Friday, September 26, 2008

Today You

Scrapbooker and author Ali Edwards teaches a technique to capture pieces of her day-to-day life. She starts with the line: TODAY YOU... and then fills in the blanks. It looks like she's going to have some more ideas about this techniquecoming soon.

But this concept has really stuck with me. Here's a page I made with this back in January.

As I go about my day-to-day stuff, I sometimes make a mental list of it. Tonight I took the time to write it down.

Dearest Kylie: Today you
  • woke up at 5:30
  • put your hands on either side of mine and clapped my hands together
  • said "neigh" when you saw the horse on my shirt
  • said, baaa, mooo, and woof", and made elephant trumpeting and giraffe noises
  • napped from 10 to 12
  • ate peas, carrots, potato frittata, applesauce and mandarin orange slices for lunch
  • played at Gymboree
  • laid down on your back on a Gymboree mat. Smiled at the little girl who laid down beside you. Enjoyed a quiet moment of relaxation with her.
  • danced your baby doll around to music
  • chewed on a bathing suit
  • ate raisins at Starbucks while Granna and I had coffees and looked at pictures of you
  • played in the garage with your Life is Good baseball hat, a bubble-blowing wand, a piece of chalk, a nerf ball and a container of clorox wipes for over half an hour
  • spilled an entire cup of peaches in your lap during dinner

    Today I
  • wished for the 200+ time that I had a digital voice recorder with me as Kylie drank her morning bottle. I really want to capture the sounds of her as she gulps and sighs before our bottle days are over. It's one of my all-time favorite sounds.
  • felt really scattered when I realized that I had left two cups of coffee (from the previous two days) on the window sill behind the family room couch.
  • worried when Karen told me that her rental car had its passenger window bashed out during the night as it sat in her hotel's parking lot (nothing stolen though).
  • took a much-needed nap from 8-9am while Granna took Kylie for a walk
  • cooked a hashbrown frittata from a new recipe for our lunch
  • called my Mom a laundry goddess when she did some of our laundry
  • made a list of 15 scrapbook pages I want to create
  • checked my Flickr and Google Analytics stats
  • read a few blogs and made a few comments
  • read several stories to Kylie
  • made a quick Target run while Kylie napped
  • cleaned my kitchen floor
  • picked up, put up, organized throughout the day
  • listened to an audio book while Kylie played in the garage
  • made a taco salad for dinner
  • watched Sex and the City movie after dinner
  • did not take any pictures or make any scrapbook pages
  • told my Karen, my Kylie and my Mom that I loved them.
  • came up with lots of blogging and scrapbook ideas between 10-11pm

    I encourage you to try this technique. It helps me to slow down and appreciate my life. Now off to bed!
  • 4 comments:

    Unknown said...

    I love this idea - thank you for blogging about it! And as always, reading about your perspectives and love for your whole family is an awesome way for me to start the day.

    Anonymous said...

    First, I can't believe how much Kylie has grown since January. Looking back at pages really puts things like that in perspective.

    And thank you thank you for posting about the "today you" prompt. I am going to keep a journal by my bed and do this every night for the girls. What a nice way to reflect on the day and a great way to collect journaling!

    Kerry Lynn said...

    Awesome!

    Hey, Erin did a Meme today that I would love to read your answers to. You should check it out.

    kiles1670 said...

    I have been following your blog for a long time, your little girl is beautiful. Well done to you both
    :-)