Celebrating Memories Of Week In The Life™ | Annette Haring

Today I'm sharing some   #WITLmemories from Annette Haring. Love the honest reflections she's included with each image below including thoughts on work, the evening routine, imperfect photos and stories, and remembering the little things. 

#WITLmemories is all about sharing the Week In The Life™ love. It's about re-visitng our past projects (to reflect and learn and get inspired), sharing ways of telling the story of our daily lives, and creating a community of people around this popular project to support and encourage one another. 

You're invited to share your own personal favorite #WITLmemories via Instagram, Facebook or your blog. What do you love about the project? What do your past albums mean to you now? Feel free to share a link to your blog post in the comments below. 

Here's a look at Kristin's past projects:

MONDAY

MONDAY | APRIL 23, 2012

hello Monday | get to work day

A little about me: I am a work outside the home mom and was working a pretty heavy schedule with long hours and a long commute for four years while my husband was in a PhD program. We all have different seasons of life and reasons we are busy. This just happened to be one of my busy work seasons. And even though the schedule was tough, I have found that capturing self portraits helps increase my self awareness, self compassion and decision making. I also know that I am part of this story and I want to make sure I am a part of these books as well!

On this particular Monday, I worked (as noted by the photo of my purse with my work tablet and other accessories) and then made it home before dark to do finish up work. I was driving a lot for work during this part of my life so the fact I made it home at a decent hour was a good thing. And I like that I captured my scrapbook desk / work desk that was actually in the bedroom of our apartment at that time. Making it work, right?

TUESDAY

TUESDAY | OCTOBER 21, 2014

remembering the little things

Fast forward two years. My daughter is now four years old and is definitely growing up. Here's my journaling from the title page: "The story of this photo is her independent spirit at 4 years old. That she often gets her own milk and cereal, even when the jug is full and she boasts how strong she is since it is so heavy. That today I poured some in a measuring cup for her because I was stressed and didn't want to clean up a big mess, just in case. That one of her habits is pulling her hair back with her left hand because she refuses to wear anything in her hair and loves it long. That the yellow sunflower mix is still looking good after celebrating her grandma's birthday over the weekend. It was a good morning. Hello Tuesday."

The story of this photo is also that I am no longer driving the long distances I was. Still working but not to the extent I was in the prior 4 years. So thankful I had time to spend at home that morning to capture little moments like this.

I also love the daily schedule in Ali's kit last year but I had not filled it out during the week. I just finished up my journaling in time to share it with you now. Thankfully I had written notes on Ali's daily sheets so I had some great nuggets to add to the schedule. My favorite little nugget: 8 am: "Mom, you can't go to work in those pants can you?" Note to self: must do laundry!

WEDNESDAY

WEDNESDAY | JULY 27, 2011

imperfect stories + photos matter

I love to make sure I capture some photos of the characters of the story that is our life. That afternoon I came home from a busy day and because it was Week in the Life™ I grabbed my camera and got my daughter to cooperate with a few photos on the balcony. And while I'm super thankful to capture her cute face at 17 months, I'm also happy I captured the story behind our day with additional photos, like places I went that day. Lunch at Panera (so that's where my Panera card is!!) Clean bathrooms at Central Market (when you drive a lot in Austin traffic you are thankful for clean bathrooms!) And then the stories not told with photos. Here I added a note from her teacher at daycare and I love that I added those details.

Also remember the photos and stories don't need to be perfect. It is the collection of little photos and stories that make this project so great. 

THURSDAY

THURSDAY | OCTOBER 17, 2013

the bedtime routine

In 2013 I started each day with a focus on a particular time of day or routine. So for each large photo on the left side and the smaller photos on the right side I have a focus on things like the morning routine, work routine, afternoon routine, bedtime routine and after school routine. You can break it down as you need for your routine. I liked that it gave me some focus to make sure I got a good photo for the enlargement each day. That took pressure off of me to not feel like I had to take a zillion photos each day. Again, my work routine was very busy during this time but taking the time to capture a bit of my life has been amazing to look back on. Instead of focusing on the negative, I was able to reflect on the beauty that is all around me and the stories that are present if I just look and reflect.

Here I captured how her room looked at the time, which is cool to look back on. I also captured her love of pajamas and blankets. Doing the the pajama dance and hiding under her blanket. So happy to have these little moments recorded!

The journaling: Evening routine: "You right now. Bedtime routine at 3. You really love your pajamas. Just like Mom, as soon as you get home it is PJ time! We like reading a few books like Sandra Boynton "Pajama Dance" and maybe watch a Curious George episode or two. And milk. Always milk. We love you."

FRIDAY

FRIDAY | JULY 29, 2011

observations

One of the things I love about Week in the Life™ is just simply to observe your life as it is right now. I like to capture the photos in a documentary style much of the time. And I like finding new points of view, such as placing the camera on the floor and then seeing what you get (as in the top right photo.)

I also love this project for easy comparisons between years. For instance, in Thursday's photo I notice the difference in her bed. Here she is 17 months old and still has the full crib. Two years later she has the rail off for a toddler bed. ***big sigh here as I reflect on how fast time flies

I also like that I captured my husband picking up my daughter from daycare. He is a very caring and involved father and he did this most days so I could focus on work. He was going through a rigorous PhD program and stressful internship at the time, which makes me even more thankful for all he does. Again, this time of our lives was busy. But I'm so very thankful I captured what I could.

And I'm so thankful for Ali for her inspiration with this project. It's amazing and I will happily be joining in again this year! Hope to see you there too! Thanks for having me this week!


For more information about Week In The Life™ check out my projects page and pre-order your kit that makes it easy to focus on capturing and celebrating your words and photos with a fun, story-focused intentional embellishments. Week In The Life™ 2015 will happen starting August 15th. If you want to dive even deeper you can also check out my archive of past Week In The Life™ blog posts

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18 thoughts

  1. Jgk04 says…
    07/13/2015

    Wonderful. I love Annette's journaling and style. So inspired and motivated for WITL 2015! Thanks Ali!

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. AnnetteH says…
      07/13/2015

      Thank you!! It has really helped motivate me too! :)

  2. katie1980 says…
    07/13/2015

    Loving these look-backs. Also getting loads of great tips on what to do/ not do, as this will be my first time doing WITL. Did DITL earlier this year (but need to sort out my actual album entries for that!!) but I feel that WITL is a whole different ballgame. I loved Daily December, but again, this is a different challenge.
    Cannot wait for my kit, and the date as to when we will be doing this. I think I hope it coincides with my brother's Wedding and my birthday, but maybe I don't as that will definitely not be a typical week! Though it will have many typical elements to it, so we will see.

    Reply 2 Replies
    1. AliEdwards says…
      07/13/2015

      I'll be doing it the week of August 17th. The kits ship this week!

    2. AnnetteH says…
      07/13/2015

      That's awesome! Definitely look into the Week in the Life community here if you haven't already! Awesome support there!

  3. mtercha says…
    07/13/2015

    Thank you, Annette, for sharing your albums and your inspiration. Beautiful spreads. I enjoyed seeing them. I look forward to this project, too. Michelle t

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. AnnetteH says…
      07/13/2015

      Thank you Michelle!! It was fun to look back and write the posts. Made me so thankful I had taken the time to do this project, even if all my albums are not finished! :)

  4. Carolly says…
    07/13/2015

    I love!

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. AnnetteH says…
      07/13/2015

      thank you!!

  5. ktber says…
    07/13/2015

    Helpful! Thanks! Getting motivated to finish up my Nov. 2014 album! :)

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. AnnetteH says…
      07/13/2015

      Let's do it!! Setting myself a goal to finish that one before this year's project!

  6. NatashaP says…
    07/14/2015

    Love it! Can't wait to start this years.

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. AnnetteH says…
      07/14/2015

      Thank you!! Same here! It's gonna be fun!!

  7. MichelleWedertz says…
    07/14/2015

    This is beautiful! Looking forward to next month!

    Reply 1 Reply
    1. AnnetteH says…
      07/14/2015

      Thank you Michelle! Was just thinking today of how I want to approach this year. Can't wait!

  8. AnnetteH says…
    07/14/2015

    I added some additional tips at the end of this post on my blog if anyone is interested: http://annetteharing.blogspot.com/2015/07/week-in-life-with-ali-edwards-brief.html

    Thanks again Ali for having me!!

    Reply 0 Replies
  9. MonicaMcNeill says…
    07/19/2015

    @AnnetteH loved this and your consistency with the project. Adored the focus on a certain routine for each day. Think I'm settled that will be my approach this year. Love it friend!

    Reply 0 Replies
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    08/14/2017

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