Week In The Life
If you've been reading this little blog since the beginning, you know that I'm a fan of Ali Edwards and her style of memory keeping. She was the inspiration behind my One Little Word post; I love her clean and simple style, and because she shares so much of her life, I feel like I know her. She has shared a lot about her experience raising a son with autism, so of course I can relate. Heck, I've been following her since before she even had a blog! She had a regular column in a scrapbooking magazine (magazines...remember those?). That's how far back Ali and I go, even if she isn't aware of our long-term relationship.
Since 2005 she's done a project called Week In The Life. And ever since 2005, I've found it inspiring; I've read every blog post she's ever shared showing her process and explaining why she does it year after year. And every time, I think "I'm totally going to do that." It is now 2016. I think you can see where this is going...
I've never actually done it.
But this is my year! Really! I'm doing it! (I'm giving myself a pep talk here.) It's happening Monday, May 9th - Sunday, May 15th.
Every time she does this project, Ali announces when it's happening and invites people to join her on social media. She also sells albums and kits (physical and digital) to help you with the project, but you don't need to be all scrapbook-y to participate. You can make this as small or as big a project as you'd like; you can get the kit and use all the bells and whistles or you could just follow along on Instagram and be inspired to take more everyday pictures, maybe even printing a few.
Here's how Ali defines the project:
"A seven-day documentary project, Week In The Life™ began in 2005 as an annual opportunity to capture the simple everyday details of life with photos and words. The albums I've created are some of my most treasured in that they are wonderfully true representations of my family's life at a particular point in time. From the mundane to the profound, it's those simple little everyday moments that I treasure most."
Great idea, right? Wouldn't you love to have documentation of a week in your life from a decade ago, including all the little details like what you ate for breakfast or what your desk looked like at your job? Wouldn't you love to have documentation of a week in the life of your mom from when she was your age? Your grandfather? All that mundane day-to-day stuff is what makes up our lives. Believe me, you'll want to remember.
My favorite way to manage my photos throughout the year is Project Life. I've done it off and on for a few years, and I still find it meaningful (I'm doing it this year, using the app, getting 8x8s printed and put in an album). I wrote a post a while back about why taking pictures of the little things that make up our ordinary lives is a meaningful experience; you can read about it here. I highly recommend it! (the process and the post!)
Anyway, I'm sharing this because I'm hoping it'll keep me accountable and make me actually do it! Ha! And maybe you'll find it interesting or inspiring to check out Ali's Week In The Life posts and to follow the hashtag on Instagram during the second week of May. Hope to see you on the internet!
