Animal Love

I've been getting back into all aspects of scrapbooking and it feels really good. :) I bought this kit from One Little Bird the other week for another project (more on that soon), but decided I wanted to use it on this page of me and Cam too.

My computer hasn't been running right recently, so J reloaded it yesterday. Man, it feels good to start out with a clean slate. This process really made me go through all of my old stuff and clean it out. I burned a bunch of products I don't use much anymore (baby products and random other stuff) onto CD's. Freed up quite a bit of space on my external hard drive. The rest I finally moved over to my computer so I see it and use it more.

I've also been creating real, paper layouts recently. My soon-to-be step-daughter M wanted to learn how to scrapbook, so I bought her an album and have been helping her put together layouts. She's quite the little scrapbooker. I really enjoy helping her, and it's actually made me sit down and do some layouts myself too. I'll have to show you some soon. Still been working on our 2014 Project Life album. Slowing getting all those weeks done!! I'm working on a layout I really like today so I'll share it soon too.

Other than that, I've been cooking and baking. I've made dinner several times this week since I was off work on staycation. I baked brownies earlier in the week and my hubby-to-be's favorite cookies Snickerdoodles today. I normally am not a good cookie baker, but man, these turned out great!! I got a lot of wedding planning done this past week, as well. Also, I found THE dress last Thursday!!! But that's another post itself... ;)

What have you been up to this weekend?

The Second Time Around

Getting married for the second time is something I think about a lot. When J and I decided we wanted to get married (which was a long road with a story for another day), I knew I wanted to have a wedding this time around. I always regretted not having a real wedding. Of course now I am thankful I didn't back then (hehe). This time I know that this is right, and I want to do it the more traditional way.

I've spent a lot of time in my life feeling like I've missed out on things or that I didn't do things the right way. Now, of course, I realize everyone has their own path and the way things work out is really for the best. I just knew the 'ol courthouse ceremony wasn't for us though.

J and I have been through a lot over the past two and a half years. There were times that I wasn't sure we would ever get married. I knew I loved him, and I knew he was really the one, but outsiders were putting so much negativity into our lives that it made it seem like it just might not happen. We don't need marriage to define our relationship or our family. I know J will be by my side no matter what and I know I will always be there for him, but to me it just feels like the last step to making our family official. We have so many friends and family that have cheered us on along the way that this really is a time for celebration for them too.

Although wedding planning is really stressful, I am remembering to enjoy the journey and not get too far ahead of myself. All in all, it's been really fun and I'm just trying to soak it all in. Taking engagement photos, putting together flowers with my mom and bestie, and most recently, the cake tasting have been some of the most special times of my life.

Being in love is wonderful and having the support of everyone around you is even better! Live your life and go with your gut. It is never wrong - I am living proof! :)

Project Life 2015: Week Three

Hello week three, so nice to have you done.

We did a lot of wedding stuff this week, so that affected this week. My best friend, co-worker, and I went to a local bridal fair. Totally overwhelming, but it was interesting. I got a few back-up options for a DJ, and it was just neat to see all the services offered. There were many photographers, but we already have ours, so that wasn't something I was looking for. We also had a mostly kid-free weekend this particular week, which was very odd. It was nice to be able to spend time one-on-one with J though. We had a date night where we went to go pick out wedding rings and went to dinner. We found J's ring, but my ring is proving difficult to find a wedding band to go with, so I'll probably have to work on that with a local jeweler.

(There is a photo behind that blur. Other than our family, I won't share a whole lot of photos of others' children with "the public". There's a thing I have about it. Best friends and fiance's don't have a choice though. ;)

Seriously though, this Project Life app is a lifesaver! I'm curious if it is more affordable for me to make pages this way or the other way? I haven't done the math on that yet. For one, because I'm horrible at math. I really like how I can mix the kits throughout our album, and just use whatever I want out of them. I haven't tried mixing and matching throughout sets because I'm OCD and it would probably bother me, but it's nice that it's an option!

How's your 2015 Project Life going? If you aren't participating, what is your favorite recent layout or project in general? (Put the link in the comments, I want to see! :)

Project Life 2015: Weeks One & Two

Welcome to my Project Life 2015.

My hope is to post each layout I do for 2015 on here. Everyone was posting about their approaches and what not. My hope is to just attempt to keep up this year. I am VERY behind on last year's album. It is okay though. I was out busy living my life instead of documenting and that's okay. I just want to do better at keeping up this year.

I made this layout using my Project Life App on my iPhone. I love that app! I think it will help me out a lot this year. Plus, I haven't yet picked out a kit I like. I think this year's will consist of me using what I have a lot of the time.

I've slowly been building my scrapbook stash back up. I really want to include some cute embellishments this year... just some things to add a little more to what I'm already doing. Most of the time when I sit down I just want to get. it. done. I'm hoping I feel a little bit freer to do more this year. Plus, I'm not holding myself to the weekly schedule. If I want to do a whole layout about the pumpkin patch and nothing else exciting happened that week, that's what I'm gonna do! :)

Are you doing Project Life this year? What is your "approach"? ;)

Currently.

Watching Revenge, Chicago Fire, State of Affairs.

Packing up the Christmas stuff. I'm thankful I didn't put much out this year, but I'm also trying to reorganize everything so it makes sense next year.

Paying attention to sales at craft stores. I'm a lady on a budget when it comes to this DIY wedding! ;)

Listening to a lot of Spotify. Enjoying XM radio in my car, but listening to Taylor Swift's album a lot on my iPhone too.

Celebrating getting my degree. I'm thankful it's done and over with. With getting my degree comes a little bit of panic though. Like "what's next? What do I do now?"

Savoring this age Cameron is at. I'm really enjoying seeing new bits of his personality all the time. He is so aware of everything, and smart as a tack.

Planning for our wedding. My/our summer trip to Vegas. I'm in the beginning stages of planning our honeymoon.

Dreaming about finishing my centerpieces for the wedding. I keep telling myself if I can get them done, I will feel better. I'm not sure if that's actually true or not though.

Working on finishing my December Daily, and purging a lot of "stuff" in this house. I'm in a serious de-clutter mode.

Reading Girls In White Dresses. It's my book #1 of this year. There are a lot of girls to keep up with, but I really like it so far.

Bundling up to go outside. I'm in the thick of my yearly hating on Winter. It's really a struggle to get myself going some days.