Qs for PL Veterans

[karlimarie]

I feel like I’m ready to commit, but I’m still getting caught up on a few details and could use some help!

Question 1:

What tense and person do you write in? Do you call your partner by name, and how do you refer to yourself? (Ex. Daddy and I went to the farmer’s market on Sunday.... or Karli went to the pool with Zlatko today?)

I’m thinking about using past tense, like it’s a recap of the week... but I can’t figure out how to write about myself and my husband!!!

Question 2:

How do you handle vacations and certain special occasions? I would prefer to do vacations as a daily project, rather than a weekly project, but do you still include it in your weekly layouts?

[ChristineF]

I'm not a veteran, but 2018 is my 4th year and I'm just finishing it up (hopefully today) so I can start fresh for 2019.

Q1: I write in past tense. A recap of the week as you put it. We did so and so, met him and her. My writing is as if I was writing a journal of sorts. So it's the kids & I, G (husband, shortened to save space) & I or, nan & the kids is how I write us in mostly.

Q2:
Vacations gets put in like a normal week. Sometimes I make 2 spreads for 1 week if ALOT happened, but mostly it's just the 1 spread. Then if say we go on a longer vacation for 1-3 weeks I'll make a seperate album for that, but still include some of the pictures in my normal weekly PL album.

I'd just make a plan and then go from there. Focus on getting a good recap of the week and then you can always go back and add an extra spread or decide to make a seperate mini album if needed.

Good luck!

[MamaBee]

I also write past tense and I refer to myself in first person as it's my memories that I'm recording.

For vacations, I will put in highlights, but in the end they do have their own layouts or albums.

I always have viewed as my Project Life (or P365) as my core... then whatever stories I capture beyond that is just icing on top. haha... now, note that I have been doing this since 2008... I'm still working on albums from 2013 - I'm not worried, the photos always trigger the memories of what happened. I don't worry too much about details as in that my son had very berry ice cream, I might just put down that we went out for ice cream.

ETA - I go back and forth on hubby - sometimes it is Daddy vs. Davie... most of the time project life I will put hubby's name in because I see it as I'm documenting our live in 2019 for anyone to see... vs. my layouts of some outing I'll say Daddy, because those are geared to documenting the memory for my son.

[kristalund]

I write past tense and "Daddy and I"

I usually create separate photo albums/scrapbooks for vacations.

Good Luck and Have Fun!

[rach3975]

I write past tense, too. When I started PL in 2013 my kids were younger (youngest was 4) and I always referred to us as Mom and Dad. Over the past few years, I've noticed that I'm switching back and forth more. Sometimes we're Mom and Dad, sometimes we're Dan and Rachel. There's not any real rhyme or reason to when I do each one most of the time. The one exception is if it's something that's just about us, like an anniversary or a date night. Then I always use our names.

In answer to your vacation question, I mix different types of layouts inside my yearly album. My photobook has a month's PL layouts, then that month's traditional digital layouts. I handle vacations in a few different ways. If it was a big vacation I scrap a few pages in my yearly album (can be pocket style or traditional, by day or by week) and also do a separate small photobook with more details. If it's a long weekend or a routine trip (like going to my parents' house for a week) I scrap a variety of pages and print them all in my yearly album.

[cherrygutz]

I also use past tense and a first person point of view, since I am the one telling the story. I want my reader (my family) to feel how I felt in that moment when they read the project life.

With regards to the vacation pages, if we had a one to two day trip, I try to limit the pages to two. But if we had a three or more than, that's when I make sure to choose the best photos that tells a lot of stories because I want to limit the pages to "enough" since I also make a book about our road trip, and that's where all the other best photos go.

[Ponytails]

I do what most of the others do... past tense and first person. I write everyone's names as they are, since this is for us to look at in the end. I do a weekly page so it's really just highlight photos on each page... maybe one or two of each thing. Regular events and such get scrapped in their own pages as I can, and then I include all the photos and journaling, etc to capture that memory.

I keep it as easy as possible so that I'll stick with it. When my photos come off my camera they immediately go into folders labeled by weekly dates, so when I'm ready to scrap that page I can just go to the folder. Once I've scrapped those photos they get moved to their permanent home.

[karlimarie]

Awesome! Thanks for the insight. I think I’m going with first person past tense as well. I might just not overthink it and use names as they come to me.

I’m still not sure how I want to handle the vacation pages. Maybe I’ll just focus on weekly pages and leave space down the road to add vacation pages as needed.

[knittingbec]

I am just uploading my 2018 PL to blurb (determined to get it ordered before the current coupon expires!!!). This is my first time successfully completing the project (after probably 3-5 times starting it!) and I journaled in past-tense throughout, but varied the ways I addressed each member of our family. Sometimes I said, "Daddy & Mommy" sometimes "Daddy & I", sometimes used DH's first name...sometimes I even changed it in the same week's entry! (For instance, "Daddy took the kids for ice cream" and then a few sentences later, "David and I finally booked our tickets"). The inconsistency would bother me if I were reading a novel, but I'm not going to sweat it in my own scrapbook

[Nixenkind]

I write in German, and my tenses are all over the place... I refer to everyone by first name, no "Daddy" or "Mommy". I view my PL as my diary so I record things from my point of view.
Vacations go into my normal PL... and I NEVER do more than one spread per week. Sometimes choosing pictures is really hard, but I do it anyway.
I'm always planning to do separate albums for the really big occasions, but sometimes I need a very long time to get started on those. My PL is always up to date, I don't want to get behind on that.