Project Alicia

DAY 365

“Nothing ever comes to one, that is worth having, except as a result of hard work.” Booker T. Washington

So, it's officially the last post of the year and end of my Project 365. I thought there would be fireworks or something, but no. Just an uneventful last post to finish 2009. It's been another full year for us. It didn't start out with many big plans, but the days and months sure filled up quickly. I blinked and the year is over. Still trying to figure out where time goes.

Some memorable moments of 2009 include: visit from mom for my birthday, enduring temps of -30 degrees, with -50 wind chills in Feb, Lego League Tournament for Little Man, outage at Duane Arnold, spring break in KY, Haldan nearly cutting off his finger, boy's trip to Lake Erie, soccer and more soccer, Pokey's dance recital, Tulip Festival in Pella, Barnes family reunion in TN, Haldan's PigMan sprint tri, visit from Nate's family, Hy-Vee olympic tri in DesMoines, pool days in an unseasonably cool summer, 4th of July Fun Run for the kids and then coming home for hot cocoa, quick weekend trip to St Louis, mouse dropping on head while weeding, swim lessons for kids, both sets of grandparents here under one roof for the kid's birthdays and Pokey's baptism, addition of guinea pigs, ice skating and piano lessons, completion of Haldan's SRO exam and schooling in late Sept, Wicked in DesMoines as a family, our fun filled Search for Sun adventure to New Mexico, pirates for Halloween, saw Twilight: New Moon twice in less than 12 hours, Thanksgiving in KY, and home for Christmas. These are just some of the memories that left a mark on me. I feel so blessed to have such a rich, full life. We finish out the year in good health and good spirits, gainfully employed with a roof over our heads and a place to call home.

It's hard to believe that this is the end of this decade. It seems with every passing year that time moves faster than the previous year. In another decade the kids will be out on their own. Hard to fathom that. New Year's Eve is here and it's time for the traditional resolutions. Last year the first one on my list was Project 365. I had no idea what that would entail in that moment and has literally taken over and transformed me. It feels so wonderful to finally be closing the door on this chapter in my life. And although I'm continuing the project this year, it will not be the same in terms of my level of commitment. I have decided the number one item on my list for 2010 will be "improving my photography", which will involve some classes and yes, my poor dear, sweet family, more photos. I would love to do one of those photo trips I always see in the magazines, but not sure that is in the budget for this year.

If you are not interested in scrapbook pages you can skip this section. The photo above was part of another Christmas card design, and although I didn't use it for that I have managed to get much use out of it. I ended up making it the cover for my calendars I made for family and I also manipulated it and resized it to be my "year in review" scrapbook pages for my 12x12 album. I used photoshop to create this. My sister in law, Anna, told me she downloaded a collage program from the internet for free. When I googled it I found all kinds of free collage makers out there. So, if you don't have photoshop you should check it out. Anna's made beautiful collages as gifts.

Here's a more up close view of my 12 x12 scrapboook pages. I design it in a 24x12 size and then separate them, right down the middle. That's how I've always designed by scrapbook pages, even before I went digital.

My computer has been on the fritz for most of the year and tonight has shown more severe signs leading me to believe death is inevitable in the very near future. What a fun way to ring in the new year. I guess I should be glad it got me through all of 2009 P365. It would not let me convert my photoshop files to jpegs tonight, so I had to save these as bmps. We have backed up everything (except my external hard drive full of photos) using carbonite.

This is page 1.

And page 2.

Here's another fun idea for you scrapbookers out there. I did this several years ago now. I always like to do a fun "year in review" scrapbook page. It's a good way to put grouping of photos together in terms of time to get a better overview. Or maybe it's just the way my mind works. This one was done using the options that came with my printer. I just selected print layout, contact sheets, and then you can select the amount of thumbnails you want in both columns and rows. Select the photos you want to use and it plugs it in for you. I had to cut some of them and then I adhered it to 12x12 paper. Fun overview of our year. You probably can't tell from this photo, but at a glance I see potty training, Paris, Florida Keys, and graduation from preschool. If you've never done a "year in review" page before, you should give it a try- they are my favorite.

Another year is gone...

... bidding farewell until 2010.

"We will open the book. Its pages are blank. We are going to put words on them ourselves. The book is called Opportunity and its first chapter is New Year's Day." Edith Lovejoy Pierce