One of the coolest things I’m doing this year (I can already tell) is Project Life.
The elevator: scrapbooking made easy.
I say that, but I don’t even like the word scrapbooking. I don’t have time to scrapbook. I don’t have the money to pay for all the little stickers and pattern-y paper. I just don’t get excited about scrapbooking. I don’t want to sit around and dream up page layouts. I don’t want to pull out the glue and die cuts and stamps. So, this is my solution. (I promise, Becky Higgins did no pay me to write this post, although, I’m sure we could BFFs, given the chance.)
This kit comes with a notebook, sheet protectors (that remind me of baseball card holders), and journal cards (and a few other things). All you have to do is slide your pictures in.
Usually with scrapbooking, you devote pages, if not books to a single event or special occasion. But, the truth of the matter is life is so much more than that. It’s made up of all the tiny moments that eventually amount to an entire life. The whole idea of this project is to catpure those overlooked moments. —So, there are enough sheet protectors where I can take a picture every day along with a journal card documenting that day. 1 week = 1 spread. I’ve been going at it for about 6 weeks (I started at the end of January, instead of the beginning) and already it’s so cool to flip back through.
After church, I went with my friend Nikki to pick out a laptop at MacAuthority. I’m definitely the geek of our group. This is the second time that I’ve taken a friend there and they’ve walked away with a purchase. I should get a commission!
I had a doctor’s appointment before work. When I had gone in for a physical at the end of December, one of the tests had returned positive. We ran the test again at the end of January. I was referred to a specialist. He put me on an antibiotic. He wasn’t too worried, but it’s the same problem with WebMD. Some symptoms can kill you faster than others. Fortunately, everything cleared up and the tests came back negative. I’ll go back in a month just to double check. But, it was a huge relief. Nobody likes hearing that things aren’t working the way they’re supposed to.
After work, Micah and I went to Starbucks to get some work done. I really enjoy having the accountability: someone to make sure I’m productive.
Wednesday after work, Darrel, Seth, Jeff, and I did a photo shoot for Mike Glenn. Darrel, Amy-Jo, and I have been working on a site redesign (hasn’t launched yet). Jeff and I did the photography and Seth shot video for his EPK. It should look good. I work with a talented team.
After work, I drove to downtown Franklin (for a second time this week) to renew my car tags. I had driven down Monday, only to remember that the rest of the world is observing President’s Day. I like to complain that I’m at an unfair disadvantage. I only have 28 days to get my tags renewed, and with miscellaneous holidays like President’s Day, 27. Other months have 31.
I did notice (between Monday and Thursday) that they’re reopening the theater. Pretty cool.
Micah and I went to hear Frank Chimero lecture at the Dish Conference at Watkins.
It was different than what I expected. For better or worse, it took away my disenchantment. Frank (yeah, we’re on a first name basis now), is the same age as me. He talked about struggling with art, just like me. He’s really quirky.
I also remembered how hard it is to talk about art and design. You can talk about design principles all day long (rhythm, proportion, size, color, etc), but at the end of the day, it’s about doing. And that workflow and process looks different for everyone. Hey, it looks different for me with each project that I work on. There is not 3 step process to make your work look better, to make the ideas come faster. I think that’s what’s so magical about design and why it’s so hard to find someone that’s actually good at what they do.
The best reminder that I walked away with is that design is about telling stories visually. Pitches are treated like heroine. Popping pills. Taking another hit. But, stories and messages are life. They last.
When I went to go grab lunch, I stopped by Borders. The store is getting ready to close and everything must go. I have never seen that place so busy! Stuff looked pretty picked over, but there were a couple of design books I had my eye on. Unfortunately, they didn’t have what I was looking for. I walked away empty handed.
I own a Kindle, which I love. In fact, I’ve held on to it even after I purchased an iPad. But, the 3rd grade book worm in me, still hates to see the store go.
One of the things that I did on our trip to Los Angeles was take a picture of all the cities that were flying over. It’s amazing to me how different they all are.
Tennessee has “gently rolling hills.”
We had a layover in Houston. Texas is flat.
Halfway from our flight from Houston to LA, the pilot comes on, notifying us of our progress. I couldn’t believe we were STILL in Texas.
Flying over the desert.
When we got ready to leave LA, you fly over the Pacific Ocean. LA has so many houses and they are all on top of each other.
We hit a some turbulance flying over the mountains, but they were gorgeous.
We had a layover, coming back to Nashville in Las Vegas. Las Vegas really is a city buit in the middle of the desert. There’s absolutely nothing and then all of the sudden, there are houses everywhere that completely fill a valley.
When I went to Chicago a year and a half ago, I sat next to a girl from South Korea. We didn’t say much until the end of the flight. I had pulled out my Kindle and read most of the flight. At that point in time, Kindles were still very new and you didn’t see to many of them. Yes, it was time before iPads and Nooks. 
She started asking me questions about my Kindle and saw that I had a Bible loaded on it, which spawned some interesting conversations. One of the things that she said was, “Sometimes I doubt the existence of God. But, every time I fly, I am reminded.” Since then, every time I fly, I think of her.
