Week In The Life 2013 | Ready, Set, Go

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Ready, set, go!

This past weekend I took some time to think about what I wanted to capture in my 2013 Week In The Life album.

I jotted down a few questions that I hope to make come alive visually in my album and that I think are the important questions I want to be asking myself right now:


  • How do I work?

  • How do I play?

  • How do I nourish myself?

  • How do I give thanks?

  • How do I show my kids love?

  • What are my favorite things about my life right now?

  • What is the truth of my day (awesome, hard, exhausting, wonderful)?


In addition to thinking about those themes I also took a little time to read back through my Monday posts from past years and decided to share what I wrote back in 2011 as I think it's pretty universal for beginning this project:

As you embark today here’s a couple things I encourage you to keep in mind:



  • Don’t make it more complicated than it needs to be. There’s no right or wrong way to approach this project. You might be doing in-depth documentation or you might be doing a single photo each day or something in between. When you feel yourself getting overwhelmed just take a deep breath and keep moving forward. My goal is less to get every little detail and more to simply create a picture of what seven days in a row of our lives look like right now. Some days I may have a ton of photos and other days just a few – and it all works out.


  • Your story is important. No matter who you are, what you do, your family structure, etc – the story you are living right now is important and worth documenting. I’m one of those people who totally wishes I had this sort of documentation before I had kids, when I was in college, etc. Life situations change so quickly and the things you think are part of your “normal” right now may not be all too soon.


  • Have fun with this project – it’s such a great opportunity to see the basic details of your life through the lens of your camera. Use your camera as your eyes this week – shoot those things you see regularly that you notice (or maybe don’t take the time to notice most of the time).


  • If at all possible just focus on the content gathering this week. I’ve had the most success with this project when I’ve separated the two steps – one week for content gathering and one week for bringing it all together in a completed album.


  • No stress. Take it one day at a time. I tend to start off really strong and taper as the week progresses. I am totally fine with that. I’d much rather have a couple solid days and a few lighter days than nothing at all.


Also, check out my post from last Friday with links and thoughts.

Thanks for participating this week! I'll be back tomorrow to share my photos and words from today and have a space for you to share a link to yours as well.

Enjoy Monday!


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57 thoughts

  1. Kathy says…
    09/09/2013

    My Monday the 9th September is done (as I am in Australia). Will post my Day 1 photos in a link when your Day 1 is done. I enjoyed photographing our day from making the school lunches, school drop off, petrol, shopping, washing, dinner. I like have a variety of pictures to choose from even if they don't all make the cut. Regards Kathy A, Brisbane, Australia

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. Danielle says…
      09/09/2013

      School lunches - what a great idea. I forgot to photograph that
      part of the morning routine today. Something to catch tomorrow!

  2. dawn says…
    09/09/2013

    Hi Ali, so excited today is finally here!! I'm ready to go and do this amazing project again this year. I too wrote a list of things I want to capture this week. Just did a blog post with my prep work and thoughts on this amazing idea of yours. Wishing my mom could have done this too for me as a child, would love so much to have this right now. Thanks so much for all you do and share and inspire us with each day.
    Looking forward to seeing what you and the others do this week, love that we get to link up.
    Thanks for the words encouraging words above and in the past link too. I always add something of "YOU" in these albums.
    To see my prep and ideas you can visit me at http://everydaymemoriesatprojectlife.blogspot.com

    Good luck and have fun everyone!! HAPPY MONDAY!!

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. dawn says…
      09/09/2013

      sorry the link was wrong. Here is the right one
      http://everydaymemorieswithprojectlife.blogspot.com
      Thanks

  3. Robin Gibson says…
    09/09/2013

    So excited to start this today! And it will be a fun, not normal, out of town on a bike ride trip kind of day! So very different from our norm, but something we do a couple times a year! So it's nice to have it included:) WITL, bring it on!

    Reply 0 Replies
  4. iHanna says…
    09/09/2013

    I can not wait to get home tonight and load the photos from my new Nikon camera into the computer and weed through them. I think there are already some good ones in there, and I will post them on my blog as soon as I can, and into the flickr group as well.

    Thank you for doing this fun project as a "join in for free" on your blog!

    Reply 0 Replies
  5. Toni From says…
    09/09/2013

    Very excited to be starting this today. Thanks for putting this together again.

    Reply 0 Replies
  6. Barb says…
    09/09/2013

    Ready to give this project a shot this year. Having trouble realizing there would be enough from my life to document, or who would care! I have been dealing with a divorce and empty nest over the last few years and it's been hard transitioning from a family of 5 to being on my own. Hoping this project will help me figure out what is important and that there is much to be thankful for. Maybe through the documenting, a new purpose and love of life will be revealed. Hope so!
    Here's to having a good week, and seeing what my life is all about! Life is Good

    Reply 0 Replies
  7. Paula says…
    09/09/2013

    I started yesterday and I'm really excited about what I captured so far! And my hubby and daugther are playing along without protest, yay!!! I'm gonna hit up my son who's away at college today and see if he'll send me a photo this week too, so I can do a "you're there/we're here" photo along with a couple of texts between us this week.

    Reply 0 Replies
  8. Megan Anderson says…
    09/09/2013

    Thanks so much for this and the other routine documented projects you lead, Ali! I'm so excited for Week in the Life.

    I made it too complicated last year (still not finished with that album), so this year I'm just going to go with a simple Project Life spread for each day. I'm also going to focus on just one person in my family each day for the first four days, so I don't have the urge to try to document everything everyday.

    I'm looking forward to seeing what you do!

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. Paula says…
      09/09/2013

      Great idea!

  9. Terri Torrez says…
    09/09/2013

    My family is all prepped to start today. I didn't do Week in the Life last year because of Project Life. But I realized that these two projects capture very different things. My PL tends to include more of the weekly highlights and changes. Whereas WITL is more about routines and everyday. I love looking back at past years and seeing the changes. Thanks for this.

    Reply 0 Replies
  10. Lali Alvarez says…
    09/09/2013

    Thanks so much for this routine documented projects, Ali! This is my third year and I love "Week in the Life".
    I still not finished the previous years albums, so this year I decided to do it in digital and print a book later, I hope it works better!
    I look forward to your weeks!! Much encourage everyone!

    Lali.

    Megan, I love your idea to focus on just one person of the family!
    Sorry for my English :-(

    Reply 0 Replies
  11. Week in the Life | September 2013 | sarah rosemary says…
    09/09/2013

    […] mentioned Friday that I’m participating in the annual Week in the Life project, hosted by Ali Edwards.  I remember feeling so intimidated when I first tried this project.  I wasn’t used to […]

    Reply 0 Replies
  12. Jennifer K says…
    09/09/2013

    Got my album structure figured out and supplies gathered and prepared yesterday. Already took a few photos, yay, me! (family thinks it's a little weird, taking photos at breakfast, but that's okay!) Have a great day everyone!

    Reply 0 Replies
  13. Week In The Life Morning 1 | Photos | Hope And Coffee says…
    09/09/2013

    […] Are you documenting your week with us? […]

    Reply 0 Replies
  14. CaroleMac says…
    09/09/2013

    have done the project along with you for the last 5 yrs but never to the great detail you and many others do - - but this yr I am on board to REALLY do WITL!! Well its 8am on Monday and that's the plan so far :) Wish me luck! thx for your amazing direction as always

    Reply 0 Replies
  15. Calvina says…
    09/09/2013

    Thanks again Ali for sharing your ideas and your life with us. YOU are making a difference in how hundreds of people document their life. May you continue to inspire! Have a great week!

    Reply 0 Replies
  16. Week in the Life: 2013 | shay tibbs says…
    09/09/2013

    […] you haven’t taken the plunge & jumped in, head over to Ali’s blog and see what Week in the Life is about! If you’re participating this year, link up with me, let me know how you’re […]

    Reply 0 Replies
  17. Lucrecia says…
    09/09/2013

    I'm excited for another year! I completed the project last year, but lost my pages in a hard drive death so I'm more determined than ever to finish AND print!

    Reply 0 Replies
  18. LindaHAZ says…
    09/09/2013

    Thanks this is exactly what I needed to hear. IT ALL WORKS OUT. I felt stressed over trying to capture every little detail.

    Reply 0 Replies
  19. Liz says…
    09/09/2013

    alright... i'm in. Going to attempt this! I'm going to just plug my photos & thoughts into my family digital book in Aperture.

    Reply 0 Replies
  20. Donna A says…
    09/09/2013

    The forms are printed, the camera is charged...I have made it until noon with my notes...lets see if I can make it past the first afternoon this year. :)

    Reply 0 Replies
  21. Stacyk says…
    09/09/2013

    I love your perspective on asking yourself what you want to capture this week, visually. I definitely want to think of this and hopefully have it translated in a meaningful way in my WIL.

    Reply 0 Replies
  22. Tricia says…
    09/09/2013

    After many years of looking on, I'm a joiner. Taking your one little word class, has helped me make the leap. Thanks for all you do.

    Reply 0 Replies
  23. StephJ says…
    09/09/2013

    I've been doing Project Life for the past four years, and December Daily for the past four as well, but this is the first time I've done Week in the Life. I'm SO excited about this project, although DH was not impressed with me taking a pic of him brushing his teeth this AM! :P

    P.S. Love the school lunches idea, too! I was in too much of a rush to do that today, but great idea for tomorrow.

    Reply 0 Replies
  24. StephJ says…
    09/09/2013

    Oh, I also wanted to add that I sent both my older girls (8 and 5) top school with their own cameras today. I'm looking forward to seeing what they capture, and including some of their viewpoints in my album as well.

    Reply 0 Replies
  25. Ruth says…
    09/09/2013

    The Boy Child is just off to bed here in London and I am 70 photos in to capturing our day. A good day; thanks for always being so inspiring and encouraging, Ali!

    Reply 0 Replies

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