Week 1
The first part of the week was spent recovering from the holidays and visiting family. You know, getting back to the usual routine of getting up early, going to work, dinner with just the two of us. I love when family visits but, as someone who loves her routines, it’s always a bit stressful how they shake things up. The last day of the week was the FIRST kickoff, where we learned about this year’s game. This was also the week Matt first started playing Skyrim (which is now a nightly fixture in our house – he’s got something like 80 hours of playtime clocked).

I first made these pages using not only a different kit but also a different template for the page protectors, neither of which I really liked. So, I switched kits and protector sets (and bought some journaling cards) and “fixed” them the following week. I won’t show you the first version – it really was a mess – but here’s the pretty-fied versions.  
 

Week Two
Week Two included our first dusting of snow for the year which was only my second time driving in snow. We also got our basement fixed such that is no longer has water coming inside when it rains (which isn’t quite as photogenic as our snowy backyard so I didn’t grab a photo of it). I didn’t take many photos throughout the week so I instead captured the current sermon series at church, the cat’s current favorite sitting location, and my love of Chipotle. The sort of things I would have never thought to include in scrapbook pages but I know I’ll be glad I captured in years to come.

I gave FIRST its own page (a trend I continued in later weeks) because, well, it’s so different than everything else going on in my life. I’m sure I annoy the students with my constant photo-taking but they’ll appreciate that I’ve captured the build process as it goes along. I took something like 50 photos that whole have been appropriate to scrap and somehow managed to narrow it down into just the best ones shown here. (Oh and you’ll notice, FIRST weeks are one week behind “regular” weeks which constantly throws me off.)

Week Three
Week three was the week of zero photos. Okay, not zero but very, very few. Something about the week just killed any desire I had to take photos, including self potraits (yes, I’m trying that whole thing again – missed all of week 3 but good otherwise). So, instead of giving up and not making a page for the week or trashing the entire project, I decided to embrace it. Lots and lots of journaling about the week. And that picture I took while being evil and watching Matt clean off the car from our front stoop. (I cleaned off my car by myself the next day so I got my just desserts, dont’ worry.)

Week Four
Thankfully, I got back into the photographic swing of things in week four (last week, for those keeping track). After looking over my photos for the week, I decided to do a Top 5 page with SPs, cookies, Ada, books, and a really yummy pasta dinner. I struggled to fill the last “block” on the template and decided a summary of the week was probably a good idea to include. I probably got a little too sappy in the review but whatever. It’s my scrapbook, I can be as sappy as I like.

There weren’t any cancelled FIRST days in week 4 (and I took some shots on my iPhone during mid-week sessions) so I had plenty of photos for a whole page about it. I knew I wanted to use the photo-overkill version of the template but struggled with what to do when I had only 16, not 17 good photos to include. I decided the “As of right now” element was perfect for a countdown/progress bar and embraced it. After moving things around a dozen times, I finally stepped back and finalized the layout. I forgot to include any mention of the week or date which I may go back and add (or be very careful when putting these in order in my book once they’re printed).

(Quick note: I forgot to keep the template as the top most layer so these aren’t quite the final versions. In the final, the template is on top and gives the whole thing more of a page protector look like you see in the very last page. I realized this mistake just before pushing publish and am too lazy to make new JPGs right now. It’s fixed in PSE.)

Coming in Week 5:
- No FIRST photos (missed all work sessions due to teacher workdays and our trip)
- Our trip to WV to go skiing
- Current knitting WIP (may be an FO by Sat night!)
- New sidewalk lights

Materials Used on Various Pages:
- Valorie Wibbins: Pockets No 3 (page protector template)
- Karla Dudley: Right Now (Background paper and elements)
- Valorie Wibbins: Today journaling cards
- Robyn Meierotto: Dated 2012 Stamps

I have actually tried colorwork before, multiple times. My one success was ten little lines of stranded colorwork on a baby dress – nothing to write home about. I’ve tried knitting the Endpaper Mitts a good dozen times but have failed in color combinations or not getting gauge (boh too loose and too tight) each time. I think the pattern may actually be cursed for me, destined never to be knit. I’ve also tried a couple other patterns, often getting too aggravated at the slow pace of progress, pulling the project out after a week of work that resulted in less than an inch of progress. But, hey, I can now use both of my hands and I’ve got significantly more free time and, you know what, I’m allowed to buy other sized needles if I can’t get gauge on a 1, 1 1/2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, or 10 (the only needle sizes I own, mostly size 7′s).

So, I’m determined to try again. Should I stick to something small like fingerless mitts or a hat or go nuts and make a whole sweater? Whatever I choose, I’ll have to go on a shopping trip first as I have exactly three skeins of cobweb, one of fingering, one of sport, 12 of DK (6 each of two colors not different enough from one another for colorwork), some random worsted/aran in colors that don’t go together, and 3 bulky.

What do you guys think I should make? Here’s 16 ideas I came across on Ravelry. Links below.

From top left, proceeding across the row then starting the next:

1. Shelbu Modern    2. From Norway with Love     3. Peerie Flooers    4. Whale Watch Hat     5. Latvian Garden Baby Blanket     6.  Undergrowth     7. Plum Forest    8. Freyja Sweater    9. Platte River    10. Liberty    11. Ukranian Tiles    12. Ida’s Kitchen    13. Tapestry Cowl    14. Inga Hat    15. Winter Solstice    16. Staghorn Hat

It’s January which means another FIRST Robotics season is upon us. This means six weeks of having nearly every thought consumed by robots and ten hours a week at the high school. This year, I’m finally not a student myself so I’ve got far more time to devote (and am actually available to answer questions).

First off, this year’s game. It’s basically a modified version of basketball. A three minute animation explaining it can be found here.

Again this year, we’re working with Thomas Jefferson, a magnet school for science and technology. The students are very smart, very driven, and basically just need our help to keep them from building something far too complicated and to re-explain how PID controllers work.

So far, they’ve got a priliminary design complete and have welded most of the chassis. Pretty good progress, seeing as we’re now about halfway through the six week build season.

And, now, photo overload.

This year, I want to record my life. Not by forcing myself to do something daily like take a self portrait or blog or journal but by really taking the time to somehoe record what’s going on, whatever way I feel like doing it at that moment. Photos, blog posts, scrapbooking layouts, letters to no one, journals full of words – I don’t want to focus this year on the mdium but the actual act of recording. Just getting it on paper and out of my head.

See, I’m someone who is oddly forgetful. I can remember every single word to a song from a musical I was in back in fifth grade but ask me which little town I took that photo of the house with the yellow shutter back in October, and I’m clueless. Sure, it’s probably got something to do with the fact that it’s just a photo of a house I saw once and not a song I had drilled into my head by repeating it over and over. And that house has no memories tied to it. But that doesn’t mean I should forget it. I have the photo but everything else with it is gone.

Memories should be preserved, if only so you can look back and laugh at how silly you were back then. I want 2012 to be the first year I really record what I’ve seen, ate, regretted, enjoyed, and felt ambivalent about. I want to look back in ten years and actually have some idea of what was going on in my life and not just the highlights. I’ve got plenty of photos from big trips, family gatherings. You know, the stuff you’re supposed to take photos and write blog posts and make scrapbook pages about.

But my life happens(and changes) outside of those big, important events. I want to focus on recording the little moments between the big ones.

I’m not sure what form any of this will take and, for a control freak like me, that’s pretty terrifying. I’m just going to relax and record things when they happen. And maybe some of that recording will get shown off here. Maybe almost none of it will.

But, this year, 2012. I will record my life.

January: Attempted, yet again, to blog daily which became weekly which became only when I felt guilty that I hadn’t blogged in awhile. Visited the National Building Museum. Started working with the TJ FIRST team. Mostly focused on coding my senior design project. Started a new job.

February: FIRST season concluded and senior design continued. Tried skiing for the first time.

March: Attended the St. Patrick’s parade in Old Town. DC FIRST regional held. Midterms and a big senior design deadline consumed my life. Spring break was spent working and doing school work. Attended Steph’s baby shower.

April: Life consumed by school projects, tests. etc. Traveled to West Point to attend a design competition (and really wished they didn’t have a rule about no AC before 1 may).

May: Wrapped up my last undergraduate semester. Graduated Suma Cum Laude. Celebrated Matt’s grandmother’s 90th birthday. Went to a color theory workshop with Ms Babs.

June: Started first full-time job (and it’s not so fun commute). Started looking at houses. Got back into sewing by making a few handbags (and failed at making myself a skirt).

July: Brutally hot month. Went to more open houses and house tours. Attended the first annual Bontrager cousins reunion in DE. Started digital scrapbooking five years of marriage.

August: Put a bid on a house, counterbid accepted, home inspection, mortgage application, and everything else invovled with buying a house. Felt not nearly as poor as expected at the end of the process. Really started my new job (assignment received). Started a quilt for the first time in four years.

September: Moved into the new house. Held a housewarming party with friends, family, and neighbhors.

October: Spent two and a half week exploring Spain, France, and Italy. Spent the rest of the month starting a new project at work and recovering from being away for so long.

November: Had Thanksgiving at our place, this time with Matt’s parents, Jesse’s family, Alison, and Lucy. Attended the DE reception for Caleb and Karen. Finished making a sweater for myself that actually fit.

December: Enjoyed a realitively warm December. Parents and brother visit for Christmas. Had first year of decorating our own house for Christmas (but settled for just a tree and some lights on a front window).

So, after more than three years of begging Matt, we finally went. For once, it wasn’t too warm or too cold and wasn’t even crowded, despite being the day after a holiday that most people have off from work. It was everything I wanted: a giant hanger filled with dozens and dozens of airplanes plus missiles, satellites, hot air balloon baskets, and related objects.

I didn’t take notes so I can’t detail what’s in each photo so, yeah, what follows is lots and lots of pictures.

On Saturday, I cut out the entire quilt top.

On Sunday, while a friend made Christmas cards, I sewed the coins (then just long strips of fabric).

Yesterday, I cut the strips into coins and added most of the sashing. Right now, I’m trying to resist the temptation to desert Matt (he’s playing video games next to me on the couch) and sew on the last of the sashing. We’ll just ignore the fact I have no batting or binding and haven’t exactly figured out what I want to do for the back (though it’ll probably be pieced.

After a bunch of sketching and trying to figure out the perfect pattern for these very bright fabrics I purchased in late October, I finally settled on a simple coin quilt.  At first, I was going to make the coins in three rows of equal thickness but decided, instead, to make them three slightly different thicknesses for interest (and, also, I cut the first one too small and had to figure out how to recover). Between the coins is thick, dark gray shashing that I’ll also be adding to the top and bottom, likely later this evening.

Sure, it’s very bright but, hey, she’s still very young and should be able to enjoy her toddler-sized quilt for at least a few more years. (And, yes, this is the same child I made a knitted blanket for before she was born. Apparently I’m paranoid that she’s going to freeze.)

I’m thinking of piecing the back such that it’s the opposite of the front: sashing in coins of the bright fabrics then, where there are coins, strips of the dark gray. But that’ll be even brighter. Heh.

On Thursday Ada’s parents will see the (possibly finished) top in all of its glory. I just hope the colors won’t keep Ada up at night!

Our Christmas tree will never be one of those fancy all-in-one-color deals. See, Matt’s been collecting Christmas ornaments since he was little so we probably have over 200 in total. We don’t pick them up nearly as often, usually only on special vacations (though we got zero on our last Europe trip). This year, with this giant tree  - it takes up a good portion of our living room – we finally have more than enough space to show them all off. Even took three full strands of lights to cover it – two mega strands (400 lights) and one normal (200 lights).

I was very happy with the performance of my 50 mm/f2.9 that Matt got me for a graduation gift. The lens let me easily take photos of the tree, despite the fact is was dark out and the only lighting was the tree lights and a light a good 50 feet away in the dining room. In ten shots, I had four perfectly in focus, like the one I picked that really shows off the different ornaments.

Today was equally busy. We spent last night at Matt’s parents’ house and slept in rather late. We had breakfast then went out and picked out our Christmas tree. After that, we grabbed lunch and did our usual Costco/Wegman’s trip. Matt and his dad went back to Costco and got a mattress set (you know, so my parents will actually have somewhere to sleep when they’re here in a few weeks). While they were gone, Matt’s mom and I did dishes, finally took down the chairs and tables from Thanksgiving, and cleaned out the room where the bed was going. Day ended with paninis for dinner and scrapbooking while watching Charmed (Matt’s playing on his PC in the other room). Of course, I only scrapped about the tree picking as no one cares about the rest of today. I don’t even think I care anymore. Heh.

It’s only the first of the month so we have almost no signs of the holiday season in our house so far. We’re picking up our tree this weekend and, otherwise, all we’ve got is a wreath on our front door. My plan was to take a photo of that to scrap for today but, well, working a ten hour day isn’t conducive to getting a decent photo of something on your front door. So, I had to improvise. One of the things I promised myself with this whole project was that I wouldn’t stress about making sure my stories were all Christmas-focused.

Today’s focus, then, is on the lack of signs of Christmas (and how Thanksgiving, only a week ago, still lingers in our house). Instead of photograping the not yet washed wine glasses or still taking over our dining room large plastic tables, I captured my dessert: leftover banana bread and vanilla ice cream.

I first made this version of the page but wasn’t happy with how light the background was and how you can’t really see the border.

Here’s a different version, with a darker background and the border recolored a dark green. I rather like this to the point what I’m tempted to recolor all of my pre-made pages like this one.

Tomorrow, we’re going to see Handel’s Messiah up in Baltimore where I won’t really be able to take photos inside but I hope I can capture what I’m sure will be an excellent night at the symphony.