Today is December 31 which means tomorrow we kick off another year of photos! This will make my 3rd year documenting our lives with a photo a day and I still feel like there is so much to learn.  No matter how organized you are, always remember at some point in the year life will take over and you will get behind on your layouts.  The goal is to jump right back in and get yourself caught up.  For example, I have not yet started my December layouts because Christmas and work just sort of sucked the energy right out of me.  I plan to sit down this weekend and get fully caught up, at least I hope I will.

One of the biggest misconceptions about this project is that your life is not interesting enough to document, this cannot be further from the truth.  When I started the project in 2009 I basically started it because all the other cool scrapbookers were doing it.  I really didn’t think I was going to have enough stories or photos to make the project interesting.  Then in February I found the place I would get married at and my 2009 book actually documents EVERYTHING leading up to my wedding and all the details of the BIG DAY!

I encourage everyone to at least attempt this project.  When that final photo is placed and you are able to sit down and look back through your year the commitment you made will be worth it, I promise you.

Each week I will post my layouts, answer your questions, offer you some prompts, and highlight some of my favorite 365ers. I hope all this will help you, and me, stay on track with this project.

Now to answer just a few questions I have received so far.

DO I HAVE TO JOURNAL?

This is entirely your call,  I actually love the idea of a book full of just photos and if I am not mistaken the project was created as a photography project and not a scrapbook project.

HOW DO I REMEMBER TO TAKE A PHOTO EVERY DAY?

You are going to be surprised to find out that this isn’t going to be the hardest part of this project.  Since the invention of twitter and the camera phone we tend to take a lot more photos than we think we do.

People get lost in this step because they assume they have to take a photo with their camera and it has to be the most perfect photo.  This is about documenting your life and if you see a funny sign or have a great meal then pull your phone out and snap a photo.

To all you SmartPhone Users out there you can also search the app store on your phone there are lots of apps like this one that will help you stay on track.

How do I keep up with my Journaling?

If you are like me then you don’t really have the time to sit down every night and record your photo and day.  This means that every Sunday I sit down and I knock out the last week’s page and this also means that I have to remember what happened each day. Since I am still suffering from mommy brain, can’t remember what happened an hour ago much less a week ago, I need some assistance in the recall department.

1.  I have a moleskine planner that I use to keep up with appointments, orders,  and daily schedules.  This helps me to remember the main stuff that I did throughout the day.  I also carry the planner with me everywhere and if something funny happens or Aubrey is especially cute I can jot it down on the calendar.

2.  Oh Life is the most amazing website EVER! After you sign up you will receive an email from them every night about 8ish.  The email will simply say “What did you do today” and all you have to do is hit reply and type what you did that day.  When you are ready to read over your entries, which remain private, you sign in and start reading.  I cannot tell you how many layouts were completed with the help of this little site!

The most important thing is don’t give up!
Have a Happy New Year and I will see you all next week!