Week In The Life™ 2019 | Monday Words + Photos

Ah, Monday. 

Ah, first day of Week In The Life™ for 2019. 

How did it go for you? 

Remember that this project is a bit more of a marathon than a sprint. Remember that you can always take shots on different days and include them in your album if it helps illustrate your story. Don't get too rigid about how this is all supposed to go. Your goal is to document a period of time - twenty years (heck even five years from now) no one is ever going to say to you "hey, didn't that happen on Wednesday instead of Thursday?"

In my recent Set Up + Approach post I talked about using the journaling cards as a guide for my storytelling each day. The Monday card title is "this week" - I definitely thought about it as I went about my day asking myself the question what did "this week" mean to me? 

What I found is that I thought a lot about the week ahead while I was capturing images here and there throughout the day. I looked at and took a screenshot of the the weather forecast. I printed out a calendar for the week and am adding it to my project. I also thought about how the title "this week" is about looking ahead and also about what's happening right now. This is the week I'm documenting and it all starts with this first day. 

Some basic details: 

• I took a mix of iPhone and DSLR photos today. These days I mainly use my iPhone and I've evolved into taking a whole lot more vertical photos than ever before. 
• I loved re-creating some past shots and looking for completely new angles. 
• I used the self-timer on both my iPhone and my DSLR for any of the photos I'm in today. I will prop up my phone on any available surface. 
• I opened up the Notes app on my computer/phone and jotted down thoughts throughout the day. This was helpful in capturing bits and pieces of thoughts, emotions and observations over the course of the day. 

Throughout the day I totally felt like I wasn't taking "enough" photos until I sat down tonight and uploaded them and realized I will have more than enough for my album.

Here's a look at my Monday: 

Monday mornings after our time without any kids is usually really quiet. It’s the calm before the tornado of kids descends upon the house after school. 

Today I started my day feeding the cats, doing a load of laundry, making a cup of coffee, checking social media, and then sitting outside to read and drink my cup of coffee. The weather this week is looking awesome and sitting outside is a great way to start the day - I should be able to do this when kids are here too. 

My day always begins with medications (thyroid, mood-stabilizer, allergy) + vitamins.

Our dog Woody passed away before our Spring Break trip to Hawaii so pet detail has simplified some. It's so strange to be able to have the doors to the outside open without everyone freaking out that Woody would get outside. He loved to take off and explore the neighborhood but he was really hard to get back into the house. 

During this project I often think a lot about the person I am vs. the person I want to be or the person I aspire to be or the person I sometimes imagine myself to be. 

I am a mix of all these thoughts and emotions and aspirations.

But really, I'm just me. 

I like routines. I like flowers. I like books. I like sunshine. I like working. I like yoga. I like coffee. I like writing. I like taking pictures. I like learning. 

And I love being married to Aaron and that we blended our crazy crews into one. 

The wisteria is in bloom. It was one of the reasons I loved this house when we bought it nine years ago. 

Getting outside and reading in the morning is something I'm really trying to cultivate. I just started this one called You Are Here after a friend shared it with me last week. Loving it for my morning reading. 

This is Sam. He's the one who spends most of the day in his basket in my office. 

Aaron and I fondly refer to him as our child. He's the one who is also often found sleeping in between or on top of us in our bed. He is super, super soft and probably one of the best cats ever born. 

After my morning stuff I head up to my office where I check email, send out a One Little Word® email, post a video on YouTube, and start working on deliverables for the Listen Story Kit. 

I also set an alarm for 11:30 to make sure I don’t miss yoga at noon.

These days Katie works from her own house most of the time. We chat when we need to and have meetings and all that good stuff but there's no reason she has to be sitting here in my house when she can do the same stuff from the comfort of her own house. We've got a good rhythm. 

Aaron is a sleep-in kind of guy. I'd already been up for a few hours before I finally saw him in the kitchen. 

Cantaloupe wrapped in prosciutto for a pre-yoga snack. 

This is Ernie. He's the newest cat addition (last summer). He's awesome and I love that he loves sitting in this window area. 

I am so proud of myself for showing up to yoga on Monday’s at noon. I think I’ve gone three weeks straight now and its just become a part of what I do on Monday.

During this project I often find myself paying attention to in-between times. To the times when it might not feel like I have enough time to start a task when in reality I do. 

I added some meal plan ideas for the week to our chalkboard. 

And, yep, as you will see I wore my yoga clothes all day. 

Snack after yoga included hard boiled eggs + Everything But The Bagel seasoning from Trader Joes and an orange. 

After a little more work it was time to go pick up Anna from school. Simon's been choosing to ride the bus home from school which seems to be giving him a nice decompression time. 

I totally didn't notice that you could see our house via the back window until I was going back through my photos tonight. 

Love that about this shot. 

As soon as Anna got in the car today she told me that she and a couple friends want to do a Hamilton song at the talent show at their school. I was so excited that she's interested because I love it so, so much. Totally fun to chat about the story and the music as we drove. She wants to be Eliza. 

I love picking her up from school and am so thankful I am able to do it.  

After picking her up we did a quick grocery stop for spinach, bananas, eggs, and broccoli. 

Back at home I usually do some dinner prep or head back to my office. Today I decided to make some cookies before cooking dinner. I went with these breakfast cookies from Real Food Whole Life. They were awesome. 

Dinner tonight was salmon and roasted Brussel sprouts, delicata squash, small potatoes, and asparagus. Super easy to just chop up all those vegetables and roast them in the oven and use the grill for the salmon. We've got one kid who won't eat salmon at all - he made himself a breakfast sandwich. 

Simon has shown an interest in learning to play the guitar which is awesome. Today he was watching a how-to video on YouTube and practicing with one of Aaron's guitars. 

The lilacs are also exploding right now. I can't bring these ones inside because they really make my allergies go crazy. 

The cookies. 

I don't usually plant too many annuals but this year I decided I wanted a bright yellow pot of these beauties. 

We do casual dinners since it's often the case that someone is at an activity. Tonight people ate in waves and some were outside and some were inside. We roll with it. 

Something is almost always happening in the kitchen. Isaac is almost always making a face. Aaron was emptying the dishwasher. 

Anna + Audrey had some neighbor friends stop by and they continued to sign Hamilton songs and laugh. Love having all kinds of kids around here and I am so happy to have nice weather. 

Cleaning it all up. 

I love when the light changes as the day comes to a close. 

When I came upstairs to upload photos the girls brought in some of their favorite coloring books. They recently asked for me to get them the same ones so that they could color the same picture at the same time. They've got some kind of game going where they close their eyes and select the pen colors before coloring. 

I walked downstairs and found Aaron at the puzzle. He sits there for breakfast and works on it in the morning too. 

Isaac on his loft bed snuggling Ernie. He was on the hunt for some lost rubix cubes. 

Aaron calls this bed the "nest."

Aaron drove Simon to Boy Scouts and picked up Elliott from basketball practice and then they were the second wave of dinner. He's currently doing both Ultimate Frisbee and Basketball. 

At the end of the day I come back to the idea of gratitude again and again. Taking photos is a way to practice gratitude and I often capture shots of things I'm thankful for whether they are people, places, things, or emotions. I love seeing the real life reflected back to me. We don't live in a perfectly clean, neat and tidy house and I'm so completely fine with that and I want that to be a part of my documentation. 

This is what my life looks like right now. 

I wouldn't trade us for anything. 

Walking down the hallway to my office this is the reflection of the light from the windows on my wall. 

Here's to this week!

Tomorrow's theme for me is "observing." I'll be keeping that in mind as I go about my day and seeing what kinds of photos come from the concept of "observing."

You are invited to share a link to your Monday words + photos in the comments below.