Live Brave: Week In The Life

Week in the life 2015 is officially complete. This year, instead of doing a more traditional album, I decided to just do a couple of pages in my project life album using last years Week In The Life kit and a few items from my stash.

Using the 12x12 Project Life design A page protectors, I decided on a few reoccurring things I wanted to do for each day. Journaling directly onto 4 x 6 photos, minimal embellishing and typewritten cards. I like the consistency that they bring to the pages.

The first half of this page was a bit of an intro to the project. A selfie, some stamping, favorite moment of the week and my sweet kitty playing on the bed. The second half of the page is Monday of which my pages consist of early morning wake ups, one of my favorite songs at the moment and me spending some time nourishing my soul.

Tuesday was filled with bible journaling, Smidge and my frequently used icons on my iPhone. Wednesday was a long working day. Eight hours in the car travelling and four hours in meetings. By the time I got home it was almost dark of my fairy lights were on and looking magical.

Thursday I worked my way through my to-do list while Smidge made himself comfy on my great grans chair that not sits in my lounge. Friday I started the day off with a shower and ended it with a delicious, home cooked meal.

Saturday is always one of my most favorite days of the week. I love my home and spending time in it. Sunday was a busy day. Off out with my mom for some shopping and a coffee at Starbucks. We had a much needed catch up. Then it was off to the gym for me.

And that is the round up of my Week In The Life 2015. I really like how it turned out and I am so pleased with the approach that I took with it.

I would love to see your album so please leave a comment along with a link and Ill come say hi.

Hello Wednesday, I'm glad to be heading towards the weekend!

Well Wednesdays are often my travel day for work. This morning I was up and out the house by six thirty am and I was on the road for four hours. I always try to stop about half way to my clients office for a quick stretch and a cup of coffee. This morning was no different.

Travel days are always really long days with all that driving. By eight pm I was home and the first thing to always come off after a long day are my work pants...lol. I hate stuffy work pants and after sitting in them for fourteen hours I was pleased to be free of them.

Thankfully the drive home was not too bad but by the time I got in the house the rain was coming down nicely. I know summer is for sunshine and being outside but I do love a little rain beating down on the windows.

I made a cup of tea and headed upstairs to unwind and relax by doing some bible journaling. It is the first time that I drew in my bible and used watercolors for the scripting and while its not my favorite page it was fun doing it. I really do love this verse and what it means to me right now.

While locking the house up for the evening I noticed my fairy lights were on outside. As much as I love looking out and seeing these little guys all lit up, it was also a sad reminder that the evenings are getting darker earlier and earlier and summer is coming to an end.

Hope your Wednesday has been as good as mine.

Today has been better than yesterday was and it shows in my photos and I can feel it in myself. A good night sleep and a bit of perspective does wonders for my weary soul.

Here's a look at my Tuesday, starting with what I wake up to pretty much every morning:

Mornings are for cuddles and I think we both look forward to them. I love how he tucks himself right up against my side and into my arm. He always falls asleep by placing his little head on my arm. On those rare occasions that I wake up without him next to me I find that it really makes a difference to my day.

He was so looking forward to breakfast this morning but the camera on the floor was just too tempting for him to pass up and he headed on over to investigate.

I have ummed and aahed about including this almost full length photo of me. I'm really struggling with my weight and am having to learn to love myself as I am now, while I am on my journey to where I want to be. These past few weeks this has been super tough for me but each morning I wake up, knowing that I need to figure this thing out.

Dinner tonight was a lamb stew with lots and lots of vegetables. Tomorrow I am travelling for work and will be on the road for about 7 hours and in meetings for 4 so I wanted to make sure that I had something wholesome to come home too.

Part of what gives me perspective is taking time out. Time out of my schedule and most importantly time out of my own head. Creating, reading, sorting through what's going on inside of me are all ways that help me to untangle my feelings, figure things out and rest up. Putting this together in my journalling bible was a lot of fun.

I also sold my tumble dryer this evening. Its been up on gumtree for a few days now and someone has finally come to pick it up. It was far to big for just me so I am glad to have the money and the extra space back.

Well, that is it for today. The travelling tomorrow means an early evening for me tonight so I am off to start getting ready for bed.

As I sit down to write about my day, the words that come to mind are...."Phew, I'm glad this is over with!". Now that is not my normal attitude to a Monday but today, this is where I am. I didn't capture many photos and oddly enough, considering the aim of this project is to capture my everyday life, I didn't even make it to Zumba. My go to activity almost every single Monday for the past eighteen months.

This morning started at around 7:45am. I got up, made a cup of tea and headed into my art room. Most of my working week this week will consist of working from home, which means I get a bit more of a lay-in in the mornings and don't have to fight my way through morning traffic. It also means that I don't need to put any makeup on and if I feel the need....I can spend the day in my pj's.

I tend to work in the lounge on the sofa and most days my TV stays off while I work. Today I had one telephone conference and the rest of my day was spent answering emails and working on reports.

I enjoy working from home and the freedom that it gives me.

As I said earlier, I normally head off to Zumba with my mom on a Monday evening but tonight she called to say that she wasn't going to be able to make it and I wont lie - I was pleased to hear it. I did not feel like getting my groove on tonight.

So instead, I put on some of my favorite tunes, took a shower, made a cup of chocolate milk and sat down to write this post.

Tomorrow I shall do better and will take more pictures but today was how it turned out and this is my life right now.

Today is the start of Ali's yearly Week In The Life project. I am pretty excited as this is the first year that I am able to take part as every other year I have been in the final stages of exam revision. Last year I even bought Ali's kit but it sat unused in my craft room until yesterday.

Most people do a full mini album for this project, but I have decided to incorporate mine into my project life album. I am capturing the everyday of life for the next seven days, which Ill document over four pages in my project life folder. Each day has two 3 x 4 and two 6 x 4 pockets allocated for it. I fished out last years album and have prepped the pages which you can see below.

I'm still undecided about how I am going to fit a full day into such a small number of pockets but my thoughts so far is to have the journalling in the 3 x 4 and photos in the 6 x 4. Perhaps Ill include some writing directly onto the photo - perhaps not.

What I am sure about is my intention for this week - To capture who I am right now. My struggles and my joys. My good side and my not so good side. My day in, day out activities and my one off happenings. I plan to do this using photos and words, with neither taking priority over the other. Both are important. Both will help me tell my story.

I hope to share my pictures and stories on my blog each day. I hope to remember to take the time to capture those moments when I get sucked into work. I hope to capture my life as it really is and not let my need to "make it look better" get in the way.

I'm excited to get started and I would love to share your week with you, so leave me a comment with your blog link and Ill be sure to stop by.

Saturday has turned out to be a pretty busy and long day. I am so glad that I remember to take photos through it - or at least through out most of it.

07:45 | Saturday mornings are my early mornings as I like to hit the grocery store before the day

begins for most other people. My alarm was set to go off at 6am however it didn't go off

today - I must have shut it down before it had fully synced.

08:10 | Although I have a grocery store just five minutes from my house, I much prefer to make the

twenty minute drive to Asda. I have been shopping here since I arrived in England I just like

it - what more can I say!

10:05 | Just heading out to weigh in and Smidge decides to climb the tree in the front yard and then
got stuck. Crying pitifully for me to get him down, I had to stretch on my tippy-toes to
reach him and bring him to safety.

10:33 | Weigh in results where that I had stayed the same. That is the second week in a row and I was
feeling pretty disappointed about it. Staying for the meeting didn't make me feel any better
but I know that it is good that I stayed despite how I felt.

14:45 | Wohoo! The 1st of the month means Ali Edwards sends out the months One Little Word
prompt and video. Due to studying for my exams I haven't done any work on this since July
however I decided to start with November, as it is the freshest in my mind, and then work my
way back. This is the first year that I have done One Little Word and I have really enjoyed it.
I will be signing up for 2015. The tree experience obviously knocked the life out Smidge as
he was fast asleep next to me.

16:45 | My dad turns 60 on Saturday and so my parents are going to Venice for a few days to
celebrate. My brother and I decided to give them some Euros towards the trip so I nipped to
town to pick up some currency. On the walk back to the car, I noticed that the moon was out
and I couldn't resist stopping to take a photo.

17:22 | Quickly filling out my Dad's birthday card before heading over to my parents for dinner.

20:42 | Mom was so kind and after dinner she gave me a back massage. My shoulder is still giving
loads of problems and hopefully her magic fingers will have done the trick by tomorrow
morning.

Another day from this week is over with. It always amazes me just how fast each day is becoming yesterday. My intention on Friday was to take more pictures and I did. Here is what my Friday looked like.

07:50 | Fridays pretty much always mean a bit more of a lay in compared to any of the other week

day mornings. I always set my alarm for 8am, however I don't ever need it to wake me.

09:30 | Fridays tend to be my teleconference day which allows me to work from home. My first one

of the day was at 10am so I quickly got in a bit of breakfast before the call began. I was never

much of a crumpet eater but they are slowly becoming my favourite meal.

13:10 | Some new clothes have arrived and they are hanging up to be tried on later. I have purchased
so many new clothes this month that I really need to stop now!

14:30 | As it turns out I ran out of milk so needed to make a quick stop at the local grocery store
down the road from my house. While I was out I decided to stop and pick up some cat food
for Smidge.

16:05 | Work is finally finished for the week but now the house chores begin. I normally wouldn't
showcase my dirty dishes but this is what my kitchen looked like and I wanted to keep things
real, as they say.

17:35 | All the house chores are done for the day so I decided to take a ten minute tea break before
making a start on my next task. This little guy wanted my attention and wouldn't take no for
an answer........although how could I possibly say no to this cute little face.

18:20 | I wasn't feeling very hungry but had taken out salmon fillets so decided to cook them and
some pumpkin. It didn't look very pretty but it sure did taste delicious!

19:46 | Friday evenings are always food menu prep and shopping list creating. This weeks shopping
list is not very long but I bet that a lot more things will end up sneaking into my shopping
cart Saturday morning.

20:15 | My back muscles have gotten even worse through the day so I think another hot bath is in
order to try to release the muscles. Its times like this that I wish I didn't live alone.

20:45 | I decided to turn off the TV for the evening and spend some time doing something else. I was
flitting between climbing into bed with my Kindle or catching up on my August One Little
Word 2014 prompts.

Thursday has come and gone and we have officially passed the half way mark of Week In The Life 2014. Yesterday was not a great day for taking photos - for some reason it wasn't until about 5pm that I got my camera out for the day. I must do better today.

06:15 | I didn't have a very good nights sleep. I must have done something to my right shoulder as I
woke up several times during the night to reposition myself because my shoulder muscle was
aching so much. When the alarm went off at 6:15, getting up was the last thing I felt like
doing.

06:31 | I eventually got out of bed!

08:10 | Thursday's work day was at my local office. Traffic was a little heavier than normal and I
arrived later than I had hoped. We have had a major move around in the office ( I think I
mentioned this on Mondays post ) but I managed to find a hotdesk next to a friend which
made the morning go by much quicker.

10:23 | It's the first month I had to produce slides for the business review pack and I really struggled.
I spent ages trying to get words down and eventually just had to go with what I thought was
right.

12:35 | During my lunch break I nipped out and stopped to put air in my tyres. I had been meaning
to do this for a few days now and finally got around to it. While doing my last two tyres, a
very nice guy came over to help me.

12:57 | Before heading home I needed to return a top to Evans.

17:10 | Work was finally over and my shoulder was so sore that I couldn't find a comfortable
position so I headed upstairs to take a really hot bubble bath to try to relax and sooth the
sore muscle.

18:00 | Thursday evenings are going to be my #metime for the rest of the year and this week I

decided that I wanted to do two things. Firstly, do some creating on my journal and secondly,

listen to Andy Stanley's Guardrail series, in particular the one with reference to finances.

20:00 | One of the things that I want to do by the end of 2014 is have my budget and finances sorted.

I want a clear and precise plan for 2015 and therefore found this brilliant online tool on

moneysupermarket. I spent time doing the groundwork for it and will plan to finish this up

over the coming weeks.

21:00 | I love painting my nails and aim to do it every week to week and a half. I have been loving

the colour purple lately so thought that I would fish out this polish and treat my hands.

07:00 | Working from home yesterday morning meant a later than normal wake up call. Despite the

opportunity to sleep in, I was awake before the alarm went off.

10:00 | One advantage of working from home is being able to get a load of laundry in and out while

it still has time to dry before night fall. That clean detergent smell wafting through the house

always makes things feel lovely and fresh.

10:15 | After a night of adventure having, the mornings are the best time to catch up on his sleep.

When working from home, I can always count on him to curl up on my warm seat the

moment I walk out of the room.

12:30 | Getting a few last things sorted for work before heading out for the afternoon.

13:20 | One of the things that I really love about living in England are the gorgeous buildings that
you come across. Despite this beautiful building and the amazing grounds only being a
half an hours drive from my place, I never even knew it was here. I've made a mental note
to come back next summer to explore the grounds and enjoy a Sunday carvery at the
restaurant.

13:30 | The actual reason that I was at this beautiful building was because I had to attend a Speed

Awareness Course. My first ever speeding fine. As it turns out, the course was pretty good

and I came away learning a few new things.

20:00 | Having just got out the shower and dried my hair, I decided to catch up on my 2014 gratitude

journal. This journal was a Christmas gift from mom and it is one thing that I know I am

going to look back on and cherish this for years to come.

22:30 | That is another day done and dusted. Yesterday was a really good day.

06:30 | I had originally planned to sleep in a little yesterday morning as I didn't need to be in the
office until nine but for some reason I woke up early. I got up, made a cup of tea and decided
to make a start on my day anyway.

07:00 | I had a team meeting today and knew that I probably wouldn't get back until late. I made
arrangements with my friend Kirsty to go over to her house in the evening to help make
Halloween cakes, so I knew that I needed dinner to be both quick and easy, I got my crockpot
out and prepared a new recipe - gammon stew.

08:00 | Once the dinner was prepared, I turned my attention to breakfast - a mango and raspberry
smoothie. I have been loving these lately.

08:30 | One of the things that I absolutely love about my job at the moment is the freedom and
flexibility that comes along with it. Each day I find myself in a different office, in a different
part of the country. This gives me a great opportunity to experience the changes that Fall
brings in both the countryside and the city.

15:00 | By this time of the afternoon I had been in our team meeting for hours and while
conversations where going round and round I got distracted by the scene outside the room.
In the middle of this office there is this little pond and foliage which is home to a few little
ducks. They were so cute walking around and provided a lovely few minutes retreat from the
meeting.

18:30 | I arrived home and wolfed down my dinner as I needed to be at my friends place by 7pm.

21:30 | Kirsty and I have had such a fun evening baking. I haven't done any baking in such a long
time that it was fun to just get a little covered in icing sugar and flour while catching up with
a really good friend. We made and had a go at decorating cupcakes and cookies.

23:00 | Finally it was time for bed and I was very ready for it. Looking forward to documenting
tomorrow.

So today see's the start of Week In The Life 2014. Although I don't have anything in particular planned for this week, I think it will be fun to see what the day to day looks like for me right now. I plan to capture my week on my blog rather than actually scrapbooking it this year.

06:15 | This morning was an early start and with the clocks going back yesterday, it was also a very
dark start. Smidge wasn't around and so I hit the snooze button. Ten minutes later and
Smidge was saying "Hi", insisting that he gets some morning love. Breakfast this morning
was a crumpet, syrup and a mango and raspberry smoothie.

11:40 | It has been a steady morning in the office today. We had a huge shuffle around as far as
seating goes over the weekend so unfortunately I had to hotdesk. By this time of the
morning it was definitely time for a cup of tea and a plum.

12:30 | I met up with Kirsty for lunch today and we decided to walk across to Sainsbury. It was so
nice to get out of the office and to spend some time catching up. Best of all our shopping trip
at lunch time meant that I could come straight home after work instead of having to make
another stop.

15:15 | I decided to wrap things up for the day in the office. I still had a few emails to reply to but
decided to pick them up once I got home.

16:00 | I got home to a lovely package in the post. My Week In The Life kit from Ali Edwards had
arrived and my next door neighbours had kindly taken it in for me. I am very pleased with
the stash and will be keeping it for my Project Life 2015.

17:30 | Monday night dinners are always my favourite as they are always leftovers from Sunday. No
cooking means no dishes - however I didn't wash up last night which means I have dishes
waiting to be washed.

19:30 | Tonight is Zumba and this class is my most favourite class at the gym. I have always loved
dancing. I love feeling the beat in the music, moving my body as only I can. I feel beautiful
and strong when I'm dancing - although I appreciate I may not look that way to others.
Tonight my mom is joining me. This is her second week.

21:00 | Season 10 of Criminal Minds has just started here and it is one of my all time favourite TV
series. By 9:15pm I am showered and curled up on the sofa with a cup of hot chocolate.

22:15 | Finally heading into bed. Looking forward to documenting my tomorrow.

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