem. But I keep forgetting to take pictures! I went to my church to volunteer for our VBC for three hours and left my camera in the car.. I figure when I go back on Wednesday I can take some "make up" shots.. My husband didn't take any pictures when I was gone. I think I have four pictures for today...

[Traci Reed]

Lika Ali says, it doesn't matter if you have 4 photos of the day or 100, you do what works for you! Maybe you have 1 photo and a ton of notes? That works!

[Stacey42]

I have the pdf printed but mostly I rely on my notebook that I carry with me everywhere all day long anyway. Insomnia takes a toll on your memory so I write every little thing down constantly as it is.

I'm mostly taking pics with my phone & am trying to keep notes in it as well.

[MommaTrish]

Because I do best when I have covers first I just did that. Of course I was too antsy to start to wait for the collab coupon to work lol. So who knows, if I use the collab through the entire week I'll probably end up re-doing it.

[MommaTrish]

What is your day 1? Yesterday or today?

[jaylensmom]

I'm going to try to do mine daily but I printed Ali's pdf just in case...

[jaylensmom]

Originally Posted by MommaTrish

What is your day 1? Yesterday or today?

mine will be today...i wish i would've started yesterday but oh well today it is...

[ColleenSwerb]

I'm starting mine with today.

[nun69]

Originally Posted by MommaTrish

Because I do best when I have covers first I just did that.

This is me and now that I have my cover done I think I am more committed to doing it the whole week I don't really have a game plan and am like Traci, I can ususally rememeber what happens during the day by looking at my photos, but I did go and print Ali's PDF's adn I started yesterday beacuse there was so much to journal about!

[SweetMelissa]

So thanks to my kids providing some great photo ops of how they can destroy my sons room in 30 seconds flat I have ten pictures today. lol. Oh plus I tried to make Butter Beer (& I think I came close. Just used too much butterscotch and not enough cream soda) I can add three more pictures. Woo hoo. lol.

[crecia27]

Originally Posted by mamaof3

I printed out Ali's pdf to help me. I find that I write the notes down with no problem. But I keep forgetting to take pictures! I went to my church to volunteer for our VBC for three hours and left my camera in the car.. I figure when I go back on Wednesday I can take some "make up" shots.. My husband didn't take any pictures when I was gone. I think I have four pictures for today...

I won't get many pictures each day either, I work FT and my kids go to camp but I'm going to try to spend a few minutes each day with them really talking about their memories of the day so I can record the stories I don't have pictures for.

[taracotta7]

I have been having fun taking pictures of the "boring" stuff. I can't wait to put it together. It is making me realize how much computer time I have and TV time my son has though.......I see some changes in our future! LOL

[tanyiadeskins]

I am having fun with the regular pics, too. And am now downloading the free kit, woohoo!

[nun69]

so I have a question for you guys...do you plan on using the same kit fro all of your LO's or switching it up to use kits that match your pictures?

[SweetMelissa]

I'm planning to use Traci's new kit for all of my layouts.

[ColleenSwerb]

I will probably use a combination of the freebie and Traci's ginormous bundle. I think the 2 will coordinate well.

[nun69]

Originally Posted by ColleenSwerb

I will probably use a combination of the freebie and Traci's ginormous bundle. I think the 2 will coordinate well.

this is what I was thinking!

[taracotta7]

Originally Posted by ColleenSwerb

I will probably use a combination of the freebie and Traci's ginormous bundle. I think the 2 will coordinate well.

Same here.

[Traci Reed]

Originally Posted by ColleenSwerb

I will probably use a combination of the freebie and Traci's ginormous bundle. I think the 2 will coordinate well.

Raises eyebrows suggestively and winks

[Amber1279]

Originally Posted by Traci Reed

For times, you can also look at the info about your photo in PS, ctrl+alt+shift+i brings up all hte exif data on your photo including time.

how does this work with RAW files? When I export as JPEG's from Lightroom it makes a new time/date stamp.

[Traci Reed]

I process mine in PS but it shouldn't be creating a new date/time stamp in the EXIF data, maybe in the file data when you look outside of PS, but not in the actual camera data.

[tanyiadeskins]

yea I will be using Traci's ginormous bundle and the freebie, which is flamazing!

[Nettio]

So excited to see so many people playing along this year!

I wrote a little bit about my AWITL plan on my blog:

A Week In the Life, Nettio Style

[aggiefamily]

I think I have figured out my game plan.

-Take photos all day long and jot down anything I might not remember.
-Make a pile of momentos from the day- grocery receipt, etc. to put in page protector
-Select the photos to use each night and loosely organize them

Then next week I can tidy up the layouts and send them off to be printed. I am going to have them printed and then slip into page protectors. I will have a couple divided page protectors with labeled items/momentos at the end of the book. I don't think I will have enough extra stuff for each day so I will combine them at the end.

[Aggie Aviso]

I have how-to collect photos & taking down notes figured it and I blogged about it. Still deciding how to present it in an album. Going digital all the way though, thats for sure.

[mrshobbes]

Like several of you, this week for me is about taking the photos and journaling. I printed out Ali's PDF but thought I'd also use my OhLifeaccount, but turns out I much prefer scribbling everything down!

What I'm finding challenging to document are the hilarious, oftenidiculous conversations my husband and I have during the day (and late at night before bed). He recommends I turn on a voice recorder but transcribing what we say will just be too much for me lol. I try and remember it and scribble what I can the next morning.

As for photos because I'm alone a lot of the time and work on a computer I also take lots of screenshots!

[Joana1n]

Today's photos:

http://juliettesierra.wordpress.com/.../july-25-2011/

[nun69]

Originally Posted by Joana1n

Today's photos:

http://juliettesierra.wordpress.com/.../july-25-2011/

love them Joana!

[littlekiwi]

I'm trying to figure out what to do for photos because of the size of my camera makes it impractical to take it to class each day for photos around school

[sczos911]

what size are you doing? i was thinking 12x12 - but then again maybe 8x8. i am not sure. have you all started sharing pages? (i have yet to look!). i was going to work on my cover and first page.

[MamaBee]

I'll be printing mine out in 8x8 book... I have my pages for Sunday posted... need to now work on Monday since I'm going to use the same design everyday to ensure I get the pages done in time.

[tanyiadeskins]

Originally Posted by Joana1n

Today's photos:

http://juliettesierra.wordpress.com/.../july-25-2011/

these are great, ty for sharing! It gave me a few ideas, like I could have included the temperature, etc.

[ColleenSwerb]

I'm not doing anything this week except documenting, so I haven't thought that far ahead yet. I'm leaning towards 8.5x11 though because I already have an album and it's pretty easy to print at home.

[sczos911]

i made my cover - i am thinking 8x8. i used traci's 10080 minutes kit, the ssd everyday freebie & blink of an eye. and i chose i love me some aly. it looks cute - i'll post it later. i just wanted to get my cover done and my about page done. i want to tell my kids (and hubby) WHY i did this.

[Aggie Aviso]

I've seen great pages from the layout share thread Makes me inspired!

[ColleenSwerb]

Originally Posted by Traci Reed

Raises eyebrows suggestively and winks

I wonder if that was planned.....

[Julie Billingsley]

Stunningly, I'm actually going to do this. And best of all, it's gotten me to get out my camera and take some pics... because that is half the battle. I just don't take many pictures anymore. bad Julie. I ended up taking 30 pictures yesterday, so at this point I'm planning on doing a two-page spread for each day. But I'll see how the rest of the week plays out because if I don't have enough pics for each day then I'll just pare out to a single page. My plan is to just take pics this week. Next week or even later, I'll scrap them.

[MandaT]

I've decided on 8x8, using Janets new "Easy Album" and Dani's "Flying High" I know I didn't get many afternoon/evening photos yesterday, so I'll do some of that today. I've did jot down some little things the kids said because I always end up forgetting them. I think I'm going with the daily/day after page making, or I'll get side-tracked & not finish the album.