Project Life 2015 {January}

Hi!

How has your summer been? I took a mini break from most social media stuff (except a few instagrams, because I just love pictures so much!), it was kind of nice to step away for a little bit. And as a result, this summer I ended up almost never being on the computer.

You really would have thought that I would have gotten more things done around here with more free time, but I really really didn't. Would you believe we still aren't fully unpacked? There are a few boxes left in our storage room that have to be looked at, but most of them are full of not essential things (non maternity clothes, fine china...)

Fortunately, I found my scrapbook stuff, or most of it. There are still a few albums that are packed up, but I found my 2015 Project Life album!

But I am really behind on it because its been packed up for so long! My album is only completed through March, but I did just order all of the pictures through July, so I should be able to catch up soon - I hope!

{Week 1}

{Week 2}

{Week 3}

{Week 4}

{Week 5}

It was fun to go back and look at these layouts. Its been so long since I've opened this album, and so much has changed since January - back then we were living in Albany, looking at homes up there and just hoping that we'd have a baby on the way soon. And now we are in Chicago, back in an apartment, and best of all, expecting our first child in November!

Its still crazy to me how quickly things changed this year!

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December Daily 2014 {Day 3}

Happy Weekend Eve!

I'm hoping to get a wreath for our front door today. I was going to stop yesterday after house hunting, but I ran out of time!

I almost did what I feared house hunting yesterday - I found an awesome house! Seriously, great layout, brand new amazing kitchen, hardwood floors, lots of windows, big backyard, a deck, a new roof. It was awesomely maintained, and even the wall colors were ones I would have picked!

But the location wasn't great. And not even like "not perfect, but doable for this amazing house" not great, I'm talking major major issues on many points - including adding an extra 45 minutes without traffic to the trip already 3 1/2 long trip to my parents' house!

So the search continues. Which is just fine since we haven't sold our house yet! Know anyone looking for a house in Louisiana? ;)

Other than house hunting, yesterday was pretty quiet.

I started out the morning extra early, with a cup of tea and an advent calendar chocolate. And then later on, I totally burnt dinner! I was seriously upset, but decided to try the honey mustard chicken anyway, just to see how badly I messed it up. Turned out, I burnt the marinade that spilled onto the (fortunately tin foil covered) pan, but the actual chicken was awesome! I'll definitely make it again, but maybe I'll be more careful not to spill anything on the pan!

This year, I am approaching December Daily slightly differently. In the past, before I did Project Life, I would document what we did everyday with an accompanying picture. But since I document our daily going ons in Project Life, I'm focusing more on December stories this year.

So instead of talking about house hunting and burning dinner (which will still be documented, just not here), I talked about one of my favorite family Christmas traditions - our advent calendars!

"Every year, Aunt Diane buys us these exact chocolate filled advent calendars (she is awesome!). They have been a part of our Christmas tradition for as long as I can remember - the chocolate just tastes like Christmas to me and I almost memorized the sayings on the inside of the windows! I love waking up and having a little chocolate "present" waiting for me - its the only time of year I have chocolate with my breakfast every day!"

While I love my other albums (seriously, woke up this morning and read my 2011 and 2012 books again while drinking my tea), I am really loving this story centered approach this year!

Does using Project Life affect how you approach other projects?

The rest of December 2014: Day 1 | Day 2

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Struffoli {Scrapbook Layout}

Happy Tuesday everyone!

I am seriously shocked about how quickly summer is flying by! School starts one month from yesterday...well, for the students. School for teachers starts even earlier!

I've still got a lot to do on my summer list, but I do have an update for you tomorrow about how its going so far :)

During that marathon scrapping week earlier this summer, I made this layout too.

Last Christmas, AJ and I went to my Nonni's house to make struffoli. Struffoli are honey covered fried dough pieces, covered in sprinkles. We only make them at Christmas, and I look forward to them all year long. After we left, AJ showed me that he snapped some pictures of us while we were cooking, and I knew that I'd have to turn those pictures into a scrapbook layout!

I was so glad that he was able to get these pictures when I wasn't looking!

Well, I'm off to go scrap some more. My "to scrap" list is still way too long for school being so very close to starting! What are you up to today?

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Project Life 2014 {Week 20}

Happy Friday!

How is your summer going? I am just loving every second of being off from work and recharging for the new school year. But seriously, let's not talk about the new school year yet.

Let's talk about Project Life instead :)

Week 20 | May 12 - May 18

This was a pretty crazy week for everyone in my family! My brother graduated from law school on Saturday! We are all so proud of him :) Unfortunately, AJ and I couldn't attend because it was halfway across the country on Saturday morning and we couldn't make it in time due to work. But, everyone kept us in the loop with lots and lots of pictures (thank you Mom + Dad + Jamie!)

We also had a bit of drama this week. Monday night, we attended Confirmation at our church. Everything was going great - right up until the very end of Communion! I passed out! Fortunately, we were surrounded by good friends, including two nurses, who were able to take charge of the situation and were so so helpful.

Although I did end up in the emergency room until 1am! Fortunately, everything seems to be okay, but we had to get it checked out.

I was feeling much better on Tuesday. Better enough to bake cookies for AJ's plant's crawfish boil. Of course, AJ helped me too. He was great at icing the Andes Mint cookies {recipe found from Becky Higgin's blog - and is definitely a new favorite}

And Wednesday was my birthday! We celebrated twice - once on my actual birthday with dinner at a local restaurant + cake + presents. And again on Saturday with dinner in Baton Rouge. I loved celebrating all week long :)

Since we had lots of "things" from this week that I didn't want to cut up - the Confirmation program + my birthday cards - I decided to just punch holes in them and put them right into my book. I could have included them in protectors, but because I want to be able to easily open and flip through these items, I decided to just punch holes directly into them and leave them out of the page protectors.

Do you include "things" - cards, maps, programs, etc. - in your albums? How do you like to display them?

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The Party Ends + Continues at the Hotel {Wedding Recaps}

We'd gotten married, we'd taken pictures, we'd danced (and danced and danced!) and we'd cut the cake.

And before we knew it, the party was ending.







Our photographer was taking the last picture of the night.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Our DJ was playing our last song.


Our limo was leaving Stewart Manor Country Club.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

But we weren't going to let the reception ending stop our party.

My parents organized a little after party at the hotel. After going up to our beautifully decorated room to drop off our luggage (and ditch the heels I'd been wearing all night long!) AJ and I headed back downstairs to hang out with our guests for a little bit.

guest photograph
this is the only one I could find of the after party!

And before we knew it, it was time to go to bed so we could get up in the morning to head here.

Can you believe it? Its over! These recaps seem to have flown by just as quickly as our actual wedding did!

I do have one more little thing to share with you next week, but then its time to move on to something else. Just like real life I guess, hahaha!

I hope you enjoyed these recaps as much as I've enjoyed sharing them with you :)

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Summer List {2014}

Hello Summer!

Well, summer's officially starting tomorrow at noon. And if we are going by the weather, summer's been here since April. Yay Louisiana... 

The past few summers, I've created a list of things to do before school starts - and sometimes I even throw in a list for fall.

I usually wait until after the last day of school to post my list. But I am so so ready for it to be today (and I accidentally wrote it as today in my day planner!) and tomorrow's only a half day, so I decided to just post it now!

Sometimes they work out great {fall 2013} And I end up with lots of fun pages in my Project Life album {summer 2012} And other times, it doesn't work out so well {summer 2013}

But that's okay, because I still love making a new list every summer, even if we start school with none of it being done!

I already know that a few of things this will happen {road trip | beach} and some have already happened {concert} But there are a few I know probably won't be perfect {take a picture every day} but that isn't going to stop me from trying!

What's on your summer agenda this year?

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Cake + Pie Bar + Almost Taking Out My Cousin with the Bouquet {Wedding Recaps}

The night was quickly coming to an end (sadly!) But we still had a few things left to do before dancing the night away.

And one of those things was cutting the cake.

We were really excited about the cake, because it was a chocolate cake with a white chocolate mousse filling and was supposed to taste like Devil Dogs from Drake's Cakes. Of course, the only bite of cake we had was the one we fed each other. There's always the frozen top layer we will have in a few months, I guess!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

We had a really hard time cutting the cake. They asked AJ (the lefty) to put his right hand on the knife and me (the righty) to use my left. The theory was that AJ would actually cut the cake and I would just have my hand there looking cute. Except neither one of us could cut with the opposite hand, so it ended up being the tiniest, wonkiest piece of cake ever cut! Which is why we can't stop laughing in that top picture!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

But just in case someone didn't like cake, we also had a pie bar. We had such a hard time choosing our second dessert option - torn between apple crisp (because it was fall) and cheesecake (because its my favorite). But then our venue coordinator suggested a pie bar. And we loved it! From what I hear, the pie tasted very good, although we didn't really get any of that either! Man, I really failed at the "make sure you eat at your wedding" advice!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Where I really needed advice was on how to throw a bouquet at the group of girls and not at the table next to them! At the last second, I was told I had to throw over my shoulder, and not above my head (because of the beams up there!)

Yeah...I could have definitely used some practice with that!

Did you have any throwing mishaps at your wedding? And did you get to actually eat your cake? I'm still sad that I didn't!

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Project Life 2014 {Week 16 + Week 17}

Happy Friday!

I am so glad that this week is over. I am so done with the craziness that it brought!

Last night was not crazy, and I was so happy. While AJ was at his last night of bowling league, I made lots of Project Life layouts.

Week 16 | April 14 - April 20, 2014

Just a few weeks before Easter, my parents surprised us and told us they wanted to fly down for Easter. And so my dad could see the house - he hadn't visited yet!

The whole left side are pictures from the beginning of their visit. They flew in on Good Friday, and we visited Mississippi on Saturday. It was so fun to have them in town with us.

On the right side, I added a picture of AJ and I at a going away party for a friend, a picture of our Easter Egg hunt at school + a holidy mini kit card about Easter + a snapshot of the readings for Easter Sunday at church.

I also added these fun stars in to some of the pockets that weren't entirely filled. I love how fun they are, and how they add color to the see through elements!

Week 17 | April 21 - April 27, 2014 

My parents stayed until Wednesday. We mostly hung around the house, went shopping and went out to eat. I don't have too many pictures, but I did manage to get a few of their first crawfish experience! My dad liked them, but my mom didn't like having to crack open the shells - so AJ did it for her. I just enjoyed from behind the camera, they are so not my thing!

The next weekend, we went to the Zurich Golf Classic in New Orleans. You are allowed to take pictures on the course, but I did take a picture of our dinner date afterwards (man, do I love that spinach dip!)

Even now, when I don't take "a lot" of pictures in a week, I still end up with more than enough for my Project Life. I think the camera is my favorite part about upgrading to the iphone from my blackberry last summer! Its always with me, and its so easy to grab a quick picture of whatever we are doing.

What is your go-to camera?

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Day in the Life {2014}

Happy Thursday!

I'm really excited about today - I will be playing along with Ali Edward's Day in the Life! This is one of my favorite projects all year long, and always ends up with me looking forward to Week in the Life (starting September 8 this year).

But for now, its just about today. I'll be sharing on Instagram all day {you can see those pictures here}

I'm thinking this year I will add my photos as an insert in Project Life...or maybe a separate traditional layout...obviously I haven't thought it out yet!

Are you playing along today? Let me know in the comments where you will be sharing your pictures - I'd love to check them out :)

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Surprises and Secret Dances {Wedding Recaps}

Last week, I told you all about the dancing. 

But, I'd saved a few special dances for their very own post. And here it is!

I had picked out the song for our father-daughter dance many many years ago. When I was little, my dad would always sing "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" to me. Even though it isn't a traditional father-daughter song, its always been our song and I really wanted to use it for our dance.

The original plan was to surprise my dad with the song, but he had picked out a different song ("I Loved Her First") so I decided to tell him my plan and let him decide. Fortunately, he was totally on board with my song. 

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Turns out, he'd thought of it, but was worried it was non traditional and harder to dance to. But we practiced dancing to it over the summer, and it was perfect that day!

There was another surprise at the wedding though. AJ's mom passed away while he was in college, and at first, he was not planning to have a dance. But, a few months before the wedding, he told me that he would like to dance with my mom, and wanted to keep it a surprise from her.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

He chose "When You Need Me", one of my mom's favorite Bruce Springsteen songs. And she was totally surprised! I'm really glad we were able to keep this one a secret!

There was one more secret at the wedding. Man - I didn't realize how many secrets and surprises were involved in this wedding until I started writing this post!

My brother is definitely more reserved that I am. As in, really funny and sarcastic and probably the funniest person I know I say probably so my husband and father don't get upset, but he definitely is, but he doesn't like to be forced to be the center of attention.

Normally, that is just fine, since I love to be the center of attention. It worked out really well growing up, most of the time. But this time, I really wanted to dance to "You've Got a Friend in Me" from Toy Story with my brother. And he didn't want everyone to stop what they were doing and look at us out on the dance floor all by ourselves. So we planned a secret dance.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Basically, the DJ warned up right before he played the song, but he didn't tell anyone else what was going on. Of course, it didn't stop everyone who knows us both from gathering around us in a circle!

And it didn't stop me from singing along with every word of the song (much to the surprise/shock/dismay of my brother...)

But it was so great to be able to share that special moment with him, especially since we haven't lived in the same state since he went off to college...seven years ago!

Our last dance, which was a surprise to us when planning our wedding was our "second dance". When our DJ asked what song we wanted for our second dance, I was so confused! I'd never heard of a second dance before.

But basically, after the parent dances, AJ and I were called out to dance to another song that is special to us, "Who Are You When I'm Not Looking". And unlike the first dance, after the first part of the song, we asked all of our guests to join us.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Did you have, or have you seen, a second dance before? What surprises did you have in your wedding?

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First Dance + Toasts {Wedding Recaps}

After we were all introduced, it was time for the first dance.

We chose "God Gave Me You" by Blake Shelton for our first dance. And we also used it for our wedding highlight video. We really love that song!

And now, every time I hear it, I think of our wedding day.

We even heard it while we were driving to the showing where we found our house!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

After the first dance, we had the toasts. We had toasts from my matron of honor, AJ's best man, and my dad. They all did an amazing job.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

But I did have one question - were AJ and I supposed to drink the champagne with everyone else? We weren't sure, because we were the ones being toasted, so do we toast to ourselves? What do you think?

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Shower Flowers {Scrapbook Layout}

Happy Tuesday!

This was a crazy, but fun, weekend. One of my closest friends was married in California! I loved seeing our friends, meeting her family and celebrating her and her new husband.

And in addition to all that fabulousness, it was the first time I'd ever been to the West Coast so I got to see the Pacific Ocean for the first time (that is a layout waiting to happen!)

Unfortunately, AJ couldn't attend the wedding because of work. During a two week span every year called "turnaround" he has to work every day - even weekends! - and he cannot take any days off. Of course, the wedding fell during those two weeks! He was really upset to have missed the wedding, and we definitely missed him there. But in a silver lining - I was super proud of myself for traveling to all the way to Orange County on my own!

Speaking of things AJ couldn't attend, I still have one layout from my bridal shower that I haven't shared (the others are here, here and here!)

I'm not sure why, but it was very important to me that AJ have flowers delivered to my bridal shower. I was so excited when he did, so they got their very own layout!

Just like I did for all of the other layouts, I used the Bella Blvd Engaged at Last line, but I also added in some Project Life cards from the Clementine kit for a little color. They matched the card from the florist so well that I couldn't help but add them!

Were there any little things that you really wanted at your bridal shower, like my flowers? Did you get them?

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Project Life 2014 {Week 9}

Happy Friday everyone!

We are getting a ton of rain over here. The thunder and lightning are crazy and I'm just hoping that the lights stay on at the house while I'm showering (because that would be scary!) But if the lights want to go out at school and get us a day off, I'd be fine with that! I am so not looking forward to driving on easily flooded roads, and I definitely don't want to get stuck in Baton Rouge if they do!

But I do love rainy days like this, they just make everything seem so cozy. Its the perfect day to hang out in the craft room with a big cup of tea!

I guess I'll have to settle with just sharing a few pages instead. And hoping I don't get stuck in any puddles on my way home so I can craft when I get there!

Week 9 | February 24 - March 2, 2014

This layout is a little "backwards" the pictures on the left side are from the end of the week - our first Mardi Gras in Baton Rouge. We celebrated by going to the Spanish Town parade, which was awesome! At first I thought the whole throwing/catching beads thing was odd, until I started catching a whole bunch of them. Then I realized how fun it was! We will definitely add "celebrating Mardi Gras" to our list of fun things we learned while moving around the country (see also: deep dish pizza, dying the river green, lakes)

The right page highlights my mom and Nonni's trip to Baton Rouge in the beginning of the week. One of my favorite parts about the trip was my Nonni teaching AJ how to make meatballs. I don't eat - or even cook! - anything with ground meat, so he was very excited to learn how to cook meatballs, one of his favorites, on his own! And I thought it was just so sweet to watch him and my Nonni cook together. And to take pictures from the other side of the kitchen when they weren't looking ;)

Because I used the Design C (6 4x6 pockets) for the right side, there wasn't a pocket to fit any of my 3x4 cards, and I really wanted to use the "This Makes Me Smile" 3x4 card for the picture of AJ and my Nonni.

So I used my favorite trick.

I lined up two 3x4 cards next to each other, and used some washi tape on the back to hold them together. Then I slipped my new 4x6 card in the pocket :)

It also works great for pictures that might not fit into the pockets you have available. Like this horizontal picture of my beads...there was no way it would fit into the portrait sized pocket. Sometimes turning the picture sideways works, this time it didn't. So I taped the "love this" card above the picture, and trimmed the picture + card down to 4x6. I love that I got to use an extra card and could still include my favorite picture from Mardi Gras!

It also works great to add a little bit of journaling + a pretty design card to a 4x6 pocket. Seriously, the possibilities here are endless. And its super easy. Probably why I love it so much!

Do you have any Project Life secrets to share?

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Post Card Guest Book {Wedding Recaps}

Alright guys, I have a confession about our guest book.

It was a super cute idea, and I really loved it. But it didn't work out that well.

You see, the guest book was set up right when everyone walked in from the cocktail hour, and right next to where they got their escort cards.

But, we didn't really talk about it at the reception. Our dj was awesome about announcing for guests to use our instagram hashtag (#katieandajtogetherer) but we never announced about the guest book.

So only four people signed it.

But I still really liked the idea of it. The idea was to buy post cards from all the places we lived.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

 Guests would write a note on the post cards.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

And put them in the mailbox that I painted with our new initials.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

And I would make a scrapbook out of them.

But, like I said, only four people signed them. So I think I'll just include those four in our wedding scrapbook instead!

What type of guest book did you use? Did your guests sign it?

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The Gap {Wedding Recaps}

Like most church ceremony brides, we had a big gap between our ceremony and our reception.

So you know we were going to use that time to take lots and lots of pictures!

I loved our venue's front yard... I guess you would call it a yard? It had lots of grass and flowers and a gazebo.

But of course, I had to have another photograph site too! So we decided to stop at a park that was on the way to the venue too!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Taking pictures at the park turned out to be so much fun! There were tons of families and kids playing, soaking up the extra warm for New York in the fall weather. It was fun to have so many people telling us congratulations while we were taking pictures!

But we didn't stay at the park too long, because we were meeting up with our families to take pictures at the venue at 6.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

We also took lots of couples pictures... And I cannot choose a favorite!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

Which one do you think we should use for our big picture in the house? I just can't decide!

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Ceremony {Wedding Recaps}

AJ and I decided to have a very traditional Catholic ceremony. We were both raised Catholic and it was important to us to have our wedding in the church.

And it was important to me to get married in the specific church I grew up in. I think that church is just so pretty, and the aisle is so so long, I couldn't wait!

And before I knew it, it was time for us to walk down that long aisle on the extra long aisle runner (which I almost didn't get the week of the wedding, got totally upset about, and that day totally didn't notice, and couldn't tell you anything about!)

Our parents and grandparents walked down the aisle to Ave Maria. Followed by our bridesmaids, who walked to Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring. Then it was time for my dad and I to walk down the aisle. Years ago, after hearing Trans Siberian Orchestra's Christmas Canon, I decided to walk down the aisle to Canon in D. And true to that decision, I did!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

But to be honest, I never heard any of the music on our wedding day. After watching the video, I heard it, and realized that our cantor had a beautiful voice, but that day, I didn't notice any of it! All I could think when walking down the aisle was where is AJ? You see, I'm super short, and I couldn't see him over our standing guests. About halfway down the aisle, I asked my dad "AJ is up there, right?" He was - you can see him peeking out in the one picture :)

And then it was time for the ceremony to begin. 

One of the things I loved about our ceremony was that we were able to have so many of our family members and friends involved. We asked four of our aunts to do readings on our wedding day.

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

They all did a beautiful job, and I'm so glad we were able to honor them in this special way!

So, even though I really wanted a full mass, I still couldn't control myself. You see, I am really bad in church. I talk. A lot. I don't know why. I feel the need to comment on song selection, or if a reading reminds me of something in my life, or whatever. And this was so not different on my wedding day. I don't have any idea what I was talking about! But I love that they captured that...since it happens all the time!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

And of course, there were our vows. When I was actually encouraged to talk!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

One of my favorite moments from the wedding day was when AJ was going to put the ring on my finger. My ring has a definite top and bottom, and in that middle picture, he is asking me which way to put it on. I love how intense he looks, trying to ask without saying it out loud!

I'll spare you all of the rest of details, because it was a super long ceremony, but here are a few of my favorite moments from the rest of the ceremony:

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

walking up the altar with AJ ~ the greeting ~ Our Father ~ sign of the peace ~ bringing flowers to Mary ~ one of my favorite pictures of my mom from that day

Then it was time to kiss the bride. Our priest mixed it up a bit, telling AJ, "You may now kiss your wife." Which I liked even better! The Wedding March began to play, and we walked out of the church, stopping for one extra kiss!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

And that was the ceremony! We were officially married!


There was only one thing left to do... get pelted lightly showered with rice!

Photo Credit: Ruby Star Photography

So, this may have been my favorite part of the whole day! This is when it hit me that we had actually just gotten married! Running out of the church, with the wedding march playing and rice flying everywhere really made me feel like a just married bride!

When did it hit you that you were actually married? Did you have to actually get hit with something before it sunk in?

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