Photobooking Virginia

One of the things that I'm slowly learning about military life is how to embrace each spot that we are placed,but also how to let go of it in a positive way when it is time to move on. I'm not great at documenting life. Scrapbooking was never really my thing, I don't print out pictures like I used to, my journaling is sporadic, and I tend to get overwhelmed trying to keep up with documentation. In the past, when I've tried to organize memories, they just end up as half-finished projects sitting in boxes.

One thing I decided I must document, though, is each home that we live in. I know that through the course of Keagan's military career (and maybe even after that), we will live in many homes. I want to remember each place for what it is- a place for memories, growth, and life. I decided that the easiest and most efficient way for me to do this would be to create a small photobook of each house. Throughout the time that we live in each place, my goal is to take pictures of every room, the scenery of the neighborhood, places we visit, and everyday moments. I try to capture pictures of what made each place feel like home to us. Then, after we move I force myself to sit down for however long it takes, and put them into book form.

 I'm kind of bad at it. I've realized that I am way too picky when it comes to designing photobooks. It's hard for me to narrow down pictures to only the ones with the most meaning. It's hard for me to arrange them in a layout and order exactly how I want them without spending an insane amount of time on the project. It drives me crazy, for almost a full day, but then it's done.

So far, I've been so happy with the two books I have made. I love flipping through them and remembering the beauty of each place. I'm excited that someday if we have kids, they'll be able to open the books and know about each place that we've been. I feel that where we've been and what we've done is something to celebrate and cherish, so I'm glad that I have these reminders of our life in each place.

For both of our books so far, I've used Shutterfly's 8 x 8 hardcover book. I decided that I'd always go with whatever site offered the best coupon or deal at the time, and so far it's been Shutterfly both times. Now that I'm used to their system, I might stick with them. Plus, I kind of like the uniformity of the books. Shutterfly's photobook system is pretty easy to work with, once you figure out it's kinks. I've gone the custom route (because I'm picky, remember) both times, but using the Autofill feature would work great too, I'm sure! I probably spent a full day on each book, but to me, it's worth it.

This time around, I altered things a little bit. Instead of just including pictures of our house/yard, like I did in Iowa, I included a cover page with "key phrases"- events that happened/memories while we were in Virginia. I also added a couple pages of pictures of "life" in the back. Since I've accepted the fact that I probably won't get around to documenting our lives in a bigger way, I figured a couple extra pages of pictures (even if they aren't related to our house or apartment) would be worth it.

 Check out a digital version of our Virginia book below!
If you're interested, here's a link to our Iowa book.

Click here to view this photo book larger

The new way to make a photo album: photo books by Shutterfly.

How I Documented Our House

You know the whole self-worth roller-coaster we all ride every now and then? Yeah, the one where one minute we're shaming ourselves for the fact that we really like caffeine, haven't worked out in over a week, and need to buy more sundresses. The next, we're proud of ourselves for making awesome homemade pico de gallo, making the living room smell good, and driving down I-95 like a city driver. Yes.

But really, sometimes we need to get off of that roller-coaster and do what actually makes us happy. For me, it was this. I had seen other people document their lives in such artistic, awesome ways. I had seen many photobooks that looked much nicer than anything I thought I could pull together. But, I wanted  to try, and I wanted to do it how I wanted to and not worry if it compared to anyone else's.

I'm normally quite terrible at digitally documenting my life. I may take a lot of pictures (mostly of trees), and may have a lot of pictures from other people, but I just keep them on my Facebook and call it good. I hardly ever print any pictures, and the only reason I have pictures in frames in my house is because I had to print some of our engagement pictures off for bridal showers. So really? This was a big step for me.

I had decided awhile ago, that I really wanted to remember each and every place that we live. I knew we'd be moving around due to the military, so I wanted some way to remember each place. This is what I settled on. I wanted to remember the basic things- like what each house looked like, what our yard looked like, and what I had hanging on the walls, but I also wanted to remember the unique characteristics- like the crazy colored carpet, the cat that lived outside, and the little knick-knacks that I find so charming. So, thanks to a $20 coupon for Shutterfly and a little motivation, I finished my book.

I'm so excited to look back someday and be able to appreciate all of the little places that we lived and called home. It surely isn't perfect, but please enjoy a little taste of Home #1- Iowa. You can view the thumbnails below, or click the link to view it larger.

Click here to view this photo book larger

Click here to create your own Shutterfly photo book.