delight in life

one year ago

Have you guys heard of Timehop? It's a great little service I signed up for a while ago. Every morning I get an email with a list of everything I posted on my social networks exactly one year before. Tweets, Facebook statuses, Instagram photos, Foursquare check-ins.

I wasn't sure what to expect when I signed up, but I've found I really look forward to that morning email! Sometimes it's boring, but some mornings I wake up to see an album of vacation photos I put on Facebook. It's fun to spend a few minutes with happy memories every morning.

Last week, the email had the picture I took of Chris and me when I dropped him off in Dallas to leave for Army boot camp. I remembered how sad that morning was and how much I was dreading the three months that followed, but then I thought about how amazing everything has been since then.

Chris and I both have grown in so many ways. We are both stronger as individuals, and our relationship is stronger and better too. More secure, more relaxed. We moved from a city I did not love, to this incredible city with tons to offer, including nearly all of our friends. We both have good jobs and we got rid of our hated brown couch.

We are happy. Life is good.

I remember being so lonely and miserable while Chris was gone, but my Timehop emails actually present a totally different picture. I didn't have anyone to tell my jokes to except the cats and the internet, so the emails are full of hilarity (hey, if I don't think they're funny, who will?) and one multi-day saga involving several wasps and some duct tape. It's interesting to look back on those months through a lens that's mostly free of all the emotional baggage I was dragging around.

What a difference a year—and a little perspective—makes.

project life, week 11

Week eleven, hurray. I can't believe we are nearly a quarter through this year. I still feel like it's January.

I don't have too much to say about this week. It was simple and quiet and unremarkable.

One excellent thing about last week was the incredible weather. I certainly enjoyed that to the max. (And it's pretty chilly outside again today, so I'm happy to think fondly of last week's shorts weather.)

I included a picture of a pizza mishap, and a screenshot of the ensuing hilarious comments on facebook, as well as something I tweeted about a funny text my mom sent me.

Many weeks, I've been including an Instagram of my temporary tattoos (all from tattly), and I love the continuity week to week.

The second page is mostly photos from St Patrick's Day, which we spent celebrating calmly at our friends' house. I also squeezed in a bit from a sweetgreen menu and another Currents card from Tina's shop.

I used my Silhouette a few times on this page, and my favorite bit are these little clovers I cut out of white cardstock. I backed them with some pretty green paper and used a border punch to add another strip of green. I think those little clovers are so cute!

(You can see the rest of my Project Life pages here.)

springtime in dc

If this is what spring is always like here, I take back every good thing I've ever said about this city, and shout it out again, twenty times louder.

Last weekend we went with our friends to the National Mall to enjoy a perfect day. Our original goal was to see the cherry blossoms, but we never really quite made it there. Instead we took our shoes off and ran on the grass barefoot (ok, that might have been just me). We wandered around, feeding ducks and checking out monuments.

The flowers are out everywhere. Tulips the size of your head! They are gorgeous.

Our friends are so cute:

Molly hypothesized that I have reverse seasonal affective disorder. Allow me to explain: normally SAD describes people who are at their baseline happiness level through most of the year, and take a big dip in the winter. I am at my baseline happiness level in summer through winter and take a huge spike in the spring. The diagnosis sounds accurate and I accept it.

I'm telling you, when the weather is like this, I feel like I can do anything. Like assist a two year old with illegal cherry blossom picking:

Or take really awkward family photos:

My confidence (and competence) level at my job has been improving a lot in the last few weeks. Spring is responsible, I know it.

It doesn't look like this weekend will be quite so sunny, but even in the rainstorms: I love it here I love it here I love it here.

lauren & brendan

My friends are getting married and she asked me to build them a wedding website! I was happy to oblige. I really liked making the website for my wedding back in the day, and it was fun to put together another one. Their wedding is going to be at the a zoo and she's going for a jungle-esque feel, so I got to use bright colors and zebra print, and I'm always excited about a chance for zebra print!

(Did you know that every zebra has a unique stripe pattern, like a fingerprint? And also that zebras are actually black with white stripes, not the other way around? Fun facts!)

project life, week 10

Yay, week 10! This is really more like "weekend 10" because nearly all of the photos are from the weekend my family was in town. I had a few other things I could have included, but I felt like keeping it relatively simple.

On the first page, I have a movie ticket stub (one of the few non-weekend events) with a funny quote from Chris, and a card with a list of all the restaurants we took the family to. Related: I got bonus points from foursquare for checking into bars three days in a row, and it said "HOLLA! Three nights in a row!" I thought that was pretty funny so I took a screenshot to use.

I loved this photo that Abby took of Battlecat, so I had to include it!

On the second page, more photos from the weekend and some notes about the week.

I used a lot of paislee press journaling cards this week, and I really enjoyed using them. I recolored them in Photoshop and added most of my journaling on the computer, too. I like my handwriting, but I prefer computer journaling because I can rewrite it as many times as I need to get the right words in.

(You can see the rest of my Project Life pages here.)

a new quilt: green & gray

Saturday morning I was suddenly struck by the urge to make a quilt, which excited me a lot. I picked out some fabric and a simple design inspired by the ugly carpet in my apartment hallway, and Sunday I finished all 36 blocks in about 3 hours. Not sure when I'll actually finish the thing, but I love the colors and how it's going so far. 

The Eggers in Virginia

My parents and one of my sisters were in town last weekend. It was so fun. It was the first time any of our family has visited since we moved to Virginia, and we were so excited to share our favorite places with them. My sister came into town last Wednesday (her birthday!) so we got started early with her, taking her to dinner and then out for drinks at a piano bar.

My parents joined us on Friday night and we spent the next 48 hours eating and talking and laughing. Abby has a nice camera and a trigger-happy finger so I have about 300 pictures from the weekend—more than I usually have in a whole month! I love it, though. I'm still trying to fit everything into a Project Life spread.

It was a short trip, but I am so glad they came at all and I can't wait for the next (longer) visit!

 

project life, week 9

Week 9. I went to put this together about a week ago, and I realized I'd taken 2 cell phone pictures all week. Chris had taken 1. I wasn't sure how I was going to fill 24 page protector slots, but I took inspiration from Kelly Purkey and Elise Blaha's super cool multi-pocket spreads to fill up one page.

On the left: two photos and a screenshot of Chris's monster high score in Words With Friends. I read The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo series that week so I noted that, and I made note of the very limited happenings on a Week in Review card. On the bottom left is some journaling written in a bifold card.

And on the right, one giant picture of some flowers Chris brought me. I cropped the square photo in Photoshop into 6 4x6 pieces so I could print it on my printer at home.

When I started this project, I was worried weeks like this would be the norm, and I would find it a chore to find ways to fill up the slots each week. I'm happy that neither of those are true! I love this spread just as much as all the others—maybe even a little more. Even the dull weeks have high points, and this project is such a perfect way to capture them.

(You can see the rest of my Project Life pages here.)

new week.

New day, new week. We had family in town for the last few days, and it was fantastic. Today is about getting back into my routine, checking things off the to do list, and drinking lots of water. I have a good feeling about this week.

 

HAPPY BIRTHDAY MOLLY

Love you so much. Happy day, happy year.